Helium

You must be a young person ... and without older relatives.There is a movement across the land by the senior set that has become all the rage. You know, of course, that when you breathe in helium it chills the vocal chords and you can make high pitched squeeky voices that are quite funny. The practice among us old folk is to do so with flavored/perfumed cannisters of helium.Are you familiar with those "smoke shops" where you can sit with a hooka smoking all kinds of flavored tobaccos and drinking herbal teas? In our retirement communities the "He Club" is springing up. In addition to the helium cannister you can get stewed prunes, jello salad and an assortment of liniments, salvs and balms. And then you can play checkers, pinochle, bridge, etc.Anyway, the demand for Helium for these clubs is growing as the population ages and is to the point where the only way to satisfy the demand is from the national helium reserve. To not do so would create major problems for the politicos since it is this senior population that is most active in staffing, supporting and opposing candidates. There really is no other choice. Give out the helium or face the "Gray Panthers'!

Panda,I don't know about either of those but I can tell you that you just have not lived untill you hear some little old lady yelling "BINGO!" at the top of her lungs after taking a hit on Cherry Blossom Air. It's to die for.... which periodically does happen.

Because it escaped? Not much. It's buried in the composition of the rock (the regolith) and will not be going anywhere soon.The solar winds (mostly electrons and protons) strike the moon rock and can turn hydrogen into helium-3. Can't do that on earth since we have a magnetic bubble protecting us.