Fantasy Baseball Cafe Forums

by **Tavish** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:18 am

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/46944

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) today offered up a rather interesting challenge: find and plot 10 red weather balloons scattered at undisclosed locations across the country. The first person to identify the location of all the balloons and enter them on the challenge Web site will win a $40,000 cash prize.

Don't let the "weather balloon" code name fool you.

This actually could be a really interesting social experiment. I wonder how many false sightings will be reported in attempts to throw others off of the correct trail. How coordinated can the effort get when there is only one prize available?

by **JTWood** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:58 am

What's the point of this???

by **Dan Lambskin** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:18 pm

10 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Hielt man fuer UFOs aus dem All
Darum schickte ein General
Eine Fliegerstaffel hinterher
Alarm zu geben, wenn es so war
Dabei war da am Horizont
Nur 10 Luftballons

by **acsguitar** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:20 pm

Dan Lambskin wrote:10 Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Hielt man fuer UFOs aus dem All
Darum schickte ein General
Eine Fliegerstaffel hinterher
Alarm zu geben, wenn es so war
Dabei war da am Horizont
Nur 10 Luftballons

Aliens not Nazi's walter

by **Tavish** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:06 pm

JTWood wrote:What's the point of this???

TFA wrote:The DARPA Network Challenge is designed to mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet. "It is fitting for DARPA to announce this competition on the anniversary of the day that the first message was sent over the ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet," said Dr. Regina E. Dugan, who made the announcement at a conference celebrating the anniversary. "In the 40 years since this breakthrough, the Internet has become an integral part of society and the global economy. The DARPA Network Challenge explores the unprecedented ability of the Internet to bring people together to solve tough problems."

Or if your tinfoil hat is on tight enough, its an exercise to see how quickly the citizens of the US can band together in response to a dictatorial overthrow of the democracy. If we are successful in quickly banding together to find these balloons, then they (ie the government) will know that they will not be able to easily conquer us and will have to wait until our attention is consumed by the next season of American Idol before executing their plans.

by **Tavish** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:19 pm

A handy reference chart has been made to help you point out what the weather balloons may look like. Keep your eye open and let me know if you spot one.

http://bleen.ro/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/us-air-force-aircraft-identification-chart1.jpg

by **KCollins1304** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:24 pm

Tavish wrote:A handy reference chart has been made to help you point out what the weather balloons may look like. Keep your eye open and let me know if you spot one.

http://bleen.ro/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/us-air-force-aircraft-identification-chart1.jpg

That is hilarious. :-b

by **ayebatter** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:34 pm

Tavish wrote:A handy reference chart has been made to help you point out what the weather balloons may look like. Keep your eye open and let me know if you spot one.

http://bleen.ro/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/us-air-force-aircraft-identification-chart1.jpg

Made me chuckle. :-D

by **bigken117** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:50 pm

nice, $40K more of taxpayer money being wasted, plus the (I'm sure) extravagant amount of money wasted setting up this stupid experiment.

by **Madison** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:01 am

Tavish wrote:A handy reference chart has been made to help you point out what the weather balloons may look like. Keep your eye open and let me know if you spot one.

http://bleen.ro/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/us-air-force-aircraft-identification-chart1.jpg

Bleen? That's the hair growth stuff Kelly made and Al used. :-b