This is so much cooler than blowing up your school.

.

Then I'd like to buy a ride for my my mother-in-law on this balloon...

I'd like to send "ObeyTheLaw" up on this weather balloon. Not everyone with a name like that is actually from India.. he might be a 5th generation American for all you know. Also, not every comment made on the internet by someone with a name that sounds different from yours is a valid chance for you to be a racist @!$%#.

Pictures of the Lego Man are now being beamed throughout the Galaxy on their equivalent of Facebook and Twitter, touting him as being what Earthmen look like.

Obeythelaw....Wow.....that has to be aworlds record "leap to conclusion"!!! If judging someone by reading a 10 word post was and Olympic sport, you should get gold medal and you did it twice, which is amazing!!!!

Hey Obeythelaw listen up AHOLE, when you use the phrase "you people" that in and of itself is racists I don't care what country you come from. Drop the attitude of holier than thou, in America it is custom to be at odds with ones mother-in-law and most comics make the most of it. You however are taking it a little to far. His comment was hilarious simply because you don't get it or you haven't gotten it in years don't take it out on him.

Cool video and congrats to the kids on their successful flight. It is nice to hear that the companies whose equipment they used to set this up are encouraging these kids to keep on experimenting. Canon giving them some top end cameras was a very nice gesture on their part. Hopefully these two will take their ingenuity and interest and attend a science/engineering university. We need more creative people like these two going into the science and engineering fields to help continue to push technology forward. They even have one of the top rated schools in the world not far from home over in Quebec in McGill University.

I want Obey the law to obey the law of gravity.

js,

Funny they have one even closer in the university of toronto.

You do know where newmarket is right?

I wondered if the Lego Man would be wearing a "space-suit"... sorry to see he wasn't, but it's especially fun to see him holding a Canadian Flag on his journey! This all reminds me so much of those ads you used to see in the back of comic books for GIANT balloons and I would imagine sending one up and wonder how high it would go.. what the world would look like from up there... now I know! Hope Lego Man survived the journey, even if he wasn't wearing a space suit.

Ahhh, I see how it works here! I call a person a bonehead and get suspended, yet Snappa can call me an AHOLE and that's fine with ole Sally the moderator!

What a weird forum!

By the way Sally, don't try to play dumb and pretend you didn't see Snappa's PERSONAL ATTACK towards me because I'm not buying it!

Snappa, there are way too many RIGHTEOUS people like you in America!

Uh oh, I suppose Sally is going to say that I PERSONALLY ATTACKED Snappa!

He called me an AHOLE, but I called him righteous! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!

ObeyTheLaw,

did you report the post that you reference? or do you just assume that the two moderators read every post on the site?

I reported them. In one case I sent Sally an e-mail and she asked me for a link to another personal attack occurrence, but she didn't do anything about it.

All I ask for is equal treatment, but I can't expect that here I guess.

I'm not sure, overall they are pretty even handed, though nobody is perfect. They do have an extremely difficult job to do, and with the amount of time they spend trying to monitor things, it really is a lot of work for just two people.

*sniff sniff* oh nos... a forum you post on freely caught you in the act but didn't catch someone else and you got punished for it. :-( soooo sad for you Obey.

Grow up.

Well said, Mandy. The Whiners and Snivelers Group is on Yahoo. Obeythelaw should take his business there if he doesn't like the moderating here.

Mandy, what do 10000 housewives have in common? They just wouldn't listen!

By the way, the moderating su cks here.

What do housewives have to do with it? That was a lame joke.

And again, you're complaining about a free service run by 2 people. Wow, big man you are!

Are you related to Sally, the uneven punishment moderator? If she did her job right, I wouldn't be complaining. I hope you're one of those 10000 beaten housewives.

Johnathon, I'm sure Sally has a lot of work to do singling out certain people to punish, while ignoring other people who use the word AHOLE. AHOLE must be a term of endearment now at this weird forum. The word bonehead is a swear word now! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You've never been accused of being mature, have you, Obeythelaw? You're a sad specimen.

if she did her job right? I'm guessing then, that you know exactly what her job is, and what it entails?

You do realize that two people can't catch everything. And yet here you are, still complaining about it... so you must not realize it.

And now you're here wishing that I am both A) limited to the life of a housewife and B) that I am beaten. And you wonder why you get suspended? Seriously. Grow up. You were only suspended for a day. Take it like a man, not a whiny little bitch.

(And Yes, even if I get suspended for that one, it was worth it because people like you don't really deserve to be on here!)

Mandy, you could call me a motherfu cker and still not get suspended here, but if I called you a jerk or something like that, I would get suspended here because of the double standard of this forum.

In the beginning, all I asked for was equal treatment and it didn't happen. Now because of TERRIBLE moderating, I get some people who love to cause trouble, get all over my butt about it and say I'm whining.

In reference to your question about knowing what her job is, and what it entails, I know you're smarter than this so stop acting dumb and causing trouble here.

Mandy, if you'll scroll back up to post number 1.6, you'll notice I was defending women in that post. That's also the post I got suspended for by committing a really bad PERSONAL ATTACK in by calling a person a bonehead!

I for sure will never defend women in a post again in this weird forum.

I wonder why you are wasting your time at all here if it upsets you so much.

And you ARE whining. This has been non stop whining.

I don't think you got suspended for defending anyone, you got suspended because you called someone a bonehead, and enough other people clicked it as inflammatory. The moderators check the ones with lots of clicks. They dont read every damn post on here.

Thank you Sally! I love you! lol

I would like to mention that there sure some people who have hardly any sense of humor here! lol

Mandy, you need some lessons in reading comprehension too. I mentioned in a post that I was defending women and I called a person a bonehead also. Where in the heck did you get the idea that I thought I was suspended for defending women? WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, YOU ARE AMAZING!

I've had a much easier time in the past trying to reason with drunk people! WOOOOOOOOOOOOW WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

How many "O's" can you put in one word, and do you think it makes your point more valid?

And now you love Sally? After all that bitching you did up there? Calling her names? Telling her she wasn't doing her job? Some fair-weather friend you are.

Agreed. I vote this the coolest Youtube video of the year.

I bet the makers of Lego are loving this too.

Sailcat, you think this is great, but wait until some terrorists send a weather balloon up with a weapon of mass destruction in it.

If I was the CEO of Lego, I would be cringing.

If I were your parents, I would be crying, too.

Fail.

Sailcat, you think this is great, but wait until some terrorists send a weather balloon up with a weapon of mass destruction in it.

So that they can blow up a random area about 50 miles from their location with no guarantee of where it would land? Whatever. They have about the same chance of landing it on their Aunt Ethel's house as they do of landing it on anything important.

Maybe you should make yourself a tin foil hat

Mandy, please tell me you're smarter than this, please tell me!. A terrorist can place a weapon of mass destruction or a WMD on a balloon and send it up into the air. Okay continue to follow me here... It will not matter to those monsters where the thing lands because if they know it will land in a populated area in a country where they want to kill thousands of people, that will be what they're trying to accomplish! GEESH Mandy!

I'm just trying to warn people who think this is such a great idea to let just anyone send up weather balloons. If I owned a business that sold weather balloons or any parts that could make a weather balloon, and someone came in that I thought was suspicious, I would report it to the proper authorities. If the proper authorities ignored my report, I would go above their heads.

If someone who owned the flying schools would have done what they should've done, than maybe 9/11 could've been averted.

I know this is profiling, but look at the two kids names who did this experiment. Just saying!

Sailcat, my parents have both passed away recently so you may not want to use the childish analogy you little boys like to use. I also used the word "cringe" not "cry" Open your eyes little boy.

And like I said, they would control it how?

A weather balloon is the stupidest way to attack anything. You might as well be lobbing rocks. What happens when your balloon with a WMD gets stuck in a tree and never hits the ground? Well crap.

The most likely WMD threat to us is actually via car. Do a little research man.

Mandy

Because of WHERE they did it, there is MUCH more of a risk of taking out an airliner than of a WMD being launched from this. My ONLY problem with what they did was not that they did it, but WHERE they did it.

Mandy, I believe the atomic bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were ignited in the air. Even if a weather balloon with a nuclear type of device fell in a tree, if could still be devastating. I would never underestimate those people with evil on their minds. You saw what happened on 9-11-2001 when our own Government DROPPED THE BALL.

Maybe YOU need to do a little research there, woman!

obeythelaw,

They were detonated in the air, because that was the point of maximum damage from the epicenter of the detonation. However, finding a balloon that could carry a nuclear bomb isn't going to be easy, nor is it going to be 'quiet'.

In terms of WMDs in general though, the ONLY way to guarantee protection is to prevent people from doing anything in their daily lives, set up a complete police state, and confine people to their homes. If you want to live in that society, please, go back in time and live in the soviet union, though you could try to move to North Korea. Enjoy.

I think someone sophisticated enough to acquire and detonate a nuclear device is capable of contriving an equally sophisticated delivery system. Obeythelaw is just searching for something to snivel about if he thinks a balloon qualifies as an appropriate method of sending a bomb to a target. Next he will be whining about kites and frisbees, too. I mean, damn.

I'm just trying to help us stay ahead of people you want to bow down to. sailcat, who are you to say that a sophisticated delivery system couldn't be attached to a weather balloon? Answer that one, genius?

People have been doing the balloon thing for years, it is nothing new.

Johnathon, I'm seeing a mob mentality here, and you're a part of it against me. Nice going there fella, do you feel really big by ganging up against me now?

If you think we're not in somewhat of a police state now then you may want to open your eyes a little, and It's going to get much worse, so you may want to build yourself a time machine and get lost yourself...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/12/13/the-future-of-drones-in-america/

Of course the balloon thing isn't new, but red flags may need to be raised when people with Middle Eastern names are playing with them. Just saying...

I know, I know, there are millions of people who are afraid they may hurt someone's feelings. I'm sure that happened before 9/11 too.

ObeyTheLaw.

If you put some common sense in what you say, then just maybe you wouldn't be getting the hostility that you are.

And as I said, because of WHERE they launched the balloon, in the inverse cone of authority of the largest international airport of Canada, there is a MUCH greater likelyhood of an airliner being taken out by this than of a terrorist creating a nuclear bomb (you really ought to learn just how hard it is to make one) and using a balloon that is big enough to carry one (Fat Man was over 10,000 pounds and Little Boy was over 9,000 pounds) into an altitude that would create significant damage upon detonation.

There isn't an unlimited amount of money to spend on these issues, and spending it on pointless made up attack hypothesis when there isn't even any indication of an attack of this type happening is just a waste of time. That is even worse than bush II spending more than 60 billion dollars on missile defence for a threat that doesn't exist when it can pretty much be proven mathematically that the thing would never work reliably to begin with.

Yes, lets spend another 60 billion dollars defending ourselves against killer balloons. Get real.

Good God John! I assumed you were better at comprehension than this! Wow! My main point was for people who value life more than death to keep an eye out for possible terroristic attacks, not to waste billions on how to defend against bombs. Besides, I did mention things called WMD. They don't necessarily have to be explosive bombs. Amazing!

Another thing, was there any indication to the layman back in 9-11-2001 that we were about to be attacked in the fashion that we were? I'm 100% sure there were people in our Government who knew it could happen. Maybe some of those people didn't want to stop it?

Obey

Actually there was indications, in fact in the transition, the Clinton administration WARNED the incoming bush administration of all the current threat assessments, and various agencies, who were forbidden to talk to each other, all had bits and pieces of intelligence that the attacks were about to happen.

One other thing, could you at least be observant enough to spell the name properly.

"Answer that one, genius?"

Most people aren't as stupid as you.

sailcat,

er um, you do know that was a CoH violation right?

Jonathan,

I knew about the warnings from the Clinton Administration to Bush. I purposely didn't go into any details because I knew it would lead me in telling what my true feelings are about the War pig Bush. I strongly feel that he wanted the 9/11 attacks to occur so he could have in his own little mind, an excuse for invading Iraq. Iraq is and will always be Bush's legacy. What a stain for a president to have on his presidency! War was like play to him. His bring em on chant is proof he thought of war as an athletic event. Shameful!

Also, did you know that he was looking for an excuse to invade Iraq within 72 hours of him stealing the 2000 election?

I knew he was planning the invasion of iraq even before the election happened.

Yeah sailcat, Jonathan is right, you personally attacked me!

I thought it was merely a thoughtful and an undeniably accurate observation.

Mandy, I believe the atomic bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were ignited in the air. Even if a weather balloon with a nuclear type of device fell in a tree, if could still be devastating. I would never underestimate those people with evil on their minds. You saw what happened on 9-11-2001 when our own Government DROPPED THE BALL.

Maybe YOU need to do a little research there, woman!

Dude, its just not freaking possible. A weather balloon can lift like 3 lbs if you are going to high altitudes and maybe 20 if you fill it more, but you would be limited to lower altitudes. You're using Hiroshima and Nagasaki as an example??? Little Boy weighed almost 10,000 lbs and was highly sophisticated.

Even the smallest nuclear weapon weighed 50 lbs. But that size of nuclear device can destroy about a block. And with the uncertainty of weather balloons, you would be better firing it from a bazooka.

Again, the bigger risk to our country is NOT from a balloon. its from Suitcase bombs or nuclear devices rigged up in cars to explode when crashed.

"Again, the bigger risk to our country is NOT from a balloon. its from Suitcase bombs or nuclear devices..."

An even bigger risk to the US population is the possibility Obeythelaw may actually have a drivers license...unless, of course, it was revoked the last time he was arrested for drunk driving, forcing him to have his mother drive him to his job at Arby's. Even so, imagine the horror of someone with so few intellectual skills operating a motor vehicle. The carnage would make a suitcase bomb look like a boxed lunch! It sorta puts the balloon thing into perspective, doesn't it?

Another threat to life, liberty, and the American way would be clowns, a subset of terrorists well known to distribute balloons indiscriminately. Obeythelaw might want to look into these dangerous individuals even if it means certain members of his close family are investigated as being potential terrorists.

This could be big!

Sailboy, I've been driving for almost 4 decades and I've been involved in 2 accidents, neither of them being my fault. I'm a very defensive driver, I don't tailgate, I always signal my intentions, and I try to leave an out or an opening around my vehicle at all times whenever I'm driving, because there are so many bad drivers out there that it's beyond ridiculous. My guess is that you are one of those bad drivers I'm referring to.

Oh, I'm a non-drinker too.

A small nuclear device may only destroy an area the size of a block or less, but the radiation from that device would kill many people, maybe thousands.

You boys and girls can continue to say I'm wrong about what I say, but my main point to begin with was that it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep the ole eyeballs open to suspicious happenings and people, if you really care about our country and our freedoms.

My parting shot... Many Americans thought 9/11 wasn't possible either.

Bahahahaha. You hear that? We're not true american patriots if we dont see danger around every corner and come up with crazy theories about them terrorists!

Well break out the tin foil hats and get your gun ready to point at anyone that looks foreign! 9-11.... 9-11. Don't forget 9-11. 'Else you're not 'merican.

Mandy, I was baiting you, and you didn't fail me in your predictable response to me. You go, little girl!

lol Suuuuuure you were Obey. ;-)

Awww... and even an attempt at an insult.

Lol... I feel left out.

Bet these kids get picked on by the "cool" kids though. And I bet they will be making six figures when the cool kids are in jail or working at the local insurance office or ringing people up at Walmart.

Just like the American space program was a copy of the Russian space program and how when the Russians sent the first man into space (Yuri Gagarin) America responded by putting a man on the moon (Neil Armstrong). Please don't make this out to sound like those two kids stole someone else's idea...for a thing like this it really doesn't matter who did it first or who did it before the next person. The thrill is in doing it for yourself and discovering what you can do with just a little cash and a lot of ingenuity. Kudos to these two teens for doing something constructive and positive that everyone can learn from in a good way.

Wow... You sure know how to keep a kids spirits high huh? Must suck seeings how most anything you can think of to do has already been done and lords knows, we can't be copy cats huh? Eh, forget that. Good job kiddo's, I'd be proud if I were you and keep on, never know what you can find!

..So what if they copied someone else on a project like this. It still is really cool what they did

yeh everyone is just sore that is was Canadians who did this :p

This is neat... I really don't care what country the people are doing it are from... Colin Rich's balloon did go higher however as did Harrison's. They weren't "kids" though... for most I think that's what gives this story its appeal.

Doe Know, I just would like to point out that these are two teenagers who are not out smoking, drinking or doing drugs. They aren't out beating up people, joining a gang, breaking the law or hurting others. They are exploring their world, learning about science and physics, calculating trajectories and developing skills that will be useful to them in the future.

This story is about kids who - on their own time - experimented and learned. Amazing. It's also about the public's very positive reaction to their efforts, and is a "feel-good" story all around. I wish with all my heart for these kids' success. There are far too many of our youth laying on couches, fighting zombies while becoming one. The ambition and energy of these kids is praiseworthy. Way to go!

I did not know that. If I can just wake up every morning, turn on my computer and learn something I should be pretty smart in a few short decades. Beaman's journal. Day one: Alouette

I think they were actually the 4th, didnt the UK put one up before canada?

You might find the video up on Youtube? The lego man was recovered 75 miles from where he took off, or so I heard on a news report last night.

I'm surprised the Lego man did not melt upon reentry if it was found.

They're lucky it didn't land in a lake on its return. Of course these kids probably thought of that and had some sort of flotation device. Whatever, I'm impressed.

Actually, at that altitude, there is no "burn in". The real danger - which eventually happened - is lack of air pressure expanding the balloon to its bursting point. The temperature throughout the exercise was probably sub-zero about 25,000 feet, given the time of year. Lego man was never in any danger. Besides, aren't Legos indestructable?

Why would there be any burning on re-entry? An object attached to a balloon would just fall at terminal velocity, which is nowhere near enough to create the kind of pressure needed to result in a fire. Things that burn up in the atmosphere are moving at thousands of miles per hour.

Funny!

LOL, Sanders, you look twenty-five but you sound about a hundred.

Browsers have a font-size feature. Just saying.

Why does everyone want to play in the sky?

@RustyFrame - Why does everyone want to play in the sky?

----------------------------------------------

'Cause that's where God lives.

'Cause it's too dark to play in tunnels.

lol

He never said it would be colonized with REAL people...

That's right, LB. We could have a colony of Lego men on the moon by the end of this year if we really tried. Of course, the way NASA spends money, it'll probably still cost better than a billion dollars.

ColinBee... you made my night!

Eh?

I am sure they got clearance from the Civil Aviation Branch of Transport Canada just like anyone here in the U.S. would have to do with the FAA, should they want to do a similar project/experiment.

If NASA would have done this, that $80 balloon would have cost 80 Million tax dollars.