Miscellaneous Ramblings
by Sheena Beaverson and Larry Moss
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| Artist rendering of a landed rover, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab
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Interplanetary balloon sighting
NASA's rovers Spirit and Opportunity made the news last month (and continue
to do so now) with their exploration of Mars. Of interest to balloon
enthusiasts everywhere is the unusual landing gear. Similar to the
Pathfinder rover of several years ago, these rovers used inflatable airbags
to bounce on the surface of the planet until coming to a complete stop.
This isn't the only use of inflatables we've seen in space exploration.
Back in June 2002, we showed some water balloon
experiments done in space and another completely inflatable
rover.
BHQ Spam Filters
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| Terry Newcombe impressed us all with this cd-rom
Turtle Dome. |
The onslaught of spam continues, as recent viruses migrate through the
internet. The necessarily 'aggressive' filtering stance we've been
forced to take on our servers may cause BHQ to lose some legitimate e-mail
messages. We've updated the existing 'Contact Us' page with a web form
for reporting problems. Please let us know
if you think our filters have blocked real balloon-related content.
As a side note, messages from list subscribers sending out warnings about
spam or computer viruses will also get tagged as spam by the filters.
That's both necessary and appropriate. Messages from list subscribers
about losing weight, buying printer ink, improving your physique, or
eliminating debt should also get tagged as spam. Let us handle the server
issues, you all just keep talking about balloons.
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| This fireman is on his way to a party.
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Featured artist portfolio: Kim and Ian, Balloon Heydays
Artists Kim and Ian of Balloon Heydays in Derby, United Kingrom (Great
Britain) specialize in party and corporate decor. Their themed
round-balloon, figures are engaging and unique. Whether it's a
cowboy, land rover, basketball player, ice cream sundae, or cartoon
parody, these sculptures really stand out.
See Kim and
Ian's BHQ Portfolio.
