helium balloons

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Magician Floats Way, Way Above Planet Earth

David Blaine is mesmerized over Arizona: 'Wow, it's so beautiful'

(Newser) - Ah, to float away. David Blaine realized that dream Wednesday by rigging up to balloons and floating nearly 25,000 feet over Arizona—until he cut the cord, USA Today reports. The 47-year-old magician drifted for nearly an hour in a livestreamed broadcast called "Ascension," which began with...

Scientology Opens New Church in a Controversial Way

Officials are apologizing after hundreds of balloons were released

(Newser) - The Church of Scientology apparently wasn't thinking about the environment when it opened a new church in southern California Saturday. Images shared by the church show hundreds of helium balloons being released during the Ventura center's grand opening, KTLA reports. The pictures quickly sparked anger, with groups including...

Here's a Tangible Sign of World's Helium Shortage

Party City to shut 45 stores

(Newser) - A national chain's announcement that it is shuttering 45 stores nationwide perhaps got more attention than it might have thanks to a scientific reality. The chain is Party City, supplier of balloons and all manors of party favors, and the scientific reality is that the world is facing a...

Guy Pretends He's in Up, Flies Over Canada in Balloon Chair

Daniel Boria did get arrested, though

(Newser) - Daniel Boria has either seen too many Pixar movies or he's the most ingenious marketer the other side of Niagara Falls. The Canadian wanted to advertise his cleaning-products business in the most visible way possible: by affixing more than 100 helium balloons to a lawn chair and flying over...

'Doesn't Look Like France': Balloonist's Trek Falls Short

American Jonathan Trappe rescued by media chopper in Newfoundland

(Newser) - A US balloonist who was trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean using hundreds of helium-filled balloons has landed short of his goal in Newfoundland. With sense of humor intact: "This doesn't look like France," he posted on Facebook . The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported today that it used...

Let's Stop Wasting Precious Helium on Giant Balloons

Our supply is dwindling, and helium matters

(Newser) - This story may leave you feeling a bit deflated. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a waste of the world's dwindling helium supply, argue Miriam Krule and Noam Prywes for Slate , and it may be time to put a pin in the balloons. Earth's supply of 1....

We're Running Out of Helium
 We're Running Out of Helium 

We're Running Out of Helium

... and that's a bad, bad thing

(Newser) - Would you pay $100 for a helium balloon? That’s how much it’s worth, and if we keep selling helium at “ridiculously cheap” prices, we’ll deplete the world’s supply within a generation, Nobel laureate and physics professor Robert Richardson tells the Independent . That’s a pretty...

Man Snaps Stunning Space Photos Using Balloon, Duct Tape
 Man Snaps Stunning 
 Space Photos Using 
 Balloon, Duct Tape 
in case you missed it

Man Snaps Stunning Space Photos Using Balloon, Duct Tape

Balloon/camera contraption cost Robert Harrison just $750

(Newser) - Armed with a few hundred dollars and a dream, a British man has come up with a way to take photos of the earth from space that would make NASA proud—and have. “A guy phoned up who worked for NASA. He wanted to know how the hell we...

Thanks for the Ride, Falcon
 Thanks for the Ride, Falcon 
Brandon Keim

Thanks for the Ride, Falcon

(Newser) - Just about everyone seems to hate Richard Heene, but the emotion just proves how powerfully the balloon boy hoax gripped our collective imagination. “Had Richard called 911 and reported that he’d last seen his son near a Greyhound bus station, almost nobody would have cared,” writes Brandon...

Missing Boy Is Fine: He Was Hiding in Garage

6-year-old set off frantic search after hot-air balloon took off

(Newser) - A 6-year-old Colorado boy thought to have floated off in a helium balloon has been found safe at his home—hiding in a cardboard box in the garage attic. Sheriff Jim Alderman turned to reporters during a news conference and gave a thumbs up. "He's at the house."...

Search On for Balloon's Missing Box
Search On
for Balloon's Missing Box

Search On for Balloon's Missing Box

No sign of boy; adventurous family was on Wife Swap

(Newser) - A troubling twist in the search for 6-year-old Falcon Heene, thought to have floated away in his father's homemade balloon near Denver: He may have crawled into a box attached to the bottom of the balloon before it accidentally lifted off from his family's back yard. That box wasn't attached...

Errant Balloon Lands, But Boy Missing
 Errant Balloon Lands, But 
 Boy Missing 
updated

Errant Balloon Lands, But Boy Missing

(Newser) - A 6-year-old boy is missing after he supposedly floated away in his father's homemade balloon over the skies of Denver. The craft came down about 3:30pm, after two hours in the air, but the youngster wasn't inside. His fate remains unclear, and it's possible that he fell out during...

Going Up? 9.4M Balloons Should Do It

But different sources give widely varied estimates

(Newser) - Pixar stuck 20,622 balloons on a house to achieve liftoff in its animated Up, which wouldn't come close to doing the trick in real life, writes Nina Shen Rastogi on Slate's Explainer blog. If the old Carl character were using typical party balloons, he'd need somewhere around 9.4...

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