The climbing is the least impressive part of what this couple does.
Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus reached the top of the Empire State Building yesterday, dropped a peace banner at 1,454 feet, got engaged on the spire, and climbed down into NYPD custody. Netflix profiled them in the 2024 documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story. She's a former gymnast and the daughter of circus performers. Together they've scaled towers on four continents, including Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, the world's second tallest building at 2,227 feet.
The documentary shows how they actually get up there. They pick locks. They ride staff elevators after learning those often lack cameras. On construction sites they dress as construction workers. In residential towers they dress like the residents. Before a climb they watch staff movements until they know the building's rhythm.
Yesterday's entry point, per the NYPD: a locked maintenance hatch on the 102nd floor observation deck. Investigators believe they studied employee patterns first.
Consider what they exposed. The Empire State Building runs metal detectors, bag checks, and cameras across one of the most watched square miles on the planet. Every layer of that system assumes an intruder wants to get inside and take something. Two people who only wanted to go up beat all of it with patience and a hatch.
Skyscraper security points down. Lobbies, offices, tenants, valuables. The vertical axis of nearly every tall building on earth is guarded by a padlock and an assumption.
The aftermath reveals the business model. They photographed the proposal and the ring themselves and posted before officers reached them. The building's own statement pivoted to advertising its observation deck as a proposal venue. Its social account joked about stealing the spotlight from Madison Square Garden's big wedding week. Eight charges, including burglary and reckless endangerment, and every party involved walked away with content.
They built a career on one insight: buildings defend everything except the way up.
@Tokyo_pi1 As someone who got burned in my first marriage, I saw a prenuptial with my husband now as a gift to him. And he did too Its an agreement that we won't (financially) hurt the other or their children
Sadly you are so right. My husband and I have 4 adult kids. Got each a car, offered free education for college or trade school. None of them wanted to go to school or do the hard work to become self sufficient. All of them are truggling financially and expecting us to just keep giving But I'm done. I love them but I won't enable them.
As a mother, my heart breaks for both families While I felt the sentencing was harsh, he needed to be held accountable and I think the sentence was so harsh because the family went on a press tour, made it political and about race and showed no remorse. That Karmelo's "supporters" including his parents walked out as soon as he was found guilty is heartbreaking. I pray he can turn his life around but I blame his parents
@GuntherEagleman People want to just do their work, get paid and go home. No one cares who you chose to fuck or how you fuck them. That this has been shoved down our throats at work, our kids school, etc is why there is so much homo/trans-phobia.
@SenWarren He earned it! How much does he invest back into society? How many jobs has he created? How many millionaires has he created? He's provided Starlink to people experiencing war. He's done more for Americans in a second than you have your entire life.
So itโs cultural appropriation if your four-year-old dresses like Moana for Halloween but not when this Latina chick cosplays as a Muslim during a religious event she doesnโt celebrate to score cheap political points
What are the facts? Was he losing viewers? Was the show reporting a profit loss? Why is it such a challenge to get simple facts about anything anymore so one can form their own conclusion? I used to watch him and thought he was funny, but I stopped watching the late night shows because it got more political and less funny.
I told you this would happen if you kept fucking with kids and women. Its the trans activism fault. How do I know.. 34 years transition and no one cared about us until you all started acting like a bunch of pussy ass crybaby misogynists. Now you will have to wear diapers so you donโt piss yourself.