Nephelognostic Hot Links

Danny’s All-Star Joint, Rickie Lee Jones (1979) Rickie Lee Jones, aka The Duchess of Coolsville, “released her self-titled debut album in 1979 to critical and commercial success. It peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and spawned the hit single Chuck E.’s in Love, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went platinum later that year, and earned Jones four Grammy Award nominations in 1980. […] The album included guest appearances by Dr. John, Randy Newman, and Michael McDonald.” [Wiki]
Note: Malwarebytes detected riskware at her official website.

Pearls.

Ratrod.

Breaking.

Xerox Hell.

Street art.

Gene Gene.

Ghost Office.

What Aa is for.

35 years of TV.

Crushing Coke.

Cycler rescued.

Conceptual Art.

EF on the WNBA.

Signs in retirement.

Remembering Robby.

Cluck cluck cluck, etc.

Alabama Turtle Burglar.

Hickshit & boogerwelds.

Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks.

A little construction work.

Gov. Gavin makes a tortilla.

Glowfish [via Memo Of The Air].

Demolisity [via Everlasting Blört].

Johanna Van Parijs’ wood mosaics.

1956 Pontiac Star Chief Ambulance.

Hotel Dramatica [via Thompson, blog].

Gabriel’s 300th post on Vankleek Hill Photos.

WMCA-AM (New York) broadcast February 1965.

[Top image: Paranoia panda balloon found here.
“Johnny Panda” was photographed during the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta in the UK, 08 August 2026.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Unintended Deflation Event

[Found here.]

Hot Air Blown [Updated with Link to story]

balloon-vs-tower

balloon-vs-tower 2
I don’t know the story behind it, but that’s some scary stuff. Besides the balloon snag, that tower wasn’t engineered to handle a bigass inflated windsock trying to pull it down.

[Found here.]

UPDATE: Apparently the accident dates to October 2004 during a hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque NM. After the collision, the veteran pilot grabbed the tower to stop the gondola from swinging, and he and two boys (ages 10 and 14) climbed down 600 feet as news helicopters buffeted the tower before being called off. Here’s the balloon in better health:

smokey-bear-balloon

[Full Story here; h/t Guy Fleegman via Twitter.]