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10/25/2009 11:35:17 PM
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Thomas R
Posts 2725
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What with the balloon boy incident or hoax perhaps a good thread on balloons and ballooning is in order. Balloons were also one of the first things in science fiction. I remember an SF anthology from a few years ago that concerned zeppelins. So have at it.
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To God be humble, to thy friend be kind, and with thy neighbors gladly lend and borrow His chance is tonight it might be thine tomorrow - William Dunbar
I don't lend money to eight-year-olds, at least not anymore. And if you see Billy tell him I'm looking for him - Coach McGuirk
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10/26/2009 3:08:01 PM
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Alex
Posts 942
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Balooning was cutting edge SF in the 19 th Century.
Jules Verne wrote Five Weeks in a Balloon in 1863. Aeronauting through deepest dark Africa. (Largely unexplored at the time.)
And, of course, Around the World in 80 Days hads some balooning in it.
The not-so-well known sequel Tom Sawyer Abroad features a balloon flight from Mississippi to, and throughout, Egypt. (1894)
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edited by Alex on 10/26/2009
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Because, anything worth doing is worth overdoing
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10/26/2009 4:32:07 PM
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Captain Mitty
Posts 269
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The Twenty-One Ballons, - written and illustrated by William Pène du Bois - was a popular book when I was a kid. It featured a Utopian, almost Steampunk society and the explosion of the island of Krakatoa.
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Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.-C.S. Lewis
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10/26/2009 4:48:14 PM
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GSH
Posts 194
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Balloons... I remember when "Up, Up and Away" by The Fifth Dimension seemed to be on whenever I turned on an AM radio. Brazil 66 gave it a new lease on life for a while. It's one of those old songs that seems to bring back a specific time and space.
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10/26/2009 5:33:05 PM
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Alex
Posts 942
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GSH wrote:
Balloons... I remember when "Up, Up and Away" by The Fifth Dimension seemed to be on whenever I turned on an AM radio. Brazil 66 gave it a new lease on life for a while. It's one of those old songs that seems to bring back a specific time and space.
A Curse on you for mentioning that! It's already stuck...
As just revenge I give you 99 Luft ballons
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Because, anything worth doing is worth overdoing
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10/26/2009 6:30:49 PM
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GSH
Posts 194
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I can break any such revenge curse by cranking up Wolgemut's Michaeleska to full volume. Your revenge-curse demons flee in terror upon the approach of even worse demons. HA!
http://www.wolgemut.net/sounds/W1Michaeleska.mp3
(The CD is "Schauspeluden", in case anyone wants to acquire it or avoid it at all costs.)
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10/26/2009 6:59:19 PM
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GSH
Posts 194
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While unseemly, this mode of retalliation is arguably in accordance with the rules of engagement particular to the thread, since pipes are instruments having a balloon-like component...
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10/28/2009 9:59:02 PM
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Thomas R
Posts 2725
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I'd guess Pixar's Up would be the most recent balloon involved movie and it has some fantastical elements.
I remember a rather fanciful novel by Alexis Gilliland that had people travel through space by balloon or something rather like it. I think the balloon was like one of those Mylar balloons and they would zap some light or FTL wave or something on it to push it through space.
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To God be humble, to thy friend be kind, and with thy neighbors gladly lend and borrow His chance is tonight it might be thine tomorrow - William Dunbar
I don't lend money to eight-year-olds, at least not anymore. And if you see Billy tell him I'm looking for him - Coach McGuirk
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10/28/2009 11:08:27 PM
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gdozois
Posts 3110
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Gene Wolfe's little-known--and very entertaining--story "Straw" features people traveling by hot-air balloon across a quasi-medieval landscape.
As Thomas mentioned, there was a zeppelin anthology a couple of years back called, I think, ALL-STAR ZEPPELIN STORIES, edited by Chris Roberson. There've been lot of steampunk stories this year, and many of them mention zeppelins, which steampunk writers seem to love. The most recent is "Zeppelin City," by Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn, which is up on Tor.com right this very minute.
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10/29/2009 12:06:36 AM
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pc
Posts 1452
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Rather like Bob Shaw's The Wooden Spaceships.
Those air-space-craft are sort of balloonish.
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The ends do not justify the means. Rather, the means build the ends.
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10/29/2009 8:16:15 AM
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dolphintornsea
Posts 297
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Balloons are really big in early science fiction. In fact, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" is, in the opinion of some, the very first piece of short science fiction. A case can be made for Frankenstein and possibly other books as the first SF novel, but in short SF, there is nothing earlier.
In Poe's story, there is a tenuous atmosphere all the way between the Earth and the moon, allowing a balloon to make the passage. I have a copy of the story in which the author appends some fascinating notes, complaining about the lack of scientific veracity of some other contemporary balloon stories. His approach was very sfnal indeed.
Thomas, I think the Zeppelin story you refer to at the beginning of this thread was by Stephen Baxter; the first one in The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction. It was in Gardner's YBSF too ... I think it was called "The Pacific Mystery".
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10/29/2009 8:19:10 AM
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Bill Moonroe
Posts 3308
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I'd like to see a story in which Balloon Boy takes on the Bubble Boy from Seinfeld.
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11/7/2009 1:41:07 PM
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Marian
Posts 2178
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Analog had a series of stories about giant balloon colonies. Here's a link to the author's explanation of how they'd work http://www.analogsf.com/0603/SunofSuns.aspx
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"Know the truth and the truth shall make you odd."
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11/7/2009 2:21:47 PM
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Bill Moonroe
Posts 3308
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Did anyone see the special Balloon Boy episode of Mythbusters this last week? I wanted to stay up for it, but was running out of gas.
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11/7/2009 3:34:26 PM
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pc
Posts 1452
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We can't forget the blimp-ish Jupiter craft in Clarke's "A Meeting with Medusa."
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The ends do not justify the means. Rather, the means build the ends.
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11/7/2009 4:23:19 PM
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Alex
Posts 942
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Bill Moonroe wrote:
Did anyone see the special Balloon Boy episode of Mythbusters this last week? I wanted to stay up for it, but was running out of gas.
They did get the kid off of the ground; but it took a thousand more balloons than estimated. (3500 total, iirc )
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Because, anything worth doing is worth overdoing
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11/7/2009 7:19:16 PM
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Bill Moonroe
Posts 3308
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Please tell me the balloons were made of C4 or filled with liquid nitrogen, or something like that.
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11/7/2009 7:23:36 PM
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Madison
Posts 142
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Speaking of Up:
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The next statement is true.
The previous statement was false.
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11/19/2009 10:58:20 PM
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Marian
Posts 2178
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Up is a good, fun movie and surprisingly touching. Uplifting one could say. (Bad joke).
Karl Schroeder's Sun of Suns-people live in something like giant balloons.
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"Know the truth and the truth shall make you odd."
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