Brazil: Rescuers Fail to Find Priest Carried Aloft by Party Balloons

[struggle4progress]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com.nyud.net:8090/images/2008/04/24/world/24brazil.190.jpg

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 24, 2008

Rescuers have reached a cluster of brightly colored party balloons floating in the ocean off Brazil’s coast, but did not find the Roman Catholic priest who had been using them in an attempt to set a flight record. The Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli remained missing on Wednesday, three days after lifting off from the port city of Paranaguá, strapped to hundreds of helium-filled balloons. He was wearing a helmet, an aluminum thermal flight suit, waterproof coveralls and a parachute and was seeking to break the 19-hour record for the longest time in-flight with party balloons ...

The priest, an experienced skydiver, had a G.P.S. device and satellite phone with him. He had embarked on a similar adventure on Jan. 13, when he used 600 balloons to carry him on a four-hour, 17,390-foot-high voyage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/world/americas/24briefs-RESCUERSFAIL_BRF.html?em&ex=1209182400&en=f924a167836b95d9&ei=5087%0A

[smoogatz]

1. Natural selection at work.

Somebody had to say it.

[frogmarch]

2. Probably hitched a ride with Danny Deckchair. n/t

[maxsolomon]

3. celibacy doesn't work

it leads to unhealthy habits.

[Deep13]

4. Hmmm. No room for a co-pilot.

Will 600 balloons really lift 180 lbs of priest plus all that other stuff?

[Tesha]

13. On "Mythbusters", it took thousands to lift a small girl. (NT)

[Book Lover]

5. This is a cool thing to do and I am sorry to know this guy is missing,

presumably dead.

This is easily and clearly the coolest priest ever.

[Taverner]

6. How does this tie in with Religion and Theology?

Other than him being a Priest?

I feel bad for his family and parish - and its not like he was just a dumbass with a bunch of balloons. He had done this successfully before.

[struggle4progress]

7. It really has nothing to do with religion/theology. There were earlier versions on the story posted

in various DU forums

I saw the update while looking for something else but didn't really want to post it in LBN, GD, or the Lounge -- so I just sort of stuck it here for lack of a better place to put it

[Taverner]

8. Ah - OK that makes sense

[Jokerman]

9. He has ascended to Heaven!

Yea, that's the ticket!

Now if we could get the pope and the priests who like young boys some baloons...

[Crunchy Frog]

10. I would say a Darwin prize

but as a priest, he presumbably had already removed himself from the gene pool.

[trotsky]

11. Thankfully.

"A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism." -- Carl Sagan

[Lost-in-FL]

12. ...