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China Steals Strato Airship Design From Google App Engine

China is hard at work on a stratospheric airship that will cruise 12 miles above Earth and generate electricity using a built-in wind turbine.

Yes, this is a just-for-fun post, and is also a science fiction prediction, but I couldn't resist.

Did they steal the design for the stratospheric airship from the Google App Engine plushie toy?

(Google App Engine plushie from Google I/O in 2011)

And this is the logo version, which may be more clear.

(Google App Engine plushie toy)

Probably the earliest description of a similar war-balloon (aerostat) can be found in The Angel of the Revolution by George Griffith, published by Pearson's Weekly in 1893:

...the two fleets of war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats, possessed by France and Russia.

"The aerostats have stationed themselves at great elevations over the ramparts of fortresses and the bivouacs of armies, and have rained down a hail of dynamite...

(Aerostats and Air-Ship from Angel of the Revolution)

The sober truth is that the invention and employment of these devastating appliances have completely altered the face of the field of battle and the conditions of modern warfare.

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