45 thoughts on “Up, Up and Away”

  3. the guardian:

    Military experts say that the use of high-altitude balloons is likely to increase over the coming years. They are much cheaper than spy satellites, are hard to spot by radar and difficult to shoot down, sometimes lingering for days after they have been punctured. They can “steer” by changing altitudes, using computers to calculate how to use winds going in different directions at different layers of the atmosphere. As well as surveillance, they could also carry bombs, in times of conflict.
    In 2019, the US military used up to 25 experimental solar-powered high-altitude balloons to conduct wide-area surveillance tests across six mid-western states. The balloons were equipped with hi-tech radars designed to simultaneously track many individual vehicles day or night, through any kind of weather, and were intended to be used to monitor drug trafficking and potential homeland security threats.

    Large Chinese reconnaissance balloon spotted over the US, officials say – ABC News (go.com)

    The high-altitude reconnaissance balloon was not the first such craft to pass over the U.S. in this way, a senior defense official said in a briefing.
    A separate senior official told ABC News the balloon is the size of three buses and complete with a technology bay, which the defense official said they “wouldn’t characterize” as “revolutionary.”
    The defense official said they “are confident” the balloon was sent by China.
    “Instances of this activity have been observed over the past several years, including prior to this administration,” the official said, noting that “it’s happened a handful of other times over the past few years … It is appearing to hang out for a longer period of time this time around.”
    One outside expert predicted the balloon could be essentially scientific and set off course, though other sources said it appeared to be “purposeful.”

  7. I’m cracking up over the groundhog and balloon posts. Spy vs. Spy balloon. LOL. Always chuckled over the SvS hijinks. 

  9. “The defense official said they “are confident” the balloon was sent by China.”  When you read something like that you can be sure there was someone watching the balloon being inflated, if not turning the valves of gas tanks.  Another reason not to flame it is to monitor what it is doing.  Like watching a baseball pitcher warming up, you want to see what the arm can do.  As for what it can see?  Unless the Chinese spy satellites are crap, they can see it all from orbit.  This is not a U2 or SR71 grabbing information in a flash, it is a floating platform that has to go with the wind.  And, if it is not transmitting back to China, it is recording and just waiting until it is over the Great Lakes before burning it is good too.  That way recovering the platform is possible. 

  11. BB, if the balloon is transmitting info to china isn’t it likely that we or the CSIS aren’t intercepting and or capable of blocking it if desired?

  13. ms petri’s Opinion | Florida demands revisions of other woke AP classes – The Washington Post

    FROM THE DESK OF FLORIDA GOV. RON DESANTIS — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    As we in Florida celebrate Month (what other states call Black History Month), it has come to our attention that woke ideologies have penetrated not just the African American Studies AP course framework but also every other Advanced Placement class.
    We were heartened that the College Board updated its curriculumfor the African American Studies course for what it claimed were unrelated reasons after we raised objections to the inclusion of Black queer topics and works from thinkers such as bell hooks and Angela Davis. It was so nice that their unrelated edits coincided with our specific complaints; we feel like we’ve won, even if they insist that is not what happened.
    But we cannot stop here. These same woke ideologies have penetrated every single AP offering. We would like to see the following changes made to these additional courses as soon as possible.
    AP European History: Lots of talk about “allies” and “allyship.” Seems unnecessary in a history course. Mentions allies (including communists) working together to defeat Nazis — this, again, feels needlessly political. Describes book burnings as definitively negative. References to France, the French.
    AP Human Geography: Existence of Ukraine as a sovereign nation presented as fact. Teach the controversy, please!
    AP Chemistry: Students are urged to call some things “basic” as a judgment — this must stop. Instead, say that a chemical compound “enjoys Starbucks” or “favors the music of Taylor Swift.” Stop students from titrating; this is not something they should be doing at school. Singling out some gases as “noble” because they are “less volatile” has the potential to hurt feelings and should be stopped. Okay to study DNA but not mRNA.
    AP Calculus: Omit positive references to integration and change.
    AP Art History: Filth! Put fig leaves on all those statues, and then we can reevaluate.
    AP Comparative Government and Politics: Description of voting as an unalloyed good is misleading.
    AP Physics: “Resistance” and “resistors” have no place in a science course.
    AP U.S. History: Mentions events from the American past.
    AP Statistics: This whole course seems engineered to make anti-vaxxers feel “wrong” and “lesser.” Need to stress that there is more than one correct way to interpret statistics.
    AP Latin: Every word of this seems obscene. “Cum gladiis et fustibus”? “Homo bulla™? “Dix”? These are the same people who gave us all those nude statues, and it shows.
    AP English Literature: Includes books. We can’t stand books.
    AP Biology: No objections, but see attached 15-page complaint from Texas.

  15. patd –  any transmissions to and from are intercepted.  The issue is the encryption.  It could be already decrypted, or will be.  Or, it might not be decrypted.  All depends.

  16. Poobah – shouldn’t Boebert be tasked with that? Send her and her guns up in a helium filed balloon and tell her to fire away.

  18. Well, of course GOOPERZ want to use the ballon for target practice, ‘cuz guns.

    Shooting it down could cause harm to those on the ground unless it could be controlled and over an unpopulated area.

    Don’t you suppose some (or all) of the ballon’s purpose is a psychological experiment, to see how we’ll react? We know that they know that we can track these things. They are not stealth devices. A warning about our military build-up in the Philippines?

    Also, could balloons be used to carry radioactive material?
     
    This is more disturbing than the red ballon from “IT.”  Please, someone, make a meme of Xi made up as Pennywise, the creepy clown.

  19. Good economic news,  WaPo.  

    The labor market shattered expectations in January, as the economy added 517,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.4 percent, a low not seen since May 1969, according to data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    […]

    Job gains spread across a wide swath of industries, particularly those that provide services, with the largest increases in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services and health care.

    More than 128,000 jobs were added in leisure and hospitality in January, with the largest gains in bars and restaurants. Professional and business services added 82,000 jobs in January. And employment in health care rose by 58,000 jobs, reflecting the aging population and a backlog of demand for healthcare as the economy emerged from its coronavirus lockdown.

    Employment also rose in government, retail, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, social services, and construction. The construction industry has stunned some economists as it continues to add jobs, despite a slowdown in the housing market triggered by interest rate hikes. The continued health of the construction industry has been attributed to a backlog in demand that accumulated during the pandemic.

    Wage growth continued to slow in January, in positive news for the Federal Reserve. Average hourly earning rose by 10 cents, or 0.3 percent between December and January, matching the lowest increase in more than a year.

    […]

    That’s 2 1/2 times projections.  Joe’s economy is doing well – except for inflation, of course, But really – global inflation may be a bit above Joe’s pay grade.

  21. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/01/asia/us-philippines-base-access-agreement-intl-hnk-ml/index.html

    “The Philippines will provide the United States with expanded access to its military bases, the two countries said Thursday, providing US forces with a greater strategic footing on the southeastern edge of the South China Sea close to self-ruled Taiwan.”

    “The US Marine Corps also opened a new base on Guam last week, a strategically important US island east of the Philippines. The location, known as Camp Blaz, is the first new Marine base in 70 years and one day is expected to host 5,000 Marines.”

    “In November, US Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Philippines to discuss expanded US base access with the recently elected President Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr.”

    “Increased access to military bases in the Philippines would potentially place US armed forces fewer than 200 miles south of Taiwan…”

    ******

    https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/01/archives/us-and-philippines-reach-accord-on-aid-and-use-of-military-bases.html

    “WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 [1978] — The United States and the Philippines announced agreement today on a new arrangement that will provide the Philippines with as much as $500 million in military and economic aid over the next five years in return for the Manila Government’s allowing the Americans continued “unhampered” use of military bases there.”

    “After more than two years of negotiations, the two sides agreed on a series of amendments to the current military bases agreement, which runs until 1999.”

    Everything old is new, again. We even have a Marcos in power, again.

  24. Craig – that could be a reason to let the world know about it, and the one over Canada.  Or it may have been slightly modified by some means.  Another, is that Blinken was supposed to visit China, I think that party is over.
     
    Of interest to me are the solar panels under the balloon.  China is advertising how good its solar works are. 
     
    Use of balloons for nefarious purposes.  Yup, you think of it you will probably not be the first.  Japan tried burning the West coast during WWII.  They did not succeed. Spreading diseases, radioactive garbage, etc, all possible.  But, unless you make the balloon into a dirigible you cannot control where it goes.  It is possible the Chinese balloons have some flight controls, but with that big gas bag you don’t have much control.

    Keep in mind that these, US and Canada, balloons have been tracked from the beginning, according to one statement from the DoD interveiw earlier today. Current media, AND greedy old perverts, frenzy is only during the last couple hours. I hope the gop are wearing their special Depends today as the excitement and confusion is overwhelming them.

  27. Wow, it’s pretty easy to induce mass-hysteria in this country of morons, China has satellites looking at us every sunny day of the year 

  28. bink,  mass hysteria?  mass like in massive? i wouldn’t count the gun-goofy GOPers and mainstream media as massive – maybe messy minority messing around, yes, for something anything to scream and write about rather than fixing problems. 

  29. i read, yesterday, in the context of amusement park rides, that the AVERAGE waist-size of the American male is over 40 inches, so yes, rather massive

  31. What should we be looking at instead of the balloon?  Fortunately, we have eyes everywhere. 

    What’s the Chinese equivalent of FTD? Maybe we should send Xi a balloon bouquet.

    One thing is certain, China doesn’t like the idea of our increased presence in the Philippines.

  33. …seems like everyone under 30 gives all their personal info to China via the TikTok app and people are afraid of a balloon in the sky, not the phone in their hands 😬

  36. Found a nice map showing the projected trajectory of Chinese Slow Motion Spy Device.

    It is not going to go over D.C. where there are many “republicans” ready to shoot at it. None of them can divide sixty thousand feet by what the max range of their bullets is. There are some retail rifles that could shoot rounds capable of a five mile journey. But at the end it will be as potent as most of the old gqp guys.

  38. bId – I read that it was floating along about 60,000 feet, or roughly 5 miles up. Most rifle rounds are not capable of getting there.
     
    The big problem, which is something cities have had to deal with for years, are falling bullets.  They reach max terminal velocity, which is when they come down into peoples heads. Yup, they will shoot up, but not care about the rounds coming down.  Which is why the modern helmet came to be.  The Brits, during WWI, had a lot of head injuries from falling srapnel and stuff. So an officer created the “modern” helmet.  It worked, and has been developed many times since then.

  39. Yeah, we have a problem with falling bullets on New Year’s Eve.   Just because it’s out of range, doesn’t mean it won’t stop someone from trying a little target practice. 

  40. https://playbill.com/article/george-santos-claims-he-produced-broadways-spider-man-musical-he-didnt

    “…Santos told potential donors while running for Congress in 2021 that he produced Broadway’s ill-fated Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”

    “He chose one of Broadway’s most infamous productions, which reportedly lost a staggering $60 million of its investment even after a three-year drama-filled run.”

    Because who is gonna brag about backing a losing horse, if they didn’t? A big-name, losing horse? Kind of the perfect show to lie about.

  41. “We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement to CNN.

  42. So sorry to be the one tapped to let everyone here know that CBob’s sister emailed me and asked that I let y’all know that he passed away early this morning. Shit. 

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