seen any big red balloons today in the US?

[rmd]

or, to quote a mefi post about it, "now here is a red balloon. i think of DARPA and note its geographical coordinates"

today, DARPA is running their network challenge where they put 10 weather balloons up near roadways somewhere in the continental US, between 10AM eastern and 4PM local time. and then see who can find them first.

there are a bunch of ad hoc teams working on this. i know several (including the mefi folks i'm working with) that are planning to donate the prize to charity if they win.

so, 'if you see something, say something'.

(i'll be curious how many fake balloons get lofted. and i'm sure the internet will be awash with fake balloon sightings.)

Comments

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

This was on Rachel Maddow (rachel.msnbc.com). DARPA assumes there will be fake balloons, and disinformation. If you fin da balloon, you can go and find a DARPA officer at the balloons location with credentials and shit.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm curious about what levels of disinformation get spread today.

All Done

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

9 hours after the contest started, DARPA announced that a team from MIT won.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/05/darpa.balloon.challenge/index.html

http://balloon.mit.edu/