Finding Great Gifts, So You Don't Have To!
Stuck For A Great Gift Idea?
Think Outside The Planet!
By Kristen O'Bradovich
Your Great Gift Guide
You've heard the commercial on the radio a thousand times, at least. Rocky Mosele of the International Star Registry has become such a presence on the airwaves that he's threatening to become the most-heard voice on the air, right up there with Rush Limbaugh or Howard Stern.
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Don't look past the moon when
searching for a great gift! |
While Rocky and his ubiquitous International Star Registry are a force to contend with, he has competition now from literally dozens of other name a star companies on the Internet. In fact, if naming a star is what you plan to do for your next gift-giving occasion, you'd be hard-pressed not to find a company that will name a star for you in exchange for your payment of between $30-$125, depending on how fancy you want to get. Yes, star naming can be expensive!
Which brings me to my key point.
Everybody Is A Star
These days it seems that anybody can open a "name a star for someone" business on the Internet. And while no company -- not even the International Star Registry -- can actually legally assign a star name (that is the exclusive province of the International Astronomical Union), they can offer you a novelty certificate and publish the name of the star and its "owner" in their own "register," one that real scientists and astronomers will never use or recognize.
So, if anybody and everybody can sell stars (and virtually everybody I know has already had a star named after them), what is the savvy gift hunter to do?
My search has turned up something that was right there in front of my face, while I was staring deep into the night sky to find the star I had named for my brother: the moon. Can you buy the moon, or a little piece of it, as a gift for someone?
It turns out you can!
"Nothing Could Be Greater Than To Own Your Own Crater!"
A New York-based company called The Lunar Registry has been in business for several years, offering premium property on the moon to regular folks like you and me.
Billing themselves as "Earth's Leading Lunar Real
Estate Agency," the Lunar Registry offers land in various locales on
the moon, including the Sea
of Tranquility, the Ocean
of Storms and the Lunar
Alps. Prices are extremely
affordable, starting at just under $20 and ranging up to about $35. As
they say in their ads, "Nothing could be greater than to own your own
crater," and I think they may be right about that.
The gift package I received included a treasure trove of items: a beautifully engraved and personalized parchment deed, a glossy photograph showing the property, along with the nearby craters and other lunar formations (all identified by name for easy spotting through a telescope or good binoculars), an information sheet chock-full of interesting facts about the region my property is located in, plus other documents detailing how the dollars from my purchase are being put to use in a commercial mission to settle the moon.
Last-minute shoppers can even download an instant gift certificate for a print-it-yourself present at the bargain price of only $35.95 per acre. The company recently signed an exclusive agreement with the Crater Company which allows everyday folks to have a crater named for themselves -- joining Elvis Presley, Donald Trump, Princess Diana, Albert Einstein, John Lennon, Leonardo da Vinci and other luminaries that have received this honor. "Crater Kit" pricing begins at less than $40.
Property owners and crater names are recorded in an international database and in the Lunar Land Claims Register in the Library of Congress and various trademark offices around the world. Sales are authorized by one the largest international space-settlement advocacy groups, the Lunar Republic Society.
Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Buy Property On The Moon Instead Of Naming A Star
Immediately, I was able to come up with a complete list of why buying property on the moon is a better and more unique gift idea than to name a star for someone, not the least of which I have already mentioned. Here's a few more:
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Ever tried to figure out which star is which? Sure, you can pick out a constellation like the Big Dipper or Scorpio, but is that tiny dot over there the star you named for your husband, or does it belong to Jimmy Mossback of Fort Collins, Colorado? There's only one moon, and it's hard to mistake it for anything else.
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Is your gift recipient a grouch? Buy them land in the Ocean of Storms. Wishing for peace and harmony for a troubled best friend? Buy them property in the Sea of Serenity. Does your daughter, wife or girlfriend love rainbows? Easy! Buy them an acre in the Bay of Rainbows! (Where else?)
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While they just recently decided to put the supersonic Concorde in mothballs, making travel from New York to London a bit slower, plans are in progress to build bases on the moon and to mine for the minerals in the lunar surface, which could turn your cheap gift into an investment that might be worth millions some day.
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You can get dad another tie. Or another bottle of Aqua Velva or Hai Karate cologne. Or a dozen golf balls. Or you can make your father the only Man In The Moon on your block!
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It's Bosses Day. You want to give the old skinflint something that will tell him how you really feel about working for him: Moon him -- literally -- and that goes for your brother, your cousin, or that snotty kid down the block, too.
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The price is right. You can't rent a 2-bedroom apartment in Manhattan for less than $2000 a month, yet you can buy an acre of land in the Lake of Dreams on the moon for $32.75, and it's yours forever. (Plus, if you build a condo there, you can set the rent sky-high and pocket the profits!)
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Your brother -- you know, the one who still kinda lives in the '70s -- believes that Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is the greatest thing to ever hit vinyl. Now he can put on his old tie-dyed T-shirt, flop down in his bean-bag chair and get a light show like nowhere else in the universe with his own acre on the moon's far side. Far out!
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Your son or daughter has worked hard in school, kept the grades up, stayed out of trouble. For graduation day, let them know that they've reached for the moon, and here is their reward!
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What happens if some foreign country decides to land their own probe on the moon and build a space station there? Sorry, pal! You've got the documents already showing that you are a lunar landlord! (Slap a parking ticket on the windshield of their Lunar Crawler and haul 'em off to Space Court!)
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Ever lay out in the sun on a beach during summer? Ever done it for ten hours straight? Considering that even the smallest stars out there make our sun look like a 60-watt pipsqueak, can you imagine getting anywhere near your star? Meanwhile, there's the good old moon, beaming down on us like a dear friend, just waiting for you to pop in for a quick visit.
What could be greater?
CONTACT INFORMATION:
WHO: The Lunar Registry
WHAT: Unique gift idea for any friend or family member
WHERE: http://www.lunarregistry.com
HOW MUCH: Prices range from about $27 to $36
NOTE: 10% discount coupon available
on website for Internet orders.
Your Guide To
Unique Gift Ideas For Christmas,
Valentines, Birthdays or Any Special Occasion
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