Luxor Again

To Americans, Luxor is a name associated with the attack in Las Vegas, but it is a name that has roots in Egypt. On the night of Sunday, October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, leaving 58 people dead and 546 injured. Between 10:05 and 10:15 p.m. PDT, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada, fired more than 1,100 rounds from his suite on the 32nd floor of the 43-story Mandalay Bay hotel, situated next to the Luxor Las Vegas. About an hour after Paddock fired his last shot into the crowd of 22,000, he was found dead in his room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His motive is unknown.

Now, Luxor again.

Luxor - 2018

A hot air balloon carrying foreign tourists over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor crash-landed 5 January 2018, killing a tourist from South Africa and injuring at least 12 others, Egyptian officials said.

Strong winds forced the balloon, which was carrying 20 tourists, off course above the southern city, home to some of Egypt's most famous pharaonic temples and tombs. The balloon took off around sunrise and flew about 45 minutes at an altitude of 450 meters (1,500 feet) before the pilot lost control over a mountainous area, the officials said, adding that the pilot was also injured.

An official statement from the Luxor governorate confirmed that 12 people were injured. The balloon passengers included South African and Argentine tourists. Tourists from Australia, France and Brazil were among those injured, it said, citing an unnamed medical official.

The hot air balloon flights are popular because they offer spectacular views of the ancient Karnak Temple and other historical sites. The flights usually start shortly before sunrise and pass over green fields leading to the Valley of the Kings — the burial site of the famous boy king Tutankhamun and other pharaohs.

Luxor has a history of hot air balloon crashes. The deadliest took place in 2013 when a balloon flying over the city caught fire and plunged about 305 meters (1,000 feet), crashing into a sugar cane field and killing at least 19 foreign tourists. Ballooning experts say the accident was the worst in the sport's 200-year history.

Luxor - 2016

In 2016, Egypt temporarily halted balloon flights after 22 Chinese tourists suffered minor injuries in a crash landing.

Luxor - 2013

On 26 February 2013, at 07:00 Egypt Standard Time (05:00 UTC), a hot air balloon crashed near Luxor, Egypt. The crash resulted in 19 deaths out of 21 passengers – 18 on-site and one in hospital hours later. It is the deadliest ballooning accident in history and the deadliest aerostat disaster since the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 which killed 36 people.

The Britons Yvonne Rennie, 48, Joe Bampton, 40, and Bampton's Hungarian-born partner, Suzanna Gyetvai, 34, died in the tragedy. It appears to have been the worst accident of its kind in history.

Rennie's husband, Michael, 49, was being treated on Tuesday night at Luxor international hospital, where a spokeswoman said he was in a stable condition. He and the pilot, named locally as Momin Mourad Ali, were the only survivors. They, along with seven other passengers, including the other three British-based tourists, are believed to have jumped out of the balloon to escape the flames. Ali suffered 70% burns and was also being treated in hospital in Luxor.

The other tourists – nine from Hong Kong, four Japanese, two French and a Belgian – all died in the explosion.

Smiley Face Balloon Crash Kills 16

A hot air balloon believed to be carrying 16 people caught fire in the air and crashed in central Texas on Saturday (July 30, 2016) morning, killing everybody on board, federal and local authorities said.
The balloon may have struck power lines when it went down around 7:30 a.m. in pastureland near Lockhart, about 30 miles south of Austin, in an area often used for balloon landings, a county judge and public safety source told CNN.
"First I heard a whoosh," Margaret Wylie, who lives near the crash site, told CNN affiliate TWC. "And then a big ball of fire (went) up. I'd say it got as high up as those lower electric lines."
If investigators confirm 16 people died, the crash will be the most fatal hot air balloon accident in United States history.
The hot air balloon rests on the ground near Lockhart, Texas.
Federal Aviation Authority officials said the balloon carrying 16 people caught fire before crashing, but provided few other details. The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office said nobody on board survived.
Caldwell County Judge Ken Schawe said it looks like the balloon collided with a power line before catching fire and crashing to the ground.
A source with the Texas Department of Public Safety earlier told CNN's Polo Sandoval that investigators believe the hot air balloon struck power lines and caught fire. This is the preliminary working theory, the source said.

Meanwhile, in Hawaii there is a volcano with a smiley face (here).

Syncinematic analysis of smiley faces (here).

Smiley face from Watchman (here).

The Four Humors (here).

Thanks above from Steve L.

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The owner of Heart of Texas Hot Air Balloon Rides and chief pilot of the balloon that went down Saturday, July 30 with the loss of his own and 15 passengers’ lives was Skip Nichols. ~ Jim Brandon, author of The Rebirth of Pan, and "NickName" awareness.

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Mailbox Bomber Was Making Smiley Face
Published May 09, 2002

RENO, Nev. – The 21-year-old college art student accused of putting pipe bombs in mailboxes in five states told authorities he was trying to make a "smiley face" pattern on the map, a sheriff said Thursday.

The first 16 bombs were arranged in two circles, one in Illinois and Iowa and the other in Nebraska. On a map, the circles could resemble the eyes of the popular 1970s happiness symbol. The final two bombs, found in Colorado and Texas, form an arc that could be the beginning of a smile.

"There was a comment made to one of my officers about his hope to make a smiley face when he was all finished," Pershing County Sheriff Ron Skinner said.

Skinner said Luke Helder made the comments to an undercover county officer shortly after his arrest outside Reno on Tuesday.

"His demeanor was very jovial. He didn't seem to be taking anything seriously at the time," the sheriff said.

An FBI official would not comment on the sheriff's report.

Meanwhile, Helder's parents, Cameron and Pamela Helder, met with their son at the county jail in Reno for a half-hour. They were separated by glass and spoke by telephone.

"We are here to see our son in his hour of need," Cameron Helder told reporters afterward. "We told him we love him. I feel a lot better after speaking to him."

Helder faces federal charges in Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa, where he will be taken Friday for an initial court appearance. U.S. Magistrate Robert McQuaid Jr. denied a request Wednesday to release Helder to the custody of his parents.

"It's apparent to me that he suffers from some apparent mental health problems," McQuaid said.

If convicted, Helder could be sent to prison for life. Cameron Helder said he expects the legal proceedings to be a long process.

"It's already been very hard on us," he said. "Our heart goes out to the families of the victims."

The FBI said Helder placed 18 pipe bombs in mailboxes in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas, along with anti-government notes. Six of the bombs exploded last Friday, injuring four letter carriers and two residents.

The eight bombs in Iowa and Illinois were found in rural locations that form an uneven ring about 70 miles in diameter. The Nebraska bomb sites — about 350 miles away — form a ring about 90 miles across.

The other bombs were found hundreds of miles away — one in Salida, Colo., the other in Amarillo, Texas.

The FBI issued an alert for Helder after his father called police Monday night about letters from his son that included references to death, anti-government comments and the phrase "Mailboxes are exploding." The same phrase was in the notes found with the bombs.

Authorities said Luke Helder has confessed to making 24 pipe bombs out of smokeless gunpowder, BBs or nails, paper clips and Christmas tree bulbs. The final 10 bombs found in mailboxes and the six found in his car had different detonation mechanisms and were not rigged to explode but were still dangerous, authorities said.

"Same pipe bombs, but he did not hook the battery to them," said Terry Hulse, the FBI agent in charge in Las Vegas. "The difference is when people opened the mailbox, they found them laying there."

Helder's parents arrived at Reno-Tahoe International Airport early Thursday from their home in Pine Island, Minn.

Cameron Helder said he wanted to thank the FBI and the sheriff's department for making the visit possible "so we have a better understanding of what is going through his mind and what is happening."

Helder wore a broad smile each time he was transported to and from jail and court. Washoe County Sheriff Dennis Balaam said Helder did not seem upset that his father had turned him in.

"I think he understands. I don't think there are any ill feelings there at all," the sheriff said. "It was an emotional goodbye. It's a difficult time for all."

The sheriff added: "I think as each moment goes by the consequences are starting to set in with him."

Balaam also said Helder, a junior art and industrial design major at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, was headed for California when he was arrested. Balaam said he did not know why.

Elsewhere Thursday, authorities in Sioux City, Iowa, blew up a pipe with no explosives found by three young boys and three small bombs made with drain cleaner exploded in mailboxes north of Spokane, Wash. There were no injuries in either case.

Indiana State Police also said that at least two juveniles are suspected of planting two pipe bombs in roadside mailboxes earlier this week. One of the bombs exploded, but there were no injuries.

Heenes Are UFO Family

It is not a coincidence that the balloon that supposedly abducted Falcon Heene to nowhere looks like a flying saucer. Now it turns out, the Heenes are a media-aware family that allegedly may be obsessed with UFOs and ETs.



Yes, there is a happy ending. He was hiding in a box in the attic of the family's garage. But the chasing of the balloon dominated the news all afternoon and early evening.

The six-year-old boy who was thought to be in a mylar balloon speeding high across Colorado on Thursday, October 15, 2009, was on the ABC series "Wife Swap."

Falcon Heene, 6, is the son of Richard and Mayumi Heene of Ft. Collins, Colorado. His parents are stormchasers, and their "chaotic parenting style" was criticized by their "Wife Swap" swap family, according to Fox News.

Richard and Mayumi Heene of Ft. Collins, Colorado have two other sons, Bradford and Royo.

Richard Heene created his own indie video series, and sells the DVDs online as "The Psyience Detectives." Episodes have included "ROTATING STORMS AND MAGNETISM," "DUST DEVIL CHASING," and "TORNADO SEEKING ROCKET." The program is described as "The Psyience Detectives, a new documentary series investigating the mysteries of science and psychic phenomena."

The family was invited back by ABC to appear on the 100th episode of "Wife Swap," where Mayumi Heene switched places with Sheree Silver, a psychic.

A Los Angeles Times story documented the "Wife Swap" show by saying "The Heene family, with its three rowdy boys, is anchored by father Richard, whose anger arrives in sudden bolts between his fringe science projects."

The description of the episode from ABC that appears on their website said "[The swapped wife] is shocked as the Heene kids jump off banisters and run wild, and appalled by Richard's attitude to women."

The Heenes reportedly allowed their children to accompany them as they tracked Hurricane Gustav.



According to the ABC "Wife Swap" website, the family sleeps in their clothes so they can leap from bed and run after a storm at any given moment. The site also describes a "flying saucer" that sounds like the one that ultimately came back to earth Thursday.

"When the Heene family aren't chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm," says the site.




They're also apparently shooting music videos. An amateur rock/rap video called "Not Pussified" starring the three boys was posted on Youtube, showing the brothers shooting off rockets, throwing rocks at stuffed animals, and riding some sort of hovercraft that looks eerily like the saucer thought to be carrying Falcon on Thursday.



As far as the name game, the history of "Heene" originates from an unknown background.