>

Went back from confirmed spy to suspected spy huh
Well, it was about that time that the US Government noticed that the Chinese weather balloon was about 200 feet tall and was a crustacean from the protozoic era. >

I gave him a dollar I thought he'd go away >

Well of course he's not going to go away. You give him a dollar he's going to assume you've got more. >

She gave him a dollar! >

We had taco salad for dinner >

Lmao I have an old relative who asked "instead of destroying it, why don't they just use a helicopter to catch it, so that they can fully inspect its components and the data it gathered?", as if you can catch it like Spongebob catches Jellyfish. >

Ahh yes… helicopters at 60,000 feet. >

The Lama set the record at about 41,000 feet fifty one years ago.
It's also the autorotation record, and one of those "That's great lets never do it again" records. >

There is a Llama that flew 41000 feet in the air? How did I never hear about this, I’m a big fan of Llamas. 🦙 >

Her name is pickles and we are very proud >

“Pickles come eat your DINNER!”
Throws casserole at llama. >

That was Tina >

Vote for Tina >

That's not the kind of balloon you get at the party store. >

Have you tried asking? >

Hey, do you have a two hundred foot balloon I could use? >

…for “tracking weather” >

"Why yes we have one right here!"
Made in China >

Are they studying one thing about it a day? Tomorrow there will be a news article that says "suspected Chinese spy balloon was filled with helium." >

Gotta max them clicks! >

The Chinese spy balloon once held an opponents wife's hand. >

...in a jar of acid...at a party. >

I heard... Chinese Spy Balloon's got like.... Thirty goddamn dicks. >

[Chinese Spy Balloon]’ll save children, but not the British children. >

On a horse made of crystal he patrols the land
With his Mason ring and schnauzer and his perfect hands >

I need a physics nerd to calculate the uplift of 4.1 million cubic ft of helium…
Super curious as to the payload capacity now. >

Your arguments for why it wasn't used for surveillance are:


There was a Chinese press release 


Even though it is known to have capacity to change direction, recent wind conditions show it didn't need to in order to have been launched from China (a large country known to launch surveillance balloons).


No further comments necessary. >

Or maybe China knew this too and used it as an opportunity to pretend but still made micro adjustments to view what they needed. I don’t know. It’s all pretty sus if you ask me. They didn’t say anything about it until after we found it. That’s the part that I’m baffled by. If it was purely an accident, wouldn’t you call it out? >

Plausible deniability comes in to play here. >

The only thing that can stop a bad balloon is a good balloon with a gun. >

Or a monkey with a dart >

Sometimes you need a monkey with a sniper rifle >

Need bananas for comparison. >

You’d make a great bot >

This is one helluva compliment that sounds like an insult >

Note to Chinese spies, if you had just launched the balloon in the U.S. nobody would have batted an eye. >

Maybe as a gender reveal party? >

If that balloon had exploded with a bunch of blue powder inside, and Elon Musk tweeted that he's was announcing the birth of his son after the government shot it down with a goddamn F-22 it would have been the greatest prank in the history of the United States. >

Right up until he had to pay for the cost of scrambling those f22s, which would make it the greatest prank in human history. >

The cost per flight hour of an F-22 is about $90,000 and Elon makes 1.6 million dollars per hour. I think he would be okay. >

How many busses is that? >

I thought busses were a way to gauge the level of bussin' something is. >

are the units called bussy? >

That’s bigger than an Eva! >

Get in the balloon Shinji! >

You know, they should have just painted the American flag on the side of it. >

And it can shoot lasers from its eyes, and fuck your wife from two states over >

Step right up >

English, please? How many buses is that?? >

Thank god it wasn’t a gender reveal balloon. >

It could have been gripped by the husk >

I got better >

Should we be acting shocked?  Isn't that par for the course for high altitude balloons like that? >

I'm willing to bet the average person knows nothing about high altitude balloons >

But has many opinions >

Was it a god damn dirigible? >

No nothing like that. >

So am I but you don't see me bragging about it. I'm probably the most humble person to ever live, though, so you won't catch me complaining.  
Probably more like 198' anyway, smh my head >

Yeah but how many bananas? >

343 bananas if you assume googles top answer on  banana length is right. >

Man, so many bananas. >

I wasn't bothered by this balloon before when I thought it was 175 feet tall. BUT THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE >

Wow, something happening in America has more coverage in America than something else in the UK and France. >

Everything is a conspiracy to some people hey >

Double it and give it to the next person >

That’s no moon...it’s a balloon. >

Herschel Walker said this is how China takes our good air and replaces it with Chinas bad air >

I’m an American so I’m gonna need that height in some unit I can understand… like football fields or Jesus crosses. >

20 story building >

Huh? Is that metric? >

I wonder how the other countries' news will report when the US weather balloon from NOAA is launched with it's "data recovery system", which is just a glider drone that can bring data storage of stratospheric data collection safely back to an area instead of falling uncontrolled wherever the balloon would finally burst.
Wouldn't be surprised if China had a similar device that released long before it was shot down. Recovered by a sub or just some guys out " deep sea fishing" a day before the Navy had blocked off the area where the balloon would be shot down. >


from NOAA

It's spelled CIA. US launched several hundreds of those - I doubt anyone would be surprised. >

There is  now proof this is indeed Spy equipments? >

It was suspected to be more than a weather balloon because the visible payload hanging from the balloon was several orders of magnitude larger than any known design for a weather balloon.
I can't speak for the signal side of things, but in terms of physical characteristics what 100% confirmed that it was not a wrather balloon was when it changed altitude incongruent with surrounding weather data. Balloons travel by way of air currents. All known designs of weather balloons are 100% passive, they rise under the power of their helium charge, maybe they wobble a bit at their ideal service altitude due to changes in air pressure and temperature, but they eventually go too high and the balloon lets go. Newer balloons are designed with specific failure points to keep the envelope intact after breach, older designs would just explode.
By changing its altitude in a way that suggested powered movement, the balloon demonstrated the ability to adjust its course or to "maneuver". That combined with its massive size and other factors elevated suspicion high enough that as soon as it was safe to do so the balloon was shot down.
If it is recovered, we may or may not get more to the story. >

not much of a spy balloon... >

Well it was about that time I realized this balloon was 200 ft tall and from the Paleozoic era. >

I'm disappointed they weren't trying to recapture Patrick McGoohan. >

I'm sure it made that weird screetching sound on the way down.