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British academic: Ban party balloons (helium filled)
Dailycaller ^

Posted on 12/13/2012 5:58:00 AM PST by chessplayer

“The scarcity of helium is a really serious issue. I can imagine that in 50 years time our children will be saying, ‘I can’t believe they used such a precious material to fill balloons,’” said the doctor, Peter Wothers.

The non-renewable gas is a necessity in hospitals, where it is used to cool magnets in MRI scanners and mixed with oxygen to allow ill patients and newborn babies to breathe more easily.

Scientists have been unsuccessful in finding a sustainable way of making the gas artificially.

“If we keep using it for non-essential things like party balloons, where we’re just letting it float off into space, we could be in for some serious problems in around 30 to 50 years’ time. The gas is hugely valuable.”


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1 posted on 12/13/2012 5:58:04 AM PST by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer
Fill ‘em with hydrogen,adds some excitement to the party.
2 posted on 12/13/2012 6:02:09 AM PST by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
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To: chessplayer

Helium? Do you mean the waste product of a fusion reactor?


3 posted on 12/13/2012 6:02:18 AM PST by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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To: chessplayer

Puleeese Peter, give it a rest.


4 posted on 12/13/2012 6:07:00 AM PST by shove_it (the 0bama regime are the people Huxley, Orwell and Rand warned us about)
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To: chessplayer

I would think that Aire Liquide would have a ceramic that would seperate it out. Probably can’t get the volume needed though.

There are only eight wells in the US that produce Helium and I cannot figure out why Congress decided to open up sales. It just does not make a whole lot of sense because it is definitely a national security material.

Anyone have some insight into this?


5 posted on 12/13/2012 6:08:03 AM PST by buffaloguy
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To: chessplayer

What an idiot. Helium is cryogenically distilled from natural gas.


6 posted on 12/13/2012 6:09:22 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves" Month)
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To: chessplayer

“I would think that Aire Liquide would have a ceramic that would seperate it out.”

Should read “I would think that Aire Liquide would have a ceramic filter that would seperate it out.”


7 posted on 12/13/2012 6:09:35 AM PST by buffaloguy
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To: chessplayer

Right. Thanks for playing, Mr. “Academic.” Now, get off the stage, and no... Johnny Olsen doesn’t have a parting gift for you.


8 posted on 12/13/2012 6:15:21 AM PST by ScottinVA (I've never been more disgusted with American voters.)
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To: buffaloguy

should read “..separate..”


9 posted on 12/13/2012 6:16:42 AM PST by babble-on
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To: chessplayer

Let the free market decide. If demand for helium is so strong, the price will go up accordingly. And while someone with a medical need will pay whatever’s charged, no one — except maybe a limousine liberal — will pay $95 for a party balloon.


10 posted on 12/13/2012 6:21:37 AM PST by IronJack (=)
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To: chessplayer

This guy doesn’t understand economics. The more uses for something the cheaper and more available it gets. Aluminum was one of the most expensive and rare elements on the planet until the government decided it wanted lightning rods on public buildings to be made from aluminum. (This was, at the time, like ordering lightning rods made from gold.) This created a market and chemists immediately invented processes to produce material to fill that market. Unlike gold, aluminum is the most common metal in the Earth’s crust. Market/use = cheap/abundance.

This man’s thinking is typically liberal. If you use something you use it up; therefore it must be regulated by the government. In reality, the more you use something the more there is of it. Take oil. In 1960 alarmists said we’d be completely out of oil by 1970. In 1970 there were more reserves known than in 1960. So, they moved the date to 1980, then 1990, then 2000. Each decade saw more known reserves. Now, we know that oil is produced by biological processes near the earth’s core, not fossil bones (see link below.) Even if that weren’t the case, a market for oil would mean somebody would invent a process to come up with oil. (The Nazis did; coal to oil.)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35642397/Abiotic-Deep-Source-Oil-Gas-Mantel


11 posted on 12/13/2012 6:21:56 AM PST by Gen.Blather
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To: buffaloguy

Looks like U.S. helium reserves could be empty in as little as 5-7 more years.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/med-tech/why-is-there-a-helium-shortage-10031229


12 posted on 12/13/2012 6:23:41 AM PST by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer

It is a serious issue.


13 posted on 12/13/2012 6:25:12 AM PST by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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Comment #14 Removed by Moderator

To: buffaloguy

What right does Congress have to regulate sales of helium? Or anything else for that matter ...

Remember the National Helium Reserve? The boondoggle that was costing taxpayers $1.4 billion? The one that was established to ensure that the US airship fleet had an adequate supply?

It was privatized. As well it should have been.


15 posted on 12/13/2012 6:30:13 AM PST by IronJack (=)
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To: chessplayer

[in a high, squeaky voice] “No, you can’t do that!”


16 posted on 12/13/2012 6:30:14 AM PST by NonValueAdded (If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you've likely misread the situation.)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

Interesting article:

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/doh02

A quote from the article:

“On July 1, 1925, the government assumed control of all helium production in the nation.”

Hmmmm.


17 posted on 12/13/2012 6:32:26 AM PST by Fresh Wind
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To: babble-on

“should read “..separate..””

Thanks. I can never remember whether there is or is not “a rat” in “separate”.

There is a rat...I will have to write that on the chalkboard 100 times now.


18 posted on 12/13/2012 6:33:02 AM PST by buffaloguy
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To: ROCKLOBSTER
Helium is cryogenically distilled from natural gas.

There are only a very few wells in world that contain Helium. You cannot get if from almost all wells.

19 posted on 12/13/2012 6:35:13 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: chessplayer

Parties, too. Ban parties.

And happiness. Ban happiness.

People. Ban people.


20 posted on 12/13/2012 6:36:03 AM PST by Lazamataz (LAZ'S LAW: As an argument with liberals goes on, the probability of being called racist approaches 1)
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