Buy Stephen Hawking's balloon basket

November 13, 2003 6:31 PM

Balloon basket for sale. Low mileage. Only used by possibly the smartest man on the planet. [via linkdump]
posted by mr_crash_davis (17 comments total)

also for sale....

Hookers Balloons
posted by clavdivs at 6:39 PM on November 13, 2003

I don't know wether to laugh or cry. Can one do both at the same time?
posted by shepd at 6:42 PM on November 13, 2003

From: "Quonsar The Magnificent" <[e-mail]>
To: <[e-mail]>
Subject: broken html on the hawking site
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2003 21:38:37 -0500

you have malformed img tags on this page:

http://www.hawking.org.uk/balloon.html

this prevents the images from displaying in mozilla firebird.
(they show up fine in IE, but hell, IE will parse ANYTHING!)

here's the problem:
<img src=3Dimages\bal3.jpg>
<img src=3Dimages\bal2.jpg>
<img src=3Dimages\bal1.jpg>


your "\" should be "/"
also, the filepath and name should be enclosed in quotes, but that's
minor.

one sort of expects better things from the site of the "smartest man
alive". heh.
"i don't think we're in windows anymore, toto"
posted by quonsar at 6:46 PM on November 13, 2003

now thats cold.
posted by clavdivs at 6:48 PM on November 13, 2003

I wanted to do the same thing quonsar. I tried calling his house instead, but his computerized answering machine kept picking up the phone. I need to find what machine he has, after a few tries it told me take take my phone and cram it up the black hole of my infinitely expanding ass.
posted by Stan Chin at 7:04 PM on November 13, 2003

"Stephen Hawking can't come to the phone right now..."
posted by machaus at 7:16 PM on November 13, 2003

He looks so happy here. That makes me happy.
posted by machaus at 7:18 PM on November 13, 2003

Wow, machaus, thanks for pointing that out. He really does. That made me a small moment of bliss, for perhaps the first time today.

"Smartest man in the world" or not, do you think he'd trade it all in for the ability to walk up the stairs, or hug his children or his wife? I have no doubt....

I also hope the sale of this item indicates only an upgrade and not some impending bad news...
posted by anastasiav at 7:23 PM on November 13, 2003

gave me, dammit. gave me a small moment of bliss....

I'm going to bed.
posted by anastasiav at 7:24 PM on November 13, 2003

Well, he did "trade in" his first wife.
posted by anathema at 7:31 PM on November 13, 2003

Wheelchair accessible ballooning. That'll also be good for guys like me who can't climb into one of those baskets without hurting my "nether regions"...

But he's just selling the basket, right? I've got to get my own hot air bag, right?

Oh, Miguel...
posted by wendell at 7:59 PM on November 13, 2003

I really thought this was about the guy who strapped all those balloons to his lawn chair.
posted by destro at 8:15 PM on November 13, 2003

I thought it was about the Wizard of Oz.
posted by orange swan at 8:47 PM on November 13, 2003

Maybe it is.
posted by troutfishing at 8:56 PM on November 13, 2003

I tried calling his house instead, but his computerized answering machine kept picking up the phone.

so, it's fixed? last week it kept answering the stove.
posted by quonsar at 9:45 PM on November 13, 2003

I smell an eBay!

L@@K!!!! GREAT CONDITION HOT AIR BALOON BASKET W/PIC ONE OF A KIND LIKE NEW EXCELLENT CONDITION!!!!
Smartest man in the world not included.

Or maybe it should be put in the Smithsonian. In any case, great man, etc, etc.
posted by leapfrog at 6:33 AM on November 14, 2003

I would never buy anything that the smartest man in the world didn't want anymore. There has to be a reason that we just don't understand!!!
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:55 AM on November 14, 2003