OMG - Proof of Ascension!!
Offline I got your attention? 
A catholic priest, attempting to break a worlds record for balloon flight, has disappeared without a trace off the coast of Brazil.
He was raising money for a rest stop for truckers...maybe god struck him down? I mean, we all know what happens at rest stops...geesh! Or maybe the lord lifted him up to the heavens...for all those years of dedication...
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest who floated off under hundreds of helium party balloons was missing Monday off the southern coast of Brazil.
The Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli lifts off Sunday under hundreds of helium party balloons.
Rescuers in helicopters and small fishing boats were searching off the coast of Santa Catarina state, where pieces of balloons were found.
The Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli lifted off from the port city of Paranagua on Sunday afternoon, wearing a helmet, thermal suit and a parachute.
He was reported missing about eight hours later after losing contact with port authority officials, according to the treasurer of his Sao Cristovao parish, Denise Gallas.
Gallas said by telephone that the priest wanted to break a 19-hour record for the most hours flying with balloons to raise money for a spiritual rest-stop for truckers in Paranagua, Brazil's second-largest port for agricultural products.
Some American adventurers have used helium balloons to emulate Larry Walters -- who in 1982 rose three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons.
A video of Carli posted on the G1 Web site of Globo TV showed the smiling 41-year-old priest slipping into a flight suit, being strapped to a seat attached to a huge column green, red, white and yellow balloons, and soaring into the air to the cheers of a crowd.
According to Gallas, the priest soared to an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) then descended to about 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) for his planned flight to the city of Dourados, 465 miles (750 kilometers) northwest of his parish.
But winds pushed him in another direction, and Carli was some 30 miles (50 kilometers) off the coast when he last contacted Paranagua's port authority, Gallas said.
Carli had a GPS device, a satellite phone, a buoyant chair and is an experienced skydiver, Gallas said.
"We are absolutely confident he will be found alive and well, floating somewhere in the ocean," she said.
"He knew what he was doing and was fully prepared for any kind of mishap."
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A candidate for a Darwin Award if ever there was one.
For most of us it is sufficient to do stupid and dangerous things vicariously through watching Mythbusters.
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
LOL, isn't it obvious? He found heaven and decided to stay!
In other news... a human skull washed up on a beach in newfoundland yesterday.... >.> hehehe
Wait a minute...
20,000 feet? Did he have oxygen tanks? After you get above 15,000 it starts to get hard to breathe. I bet the sucker passed out.
"I am an atheist, thank God." -Oriana Fallaci
Don't forget hypothermia.
www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/04/24/priest.balloons.ap/index.html
Looks bad for the padre. He's still missing.
"I am an atheist, thank God." -Oriana Fallaci
Well at least he is in a better place.... wow, saying that does make me feel better!
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http://obsidianwords.wordpress.com/
I guess getting high is a bad thing after all . . .
I just returned from Sao Paolo a month ago and I can assure you that there are a lot of things they need more than a "spiritual truck stop."
Great example of religion distracting people's attention and energy away from real problems.
Lazy is a word we use when someone isn't doing what we want them to do.
- Dr. Joy Brown
I don't see the word "parachute" in there. Does it really help to be an experienced skydiver if you don't have a parachute?
"The Bible looks like it started out as a game of Mad Libs" - Bill Maher
Unfortunately as a Catholic priest he's already disqualified, given that he's vowed not to contribute to the gene pool.
"The whole conception of God is a conception derived from ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men."
--Bertrand Russell
Well, not with that attitude . . .
" Why does God always got such wacky shit to say? . . . When was the last time you heard somebody say 'look God told me to get a muffin and a cup tea and cool out man'?" - Dov Davidoff
Apparently he had a parachute... much good it'll do him from that height. He's probably dead now anyway. I almost died laughing when I read this story yesterday.
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."
Instant classic.
Candidates don't have to have children, or the intention of contributing to the gene pool, to be contenders or win the Darwin awards. In fact, it's usually considered better if they haven't. The real problem for the judges is whether or not to give someone the award if they've already passed on their genes- the opposite situation. At the moment, yes, the judges will award someone regardless of whether or not they are celibate or have children.
"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.
-Me
Books about atheism
For some reason, it was this sentence that sent me into convulsive laughter.
Saint Will: no gyration without funkstification.
fabulae! nil satis firmi video quam ob rem accipere hunc mi expediat metum. - Terence
Haha!! I thought it was only souls that ascend to heaven? His body would still be found right?
Not necessarily...
Of course if he was yanked up to heaven he would only be the third person to ever have been done so. At least according to the bible.
"I am an atheist, thank God." -Oriana Fallaci
Well, while I admit I laughed... the man is fairly obviously dead. And I think that sucks.
He was just trying to raise some money (even if I roll my eyes at the cause).
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
I would give anything to hear the following in the news:
"A development in the missing reverend story just in: we're informed that a sudden, unexpected wind change caused by global warming led the padre astray right into US airspace, where Junior (GW) mistook the Flying Nun wannabe for the first Zeppelin Terrorist Attack, and therefore ordered the NSA to, quote: "blast his Mohammad-lovin' ass out of the sky", unquote.
Five Su-37 jet fighters, otherwise known as the "Yellow Squad", were deployed to tackle the alleged menace, all armed with medium range, air-to-air missiles. However, the menace was dealt without firing a shot; as the Yellows circled the target, assessing the threat it posed, another sudden wind change carried the alleged suicide zeppelin right into one of the jet fighters, causing the lines of the balloons to get tangled up with the aforementioned missiles, however the occupant of the balloon, now identified as Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli, was promptly sucked into the jet's turbine, completely shredding his body, leaving only his priest collar, the only remain intact enough for an identification to be made.
A memorial service will be held at Pope Airforce Base, North Carolina, before father de Carli's remains are hosed down from the jet's turbine. Our deepest condolences goes to the Paranagua truckers, who will see themselves deprived of another place for scratching their crotches and fishing in their navels."
Lenore, The Cute Little Dead Girl. Twice as good as Jesus.
Am I the only one that doesn't think it's funny?
Well, like I said, I laughed. I thought the image was funny.
I don't think it's funny at all that the man died.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
Yes.
Well, no. Obviously we're all saddened by the fact that he died. But it's the circumstances of the death that are totally ridiculous. I laugh at Jeff Buckley's death, and he's one of my all-time heroes. I mean, swimming fully clothed in the Mississippi (sp?) with steel capped boots on. It's devastating for a JB fan like myself, but its stupidly ridiculous.
Atheist Books
To be honest, the idea of a man dying just because he wanted to pull a stunt for charity isn't funny, it's sad. For some reason, the comment "Doesn't look good for the padre" just killed me, though.
The poor bastard. It's bizarre that they haven't found him, though.
EDIT: The reason I think it's bizarre is that they didn't put some kind of a tracking device on him. Since he was going to be entering airspace presumably without a communication device, how else would they work air traffic around him? Everybody failed here.
Saint Will: no gyration without funkstification.
fabulae! nil satis firmi video quam ob rem accipere hunc mi expediat metum. - Terence
Su-37's are Russian. The Aircraft that would be used would be F-15s, F-16s or F-22s
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
Any loss of life is sad. He hasn't been confirmed dead but all indicators point to "gone"
I wonder if they decided not to put tracking devices on him at his request? The man may have simply stated:
"..If the lord wants me to make this trip, I will make it. I don't need a tracking device.."
who knows...
Slowly building a blog at ~
http://obsidianwords.wordpress.com/
It's just that you can't go up in a plane and request to not talk to anybody. They want to know where you are for the simple reason that other people are also in the air. Maybe that part of Brazil isn't big on aircraft.
I'm not actually an aviator, so there could be some loophole there that I'm missing. But I think you have to have a radio even in an Ultralight, don't you?
Saint Will: no gyration without funkstification.
fabulae! nil satis firmi video quam ob rem accipere hunc mi expediat metum. - Terence
Quite correct, Will. Well, that's the way it works up here, anyway.
You need a radio so that you can keep in touch with ATC - for the safety of yourself and everyone around you. In reality, the priest probably wasn't putting anyone in danger, since it sounds like he wasn't near a major air traffic channel, and smaller aircraft that might've nearby handle visual environments without ATC assistance just fine. It's when you're dealing with bigger commercial jets that have such poor maneuvering performance and a limited field of view for the pilots that ATC is so essential.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
Crap. There goes my Ace Combat 4 reference...
Lenore, The Cute Little Dead Girl. Twice as good as Jesus.
I love Sukhoi's Su 37. No other fighter jet on Earth can as yet duplicate some of it's maneuvers ( ie, the "kulbit", 360 degree rotation without losing altitude or forward momentum )
PS, actually the only US fighter jet that Brazil uses is the Northrop F 5. http://www.milavia.net/airforces/brazil/fab_aircraft.htm
Forgetting the jet for a minute, yes, I am saddened by the death of an innocent man ( religious or not )
I can attest to that (as can any other Falcon 4.0 user).
The Reds make some damn good aircraft. I love my Viper, but nothing good comes from getting jumped by Su 37s or MiG 29.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
Looks like the body was finally found.... HERE
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- DNA tests confirmed that a body found off the coast of Brazil is that of a priest who disappeared while flying over the Atlantic buoyed by hundreds of brightly colored party balloons, authorities said Tuesday.
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The Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli set off from the Brazilian port city of Paranagua on April 20 strapped to 1,000 helium-filled balloons in an attempt to raise money to build a rest stop and worship center for truckers.
But the 41-year-old Roman Catholic priest soon lost contact with his ground team, and the cluster of yellow, orange, pink and white balloons was found in the water a day later.
Tugboat workers discovered a body off Rio de Janeiro in early July that authorities believed belonged to the cleric.
Medical examiner worker Rosane Alves said Tuesday that tests comparing DNA samples from de Carli's brother to the body confirmed their suspicions.
The brother, Moacir de Carli, said the news came as a relief.
"Now we can have a respectable burial service," he told the Agencia Estado news service.
For several days after the priest's disappearance, rescue crews in boats, planes and helicopters scoured a vast stretch of ocean and densely forested mountains.
Slowly building a blog at ~
http://obsidianwords.wordpress.com/
...And this would be why flying - any kind of flying - needs to be taken far more seriously than was taken here.
Condolences to the family, a series of head shakes to the organizers of the event (and the deceased man). Perhaps next time they think to pull a charity stunt, they'll have a serious discussion about safety first.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
What goes up must come down, except for interest rates.
Just noticed this - 3 months later ...
DamnDirtyApe, you have a lot to learn obviously about catholic priests! "Promises are made to be broken", as it says in the Good Book (Kama Sutra).
I would rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy
Now they will have to dedicate the truck stop to the memory of the Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli, with full blown religious services paid for by whom ??