1.   At a Microsoft bash in Sydney, Australia, a giant balloon will float into the harbor on a barge, with dancers performing in the street.

2.   At the entrance of a gallery at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a giant balloon dog fills a wall.

3.   But the show will go on, with or without giant balloons.

4.   Officials suspect that the cold air at high altitudes might have deflated the blimp, and the giant balloon began to descend on its own.

5.   Past convention halls have been large, allowing for giant balloon drops and candidates standing on fortress-like podiums.

6.   These volunteers and the hundreds of others who will handle the giant balloons in the parade were literally learning the ropes of a vastly changed job.

7.   They might also purchase giant inflatable balloons shaped like iMac computers, and erect them near the event.

8.   They should stand tall and be puffed up, looking like giant golden balloons.

9.   This was festival politics, a sort of corn-fed, conservative Woodstock complete with giant balloons, T-shirt stands, clowns and fresh-faced kids.

10.   Women all over Japan were put to work stitching giant balloons, which then rode the prevailing winds and carried small explosives to the United States and Canada.