Walking to work, along the river front, I see a crew taking down the stage scaffolding and cleaning up after the music festival. The morning sun has already warmed the day very well, shining across the ripples on the water below the embankment. I wipe my perspiring forehead and notice just past the dock for the small cruise ship, two patrol boats with their blue lights flashing. Then I spot several police vehicles pulled up across the park's sidewalks. I continue along, wondering what is going on, and if I am in any danger by being there. I spy the source of attention for all the very busy officers. A stark naked skinny young man with a thick scraggly beard is clinging horizontally to the railing along the embankment top. He's looking down towards the cool water several body lengths below. There are several uniformed patrol men standing around him, with one holding his arms, and one holding his feet secure to the rail. "Why shouldn't I jump into the water?!!?", he insists repeatedly. I think to myself, how sad. He doesn't know, the police just can't let him jump. We really can't allow that kind of thing catching on! If he does it, everyone will want to do it.
While walking back home from work that evening from downtown, a little further down river by the marina, I saw a man flying through the air. He was propelled skyward by a water powered jet pack on his back. The pack was attached by a hose to a pump on what looked to be a jet ski modified to carry a high pressure pump rather than a person. He apparently could control the jet ski but with some difficulty, and the hose was fairly lengthy, so he had a bit of maneuverability, flying about mostly in small circles, but reaching heights further up than the naked man had wanted to jump down that morning. I stood next to one of the workers who was packing away the remainder of the stage scaffolding as we both watched. People along the river were lining up and taking photos with their phones. I said to the man, "Sure, it looks cool, but in a few months the river will probably be crowded with them." He looked at me and smiled, "Sure, I want one!"
While walking back home from work that evening from downtown, a little further down river by the marina, I saw a man flying through the air. He was propelled skyward by a water powered jet pack on his back. The pack was attached by a hose to a pump on what looked to be a jet ski modified to carry a high pressure pump rather than a person. He apparently could control the jet ski but with some difficulty, and the hose was fairly lengthy, so he had a bit of maneuverability, flying about mostly in small circles, but reaching heights further up than the naked man had wanted to jump down that morning. I stood next to one of the workers who was packing away the remainder of the stage scaffolding as we both watched. People along the river were lining up and taking photos with their phones. I said to the man, "Sure, it looks cool, but in a few months the river will probably be crowded with them." He looked at me and smiled, "Sure, I want one!"
