Solved: A Balloon-Like Entity near Sutter Buttes, CA is a Graduation Balloon

[deirdre]

Thanks deirdre

google maps car doesnt go by except april and summer, but we know hikers take lots of pics and if sutter butte is a mountain you can maybe find "field shots" different times a year. i google image searched "flickr sutter butte january" and just grabbed one quick photo...but maybe that's a path you can take to determine time of year. or ask the guy on tiktok?

 

[NorCal Dave]

google maps car doesnt go by except april and summer, but we know hikers take lots of pics and if sutter butte is a mountain you can maybe find "field shots" different times a year. i google image searched "flickr sutter butte january" and just grabbed one quick photo...but maybe that's a path you can take to determine time of year. or ask the guy on tiktok?
View attachment 57671

Yes, that looks like January in the hills or in a non-agricultural area. The winter rains have the grasses sprouting and everything is turning green and the oak has a few leaves left on it. Even in a drought year, it gets green in winter. We always joke that winter to spring is the time to sell around here as everything is green. Sometime between April and June that will all turn brown, or "golden" if you in the real estate business.

Most of what is seen in the clip is in the agricultural parts of the Sacramento Valley, so not natural like the above picture. Walnuts and Almonds along with rice are the big cash crops. There's also peaches and other fruit trees along with row crops like peppers and lots of tomatoes, none of which would be green in January.

Note also here that the non-agricultural base of the Sutter Buttes looks brown in this shot, not green:

I can look out my back yard towards Williams and the Sutter Buttes right now. It looks like an inland sea or a lake with all the rain we got. It just seems to me that the areas in the clip that would be green in January, like the base of the mountains are brown and the orchards and crops that would not be very green in January all look pretty green.

I already spend too much time Metabunking, now I may have to drive out to the Williams Soaring Center to see what the surrounding fields look like right now. Guess I can grab a Muffaletta sandwich at Granzellas .

 

[deirdre]

Guess I can grab a Muffaletta sandwich at Granzellas

or call one of your california dollar trees tomorrow and ask them if you can get a graduation balloon now. although they do offer tandem glider trips...you could take a cruise up if flying is a thing you like to do.

just realized youre 3 hrs earlier. called 2 dollar stores in yuba city, they both have graduation balloons... but hte store phone number ending 6666 is out of helium. but the bridge street store says "yes ma'am just got 2 canisters full yesterday so we have plenty. and absolutely [regarding graduation balloons]."

 

[FatPhil]

also this shot i grabbed from the original video (i clicked "see more" in the OP tictok vid) and just want to point out how weird the sun glare looks when i turned it on its side. so balloons and sun (or anything smooth and sun) can do funky things in photos.
View attachment 57538

This is the same effect that makes you look at surfaces from a very shallow angle in order to see how dusty they are. All imperfections on the surface are magnified in effect, and the reflected light becomes more diffuse, rather than specular.

 

[deirdre]

All imperfections on the surface are magnified in effect, and the reflected light becomes more diffuse, rather than specular.

aside from me having no clue what 'diffuse' and 'specular' mean... it's a balloon, what imperfection?

 

[FatPhil]

aside from me having no clue what 'diffuse' and 'specular' mean... it's a balloon, what imperfection?

What they look like:

(From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phong_reflection_model#Description )

Why they come about:
Diffuse:

Glossy:

Specular:

(From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidirectional_reflectance_distribution_function )

Note, these are mathematical models, simplifications and approximations to what happens in the real world, but they're good enough to fool almost everybody when it comes to CGI. They fail worst on surfaces with some translucency, such as skin (a surface that's very important for Disney/Pixar), but they're even on top of that now.

By "imperfection" I mean anything that's not a perfect clean mirror. Roughness, scratches, dirt, dust, anything.

 

[NorCal Dave]

or call one of your california dollar trees tomorrow and ask them if you can get a graduation balloon now. although they do offer tandem glider trips...you could take a cruise up if flying is a thing you like to do.

just realized youre 3 hrs earlier. called 2 dollar stores in yuba city, they both have graduation balloons... but hte store phone number ending 6666 is out of helium. but the bridge street store says "yes ma'am just got 2 canisters full yesterday so we have plenty. and absolutely [regarding graduation balloons]."

So, the date this was filmed is a bit irrelevant as the argument that graduation balloons would not be available nearby in January is wrong. Actually, you may want to call the Dollar General in Colusa which is much closer than Yuba City, or even the one in Williams, that at least a few blocks from the soaring center:

Even so, I'm thinking this was not filmed this month. Everything just looks to dry.

 

[deirdre]

Actually, you may want to call the Dollar General in Colusa

dollar general is not Dollar Tree. i looked but couldn't find any indication that particular balloon was sold at Dollar General. Plus there is no reason to think the balloon had to be purchased in Williams, or even lost in WIlliams for it to appear over WIlliams.

 

[Mick West]

Daniel Wagner got back to me and said it was filmed "June 2 of last year" (i.e. 2022)

 

[NorCal Dave]

Daniel Wagner got back to me and said it was filmed "June 2 of last year" (i.e. 2022)

View attachment 58058

So, prime graduation season.

Nearby Colusa Alternative High School (CAHS/ESM) graduated June 2 of last year:

 

[JFDee]

It seems he is in a glider rather than a plane.

A glider IS a plane !!! I demand satisfaction !!!

The canopy jettison lever indicates one of the Schleicher models.