A Database Of Special Shapes

... ah, but what kind of special shapes? Special hot air balloon shapes, that's what, and you can get to it at http://www.specialshapes.nu/.

This site contains over 850 special shapes with lots of gorgeous photographs. Once you've used the "Enter" link at the front of the site, use the drop down menu on the following page to pick a country (from Argentina to the US.) You'll be given a list of results that contains a thumbnail photo of the special-shaped balloon, and information about the balloon that includes date of manufacture, volume, owner, operator, pilot, e-mail, and Web site. Not all listings have all that information, and not all listings have a photograph (but most of them do.)

What kind of balloons can you find here? A polar bear, the head of the Statue of Liberty, a spark plug, the Chateau de Balleroy, an astonishing number of propane bottles, etc. Click on the small picture and a larger picture will appear in a popup window.

There are other things to visit at this site besides the database; "In the Picture" is a series of reports on balloons (the one about the Orangina bottle had a series of photographs showing the balloon being inflated.) The album section has user-submitted pictures of hot air balloons (click on 'em to enlarge) and a list of links complete with small screenshots.

I'd love a search engine for the special shapes, and a little more information about the information that's provided for each shape. But the pictures alone make this site a lot of fun. Worth a look.

Posted to Entertainment-Sports-Ballooning