James Cameron is writer and director of Avatar ($2.7 billion grossed), The Terminator, Aliens, and Titanic, among other blockbusters and genre-defining films.
On October 9th, James Cameron, Jim Gianopoulos (Fox Films Chairman/CEO), Peter Diamandis (X PRIZE Foundation Founder and Chairman), Tim Ferriss (that’s me), and a select group of others will experience zero gravity. And you could be with us…
I have one extra ticket (one seat), and I’m auctioning it off this week, starting now. 100% of the proceeds will go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital:
The mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to find cures for children with catastrophic illnesses through research and treatment. Children are treated without regard to a family’s ability to pay. St. Jude covers all costs not covered by insurance for medical treatment rendered at St. Jude. Families without insurance do not pay. St. Jude freely shares research findings with doctors and scientists around the world.
The auction is here and ends at 8pm PDT this Saturday, Sept. 25. Not interested in an auction? No problem. There is a “buy it now” option for the first person to grab it.
[UPDATE: The seat sold for the “buy it now” $20,000 within 24 hours. Incredible thanks to M.L.! $20,000 will do a tremendous amount of good at St. Jude.]
This once-in-a-lifetime experience, which will last about 8 hours, includes:
• VIP lunch reception with lecture from James Cameron discussing Avatar, Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G), and humanity’s future in space.
• Pre-flight training to maximize your ZERO-G Flight Experience. This will include an orientation video, a chance for you to meet the group joining the flight, and a chance to ask questions and learn about the science behind ZERO-G.
• 90-minute flight of approximately 15 parabolas including Lunar gravity (one sixth your weight), Martian gravity (one third your weight), and Zero gravity (weightlessness). You will experience approximately eight minutes of weightlessness, which is about as much zero-gravity time Alan Shepard experienced on America’s first human spaceflight.
• Your very own ZERO-G flight suit, which is yours to keep.
• Personal in-flight photography and video of you floating with James Cameron.
• Post-flight photo with James Cameron and X PRIZE chairman Peter Diamandis.
• Special Avatar gift bag from Twentieth Century Fox.
The flight is identical to those used by NASA to train its astronauts, and you will be able to fly like Superman or flip like an Olympic gymnast.
Martha Stewart, Ozzy Osbourne and Stephen Hawking are just a few notable passengers who have flown with ZERO-G and proclaimed it to be one of the most thrilling experiences of their lives.
Here’s where you can learn more and get your seat.
Please note: This is a non-refundable ticket for the XPRIZE Charter flight only. ZERO-G cannot issue a credit or certificate for a future flight should the purchaser be unable to fly on the XPRIZE flight.
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with over 500 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
I doubt $0.99 will be enough, but I stuck on an opening bid all the same!
For 8hrs with you, thats actually not a horrible deal. Think it would be epic if someone bought it and were pitching business plans while experiencing zero gravity with you.
Sure would make for interesting convos with other investors when they asked how you two met. “Oh I just happened to be floating with Tim one day and we struck a partnership….”
Awesome to see you auctioning this off. Best of luck Tim.
@SeanDawes
What did he say in Robocop…”I’d buy THAT for a dollar!”
This thing is going to be brutal, $1625 and it has been up for around 40 minutes! Wish i had the cash.
Hi Tim,
This sounds like an awesome opportunity!
Slightly off topic: I’m not a fan of the new drop down “share” toolbar, especially in combination with Stumble Upon’s toolbar when you click through from your FB or Twitter accounts. Sharing is easy enough for those that would like to, with the icons at the end of the post 🙂
Can’t wait to see the aftermath video of this event!
Cheers,
Dane
Thanks, Dane. Appreciate the feedback. I wasn’t thinking through SU.PR on this one, which is definitely overkill. I’ll be pairing back at some point soon and testing the pieces separately.
Tim
Tim,
I’m not liking the sharing dropdown at all, hitting spacebar to scroll a page down (years of web browsing habit there:) means I have to scroll up manually 6 or so lines to see what’s under that drop down.
On topic; Have fun in ZeroG, love to see any vids you do up there.
-t
Awesome idea here, Tim. Wish I could afford it!
Woooow, I would so buy that if I had the cash…
So jealous! I wanna go! Great idea and for a good cause!
PS – not a big fan of the share bar either. I share all ur stuff neways 😛 I share stuff if I like it, but I have seen that drop down on a few ppls blogs and its kinda annoying.
Tim,
I bid on the excursion, got outbid, and afterwards, I kind of regretted that I did this because the ebay site is not linked to the X Prize site, and the press release on the X Prize site says the auction ended on Sept 10 (albeit for 3 tickets). In addition, the seller on ebay only has 39 stars and sells things like ipods, jackets, etc. This makes me nervous and looks like a scam. I think it would be helpful if you clarified a few things so people can tell this is authentic.
Sad that I won’t be able to meet you *or James Cameron*, but who knows, maybe you will have another auction. 🙂
Thanks,
Tina
Hi Tina,
The X-Prizes first auction ended on Sept 10, but this is a separate auction. I’m also on Singularity U. faculty under Pete Diamandis, so I assure you this isn’t a scam. The seller in this case is my assistant, Charlie Hoehn, as I had him set this up.
Hope that clears things up!
Tim
Thanks Tim! Really appreciate the quick feedback. I think you have done some incredible things, and your book is a worthy best seller (I am a big fan!). Thanks for pushing the envelope.
Best,
Tina
Thank you for the comment, Tina 🙂
Tim, what a fantastic idea and sounds like loads of fun. :O
“What you give is exactly what you receive” Shakira…
Good cause Tim !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are brilliant and kind.
Cut that buy it now price in half and I’ll buy that ticket first thing in the morning.
It’s a funny thing because when I did the dreamline exercise in your book one of the things I listed was space travel. This is really the next best thing, especially if it means I can get in good with the Space X guys, HA!
I’m still working on the automation part of my muse but I really wanted to thank you for your book. It has been one of the best resources I have ever come across. I recently bought it again when I got the new kindle, and gave my hard copy to a friend who I knew would put it to good use. I feel what I paid for that book is way less than it’s actual value, so if we ever meet, food and drinks are on me!
If I don’t end up there in the sky with you I hope you have a blast!
Man what I would give for that chance.. I will get my Assistants to hunt for cheaper options online lol..
Enjoy who ever gets this!
Ok, I need that ticket – I have one blue paperclip to trade. The last Red paper clip that was traded ended up being a house so you never know.
Also Tim, you challenged a mate and I to actually take you up on your own challenge of lying down in the middle of a busy street. I just wrote a post with the videos of us doing it – A forfeit for not hitting some monthly goals we set.
Singularity U, eh? How long have you been interested in transhumanism? When will we see a post on this topic? 🙂
Btw is there a way to send you a print copy of something where you will actually get it and some assistant won’t throw it in the trash right away? I want to send you an autographed copy of issue 5 of my magazine, which was a theme issue called “Becoming Ferriss”.
I think a lot of people dream of flying like superman. The 90 min. flight should be epic!
The only way I’m coming is if there’s Tang and Astronaut ice cream.
How much is it worth to puke in front of James Cameron?
Priceless. But I don’t think I’ll have any problems.
Tim,
That would be awesome… if I had 20g’s to spare I wouldn’t hesitate. For the cause, I hope the auction gets as close to, or exceeds, 20gs!
On another note, I noticed that the image on your post “Relax Like A Pro: 5 Steps to Hacking Your Sleep” is unavailable via Flikr. This may be happening on other posts of your too. Something you might consider, would be saving every blog post image you use to your own Flikr account (or other account) and linking to the author of the image’s original page (and the blog post) there as well. This would ensure that if that author takes down their picture, it would still be available for your blog to access. Food for thought.
Have fun feeling weightless.
Best,
Chase
What a wonderful way to celebrate all the good works of St Jude’s! Cheers to the children, their families, the doctors, nurses and all support staff that keep that train chug chug chuggin down the tracks. These kids are an inspiration to us all to have hope and to confront our challenges head on.
And Kudos to all those involved in putting together this fantastic opportunity. That is going to be one lucky man or woman. Your posts keep us all on the edge of our seats, Tim. Keep that good mojo flowing.
E
Can you offer again the bid in a few year so i can affort the ticket and the flight to us ^^
A to do thing!!
Wow – that’s bada$$. Would love to be a part of such an adventure. And after seeing Cameron on G4’s “Attack of the Show” a couple weeks ago, DANG he seems like he’d be cool as hell to hang with…just a ‘regular guy’. You guys will have a ton of fun.
Tim:
Have fun, I flew Zero-G in Russia. There’s no way to describe it, but you will enjoy it for sure!
Cheers,
Nathan
Tim, this is awesome! I’ve reposted in a few places in the hope that some rich uncle will see it and send me for an adventure. This is a great opportunity.
I’m a audio production, film-score junkie. Hanging with Cams for a few hours would be a learning adventure in itself. Good luck with the auction and please post the adventure video.
Falling feels like flying….!
Lance Cashion
A friend of mine just did this with NASA in Houston. They were testing a model of a satellite he helped design. Word of warning Tim, have the barf bags ready for the martian parabola. Even the extra strength dose of dramamine they give you can’t hold back the nausea.
If he had it at 10,000 I would have bought it a soon as I saw it too.
But what is the point of having a donation Buy it Now be anything other than a price that is hard to part with 😉
Atm, I think I am in the lead at 7.8k
Your book and life in general has been really inspiring me.
Kinda terrifying to be bidding on my 4th item ever and it be this big <_<
Better be careful, though. This is showing me just how much I am willing to risk to meet you, Tim. 😛
My mistake, I was talking about the Space X guys and realized this is the CEO of the X Prize foundation. Should have read a little more closely instead of letting my excitement get the better of me. 😉
$20k is a bargain, unfortunately I don’t even have $20 spare at the moment. Can see this going as soon as the first semi rich person comes along. At worst you’re donating $20k to charity which is no bad thing.
Tim, you are the freakin’ master of headlines! I swear I break out a pen and pad to take notes every time you update this blog.
Great article too 🙂
Wow, its already at 20k, and there are still 2 days left. That’s out of my price range a few times over, but its fantastic that all the money will be going to charity. Sounds like it will be a pretty crazy experience.
OUCH! gone already.
Lord, I can’t wait ’til I’ve got $20k that I can donate to charity!
I want to experience it also the ZERO gravity!
Very cool. Even if I had the money I wouldn’t be able to do it. Be damn embarrassing to puke on Tim. Lol
Wow 24 hours! That really shows the quality of your audience. thanks to M.L for his contribution. Everyone likes a win-win.
Haha wow, tim, I hope you offer something this epic again.
I really need to be in the position to drop 20k for something this epic.
I can’t imagine what you have planned after that next book. I think it’d be cool to see you go in a whole different direction – we’ve already seen you conquer book publishing and entrepreneur. Let’s see the grand lifestyle hacker at work in something even more epic.
😉 Keep up the good work….. Epic. haha
Tim-
I’m curious to know if the adverts are proving to be worthwhile? I’ve followed the blog for years and get so much out of it that a paid subscription wouldn’t feel out of line, so i don’t begrudge the links at all…just curious about your experience.
Awesome offer btw…someday soon I will be able to afford an awesome adventure for charity.
Hi Timothy,
Bro, this book of yers is Awesome. It didn’t change my life yet but I’m not the dude I was a week ago. Gossips later, now to the point: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/08/09/bribing-you-to-quit-and-bosses-as-muppets/ has no working links.
Brb with some decent posts, right now I’m guzzling as much info as I can from your blog, and then re-read the book (btw, I’m REALLY REALLY sorry to admit it but I’m reading a free to download copy, I lack the means and the time to be ordering one at amazon’s or whatever. As soon as I get on my feet I promise two things: 1. buy the real deal for me and 2. buy some more and donate them to the university’s libraries from me town; so please forgive me for now and erase this part from the post, it’s our dirty lil’ secret ;). Thank you for everything.
Regards
Pete
Hey Guys,
A bit slow on the pick-up with this blog post… What did it sell for?
Dear Tim,
When you were a child, did you ever think you’d ever be in this position? Congratulations.
With best wishes,
GM
Tim,
Love to hear Seth Godin’s take on this.
Best,
Eric
Hey Tim, I recently stumbled across a post from 2007 called From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks I was just curious about what program and calorie consumption you were using. I know this was 3 years ago but I couldn’t find your email and I doubt that you look at 3 year old posts so I thought I would ask here. Sorry if this is a stupid thing to do, anyways your blog is great keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Chris
Tim,
This sounds like its going to be a lot of fun Tim.
On a side note, I was trying to access the http://www.pxmethod.com website through your reader resources page and it is no longer available. I’m sure many new and existing readers would like access to this material. If it is available elsewhere could you please post a link or a reference.
Thank you very much,
Jason
That was an awesome auction and added bonus! I have plans for ZeroG experience this December…
I did this experience two weeks ago and it was great! If you can afford this DON’T HESITATE. It is a weightless experience but it is a spiritual experience too.
I can’t describe this because it’s like explaining the taste of chocolate if you never try it before.
Tim enjoy it!
Gerry
Hey Tim I just read a few of your blog threads, and I was wondering if you could answer a question that I have? I know you’re a busy man, so if anyone in your comments sees this who could answer it, please do.
I noticed that you have evernote. Why is evernote useful, and how could you optimize it’s use?
Secondly, I noticed that you have options to retweet, facebook like, stumbleupon, and evernote at the end of each of your post. How did you do that? I want to be able to let my readers do the same for me? I’d also like to know how you have related posts and “do you like this article” category next to each other under that. However, the retweet to evernote thing is of more interest to me.
One thing though, I only have wordpress.com, not a self hosted site. If there are plug ins or options, I would like them to work for my wordpress.
Thank you, to you or anyone who could find a way to help me with this problem.
Tim,
I want to subscribe to the email updates of your blog posts. When I clicked the link at the top of your blog for either RSS or Email, the email one seemed to be broken. Have you changed things around and not using feedburner any more?
I would like to subscribe via email only so if it still can be done, can you let me know. Love the old version of the book. Still haven’t been able to get the muse up and going. Tried one version and it failed. Been tired with two kids and busy life but not going to make any more excuses. WIll hopefully have something in the works very soon.
I hope everyone’s treating you right!
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff! I’ll check it out. Upward and onward. Hope to have more muse instruction and case studies soon.
Best,
Tim
Apparently James Cameron is a few hours north of me at the moment visiting the Alberta Oilsands.
First time not reading the newspaper has failed me in about 7 years. Too bad, I would have made the excursion… although a Mini Cooper in rig country probably wouldn’t go well. 😉
It’s like someone knew what I wanted most in life and paired them all up together! Seriously, I don’t think I can come up with something I’d want to do more than experience zero-g with James Cameron (AND Tim Ferriss!).
Avatar is a very nice Movie, i have watched the film , it? nice.
Tim, you were on “Showbiz Tonight” with the rest of the gang for the Saturday Zero flight.
Not sure if you saw it…look on CNN.
Hey Tim; the cameras caught you getting ready for Zero G
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2010/10/14/sbt.james.cameron.avatar.hln?hpt=C2
2:42
Looks like a nice ride!
Hahaha… so they did! Yes, it was awesome. More footage coming soon…
Hi Tim,
Not minding how much the cost, I mean, $20k is a huge some where I’m at…and I guess everywhere in the world m 😉 being in ZERO Gravity is the an idea that I’d would like to get my hands on! Let alone “a close encounter with” James Cameron (hi Mr. Spielberg..).
Good luck to the winning bid and I hope to see you on ZERO G..sooner or later 🙂
If only I have the money for this, I could’ve bought the ticket but I just saw this blog today…
No worries there are still other opportunities. lol
Awesome auction. Would have like to be able to bid on it.
Man, some day very soon, man I missed it!!!
Tim,
I heard a piece on NPR this morning about how when bears hibernate, their muscles stay intact whereas human muscle would not remain under the same conditions.
I was wondering if you had any experience researching how astronauts can create or maintain muscle and how it could relate to how regular people can maintain muscle with minimal workouts.
I figured this was the most appropriate place to post this.
Cheers
M