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Underwater Airplane
Martin Kelly - See all 13 of my articles
1 Comment
Underwater Airplanes sounds like an oxymoron, but it is what Sir Richard is attempting to build and sell at Virgin Atlantic. The idea is to produce vessels that can carry people under water over great distances or to great depth for tourism (similar to his space tourism scheme). This is not a new idea, except the tourism part with lots of windows. The German, Italian and Japanese armies used transport submarines in both world wars to avoid blockades. One German vessel surfaced in New York harbor in 1940 and proceeded to purchase and load several tons of food. At that time the United States was still technically a neutral in World War II, but the authorities found a way to delay the launch until a British destroyer could block the entrance to the harbor.
The ability to move invisibly around the world and get past blockades (specifically British and American) lead to restrictions on commercial submarines in the treaty of Versailles, and the original UN charter. I am sure that Sir Richard will find a way around any legal restrictions, and his product should be fun. I would love to do a deep dive into the mid Atlantic rig or one of the Pacific trenches. For that matter, a gentle sail across the Gulf of Mexico about 500 feet down would be nice, too.
The non-military benefit to submarine travel is primarily protection from weather. You cannot see very far in most of the ocean (scuba is very intimate to your surroundings). Some areas of the ocean are murky due to lots of sediment in the water, some are just dark due to depth. Big spot lights are only going to help to a point. But being under water means you do not have to worry about a sudden storm or even a hurricane as long as you are deep enough and have the technology to peer into the deep.
For years I have wondered why no one has built a huge oil tanker submarine. It would make hijacking by pirates almost impossible, rerouting due to weather would be reduced, and there would be no deck to speak of to keep clean. I can see why cargo ships have not been replaced, with the obvious over stacking that you can see at any port. A submarine has a fixed shipping capability, where a cargo ship can be stacked as high as the captain and the water line will allow.
Smaller versions of submarines have always been objects of fascination through out the world. Cars that could be subs (all custom made of course) have graced the pages of Popular Mechanics and been featured at various worlds fairs, not to mention James Bond films. These personal vehicles have just not been practical for many reasons; maintenance, complexity of operation, difficulties in getting in and out, and over all cost to name a few. Sir Richard, making this a “cruise” of sorts will remove several of these obstacles, but I am sure that the price will be steep for quite a while.
I hope it works, but then again I am a hopeless romantic, dreaming of the space travel vacation. Now I can add a deep sea adventure to the dream list. I just have to save up a couple of million dollars.
Read the original article at Foxnews.com for more information.
Category: Ramblings from Martin
Tags: Cool Stuff for Rich People > Ocean Tourism > Sir Richard Branson
http://www.observingcasually.com/underwater-airplane/
Tax Tips for 2010
kosmo - See all 328 of my articles
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[Editor's note: this really should be obvious ... but to avoid getting sued, I'll point out that these are not serious.]
Get Wesley Snipes on the phone and ask what his tax guy recommends. Rich guys always have the best tax advisors.
It’s called “voluntary compliance” for a reason. Because it’s voluntary.
Certainly, Fido qualifies as a dependent.
Yes, the above ground pool qualifies as a business expense.
Sign your tax return “Mickey Mouse”. You’re completely safe from allegations of fraud, since your name isn’t on the return.
April 15th is more of a suggestion. End of the year-ish should be just fine.
Yep, you can include that $58,752 in charitable contributions without any sort of documentation.
The fact that he picks up garbage for a living doesn’t mean that Bob isn’t perfectly qualified to prepare the tax return for your S corporation.
If your son acts like a 12 year old, he still qualfies as a dependent – even if he’s 30 in chronological years.
Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to pay your tax bill with currency from the Republic of Meopolis. Money is money.
Include 6,874 pages of documentation with your 1040EZ. Confusion is your friend.
Include fake copies of your W-2’s and 1099’s which understate your income. The IRS has no way of independently verifying this information.
http://www.observingcasually.com/tax-tips-for-2010/
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
kosmo - See all 328 of my articles
2 Comments
Over the course of the past year, the staff of The Casual Observer has produced a large quantity of articles on a very wide variety of subjects. We’d also like to think that we’ve produce a high quality of work, but that’s more subjective 
Today, there is no new article. Please take this time to explore the archives (there’s a link for that up in the blue bar). Just spend a bit of time looking at older articles and clicking on links – and keep an eye out for links – they are EVERYWHERE on the site – you might be missing some. You never know – you might stumble across something really cool!
I’ve recently been doing some exploring of my own and found articles that I had completely forgotten.
CLICK CLICK CLICK
http://www.observingcasually.com/this-space-intentionally-left-blank/
Pay Day
kosmo - See all 328 of my articles
2 Comments
Tony Rollins cracked a smile as he bit into the cheap fast food taco. The flimsy shell broke into pieces and hot sauce spilled out onto Tony’s hands. Tony brushed off this small misadventure. Nothing could spoil his mood today. Tony was just one small jump away from retirement.
Tony, at 40, was a bit young for retirement. In fact, it would come as a big surprise to many, since he had never been one to save a lot of money. He typically lived paycheck to paycheck, and when he did save up a few dollars, he quickly frittered it away on high end electronics or expensive vacations.
Then, six months ago, Tony bumped into Damon Cole and his fortunes took a turn for the better. Damon’s claim was worth, at most, seventy thousand dollars. The property, however, was massively over-insured, with millions of dollars in coverage. During a long lunch at a local strip club, a plan was hatched to bleed the insurance company of eight million dollars.
With Tony’s boss on temporary disability due to a freak skydiving accident, he had a short window in which to execute the plan. Late at night, when the office was quiet and no one was stirring (not even a mouse) Tony generated the paperwork for the claim, fabricating estimates from contractors as necessary. He approved the claim and forged his boss’ approval as well. Tony carefully backdated the documents to indicate that his boss had approved the claim two days before he shattered his leg in the accident.
The claims had sailed through the processing center and Damon had received a check for $7,946,312.42. Damon had wired half the money to an account that Tony had recently opened at a financial institution in Geneva. This morning, Tony had confirmed the receipt of his share of the money – $3,973,156.21 – with his Swiss banker, Gerhard Hunziker.
When Tony disappeared, people would notice. Before long, his boss would return to the office and discover the fraudulent claim. By then, Tony would be long gone. He had no doubt that law enforcement would be after him hot and heavy.
They would certainly jump to the correct assumption that he had left the country and headed south. Tony was sure that they would first look in Panama, where his co-workers had heard him talk of friends. When he wasn’t found in Panama, the authorities would fan out into the rest of central and south America. Everyone in the office had seen him intensely studying Spanish. At the time, his explanation had been that knowledge of Spanish would allow him to work more effectively on claims involving people who spoke limited English. This made perfect sense, and Tony’s reputation as a genuine nice guy lent it even more credibility.
Soon after his disappearance, his co-workers and authorities would realize that this was just an excuse – and that the real reason for learning Spanish was so that he would be able to blend in more easily in his new country.
Tony smiled with the knowledge that they would be barking up the wrong tree. He would be settling in Brazil – where the natives spoke Portuguese and not Spanish.
http://www.observingcasually.com/pay-day/
Writers for The Casual Observer are freelance writers who work as independent contractors. Opinions expressed by the writers may not necessarily reflect the opinion of management.
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