Daily Archives: 18 October 2010

German “heatball” wheeze outwits EU light bulb ban

open quoteBERLIN (Reuters) – A German entrepreneur is bypassing a European Union ban on light bulbs of more than 60 watts by marketing his own brand as mini heaters.

Siegfried Rotthaeuser and his brother-in-law have come up with a legal way of importing and distributing 75 and 100 watt light bulbs — by producing them in China, importing them as “small heating devices” and selling them as “heatballs.”

To improve energy efficiency, the EU has banned the sale of bulbs of over 60 wattsclose quote (Read more from news.yahoo.com)

Martin Aircraft’s commercial jetpack looks to take flight

Martin Aircraft's Jetpack! open quoteThe Martin jetpack, a commercially developed jetpack, may soon be heading to a sky near you.

It is about time man flew among the birds – alone. We may not have the homes on the moon, or the flying cars that our totally reasonable childhood imaginations ensured us would be waiting for us when we grew up, but with a little luck and a lot of money, we might soon be able to scratch “jetpack” off of our bucket lists. . . . .

In a world that values safety, sometimes you have to approach things with a “what the hell” mentality. Sure, a functional jetpack might not be the most practical way to spend $100,000, but if the choice is between a $100,000 Bentley with a custom made sound system and chrome rims, or a device that can make a human being fly, jetpack > Bentley. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.close quote (Read more from shopping.yahoo.com)

Wow! God bless capitalism.

Virgin Launches First Space Tourism Program

open quoteWealthy individuals looking for the ultimate vacation experience can now turn to multi-billionaire business mogul Richard Branson, head of Virgin Galactic, for a unique tour to get away from it all.

Branson has launched the world’s first commercial space tourism program.

Virgin Galactic’s tour rocket SpaceShipTwo made its first solo flight on Sunday. The company says it is one step closer to providing space travel to everyone.

“It’s a very big deal,” Branson told The Associated Press. “There are a number of big deals on the way to getting commercial space travel becoming a reality. This was a very big step.”

“We now know that the spaceship glides,” he continued. “We know it can be dropped safely from the mothership, and we know it can land safely. That’s three big ticks.”

Virgin Galactic says roughly 370 people have signed up for the program so far. A ticket to ride on the SpaceShipTwo costs $200,000.close quote (Read more from cbn.com)

. . . and God bless the free market!