A New Space Race - $4 Million to Stay in Space Hotel

Nerd, geeks, dweebs and dorks unite in what might seem at first blush to be a sci-fi fantasy. The goal ... by 2012 a company wants to open the first hotel in space. Orbiting the earth, the Galactic Suite hotel will allow guests to view 15 sun-rises and sun-sets as a trip around Earth would only last 80 minutes. For $4,000,000 guests will be treated to a space camp for eight weeks on a secluded island and then three days in orbit. This company is betting that enough of the 40,000 people estimated to be wealthy enough to even consider such a holiday would be willing to hand over the funds for a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Read more about it here.

The Great Faith Race: Round 5

CafePress.com is a wonderfully diverse marketplace. Which led me to wonder how diverse it really is. Therefore, I decided to run an experiment called "The Great Faith Race." I took a sampling of major religions or religious figures and searched in the CafePress marketplace to see how many designs came up. Then I just sorted the results and am sharing them below. I ran this list the first time on April 30, 2007 and the second time on May 15, 2007 and the third time on June 10, 2007 and a forth time on July 8, 2007 and then again today, so I'll also include comparison data.

COMPARISON DATA: The comparison data is for data on 8/11/07 compared to 7/08/07.

NEWLY ADDED: Flying Spaghetti Monster (so keep the suggestions/comments coming!).

NEWLY DELETED: Voodou (added last time at the suggestion of a reader, but there is still only one design), and Jedi (two rounds in a row with zero designs, possibly due to copyright, therefore we will cease the reporting on this key word).

OBSERVATIONS: The only term to change positions this round was Vishnu and Dagon, with Vishnu as the new lead. All other positions may have stabilized. Does this mean less religious strife and conflict in the World? Probably not. And therefore we may opt to run a Round Six sometime in the future. There were three entrants that had declines this round: Satan, Voodoo and Dagon. Better luck next round you three. The three big movers-and-shakers for this round, in order of magnitude are: Vishnu, Muhammad and Hindu.

DISCLAIMERS: Although this appears to be very scientific in nature, this assumption should not be made. In other words, this is an unscientific study. Use this information, if at all, at your own risk. We make absolutely no warranties, expressed or implied, as to ... well ... anything. You get the drift.

Feel free to add your comments or observations. If I ever feel compelled to run "The Great Faith Race" again, did I miss any of your favorite religions or religious icons? Let us know!