Rice University MBA Student Develops
       Glow-In-The-Dark Women's Underwear
             11-29-2004 6:14 PM

HOUSTON --  As if a plain old thong wasn't
enough to accentuate what isn't covered, a Rice
University MBA student has shed some neon light
on the skin with a glow-in-the-dark version.

Beau Carpenter, an avid runner who also works
at NASA, initially thought of creating glow-in-the-
dark jogging clothes, but practicality evaporated
when thongs captured his attention during his
Internet research. He enlisted Chris Harris, an
electrical engineering student at Rice, and Marcus
Brocato, a chemistry lab manager at the Houston
private university, to develop the GloThong.

"Being guys, it didn't take us long to gravitate to
them," Carpenter told the Houston Chronicle in
Sunday's editions. "My co-workers find it endlessly
entertaining."

The thongs have lightweight, water-resistant
batteries that, when fully charged, illuminate
the straps for two hours in various neon colors,
including blue, pink and yellow. Wearers can use
a wall adapter to charge them up; car chargers
are also available for those on the go.

They were a hit when the team recently took
their invention to a topless bar in Dickinson.

"The women liked the product so much that they
lined up to give us their real names and cell
numbers," Carpenter said.

The thong will be available for $49.95 by mid-
December, but the group intends to expand their
offerings to include luminescent bras and bikinis.

"We're selling attention," Carpenter said. "You
kind of feel like Cinderella until the Glo runs out."
                             ___

On the Net: www.glothong.com