A British adventurer and 'extreme golfer' who was 'the first man to circumnavigate the UK by jetski,' is to fly to Timbuktu for his latest eccentric mission – by car.
Armed with a trusty parachute, ex-SAS officer Neil Laughton hopes to make the 4,000-mile trip strapped into the world's first road-legal biofuelled flying car, cunningly named the 'Skycar'. He's also one of only two men ever to complete the Awesome Eight Golf Challenge.
Sadly it's more 'powered paraglider with wheels' than 'flying car'. The vehicle, which can convert into an aircraft in under three minutes, does boast some impressive fabric aerofoil tech however.
Able to cruise comfortably at 2,000-3,000 feet (it can allegedly hit 15,000), the machine easily reaches speeds of 70mph in the air and only requires a take-off run of 200m.
Don't hold your breath though – we won't be flying to work anytime soon. Concerns about safety, noise and a distinct lack of landing areas mean it's unlikely to be available for commercial use in the near future.
Stick 'em up
In other bizarre news from the last seven days, a Danish SWAT team was left red-faced on Saturday after storming the home of two men in Valby, near Copenhagen, following reports of gunfire. Turns out the pair were immersed in some overzealous PlayStation action, oblivious to the commotion outside as heavily armed officers sealed off the area and unleashed the megaphones.
The cuffed duo were later released with a warning to keep the noise down. In a statement, police explained that officers never ignore a report of gunfire, even though it's often a false alarm "as tonight's incident demonstrates."
In brief
Meanwhile, an Italian woman is exploring her prostitution fantasies in Second Life, while an invisibility cloak could be made within six months. And if you've ever wondered what the 10 weirdest things ever sold on eBay are, muse no more: the Metro had all the answers this week.
And finally…
Sleep-walking, talking, eating – if you're regularly afflicted by 'noninsane automatism' while you catch 40 winks, there's a bright side: at least you're not sending emails. Previously thought highly unlikely, a female insomniac has defied scholars by not only composing messages in her sleep, but also navigating past two separate levels of password security on an unfamiliar computer to access her account.
The alarm was raised after the woman received a call from a friend in response to a bizarre email received during the night. On checking her outbox, she saw three emails – one entitled: "!HELP ME P-LEEEEESE"; another an invitation for "dinner & drinks," with a request for the recipient to "come TOMORROW AND SORT THIS HELL HOLE Out!!!!!!" (Sounds like a case for Google Mail's Goggles…)
Tell you what, we'd rather see a couple of those in our inbox than an invite to yet another printer demo, any day...
