Crazy Awesome/Real Life: Difference between revisions

* Canadian [[wikipedia:Gilles Villeneuve|Gilles Villenueve]] was the embodiment of this trope in racing driver form. Why? Look [http://youtu.be/9SmrV-FFC1w here] & [http://youtu.be/cnpf_9bAUu8 here] and deny it.

* French climber [[wikipedia:Alain robert|Alain Robert]] climbs tall buildings as a hobby, including most of the world's tallest high rises. Without any safety whatsoever. He's regularly arrested as a result of his antics. The most incredible thing is that the man suffers from permanent vertigo. A condition he got as a teenager, by falling from a height of 15 meters and surviving. Twice in the same year.

{{quote|48. I may not use public masturbation as a tool to demonstrate a flaw in a command decision.

58. The following words and phrases may not be used in a cadence—Budding sexuality, necrophilia, I hate everyone in this formation and wish they were dead, sexual lubrication, black earth mother, all Marines are latent homosexuals, Tantric yoga, Gotterdammerung, Korean hooker, Eskimo Nell, we've all got jackboots now, slut puppy, or any references to squid.

** One story is of him interviewing a potential Nuc officer by taking him to lunch, then telling him to leave about ten seconds after the food arrived. Why? Becuase the guy reached for the salt shaker before tasting his food to varify it need salt.

** To this day, Rickover remains the record-holder for longest time spent on active duty in the US military: over 60 years. And that "father of the nuclear Navy" bit? He did most of the work himself, while [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] after [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] stood in his way. As a boy, he quit his job in order to go talk to politicians and wound up going to the Naval Academy because of it, and thenceforth never let "rules" stand in his way.

* Chef Jose Andres, molecular gastronomist (think [[Mad Scientist]]/[[Mad Artist]] chef), known for [[Deconstructing]] food such as the "blasphemous" clam chowder (all the ingredients are more or less whole and separate, and the potato chowder is actually a foam).

** Along those lines: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSRbcqFS5Gw Heston Blumenthal]. His efforts include a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4HFu_bkUak bowl of fruit (where all the fruit is made of meat)], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwfpJJEkmjU Dormouse Lollipops] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc4B_LFF-DM Frog Blancmange]. And those aren't the weirdest ones...

* Edward Teach, better known as the pirate Blackbeard. He put ''smoldering coals'' in hs beard just to scare the living hell out of people. The man took 20 slashes, 4-6 gunshot wounds, and a decapitation to finally die, and when he did it's said his headless body started swimming circles around the ship.

** "Stuck lit matches under his hat" stunt, aside of intimidating look, was practical (if unsafe) in the era of black powder — readily available fire for cannons and grenade fuses. Another famous and practical (before invention of revolvers) quirk was wearing "three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters like bandoliers".

 

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