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Post by PhantomWolf on Jan 10, 2008 19:09:55 GMT -4
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to successfully climb Mt Everest passed away this morning aged 88. He'll be greatly missed.
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Post by Data Cable on Jan 11, 2008 1:54:10 GMT -4
...suspiciously, as he was just about to reveal that his ascent was all a hoax.
(I know, poor taste... but somebody hadda say it)
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Post by Kiwi on Jan 11, 2008 7:06:25 GMT -4
Sir Ed always said what he thought: Manawatu Daily Times, Tuesday 7 January 1958, page 10 Hillary tells why he decided to push on to the South Pole New York, January 5 The New Zealand explorer, Sir Edmund Hillary, yesterday told his reasons for going to the South Pole, the New York Times reported today. In a dispatch from the South Pole, the New York Times quoted Sir Edmund as saying: "I came to the Pole because I wanted to come to the Pole. Some people have to have a scientific reason. Not me." The New York Times said Sir Edmund planned tentatively to return to McMurdo Sound tomorrow, after conferring by radio with Dr Fuchs, the British leader of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition. It said Sir Edmund admitted that he had harboured the idea of the Pole trip for nearly a year, but that he added: "I do not believe in calling my shots in advance." And I particularly like the clipping about him in the previous day's paper that relates to Apollo: Manawatu Daily Times, Monday 6 January 1958, page 7 Moon obviously Sir Edmund's next destination (Received 11 p.m.) Washington, January 5 Two newspapers in editorials yesterday suggested that Sir Edmund Hillary's next objective was the moon. The Baltimore Sun said his next destination obviously was the moon. The conqueror of Everest and leader of the first party in 45 years to make the overland journey to the South Pole was only 38 and fit as a fiddle, and the problem was to find something to do in the next 50 years, it said. "Obviously, his next destination must be the moon. It is apparently very cold, when not excessively hot, and full of craggy mountains, and should suit him. Who is there more suitable than Sir Edmund to be the first man on the moon?" The New York World telegram said Sir Edmund Hillary is "a man to be proud of — a cool professional who knows the risks and faces them unafraid. We'd like to see Sir Edmund and others like him given responsible roles in an allied programme to send an expedition into outer space," the newspaper said. "If we don't do it, the Russians will. And if the free world is going to succeed first, it will take the combined courage and brains of men like Sir Edmund, whether they come from New Zealand or New Rochelle. "How about it, Sir Edmund? Why not make your next stop the moon?"
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Jason
Pluto
May all your hits be crits
Posts: 5,579
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Post by Jason on Jan 11, 2008 11:51:52 GMT -4
That's really great. That's an optomist's attitude for you. If he could climb Everest why couldn't he go to the Moon too?
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Post by JayUtah on Jan 11, 2008 13:20:31 GMT -4
Although I knew of Sir Ed from his historic ascent of Everest, I had no idea all the other things he had done. It's often a shame that someone has to die in order for his achievements to be noticed.
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Post by Retrograde on Jan 11, 2008 13:21:19 GMT -4
That's really great. That's an optomist's attitude for you. If he could climb Everest why couldn't he go to the Moon too? Certainly the air pressure on top of Everest is closer to that on the moon than that at sea level...
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Post by JayUtah on Jan 11, 2008 13:35:37 GMT -4
I can imagine Sir Edmund doing a hammer-and-feather experiment at the summit.
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Post by dwight on Jan 11, 2008 14:22:27 GMT -4
Sir Edmund, I salute you. Rest in Peace.
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Post by lionking on Jan 11, 2008 16:33:01 GMT -4
Incidentally, a local Lebanese TV was just broadcasting an interview with Maxim Sha'aya, a Lebanese who climbed Everest and went to the South Pole. According to what I just read, apparently he is trying to mimic the man above. The other guy now on the same channel is another Lebanese doctor that I posted a thred about who invented a medication for cancer and was given awards, his name is Michel Obeid.
Anyways, Sha'aya explained how hard it was to climb Everest. He said every one step needs in return six breaths bcz of the lack of O2. He exlained that another man died and another one lost his fingers (couldn't catch the reason).
I say that it is true that these are brave and heroes, but to me, there is no need to put man's life in danger for something that will not benefit anyone. It is true that the Lebanese gov saluted him and praised him, but what would they have done to him or what would benefit him if anything happened to him. To me, I preferred the physician who is fighting against physicians who are afraid on their buisness and naive people to help people with cancer. This is the real heroe to me.
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Post by laurel on Jan 11, 2008 23:52:15 GMT -4
He explained that another man died and another one lost his fingers (couldn't catch the reason).
I'm not a medical expert, but it was probably frostbite. And there have been many people who died on Everest. I don't know the exact number. But climbing Everest is an extremely dangerous thing to do.
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Post by gwiz on Jan 12, 2008 9:50:46 GMT -4
I don't know the exact number. But climbing Everest is an extremely dangerous thing to do. The number that comes to mind is something like a 10% chance of dying if you attempt it.
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Post by PhantomWolf on Jan 12, 2008 22:37:51 GMT -4
Although I knew of Sir Ed from his historic ascent of Everest, I had no idea all the other things he had done. It's often a shame that someone has to die in order for his achievements to be noticed. For many about the world his accomplishments were well known. Of his major adventures, the4 Climb of Everest was likely his best known, but his trip to the South Pole was equally well known here and about the commonwealth. His team was the first to use vehicles to get to the pole and was the first expedition to reach it overland since the ill fated Scott expedition. This journey was followed by a jet boat trip up the Ganges River, from the ocean to the Himalayas. Unfortunately he suffered from attitude sickness which cut his mountaineering career short, but after that he was awarded the position of New Zealand's High Commissioner to India and Nepal. That is where his greatest work occurred as he set up a foundation that has spend the last forty years building schools, hospitals and other needed buildings across Nepal. He really was an old fashioned hero. He could have had a giant ego, but instead he just had a giant heart. He never saw himself as anything other than an ordinary New Zealander, even when awarded both the KBE and later made a member of the exclusive Order of the Knights of the Garter, of which there can only be 24 living at any one time. He was the sort of man that we can only hope to emulate, filled with passion for people and with a determination to do what had to be done, be it climbing a mountain, or helping a child gain an education. He was one of a kind in action and deed, he was honest in his words, but always respectful and polite to people. A humanitarian, philanthroper and adventurer whose like we will probably never see again. As one reporter here put it, a great Totora has fallen in the forest. Perhaps the only person that NZ has ever seen that has come close to the heights that Sir Ed created for us to achieve was Sir Peter Blake. Had he lived to the same age as Sir Ed he may have done many more great things as well, but his life was cut short by pirates on the Amazon River and will never know. What we do know is that the world is now a poorer place for the loss of a true hero and a great man. Sir Ed will be laid to rest on the 22nd Jan in a state funeral to be held at the St Mary's Church in Auckland New Zealand.
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Post by laurel on Jan 14, 2008 18:51:39 GMT -4
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Post by PhantomWolf on Jan 21, 2008 6:47:02 GMT -4
The State Funeral will be on from 11am NZDT, or 5pm EST, it can be viewed live on TV3's website.
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Post by Count Zero on Jan 21, 2008 22:38:58 GMT -4
There walked a Man.
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