Yes, friends, it's MR. PUTTYFACE, that hapless test pilot
whose g-force test was shown to schoolchildren around the country
many years ago, (why, we could never really fathom.)
Mr. P. terrified us as children, we believe because it showed a transformation from normal human to monster creature without so much as a camera cut. We did not understand g-forces then, nor do we now, really, but we understand terror quite well - that aspect of our education was well-covered.
But while this is what did come to mind, when we watched Dan clinging to the pole, it is not really what we were seeing.
What we saw that night was an obsolete, out-of-touch, overpaid
newsman clinging desperately to former glory, and an
equally obsolete news organization clinging to the notion that
it served a purpose in the world. Sorry.
Mr. Puttyface enjoys one advantage over Gunga Dan, and one over us, as well. Presumably, pulling Mr.P.'s face off served a purpose, that of filling in the blank in aeronautical science labeled: "Just how much force does it take to pull off a human face ?" That is clearly something modern science needed to know. Dan's revelation was notably less illuminating: wind blows.
Our pilot's advantage over us is his goggles, firmly applied to keep his poor eyes in their sockets, one gathers. Simlilar eyewear might well be kept handy in the television viewing areas of our homes, to protect our minds from the false bravado of aging anchors.
