Helium shortage at knu

[brother bob]

Was talking to a friend of mine on the phone tonight while surfing the net and found this:Helium shortage causes Nebraska to cut back on balloon tradition - CBSSports.com

We haven't laughed so hard in a long time and even had tears in our eyes.

She works in the medical field and wondered why they any hospital would need helium unless they fill up the gloves with the helium to entertain the patients...

 

[cyclonedave25]

I believe MRI scanners need liquid helium in order to function. Without helium, there would be no more MRI's.

 

[CascadeClone]

First of all, helium can be bought, it's just expensive, so they are probably economizing a bit. Probably diverted all the balloon budget into the basketball program.

Imagine the meeting when they informed Bo they were taking away his balloons:

"Uh, Coach Pellini, we're going to re-purpose the helium balloon budget and make some much needed investment into our dreadful basketball program."
"I don't care about re-purposing, as long as I get my balloons."
"Well, that's the point Coach, there won't be any balloons this year."
"You're taking away my balloons?!?" (eyes wetting)
"Well, Coach, it just seemed like an extravagant waste. We think we can play this up as an environmentally responsible thing, rather than a money thing."
"NO BALLOONS!?!?!!?!" (10 minute f-bomb ragefest)

 

[mganzeveld]

Does this mean Nebraska might eliminate their inflatable mascot? Man, I hate that thing. I can handle a guy in a costume fine but that thing is as ridiculous as those sumo outfits. (Yes I know it is just air in there but I'd take any excuse to see Lil Red go bye-bye)
Nebraska Mascot humping the cheerleader - YouTube

 

[brianhos]

We should not be using helium to fill balloons. What a stupid waste of such a precious resource. Once you fill that balloon, that helium is lost forever.

 

[Wesley]

Helium Shortage Threatens Balloon Tradition At Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium
Helium shortage takes gas out of Nebraska football tradition - Chicago Tribune
Helium shortage threatens time-honored Nebraska tradition | Dr. Saturday - Yahoo! Sports

 

[uro cy]

But no shortage of over-inflated expectations and hot air at kNU.

 

[isuforlife]

actually a shortage of brain power in fuskerland

 

[Angie]

This helium shortage is a bigger deal than most people think. As others have said, it is used in MRI machines, etc. There is only maybe one store in the Ames area that has helium balloons right now - Hy-Vee, etc. don't.

 

[BoxsterCy]

They should use sky lanterns with the Husker logo on them. Side benefit is that they might burn down the stadium.
:smile:

 

[Broodwich]

SAVE HELIUM!

 

[jdoggivjc]

Time to start finding ways to mine Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - they have all the helium we would ever need.

 

[brianhos]

It isn't like we can't get more helium though right? I think at some point we had such an insanely large amount stored it didn't make sense to keep separating it from the atmosphere (which is how it is harvested). Someone will find out they can make a ton of money on it and it will balance out.

But for now it's going to be expensive and stupid stuff like this will have to be cut back on.

Nope, the US decided to get rid of the reserve in the 90s, so they have been dumping helium on the open market is such huge quantities that it makes no sense to conserve it. Now that the reserve is gone, prices are headed back up. The only way to produce helium is to mine it, or make it via nuclear fusion. I have reports that the world could be out of helium in usable quantities within 30 years.

 

[Wesley]

It isn't like we can't get more helium though right? I think at some point we had such an insanely large amount stored it didn't make sense to keep separating it from the atmosphere (which is how it is harvested). Someone will find out they can make a ton of money on it and it will balance out.

But for now it's going to be expensive and stupid stuff like this will have to be cut back on.

A few years ago the govt closed up the national helium preserve and this is one result. Cheap helium is history.


Helium balloons will soon be a thing of the past.

 

[Rhoadhoused]

Nope, the US decided to get rid of the reserve in the 90s, so they have been dumping helium on the open market is such huge quantities that it makes no sense to conserve it. Now that the reserve is gone, prices are headed back up. The only way to produce helium is to mine it, or make it via nuclear fusion. I have reports that the world could be out of helium in usable quantities within 30 years.

Ok thanks for the correction. I knew we had a ton of it at one point and that the US was basically the only one responsible for obtaining it.

 

[Wesley]

Hoarding has begun. Buy a tank and store it.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Helium isn't just used in MRI machines, it's used for research in practically every industry. Liquid helium used for extreme cooling, and gaseous helium is used in automotive/aerospace for leak testing. It's even used for water ingress testing of watches (it's much faster to do a helium leak test than to submerge a watch and then take it apart and see if it's wet). Part of the reason helium is used is there isn't much floating around naturally in the atmosphere so there is little available to contaminate a reading. Running out of helium would be a huge deal and would significantly hamper scientific progress worldwide.

 

[00clone]

Time to start finding ways to mine Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - they have all the helium we would ever need.

There's helium in Uranus? I've heard of blowing smoke there, and there was that think about booze getting into the bloodstream faster, but never heard nothing about helium. Make your farts high pitched?

 

[ISUAgronomist]

it's used for research in practically every industry

That's for sure. Gas chromatography can require ultra high purity (99.999%) helium for certain applications.

 

[sngorman]

I just wonder what the do with all those balloons when they don't score a touchdown???