X-Message-Number: 14190
From: 
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 17:17:59 EDT
Subject: Re:  Looking back at 21st century

From: "Mark Plus" <>:

 >Buckminster Fuller calculated that if you build one of his geodesic spheres 
 >large enough, the mass of the sphere would become negligible compared with 
 >the mass of the air inside, so that the sphere would act as a balloon.  He 
 >called such structures "Cloud Nines," and thought that they could serve as 
 >platforms for floating cities.  Refer to:
 >
 >http://www.cjfearnley.com/fuller-faq-5.html#ss5.2 >>

If the air inside was hot, yes.  
The problem with that kind of project is that it needs at start too
much money and is too far from common designs to attract
the requested capital. May be two or more centuries of airship
technologies would be requested before such a desing would be
taken seriously in the money world. 

From: "Joseph Kehoe" <>:

>Why not Airships.  Safety concerns are no longer an issue. <snip>
>They will be slower but if they can set you down directly in a city centre 
they can still be >quicker than flying to an airport outside the city and 
transferring by train/car - and offer better >levels of comfort - like a 
flying cruise liner!
>Uses:
>Heavy material transport - floating crane
>People transport
>Holiday cruises

I agree. I have advocated that technology speaking about balloons,
airships are a special class of the former. I think the big impact
will be on real estate, because if you have a sufficient track of
land to park a small airship you may travel up to 300 miles to go
to work and have enough time to end the day at sea 500 miles
from your home. It would be good to have no frost or heavy rain
on your vehicle, so the best place for a home may be in a hot and
dry desert. Not something you (or anyone else) would contemplate
without a personal airship.

Yvan Bozzonetti.

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