Nothing makes me feel better about paying a quarter of my yearly income taxes, then stories like this. (re-read with sarcastic tone)
A silver colored, large hobby balloon that has been deemed ‘missing in action’ by the group that launched it, is believed to be the object shot out of the sky over Canada by U.S. Forces.
The party-style, “pico balloon”, which only costs about $12 was launched in October of last year by Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB). The balloon was fitted with a tiny GPS tracker. The last known position of the balloon was off of the west coast of Alaska. By Feb. 11, it was floating in the vicinity of the Yukon Territory, the same area where the U.S. used a $400,000 missile to shoot down an object containing a similar description.
“I tried contacting our military and the FBI—and just got the runaround—to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are. And they’re going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down,” Ron Meadows, the founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), told Aviation Week.
The balloons can range in price from $12 to $200 depending the type of balloon. Even if this was the best of the best in regards to hobby balloons…shooting it down using military resources and a $400,000 missile (paid for by tax payers), is absolutely insane.
Just think about that for a minute.