We're officially throwing our hat into the ring for the DARPA Network Challenge and organizing a team in hopes of using the power of Fark for good. There are more details on the site, but the gist is this: on Saturday, Dec. 5, DARPA will be deploying 10 red weather balloons in different locations in the lower 48 states. They'll be tethered to the ground, within view of a roadway and accessible by pedestrians. As soon as you find one you report it with the geographical coordinates. The balloons will only be up for 6-9 hours (depending on location and time zone), and any "sightings" afterwards will need to come from social networking and internet searches. The contest will be open until Dec. 14.

The prize for the winning team is $40,000. If we manage to pull this off, Fark will donate the full amount to Toys for Tots. With so many Farkers spread across the country, we might actually stand a chance at winning this.

I will be the overall point person, entering any findings to the site on TeamFark's behalf, so all finders need to report the coordinates to me. If you're interested in joining a regional/state searching team, please email me and I'll try to get you in touch with others in your area.

Worst case, it's a good excuse for a Sunday drive on a Saturday, or for searching/surfing the internet all day. Best case, lots of needy kids will get a visit from Santa this year.

I'm in - I'm in the Tampa area tell me what to do

Sounds fun--consider this a bookmark.

darpa darpa darpa!

Wouldn't it be easier to look for the US Gov't vehicles now? I mean they have to already be moving to the locations for the balloons to be placed. So if you live in a small town and notice a Fed car, it's a pretty big hint.

netweavr: Wouldn't it be easier to look for the US Gov't vehicles now? I mean they have to already be moving to the locations for the balloons to be placed. So if you live in a small town and notice a Fed car, it's a pretty big hint.

There's been one parked outside my house for about three days now, so I bet they will be launching a balloon near me!

PainInTheASP: netweavr: Wouldn't it be easier to look for the US Gov't vehicles now? I mean they have to already be moving to the locations for the balloons to be placed. So if you live in a small town and notice a Fed car, it's a pretty big hint.

There's been one parked outside my house for about three days now, so I bet they will be launching a balloon near me!

Do black helicopters count as Fed vehicles?

/Count me in. I go Geocaching on the weekends, anyway, so will be out & about.

I'm in. I'll keep an eye open in the Bridgeport metro area. I'll round up some friends and hopefully they'll help cover New Haven and Hartford.

In the odd case that one is deployed in Madison sure

I dont totally get it but Im in.
I like being part of the cool crowd. this is a cool crowd activity, right?

If I see anything, I'll be here. So, basically all of Columbus Ohio here

i'm in.

10 balloons, let's say 2 million out of the US's 3.5 million square miles fit the requirements, that's one balloon every 200,000 square miles. like putting one ballon in thailand.

dugitman: I dont totally get it but Im in.
I like being part of the cool crowd. this is a cool crowd activity, right?

no... but it's kinda neat.

If I see one I'll tell you :)

I will be on the lookout also

If I see a red ballon in podunk, I mean, Menomonie, WI, I will do stuff.

Wait! instead of participating why don't we all put up our own red balloons and really fark the whole thing up?

I say we use the money for a huge, kick-ass Fark party instead.

Screw the underprivileged children!

Damn! Already donated to DERPA.
Not sure if they know what they're doing.

I'll keep an eye out in the Boston area...

FlashHarry: darpa darpa darpa!

Mohabad jehid

I'd be glad to participate, but I'm sure if one were deployed around here it would be shot or otherwise popped the first night.

On the very off-chance I see one of these said balloons...what do I get for stealing it?

I'll help. What do I have to do?




Climb a light post?

Headso: Wait! instead of participating why don't we all put up our own red balloons and really fark the whole thing up?

Now that's something I'd expect from fark.

/off looking for a source of red weather balloons now

I'll be looking too... I don't have one o' dem GPS thiggamjiggers, so I couldn't give you coordinates if I tried. But hey, at least I can say "LOL, I saw a balloon"

netweavr: Wouldn't it be easier to look for the US Gov't vehicles now? I mean they have to already be moving to the locations for the balloons to be placed. So if you live in a small town and notice a Fed car, it's a pretty big hint.

I live beside PAX River NavAir. I don't even notice them anymore.

Well I'll look around though. I suppose I'll have to figure out the GPS on my phone though. I know it does coordinates because I had them come up once when I was looking for a high school.

OK who's going to sniff the satellite downlink feeds? I've got Doppler. Someone needs to make a Mt. Dew run.

I would but I heard Toys for Tots gives toys to illegals

I'll keep a lookout in SE WY.

/no, wait, that's a silver balloon

I'm in, but only if this guy can be our team captain:

Limp_Bisquick: I would but I heard Toys for Tots gives toys to illegals

Do me a favor- go find one of the guys manning the Toys for Tots boxes and get into a big argument about it. That should end well.

I have some sardine juice, condoms and lubricant. Lemme know what I need to do!

If any balloons appear outside my dorm room window at Rutgers you'll all be the first to know.

Damnit, Go Fast Turn Left!

/well played

I'm in and in the Seattle Area.

Will it look like a streetlight?

dugitman: I dont totally get it but Im in.
I like being part of the cool crowd. this is a cool crowd activity, right?

This is a nerd crowd activity.

Team Fark? Is this anything like that horrid Team Edward or Team Bella or whatever damn thing that's in the news so much lately?

/get off my lawn

Im in, I'll keep a look out over Charlotte, NC.

I'm in. :)

If I spot one, I'll post the coordinates here.

I'm in, should we just report back to this thread if we see one?

Enough with the red balloons.
I get it already!
Nukes are bad.
War is bad.

/Would still hit Nina.
//Kidding about war though.
///Not kidding about nukes.
////Nuclear slashies.

I thought there were 99 of these 'luft baloons'. some chick named Nena had a song about them.

By the way, this is probably a sociological experiment in disinformation. Because every "social group" online is interconnected to the point where we might as well just team up with /b/, Facebook, /., etc.

sweet, and for brigid_fitch

Limp_Bisquick: I would but I heard Toys for Tots gives toys to illegals

Damn. Beat me to it.

/Seriously, I'd get in if I had one of those GPS gizmos.

If you don't have GPS, go to Google Maps after you find the location. It will give you the GPS coordinates.

The balloons will be manned by DARPA staff. Does anyone have a list of DARPA research facilities? If we find areas with high concentrations, we can focus searches. Near large research universities would be a good place to start.