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Hummingbird Skycars. If you thought sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) were nifty, just wait until you hear about VTOLs (vertical takeoff and landing) cars -- yes, flying cars, as reported by USA Today's Kevin Maney. A genius of an inventor named Paul Moller has spent 40 years and some $200 million developing his idea of a VTOL, which he calls the M400 Skycar. It "looks like a cross between a Corvette and a Cuisinart," as Kevin Maney describes it, and is designed "fit in a garage, lift off from a driveway like a helicopter, then thrust forward and fly like a plane." That's the Jetsonian vision, anyway. So far, Paul has managed to make his Skycar lift off and hover. Not bad -- investors are impressed. However, he is determined not only to "fly his creation," but also "see it lead a new way of life, one that allows people to live on a farm or in a small town and commute to work hundreds of miles away."
It's a determination that dates back to the inventor's childhood, growing "up on a chicken farm in the mountains of British Columbia." As Paul recounts it: "Getting to school in the Canadian winter was not a pleasant experience." Then, one summer's day, he saw a hummingbird ..."watched it hover, dart back and forth and zip away." Says Paul: "I thought it was a great way to get to school ... Over the next six decades, I tried to do for you and me what the hummingbirds do." He started working in earnest on his dream in 1963, an early attempt being a flying saucer that actually accomplished a liftoff. "What keeps me going," says Moller, "is that I know it's doable. I'm in it for the thrill of making it work." What keeps him going, actually, is that along the way he invents technologies that have nearer-term applications and help fund the Skycar.
For example, he developed a high-performance muffler called the SuperTrapp that is now "on a majority of motorcycles and race cars." He also developed a lightweight engine that "turns out to be perfect for personal watercraft," now being marketed as Freedom Motors. His company, Moller International, moller.com, has been a penny stock but is expected to move up to a Nasdaq listing this spring. Now, even if Paul Moller succeeds in launching the aircraft of his dreams, obviously much would need to be worked out in terms of air traffic control. As it turns out, no less an institution than NASA is working on the inherent challenges -- "a sister NASA entity ... called the Personal Air Vehicle program" is collaborating with various other groups to address the infrastructure issues, and plans to demo potential solutions sometime next year. In the meantime, the Skycar M400 will be featured at Wired NextFest in May. And you can have a peek at the Skycar in action online (flash is required )at: http://usatoday.com/money/graphics/skycar/flash.htm
Che Chic. Che Guevara, "the Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary executed by Bolivians in 1967," is becoming one of America's hottest pop-culture icons, reports Ginia Bellafante in The New York Times. So totally cool is Che that Sam and Seb, a trendy, children's clothing store in Brooklyn is selling shirts emblazoned with the famous rebel's image -- in sizes small enough to fit a three-month old. "Lots of parents were coming in and saying, 'Hey, wouldn't it be great to have a Che T-Shirt?" Well, why not? That Hendrix tee is getting a little old.
John Trigiani, who runs an online shop called thechestore.com actually has been cashing in on Che-chic demand for five years now. However, he says sales of Che-logoed t-shirts, tank tops and caps (among other items) are up by 40 percent over the last six months or so. John says he thinks there may be a number of reasons for Che's growing pop-icon status, but gives at least part of the credit to prizefighter Mike Tyson, who has "a picture of Che etched onto his ribcage." From ribs to cribs. Okay.
Whatever is fueling it among infants, this Che thing is also making its way into "men's sweaters, high-end bikinis and underwear." There's even a bar in London named Che. "It's ultra-deluxe and a young guy was the owner," reports Patrick Symmes, author of a book called Chasing Che. "I asked him, 'Why Che?' and he answered, 'Oh, you know, rebellion and all that." Che's popularity is bound to be stoked via two new movies about Che -- one this year and another beginning production in '05. Meanwhile, back at Sam and Seb, owner Simone Manwarring is contemplating other revolutionary images. "Mao Zedong is another head we're thinking of," she says, adding that she thinks people simply "are drawn to the graphic intensity."
Tim Manners, editor
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