> (Neon tubes, by the way, have an added risk of shattering inside the throat, with seriously disabling and sometimes fatal effects.)
I was lucky enough in my life to see someone do exactly this -- he even talked about how deadly it was before he did it. Though for his performance, he used a metal cage around the neon tube. It prevented the esophagus from breaking it, but still allowed the light to escape out.
He opened up his shirt and allowed for 30 seconds everyone to see the light emanating out of his chest cavity. It was a truly remarkable experience.
There’s a thing Penn and Teller talk about (in the nail gun routine) about how it is immoral for a trick to have any real danger as it makes the audience complicit in risk. This resonates with me considerably.
But then you move further from magic and closer to acrobatics and things like tightrope acts without nets have real danger.
The tube must have been made of glass, otherwise it could not keep the air out of the low-pressure interior.
However, you are right that a minimal precaution would be to wrap the tube in a transparent plastic film, preferably glued to the glass, in order to contain any broken shards.
> So gurgitators often "train" by chugging gallons of water in a short period of time to stretch the stomach, or eat huge amounts of cabbage (low-calorie, high-fiber) because it stays in the stomach longer before breaking down. Thats also why fatter isn't necessarily better. The prevailing theory is that excess fat pushes against the stomach and limits how much it can expand. So the best competitive eaters tend to be on the thinner side.
I would venture to guess a copious amount of drugs, boredom and wanting to show off or impress.
Sticks have been around very long time, swords millennia. And then we can think maybe some eat competition as well. Ending up with someone eating their sword or or just showing off by pushing it down the throat is probably inevitable.
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I was lucky enough in my life to see someone do exactly this -- he even talked about how deadly it was before he did it. Though for his performance, he used a metal cage around the neon tube. It prevented the esophagus from breaking it, but still allowed the light to escape out.
He opened up his shirt and allowed for 30 seconds everyone to see the light emanating out of his chest cavity. It was a truly remarkable experience.
I would not immediately believe a performer saying that. Saying something is extremely dangerous can be part of the performance.
In this case the tube may not have been made of glass, or there might have been a layer of plastic between the glass and the metal cage.
That wouldn’t make it zero risk, but certainly would have decreased the risk.
But then you move further from magic and closer to acrobatics and things like tightrope acts without nets have real danger.
However, you are right that a minimal precaution would be to wrap the tube in a transparent plastic film, preferably glued to the glass, in order to contain any broken shards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Rosling
https://youtu.be/TAMMPA4kg70?t=512
Never thought about this, but it makes sense!
Like who one day woke up and said I’ll try that…
Sticks have been around very long time, swords millennia. And then we can think maybe some eat competition as well. Ending up with someone eating their sword or or just showing off by pushing it down the throat is probably inevitable.
He has now won the Hotdog Eating Championship fifteen times in total.
The web was so much easier back then.
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8244765>
(Edit) And: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30400761>