I normally start my day visiting CNN.com and viewing crazy shit that's going on in the world. CNN does a great job of turning shit that shouldn't be news into front page mess, like some kid breaking the the Guitar Hero World Record, or how friends of Jon Gosselin say that he's a different man since he separated from his wife. Neither one of these stories are fabricated, and both of these stories were on the front page of CNN.com. Guitar Hero World record smashes have been on there more than once, and Christian Audigier, who designs Ed Hardy clothing, actually said that Jon Gosselin is a different person from when he was married... and that mind blowing megaton news was on the front friggin' page of CNN.com. There must've been a serious lack of global news that day.
Today, I saw this news story.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/10/11/space.clown.lands/index.html
It is about the Canadian Billionaire founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte and his 35 Million dollar trip into space on a Russian Space Wessel. Now I'm not one to judge a man on his decadent splurges, but I do have an issue as to his explanation into why he went into space in the first place.
I wouldn't have a problem if he had stated that ever since he was a small child, his dream was to become a Astro/Cosmonaut/Test Monkey from China, and blast off into space to view the beautiful planet that we call home from afar. Every kid had that dream, and I think every kid deserves to fulfill his or her childhood wishes should the opportunity arise.
Instead, he said he did it to raise awareness for the need of safe drinking water worldwide, and to further extinguish worldwide poverty through his One Drop Foundation.
Really?
That's like me going out and buying a Ducati in the hopes that people check themselves monthly for butt cancer.
I don't know about you... but I'm sure 35 million dollars can buy some sort of adequate water filtration/purification equipment. Fuck... a gallon of bottled water is 99 cents.... the cheap generic shit that's really tap water is even cheaper. That's 35 million gallons or more of clean water right there, Vato.
Fuck... If you give me 35 million dollars, I'd run a hose from my backyard all the way to wherever the hell you want me to and just let it pump until the moneys gone.
But I'm not a billionaire circus founding clown... and I don't have my own charitable foundation. But if I were, and if I did... I'm pretty sure I'd know that a 35 million dollar trip to space isn't going to generate 35 million dollars in donations, and I sure as hell won't try to use a charitable foundation's good name and reputation to hide the fact that I'm wasting a shit ton of money in a time where the entire world is going through troubled financial, social and political times on the Russian Space Program to put my dumb ass into space.
But hey, can you really blame a circus clown?
