Weightless in Vegas

Did you over-consume on your last trip to Las Vegas? Want to shed a few extra pounds?

Why not go all the way to complete weightlessness? According to the Skymall catalog I found in front of my seat, the Zero G experience is now available to me and to you at the modest price (?) of $3675.

The flights run from Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s Florida launch facility, and perhaps even more appropriately, they’re also available in La Vegas, where the gravity may already be less pronounced.

While the experience may be cool, it's the social and economic phenomenon that's really interesting. This could be seen as another small step in the progression of humanity beyond our Earthbound existence; and in a more mundane sense, it clearly shows the progressive redefinition of luxury and the expanding scope of human leisure and the commercial possibilities for new types of experiences.