OT: Hurricanes Lounge XXXIX, Yeah, I get that.

[Borsig]

*plane starts rolling*

*guy behind you opens his tuna sandwich just as his infant child wakes up*

Every time lately that we get on a plane, we are within one row of someone with "infant in arms" Or some fat slob who needs to eat a 3 course meal in his or her seat.

There's an article somewhere from a defense analyst that talks about the challenges of bringing down a balloon at 90k altitude. Since it's not a big metal thing and it's well above flight ceilings, all the usual methods aren't effective, and the methods that are have serious risks for ground effects. Besides, the info a balloon can gather at 90k isn't that much more revealing than data that's already being gathered by satellites, and China already has plenty trained on us.

No but the damn thing can release a disease bomb, some kind of bio weapon, an EMP, or god knows what else.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

No but the damn thing can release a disease bomb, some kind of bio weapon, an EMP, or god knows what else.

Maybe, but any of those things would constitute a direct act of war, and there are a million other things China could do that would be more in their interest. China is far too pragmatic to declare war, for no reason, on the country that imports more of their goods than anyone else on the planet.

That said, if we were on a war footing over, say, Taiwan, I'm pretty sure the calculus would be different and that balloon would have been targeted the second it appeared anywhere near US airspace.

 

[LakeLivin]

The spy baloon is floating at 60,000 feet. And authorities still need to caution citizens not to shoot at it. 'Murica, you do you!

 

[Borsig]

The spy baloon is floating at 60,000 feet. And authorities still need to caution citizens not to shoot at it. 'Murica, you do you!

you can bet your ass someone has a model rocket that can get there.

 

[LakeLivin]

you can bet your ass someone has a model rocket that can get there.

I could be wrong but I don't think model rocket aficionados are the demographic they need to caution not to shoot at the balloon, lol.

 

[Lempo]

I miss the good old days when there was supposed to be a UFO somewhere but then the government said that nope, it's a balloon, and then everything was ok.

 

[MrazeksVengeance]

@DaveG I THINK TIME HAS COME FOR THE XL

 

[LostInaLostWorld]

Shooting it down near Myrtle Beach.

 

[DaveG]

@DaveG I THINK TIME HAS COME FOR THE XL

OT: - Hurricanes Lounge XL. 99 Luftballons

@DaveG I THINK TIME HAS COME FOR THE XL 99 Duesenjager Jeder war ein grosser Krieger Hielten sich fuer Captain Kirk Das gab ein grosses Feuerwerk Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft Und fuehlten sich gleich angemacht Dabei schoss man am Horizont Auf 99 Luftballons

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