on fifteen minutes of fame...

Humans always had the urge to become famous, even at times infamous. But never before in our history had we so many means to become famous at our disposal as in this era of millions TV channels, internet, youtube etc. Turns out the balloon boy's family may have been trying to get their 15 minutes of fame through that hoax by suggesting that boy was in the balloon when it took off (the boy innocently let it out on Larry King last night "dad, you told us we were doing it for the show").

What makes this hunger for fame so much more intense is the coupling of this 15 minutes of fame with many opportunities of cashing on it. Had the balloon boy's saga really been true, it would not have been surprising to see them write a book about it in the near future. Or at least sell their story to People magazine. They still can make some money through some tabloid.

Last weekend here at a Boston's Borders bookstore, the pilot who successfully landed the United plane in Hudson river dropped in, to sign his book. He would have to have been a fool to not cash-in on doing what was supposed to be part of his job and life long training. After all, a doctor does not write a book every time he helps a patient miraculously recover.

Reminds me of this UN aid worker and a budding writer i met a while back. I told her how fascinated I was with the work she had done in the remotest places of South Africa. She replied, somewhat humorously and somewhat sarcastically, "yeah, but where is the book in it!".

The book was a bit north, in Darfur.