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Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons [video]

theguardian.com

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Re: Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons [video]

#21

Post by gspetr »

aaron695 wrote: post #5
andremat wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, a Brazilian priest attempted a similar feat in 2008[1]. He won the 2008 Darwin Award for it [2]. [1] https://gizmodo.com/5022283/sad-ending-flying-priest-found-d... [2] http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2008-16.html

> Darwin Award Making fun of people dying. Fucking sick stuff. It's also logically crap. Often it's people (as in this case) doing things outside the normal. Things as hackers we should celebrate. It's also often people in extreme poverty just trying to make a living, aka the fucking sick part that we as rich educated people make fun of cause we don't have to do dirty things like recycle metal from unexploded ordnanc…

IIRC it's based on upvotes. And the most upvoted ones are also about criminals meeting prompt demise: http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1993-06.html

Re: Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons [video]

#22

Post by asfdsfggtfd »

jimmies wrote: post #7

Launching high-altitude helium balloons has been the activity some friends and I do for fun. Over the course of 2 years+ we've been doing this, we had over a dozen of successful launches where we could retrieve the payload. For kids, this is a great inspiration and educational opportunity, especially for those who are interested in technology and programming. We used Arduinos and Raspberry pis in many components of t…

Are there any safety issues with this? Air traffic control? What if balloon bursts and payload falls to earth.

What are the rules on launches?

Re: Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons [video]

#23

Post by PoachedSausage »

averagewall wrote: post #13
aaron695 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Darwin Award Making fun of people dying. Fucking sick stuff. It's also logically crap. Often it's people (as in this case) doing things outside the normal. Things as hackers we should celebrate. It's also often people in extreme poverty just trying to make a living, aka the fucking sick part that we as rich educated people make fun of cause we don't have to do dirty things like recycle metal from unexploded ordnanc…

I agree we should respect people and no mock them for making mistakes that they pay the ultimate price for. It doesn't matter that they're doing it for fun instead of some desperate survival need. Early aviators gave us aeroplanes and balloons by taking foolish risks and many died, but we glorify a few survivors because of their important contributions. For some reason, many kinds of deaths are protected from mockery…

The problem is that some people are engaging in needlessly risky activities, they then put the people that rescue them at risk. For example, in the UK we regularly have people rescued from mountains who are woefully ill equipped, like this guy:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-41306122

Yet properly equipped mountaineers can get unlucky and die anyway. The difference between death by hypothermia because you climbed a mountain in only your underpants and being well equipped but getting hit by an avalanche? In the first case the coroner has a verdict of "death by misadventure" because you took unnecessary risks.

Re: Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons [video]

#24

Post by ksrm »

jimmies wrote: post #7

Launching high-altitude helium balloons has been the activity some friends and I do for fun. Over the course of 2 years+ we've been doing this, we had over a dozen of successful launches where we could retrieve the payload. For kids, this is a great inspiration and educational opportunity, especially for those who are interested in technology and programming. We used Arduinos and Raspberry pis in many components of t…

Some of Leo Bodnar's balloons have circumnavigated the Earth multiple times. The small foil balloons don't expand like a latex balloon does, so they can hold a stable altitude without bursting.

http://www.leobodnar.com/balloons/

Re: Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons [video]

#25

Post by [deleted] »

knodi123 wrote: post #6
aaron695 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Darwin Award Making fun of people dying. Fucking sick stuff. It's also logically crap. Often it's people (as in this case) doing things outside the normal. Things as hackers we should celebrate. It's also often people in extreme poverty just trying to make a living, aka the fucking sick part that we as rich educated people make fun of cause we don't have to do dirty things like recycle metal from unexploded ordnanc…

Hey, tell me about it. There was a tragic accident at my school, when a structure collapsed and killed several students, because it had insufficient engineering oversight. But, eh, Darwin Awards had to make a joke, so they collectively gave it to all the victims, who were getting up at the crack of dawn to volunteer on a group project, and following all the safety rules they were given.

[deleted]

Re: Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons [video]

#28

Post by fiatjaf »

fiatjaf wrote: post #27

In 2008 a brazilian priest did the same in Santa Catarina. No one has ever saw him again after the launch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelir_Ant%C3%B4nio_de_Carli

Why does the English Wikipedia page has more information on this than the Portuguese version is a mistery to be explained.

Re: Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons [video]

#29

Post by icebraining »

abcd_f wrote: post #26
ChuckMcM wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. I am always amazed that they don't pass out when they cross 15,000'.

Who are "they" exactly?

I assume they are "the people who makes these flights".

Re: Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons [video]

#30

Post by bujak »

asfdsfggtfd wrote: post #22
jimmies wrote: post #7

Launching high-altitude helium balloons has been the activity some friends and I do for fun. Over the course of 2 years+ we've been doing this, we had over a dozen of successful launches where we could retrieve the payload. For kids, this is a great inspiration and educational opportunity, especially for those who are interested in technology and programming. We used Arduinos and Raspberry pis in many components of t…

Are there any safety issues with this? Air traffic control? What if balloon bursts and payload falls to earth. What are the rules on launches?

The balloon is supposed to burst, the payload should have a descent parachute. It's a problem if the balloon doesn't burst and drifts into busy airspace.
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