What is Digg?48 Comments
- JuanBSU, on 07/10/2008, -2/+16Bush is going to have one of those put in every city in the US too. He just wants to make sure you are aware of the terror alert.
- StigNordas, on 07/09/2008, -3/+13That's just awesome. I'm awaiting a flash mob of Parisians singing Never Gonna Give You Up sounding like the chipmunks.
- battleroyalex, on 07/10/2008, -0/+7It would never come out of red
- f54280, on 07/10/2008, -0/+7I guess you don't live in Paris.
Bars are non-smoking. Restaurant are mostly non-smoking. Trains are non-smoking. Workplaces are non-smoking. Public places like train stations, etc are non-smoking.
Cigarettes prices have sky-rocketed.
The amount of smokers left here is nothing comparable to even 10 years ago. - iDealL, on 07/10/2008, -0/+6In case anyone else was curious, the balloon has around 13000 pounds of lifting capacity.
6000 cubic meters of helium = 211888 cubic feet
Each cubic foot of helium can lift 28.2 grams.
211888*28.2 / 448 (number of grams in a pound) = 13,337 pounds of lifting capacity, more than enough for the 30 people at a time they are offering to take up for rides. - phreak79, on 07/10/2008, -1/+6What a great idea. There's a similar thing here in London for noise levels and there are always lots of people crowded around.
- Icetype, on 07/10/2008, -0/+4They would have to illuminate it with Infrared light. No one could see it anyway.
- serif69, on 07/10/2008, -5/+9I guess this is a good thing. Parisians have a tough time seeing through the enormous cloud of cigarette smoke to tell if there's any pollution in the air.
- charlietuna, on 07/10/2008, -0/+3Is there a webcam pointed at this thing?
- Waaaaalt, on 07/10/2008, -2/+513,337 pounds of lifting capacity? that sounds leeet.
/my life - mctom987, on 07/09/2008, -9/+12*pop*
- 4rp4n3t, on 07/10/2008, -0/+3Huh? Helium is anything but noxious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium - Porbeagle, on 07/10/2008, -0/+3You have to lift the weight of the balloon too.
- Virgule, on 07/11/2008, -0/+2The balloon of the few?
- implied, on 07/10/2008, -6/+8It is filled with noxious chemicals.
- 4rp4n3t, on 07/11/2008, -0/+2@ cdahlkvist
Fair point. I guess I incorrectly associated noxious with poisonous. - dengar69, on 07/10/2008, -3/+5One for Los Angeles please!
- shaun1018, on 07/11/2008, -0/+2At least you would sound hilarious.
- Janv1er, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2True, people used to smoke like crazy but they still smoke a lot.
- mikeophile, on 07/10/2008, -1/+2And on very poor air quality days...
http://tinyurl.com/6h5mhf - Phearce, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1This is a modern take on a weather beacon. Example: Gulf Tower in Pittsburgh -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Tower
- madblunted, on 07/10/2008, -1/+2Hey thats just like Sioux Falls, SD where they used to have a light on top of a building that would tell you what the weather was like or going to be.. i think it would change colors also it was a big ball. I always wondered what the hell it was until someone pointed it out to me.
- twishart, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1We need these for terror alerts.
***** YEAH - LLLSecretChimp, on 07/11/2008, -0/+1How would you see the balloon?
- VigRoco, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Helium is very abundant
- eebeelive, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Fantastique!
À la prochaine
e - compwizz, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1I believe you are talking about the Carnegie Science Center. It still functions, but the colored cone on the top of the roof displays current weather conditions not air quality.
- inactive, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Huh? Not noxious?
Noxious means harmful to living beings. It does not have to mean toxic.
Breathing in pure helium deprives the body of oxygen, as if you were holding your breath. If you couldn't breathe at all, you'd start to die in minutes—as soon as your body exhausted the supply of oxygen stored in the blood. But helium speeds up this process: When the gas fills your lungs, it creates a diffusion gradient that washes out the oxygen. In other words, each breath of helium you take sucks more oxygen out of your system. After inhaling helium, the body's oxygen level can plummet to a hazardous level in a matter of seconds.
Yes, it's unlikely but don't mislead people by making them think it is harmless. - partrow, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1What a waste for 6000 cubic meters of a gas that we are quickly running out of.
- partrow, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Yeah, Tulsa too, but the lights didn't waste a gas that we are quickly running out of.
- Witchbaby, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1I feel like this is a scheme set up by the Joker in Batman.
- xDynaBlade, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1Ok, it tells you what red, orange, yellow, light green, and green mean. I suppose purple is so horrific they can't disclose its meaning.
- lethyl, on 07/10/2008, -0/+0Honestly it's comments like that that brew problems. Why even say such a dick thing to begin with?
- TheSkunkMonkey, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1And just how do you tell how bad the pollution is when it's so bad you can't see the balloon?
- partrow, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1How nice. Use 6000 cubic meters of a gas that we are quickly running out of, to inflate a balloon to show the public the level of pollution. Are the French not online? Isn't this just a wasteful publicity stunt?
- BoneStamp, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1Need one of these in China for the Olympics... as if their government would allow it.
- piratetalk, on 07/11/2008, -0/+0We need one for California. It's so smoky you can barely see across the city.
- HotGore, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1Build the Hindenburg they said.
- jeremiebarnes, on 07/11/2008, -0/+0Helium is abundant in the Universe, but it is NOT abundant on Earth.
- sethstacey, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1That is very neat. That would be very interesting to see with things like "don't pollute Paris day" (I just made that up--mind went blank)and see if the things they did made any difference.
- Yuthinkiwont, on 07/10/2008, -1/+1There was a building like that in Pittsburgh as well. [I say was because I haven't lived there in 10 years. Is it still functioning?]
- tyshro, on 07/10/2008, -7/+6Le Balloon de le Peu...?
- Pricebreak, on 07/10/2008, -5/+4Spare me France! You're full of hot air!
- Kanele, on 07/10/2008, -1/+0lol'd
- pitchblack16, on 07/10/2008, -3/+1i wonder what theyre trying to say...
- zooto68, on 07/10/2008, -7/+2and whilst it is bringing attention to air pollution this brightly lit balloon is successfully adding to the worlds light pollution. Well done froggies !!
- atmmac, on 07/10/2008, -6/+1That balloon should give a smell test....this is France hygiene isnt important.
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is