Posted on April 1, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
Google and Virgin start Virgle Inc.
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Meet Virgle – an elaborate plan by Richard Branson (Virgin), Larry Page & Sergey Brin (Google) to colonise stars, in particular Mars, over the next 100 years.
The 100 year plan includes the following key milestones.
- 2010: Choosing a Site
- 2014: Low Earth Orbit
- 2015: Virgle Base 1
- 2016: Flying to Mars
- 2108: Virgle City
A Virgle website has been setup and contains a well thought out plan including a myriad of information that kept me reading for about an hour. The crux of the concept is that Virgle Inc. will put up $10-15 billion over the next two decades and the community (i.e. normal people like you and me) will help build this New New World into an Open Source Planet.
There is a Virgle application test to see if you cut the grade and afterwards you are invited to submit a short 30-second video clip to YouTube explaining why you should be included in project Virgle. After an undefined period of time Virgle will chose 20 candidates to go with Larry, Sergey and Richard to live on Mars and start the first Virgle community.
All of this just seemed impossible to me but the fact that there are two videos, one with Richard Branson and one with Larry and Sergey, made me doubt my initial instincts. The fact of the matter is that Richard is a space pioneer and Larry and Sergey have already stated their desire to have an office on the Moon so while it seemed completely ludicrous it was believable at the same time.
A search on Google for virgle is it real revealed an odd looking 404 – Page Not Found on the Virgle site. Details of which follow below.
oh, all right. Fine. April Fool’s. Ha, ha, ha. It isn’t real. There. Are you happy? Does it please you to drag us out of our lovely little fantasy world, to crush all our hopes and dreams? Is that really what you need to hear? Fine, you’ve heard it. Virgle isn’t real. Yet!
I must say I’ve prided myself with being able to spot the various April Fools jokes on the Internet today but this one got me hook, line and sinker.
I am the MD and co-founder of 
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April 1, 2008
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you were one of very few who realised springleap shutting down was an april fools joke!
i’m still replying to emails telling people that it was an april fools joke…
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April 2, 2008
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I only realised it because I just couldn’t see how you’d quit after only being online for such a short space of time. You as an entrepreneur know that these things take time so I just figured there’s no way in hell you’ll bail now
Overall though I’m glad I was right and you’re not closing down! It’s a great site and lots of potential so I’m looking forward to seeing how it evolves.
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April 1, 2008
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you were one of very few who realised springleap shutting down was an april fools joke!
i'm still replying to emails telling people that it was an april fools joke…
Visit My Website
April 2, 2008
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I only realised it because I just couldn't see how you'd quit after only being online for such a short space of time. You as an entrepreneur know that these things take time so I just figured there's no way in hell you'll bail now
Overall though I'm glad I was right and you're not closing down! It's a great site and lots of potential so I'm looking forward to seeing how it evolves.
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April 2, 2008
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This got me too, but I also ended up thinking: 1) Why would Google need Branson’s money…or is it just to lease a spaceship and 2) jeepers, maybe we need to pay attention to Spaceship Earth first. There is so much that needs our attention. I’m not saying we should ignore space and the universe, just that there are urgent priorities right here that we need to look at and spend money on.
This space-station that they are endlessly working on, what’s up with that? It never seems to get beyond looking like three ladders stuck onto each other.
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April 2, 2008
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ha ha Justin – the reality of it all is that this is something that Branson probably WOULD attempt something like this – I also had to really think about if they were April ‘fooling’ us
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April 2, 2008
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Yip – that’s what got me… It was their best one yet if you ask me!!!
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April 2, 2008
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At first I thought it was happening but the time space in which they wanted to do it was unbelievable.
I can say i was not fooled once yesterday!
Visit My Website
April 2, 2008
Permalink
This got me too, but I also ended up thinking: 1) Why would Google need Branson's money…or is it just to lease a spaceship and 2) jeepers, maybe we need to pay attention to Spaceship Earth first. There is so much that needs our attention. I'm not saying we should ignore space and the universe, just that there are urgent priorities right here that we need to look at and spend money on.
This space-station that they are endlessly working on, what's up with that? It never seems to get beyond looking like three ladders stuck onto each other.
Visit My Website
April 2, 2008
Permalink
ha ha Justin – the reality of it all is that this is something that Branson probably WOULD attempt something like this – I also had to really think about if they were April 'fooling' us
Visit My Website
April 2, 2008
Permalink
Yip – that's what got me… It was their best one yet if you ask me!!!
Visit My Website
April 2, 2008
Permalink
At first I thought it was happening but the time space in which they wanted to do it was unbelievable.
I can say i was not fooled once yesterday!