Kobe Bryant is Dead

[Apparition of Jack]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

Ugh...

I have always hated helicopters. They are too gimmicky. Could fall out of the sky at any moment.

Quite tragic. He will go down as one of the greats.

Note to all aspiring rich people: when you get rich, don't buy a helicopter.

But I guess lots of people die in cars too. But in a helicopter if that engine goes out, you're truly fucked. There's no gliding your way down.

Something I had never consciously considered, but now makes sense that I’m aware of it. Thanks for the advice.

My heart goes out to Kobe, his daughter, his family and everyone else affected. A sad time for everyone  

[Chumbimba]

I remember playing  basketball in High school and trying to recreate his moves but epically failing lol.

one of the greatest to play the game no doubt. It’s hard for me to stomach that he is actually gone.

[Leo Gura]

Good video

I didn't know helicopters cannot hover without a visual reference point. That makes them even more dangerous than I thought.

[hyruga]

Helicopters are too susceptible to weather conditions.

And there are also too many moving parts leading to wear and tear. Only 1 engine as opposed to some airplanes having 2 or more engines.

Pilots also may like to switch around with controls or go around obstacles, leading to unsafe positions.

It's too dangerous.

[Leo Gura]

10 minutes ago, hyruga said:

Only 1 engine

Seems like that Sikorsky S-76B has two engines.

But even so, if the upper mechanism breaks I'm guessing that second engine won't do much good.

Such a freak accident this was.

[Romer02]

There's a video of him going around that he says something along the lines of "life is too short to be bogged down". It was cool listening to it because it gave me a small insight on how when things do seem to bog down, its just an illusion. We just gotta keep going and be thankful we're alive. 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Romer02

[Pilgrimage of Self]

So sad....Im shook by the news.. Loved and respected him dearly. He will always be an inspiration to me. When I think of "greatness", hard work, discipline and just the will to just fucking win,no matter what... his name is one of the first ones that come to mind.

I was doing the exercise from Leo's contemplating death video all throughout this week and this news just made me think about my death even more. We should all be doing that way...way more often. One of the realizations I had is that.... life is too short to live for comfort, too short to half ass... too short to fall prey to our fears... and too short to be lazy. Our time can come at any moment and when it does? What do you have to show for it? What do you have to actually be proud of? I dont fucking have basically anything. So that has to change. That is for sure.

And remember guys and gals, this "realization" will pass too... this momentary "awareness" and self reflection will pass too and we will fall right back asleep and into our comfort zones and daily routine. IT WILL HAPPEN. So start taking action TODAY and keep taking action and building HABITS. 

Because it is easy to feel emotional and inspired at moments like these...but these too will pass and the brutal, day-to-day boring reality of your life is just around the corner, ready to slap you in the face and ask you how much you REALLY want to live the "good life" and what are you willing to "sacrifice for it"...

So if we all want to honor Kobe and start and to keep living a life of greatness.. a life with the "mamba mentality".. we must start taking ACTION, KEEP taking action and NEVER stop and ATTACK shit.

Because our time is coming...and its so easy to  lose perspective...

[Michael569]

damn.......I recall playing NBA on PS2, Kobe would always be one of my favourites chaps. Him and Lebrone. 

Life is fleeting and uncertain. One day you could be on the top of your game and the next minute everything is taken from you. He lived life to the fullest doing what he loved and doing what he did best bringing joy and tears to millions of people across the world. This tragic event will put him in the hall of fame next to Michael Jordan for many decades to come. 

[Shiva99]

12 hours ago, Bill W said:

I'm not sure thinking of your death and thinking about it often will get us anywhere though. I like the rest of your post. 

Oh yes, it does tremendously. Leo has a good vid on it:

 

[TRUTHWITHCAPITALT]

Very tragic way to exit.

 

 

[Commodent]

May he rest in peace. I didn't know him all that well but he seemed like a great man.

[Forestluv]

Below is an essay written by a helicopter trained in poor-weather. He seems to have a lot of knowledge and experience. He integrated all the facts so far with his personal experience to create a plausible story of what may have happened. In particular, I find the end of the story very interesting. To me, there are aspects of self actualization.

A brief summary:

-- Shortly after takeoff, there was a thin haze and the pilot decided to fly under "Visual Flight Rules" (VFR). This means the pilot must fly under the dense fog/cloud layer. The alternative was to fly via "Instrumental Flight Rules" (IFR). This would have been the safer route, however the downside is that it takes a lot longer. The pilot must wait for controller instructions. The instructions may create much longer circuitous routes. And they have had to wait in line to proceed. Kobe Bryant's notoriety is a nonfactor for waiting times. The waits and circuitous route can add hours to a trip - it is unknown how much of a delay there would be. So, there was an early decision waying risk and reward. At the start of the trip, there was a thin layer of haze, so the risk may have seemed small and they decided to go VFR rather than deal with unknown delays with IFR. As well, if the conditions worsened (which they did), the pilot can fly very low along highways that cut through mountainous territory.

-- As conditions worsened. The pilot flew very low along highways. The highways are in valleys between rising hills and mountains. So the pilot can fly low along a highway and they are safe, even if he can't see rising hills/mountains flanking the highway. 

-- There were two small airport spaces, they had to wait for clearance. I find it interesting that the air traffic controllers did not tell the helicopter pilot to land. I don't know air traffic control regulations and who has authority. Perhaps the air traffic controllers did not have authority to tell the pilot to land. Alternatively, the conditions around the airport were not not bad, and the helicopter later encountered a small niche of very bad conditions.

-- They got within 15 miles of the destination, yet they needed to veer off the highway. The two main factors are: 1) they had to leave the underlying highway that they were using as a reference point. As long as they flew along the highway, they were safe and 2) they entered a pocket of low dense fog. The pilot likely knew that there were hills/mountains rising around him, that he could not longer see. He gained elevation, yet by doing so he lost his reference point. This is the most interesting part to me: without his visual reference point, they enter a "groundless" state. Not groundless in the sense of being in the air. Groundless in the sense of no reference point. . . They were now in a groundless Nothing. They couldn't orient/ground themselves in reality. The pilot knows hills/mountains are around yet is in groundless Nothingness. . . . A pilot may feel like they are veering left, or right. Or the pilot may feel like they are rapidly gaining altitude. This can lead to anxiety and panic, even in a trained pilot. . . The pilot veered to the left and made a rapid decent. The author speculates that the pilot panic and needed a reference point. Fearing a mountain ahead, or wanting to circle back to retreat, he may have veered left and down. . . He flew into a hill/mountainside. . . The author wrote that the pilot could have vertical descended, yet due to instrument malfunction or panic took a rapid left word decline.

I don't have this type of helicopter direct experience, yet it sound eerily similar to the groundless state entered with psychedelics. And how the human responds: there can be an intense anxiety/panic with an intense desire to get out of the groundless state of nothing/not knowing - and to desperately grasp for a point of reference to give a sense of grounding in reality.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/01/kobe-bryants-helicopter-likely-succumbed-to-common-danger.html

 

[hyruga]

16 hours ago, TRUTHWITHCAPITALT said:

Very tragic way to exit.

 

 

Yeah considering how healthy Kobe is, he can easily live double this age...and outlive most of you.

[BigDogRaven]

On 1/27/2020 at 1:50 AM, Pilgrimage of Self said:

slap you in the face and ask you how much you REALLY want to live the "good life" and what are you willing to "sacrifice for it"...

Such a great line here. Yes, this is my first post. I put this in my collection of quotes. Thank you. Very sad story about Kobe, lots for all of us to reflect upon.

[purerogue]

2 minutes ago, Keyhole said:

I wonder why we all care so much about this one famous person and yet not the millions of others dying from things that are just as horrible?
Humans are such shallow creatures.

I was to say the same! Really pathetic! 

[Bill W]

5 minutes ago, Keyhole said:

I wonder why we all care so much about this one famous person and yet not the millions of others dying from things that are just as horrible?
Humans are such shallow creatures.

I wanted to say this as well but didn't have the guts so fair play to you Keyhole

[hyruga]

8 minutes ago, Keyhole said:

I wonder why we all care so much about this one famous person and yet not the millions of others dying from things that are just as horrible?
Humans are such shallow creatures.

Because Kobe is not just famous, he's also a great leader and more. 

Nobody talk about the Wuhan Virus here even though more than a 100 died because you dunno any of them. (Part of the reasons)

[tsuki]

On 27.01.2020 at 4:07 AM, Leo Gura said:

But I guess lots of people die in cars too. But in a helicopter if that engine goes out, you're truly fucked. There's no gliding your way down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation

[Leo Gura]

39 minutes ago, Keyhole said:

I wonder why we all care so much about this one famous person and yet not the millions of others dying from things that are just as horrible?
Humans are such shallow creatures.

Because compassion. Compassion is never mandatory, but if you are conscious, it naturally comes when you see tragedy.

It's hard to care about millions of people who you don't even know exist.

But of course in the absolute sense Kobe's life was no more important than an ant's. But humans are self-biased creatures. And killing a queen ant has an outsized impact on the other ants.

If you think about it objectively, it really is amazing that Kobe got so famous and rich for throwing balls into baskets. That says a lot about what humanity values and our level of development. People don't like to question the obvious.

[Commodent]

31 minutes ago, Keyhole said:

I wonder why we all care so much about this one famous person and yet not the millions of others dying from things that are just as horrible?
Humans are such shallow creatures.

He has inspired millions of people. I don't see any problem in honoring that.