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Bad Weather Brings Down Lawn Chair Balloonists
Kent Couch and Fareed Lafta had their dreams of setting a world's record for the longest two-man cluster balloon flight dashed by bad weather and not kids with bb guns as you might expect. The men tied 350 balloons to lawn chairs and planned on flying from Bend, Oregon to Montana. The pair flew for about 30 minutes before having to land. From the article: "A post at the Facebook page for the project said wind had turned the balloonists around and pushed them back toward the town of Prineville, Oregon, and that thunderstorms heading toward the area were 'simply too much' for the balloons."
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2011/03/strange-planet-real-life-up-ho-1.html
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/upinspired-floating-house-14
It even had a real aviation tail number N878UP Experimental.
People who do this kind of stuff make me wonder whether or not evolution has even started happening yet.
They had parachutes, so to me it seems no more dangerous than sky diving.
My home state, filled with some of the most "interesting" people you might imagine, for better or worse.
Also home of the OSDL and OSCON, the largest naked bike ride, and gorgeous natural beauty.
A guy tried this before with weather balloons and got up to 16,000 ft. Apparently he crossed over into LAX's landing path and eventually landed on some power lines. He survived and was fined by the FAA.
Sure it is. I believe Larry Walters won a Darwin Award for his contribution to the genome by not procreating. With these guys, though, we may already be screwed...do they have kids yet?
wonder whether or not evolution has even started happening yet.
It's not as bad as the summary sounds. They had the rigs outfitted a little better than just an aluminum chair duct-taped to some ballon strings. Also, both of them had parachutes in case of emergency.
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One of them was an experienced skydiver, and they were doing it in part to raise funds for orphans in Iraq, so yeah, you kinda look like an ass making that comment now (no offense, I'm sure you didn't know that). And since you have a ton of balloons, it's actually less risky in a way than most lighter-than-air flight, since a few balloons bursting will mean a slow gentle fall, not a rapid descent. Obviously, you don't want to let go of all of them, but if you do, thats why you carry a parachute (which they were).
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
Very patriotic of them to choose to design their balloons to look like the flag of the greatest country on earth. The Dutch people salute them!
Lucky for them the winds weren't severe of them to give tribute to the French as well.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
when asked by a reporter why he had done it, Walters replied, "A man can't just sit around."
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Hot air balloons can not burst. If there is a hole they simply make a gentle descent, unlike helium balloons that do burst. That is why hot air balloons have been popular with the military in the past, they can not be shot down easily.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
I agree wholeheartedly. We could apply it to comments whose authors clearly jumped to conclusions.
We should also have a "knowledgeable people who use their practical skills to attempt an idea that seems insane to uninformed bystanders" tag, but that's not as short and appealing.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Walters' flight was successful and non-fatal, though he did commit suicide later in life. You might be thinking of Adelir Antonio de Carli.
when asked by a reporter why he had done it, Walters replied, "A man can't just sit around."
But apparently he can just sit around.... at 16000 feet.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
You're using an episode of McGyver to support a technical point?
Tell me, did you ever try and find the phone number for the A-team when you were younger?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
You mean sort of like "Overrated" for "morons" and "Underrated" or "Insightful" for "knowledgeable people who use their practical skills to attempt an idea that seems insane to uninformed bystanders"?
"But this one goes to 11!"
What brain-dead gas supplier sold these idiots enough helium to attempt this stunt? Don't they know that there's a worldwide helium shortage - that even now, a new restriction of He allocation has cut gas levels available to suppliers to 50-70% of last year's levels, and He prices on what's left have doubled?
Those of us who use helium for our jobs don't appreciate it being wasted on this crap. If these morons want to float on lawn chairs, use hydrogen - that'll get even more people watching them, and maybe when the first two or three go up in fireballs people will stop doing this idiotic stunt.
Helium is still obviously too cheap then, you'll just have to patiently wait till market forces correct the prices, so no kid will ever have a magically floating balloon again. (Not for less than $20 at least)
Well, without failed forks, false starts, and unfruitful developments evolution would not work...
When Homo erectus appeared on the evolutionary scene I'm sure there were plenty of knuckle walkers commenting things like "Oh, walking around with his head up he'll miss all the juicy bugs on the ground." and "Standing that tall he will run into a tree limb and kill himself." Of course in those days moderation was a rock to the head so they may not have expressed their opinions to others.
When the failures stop, evolution has stalled. Progress is made by people that are willing to do something, even if it turns out sub-optimally.
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Hannibal's cell phone number: 555-6162.
You are all a bunch of idots.
Apparently only a "Darwin Awards At-Risk Survivor" award, though, which is really just an honourable mention.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Welcome to capitalism, we don't do rationing of scarce resources, we simply raise prices. Anyone willing to pay the premium can blow it on whatever they want.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Nobody in the USofA uses .303 - thats a British caliber.
Thirty ought six (30-06) would be the round of choice. Though 7.62x54R is very cheap.as are the bolt action Moisin-Nagant rifles that fire it.
Please explain where the stupidity lies, then. There's an experienced balloonist and experienced skydiver, both familiar with the characteristics of the atmosphere at the expected altitudes, who have carefully planned and executed a fundraising spectacle after a year of planning and preparation.
Just because something's inefficient or outwardly weird does not make it stupid. This coming weekend I'll be watching people make and set off explosives for the fun of it, in a controlled environment following more-than-adequate safety procedures. The worst injury I've heard of in a decade (or more... I've only recently gotten involved myself) of such events is a "sunburn" from a very bright thermite reaction.
Here's a few more equally-stupid ideas:
Humans are stupid creatures, indeed!
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.