The Doomed Cleveland Balloonfest of 1986 [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: The Doomed Cleveland Balloonfest of 1986 [video]

#41

Post by selimthegrim » Sat, Jun 23, 2018, 6:03 AM UTC

taurath wrote: post #16

mnctvanj wrote: post #12

The thing that strikes me is how deep the pathos about Cleveland runs as the newscasters hype the event ("Cleveland is no longer the mistake by the lake!" as the balloons fly). And that everyone seemed so entirely sure that dumping a million balloons into the sky would somehow make everyone stop laughing at the city. And then of course they all landed in the lake anyway.

The "newscasters" are Big Chuck and Little John which were a local TV comedy duo (similar to Almost Live! in Seattle). Its probably one of the more Cleveland things to happen in Cleveland though. Random aside - local shows like that are pretty sorely missing now.

Man, I miss those guys almost as much as Ghoulardi.

Re: The Doomed Cleveland Balloonfest of 1986 [video]

#42

Post by newman8r » Sat, Jun 23, 2018, 6:27 AM UTC

brightball wrote: post #7

Funny to see this on here. I believe Clemson and UGA actually started this trend. In 1983 Clemson announced it was going to set the record with a release of 250,000 balloons. Georgia, being competitive announced that the next week it would release 300,000. Both releases happened and after Georgia's attempt to steal the record, Clemson released official numbers that were about 360,000, allowing them to hold the balloo…

here's a video of the Disney event in 1985 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8QCrvDt7yE

Re: The Doomed Cleveland Balloonfest of 1986 [video]

#43

Post by kzrdude » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 8:24 PM UTC

cma wrote: post #40

kzrdude wrote: post #14

Nowadays, I can't look at any helium balloon release and not think it's littering. “Pretty” and out of sight, but still littering. You're throwing plastic into the nature and environment.

> You're throwing plastic into the nature and environment. It's usually latex. Still littering, but it degrades into mush pretty quick. If you go into the woods almost anywhere near a city though, you will see mylar balloons in the trees.

Out of sight, out of mind, huh? It degrades into smaller pieces of latex, polluting the ecosystems.

Re: The Doomed Cleveland Balloonfest of 1986 [video]

#44

Post by cma » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 11:50 PM UTC

kzrdude wrote: post #43

cma wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're throwing plastic into the nature and environment. It's usually latex. Still littering, but it degrades into mush pretty quick. If you go into the woods almost anywhere near a city though, you will see mylar balloons in the trees.

Out of sight, out of mind, huh? It degrades into smaller pieces of latex, polluting the ecosystems.

If it was pure natural latex it would be not much different than a natural rubber tree dying in a forest. I'm sure they add some synthetic stuff to it though.