helium

[steve dave]

did you guys know we are about to run out forever?  seems weird. 

[wes mantooth]

i'm assuming this will be the lead story on the Omaha 10 o'clock news tonight

[michigancat]

it all goes into outer space.

[CNS]

Yeah.  What is the projection on time?  Last I saw, it was like 2035 or something.

[slobber]

I thought I read somewhere that they (I don't know who "they" are) were trying to figure out a way to capture the helium at whatever layer of the atmosphere it ends up in? Is this something we need? It seems like something we need. How are we going to pull off that high squeaky voice without it?

[puniraptor]

rough ridin' teenagers huffing it all what the hell

[steve dave]

I'm going to hoard a bunch and sell it for astronomical prices for rich guy birthday parties

[puniraptor]

we can make more helium in nuclear reactors, NBD

[EuroCat]

Everybody knows helium rises.....it's prolly in neptune or whatever planet is above earth. We just need to send another one of those rovers or robots to go get it back.

[OK_Cat]

someone should just invent a machine that makes it

[steve dave]

worst part about this?  not getting to watch stupid NU fans hold onto their balloons for almost an entire half of football

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=233190158

[Dr Rick Daris]

I'm going to hoard a bunch and sell it for astronomical prices for rich guy birthday parties

why do you think we're already on pace to run out of it so quickly? 

[Trim]

Pete, bring a bunch more of it to MOAP3.

[_33]

someone should just invent a machine that makes it

I already did but it runs on helium.   

[AbeFroman]

crap, I'm going to miss those ugly, foil balloons

[Dugout DickStone]

dammit Obama.

[DQ12]

The world is running low on helium? Big freaking deal, right? Worst-case scenario, future kids won't ever experience the joy of shelling out $7 for an amusement park balloon, then immediately tripping and seeing it fly away.

Actually, if you have benefited from a piece of technology more complex than a sharp rock tied to a stick, it was probably made with the help of helium. Helium has the lowest boiling point of all materials on Earth, which means it's cooler than a ninja Fonzie in sunglasses. Basically every high-tech industry imaginable has uses for helium, from chilling MRI magnets to producing fiber optics and LCD screens.
Think of it as the Batman of gases -- known for its playful public persona as the stuff that makes you talk like Jennifer Tilly, but secretly a badass vigilante keeping the modern world in one piece. And just like Batman, the government completely doesn't understand it.

After all, if the stuff is running out, the price should be going up, right? And we sure as hell shouldn't be putting it in party balloons.
But according to Nobel Prize winner Robert Richardson, the problem is that the U.S. government is giving away helium like a discount VCR warehouse: as much as it can, as cheap as it can. In 1996, Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. government to sell off our helium stockpile by 2015. This has forced the price of the gas way, way lower than it should be, considering how little of the stuff is actually left in the world (Richardson says a balloon's worth would cost $100 if the market were allowed to set the price).

The U.S. controls more than 80 percent of the world's helium supply, so Richardson says all this sell-off and waste means there's a very real chance we will run out of the gas in fewer than 25 years. If you're one of those people who buys into this whole "technology" fad, that's something to be concerned about.

Fortunately, there's a backup plan: If we run out of mined helium we can always recover it from the atmosphere. That will run us only 10,000 times the current costs.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19048_6-important-things-you-didnt-know-were-running-out-of.html#ixzz23eHKl2Hc

[CNS]

Chocolate!!!!!   

[Rage Against the McKee]

Well, if we're practically giving it away for free, then maybe 10,000x current costs wouldn't be so bad.

[Dugout DickStone]

Saul, scrap those helium based servers stat.

[Rams]

I'm going to hoard a bunch and sell it for astronomical prices

holy crap. after reading dlew's article this actually sounds like a pretty solid idea. 

[CNS]

I'm going to hoard a bunch and sell it for astronomical prices

holy crap. after reading dlew's article this actually sounds like a pretty solid idea. 

Yep.  $100 balloons sound great to the guy with a bunch of canisters in his storage area.

[Dr Rick Daris]

i've got a detached one car garage at a rental house that we can start storing helium tanks in if we want. thoughts?

[Brock Landers]

Meh, just go back to filling stuff with hydrogen.  What's the worst that could hap........

[Emo EMAW]

You'll want to store it super cold and compressed to maximize your material per volume.