UFOs over NYC
The balloon theory makes perfect sense if you:
A) believe that jaded New Yorkers* have never seen helium balloons
B) believe that balloons can travel backwards in time from 1:00pm to 9:30am
C) ignore the coincidence that all 3 major NYC airports closed for an hour on that date
The local ABC station’s news coverage is interesting, and the local Fox station’s coverage is even more interesting, but those are not the video clips I want to talk about.
I’d rather talk about the 8 minute clip from CBS. After watching their choreographed movements for all 8 minutes, I’m not sure what those shiny bright objects are. But one thing’s for sure: those aren’t balloons.
*Witness Daniel Calhoun, 52, said: “Common sense says it was a plane or a balloon, but this thing stopped everyone in the street for two blocks. Any New Yorker will tell you, that alone is extraordinary.”
Meanwhile…Down in the West Texas town of El Paso
Quote: reno
I’d rather talk about the 8 minute clip from CBS. After watching their choreographed movements for all 8 minutes, I’m not sure what those shiny bright objects are. But one thing’s for sure: those aren’t balloons.
Look like balloons to me. All tethered together, blowing in the wind. The movements fit perfectly. Eventually they untangle, and away they go.
The school's balloons? No. Time travel and all that. But balloons nonetheless.
Quote: Face
Look like balloons to me.
Yeah, but they could be alien balloons.
Quote: FaceLook like balloons to me.
Just before the 4:40 mark in the CBS video, the 3 objects form a triangle, and the triangle proportions remain consistent until the video hits 6:20. If these were 3 helium balloons floating randomly in the wind, perhaps a consistently proportioned triangle would appear and endure for a few seconds, but this triangle was consistent for 1 minute and 40 seconds.
But the biggest clue that these weren’t balloons is the length of time they were visible. I was at a child's birthday party a few months ago and when a helium balloon was accidentally released into the air, we watched it float up & up into the sky for about 3 or 4 minutes. After about 5 minutes that balloon was completely and totally invisible to the naked eye. The NYC incident began at 9:30am and lasted until 4:30pm. So helium balloons released at 9:30am were visible for 7 hours? The wind was blowing at 5 to 10mph that day. Even if they maintained a steady altitude, after 4 hours, they’d be 20 to 40 miles south of Manhattan. The NYPD was still receiving phone calls in the early afternoon. Those balloons must have been enormous if they were visible 40 miles away.
In a city with 8 million people, lost balloons must be a regular everyday mundane occurrence. (Yawn.) And yet this event stopped traffic, drew crowds, and was covered by 3 local TV stations, 2 newspapers, and at least 2 national news programs.
Edit: No wait, this just in: It's a Michelin tire company advertisement:)
Quote: renoJust before the 4:40 mark in the CBS video, the 3 objects form a triangle, and the triangle proportions remain consistent until the video hits 6:20. If these were 3 helium balloons floating randomly in the wind, perhaps a consistently proportioned triangle would appear and endure for a few seconds, but this triangle was consistent for 1 minute and 40 seconds.
But the biggest clue that these weren’t balloons is the length of time they were visible. I was at a child's birthday party a few months ago and when a helium balloon was accidentally released into the air, we watched it float up & up into the sky for about 3 or 4 minutes. After about 5 minutes that balloon was completely and totally invisible to the naked eye. The NYC incident began at 9:30am and lasted until 4:30pm. So helium balloons released at 9:30am were visible for 7 hours? The wind was blowing at 5 to 10mph that day. Even if they maintained a steady altitude, after 4 hours, they’d be 20 to 40 miles south of Manhattan. The NYPD was still receiving phone calls in the early afternoon. Those balloons must have been enormous if they were visible 40 miles away.
In a city with 8 million people, lost balloons must be a regular everyday mundane occurrence. (Yawn.) And yet this event stopped traffic, drew crowds, and was covered by 3 local TV stations, 2 newspapers, and at least 2 national news programs.
Once you run out of plausible explanations, then you have a mystery.
-First of all NYC -- just as you have whirlpools, undertows in water, you likely have some odd wind conditions as a light object (like a balloon flies over) building of various heights. Periods of stillness and perfect formation would be possible as the wind condition changes. They might even get caught and swirl for quite awhile.
Objects were all identical. As many as 5 were seen. Maybe 20 were released over many hours. Anyone have a continuous video never breaking off the same objects. You come outside and think you see the same group.
Hard to know how big they are. Vegas signs often look nearby because of their size, but you can walk forever to get to one. Is this a day where wind conditions changed to another direction later.
Smaller mixes of helium to air will assist in a more gradual ascent, rather than runaway effect you get with some balloons.
I think there are still reasonable questions to answer.
Quote: renoJust before the 4:40 mark in the CBS video, the 3 objects form a triangle, and the triangle proportions remain consistent until the video hits 6:20. If these were 3 helium balloons floating randomly in the wind, perhaps a consistently proportioned triangle would appear and endure for a few seconds, but this triangle was consistent for 1 minute and 40 seconds.
That's when they untangled. Previous to that they were tethered to each other. All the movement from the wind caused them to interact with each other, so when one moves, the others get pulled. You can see it plain as day. At your mark, they unravel. The bottom one is free, no longer being affected by the other two. The other two are still tangled, but not closely, so their effects affect each other less.
Quote: renoBut the biggest clue that these weren’t balloons is the length of time they were visible. I was at a child's birthday party a few months ago and when a helium balloon was accidentally released into the air, we watched it float up & up into the sky for about 3 or 4 minutes. After about 5 minutes that balloon was completely and totally invisible to the naked eye. The NYC incident began at 9:30am and lasted until 4:30pm. So helium balloons released at 9:30am were visible for 7 hours? The wind was blowing at 5 to 10mph that day. Even if they maintained a steady altitude, after 4 hours, they’d be 20 to 40 miles south of Manhattan. The NYPD was still receiving phone calls in the early afternoon. Those balloons must have been enormous if they were visible 40 miles away.
Who says they were children's balloons?
They're clearly not your standard latex balloons, as latex doesn't reflect like that. But there's any number of ways to illuminate a balloon.
And your math assumes a standard balloon filled with 100% helium and constant winds. It is easy to control ascent by mixing He with air or just weighing it by the lighting inside, and wind changes drastically, especially in urban areas.
Quote: renoIn a city with 8 million people, lost balloons must be a regular everyday mundane occurrence. (Yawn.) And yet this event stopped traffic, drew crowds, and was covered by 3 local TV stations, 2 newspapers, and at least 2 national news programs.
A bunch of citiots being enthralled by something is hardly evidence.
