You Don’t Need to Be a Thrillionaire. . .
Tuesday, June 14th, 2005Today’s New York Times Science section has a piece entitled “Thrillionaires: The New Space Capitalists.” It’s about how Paul Allen, Jeff Bezos, and other new-money-ed types have indulged their childhood space-travel fantasies with their techno-billions. It’s kind of interesting, but the first thing I thought of when I read it was my friend Nathan and his creation, Johnny Jetpack. Johnny routinely slips the surly bonds of earth (OK, he only goes maybe 100 feet up, but looks really cool), and does it very entertainingly. Nathan created and built Johnny Jetpack on a shoestring budget, and I can’t help but think that he’s about 1,000 times more entertaining and interesting than Paul Allen’s SpaceShipOne. I mean, any old billionaire can hire a bunch of techno talent and blast into space, but it takes a truly special spirit to develop and deliver an artistic and technical concept like Johnny Jetpack. If you know any editors at the New York Times, please tell them about Johhny and Nathan.