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On the Everest comparison, the difference is Everest climbers primarily risk their own lives as people who agreed to make the climb. Whereas Cannonballers risk

On the Everest comparison, the difference is Everest climbers primarily risk their own lives as people who agreed to make the climb. Whereas Cannonballers risk the lives of everybody sharing the road with them. Ie, regular drivers who have not agreed to let someone charge up behind them at >100 mph.

celticninja 7y ago
Honestly that's not true anymore. Very few people are climbing it unaided and it is Sherpas who help that are also killed alongside these climbers. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030 https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/14/599417489/one-third-of-everest-deaths-are-sherpa-climbers https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/14/599417489/...
- ubermonkey 7y ago
  The Sherpas who climb professionally have also chosen to climb, and are compensated for it.
  - rtkwe 7y ago
    Somewhat. There's the very distorting fact that Sherpa-ing is multiple times more lucrative than any other job they could possibly get in the area.
    - ubermonkey 7y ago
      Yes, yes, yes, but you're picking apart a metaphor here. This distinction does not damage the comparison. Cannonball participants are taking large risks, and are imposing those risks on many, many people who have no real way to avoid them. This is unkind and immoral.
- deleted 7y ago
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- namdnay 7y ago
  Sherpas are everest climbers, they willingly participate in climbing everest. None of the other road users willingly participated in these idiots' dangerous driving
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ubermonkey 7y ago
Exactly this. When I was younger, I did a lot of speeding on Interstates (US). I had a fancy radar detector, and I was almost never ticketed. Part of getting away with it, though, is doing it when you're mostly alone on the highway. Driving much, much faster than the cars around you is both reckless and terrifying; the risks are enormous. (Interestingly, my preferred highway pace back then was 75-80MPH. Now, when I drive on the Interstate, I'm nearly always going this fast or nearly this fast, but in the interim speed limits have risen on these open stretches of highway such that 75 is probably not even "ticketable" anymore; in some places, it's actually legal. Therefore it's hard for me to say that my middle-aged increased law-abiding nature is due to maturity, or the fact that the speed limits have mostly risen to the speeds I was driving at anyway.)

celticninja 7y ago

Honestly that's not true anymore. Very few people are climbing it unaided and it is Sherpas who help that are also killed alongside these climbers. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48464030 https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/14/599417489/one-third-of-everest-deaths-are-sherpa-climbers https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/14/599417489/...

ubermonkey 7y ago
The Sherpas who climb professionally have also chosen to climb, and are compensated for it.
- rtkwe 7y ago
  Somewhat. There's the very distorting fact that Sherpa-ing is multiple times more lucrative than any other job they could possibly get in the area.
  - ubermonkey 7y ago
    Yes, yes, yes, but you're picking apart a metaphor here. This distinction does not damage the comparison. Cannonball participants are taking large risks, and are imposing those risks on many, many people who have no real way to avoid them. This is unkind and immoral.
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namdnay 7y ago
Sherpas are everest climbers, they willingly participate in climbing everest. None of the other road users willingly participated in these idiots' dangerous driving

deleted 7y ago

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ubermonkey 7y ago

Exactly this. When I was younger, I did a lot of speeding on Interstates (US). I had a fancy radar detector, and I was almost never ticketed. Part of getting away with it, though, is doing it when you're mostly alone on the highway. Driving much, much faster than the cars around you is both reckless and terrifying; the risks are enormous. (Interestingly, my preferred highway pace back then was 75-80MPH. Now, when I drive on the Interstate, I'm nearly always going this fast or nearly this fast, but in the interim speed limits have risen on these open stretches of highway such that 75 is probably not even "ticketable" anymore; in some places, it's actually legal. Therefore it's hard for me to say that my middle-aged increased law-abiding nature is due to maturity, or the fact that the speed limits have mostly risen to the speeds I was driving at anyway.)