Update: the kid is safe. – see below
Would someone with some media contacts tell the MSM the boy was never in the balloon!
Think about it… Hot Air Balloons look like tear drops, not Jiffy Pop popcorn bags. If there where weight in the bag the (non-ridged) bag would have formed a teardrop due to the weight on the bottom. (duh)
As soon as you saw the side collapse it was obvious there was no weight in it.
MSNBC is running a picture taken of the balloon while (reportedly) it had just left the house. It had that mushroom shape. It’s a pretty safe bet the kid was never in the balloon. (assuming that pic was taken as it was launched)
While Shep Smith keeps scolding the authorties to look under the bed and MSNBC implies the kid fell out… did none of them notice that had the wrong shape?
I obviously have no first hand knowledge -so I guess I could be wrong- but I I’m not sure how.
Lucky we have a comments section so someone will ‘splain it to me.
Update: pic added
Update 2: If there is weight in the balloon how did part of the fabric get BELOW the weight?
UPDATE 3: Foxnews is reporting something that makes a lot more sense. – Apparently there was another ‘basket’ under the ballon that -somehow got removed- from what we saw. (fell off? taken off?)
They seemed unsure (duh it’s breaking news) but THAT is plausable.
Update 4: A deputy says he thinks he saw something fall off of it. That’s the kind of thing I find IMplausable. — If a ~50 pound weight suddenly came detached the shape and flight of the ballon would be altered radically.
—BTW If you’re commenting without seeing the video, you can’t really understand what I’m talking about.–
UPDATE 5: What I’ve been waiting for… Video
It is rather obvious if there was a 50 pound weight at the bottom, the material would not be that flimsy.
Update 6: I’ve been using “the H word” in comments since someone else did… but I was reluctant do it in general and especially in the post… Now CBS is asking if it is a hoax.
UPDATE 7 – NBC news (TV) is reporting (duh) the boy was never in the balloon and is home safe. Color me not surprised.
HMMMMM (update 8) MSNBC is reporting the kid is safe…. but they are also reporting that the balloon was an experimental aircraft… so this story was written by an idiot… (if you’ve followed the story, read that link… so many errors, it’s hard to belive the person who wrote it was serious.) [update to the update, the dad originally said it was a weather balloon (he’s a well documented weather geek) now multiple media sources are saying that he’s claiming the bag with a cardboard box IS an experimential aircraft… either the media or the guy is nutz. Or perhaps both.]
Update 9 and probably the last. For all Shep Smith’s whining, he probably had it right. Kid was found at home hiding in a cardboard box in the attic of the garage. He was never in the balloon. But we knew that.
Update X and the last. Kevin reports above that it looks like the whole balloon boy thing was a hoax. That was my hunch early on.
