Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Issue #26: Balloons

Today is the eve of what I feel will be a mass sighting of mis-identified objects in the skies of Manhattan. Many will report that they saw what appeared to be famous cartoon characters flying through the sky above the streets, there will be crowds of people bearing witness, and it will all be televised to millions of viewers at home as well! But, in reality what they will be seeing will be nothing more than balloons. Sound familiar?

Yes, Thanksgiving is upon us, and the 12 year old that lives inside this body of mine naturally thinks right off the bat about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and all the famous balloons which so many people look forward to seeing each year. Which is a great time to talk about a topic, that believe it or not, is still relevant in the world of UFOlogy: Balloons.

It is widely know that the Air Force and debunkers everywhere have tried to pass off "weather balloons" as what many witnesses have seen throughout modern history. In fact that weak explanation has been used so often, that is commonly met with ridicule, even in the few cases in which that actually was the explanation that was uncovered after investigation. It ranks right up there with "swamp gas" on the 'ol chuckle-meter. So of course when reports surged over the internet concerning Googles "Loon Balloon", I thought it might be interesting to take a light-hearted look at one of the most amusing "weather balloon" explanations...none other than Roswell itself!

The really funny part about the Air Force's "weather balloon" explanation as what really crashed at Roswell, is the fact that there was so much debris that it had to be collected by a large group of soldiers, and then it took over 8 hours to crate it up for the flight to Wright-Patterson Airfield...since when is a weather balloon that big? Even more amusing is the Air Force's explanation that what people mistook as 3-4 foot tall aliens, was really 6 foot tall dummies, that weighed around 200 lbs.! Especially funny since the Air Force didn't start using them until 1952, five years later! Of course to an unsuspecting public who doesn't know any better, it sounds like a plausible explanation.

It is true that when a weather balloon gets to a certain altitude, there is less pressure outside the balloon than there is inside it, so it begins to take on a different shape, usually flattened out like a teardrop, larger on top and narrow on the bottom...or saucer-like if viewed from the right angle. These are usually easy to identify though after proper investigation.

So tomorrow morning when you're sitting in your living room enjoying the parade, and you see those balloons, delighting all the children in the crowd, give a thought to all the characteristics you see it demonstrate as it is being guided between the skyscrapers, carefully steered with guide ropes, and ask yourself if something so limited in it's ability to move could possibly be the same thing reported in case after case reported by witnesses, with movements usually described as beyond our ability to duplicate. Not likely.

I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you so much for support over the last year...I am truly thankful for each and every one of you! Please don't eat so much that you can't come back next week for more!

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