The unfavorable winds on Wall Street seem to blow all the way to Western Europe, where French adventure Stephane Rousson had the bright idea of attempting to float across the 34-mile English Channel in a pedal-powered balloon.
You'd think the disappearance and presumed death of Steve Fossett would have put an end to loony ballooning. But Rousson says he was inspired by Stephen Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.
Rousson, 39, and his helium-filled mini Zeppelin set off Sunday at 8 a.m. from Kent, and made it roughly three-quarters the way across before deciding to give up, after winds shifted and kicked up.
"I'm not disappointed," he told Reuters. "I feel happy because it had nothing to do with any technical failure."
Rousson was 11 miles from Wissant in France, his final destination . . . and that's the way the bubble bursts. There's always Snake River Canyon.
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