Comments on: Sad Balloon Boy Saga Continues: Pukes Twice on Live TV

By: Ben Linus

Ben Linus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:21:26 +0000

Oh, boy. I love how Meredith Vieira just kept on with the interview, grilling the dad about the possibility of a hoax, while the kid is puking. Jeez, if O’Reilly had done that, the news media would have went nuts.

By: sarainitaly

sarainitaly — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:17:11 +0000

I felt bad that I was so skeptical when I first heard the story… I didn’t want to dismiss their panic if they were in fact panicked. But, after seeing them on numerous interviews, learning that they are reality tv wannabes, and that they dragged their barfing kid all over town….my guess it was a hoax.

How sad. The kid is probably throwing up because he caught pneumonia from sitting in a garage for hours.

By: ImNotBlue

ImNotBlue — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:21:51 +0000

You know what… I remembered that the Mythbusters ALREADY DID this episode!

Pilot Number 3
“Adam Savage went up in the MythBusters’ rig, which was a lawn chair with 16 plastic weather balloons attached, and went up to the maximum height that could be obtained with the safety ropes attached, 75 feet (23 m).”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MythBusters_special_episodes#Pilot_3_.E2.80.93_.22Larry.27s_Lawn_Chair_Balloon.2C_Poppy_Seed_Drug_Test.2C_Goldfinger.22

Average weight of a 6-year-old… about 50lbs. Let’s imagine Adam is 200lbs (I’d bet less, but over estimate for effect). It took 16 weather balloons to lift him… that means one balloon would be able to lift about 12.5 lbs. It would thusly take 4 weather balloons to lift the boy… so I guess the question is what the homemade balloon, as big as 4 balloons? Doubtful.

IMO, things aren’t looking good for this story…

By: LVK

LVK — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:54:40 +0000

I have to agree with ImNotBlue–someone call Discovery channel and get this on mythbusters asap. although, that might end up giving the whole thing even MORE attention, because then whatever the result was the family would make a statement about it, news would pick it up, more people would comment and try to disprove, etc.

second thought, changed my mind. someone just get that poor kid off camera on to a doctor. oh, and maybe someone can see if this is a healthy environment for the kids in general.

By: libra blue

libra blue — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:37:18 +0000

Steve, I can see how shows like “Good Morning America” and the “Today Show” would waste valuable airtime on stupid reality show stories like this, but I was surprised that supposedly respectable news organizations like CNN and FNC would waste so much time covering this obvious hoax.

Not only did Wolf Blitzer waste valuable time “grilling” the family on LKL, but Anderson continued discussing this non-story for quite awhile on 360. This family and the news media are no different than the mindless average American who has become addicted to these stupid reality shows.

By: ImNotBlue

ImNotBlue — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:31:14 +0000

The most compelling wrinkle to the whole “hoax” theory was that the helium, even in that quantity, wouldn’t have had the power to lift much more than something like 6-8 pounds. If that’s the case, even acting partly as a balloon, partly as a kite, I doubt it would have had the strength needed to lift a 6 year old off the ground.

Anybody hear or see anything about this? A scientist’s report, perhaps?

Someone call the Mythbusters…