VACCINATION DAY

After a full year's intermission, I have finally returned to BRENT. Today I have been to see my physician, and I was given diphteria-, hepatitis- and tetanus shots, a prelude to the global research-phase which I am now facing. My first destination is Beijing, China, in June, to locate a certain future building, and I am also on the look-out for a nice, freindly neighbourhood for a particular restaurant, i.e. The Righteous Gentlemen etc.

I am looking immensely forward to these journeys, and you will be able to follow my travels on Gowalla and Twitter and other media. Details will follow.

Publish Post

SPACE TOURISM IS NOT SCIENCE-FICTION

Florida? Bali? The French Riviera? Why not Space? We are talking vacations, of course. Just a few decades ago, you would have to be a sci-fri writer or a dreamer to even think of space tourism as something else than a mere fantasy.

Not so now. Thanks to the pionereering gamble of Sir Richard Branson and his VirginGalactic, space tourism is just a decade away.

"In 2003, luxury travel had 20 million customers globally and generated 91 billion in revenue, which represents 20% of tourism revenues worldwide. This large untapped market represents a unique chance for space tourism." (Véronique Ziliotto, Holland's European Space Research and Technology Centre)

In an informative comment i USA Today, Dan Vergano cites one poll, which found that "estimated demand for the year 2021 would be over 13,000 passengers, generating revenues in excess of US$600 million."

The Genesis II space station is an embryonic hotel, "testing and validating the technologies necessary to construct and deploy a full-scale, crewed, commercial orbital space complex".

You can order your ticket now, if you like. For the extremely rich, a price tag of $200,000 is not really a deterrent, and as the ticket price will drop to a mere $50,000 after three years, everything is set for space vacations, weddings and anniversaries. 1,4 million also sounds like a fair prize for a reality show, doesn't it? Become the winner of "Robinson" or "Fear Factor" or "Paradise Hotel", and you'll be on your way. Hey, why not make a completely new show: "Who wants to be a mill... space cadet"? Who will be the first artist to perform live "up there"? Lily Allen? Lady Gaga? And which network will transmit the concert?

2021 ... Well, what about 2041? Or 2081? Of course there will be hotels up there. Like maybe the Hilton Near Earth Excelsior. Or some other figment of my imagination.

ANNIKA IS NOW MARIE-LOUISE

I have changed the name of Annika, the Swedish 3D porn star today. She is now called Marie-Louise. As I wrote the chapter, which belongs in part two of Book 1, I suddenly realized that her father would never have named her Annika. Her father would want her to have an aristocratic name.

Her father is the first of the insane persons who populate BRENT that I finish. His part in BRENT is already played out, it's curtains for Marie-Louise's father. Or rather, he is the first of the evil madmen- and women the reader will meet whom I have finished constructing. Because Marie-Louise's father will most certainly not be the last crazed psychopath depicted in BRENT. Not even the worst. Not by far, one might add.

MORE BEAUTY

The Eta Carinae galaxy, resembling a weird piece of human anatomy.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING - VIRGIN GALACTIC'S "ENTERPRISE" TAKES OFF ON ITS MAIDEN VOYAGE

Obama's health care reform stole the headlines, and no network or station gave this sensational breakthrough a BREAKING NEWS priority. But that may be just what the historians will note 100 years from now: Few understood the historic significance of the maiden voyage of the world's first commercial spacecraft with the rather tongue-in-cheek name: VSS Enterprise.


However, I can assure you that in BRENT the date March 22, 2010, will be a commemoration day, a day of celebration. So let us just enjoy the sight of this magnificent pioneering bird, which will carry space tourists out into Near Earth at the rather stiff price of $ 200 000 a pop.


Today is a day that will go down in history. And you, dear reader, you were there to see it, and I'm sure you will remember it too.

(Ground control to major Richard)

THE MILKY WAY: DUST, IMMACULATE

I discovered several months ago that just watching pictures from Space each and every day as BRENT progresses, does something to me, something lasting. But I have actually found that it is more beneficial for me to watch ONE picture a day, rather than a myriad of photos; consuming it, making it my daily visual mantra, letting it sink into my consciousness like a psychedelic wallpaper, accompagnying me like a close friend, as I skip and wobble through the day.

Here is the Milky Way - again. Unsurpassed beauty, but today, more like an abstract painting than a photography. Stunned I sip my latte.

(For details on the picture: See Astronomy Picture of the Day.)

DIARY ENTRY MARCH 20th.

Have written four pages. Happy with that. Volume 1, part 3. The Ronald Reagan cometh. Slug needs a shower. Two BBLs go stealth.