Body ID'd as priest who flew on party balloons

[underpants]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/29/brazil.flying.priest.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview



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.


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.

[guitar man]

1. oh damn

sorry to hear he didn't make it, but, he certainly is a candidate for the Darwin Awards with that stunt.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. I knew the Darwin awards would show up pretty fast in this thread.

[guitar man]

4. yep

a bunch of party balloons tied together does NOT constitute an airworthy aircraft.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Nope. I never actually call people out for the list though, as I could have put myself on it

a few times. Lucked out and didn't die though, so no one got to make fun of me. (Well, at least not for that. :P )

[guitar man]

7. I've gotten lucky a few times too

it's a wonder I survived to adulthood...and beyond :P

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. I'll tell you my stupidest near miss if you tell me yours *g*

[guitar man]

9. mine

probably the time I made a parachute out of bedsheets and jumped off the roof of our two story farm house, I was 9 at the time. Landed in a lilac bush, but I barely missed a steel fencepost that could have impaled me! :scared:

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. I don't have youth for an excuse as I think I was a junior in college. I was in the

girls bathroom washing my hands and with my left hand I was turning off the water while with my right I hit the on button for the hand dryer. So yeah, both hands were wet and touching metal. I got a real good zap and couldn't move for a sec, then I got released and let go of those things fast as I could. Phew!

[guitar man]

13. that's not right

it sounds ilke that hand dryer wasn't properly grounded, it shouldn't do that. :scared:

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Well, considering the sink and I appeared to close a circuit I would guess not. I remember watching

a French movie years ago where an actress grabbed two sconce lights and electrocuted herself much in the same way I did. Except she died.

[guitar man]

17. well, I'm glad

I'm glad you didn't get hurt, getting shocked is a scary experience! :hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. Thanks! I did it to myself again later, when I was very very pregnant. The smoke

alarm was going off so naturally I went to take the battery out of it and instead grabbed a live wire. Who knew they're hardwired to the house in a trailer? :shrug:

[guitar man]

21. ouch!

I've never seen one like that, all the smoke detectors I've seen have run on batteies.

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. Well, trailers are such tinderboxes I am not surprised. Sadly, neither of the two

that came with the house work anymore and I need to replace the batteries in the extra ones I bought.

[guitar man]

24. I hear ya

I had a trailer go up about 20 years ago, luckily I wasn't in it at the time....the neighbors said it burned up in about 10 minutes flat :scared:

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. *feeling sick* Yeah. I hate having that hanging over our heads all the time. There's a water heater

in the kids' room and right outside their door is the furnace. :(

[guitar man]

28. just make sure

just make sure you have plenty of smoke detectors..and fire extinguishers, you'll be fine ;)

[yardwork]

29. I jumped off a second story roof with an umbrella when I was seven.

Wanted to be Mary Poppins.

[guitar man]

31. oh shit

I hope you had a soft landing...or as soft a possible! :hug:

[yardwork]

33. I was fine. I was lighter then than I am now.

My mom was displeased.

[snooper2]

36. When I was 13 I made a bomb

out of gun powder and a shaving can...

I found out the difference real quick between fast-acting and slow-acting gun powder. A week later I was still picking pieces of powder out of my face...Made a HUGE cloud of white smoke; fire trucks showed up but there was no fire :rofl:

[guitar man]

38. we used to do that

we called them our home made "firecrackers". Some of them made pretty big booms, it's a wonder we never blew ourselves up :rofl:

nowadays, they would call it an "IED" :(

[FloridaJudy]

35. Seeing as how a Catholic priest

Is - technically - supposed to be celibate, wouldn't he already qualify for a Darwin Award?

He didn't have to do something this stupid to be eliminated from the gene pool - just live up to his vows. Doubly dumb.

[FloridaJudy]

37. delete ---dupe

[azmouse]

10. He was a priest so his genes were already out of the pool.

Would he still qualify for a Darwin award?

[guitar man]

12. not necessarily

hey, he could have quit being a preist at any time...or just broke his vows, so he was technically in the pool. ;)

[sakabatou]

14. He did get an award

http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2008-16.html

[guitar man]

18. damn, that was fast nt

[snooper2]

34. And he did it to raise money

for a truck stop church :rofl:

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Such a sad way to die. It was a terrible idea, but still I applaud his

commitment to a worthy cause. Just wish he could have found a better way to raise that money.

[merh]

16. I don't know, I was just thinking what a cool way to go.

Flying high on balloons, trying to do good and close to heaven, as it were. Who said it was tragic - he could have lost consciousness peacefully so due to lack of oxygen and then just let go ....

Nah, not a bad way to go at all -- we all die, better with purty balloons than cancer riddled body that won't cooperate, imho.

[hobbit709]

19. If you're going to do that

It would behoove one to launch with the wind blowing in from the ocean and not the other way.

[otherlander]

5. :(

[edbermac]

22. The Flying Nut

[Fire Walk With Me]

25. Well, bless him for doing something to try to help the world.

[edbermac]

26. He didn't beat Lawn Chair Larry.

Mentioned on the Darwin website too.

http://www.markbarry.com/lawnchairman.html

[johnnie]

30. Did they raise enough cash?

:shrug:

[ScreamingMeemie]

32. This is really sad.

And also, prime example on how jokes about some things just aren't funny. IMO

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

39. LOL

:thumbsup: