Lexus, I have one word for you:

Sorry, Jeff. But I'm not going to be able to approve your request for Space Elevators at this time. They might compromise my plans for Moon Thrusters.

Catamitebastard

January 22, 2009 06:30 PM

Jeff... excellent wishes for the future.

It makes me think of "they're the Jetsons! They can rocket to the future, they can rocket to the moon, they can work on jupiter, or play on neptune."

gmgaston

January 22, 2009 06:32 PM

Now there's an idea I love - space elevators. Cheap way to orbit as a launching pad for mass movement into space.

Might also allow us to establish huge orbiting solar collectors and send the power back down efficiently and safely.

Man Talk Now

January 22, 2009 06:40 PM

My other word was going to be "Fusion Power," since we have been promised cheap and plentiful energy from that source since about when I was born ... and we're finally getting somewhere with that.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1573450.stm

I'd like both, actually. I'll take a fusion-powered Lexus suborbital cruiser for my 70th birthday. I'd like a two-seater. Chicks like those.

Jeff Schult

January 22, 2009 06:40 PM

Maybe it's just me, but I count 'space elevators' as two words. Same count for 'fusion power'.
1+1=2. Right?

wakingupslowly

January 22, 2009 07:18 PM

I have just one word for you, wakingupslowly ... wait a sec, is that one word, or three?

I see you're in Iowa. Would you go over to my brother's office at the Quad City Times and tell him I got loose again?

Jeff Schult

January 22, 2009 07:37 PM

Seriously? Is he a reporter? Columnist? Editor? I need a contact there. Does he know that 'space elevator' is two words?

wakingupslowly

January 22, 2009 08:06 PM

I'm the reporter/columnist/editor/author in the family, thank you. And from now on, you and I will just call the "Space Elevator" the "Spalevator," so we can get past this little bump in the road.

My brother is in a lofty management position and is too busy cutting the budget and going bald to talk to me very often, let alone chat with a lobbyist.

(I'm teasing you, OK?)

Jeff Schult

January 22, 2009 08:20 PM

Or, if you're claustrophobic, perhaps Space Escalators?

Kind of Blue

January 22, 2009 08:23 PM

personally, I'd prefer a hovercraft, solar-powered.

ok ok ok, I won't stalk your brother, and there are probably no reporters left there anyway since he laid them all off. shoot.

wakingupslowly

January 22, 2009 08:30 PM

He's actually the production manager/director ... and laying off people makes him want to put a gun in his mouth.

His name is Eric if you want to give him a call. He'd probably be really amused if you told him how we met. ;-)

Jeff Schult

January 22, 2009 08:37 PM

ohhhh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have joked about the lay-off thing. I know that is very painful for everyone close to it.

Technically... I am NOT allowed to contact press on my own (we have DIRECTOR of COMMUNICATIONS for that)... but if I happen to bump into a reporter, say, at my favorite coffee shop or in the space elevator at the capitol, then I can chat away. But cold calling? No. The boss says no.

wakingupslowly

January 22, 2009 09:25 PM

He's not liable to be wandering around anywhere except the office or the Y or maybe a local hardware store.

So that's the end of that. I still want to know, from Catamite, what Moon Thrusters are.

But Greg, there will be no Space Escalators. Imagine where we'll be if people start saying that our geosynchronous orbiting habitats must have handicapped access ....

Jeff Schult

January 22, 2009 10:20 PM