You’re probably all aware of those silly metallic-colored balloons that are quite large and sometimes shaped into hearts or other silly shapes, saying “Happy Birthday” or “Get Well Soon” or whatever. This is the now-endangered species called the mylar balloon. Mylar is actually a polyester type material, the metallic part is an aluminum coating that is often applied. If you want to know what mylar is like without the aluminum, look at the seal on a yogurt container. That’s usually made of mylar too.
Apparently the fracas centers on the fact that when this aluminum coating tangles into power lines, the result is sometimes a power outage. Now, right now in Riverside it probably went over a hundred degrees today. It’s hot and I am definitely inside blasting the A/C to make it feel like eighty. I definitly would not appreciate a power outage. That would be… bad. If it was caused by a runaway balloon, I probably would not be happy about that.
But banning them is NOT the answer. Irresponsible handling is the problem, so what’s the answer?
Well, first off, did you actually know what a menace these innocent balloons actually were? I confess I’d never heard of this until now. I think if the public had merely been informed over the years “Be careful not to allow balloons to get loose, especially near power lines” people would have at least tried to be careful. Oh sure there would have been the usual malcontents letting them go on purpose, but that could have been handled as a penalty, perhaps one that would help defray the cost of repairing the outage.
First problem. California doesn’t like to think that people can do the right thing. No, we need a mandate!
The previous solution was a mandate that all such balloons be sold with a weight that would prevent it from flying high. Not a bad idea, if you’re stuck in the Mandate Illness System Syndrome. The problem was, the type of weight was never specified. Turns out, they were usually tied to lollipops or toys. Kids like my son love the challenge of a knot– off came the knot, out came the toy, and the balloon was free to do its will once again. Apparently this just didn’t help matters much. Or maybe the power companies were getting lazier. It’s kinda hard to tell. After all, I’d been of the impression that raptor strikes and high winds were bigger threats to the state power grid.
So along has come SB 1499.
Please join the legislative team in opposing this nanny-state legislation.
9 comments
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June 21, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Gene Trosper
Totally agreed. In case you haven’t heard, there is a balloon “trade group” in California fighting this legislation: http://www.savetheballoons.com/
June 21, 2008 at 5:29 pm
ladygaura
Yes, a member of the legteam is already in contact. Weird thing was, we actually had a LP member lobby us in SUPPORT of the bill too
June 21, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Gene Trosper
I’d LOVE to know why a Libertarian would lobby for a bill like that.
June 21, 2008 at 7:41 pm
ladygaura
His claim was that utility/power lines are more important than balloons and in view of the expense required to repair them, a balloon ban is helpful. I don’t get that stance. Now admittedly the balloon trade is biased but they claim that there are no outages actually traced to a balloon. My view is that there may have been a few, but it’s just not a major problem and there is something else going on here.
Besides, isn’t the good will of wishing well on someone important too? Imagine how many disappointed kids there will be if the ban is in place.
There we go– “It’s for the children!!! Save the balloons!!!”
LOL.
June 22, 2008 at 1:12 am
Michael Seebeck
The stupid thing about it is that the power failures that a Mylar balloon can cause can also be caused by a latex balloon with a wet string. Yet there’s no ban proposed for that. This state is so whacko, I tell ya!
June 22, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Gene Trosper
Get thee to the John and Ken Show webpage:
http://www.johnandkenshow.com/archives/2008/06/20/balloon-ban-protest-2/
June 22, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Gene Trosper
OOOH! OOOH! IDEA!!!!
Local LP affiliates sending MYLAR balloon bouquets to their state legislators with a note demanding they vote NO on the balloon ban!!!!
June 23, 2008 at 4:29 am
Michael Seebeck
Perfect!
June 25, 2008 at 2:46 am
ladygaura
This bill died in committee today.