Public Address | Cafe | Busytown: To infinity and beyond https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/ en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Public Address Evan Yates https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61754#post61754 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61754#post61754

Technically (i.e. pedantically) speaking, it's not actually a jet pack or a rocket pack (not having jets or rockets in it)

Even more pedantically speaking, it is actually "Jet" propelled. The fact that the jet of air that lifts it is produced by ducted fans driven from a reciprocating internal…

]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:39:20 +1200 Sam F https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61641#post61641 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61641#post61641 Herald today is reporting that the parachute can deploy from as low as thirty meters – say, ten stories up. So assuming that you could survive a two-metre fall without injury (with 100kg of petrol engine and propellors on your back), that's a 28-metre risk zone.

I prescribe quick takeoffs…

]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:00:51 +1200 George Darroch https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61639#post61639 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61639#post61639 Copenhagenize for ideas and inspiration. ]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:57:08 +1200 Jolisa https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61555#post61555 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61555#post61555 No worries, George – not so much derailing as going off road. And what's the point of a bike if you can't do that every now and then?

The bubble bike is brilliant. And I love that Copenhagen blog. Not just for the gals in their cute dresses, I'm at…

]]> Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:36:58 +1200 Rich of Observationz https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61499#post61499 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61499#post61499 these guys have built a vehicle that does over 3500km on a litre of petrol. You couldn't cycle very far on the energy equivalent of that much food.

Of course, most people eat way more food then they need, so bikes run on waste energy.

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:48:17 +1200 Steve Barnes https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61483#post61483 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61483#post61483 Gossamer Albatross I allways visualised that as a seagull caught in a condom or maybe a bird in Lycra. :-0 ]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:08:10 +1200 George Darroch https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61478#post61478 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61478#post61478 Oh, I hope I haven't derailed this thread. The energy used is pretty small by all measures, although we haven't yet created the perfectly efficient human. We're working on it.

I do hate lycra though, unless worn by the dance mega group, the Real Hot Bitches. These people have the…

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:52:32 +1200 Rich of Observationz https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61477#post61477 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61477#post61477 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:43:57 +1200 George Darroch https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61476#post61476 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61476#post61476

Oh, that reminds me of my favourite antipodean invention of late:

Madin's musical bikes

More here. Lovely!

Check out this lovely bicycle/bubble blower/instrument of guerrilla gardening. Something to make you smile.

Yeah, I saw ET too.

See also this flying bike. Who can forget the Gossamer Albatross?

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:41:58 +1200 Kyle Matthews https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61468#post61468 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61468#post61468

The Flymo does a pretty good job. ;^)

Pah. Like a flymo would last 10 seconds on the tangled jungle that is my backyard.

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:06:15 +1200 Steve Barnes https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61466#post61466 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61466#post61466 the simple, beautiful and amazingly (99%) efficient bicycle,Yeah, I saw ET too. ]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:51:44 +1200 Rich of Observationz https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61465#post61465 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61465#post61465

a fun toy with probable military applications as well

So could a force of elite kommandos wearing these cross the Tasman and invade Bondi?

seven weeks after the birth of his second child, Mr. Martin figured his prototype was now powerful enough to lift its first flier, so long as…

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:42:42 +1200 Jolisa https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61461#post61461 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61461#post61461

I could also be a grump and disdain the amount of energy required, compared to the simple, beautiful and amazingly (99%) efficient bicycle

Oh, that reminds me of my favourite antipodean invention of late:

Madin's musical bikes

More here. Lovely! And vastly more pleasing to the ear than the D.A.F.T...

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:30:56 +1200 George Darroch https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61458#post61458 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61458#post61458 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:21:09 +1200 George Darroch https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61443#post61443 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61443#post61443 Can the Airforce buy these? Seriously, how cool would that be? And since they're made in the back of a shed, they can't be that expensive!

We finally got our jetpacks. And it's only 8 years after 2000. We're almost on schedule!

Without auto-rotate, there would be a "death-zone" between…

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:42:06 +1200 Kiwiiano https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61437#post61437 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61437#post61437 Quoting Kyle: "It's basically an airborne lawnmower
My lawns often get that long as well. I didn't know someone else had come up with an invention to chop them by hovering above them."

The Flymo does a pretty good job. ;^)

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:26:58 +1200 Rich Lock https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61431#post61431 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61431#post61431 Technically (i.e. pedantically) speaking, it's not actually a jet pack or a rocket pack (not having jets or rockets in it).

I'm going to call it a D.A.F.T (Ducted Air Fan Turbine), in the hope that it catches on.

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:01:48 +1200 Kyle Matthews https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61378#post61378 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61378#post61378

It's basically an airborne lawnmower

My lawns often get that long as well. I didn't know someone else had come up with an invention to chop them by hovering above them.

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:50:59 +1200 Evan Yates https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61365#post61365 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61365#post61365 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:53:58 +1200 Che Tibby https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61350#post61350 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61350#post61350

So he turned to his wife. “I said, ‘Hey, Vanessa, what are you doing tonight?’

actually... my first thought was, "he must have had her life insured"

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:47:31 +1200 Hadyn Green https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61349#post61349 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61349#post61349 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:25:58 +1200 Hadyn Green https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61348#post61348 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61348#post61348 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:24:38 +1200 Paul Campbell https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61345#post61345 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61345#post61345 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:52:08 +1200 Wammo https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61341#post61341 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61341#post61341 It looks like a fantastic invention, not quite the imagined rocket pack, but definitely a fun toy with probable military applications as well.

I'm sure Ian Sinclair was excited to be the first journalist to give it a spin, but to spend a significant portion of the news item gloating…

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:10:11 +1200 Public Address https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61340#post61340 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/busytown-to-infinity-and-beyond/?p=61340#post61340 Discussion from blog post.

]]> Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:10:11 +1200