Now Playing Tracks

Felix Baumgartner's fall from 127.500 ft, the new world record

Felix Baumgartner ascended to ~127.500 ft yesterday in a successful attempt to break the world record for the highest free-fall. His free-fall from the Stratosphere was broadcast live via television and Youtube with the capacities of video recording from inside the control room in texas, and from within the pod Baumgartner ascended. Additional cameras on his suit were activated by Baumgartner just before he started his descend and had not been released. BBC will be releasing a documentary of this endeavor in about one month. The Main sponsor of the event is Red Bull.

This is a first ever look at the view from one of the cameras on Baumgartner’s suit. It has been copied and several copies have been uploaded to Youtube, however they disappear rapidly. Probably due to copyright reasons. 

Watching this gave me mixed feelings; on the one hand I questioned whether the feeling I felt was close to what people felt when they watched the NASA Moonlanding, I rejoiced in the age I am able to experience this as I was privy to a lot of information simultaneuosly, including other people’s comments  (ranging from well informed to “trollish”). O the other hand I was extremely aware of a sponsored event ( I didn’t fail command Zenith for grabbing the central spot in the frame which showed the pod all the way up to 127.500 ft; Zenith did not need the annoucer to announce their name every five minutes ) where the notion that this event, while very systematically executed with scientific attention to each detail, was really a show of how red bull doesgive you “wings” if that’s what you need. 

Then the next day, if you want to take a closer look at the wings, they’re taken away faster than you can track them. Then we are left to ponder what the priority is in this experience: Collective knowledge? Or A show of capacity and a reminder of who made it happen?  

We live in a very complex age, but one thing is clear, we progress in any way we can; and strive to observe our progress when it is brought our attention even in the face of obstruction.  

internetassociation:

Can you guess which Youtube users we highlighted at 0:20? Take a guess and then scroll over their icons to see if you were right. What did you think of our launch video? We want to know: What’s your favorite online video?


An example of raising public awareness: utilizing short video sequence that was uploaded Youtube, being shared via Tumblr, and including a bit of play in the explanation.

To Tumblr, Love Pixel Union