Mar 31 2009
Hotelicopter a Sign of Excess — or a Joke?
What next? My jaw dropped when I saw this thing on ABC news the other night. It’s called the Hotelicopter. What’s unclear is whether it’s a hotel first or a helicopter first; a joke; or just incredible excess for the filthy rich who have run out of things to throw their money at!
The buzz online is that this is an April Fool’s joke, and maybe that’s true. ABC news didn’t mention that it was, and their story on it aired 2-3 days ago. They reported the story as fact. Why did people assume it was a joke? Despite peak oil, despite high gas prices, despite global warming, people continue to build massive cars and other machines that run on fossil fuels. If you’ve ever seen some of the most massive SUVs, they also look like jokes.
They test flew the world’s biggest airplane last year, so I would not be terribly surprised that they would now plan to fly the world’s biggest helicopter. I see no actual evidence that this monstrosity isn’t real. People who are swimming in money have a peculiar talent for ignoring what’s going on around them in the world. People starving on the streets of America and global warming nearing tipping points? People without health care, 5 million jobs lost in the last couple of years — Who cares, let’s stay overnight in this hotelicopter and fly 700 miles for the heck of it!
Even so, I have to admit it’s kind of amazing — if it is real.
