I'll go first, people spend $70-100K to scale Mt Everest have a good chance of death.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/world/asia/mount-everest-deaths.html
I mean not just the trouble, cost etc of climbing the mountain but then you have a 7% chance of death?
Death Rate on Everest is 6.5% of Summit Climbers
There is no firm count of the exact number of climbers that have died on Mount Everest, but as of 2016, about 280 climbers have died, about 6.5 percent of the more than 4,000 climbers who have reached the summit since the first ascent by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
what bother? It's not like it's something that hasn't been done 4000 people have been there, you're not going down in history because you climbed a mountain that 4000 other people have done the same thing already.
70 and 80 year olds have reached the summit. I'm not saying that's not impressive for senior citizens to do, but getting a team of people to help you up which is what a lot off people do s not really that impressive imo.
Quoted from rai:what bother? It's not like it's something that hasn't been done 4000 people have been there, you're not going down in history because you climbed a mountain that 4000 other people have done the same thing already.
70 and 80 year olds have reached the summit. I'm not saying that's not impressive for senior citizens to do, but getting a team of people to help you up which is what a lot off people do s not really that impressive imo.
so?
as long as it is their money, i dont care how they spend it
owning 40+ pinball machines is an extravagance
Quoted from rai:what bother?
Have you ever climbed the summit of a decent sized mountain?
If so then you’d know why ppl
Do it.
I have summited several decent size mountains including a couple of the seven summits. It's pretty amazing and a real sense of accomplishment. Not sure I would ever attempt Everest, been done a million times now and too expensive. K2 is where it's at now. Chance of dying is like 25%. Crazy. If I had $100k to piss away I would rather open a arcade/coffee shop.
Bad decisions make great stories.
I spend money on stupid shit all the time. If I added it all up, I’d probably have a heart attack, but it’s fun and I don’t have any kids, so what the hell!!!
Quoted from rai:what bother? It's not like it's something that hasn't been done 4000 people have been there, you're not going down in history because you climbed a mountain that 4000 other people have done the same thing already.
In the same line of thinking, why are we going to the moon again?
Quoted from dothedoo:In the same line of thinking, why are we going to the moon again?
Because NASA is in need of justifying its budget? When the Shuttle program shut down lot of people were laid off. So, jobs depend on us continuing to fund these space travel joyrides.
Politicians have this stuff all figured out. Every state in the union is involved in some way making products for space travel. Florida and Texas (Houston) get the lions share? Why Houston? LBJ was Veep and POTUS when the space program was getting started. Florida was a good place to make launches and if they failed there was deep water on 3 sides of the state.
Jobs. The main reason it is so difficult to close an obsolete and outdated military base.
Jobs mean votes.
Florida holds 27 electoral votes in the presidential race. No politician is going to campaign in Florida and get anywhere by saying he is going to close down our space programs.
Just as no politician is going to Iowa and say corn based fuels are a waste of resources. Every gas pump in the country is pumping E-10. It Iowa, you better be for E-15---which most of the cars in the U.S. cannot use today.
With the government it is always about jobs. And cheap food.
I've gone hiking on a couple of mountains in the Adirondacks. Walkable trails the whole way up, so no specialized gear needed. I would not want to do extreme hiking or mountain climbing--way too much work and $$$. I don't get my thrills through hiking/climbing. I enjoy casual biking more; probably since it's less effort and more speed.
Quoted from woody76:If I had $100k to piss away I would rather open a arcade/coffee shop.
If I had a spare $100k, I'd like to open a shop too. Pinball machines, arcade games, and movie memorabilia
Quoted from ForceFlow:I've gone hiking on a couple of mountains in the Adirondacks. Walkable trails the whole way up, so no specialized gear needed. I would not want to do extreme hiking or mountain climbing--way too much work and $$$. I don't get my thrills through hiking/climbing. I enjoy casual biking more; probably since it's less effort and more speed.
If I had a spare $100k, I'd like to open a shop too. Pinball machines, arcade games, and movie memorabilia
Do that on top of Everest. Give people a reason to go up there.
Quoted from gliebig:Do that on top of Everest. Give people a reason to go up there.
Biking or a shop?
here's what it looks like at the top of Everest, maybe they have TBL pin up there that's the line to play.
Today roughly 90 percent of the climbers on Everest are guided clients, many without basic climbing skills. Having paid $30,000 to $120,000 to be on the mountain, too many callowly expect to reach the summit. A significant number do, but under appalling conditions. The two standard routes, the Northeast Ridge and the Southeast Ridge, are not only dangerously crowded but also disgustingly polluted, with garbage leaking out of the glaciers and pyramids of human excrement befouling the high camps
summit-crowding_h (resized).jpg
D47jrflW0AAKPVe.jpg-large (resized).jpeg
If you’re opening an arcade on top of Mt. Everest I’d suggest that you go with Stern spike games, a lot lighter hauling them up the mountain.
A lot of people are ill-equipped to climb Everest, but I won't look down on a skilled mountain climber attempting to summit. I'm not sure if it's still the case, but it used to be a hell of a journey just to get to base camp. I'm a hiker, not a climber, but the Himalayas are absolutely gorgeous and I value my experience there far more than I care for pinball, and pinball is damn fun.
nepal mountains (resized).jpgQuoted from ForceFlow:If I had a spare $100k, I'd like to open a shop too. Pinball machines, arcade games, and movie memorabilia
Great minds think alike . Do me a favor and open it in Lake George
Quoted from rai:here's what it looks like at the top of Everest, maybe they have TBL pin up there that's the line to play.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
Climbing with a crowd like that does not look fun at all.
Quoted from herbertbsharp:Great minds think alike . Do me a favor and open it in Lake George
Marvel team-up?
Quoted from ForceFlow:Marvel team-up?
In situation like this I tend to gravitate to a Voltron analogy haha
voltron.gifMotor racing.
I’ve always been a car guy - and I raced my RX7s at the circuit and on Targa rallies.
Boy is it an bottomless money pit!
Pinball machines - you get your money back. Or break even. Or maybe even make a couple of bucks.
Car racing - each race tire was $500 bucks. Use them a couple of times and throw them away.
So here’s some pics of one of my old cars for shits and giggles.
rd
7CF5E8EC-FF9D-4BD4-942F-ECFD7DC0220A (resized).jpegB119457B-3991-4D62-9C1B-948F5F4472B0 (resized).jpegQuoted from rotordave:Car racing - each race tire was $500 bucks. Use them a couple of times and throw them away.
Glad I didn't get into that. Sounds like a car can eat tires like there's no tomorrow, yikes.
Quoted from herbertbsharp:Lap dances. $400 for a lap dance? No thanks, I'll stand by the bar and not tip.
Does offering pinball repair tips count?
Lottery Tickets.
Oh sure, I've bought one now and again but I've seen some of the same local people nearly every day getting their scratchers. Several do not even make it out of the store before taking a quarter to their ticket.
Now that I am thinking about it, what is the Mega-Millions up to?
Quoted from dothedoo:In the same line of thinking, why are we going to the moon again?
Especially when Don Pettit said we "lost" all the technology and it would be painfull to go back.
Quoted from herbertbsharp:$400 for a lap dance? No thanks
I'll buy another color DMD thank you.
Quoted from TractorDoc:Now that I am thinking about it, what is the Mega-Millions up to?
you could start a pinball company with that type of money.
Quoted from rai:I'll buy another color DMD thank you.
Colour DMDs.
Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
While I’m at it ... pinball toppers. There. I said it.
rd
Quoted from herbertbsharp:Lap dances. $400 for a lap dance? No thanks, I'll stand by the bar and not tip.
$400 for a lappy? Must be some lappy!
Last time I went to a “peelers” here, it was $40. That’s $25 USD...
10 for the price of one.
rd
Quoted from herbertbsharp:Lap dances. $400 for a lap dance? No thanks, I'll stand by the bar and not tip.
ROTHLMAO !!!!!
Cheap bastard
Climbing Everest has zero appeal to me. The experience, and bragging rights afterwards is not something that I would want to trade my frostbitten fingers, toes, and nose for.
Quoted from rai:here's what it looks like at the top of Everest, maybe they have TBL pin up there that's the line to play.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
It looks like everybody in line for a rock concert. Where the hell is the Johnny-on-the-Spot?
Is this the mountaineering equivalent of jumping
the shark?
Travel in general.
I don't get the draw for international travel. I love taking vacations with family and seeing this country coast to coast but have zero interest in international travel anywhere outside of Central America. Too much stress, too much unfamiliarity, way too expensive, just doesn't seem fun at all.
Quoted from Dkjimbo:Travel in general.
I don't get the draw for international travel. I love taking vacations with family and seeing this country coast to coast but have zero interest in international travel anywhere outside of Central America. Too much stress, too much unfamiliarity, way too expensive, just doesn't seem fun at all.
You don't need to enjoy it and I'm not here to convince you of anything, but the unfamiliarity is part of the draw. Stress is your own reaction to unfamiliarity, and not part of the equation for others. Expensive? Honestly I think most of my trips abroad end up cheaper or comparable to travel with-in the US but I usually go the filthy backpacker route.
On the flipside, unfamiliarity seems less and less an issue the more connected we get. When I first started traveling years back, I had to rely on talking to people, using guidebooks, etc to figure out what to do. These days, a smart phone can tell you what bus to take, the hours of the business, GPS navigation, etc that you can pretty much go on autopilot. Takes some of the adventure out of it, but sure makes things a lot easier.
Quoted from roffels:When I first started traveling years back, I had to rely on talking to people, using guidebooks
Funny, we were just talking about that the other day.
When we first drove around some states in the USA in 1999, we had a huge A3 size AAA Travel Atlas thing we used ... had to have it on my lap so I knew where I was going.
Then in 2009, first time we went to France, we were walking around Paris at night and got lost (someone gave us bad directions) so I turned on my iPhone and used Google Maps for a few minutes ... it cost like $40 roaming fees. Haha!
Now, my provider charges $5 a day all up for international roaming in most countries, with free calls and data etc, same as I have here in NZ. It makes life super easy.
rd
Quoted from rotordave:Funny, we were just talking about that the other day.
When we first drove around some states in the USA in 1999, we had a huge A3 size AAA Travel Atlas thing we used ... had to have it on my lap so I knew where I was going.
Then in 2009, first time we went to France, we were walking around Paris at night and got lost (someone gave us bad directions) so I turned on my iPhone and used Google Maps for a few minutes ... it cost like $40 roaming fees. Haha!
Now, my provider charges $5 a day all up for international roaming in most countries, with free calls and data etc, same as I have here in NZ. It makes life super easy.
rd
In 2008, I backpacked around in some nonsensical fashion. Jordan, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, and a long layover in Berlin. In addition to guidebooks, I carried with me an SLR, point and shoot camera for video, MP3 player, netbook, ebook reader, and a handheld GPS that was meant more for geocaching than proper navigation. Looking back at all that, it's pretty ridiculous since a smart phone is a "good enough" solution for most of those things, and who the hell needs all that when you're living out of a backpack?
Quoted from roffels:it's pretty ridiculous since a smart phone is a "good enough"
Yep! Same here ... I used to haul around my SLR camera and all this other shit ... now I just take 5 days of clothes and my Iphone8S and that’s it. All the photos in my travel threads are done on the iPhone. The SLR has dust on it.
Travelling light is the way to go.
rd
Quoted from Dkjimbo:Travel in general.
I don't get the draw for international travel. I love taking vacations with family and seeing this country coast to coast but have zero interest in international travel anywhere outside of Central America. Too much stress, too much unfamiliarity, way too expensive, just doesn't seem fun at all.
It can be spendy and certainly unfamiliar but if for nothing else it’s great to get out of here every once in a while for some perspective on the world. Unfamiliar can be a really good thing - we get too stuck in the familiar sometimes.
I hate paying airfare but damn there are so many amazing places to see that you will never see anything close to in the states.
Back to the Everest topic, My coworker just showed me a pic of all the trash up there. Absolutely disgusting. If nothing else you should be required to haul everything back with you. Maybe that’s a rule now and most of that is from the past? Don’t know enough about it but if u wanna throw down $100k to risk your life and suffer a bit I have no qualms. Doesn’t look particularly enjoyable or enticing to me but it’s all good.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on those accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime"
-Mark Twain
One of my favorite quotes. I haven't traveled much, but would like to do more.
Quoted from presqueisle:"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on those accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime"
-Mark Twain
One of my favorite quotes. I haven't traveled much, but would like to do more.
I don't disagree with that quote but remember - it was written in a time long before the ease of global travel, the internet, the ability to see and experience things remotely, the ability for cultures to cross pollinate through multiple avenues outside of physical location. It is pretty easy these days to be an open minded, non-prejudicial, non-bigoted person without actually traveling too far outside of ones little corner!
True. But seeing/walking with different cultures is really something. Nothing compares. 96% of the world's pop is outside of our (US) borders, as most know.
Quoted from Dkjimbo:It is pretty easy these days to be an open minded, non-prejudicial, non-bigoted person without actually traveling too far outside of ones little corner!
This is true. And there are sure a lot of people who could stand to make the trip and broaden their horizons.
==========================================
Where I went to college was that melting pot you read about. I got to meet people from the Asia, the Middle East and South America. I'm so much richer for it.
The rest of my family reminds me of a bunch of inbreeds who think the world stops at their dashboard.
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