A North Korean defector now working as an activist in South Korea told the Associated Press that he plans to drop 100,000 copies of The Interview into North Korea by balloon.

Like stock car races or primary debates, balloon parades are an alleged form of entertainment that's mostly just boring until something goes wrong. Fortunately, with balloon accidents the resulting injuries are primarily psychic in nature—measured in months of therapy for poor Jacob after seeing Pikachu disemboweled…

While their housemate was out of town, two guys inflated 2,269 balloons and entirely filled his bedroom with them. It took them three and a half weeks, but it was completely worth it for his reaction.

Twenty-seven-year-old Dave, who lives near Little Rock, Arkansas, is a dedicated "looner." That doesn't mean he's crazy (although he might be that, too — judge for yourself) — "looner" describes a person who has romantic relationships with balloons. Dave blows them up, but he will have you know that he isn't blowing…

Science! Just when everyone's having a great time, it comes along and tells us to turn down the music. Or, at the very least, to stop blowing up party balloons with helium, you heathens, because you're ruining some very important experiments.

What is Thanksgiving all about? It's about ringing in the season of conspicuous consumerism we call Christmas, right? So what better way to celebrate that than with a department store sponsored holiday tradition: The Macy's Thanksgiving balloons.

A magician named John Cassidy—world record holder for "most balloon sculptures made in one hour"—visited Michelle Obama at the White House last month. She promptly imprisoned him in a latex bubble, while a White House photographer documented her chilling disregard for the civil liberties of balloon magicians.

Of all the slow motion videos we've seen lately, this one—a six foot water balloon at up to 2500fps—is up there with my favorites. Not because it's particularly well shot or creative. Or for any reason, really, other than that I'm just a hose and a slab of rubber away from making this happen in my own backyard. […

One highlight of last Saturday's Christmas parade in Richmond, VA—besides random people on Segways—was supposed to be a giant Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer balloon. Unfortunately, a stop light got in Rudolph's way, and... watch the tragedy unfold, inside.

[An American flag balloon floats away from the Veteran's Day parade in New York today. Image via Getty]

Don't you hate it when a perfectly nice festival day in the park is ruined by an inadvertent re-creation of the Hindenburg disaster? Still, you have to award bonus points any time science elicits screams from a terrified populace.

Jonathan Trappe is a "cluster balloonist," specializing in flying the way the old man in Up did. Today Jonathan crossed the English channel, fulfilling "this wonderful fantasy of grabbing onto toy balloons and floating into open space," he explained.