The crime occurred on the Great Park balloon, in Irvine, Sunday morning.
The balloon, carrying 12 passengers, was rising to its top height of 400 feet when, at about the 330 foot mark, the pilot “felt a jolt and noticed that a young man had climbed to the top of the netting that encloses the gondola.” Or so said a city spokesman Craig Reem.
The man threw a parachute out in front of him and then jumped, quickly floating to the ground, Reem said.The kid was in his mid-20s, with blond hair. You know the type.
"When he reached the ground, he scooped up the parachute and leaped over a nearby fence to a waiting car," Reem said.
Somebody was waiting for him in a white Toyota Supra, and the two left through the park gate at Marine Way, Reem said.
The Reg notes that federal laws were likely broken. Evidently, it’s illegal to fall on people.
Reem explained that the jump was dangerous, owing to the lowness of the balloon. “But it’s not the lowest ever attempted.”
The Reg helpfully notes that Austrian Felix Baumgartner once leapt “from the 98-foot Cristo Redentor statue in Rio de Janeiro.”
I’m sure blondie’s taking notes.
* * * * *
In another eye-opener, the Reg reports today that people are rating OC towns, on a scale of 1 to 5, on a site called “Yelp.” (See O.C. towns rated online, from 1 to 5 stars.)Irvine isn’t doing very well.
For instance, Sam Y., who no longer lives in Irvine, gave the city one miserable star:
"Irvine is a planned community. a fake city, its owned by a corporation. like raccoon city from resident evil. and every once in a while people will freak out and go do something crazy. it looks nice but the place is real creepy. be careful there. i would write more but i don't want the irvine company to come get me."Hey, Sam’s one of my students for sure. I recognize his punctuation.
UCI marketing prof Mary Gilly says
"Everything is viewed as brands now; cities are viewed as brands, they have brand associations … Irvine is viewed as being safe and boring ... so it's not surprising that people would review Irvine like they would a restaurant or Coca-Cola."Nobody cares. Meanwhile, T.O. gave the city five stars, saying: "Who the **** writes a Yelp review on a city? ... I find this section to be completely useless."
Well, OK. Nice consistency.
Annie N. spoke directly to Irvine:
"You have no culture. You have no mom-and-pop stores. ... Nothing here has been untouched by the Irvine Company. The only good thing about Irvine: no electrical poles and wires. That actually amuses me for some reason. One star for you."Annie's an English major, no doubt. Resident Anita L. was more positive:
"I love living in Irvine. ... I never thought I'd say this but I do. Though I still miss living in the Bay Area, lil guy is getting an excellent education, we live in an area free of crime. ... My only question is why are they constantly repairing the roads when they are still in mint condition?"Oh, that’s cuz people in trailer parks don’t want to hear train horns. So they get tens of millions of state dollars to build a tunnel under the track, thereby inconveniencing thousands of other residents for years and wasting a buttload of money.
Explaining her review, Gilly said, that she is motivated by “altruism”: “– I don't want anybody else to suffer what I suffered."
3 comments:
I think they should arrest that young man.
FYI - Craig Reem (now Irvine spokeperson cited above) used to teach at IVC, in its late lamented journalism program. He taught feature writing for a few years. Worked with Ked Francis and some of the others.
Further evidence that working for the City of Irvine rots the brain.
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