Futurama-lama-ding-dong

[Ms. B. Havin]

For between $90K to $450K, you can buy a flying saucer ...giving the concept of car sickness a whole new ..."spin" (sorry!)...

Via [url=http://archinect.com/news/index.php?id=P63729:44a70]archinect[/url:44a70], a pointer to a video on [url=http://www.moller.com/videom200x.htm:44a70]Moller[/url:44a70], where we learn that :

The M200X volantor has completed over two hundred successful test flights. It has been extensively hard-tooled so that derivatives not requiring FAA certification are now available.

Recreational and utilitarian models include:

* Demonstrators for use over one’s own property (M200D)
* Versions that operate within ground effect--approximately 10 feet AGL (M200G)
* Experimental or homebuilt variants (M200E)
* Rescue configuration capable of docking with skyscrapers (Firefly 3)

Depending on the number of orders received, the prices could vary between $90,000 for the M200G to $450,000 for the Firefly 3. Inquires for potential military and/or para-military applications of the M200R and M200M are welcome.

Interested parties should contact Bruce Calkins at bruce@moller.com, or by phone at (530) 756-5086 or facsimile to (530) 756-5179.

Note the bolded bit: this should calm the fears of people worried about being stuck in a skyscraper in case of emergency. Maybe.

If you surf to this site, you can watch a nifty nearly-5-minute video of the Firefly ...well, flying. It still does so with a safety cable, though.

The Guardian covers the story in [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/aug/31/3:44a70]this Aug.31/07 article[/url:44a70].

The Telegraph, however, waxes more enthusiastic in [url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/03/wflying103.xml:44a70]Flying saucer in production in the US[/url:44a70]:

Whizzing to work in a flying saucer seems like a futuristic fantasy reminiscent of George Jetson and his space-age pals.

The 'Jetsons-like' flying machine is the size of a small car and boasts a top speed of 100mph

But that reality may be one step closer after US company Moller International embarked on a wacky 30-year quest to build a personal flying pod.

Here's a picture (Guardian has one, too, but be sure to watch the video on [url=http://www.moller.com/videom200x.htm:44a70]Moller's site[/url:44a70], also):

[img]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2007/08/04/wflying103.jpg[/img]
caption: The 'Jetsons-like' flying machine is the size of a small car and boasts a top speed of 100mph

[LJ]

I'm guessing that is a theoretical top speed of 100mph, based on the video he got up to say, 1 mph.

If he did ever get the thing actually flying without the crane/cable attached and got anywhere near 30 - 40 mph, did a circuit around the farm and then landed, he might generate some real interest.

All he is going to do witrh this is attract the Roswell crew.

[Caramia]

Interesting...

[Ms. B. Havin]

It sure would be weird if we eventually moved to "driverless" cars on the ground -- for all the drone travel, for example -- while the leisured classes zip unencumbered, with individualistic if not outright libertarian panache, in their "flying saucers" above our heads. Sort of like when cars were first introduced into the world of the horse & buggy... This could go on for a while until, of course, the price comes down enough for everyone to own one, at which point we move toward congestion and chaos in the airways (sort of like what you get on the freeways/highways now), and the cycle repeats all over again....

PS: Of course I'm not holding my breath on any of this, nor expecting that in my dotage the skies will be flecked with saucers as I gaze more deeply into my cups.

[Holden West]

Damn thing probably sounds like a dozen leaf-blowers.

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ Oh well, I'll be so old, my hearing will be fritzed anyway...!

[Holden West]

Hmmm. Then why is it only old people are sensitive to noise? Who complains loudest when there's a festival at Royal Athletic Park or a concert at the Arena?

My theory is that when a person hits sixty-five years of age they need their television three feet away at full volume yet they can hear an electric guitar at a distance of three kilometres with the windows closed.

[aastra]

I can't be bothered to read up on this thing but isn't it just an updated consumer version of the old AvroCar?

http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/muf ... rocar.html