In 1960, Joe Kittinger took a helium balloon up to 103,000 feet ... and jumped out. The mind boggles. Watch it on youtube.
First: Kittinger was the first man in space. This is interesting from a vagueness perspective. "In space" turns out to be a vague predicate. As I've argued elsewhere, because "in space"" is vague, there are multiple men who were the first.
Second: getting a PhD in logic, hoping for and applying for jobs, has felt like jumping from the edge of space. It was a stupid thing to do, it shouldn't have worked out ... but I've landed safely.
I've just accepted a permanent position at the University of Otago, to start next year.
All of us who are jumping: it feels like an insane thing to do. It is. And not every parachute will open. I can only thank my lucky stars to have reached the ground alive.
