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Karl La Follette
Karl La Follette Reader
10/15/09 4:41 p.m.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/colorado.boy.balloon/index.html

Grtechguy
Grtechguy SuperDork
10/15/09 4:44 p.m.

Dude.....

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/holy/15120/page1/

TJ
TJ HalfDork
10/15/09 8:26 p.m.

So, I guess the boy was hiding in the garage attic and Ken Block was driving the balloon?

Woody
Woody GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
10/15/09 9:05 p.m.

There's an important lesson to be learned here kids:

Don't berkeley with Daddy's stuff.

ManofFewWords
ManofFewWords Reader
10/16/09 7:05 a.m.

There are some people suggesting that this is an elaborate hoax...

Grtechguy
Grtechguy SuperDork
10/16/09 7:21 a.m.
ManofFewWords wrote: There are some people suggesting that this is an elaborate hoax...

Gee.....ya think?

John Brown
John Brown GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
10/16/09 7:54 a.m.

Not very elaborate, but hoax in my book.

DrBoost
DrBoost HalfDork
10/16/09 7:55 a.m.

Yeah, big far hoax. Did anyone see his interview with Wolf Blitzer last night? "We did it for the show? then his parents just stare, stunned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXBgRYqqojk
Then the dad just wouldn't address the "we did it for the show" comment. Then after that, each time the boy is asked to clarify that, he "has to vomit"
Nice parents, teaching your kids to lie.

RX Reven'
RX Reven' GRM+ Memberand Reader
10/16/09 10:38 a.m.

The craft wasn’t very efficient from a material to buoyancy ratio perspective or a stability perspective or a fabrication / storage / launch logistics perspective. What it appeared to be optimized for was to look like a UFO which leads me to believe an alien encounter hoax was the original intention.

In terms of lifting a six year old boy…at sea level on a standard day, helium gives you 0.06 pounds of buoyancy per cubic foot of displacement; Colorado – October – 20’ diameter saucer shape…let’s say we’ve got about 65 pounds total to work with and the empty weight is probably around half that so you’d need to be an extraordinarily light six year old to get airborne. More than that, the craft was floating at a pronounced angle so the gondola was obviously empty.

bamalama
bamalama Reader
10/16/09 10:48 a.m.
DrBoost wrote: Yeah, big far hoax. Did anyone see his interview with Wolf Blitzer last night? "We did it for the show? then his parents just stare, stunned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXBgRYqqojk Then the dad just wouldn't address the "we did it for the show" comment. Then after that, each time the boy is asked to clarify that, he "has to vomit" Nice parents, teaching your kids to lie.

Who farted during the interview? That's almost as priceless as getting busted by the little kid.

EastCoastMojo
EastCoastMojo GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
10/16/09 11:06 a.m.

If this all turns out to be a Domino's viral ad I am going to be pissed.

Strizzo
Strizzo SuperDork
10/16/09 12:27 p.m.

i think i have a solution for the next time something like this happens...

foxtrapper
foxtrapper SuperDork
10/16/09 12:40 p.m.

I dunno. Cops are pretty durn good at telling if people are lying, and they aren't calling it a hoax.

Having to deal with my boys ability to mangle instructions and misremember things, I would not be at all surprised to hear something like that come out of his mouth.

Carson
Carson Dork
10/16/09 12:51 p.m.
foxtrapper wrote: I dunno. Cops are pretty durn good at telling if people are lying, and they aren't calling it a hoax.

Maybe the cops are just embarrassed they went on a wild goose chase for 2 hours.

DrBoost
DrBoost HalfDork
10/16/09 2:23 p.m.
Carson wrote:
foxtrapper wrote: I dunno. Cops are pretty durn good at telling if people are lying, and they aren't calling it a hoax.
Maybe the cops are just embarrassed they went on a wild goose chase for 2 hours.

That's what I think. Plus, this family is a bunch of media whores (well, the parents anyway). They've been on Wife Swap twice, they have been involved in other questionable newsworth events in the past. This was just an attempt at getting 15 more minutes of fame.

kpm
kpm New Reader
10/16/09 3:31 p.m.
foxtrapper wrote: I dunno. Cops are pretty durn good at telling if people are lying, and they aren't calling it a hoax.

But not so good at searching the house...

mel_horn
mel_horn Dork
10/17/09 1:00 p.m.

Dad was just on TV and asked the Assembled Media to put any questions in writing and drop them in a box. He'd collect them later.

Then he threw up in the box (j/k)...

New Title: Falcon and the Wolfman

jamscal
jamscal HalfDork
10/17/09 4:40 p.m.

http://www.zazzle.com/its_falcon_the_balloon_boy_tshirt-235976788089691691

T-shirts now available.

"Go Falcon, Go!"

Snowdoggie
Snowdoggie HalfDork
10/17/09 5:00 p.m.
DrBoost wrote: Yeah, big far hoax. Did anyone see his interview with Wolf Blitzer last night? "We did it for the show? then his parents just stare, stunned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXBgRYqqojk Then the dad just wouldn't address the "we did it for the show" comment. Then after that, each time the boy is asked to clarify that, he "has to vomit" Nice parents, teaching your kids to lie.

Should anybody really care? It's a kid and a stupid balloon and the press is all over this like he is a politician lying about his mistress or something. Do they want to hang the guy in public and sell it as a pay per view?

The news media is worthless.

DrBoost
DrBoost HalfDork
10/17/09 7:09 p.m.

I just want to see this dude pay for the expense of the cops/cars, the helicopter and the whole freaking search.
By the way, they called a news station "to see if they can use their 'copter to see if he's in the basket." Uh, that would be the cops job, and yes that PD does have a chopper. Why would you call the TV news station? Do you really think the chopper can get close enough to that balloon to see into it without blowing it into the next state?

Snowdoggie
Snowdoggie HalfDork
10/17/09 7:28 p.m.

Maybe they ought to make the guy pay for the police search. Maybe he is scum.

I guess I just get tired of all those Nancy Grace type 'news' programs where they spend hour after hour just nailing one slimeball to the wall after another while the audience cheers them on. Don't we have a war going on somewhere?

Carson
Carson Dork
10/17/09 10:00 p.m.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091018/ap_on_re_us/us_boy_in_balloon

Sheriff: Charges will be filed in balloon saga

DrBoost
DrBoost HalfDork
10/18/09 7:29 a.m.

Sweeeeeeet!

milanoverde
milanoverde New Reader
10/18/09 7:40 a.m.

In reply to Snowdoggie:

Snowdogggie said it all for me.

Wally
Wally GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
10/22/09 2:26 a.m.
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