I'm all for keeping HN high quality - I hope it never loses its focus on technical discussion, regardless of how much userbase influx there may be from other online communities.

But this kind of thing perfectly matches the calibre of HN, despite the subject matter.

Thanks.

Once upon a time I was given a helium foil balloon as part of a goodie bag from a job interview (long story - I also got an ipad, one of the first in the UK). I brought the helium balloon home with me, just for its novelty - I hadn't had a helium balloon in many, many years.

I weighted it for neutral buoyancy - this required slight re-weighting every so often as it lost volume. It became almost like a pet, following people around the house in their wake, drifting around depending on the airflow - this often leads upstairs because warm air rises - and yes, one night it did make its way into the bedroom.

It was more charming in an anthropomorphised sense, though, and in no way scary or disturbing.

Oh man, there are so many hilarious threads buried in the Straight Dope archives. I have no idea how that forum managed to maintain such a high concentration of genuinely witty posters for so long, but it was a great crowd for years. (Might still be, I dunno.)

All I can say is: if you've not read this yet do so. It's a quick read, and it's completely worth the time. Best thing I've read on the Internet today, honestly.

This is amazing and oddly comforting at the same time.

Have read it when it was first published, but it's something of an evergreen (and very well written for a "mere" thread post).

I've stumbled on this several times over the years. Always funny. Also, I kinda want a blimp.

It would probably be pretty easy to build one from scratch. Fun weekend project?

Probably. I built rockets as a kid, and built a glider one time. I don't do a lot of hardware hacking these days, but maybe it's time to start again. Being able to deflate it would be a nice thing...I live in an RV, and I already have too much stuff.

And give it an AI now you're at it. No harm can come from it.

Yeah, and let's give it a bb gun and train it to shoot down other balooons! Hopefully it's able to distinguish baloons from other baloon-shaped objects...

I remember this from when I stumbled upon it way back (2003?). Back then under the title "when zeppelins attack".

It is indeed a nice internet evergreen. Once in awhile these pop up (in original or updated form) for a new generation.

I wonder which studio has secured the movie rights to this story.