Tightrope walking

Slackliner Nathan Paulin drew applause from a watching crowd in Paris as he completed a 600-meter crossing on Sept. 18 from the Eiffel Tower to the other side of the river Seine.

Paulin, 27, moved along the slackline suspended 70 meters above the ground, at one point sitting and lying on the rope before arriving at the Chaillot Theatre at the end of the half-hour performance.

Nothing is easy in this country - especially if it involves change. It's like a film on a never-ending loop. So many serious and chronic problems have built up over the decades that anyone trying to reform any sector has to walk a tightrope. If they're bold and committed to shaking things up, they risk being pushed off the rope.

Daredevil Nik Wallenda wowed the world with back-to-back walks on a tightrope between Chicago skyscrapers without a safety net or a harness, performing one of them blindfolded, as a crowd gasped and cheered.
     
"I feel incredible," Wallenda said at a news conference afterward Sunday night.