Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Hindenburg sky lantern

[marked-for-combustion]
  (+6, -1)
(+6, -1)
  [vote for,
against]

A sky lantern (hot air balloon, made of paper) which is made to resemble a reasonably accurate scale model of the Hindenburg.

Light the burner and allow the envelope to fill. Release the balloon and watch it ascend majestically.

When the burner fuel is consumed, a fuse ignites the envelope and it plummets burning from the sky.

Carefully designed so that the envelope burns out completely before reaching the ground. Total cold fallout, so no risk of fires.

8th of 7, Sep 14 2014

[link]






       // no risk of fires// [8th], are you feeling quite alright?
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 14 2014
  

       Will there be miniature burning people running away from the crash impact site? (waves tempting croissant around pending answer)
xenzag, Sep 14 2014
  

       ^ Oh now that's just mean. They should be falling out of the H, some with little burning parachutes.   

       [+] Would suggest a match fusee (slow burning match) used as a timer for directional changes, as well as a buoyancy source.
FlyingToaster, Sep 14 2014
  

       I attended a lantern festival on the shores of a very small park in Asia. The burning lanterns would arc over the riverbank and back into the trees next to us. I was sorely tempted to jump up shouting "Fire! Fire!" but I was surrounded by blissed-out Buddhists.
4and20, Sep 15 2014
  

       [+] much liked idea
xenzag, Sep 15 2014
  

       The beauty of a sky lantern is that it burns out or simply disappears, so [-].
4and20, Sep 15 2014
  

       Why is it beautiful if it burns out? In this idea, the lantern also burns out before it hits the ground. Some lanterns have landed and caused serious fires, but in this case provision has been made to prevent that, making it a doubly good idea.
xenzag, Sep 15 2014
  

       [+] I'll take a dozen.
xandram, Sep 15 2014
  

       I'll admit to being biased from seeing entire skies, big city alleys and plazas filled with floating lanterns, but I'd want to see details of actual fires in Asia, where lanterns have been set free since willy and nilly first had children. Watching one disappear is a great deal of their beauty.
4and20, Sep 15 2014
  

       The fuse should trigger the release valve of a small pressure tank of hydrogen, venting into the envelope.
pocmloc, Sep 15 2014
  

       Great, let's see you engineer that so that the whole package still retails at less than USD$5 a unit.
8th of 7, Sep 15 2014
  

       You are changing the parameters as we go along.
pocmloc, Sep 15 2014
  
      
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