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A personal airship both lofted and propelled, at a leisurely pace, by a series of balloons tethered to a conveyor belt which moves along the vertically-oriented perimeter of the longitudinal axis of the craft. Each balloon inflates as it moves from the underside of the ship, up around the prow, reaching
peak inflation above the center of the ship. The balloons then deflate as they move around and down the backside.
Hullaballoon Conceptual Doodle
https://web.archive...un/hullaballoo.html
(37Kb image) [bristolz, Apr 05 2002]
Try these guys for T-shirts.
http://www.cafepres.../cp/info/index.aspx
No set-up charges, no inventory (just slightly inflated prices). [angel, Apr 08 2002]
Wheelloon
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Wheelloon
ground variant inspired by Hullaballoon [FarmerJohn, Sep 01 2002]
(?) getting closer
http://wiredblogs.t...og?entry_id=1410810
personal balloon transport [neilp, Feb 13 2006]
(?) Recursive jousting
http://www5.geometr...ting_page_no_4.html
Number 66 [spidermother, Jul 22 2006]
Hullaballoon precursors
http://www.bigredha...airships/index.html
These inventions by Reade are not direct antecedents of the Hullaballoon tractor-driven concept, but they do share some familial traits and are so fascinating in their own right that they beg to be included in the general discussion. [jurist, Sep 14 2006]
zimmy's link as a link
http://www.hullaballoon.com/
[po, Jan 04 2008]
Amazing new blimp, maybe based on the Hullaballoon
http://airshipworld...ures-and-video.html
Bizarre. I wonder whether the designer ever saw bristolz concept. [django, Apr 25 2008]
In action, (sortof)
http://goofans.com/...nnovation-committee
World of Goo has a level in which one option is to construct essentially a hullaballoon. [RayfordSteele, Jun 14 2010]
recursive_20jousting
The link above is broken; here's where I adopted the idea. [spidermother, Feb 08 2012]
[link]
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How HalfBaked can you get? Croissant. |
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Better polish the silver platter, you're going to need it |
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Oh very nice indeed! Loved the drawering, looks a bit Yellow Submarinish but definitely aerial. |
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Very original, maybe it would even work, I don't know. Croissant just for the name, the actual idea is gravy. :^) But in the drawing.... are the wheels on the top of the fuselage supposed to be in contact with the tread/belt? Because it looks like the balloons are lifting them off of the wheels, in which case you might be losing power. Maybe the wheels should go on the bottom instead.... also that way they could double as regular wheels for surface transport. (hmm, if land-water vehicles are amphibious, what is a land-air vehicle?) |
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Is it a bird? No! Is it a plane? No! Oh my gosh it's the semi-peristaltic multi-bladdered aeromorphic traction coach! |
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Sorry, [bris]; there's absolutely no way in the world that this would work. Croissant anyway. |
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[bris] angel's right. There's so many reasons as to whay this won't work I don't know where to start. Fantastic. Just what the halfbakery is all about, and too long since we've had a decent, really half-thought out, conceptually flawed, semi baked, speculative, imaginative (and I might say expertly illustrated) idea like this one. Croissant. |
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madness, sheer bloody madness. & a delightful start to my friday morning. croissant. perhaps you could illustrate others ideas too ? |
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Given the choice, this is how I would get to work each day. |
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wind blows you to work in the morning, ... then you pack up to go home at the end of the day and oh no the wind is still blowing that direction. What to do? Well, could the balloons have a rigid side which you angle against the wind so that you could 'tack' home, like in a sailing boat? Or would that make them too heavy against the helium that fills them? How much does helium cost by the way? is this going to be more cost-effective than driving? quicker? more environmentally friendly? how many people can it carry at once? |
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Done: Yes, No, Not much, Yes, Yes, Yes, Scads. |
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You've outdone yourself. Amazing. The quintessential half-baked idea. |
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I regret that I have but one croissant to give you. |
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I'm trying to picture the operator's view out the windows... a continuous series of inflating balloons moving up and overhead, out of view. Priceless. |
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This one is T-Shirt material. Excellent work. You're completely off your rocker, bris - hope you can stay there a while. |
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My initial thought was that this idea should be linked to from the help file as an example of just what we're looking for. But then all the lame ideas would be "hullaballoon with a scrolling text messaging system," and "hullaballoon ponytail fasteners," and "helloballoon," etc. |
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Shape the balloons like big air-scoops when they inflate to provide <chicken run> 'thrrrrrust.' </chicken run>
Sappho, you can't tack unless you have something to push against. |
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[RayfordSteele] stole my idea. Make the balloons more paddle-like and maybe you'll get some thrust. |
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I thought that was part the intent of bris's idea - "both lofted and propelled..." I understood that the inflated balloons would push the vehicle forward, while the deflated balloons would not work against the forward motion. In fact, isn't that the whole reason for deflating them? |
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Major technical flaws. I can't believe this thing is even... Wow! look at that picture! Croissant! |
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I'm struggling to figure out how inflating the balloons will push it forwards. Upwards, perhaps, but forwards? |
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This has to be some kind of record, by the way. Only a day old or so and already +25. Congrats. |
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So why doesn't it work? It seems possible if the baloons are slightly rigid and the cabin is not too heavy... |
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Rayford... as I picture it: as the inflated balloons were pushed backward by the belt, the air would tend to keep the balloon in place (to some degree - of course there would still be some backward movement), and hence the vehicle would move forward. |
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The material for the balloons would have to be incredibly strong. |
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"Captain's log: It's another beautiful day on the Hullaballoon, blue skies and not a cloud in sight. Lots of birds around today... in fact, I can see one right now heading straight towards one of the balloo-" |
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Waugs, right. I understand that part. I guess I thought she meant that the balloon inflation would also power the belt, which of course wouldn't happen. |
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Very good. Very W. Heath Robinson too - although he would have drawn the balloons with some puncture-repair patches on and the string with a few knots in.
As well as these balloons which move around the fuselage in a vertical plane, there should also be a set of balloons which move around in a horizontal plane (i.e. down one side, around the front, down the other side and round the back). Moving these balloons will allow the thing to steer.
Oh yeah - and you need some gyroscopes. Got to have gyroscopes.
Croissant. |
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This is amazingly silly...I love it. |
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bris -- The t-shirt idea: not just for me personally, but I thought it would make a great halfbakery T-shirt, at least as one-of-a-group for the NEXT official t-shirt. I don't know how jutta's t-shirts have been selling, so maybe her inventory argues against a new model. But we could do up a full-color one. If there's enough interest, I'll handle the merchandising, if bris can do illustrations. |
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(linky) for a T-shirt supplier. |
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Actually, I have something else in mind for t-shirt material and then only with Jutta's explicit input. Oddly, I had the wackiest dream last night about being involved in the production of a TV commercial for the halfbakery. The whole thing was just so . . . wrong. |
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(don't worry bris - last night I dreamt I was the Prime Minister (of the UK)) |
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Simply too precious for words, Bristolz. With 5 cabin windows, are there seats for 10
half-class passengers? May I ask what the attendant's uniform looks like? Obviously she
serves croissants only--no fish sandwiches here. |
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Why stick just to an airship? The balloon conveyor belt itself is an idea that could revolutionise the way we think about balloons connected to conveyor belts. Just think of the possibilities. |
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For example, you could move houses (for a resonable price) to provide a nicer view for the occupants, even if only for a couple of hours. Wouldn't it be nice to be transported to the edge of lake Geneva from the comfort of your own home? You could set up your business online, and wouldn't even need to pay for post and packaging, just send the belt on it's way. |
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It's a great idea, and good for the environment too.
You made me chuckle bris ;) |
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[bristolz]: Why is the ship in the illustartion taking a nose-dive? Or is my monitor on a slant... |
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I think that's just the angle it might travel at - like helicopters. |
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[ravenswood]: //slower than the actual wind speed // |
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Has to travel at the same speed as the wind. |
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There's a strong chance I'll build one of these for this summer's 'who can build the strangest flying craft' * competition. May I? |
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*Not the actual name of the competition, but that's the outcome. |
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[NTG]: It travels nose down because the center of lift is slightly aft the center of gravity; my (likely pointless) attempt to have the craft move forward as it rises--modeled after the tilt-path plane of rotorcraft as they accelerate from hover to the point of translational lift (as [yamahito] alludes). |
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[drew]: Be my guest. Take pictures. |
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Thanks - we take videos as well as pictures, as they tend to produce, ah, interesting, even unique flight paths. There's supposed to be real research involved, but hey, that's never stopped us before. |
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Well, just don't be surprised if it doesn't move forward very, um, fast. I'll be (very) curious to know how you engineer the inflation and deflation. |
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I'm counting on it not moving forward very fast! My 'toy' from last year was a bit too nippy... |
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My immediate thought on the gas control is to run the balloons with valves in their necks, running in a track, picking up delivery tubes as they enter the upper section. Inflation continues to mid track (for authenticity to your idea), then releasing the inflation tube, and quickly picking up a deflation tube to scavenge back the gas, completing this before reaching the lower section. These tubes can be fed though small rotating turntables, attached to a very small pump. A central helium reserve tank will feed both sides. Easy. Helium is a pig to seal though. The R&D reason for this will be explained away by the prototyped in-flight refuelling system I'll be modelling... |
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would an airfoil be useful in some way? I picture the next gen. to use an airfoil and big swooping dives (as the balloons are slightly deflated) to generate thrust. That should help with the problem of low forward speed. |
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As for the original design's other tech flaws, when you think about it the drawing shows balloons attached to a wire. Obviously the wire has to actually be a very complicated and sturdy pneumatic tube, to inflate and deflate the balloons. Or you could have remotely controlled little units (pump, tank, and some kind of support so they don't flop around) inside the balloons that inflate them or deflate them according to signals from controls in the cockpit. The "wire" could actually have electrical connections in it, running to each balloon. |
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Or we could jump right to the 3rd gen where the thing looks like a combination of a "flying koosh ball" and a "deflated basketball laying on the ground". The surface would be a smooth sphere, although somewhat smooshed. The core of it would look like a koosh ball does after you tear all the little tendrils off of it; where the base bumps left over represent the holes that helium is pumped through, and little squares drawn around each one give an idea of how the air cells are divided up. |
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This 3rd generation provides 3D movement, and looks like a giant, rolling pumpkin. |
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I'm thinking of building a model aircraft of it (partial scale, the NASA way), either the original hullaballoon with an airfoil or the 3rd generation idea that has no way to move forward yet. |
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This is priceless...here's my pastry. |
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this is a darn good "invention" |
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#1Fan: See my link to Wheelloon that seems to be what you're describing as the Hullaballoon 3rd generation. |
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just saying hi to an old friend. it still has my vote intact. |
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The recovery of terrific classics like this one is the silver lining of the recent cloud over the bakery. |
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Fantastic! If it doesn't work, we must repeal the relevant physical laws. |
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Have you read "The Twenty One Balloons" by William Pene du Bois? |
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Yes, very good. It's a kid's book, very much in the vein of Jules Verne, with lots of marvelously inventive balloon ideas. The Hullaballoon reminded me of it. |
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I'll add it to my list. Thank you! |
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I feel I must apologies for not having acquainted myself with this idea earlier. |
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I have nothing to add on the -this surely is what the half-bakery is all about' line of discussion. |
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As for making this work, I foresee 2 sets of wings, both with variable pitch. The balloons do not have a constant inflation either, meaning the ship is never horizontally stable ( until landing etc.). I haven't thought it through, but I feel a movement of centre of gravity from front to back (through balloons) combined with variable angle of wings could allow for a swooping forward movement. |
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Yeah, seasickness beats airsickness every time. |
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What if the central premise was a wheel like contraption with opposing baloons attached to a central tank? |
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As upper baloons were fed by lower baloons the former would get bigger while the latter would shrink. |
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The conveyor tube could also do this by keeping the channel completely open, gasses would naturally rise. If the apex of the conveyor was at the location of the most inflated balloon, you could place a bite-nipple opening so that the baloon at the apex has the most open opening and the rest are in varying level of closedness. Think "Camel Back" fluid reservior drinking tube opening. |
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A single tube shaped bladder with small finlets attached all over it. |
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Gas rises to the top of the bladder, expanding it and 'erecting' the finlets, rings at the fore and aft 'contain' the bladder back into a deflated shape to be pressed against the propulsion wheels. Could be human powered! As a single bladder, the gasses stay in one place and the propulsion is derived from circular motion of the bladder around the craft body. |
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I'm imagining the lower jaw of a blue whale that expands to capture krill. |
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Please make this into a T-shirt, or put a picture onto the Halfbakery ID. |
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This *is* what the Halfbakery is all about. |
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I've always considered this driven by the inflation and deflation of the balloons. Studying the picture, however, it appears that all of the balloons are connected to a common tube, and bouyancy is what inflates and deflates them. Is this correct? It certainly makes the design less complex. |
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Not sure how buoyancy could inflate/deflate anything? If they are connected, the balloons would all be half-inflated and the whole thing would flip over on its side. |
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Gosh, I don't really remember what I was thinking but I think each balloon was handled independently. The drawing doesn't show that, of course. Those darn conceptual doodles...so inaccurate they are. |
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[DC] Buoyancy will keep the helium at the top just as water would keep at the bottom if you used water instead. Light stuff goes up, heavy stuff goes down. If you mean that the balloons are under high pressure - well, that's not a great idea when you are trying to make LTA vehicles (higher pressure = higher density). |
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[bz] Aw, I guess back to the highly complex. It makes the idea fun anyway (now picturing a little solar-powered pump at the connection point of each balloon). |
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I think I thought that there was a central pump and helium cell and that the lines were picked up and dropped off of each balloon at the fore and aft ends of trhe contraption. |
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Although I'm sure it was just a passing thought. I'm not much for rigorous thinking. |
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It would have backup hydrogen powered pumps, of course. |
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here's my vote toward number one. |
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+ better late than never.... |
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My vote has been on the masthead for a long time already, but I would give more if I could. This is indeed the best idea I've seen from this place. |
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[angel] love your anno - come back soon, you're missed too. |
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I remember this one. The girl did profess to a love for helicopters. I'd love to see the FAA try to classify this one. |
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I am aghast to see that I haven't bunned this yet. Rectified. |
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Unfortunately a cursory inspection of the ranks suggests that there aren't enough active bakers at this time to get this up to number one. Even if almost all hadn't voted for this (as I'm sure is not the case), it would still take at least a month on the recent list to accumulate that many votes. Anyone game? |
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sounds to me as if we need some more
bakers. |
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Another "Fishties" perhaps? |
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i wasn't around at that point. what was
"fishties"? |
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[hidden] If you are asking for a *halfbakery watch*, I'll certainly do my part in keeping this one up as long as possible. It's worth a try. |
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i've given my bun, but this idea keeps
getting pushed aside. arise, arise i say! |
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I havent been a member too long, but clearly this is.. is... amazing. Part of history. And in a good way, not like Hitler or Stalin... Like the invention of the wheel... If ever there was an idea worthy of a bun, this is it. |
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(+) ...casted proudly, even if solemnly. |
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Yay, gonflable Hullaballoon! I have spent my bun for you. |
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I didn't vote on this until yesterday, and hadn't annoed until now; somehow I didn't feel worthy. Now's the time. I've often mentioned this to my friends: "There's this website where I live, it's where people post halfbaked ideas and inventions, and one of them is for a kind of balloon-airship, right, and get this, it's got a conveyor belt thingy and..." etc (+). |
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Likewise. This and Recursive Jousting are usually my oral examples of halfbaked ideas. |
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Recursive jousting lives! (sort of) (link) Do you remember who posted it? I might adopt it, especially if I can give credit correctly. |
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Some day I may make a prototype of this, in honor of [bristolz]. I'm thinking of using plastic gardening drip tubing, 3-way connectors, paper wheels, a little electric motor, a little solar panel, one set of balloons attached as in the picture, and another set to lift the thing off the ground. |
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may? damn it do it in september! I'll send a donation... |
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[po] et. al. No money required - just time to find the right materials and build the thing. I'll make the time for it. |
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That would be something stinkier than a rat, bubs, more like a stanking, jealous, wretched, bull dog of a snake in the grass, type of rat... |
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Hmph. Thought I bunned this one years ago. + |
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Brilliant idea [+]. 170 "for" votes and only 3.5 buns? What gives? |
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It's only 2.5 croissants, not 3.5. That's the maximum an idea gets 'round these here parts. |
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Less than a hundred votes to go now. I'm quite amused that this is causing people to reevaluate their feelings about Panic PIN. |
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I never though much of that panic-pin (not
daft enough for me), but the purpose of
this exercise is to support Bristolz's
excellent idea, and of course there is the
miserable auto-boner. "For every ointment
there is a fly" |
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I agree with [xenzag] about Panic Pin. I also was wondering if there were really over 300 users, or did folks have multiple accounts? In that case we might not ever reach our goal unless people subtract their original vote. |
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Given that there are over 5,000 accounts with posted ideas (and more who never posted anything), you'd have to have a *lot* of duplicates to get there from 300 users. Although there is a theory that there is only one user on the Halfbakery, i.e. Unabubba. |
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(obligatory) But I'm [UnaBubba]. |
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Hmm...no link to Wikipedia, and no mention of custard. Aside from that, seems pastry-worthy. |
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Are you sure this isn't baked? |
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I think we should sell tickets for Hullaballoon rides... |
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<also obligitary> I'm [UnaBubba] and so is my wife. </ao> |
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Hmm...
I thought I bunned this ages ago, when I first arrived, but it seems not.
+
Much better! |
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I found the halfbakery's wikipedia entry the other day, didn't know that the.5Bakery had one. |
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When I try to explain this website to people, I always tell them about the hullaballoon. To me it's the perfect example of a half-baked idea. I also liked the panic-pin, but in an effort to make this the number one idea, I'm going to change my panic-pin vote to neutral. |
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The Hullaballoon is the Halfbakery's flagship. |
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there's a tagline there somewhere |
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//there's a tagline there somewhere//
[Marked-for-tagline] |
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I think you use a tagline to hold down the hullaballoon when it's not flying... |
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Just like the Goodyear blimp, the HB Hullaballoon could show up to the superbowl, world cup, ect. to advertise this site, thus bringing in more HB'ers to make this idea #1... But then it couldn't be #1 because it will have already been baked. So what do we do? |
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11 votes against now? As [UB] said, there's rats in the works. |
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That is so hard to believe, must be autoboner envy. |
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This may be a bit of a hush thing, but I know I voted for this already, and now I can vote again... |
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I'm not complaining: I support the idea behind the bun-a-thon for this, but it would explain the increasing bone count. |
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Please delete this if I have stumbled into some sort of secret/conspiracy/inner circle dealings that must be kept hidden so that we can believe this happened without any tinkering |
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Rise, Hullaballoon, Rise! |
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I wasn't aware that we even had a wikipedia entry. Perhaps we should edit it to attest to the hullabaloon in someway. |
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ie.: The Hullaballoon, by user 'bristolz', is considered the epitome of a halfbakery idea. |
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Or perhaps add a hullaballoon entry all together. |
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Does the community here think that is appropriate? |
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i think the hullaballoon might be a great
thing to put on the wiki. it is an example
of the halfbakery at its greatest. |
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taking suggestions for a hullaballoon wiki
article. i don't want to stuff it up. ideas
anybody? |
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TAO, read the "bristolz" thread. It's tampering, not tinkering, least ways in this country.
AND WE KNOW TAMPERING, WHEN IT COMES TO VOTING!!! |
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I had read it, I just wasn't aware it was being done. Like I said, I'm not complaining. I'm just verifying the change. |
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I keep coming back to this and agree with [The Acrimonious Obfuscator] and [Waugs] regarding the quintissentiality and epitome inherent in this idea.
One more word of praise:
Gonflable! |
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wouldn't be nice if waugs paid a visit for old times sake. I miss him. |
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He sounds a lot like [blissmiss]. |
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Many times when driven too far, too many times, a person just can not rebound. I give farmerjohn credit, in that he was able to revisit a painful place, in a most painful time. |
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It brought it to life, as life left it. Thanks UB. |
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Better jettison some ballast. Phew! We lost a bit of altitude there for a few days. |
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What will happen to bris's drawings, once her site is gone? Someone needs to make a backup. |
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I haven't known Bristolz, but it's obvious how good her art and ideas are and I just made a backup of bz.pair.com. The zip file is about 4 MB. I'd be glad to send it you and anyone who wants it for safekeeping, if this doesn't hurt her copyright. |
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I seriously can't believe that people are voting against this. 11 negative votes in over 4 years, then 2 in a day. |
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Happy Thanksgiving girlie. We will always
keep you in our hears. |
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I'll leave it. Cause she would of corrected
me as well ;-) |
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This idea blatantly deserves the number one position. And eventually, I have little doubt that it will eventually achieve that goal. I'm just sorry that BZ won't be around to see it. |
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*would have corrected you* bliss. |
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Finally got round to bunning this... |
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Now get that stupid 'Tails for All' out of the way, and have another [bz] idea there instead. |
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ditto angel, and hidden truths, the same
goes for you as it did for csea. |
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Not to mention the intentional bump. |
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Awesome. One of her greatest HB acheviments (+) |
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One of the best on this site [+] |
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I find this not cool:
http://www.hullaballoon.com/
grrr! |
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We undoubtedly have prior art on that name. If we prove a sufficient relationship between the dirigible and party supply industries, would we have legal recourse? |
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I don't know how such a thing would work, but maybe we owe it to [bristolz] to try. Someone should. The name is too precious. It's ours. |
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There's an amazing variety on this idea. Check link. |
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I'd like to think she'd be okay with it. She seemed to always understand the concept of things being "put out there", or atleast I thought she did. (Plus it's a party thingy for heaven's sake, not a devil-worshipping, cult site...) |
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"Build it, and they will bun" [+] |
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If I recall correctly, this idea had no fishbones for the longest time. In many ways it has come to be a dedication to the late and wonderful [bristolz]. I just wonder at the mentality or motivation of those who have posted negative votes. Could they not re-consider and take them back? I think that would be a nice gesture. |
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makes me wonder if they should still be up, the poster being deceased and all and unable to respond to comments. |
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//if they should still be up// eh? |
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//the poster being deceased and all and unable to respond to comments.// Strange comment. I still see those fishbones on this idea as the equivalent of envious juvenile graffiti, aimed at defacing a previously untouched art work. |
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//I still see those fishbones on this idea as the equivalent of envious juvenile graffiti//
I'm sure most are; if so they'd hardly be inclined to take them back. |
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[edit:
//eh?// a bit unfair that the poster isn't able to respond to comments... on the other hand that would mean that I wouldn't have been able to bun this. ] |
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I for one never really understood this idea. Why do the balloons deflate? Why not just keep them inflated? |
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The balloons are connected: as the series rotates, the rearmost balloon deflates and its gas inflates the front balloon. There's little moving drag because an inflated balloon doesn't move, the gondola does: it's an upside-down air-tractor. |
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Ah I see. I feel compelled to remove my bone. |
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It is neat that this has become somewhat of a memorial spot. I haven't been around long enough to have conversed with bristolz but I often come across her comments and want to respond... but am unsure how because she can not reply. I referred to one of her comments in my latest idea. Interesting how in a way I am conversing with her across the years. Her in 2001 and me in 2009. Nice to think our ideas/annos may still spur conversation years in the future. |
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Recent events may have presented a very urgent need for an operational Hullaballoon, but one that is adapted for high altitudes. The US may be hesitant to shoot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon because shooting it down will inevitably damage its high tech spy payload (not available on alibaba.com) which they undoubtedly want to inspect. But they wouldn't be able to retrieve the balloon in flight because aircraft operating at that altitude either wouldn't be able to snag it non-destructively because they fly too fast (planes) or wouldn't be able to navigate precisely enough to get within snagging distance (other balloons). Enter the Hullaballoon! And specifically, a HA (high altitude) Hullaballoon. And for clarity, the HB HA Hullaballoon. |
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Surely a *pair* of high-altitude planes towing a giant cobweb would be able to snag it non- destructively? |
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Yes, this WAS a job for the HBHA HBHA* ,of course pronounced Hubba Hubba <<wiggly eyebrows>> |
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Did anyone ask *what* aerosol droplets and/or particulate might have been IN the balloon before the US punctured it off the coast of South Carolina? That might've been worth having a boo at; 2 planes and a net, indeed. |
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"reclaim debris to study": Picture a bunch of clowns with a firefighter trampoline running around on the deck of the USS Yorktown. |
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*HalfBakery High-Altitude Hullaballoon, Half-Assed |
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