Re: Re: da Vinci's WildFire to fly Oct 2nd

David Weinshenker wrote:

> 
> Didn't airplane flight endure the same sort of scepticism
> (fueled by the varying results of numerous more-or-less-well-
> prepared efforts) in the early years?

Certainly it did, but not in a societal environment typified by "Someone 
died trying this?  We need to ban this activity entirely!"  The modern 
"protect everyone from everything, whether they want protected or not" 
attitudes simply didn't exist in the 'teens and twenties of the 20th 
century; it was still considered brave and manly to take risks, and 
romantic to die in the process.

We live in an era where some people have seriously attempted to ban 
mountain climbing on the grounds that a few people die in attempted 
ascents every year.

-- 
I may be a scwewy wabbit, but I'm not going to Alcatwaz!
                                                     -- E. J. Fudd, 1954

Donald Qualls, aka The Silent Observer
Lathe Building Pages  http://silent1.home.netcom.com/HomebuiltLathe.htm
Speedway 7x12 Lathe Pages     http://silent1.home.netcom.com/my7x12.htm

Opinions expressed are my own -- take them for what they're worth
and don't expect them to be perfect.