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1986 Cleveland thought it would be a good idea to block out the sun with millions of balloons [665x832] (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by Yosomono

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[–]Dr_Winston_O_Boogie 231 points232 points ago

Color photography was still decades away in 1986 Ohio.

[–]Homer69 88 points89 points ago

What people don't know is that Cleveland is in black and white. This photo was taken in color

[–]mstank11 35 points36 points ago

It still might be decades away, at least for Cleveland.

[–]jayjaypee 14 points15 points ago

If you liked Cleveland you'd love little 5 points in Atlanta

[–]woooooahnellie 5 points6 points ago

Nothing beats Let's Have A Party Albany

[–]jayjaypee 1 point2 points ago

cringe... i couldn't finish it. nothing worse than an abundance of misguided enthusiasm.

[–]Maxables 0 points1 point ago

Now I'm in the mood for Vortex.

[–]McHomans 26 points27 points ago

I had to check the comments to see if this wasn't a typo and if OP meant 1896.

[–]rmandraque 12 points13 points ago

that architecture.

[–]burningrob 0 points1 point ago

still closer than an NBA championship

[–]Farligfar 201 points202 points ago

Is this the reason why we are running out of helium?

[–]Leonart 129 points130 points ago

Can't even fill my flying remote-control shark.

[–]tell_my_mom 64 points65 points ago

Thanks a lot, Cleveland.

[–]Failedjedi 27 points28 points ago

Sure blame cleveland, but when we gave Baltimore the ravens I didn't see them complaining. When we gave the rest of the country our jobs no one complained, and I don't see anyone complaining about the Indians playing their home team.

[–]n1njapanda 17 points18 points ago

Your chief exports are jobs, crippling depression, and LeBron James.

[–]penkap1 18 points19 points ago

Quit blaming Baltimore, Cleveland.

[–]Pride_Of_Scotland -2 points-1 points ago

Yeah..fucking Mistake by the Lake, Cleveland...

[–]LamesWeirdington 4 points5 points ago

At least they're not Detroit.

[–]untrustableskeptic 0 points1 point ago

First world problems have never been so funny.

[–]zuperxtreme 42 points43 points ago

No, it's because of a law: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/why-the-world-is-running-out-of-helium-2059357.html

Scientists have warned that the world's most commonly used inert gas is being depleted at an astonishing rate because of a law passed in the United States in 1996 which has effectively made helium too cheap to recycle.

The law stipulates that the US National Helium Reserve, which is kept in a disused underground gas field near Amarillo, Texas – by far the biggest store of helium in the world – must all be sold off by 2015, irrespective of the market price.

[–]toxicbrew 9 points10 points ago

Such an idiotic law--I honestly can't see the reasoning behind this.

[–]iamadogforreal 4 points5 points ago

Pork. Some senator decreed this.

[–]BloodReaver 0 points1 point ago

Stay away from Amarillo, Texas. It sucks here. We have random balloons coming out of the ground.

[–]Krywiggles 95 points96 points ago

everything we did in the 80s is detrimental to us now. The ozone, borrowing money from china, fossil fuels, AIDS, etc. I would list more, but I would sound like a Billy Joel song

[–]oopsifell 21 points22 points ago

DARE

[–]CowFu 24 points25 points ago

I never graduated from DARE. I move schools after starting the program and my new school had already completed it.

I never agreed not to do drugs. Mwahahahaha.

[–]oopsifell 33 points34 points ago

DARE gave me an epic crash course on the buffet of drugs that exist.

[–]colpy350 14 points15 points ago

I was top of my DARE class. Was even given an award from the lieutenant Govener. I still smoked a bunch of pot and experimented with alcholol.

[–]eamantite 19 points20 points ago

experimented with alcoholol.

We've got a badass over here.

[–]riqk 10 points11 points ago

Hey, don't insult him. He's done alcohol, he's crazy. In fact, he might be on alcohol right now.

[–]Belvyzep 0 points1 point ago

Hey. DARE actually worked for me. I've never touched an illegal drug in my life.

Then again, so did an abstinence-only sexual education, so take my experiences with a grain of salt.

[–]alstewart73 19 points20 points ago

Don't forget most pop music.

No, let's forget pop music!

[–]upward_bound 8 points9 points ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nXGPZaTKik

[–]alstewart73 9 points10 points ago

Exfuckingzactly!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVikZ8Oe_XA&ob=av2n

[–]Belvyzep 0 points1 point ago

The official VEVO video for this song, and it was probably ripped from an ol' cassette tape...

How the mighty have fallen.

[–]burningsensation 2 points3 points ago

...yes. yes I do.

[–]Krywiggles 4 points5 points ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldyx3KHOFXw

[–]snugglebandit 3 points4 points ago

Released : August 1979

[–]danieldrehmer 2 points3 points ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9whehyybLqU

[–]xxTheseGoTo11xx 2 points3 points ago

The real reason 80s had to die.

[–]DoctorRobert420 1 point2 points ago

my dad always tells me they had a saying for disco when it was around, which was "boy, this really sucks!"

then he said that 80's pop music came around and they had a saying for that too: "bring back disco!"

[–]briguy182182 0 points1 point ago

Meta.

[–]Bernie_Roscoe 4 points5 points ago

Borrowing money from China? How did that come back to bite us?

Also, we're blaming AIDs on humans?

[–]mnorri 6 points7 points ago

We can blame AIDS rapid spread on humans, their shortsightedness, extreme denial of the science and tendency to replace scientific reasoning with wishes, hopes and legend... Sure.

[–]Bernie_Roscoe 2 points3 points ago

.... did any of those actually happen? My father was going through medical school during the start of the AIDs crisis and what he describes sounds nothing like that.

[–]kank84 5 points6 points ago

The main issue was that the gay community was resistant to calls to alter its behaviour, as the sexual liberation of the 1970s was viewed by many as being the spoils of the campaign for gay rights that had been growing since the 60s. Politicians couldn't get excited about a disease that was only killing junkies and queers, and similarly a lot of people in the relevant medical research fields didn't want to be associated with those groups either. The first 2 years of the AIDS epidemic was an exercise in denial, vanity and prejudice.

[–]canadiuhns 2 points3 points ago

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/mobile/m/how_to_survive_a_plague/

[–]diddletheskittle 0 points1 point ago

i dont think we "did" AIDS... it just happened

[–]Bernie_Roscoe 5 points6 points ago

We're not running out of helium, just helium at current prices. Once the helium reserve in Texas is depleted it will finally be economical for helium to be extracted from fossil fuel production. Right now we are just letting it escape to the atmosphere.

[–]igorsway 1 point2 points ago

It's irreplaceable.

[–]Bernie_Roscoe 1 point2 points ago

Well, nuclear alpha decay creates Helium but that isn't a very realistic means of helium production.

That said, you cannot even comprehend how much helium earth has in its mantle.

[–]igorsway 3 points4 points ago

It's kind of like measuring oil reserves. The actual amount that can be extracted is only a small fraction of the total reserve. It seems reasonable to take steps to conserve our stockpiles and discourage frivolous uses.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2010/06/30/the-coming-shortage-of-helium/

[–]Bernie_Roscoe 0 points1 point ago

Does it? The helium reserve in Texas was a massive money sink.

[–]jetRink 9 points10 points ago

Helium is produced as a byproduct of fossil fuel production, because it is trapped by the same geological formations that trap other useful gasses. The only ways to preserve it are to stop drilling for fossil fuels so it stays in the ground, or to store it indefinitely in large reservoirs, which is very expensive.

TL;DR: The Earth is like a soda bottle. If you want to preserve the carbonation, you need to keep the bottle closed and stop drinking the soda.

[–]entho -1 points0 points ago

Dangerous dad?

[–]lilumpy 63 points64 points ago

Background story.

[–]thecaits 45 points46 points ago

Holy shit, what a tremendously stupid idea.

[–]Chim7 1 point2 points ago

Oh wow. That's pretty hilarious.

[–]igorsway 87 points88 points ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMykyo4xo5o

[–]Magzter 60 points61 points ago

80's America seems like such an odd place.

[–]oopsifell 62 points63 points ago

It seemed alright at the time but then when it became the 90s and everyone was saying "get with the 90s" it was clear that we were going to run from the 80s hard.

[–]revile221 6 points7 points ago

Back when playing a video game was strictly for geeks and nerds.

[–]fernguts 12 points13 points ago

*computer game

FTFY

[–]Raincoats_George 18 points19 points ago

We are so programmed to think environment now, watching this and seeing how little they care, man it must have been nice.

[–]skirlhutsenreiter 6 points7 points ago

Yeah, first thing I thought on seeing the picture was, "How did they clean up all the popped balloons? They'd end up spread all over the place." Obviously not a concern of the organizers.

[–]themapleboy 6 points7 points ago

if your were to jump off that building into the balloons... would you die?

[–]Buns_Of_Awesomeness 15 points16 points ago

Yeah dude you would. The balloons wouldn't just stay under your body, they'd still be trying to move up and would roll from under you. Path of least resistance and all that shit.

[–]themapleboy 4 points5 points ago

I meant when i hit the balloons, would they absorb the impact and "break my fall", would i fly right through them like nothing, or would i smack into it like a brick wall followed by them flying up around me and me falling another 3 stories to the floor.

[–]Buns_Of_Awesomeness 12 points13 points ago

They would roll from under you as you hit them. You'd keep falling without any cushioning.

[–]esaba 4 points5 points ago

Yes.

[–]suby 2 points3 points ago

I'm surprised they didn't ground planes and helicopters for this.

[–]Boxing_Clever 21 points22 points ago

That's it, I'm switching to futureporn. I was born in 87, this can't be history yet, I still have all my teeth!

[–]emsenn0 8 points9 points ago

That is some interesting criteria for whether a thing is history, I like it!

[–]Boxing_Clever 0 points1 point ago

It doesn't help that I'm slowly graying at age 25, so that was out as a measure of history.

[–]Raincoats_George 7 points8 points ago

Hey I was born in 87 as well. Remember skip it? Me too!

[–]Boxing_Clever 5 points6 points ago

I have no idea what a skip it is!

[–]Raincoats_George 4 points5 points ago

Thats ok. Hows about creepy crawlers?

[–]Boxing_Clever 1 point2 points ago

No . . . I spent my formative years in the former Soviet Union then Rockaway Parkway - we didn't have such luxuries ;)

[–]Raincoats_George 0 points1 point ago

Oh.. well if cooking plastic bugs in an easy bake oven is a luxury then I suppose we were living like kings.

[–]Boxing_Clever 1 point2 points ago

Not to get all "when I was a kid . . ." but those kinds of toys are luxuries for kids. When I was growing up, there was nothing to buy in the former USSR. Relatives from overseas would send stuffed toys and such but my pull behind dog, collection of rubber gnomes and wind up toys were handed down to me - before they where my mother's toys.

I have a sister who is 7 now and I'm jealous to this day about her toys. SO MUCH POLLY POCKET, her dollhouse is nicer than the place I live in with better furniture to boot.

I'm not complaining, at all. We had a lot of books, a record player with lots of albums, other kids around to play with and best of all, my dad would let me solder and develop pictures with him in his dark room. Grandma was a college professor and took me to work with her, Grandpa was a PE teacher and would take me to game with him. I can't ever remember being bored until we moved to the suburbs and I met a bunch of bored suburban kids, who were in actuality, really boring.

[–]Raincoats_George -2 points-1 points ago

Hey I hear ya but its not like we had a choice where or how we were raised, and being a suburban kid did not equate to being boring or spoiled or any of that. This has everything to do with parenting and nothing to do with superfluous toys.

[–]Boxing_Clever 0 points1 point ago

I didn't insinuate that, I'm sorry if it seemed like that. Nobody seemed to want to go do ANYTHING besides play Sega and Super Nintendo in a basement. May have been different where you grew up, but going from a blue collar neighborhood to an upper middle class suburb was culture shock.

If you don't have anything to entertain you, you learn to entertain yourself. I see the very majority of toys as a massive waste of money - plastic that gets worn out and unloved quickly.

[–]admdelta 0 points1 point ago

I do! I do!

[–]Chrisss88 0 points1 point ago

My cousin just got a skip it for her birthday! Apparently they still exist.

[–]thebestkatiej 0 points1 point ago

I am still waiting for my skip-it. I am also still awaiting delivery of my pogo ball. Some day.

[–]Raincoats_George 1 point2 points ago

oh god pogo ball. Whoever the fuck invented that was like, 'hey, lets see how unstable a toy we can make! I recall jumping on that thing being unable to stay on more than a few seconds before tripping over my own feet. Its up there with moon shoes in terms of toys that you just trip over. Honorable mention: Those plastic skates you put over your own shoes.

[–]thebestkatiej 0 points1 point ago

I always wanted moon shoes too! I had the skates. They were a huge disappointment.

[–]that-writer-kid 0 points1 point ago

I recently saw a Skip It. On a college campus, but they still exist! We're not old yet!

[–]Boxing_Clever 3 points4 points ago

I'm still wearin' an onion on my belt.

[–]Cutsman3 34 points35 points ago

Did they just think that all of the fucking balloons were going to just disappear?

[–]SensibleMadness 64 points65 points ago

As someone who grew up in the 80s, I can pretty much guarantee that's exactly what they thought.

[–]catmoon 8 points9 points ago

Eventually they make a huge mess in Pittsburgh, something that Clevelanders can really get behind.

[–]thebigslide -5 points-4 points ago

They do. Latex decomposes very quickly. The byproducts aren't innocuous though when we're talking about so many balloons.

[–]MIMapGeek 40 points41 points ago

But we do know it was us that scorched the sky -Morpheus

[–]Juus 37 points38 points ago

Taking a black and white photo of a million colorful balloons, is the equivalent of taking a black and white photo of a rainbow, what a stupid decision.

[–]idfeiid 19 points20 points ago

So did they get fined for littering 1.5 million times?

[–]DSettahr 17 points18 points ago

I work as a backcountry ranger. After empty beer cans and bottles, balloons are the second most common item of trash I find in the woods. Seriously, they are everywhere, scattered around our woods and wilderness areas.

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]admdelta 8 points9 points ago

Unfortunately that record is probably higher than our current population of pandas. It will be tough to top.

[–]carbonite_duckface 12 points13 points ago

Anyone else see a giant cock and balls?

[–]annaqua 8 points9 points ago

Sigh. I do now!

[–]TheGreatKringa 0 points1 point ago

I opened the comments to see if this was already mentioned. Reddit did not disappoint.

[–]fantasticdonuts 1 point2 points ago

Kind of looks like a giant chode

[–]admdelta 0 points1 point ago

It does, never thought I'd get a chance to see such a massive micropenis.

[–]Neberkenezzr 26 points27 points ago

this kind of mentality about the environment explains so much about our current predicament..

[–]Lacagada 7 points8 points ago

Why the heck is a picture from 1986 in black and white?

[–]markymark_inc 2 points3 points ago

Proof hipsters existed even in the 80's, before Instagram.

[–]bltmn[!] 5 points6 points ago

I remember this. I was living in Cleveland for a year after I got out of college. It was quite the event. The local media reported about it breathlessly as the largest balloon release in history. Nothing else - just done for its own sake. Pathetic.

Cleveland is such a needy city - like an insecure teenager always making pitiful grabs for validation.

[–]usedtowork 3 points4 points ago

fun times in Cleveland TODAY

[–]TH3_P1R4T3 2 points3 points ago

grew up in cleveland, never knew this happened

[–]bowhunter6274 1 point2 points ago

Same here. I was old enough that i should remember, but this escapes me.

[–]CountNoAccount 2 points3 points ago

Isn't this the same Cleveland that caught their river on fire?

[–]SensibleMadness 2 points3 points ago

I moved out of Cleveland about a month before this happened. Clearly, my presence was the only thing keeping Cleveland from complete idiocy.

[–]me_me_me_me_me_ 2 points3 points ago

And probably just that morning, Cleveland police pulled over and ticketed a person for littering after witnessing a gum wrapper being thrown out of the car window.

[–]ADIDAS247 2 points3 points ago

What a complete waste of resources.

[–]maztaim 2 points3 points ago

Only in the 80s was it OK to waste helium, litter on a large scale and threaten air travel; All for the sake of fundraising.

[–]ehenning1537 0 points1 point ago

And then suddenly a giant penis rose out of downtown Cleveland...

[–]ehenning1537 1 point2 points ago

TRY TO UNSEE IT

[–]lufsey 0 points1 point ago

impossible.

[–]supaphly42 2 points3 points ago

And the sun hasn't shone there since.

Side note, not sure why so many people are bitching about black & white. For this, yeah, color would've been nice. But plenty of people still shoot b&w. This was probably shot on b&w film for a newspaper.

[–]dsgm1984 0 points1 point ago

And that's how the war with the machines started...wait...did it?

[–]subbitcloud 0 points1 point ago

haha oh my. how times change

[–]nusmesa 1 point2 points ago

eh i would have put those balloon into a model star destroyer... and let it climb up into the atmosphere...

now that is something to see!

[–]TimothyGonzalez 0 points1 point ago

Balloonpocalypse

[–]real_fuzzy_bums 0 points1 point ago

Why? Because what else do we have to do around here?

[–]generationfirst 1 point2 points ago

Anyone know how many of those balloons were red?

[–]thomn8r 1 point2 points ago

99

[–]Jack_M 2 points3 points ago

He said red, not luft.

[–]ManWithPez 1 point2 points ago

Looks like the kind of story Les Nessman from WKRP would have come over from Cincinnati to cover.

[–]BBrotz 0 points1 point ago

God's been punishing their sports teams ever since

[–]essjaye81 0 points1 point ago

Cleveland is....shall we say... special and does things without thinking. A lot.

[–]awesomechemist 0 points1 point ago

YAAAY! TO THE MESOSPHERE!!!

[–]r0bbiedigital 0 points1 point ago

Treb HEining http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_tampa/balloon-master-treb-heining-has-key-role-in-republican-national-convention-climax

[–]KingsofCascadia 1 point2 points ago

Yall didn't think about wasting Helium in the 80s did you?

Assholes. :|

[–]thebestkatiej 0 points1 point ago

I bet that killed a lot of sea turtles.

[–]anotherlandguy 0 points1 point ago

Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun. I shall do the next best thing: block it out. -M. Burns

[–]roguewave 0 points1 point ago

Taking an 80s photo in black and white is the equivalent of making high def photos look like they were taken in the 80s today through instagram. People will look back and wonder just how stupid we were, again.

[–]bobsagetfullhouse 0 points1 point ago

It kinda looks like a human head that just got its brains blown out

[–]Amida0616 0 points1 point ago

"The ballons of the cleveland empire will block out the sun."

[–]sleeper141 0 points1 point ago

Blocking out the sun...well, Cleveland is considered the metal capitol of the US.

[–]TheFanciestManAlive 0 points1 point ago

Apparently those clouds are have been blocking the sun ever since

[–]GoTeamShake 0 points1 point ago

Do they still hold the world record?

[–]nolatilla 1 point2 points ago

"Our balloons will blot out the sun!" "Then we will be boring in the shade."

[–]chagrinning 0 points1 point ago

No no no...the turtles!! The turtles...

(Sea turtles mistake deflated balloons for jellyfish, which they eat, and then choke and die.)

[–]_AirCanuck_ 0 points1 point ago

all I can think of is how much garbage this would make when they popped...

[–]Maeve89 0 points1 point ago

Think of all the wasted helium!! ARGH

[–]alstewart73 1 point2 points ago

Arseholes.

[–]Cake4Gold 1 point2 points ago

I think because the tumbnail is in black and white I mistakenly read the year as 1886 and took Cleveland to mean Grover Cleveland (who was actually President then). I thought it was one of those "silly past people" kind of moments.

When I realized it was the 1980s I face palmed.

[–]femo1170 1 point2 points ago

Why is a photo from the mid-80's in black and white?

[–]flyguysd 0 points1 point ago

So that's why we're almost out of helium.

[–]Exxec 0 points1 point ago

Aaaand this is why we have a worldwide helium shortage, folks!

[–]andrew12361 -3 points-2 points ago

Wonder how many dolphins died

[–]ThreeT 2 points3 points ago

No dolphin has been seen in Lake Erie since that day.

So I guess all of them.

:-(

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