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Segway Riders Get High on Mount Washington
TacticalJack writes "Rob Owen, a retired clown, and two other riders surged up Mount Washington at 12.5 mph, the AP reports. It took the Segway riders two and half hours to complete the 7.6 mile endurance test. The team used six batteries, fought off 50 mph winds and battled bitter cold to reach the 6,288-foot mountain summit. All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?"
"All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?" Because then they wouldn't have hit the press.
It begs the question: Why mention that he's a retired clown?
Wouldn't carrying six battery packs on a Segway be even more absurd than as trying to carry a couple five-gallon gas cans on a motorcycle?
What's next -- a shoebox on rollerblades as a "trailer"?
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
7.6 mi / 2.5 hr = 3.04 mi/hr.
The way the article is written, they make it sound like it breezed up the mountian.
Still, 3 miles per hour is a pretty brisk pace for mountian climbing.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?
Remember, this is the same crowd that will build antennae out of Pringles cans and will try to put Linux on every conceivable device with a microprocessor. We're geeks; it's because we can, and we'll do it with geek style while we're at it.
Any chance that this was engineered by a marketing firm? Will we see it in Mountain Dew commercials?
Laws are for people with no friends.
It is amazing how difficult it is to form an intelligent response to this article.
I can understand slashdot's collective interest in all things Segway, but I think at this point there's probably nothing more that can be said about the subject.
I see this as a parallel to a prophetic article in which the Hurd is used to power the next Furby, thus sounding the death knell for both technologies.
Furby = nearly dead retired clown, and Segway = The Hurd, in case you didn't get my analogy.
It's an interesting technology looking for a market that doesn't exist. People in densely packed cities are doing just fine with inexpensive bikes. Americans like their cars. The Segway is the butt of a lot of unfunny jokes, and publicity stunts like this.
I predict that someone below this post will undoubtedly compare this to George Bush's run-in with the Segway, claiming he is less intelligent than a clown, and less fit to run the country.
Go at it slashdot. You'll only find +1 Funny posts here.
Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
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As any linguist will tell you, language changes. The dictionary is not the final word (so to speak) on word usage; real live speakers are. If the vast majority of current writers and editors say that "begs the question" means "provokes us to ask", then it does, no matter what some huffy dictionary author may try to convince you.
I wonder if they were trying to harken to the roots of the US interstate system (although I think Germany's Autobahn predates it).
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I recall a small expedition done by the military to show that an truck caravan can be used to cross the continent. Everyone thought it was stupid because, well, anyone who is anyone carried their freight by rail. Eventually some people realized that the interstate highway system could be used.
But, even in light of this, I would rather hike all the way up that mountain than ride one of those dorkmobiles.
Here is a fun article:
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/2
I quote:
"Anybody who rides around on a Segway is a mewling pantywaist passive-aggressive dork with arrested-development issues who probably saves his e-mail in tidy little folders organized with happy-face icons.
I already feel better."
and:
"One thing that makes me very very happy about the current political debate is that most lawmakers agree that Segways should require a helmet. Since an actual motorcycle helmet would conflict with the eco-friendly coolness of the Segway experience, they're tending toward some kind of modified bicycle helmet that looks like one of those strap-on leather jobbies worn by the Fighting Horsemen of Notre Dame. Put a computer programmer in a tieless linen suit on a Segway with a leather football helmet on his head, and he looks like a fetishist on his way to the sex dungeon."
Actually, I think segways do have a point or a certain niche in which they would be useful. Unfortunately for the manufacturers, this niche is way too small to support a product so expensive. (I don't think they'd be very good for mountain trails)
I mean, sure it would be nice to take the car down to the downtown area, find a parking space *somewhere*, then just segway around to wherever you need to be, but... problems:
1) Almost no one has a segway so there aren't any special parking accomodations set up for them for when you get where you wanted to be.
2) Segways cost over $1000. That's waaay too much for something that will be used so little. Also, since it is so expensive, you don't dare let anything happen to it. Safest place for it is in the closet, actually...
IIRC, the guy that made segway tried to set up a sort of "master plan" (like get it guarenteed street legal everywhere, get a number of business organizations with $$$ to be early adopters, build up a lot of hype before revealing the device, etc) but the plan backfired in various ways. One example: I don't think he ever intended for the IT campaign to go nearly as far as it did. The resulting disillusionment hurt badly: "Oh..." (long pause) "So it's a... it's a scooter..."
Furry cows moo and decompress.
Is Slashdot getting paid for these Segway articles? I mean, really, this was the most overhyped toy EVER! Not only that, but Slashdot has been guitly of posting blatent plugs for this overpriced scooter. Astroturfing if lame. Slashdot backed asrtoturf is even worse.
As a 210 lb 40 year old tourist bicycle rider in 1991 I was able to ride the last 9 miles to the top of Wolf Creek pass (10800 feet) on a 40 lb touring
in a bit over 2 hours. This was not with any batteries, but on a 40 lb steel bike with trunk, 96 oz water, pump, jacket, and a 3 lb rock hidden by a ?friend? . Racers easily made the same distance in under 90 minutes. Temp was 95 degrees F (not really that bad in the dry mountain air) and there was a 10 mile per hour headwind comming down the mountain.
We don't need no stink'n segways!
The average speed of a car in a major city is 6 mph. A segay can do 10 - 12, at least. Think about the population of major cities and then consider whether or not this is a limited market. Before you go criticizing someone or something, you should consider if you have thought through all possibilities.
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
The average speed of a car in a major city is 6 mph.
Care to site that? At any rate, segways are designed for sidewalk use. People walk on sidewalks. Crowded cities have crowdes sidewalks (New York as an example). People are slow. Whole hell of a lot of good that does there, huh.
If anything, I'd take a lesson from big city messengers: use a mountian bike. It's bunches smaller, can go between cars to get around the trafic, and is pretty much acceptible to use on sidewalks. It uses your own power (get in shape at the same time), is pretty light, etc etc.
Segways are, as another poster so aptly pointed out, a poor solution to a problem that dosen't exist.
(I'm agreeing with you)
Mountain bikes are also much cheaper. :-) Or, you could use a conventional "non magic" scooter--although they can get tiring rather quickly. Yeah, go with the mountain bike.
Furry cows moo and decompress.
uh... probably to just get on with his life. We all make choices. If he hadn't dealt with his condition in comparison to what he wants out of life, I'm sure he'd still be trying to use a cane or a walker. I was in a similar quandary 10 years ago. Flat out exhaustion would win many points in the "poster child" category but gain nothing in every other aspect of life.
Laws are for people with no friends.
The "average" speed of cars driving on downtown roads during rush hour includes stopping for traffic lights and slowing for congestion... both of which a Segway would need to do on a crowded urban sidewalk (assuming the city even lets them on the sidewalk, instead of on the street with the bicycles where they belong.)
In other words, you just compared the Segway's top potential speed to the real-world speed of cars in traffic. A completely invalid comparison. A Segway in the city during rush hour will go at almost exactly the same speed as the cars... and on a cold Minnesota day, with sleet pounding down on you, that would be completely intolerable.
Not to mention the fact that most cars are out of downtown traffic and flying down the interstate highway in a matter of blocks, at least in the Twin Cities area. A Segway might get me from the Metrodome to the Target Center in 10 minutes, but can it get me out to Lakeville (a distant suburb) in under 45? Obviously not.
Take notes, inventors who wish to change the world. No personal vehicle will ever replace the car for daily commutes in the US unless it offers the following:
1. A comfortable enclosed cab to protect from the elements.
2. A top speed that at least approaches one mile per minute, and do so reasonably safely and under control.
3. Enough passenger space for a mother of two to drop her kids off at day care on the way to the office.
4. Luggage space allowing enough room for a laptop case, a gym bag, maintenance parts for the vehicle (just like cars almost always have a spare tire, a jack, and jumper cables in the trunk).
5. A convenient way to keep it powered on demand - extended downtime to recharge batteries is not acceptable.
Until the "Segway 2.0" or whatever meets all five of those points, anybody who wants to buy it would need to own both that, and a car... which means that it will remain nothing more than a toy for yuppies.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
The average speed of a car in a major city is 6 mph.
/. but IAATPT (I Am A Traffic Planning Technician) in London and I know for a fact the average speed of vehicular traffic in this unusually congested city is a speedy 9 mph. Sure, that's 1 mph less than what it was when we were all using horses and carts, but it's still more than you're claiming, and enough that I would guess that a Segway with a top speed of 12 mph would not be able to get an average speed, in terms of a complete door-to-door urban journey, much faster than the average - the ability to weave through traffic etc would be outweighed by the short stretches of open road you get, even in rush hour, where everyone else accellerates to 30 - 40 mph.
Wrong. Not often I get to argue from a professional standpoint on
Never thought my transport-geekery would ever come in handy. Just don't get me started on buses...
evil math within Nature's Cubic Creation!
6. It is something chicks dig and you actually have a slight chance of getting some action if you own one.
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...