There's a good article today over at CNN about Armadillo Aerospace and other X-Prize contestants. And after six years, the prize finally seems to be fully funded.

[Update at 10:26 AM PDT]

I notice that it also talks about a Romanian team going after the X-Prize. Who woulda thunk it a decade or so ago?

It reminds me, though, of the Romanian pavilion at the World's Fair in Vancouver, that I attended in 1986. In it, they claimed that the airplane was invented in Romania. In 1906.

Most countries that claim to have beaten the Wrights claim to have, you know, done it first. This display didn't even acknowledge their existence.

Well, you can't accuse them of stealing the technology if there was never a victim...

I grew up Mesquite and went to highschool just down the street from the Town East Tower where the ID offices were located. Right about that time the game Need for Speed was out for the 3do and it seems that John was determined to own everyone of those cars available in the game. He had two Ferraris (one of which was not street but was often seen on the streets), a viper, a porsche, corvette, and a NSX. I'd drive by the parking lot every so often just to check out the cars. Even went up to the floor that they had their offices on once just to check it out. Looked more like a game room than a office. Pool tables, and man size replicas of the Doom monsters. Jeez its hard to believe that was almost 10 years ago already. I definently have to root for those good ole boys from Mesquite, TX.

You sure that the exhibit wasn't about Henri Coanda, a Romanian (despite the French name) who invented a jet engine around that time? His attempt to fly with it didn't work out because he also discovered the Coanda effect the hard way.