Tag: Balloons

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More On The iPhone Balloon Tracking Application

The local TV news station KOB has more on the iPhone balloon tracking application. The app is written by Anthony Cardinale and is a real time tracking application. It’s being tested by 5 ballon pilots and chase crews at this years Albuquerque Ballon Fiasco, I mean Balloon Fiesta.

“At some point, every pilot could be using this, and we are going to have a free version that allows people to come to the Balloon Fiesta and load it up to see where all the balloons are in real time,” Cardinale said.

Might make going to the Balloon Fiesta worthwhile.

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Wrong Kind Of Cactus On New Mexico Poster

The 2004 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is due to start in October. There’s been a bit of hub-bub because of the poster.

The major problem to me is they hired a Texas artist to do the poster. There’s always been a kind of Texas/New Mexico rivalry between the two states but this isn’t my issue. See New Mexico is pretty well know for it’s fancy-smancy artists. Santa Fe and Taos both have quite a few of those types there. I suspect they are at least better known for their artists than Texas.

Second problem is the Texas Artist screwed it up. There’s Balloons and there’s a cowboy. Sounds good. There are also Saguaro cactuses. For those not familiar with the South West United States, these are native to the Sonoran Desert which, “has a quite limited geographical range, centred on southern Arizona and extending into western Sonora (Mexico)” which means they don’t even exists in New Mexico. I know, to the rest of the world these cactuses exist in the desert southwest and that includes New Mexico. But if you want to accurately show one of New Mexico’s few claims to fames then it’s probably a good idea to be accurate on such a little detail. Perhaps the cactuses could be replaced with power lines.

By the way, thanks to Metaquerque for the links.