So, I was up at 5AM because the little guy was crying for a bottle. Channel 7 (WABC-NY) was still tuned in from when I last dozed off earlier in the morning, and the early edition of Eyewitness News was on.

After showing a follow-up story on the balloon accident from yesterday, one of the anchors did a quick spot on the Dora the Explorer balloon that made its debut this year. Dora was a natural pick to have a balloon, because as any parent with young children can tell you, she has achieved rock-star status among the youngsters. No rocket science there. The balloons are going to be of characters the kids want to see.

So you can imagine my dismay at the closing line of the segment (I'm paraphrasing):

"Dora marked the first apearance by a Latina balloon in the parade's history."

Funny, I didn't know balloons had ethnicities. What an important milestone.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that the existence of a race/gender/ethnic scorecard for the Thanksgiving Day balloons may be one of the seven signs of the apocalypse.

Cross-posted from The Noonz Wire.