As debate around the Confederate flag has roiled on the national stage, I was reminded of how, when I was in sixth grade in Virginia, a Confederate Civil War reenactor visited my American history class to tell us how fun it was to dress up in a grey wool uniform, eat hardtack, and painstakingly stage 19th century battles in the stifling Piedmont humidity.
I never thought I would end up this way.
Emmett DeFrisco became Chicago's most famous cosplay kid yesterday after someone found his homemade, duct-taped, bricks-and-wires contraption in a public park, determined that the unusual object was a Suspicious Package, and called law enforcement. The whole park got shut down because of this thing!
Ever since he was a little boy, former Livedoor executive Daisuke Enomoto dreamed of going to space, but has ended up in court alleging fraud on the part of Space Adventures, the space tourism company which runs flights out of Star City, Russia. He was all set to realize his dream after paying $21 million for 10-days in space, including a spacewalk wearing the costume of his favorite Gundam character. But he got kicked off the rocket for X Prize founder Anousheh Ansari in 2006 after a spot medical check disqualified him. And that's where the fun begins.Enomoto claims the checkup results were a convenient lie, and that Space Adventures had never had permission to offer the spacewalk but demanded another $10 million from him for the privelege anyway. He also alleges that Ansari basically bought her way ahead of him in line by making an "investment," which he was also pestered to do. Space Adventures's attorney John Villa says the company will not be offering a refund, and that's that. Sounds like a typical tourist package shakedown, frankly — wonder how much they'll take Ultima creator Richard Garriott and Google cofounder Sergey Brin for between now and liftoff?
