Alex Andon, 24, a graduate of Duke University in biology, was laid off from a biotech company last May. For months he sought new work. Then, frustrated with the hunt, he turned to jellyfish.
In an apartment he shares here with six roommates, Mr. Andon started a business in September building jellyfish aquariums, capitalizing on new technology that helps the fragile creatures survive in captivity. He has sold three tanks, one for $25,000 to a restaurant, and is starting a Web site to sell desktop versions for $350.
“I keep getting stung,” he said. And his crowded home office is filled with beakers and test tubes of jellyfish food. “But it beats looking for work. I hate looking for work.”
[i]This[/i] is what will move us forward. Not the jellyfish in particular, but the attitude behind them. There’s a greenhouse in Chicago that began in 1928. By the mid-’30s their best selling plant was [i]orchids[/i] — affordable luxury — and they are today one of the largest orchid outfits in America.
Or more conventionally, Trinity Industries, founded in 1933 and today a leading supplier of railway cars, barges, high-pressure tanks, and … wind towers.
Too much government — and the wrong sort of government — are a large part of the problem. Bail-outs, ‘stimulus’ pork-fests, greater regulation, and government takeovers of banks, health care, energy and so on will only make things worse.
The jellyfish guy is more valuable to our future than the average Congress Critter. For that matter, so are the [i]jellyfish[/i].