Humans Are Amazing

[Eva2]

An "extreme" driver and maybe a special kind of crazy!

https://www.facebook.com/FlipRadio/v...7384515813895/

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
An amazing survival story, from 1971. This is 17-year old Juliane Koepcke. Her wiki page is here.



You don't have to look too far here to see that this is one tough kid. And so she was.

She and her mother were in a plane that disintegrated over Peru after the fuel tank was struck by lightning. As the plane broke into pieces she was hurtled out into space, still strapped to her seat.

She fell through the air over 3000 meters (10,000 ft) — and landed in the Amazon jungle with a broken collarbone, her right eye swollen shut, deep cuts in her arms and legs (one of which became infested with maggots), and a torn knee ligament. But she could still walk.

She made her way to the remains of the crashed plane, where she saw (a) she was the only survivor (her mother had been killed), and (b) discovered a little candy to eat. She poured gasoline into her wound to kill the maggots, and then found a tiny creek which she followed downstream knowing that she'd eventually find a big river and the possibility of other humans.

She survived on her own for 10 days, starving and exhausted, until she found a little boat and a hut by the river. She rested there, and the next day some Peruvian lumberjacks found her and brought her to the nearest small town.

She became known as "the miracle girl", and was hounded by Peruvian media, receiving hundreds of letters from people she had never met before. "It was so strange," she said, smiling. "Some of the letters were simply addressed 'Juliane -- Peru' but they still all found their way to me."

~~~

Bumping this post (and this thread) with another quite amazing story. Astonishingly, one of the surviving children was just 4 years old, another a baby less than a year old — both well-taken care of by the other two.

A memorable quote:

“They achieved an example of total survival that will go down in history.”

https://explorersweb.com/children-su...lombian-jungle

Children Survive 40 Days in Colombian Jungle


Rescue workers and the Colombian children rescued from the jungle

On May 1, a Cessna 206 went down in the Colombian jungle because of a mechanical failure. The crash killed the three adults onboard, but four children, aged 13, 9, 4, and 11 months, miraculously survived. By the time rescuers arrived at the crash site, the children had moved off into the jungle, triggering a massive search operation. After 40 days, rescuers found all four alive.

The children had been traveling with their mother and an indigenous leader from their Huitoto community when the pilot reported engine failure en route to the town of San Jose del Guaviare. Soon after, a search operation involving the Colombian airforce, dog teams, local indigenous peoples, the military, and civilian organizations began to scour the jungle. Assorted belongings and footprints provided hope that the children were alive.

Second time is the charm

The search dominated headlines in Colombian and took another dramatic twist seventeen days in. On May 17, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced the children had been rescued, only to walk back his comments the next day.

“I have decided to delete this tweet because the information provided…could not be confirmed,” Petro wrote on Twitter shortly after removing his original message. Indeed, the information proved to be wrong and the search continued for 23 more days.

This time, photographs of the children confirm the news, though it remains unclear exactly how and where rescuers found them. “They achieved an example of total survival that will go down in history,” Petro proclaimed at a news conference yesterday.

The Colombian Defence Ministry has stated that the children are weak but stable and likely survived thanks to their “knowledge from their indigenous families, their knowledge on how to live in the jungle.”

[ExomatrixTV]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
...

• Juliane Koepcke and the LANSA Disaster | A Short Documentary:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RUeIE30SrD4

"On the 24th of December, 1971, LANSA Flight 508 was flying from Lima to Pucallpa, Peru when it encountered a storm and was struck by lightning..."

• 00:00 - Intro
• 00:35 - Background
  
• 02:58 - The LANSA Disaster
• 07:26 - The Aftermath

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
Bumping this post (and this thread) with another quite amazing story. Astonishingly, one of the surviving children was just 4 years old, another a baby less than a year old — both well-taken care of by the other two.

A memorable quote:

“They achieved an example of total survival that will go down in history.”

https://explorersweb.com/children-su...lombian-jungle

Children Survive 40 Days in Colombian Jungle


Rescue workers and the Colombian children rescued from the jungle

On May 1, a Cessna 206 went down in the Colombian jungle because of a mechanical failure. The crash killed the three adults onboard, but four children, aged 13, 9, 4, and 11 months, miraculously survived. By the time rescuers arrived at the crash site, the children had moved off into the jungle, triggering a massive search operation. After 40 days, rescuers found all four alive.

The children had been traveling with their mother and an indigenous leader from their Huitoto community when the pilot reported engine failure en route to the town of San Jose del Guaviare. Soon after, a search operation involving the Colombian airforce, dog teams, local indigenous peoples, the military, and civilian organizations began to scour the jungle. Assorted belongings and footprints provided hope that the children were alive.

Second time is the charm

The search dominated headlines in Colombian and took another dramatic twist seventeen days in. On May 17, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced the children had been rescued, only to walk back his comments the next day.

“I have decided to delete this tweet because the information provided…could not be confirmed,” Petro wrote on Twitter shortly after removing his original message. Indeed, the information proved to be wrong and the search continued for 23 more days.

This time, photographs of the children confirm the news, though it remains unclear exactly how and where rescuers found them. “They achieved an example of total survival that will go down in history,” Petro proclaimed at a news conference yesterday.

The Colombian Defence Ministry has stated that the children are weak but stable and likely survived thanks to their “knowledge from their indigenous families, their knowledge on how to live in the jungle.”

~~~

More on this incredible story:

https://bbc.com/news/in-pictures-65864784

Colombia plane crash: The clues that helped find the children


Four children have been found alive in Colombia's Amazon jungle more than a month after the plane they were travelling on crashed.

The siblings - aged between one and 13 years old - spent weeks fending for themselves after their mother, and the other adults on the light aircraft died at the crash site.

Rescuers initially feared the worst, but clues including foot prints and partially eaten wild fruit gave them hope that the children might still be alive after they left the crash site looking for help.




The dense jungle where the plane crashed is home to jaguars, snakes and a variety of other predators


Clues such as footprints suggested to rescuers that the children were still alive in the jungle after surviving the impact of the crash




The remnants of a makeshift shelter, as well as a pair of scissors and a hair tie, were among the first items to be found during search efforts


Wild fruit which appeared to have been bitten into also suggested to search teams that the children might still be alive - and fending for themselves


Members of the Huitoto indigenous group hoped that the siblings' knowledge of wild fruits would have given them a better chance of surviving in the inhospitable environment


Pictures from the scene of the rescue showed several adults, some dressed in military fatigues, tending to the children as they sat on tarps in the jungle.

[Bill Ryan]

A terrific story, several years old, but which I've only just learned about. This is Harrison Okene, who miraculously survived being trapped 100 feet underwater in an air bubble in his sunken tugboat for 60 hours. He was the ship's cook.

He survived unharmed, but was traumatized with repeating nightmares and swore he'd never go near the ocean again. But now he's become a rescue diver.

Harrison Okene, the Accidental Aquanaut

This is a short real-time video, with real-time communication with the surface, of when his rescuer saw that he was somehow still alive. You can hear his shocked reaction 50 seconds in, and you can see Harrison in his air bubble towards the end of the video. Years later, barely anyone can believe it.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4hrLJyeuQp8

https://explorersweb.com/update-harr...ental-aquanaut

It was an astonishing survival tale. Okene was a cook on a fishing boat off the Nigerian coast, when the craft sank. The others on the boat perished, but Okene managed to find a bubble of air in the sunken boat. There he sat, for over two days in the dark, until divers came to retrieve the bodies. They were astonished when this ghostly figure reached out and touched one of them. He was alive. They brought him slowly and carefully to the surface. Harrison Okene had just weathered an astonishing ordeal.

This was 10 years ago. What has happened to Okene since then?

For years, he relived his time beneath the ocean through recurring nightmares. “When he is sleeping, he has that shock, he will just wake up in the night saying ‘Honey see, the bed is sinking, we are in the sea,’ ” says his wife.

Too afraid to return to the ocean, the former cook on a fishing boat took a chef’s job on dry land. But he was unable to put the event behind him. So he decided to face his fear head-on.

Harrison becomes a rescue diver

In 2015, he returned to the ocean. This time, to become a qualified diver.

It wasn’t a hobby that Okene wanted. Rather, he was motivated to become a rescue diver, to save the lives of others who found themselves in desperate straits underwater, as he had been.

Now Okene is an IMCA Class 2 Commercial Air Diver. His Facebook page has become an unofficial search and rescue tribute feed. Here, he expresses passionately how he wishes for changes in safety at sea. His YouTube channel has nearly 5,000 subscribers.

Some people in those emergency situations survive. But it’s those who don’t who leave the deepest mark on Okene’s conscience.

Many journalists have reached out to Okene since his rescue. Discovery Channel made a short documentary about him.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6d1qyiDtRpU

[Ewan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
A terrific story, several years old, but which I've only just learned about. This is Harrison Okene, who miraculously survived being trapped 100 feet underwater in an air bubble in his sunken tugboat for 60 hours. He was the ship's cook.

He survived unharmed, but was traumatized with repeating nightmares and swore he'd never go near the ocean again. But now he's become a rescue diver.

Personally astonished by the fact there was enough oxygen in that space for 60 hrs, every inhalation and exhalation changed the ratio of gasses in the volume available.

Miraculous?

[Matthew]

A medley of amazing human acrobatic feats and other human awesomeness:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=JnROdOnr5_s

[grapevine]

Amazing and heart-warming story of a young man overcoming his stammer

Musharaf Finds His Voice

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=NFCHbX2jAGI

(5 minutes)

Stammering student to public speaker

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FzTFbB6BHPc

(10:16 minutes)

[grapevine]

Lars Andersen: A new level of archery

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BEG-ly9tQGk

5.51 mins

Amazing skills from a Master Bowman. Lars Andersen (born 8 November 1964) is a Danish painter and archer. Claiming to hold a world record for speed, he is able to shoot 10 arrows in 4.9 seconds, or 3 arrows in 0.6 seconds. A private student of Otto Frello, Andersen graduated from School of Visual Art. He describes himself as a Danish painter and writer.

Below are the notes accompanying this very watchable video which you may find interesting:

"The ultimate archery trick. Proving that Hollywood archery is not historical.

It is not possible to tell the whole story about archery in a 5 minute video so this video is definitely not the whole truth! Historic archery is a lot of different methods and much is forgotten but archery can be much more than we usually think!

THE BACK QUIVER
Hollywood of course did not invent the back quiver, but they spread the myth it was proper archery! Many asked why I do not use a back quiver and that is why I am showing my own experience, how bad it is in motion. There are many different historical variations of back quiver and they have of course been used, but presumably belt quiver was more common and some archers did not use quiver.

HISTORIC ARCHERS HAD THE ARROWS RIGHT AROUND THE BOW
Of course not all not all. Someone had the arrow left around the bow, but many historical archers had the arrow right around, also archers in Europe

TARGET PLATES
Past archers obvious used fixed targets, but not the modern round divided two dimensional.

THE THREE LEVELS OF ARROW HANDLING
It is obvious much more complicated, We cannot know what the first archers did, some of the earliest pictures show arrows in the bow hand, but the arrow is much older than the bow so the quiver may be used and it is impossible entirely exclude that the first archer held his shafts in the draw hand. In some parts of history is progress gone in the 3 levels, but other times the opposite has happened. Some archers are gone from arrows in the draw hand to the advanced rapid fire quiver that was developed just before war archery disappeared.

TRICK ARCHERY IS HISTORICAL ARCHERY
Training tricks was an integral part of several historical traditions

HISTORIC ARCHERS SHOT FAST
There are a lot of historical descriptions of archers that shoot fast and that archers were rejected because you were not fast enough.

DO I HIT EVERYHING?
I use a LOT of time practicing, and every time I set out to learn a new skill, a new trick or how to handle a new type of bow or arrow, it takes a long time, with plenty of misses. When I got the idea of grabbing an arrow in flight and firing before I landed, it took me months to learn. For a long time, arrows flew everywhere! But there's no trick in the video that I haven't done many times (except for splitting the arrow in flight – after I'd done that once I finished the video). The one with hitting the blade I've only done three times, though. All that running hurt my knees. ;-)

ON MY BOWS AND POWER
I'm 50 years old (at the time of the video), and have been doing archery for only ten years. I'll never be able to shoot really fast with 100 lbs+ war bows. I tried, but it just produced injuries. Had I started at age 10, it would have been a different story. ;-)
Bows were not always shoot against plate armour (as at Crecy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415). This was very much the exception. Many opponents had little or no armour at all, and Stone Age findings show that many animals were taken down by multiple shots. Also, in 1923 Saxton T Pope examined a number of historical museum bows from around the world. His conclusion was that most only had a tensile strength of 45-50 pounds. The fast shooting methods I use are described in war manuals and are intended to be performed with war bows

THE CHAINMAIL TEST
Around 04:22 I penetrate chainmail. The arrows had bodkin tips, and the chainmail is riveted. However, while the gambeson is thick, it's not as thick as some I've seen elsewhere. But one reason the arrows penetrate is that I sharpen not only the tip itself, but also the edges of the bodkin tip.

HIT AN INCOMING ARROW!
You don't have time to aim or think, but can only do it if your reactions are completely instinctive. First of all, you need to be convinced that you WILL hit it, so you can “feel” the incoming arrow and fire at it instead of just flinching away.
I was also in doubt whether it was smart to show this, because I don't want anyone to get hurt trying to copy the trick. I trained for years with soft boffer arrows and spent a LONG time before I tried it even the first time. And the arrow shoot at me was not shoot with a very powerful bow, though it was definitely dangerous enough!

I didn't think it was possible to split an arrow! It was a light bamboo arrow with a metal tip, and the arrow I shot back was a heavier aluminium arrow. That the arrow split was just pure luck, and I'm not certain I could repeat it without first training for a long time."

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Miller (here)
Lars Andersen: A new level of archery

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BEG-ly9tQGk

5.51 mins

Amazing skills from a Master Bowman. Lars Andersen (born 8 November 1964) is a Danish painter and archer. Claiming to hold a world record for speed, he is able to shoot 10 arrows in 4.9 seconds, or 3 arrows in 0.6 seconds. A private student of Otto Frello, Andersen graduated from School of Visual Art. He describes himself as a Danish painter and writer.

Below are the notes accompanying this very watchable video which you may find interesting:

"The ultimate archery trick. Proving that Hollywood archery is not historical.

It is not possible to tell the whole story about archery in a 5 minute video so this video is definitely not the whole truth! Historic archery is a lot of different methods and much is forgotten but archery can be much more than we usually think!

THE BACK QUIVER
Hollywood of course did not invent the back quiver, but they spread the myth it was proper archery! Many asked why I do not use a back quiver and that is why I am showing my own experience, how bad it is in motion. There are many different historical variations of back quiver and they have of course been used, but presumably belt quiver was more common and some archers did not use quiver.

HISTORIC ARCHERS HAD THE ARROWS RIGHT AROUND THE BOW
Of course not all not all. Someone had the arrow left around the bow, but many historical archers had the arrow right around, also archers in Europe

TARGET PLATES
Past archers obvious used fixed targets, but not the modern round divided two dimensional.

THE THREE LEVELS OF ARROW HANDLING
It is obvious much more complicated, We cannot know what the first archers did, some of the earliest pictures show arrows in the bow hand, but the arrow is much older than the bow so the quiver may be used and it is impossible entirely exclude that the first archer held his shafts in the draw hand. In some parts of history is progress gone in the 3 levels, but other times the opposite has happened. Some archers are gone from arrows in the draw hand to the advanced rapid fire quiver that was developed just before war archery disappeared.

TRICK ARCHERY IS HISTORICAL ARCHERY
Training tricks was an integral part of several historical traditions

HISTORIC ARCHERS SHOT FAST
There are a lot of historical descriptions of archers that shoot fast and that archers were rejected because you were not fast enough.

DO I HIT EVERYHING?
I use a LOT of time practicing, and every time I set out to learn a new skill, a new trick or how to handle a new type of bow or arrow, it takes a long time, with plenty of misses. When I got the idea of grabbing an arrow in flight and firing before I landed, it took me months to learn. For a long time, arrows flew everywhere! But there's no trick in the video that I haven't done many times (except for splitting the arrow in flight – after I'd done that once I finished the video). The one with hitting the blade I've only done three times, though. All that running hurt my knees. ;-)

ON MY BOWS AND POWER
I'm 50 years old (at the time of the video), and have been doing archery for only ten years. I'll never be able to shoot really fast with 100 lbs+ war bows. I tried, but it just produced injuries. Had I started at age 10, it would have been a different story. ;-)
Bows were not always shoot against plate armour (as at Crecy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415). This was very much the exception. Many opponents had little or no armour at all, and Stone Age findings show that many animals were taken down by multiple shots. Also, in 1923 Saxton T Pope examined a number of historical museum bows from around the world. His conclusion was that most only had a tensile strength of 45-50 pounds. The fast shooting methods I use are described in war manuals and are intended to be performed with war bows

THE CHAINMAIL TEST
Around 04:22 I penetrate chainmail. The arrows had bodkin tips, and the chainmail is riveted. However, while the gambeson is thick, it's not as thick as some I've seen elsewhere. But one reason the arrows penetrate is that I sharpen not only the tip itself, but also the edges of the bodkin tip.

HIT AN INCOMING ARROW!
You don't have time to aim or think, but can only do it if your reactions are completely instinctive. First of all, you need to be convinced that you WILL hit it, so you can “feel” the incoming arrow and fire at it instead of just flinching away.
I was also in doubt whether it was smart to show this, because I don't want anyone to get hurt trying to copy the trick. I trained for years with soft boffer arrows and spent a LONG time before I tried it even the first time. And the arrow shoot at me was not shoot with a very powerful bow, though it was definitely dangerous enough!

I didn't think it was possible to split an arrow! It was a light bamboo arrow with a metal tip, and the arrow I shot back was a heavier aluminium arrow. That the arrow split was just pure luck, and I'm not certain I could repeat it without first training for a long time."

~~~

Many thanks, and this absolutely belongs on this thread. The video has to be seen to be believed, and it's all totally real.

For those who'd like to know more, we do have this thread from quite a few years ago:

• Lars Andersen: A New Level of Archery

[grapevine]

Thanks Bill, and I will definitely head over to the highlighted thread. There are other, more current, videos on Lars Anderson but the above captured all his skill in one which wasn't over long. We might need these skills before we're done, although he admits it's taken him years of practice to perfect.

[gini]

I watched this for the second time ,and dont remember or know if this was posted somewhere already,but i think it fits here .. tragic but beautyful story.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Jw7T3AgcXvs

--21 min-- 8 Jan 2023
'In this week's episode of Minutes With we sat down with Marina Chapman. Marina told us how she was kidnapped at 4 years old from her home village in rural Colombia, how she was left in the jungle and had to learn to survive and communicate with the monkeys who lived there and how after several years in the jungle she was eventually taken back to the civilisation...'

[grapevine]

Miyoko Shida Rigolo

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jSDGaQO4ssk

Amazing display of balancing a feather on multiple sticks, especially the ending . . .

[jaybee]

Posted by Miller (here)
Miyoko Shida Rigolo

Amazing display of balancing a feather on multiple sticks, especially the ending . . .

Yes amazing and mesmerizing - I don't think I will ever forget it - the quiet power, balance and focus was incredible...

cheers

[grapevine]

The Tango

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tir5_m6E4lc

(4:50)

Leslie Caron introduces the stunning Live Performance of Carlos Gavito & Marcela Duran at the Boston Symphony Hall in 1998. I've watched this many times over the years and never tire of its sensual and riveting brilliance. If you enjoy dance you will love this. . .

[grapevine]

The inspiring journey of Paul Alexander, the Texas man who lived in an iron lung for over 70 years

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=E0onqfBjgkU

(2:21)
"Paul Alexander, the man who survived seven decades in an iron lung, has died. A 1952 polio outbreak in Dallas, Texas, struck Alexander, who was only 6 years old at the time. The disease left him paralyzed from the neck down, and unable to breathe on his own. The solution to keep him alive was the iron lung. Alexander went on to become a lawyer and an author. In March, the Guinness World Records declared Alexander to be the longest-living iron lung patient in history."

Remarkable to have lived such an extraordinary life under such circumstances.

[Tintin]

(Please do ignore the Britney stuff!)

I've seen this terrific judge in other videos - he's a genuinely kind man

Source: https://twitter.com/DesiSanatani/sta...84574715904356

[grapevine]

Paul Robeson - Bigger than the Beatles in his day

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WPrbUGZ0Nbw

(2:03)
"Paul Robeson was the original ‘Voice of God’. He was an actor, a writer, a multi-linguist, who was also a powerful advocate for peace. Reason enough for white America to destroy him."

Until listening to George's video above, I had no idea how multi-talented Paul Robson was and associated him only with the song "Old Man River", and so I feel he deserves a post on this thread acknowledging his wider and amazing attributes.

Apart from possessing a wonderful rich bass voice Robeson was also a
- Passionate civil rights activist and advocate for social justice, particularly anti-colonial movements. He was deeply committed to international solidarity and unity among oppressed peoples worldwide and travelled extensively throughout the world
- Highly acclaimed Shakespearean actor as well as his roles on the big screen
- Brilliant valedictorian scholar, proficient in several languages including Russian, Chinese and several African languages
- Stand-out athlete excelling in football (played in the National Football League) and basketball.

Paul's fall from grace came from his socialist beliefs (the McCarthy Era and Red Scare). He nevertheless he continued to speak his truth but as a consequence his passport was revoked in 1950 and his character smeared and he became viewed as subversive and unpatriotic.

[Kryztian]

An amazing and heroic rescue of a man in a burning car.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=gBxpVFPjpDA

[grapevine]

The Secret of Carlos Castaneda 2018

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dssxleeIYgs

(1:14:26)
"Carlos Castaneda (1925-1998) is often called the "godfather" of the human potential movement. His name and life are surrounded by many contradictions, fictions and legends. This film feature Castaneda's closest apprentices as well as major experts in modern spiritually oriented psychology who lift the veil on the greatest mystery of his life: the stormy search of how to become real."

A collection of interesting anecdotes from people who knew him which, although an hour and a quarter long, is still good to dip in and out of.