The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Science & Nature => Topic started by: Arachno-capitalist on March 22, 2008, 04:13:00 am
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Does anyone know anyone who has a segway?
The prices for a segway and a motorcycle are similar. Now, I want a motorcycle, but the non-segway equivalent purposes are pretty beneficial to me ( like picking up chicks at the all-girls school or looking cool vs look like a geek). Im just wondering in what situation a segway is actually economical. In my student of economics vision, the realm is very narrow of people whose Fixed Cost + Variable Cost (including social cost of pollution of the energy to power the thing) of segway is viable. That said, I think it would be cool to zip around with one but not as cool as to zip around with the BMW bike im looking at.
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I dunno... but when I win the lotto, I'm buyin' two.
And I'm jousting.
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The Segway is a little unfortunate in that it could have a niche for certain kinds of urban dwellers if society were adapted to handle it. Unfortunately, it can't coexist comfortably with pedestrians or with cars at the moment, and society is not going to adapt to it until it's ubiquitous, and at its cost nobody is going to buy it until it's useful.
So yeah. Currently in the early-adopters-only phase and likely to stick there a while.
Edit: It probably could coexist with pedestrians if there were etiquette for it. But there isn't and none is developing.
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We used to have a little kiosk across from the theatre that rented them out. The little kiosk would open, the guy would take his sign for prices and the segways out, and then he'd sit on his folding chair and spend the whole day not renting out segways. Sometimes he'd just sort of stand there teetering on one of them. Shortly after, the best skate park in all of North America opened up, and I thought maybe the segway kiosk people are geniuses. But no, Tony Hawk came and went from the skatepark and the guy renting the segway kiosk never twigged in to the opportunity to market them for such use (probably too expensive to have fun with I guess...). He opened his little kiosk for shorter and shorter periods of time, and eventually got replaced by a kiosk that rents out a silly variety of bicycles for one, two, three, four... The only time I ever saw someone riding a segway was last summer, and I thought it was a joke. I'm pretty sure those things are going the way of the dinosaur. The mistake was marketing them as if they should be taken seriously. I'm saving my money for Vespa.
Also, I saw a kid riding a unicycle down the side walk, all nonchalant, as if it were a normal thing yesterday. That's the kind of weirdo eccentricity transportation I can really get behind, so I gave him a serious, "good on ya'"style nod and he nodded back as he zoomed past.
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Peter Gabriel uses Segways to perform music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP1_pZkJTvk
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I've seen people using Segways all over the place... but I fly a lot for work and run into a lot of airport police officers in the terminal. I would imagine if 100 Segways are made this year, 98 of them go to airport police forces. It really is a perfect device for that kind of work. All of the caveats about Segways don't apply to them. Weather? They're indoors. Pedestrian etiquette? People are already focused on getting out of the way of fast things on wheels at the airport. Distance limitations? The Segway goes as far as the officer needs it to.
I would LOVE to own a Segway and be able to use it to get around. But I live in a decidedly suburban enviroment. At about 45 mph, it takes me 20-25 minutes to drive to work. It's a 5 minute drive to the store, which is probably too far to do efficiently with one. I wish, though...
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g-haus-- I read somewhere that Charlotte got ranked one of the cities in the US most convenient to bike or walk around. WHAT!? Maybe they just meant the few square blocks of downtown??
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They have a plan to put down a couple hundred miles of greenways to encourage walking and biking. If all of the ones here in southwest Mecklenburg actually materialize, it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to bike to the local library, three grocery stores, the middle school, at least ten restaurants, and lots of retail shopping. But that's a big if. Right now, the stretch they've completed takes you from one end of a shopping center to... the other end of that shopping center.
I imagine the fact that they let you take your bike on most if not all of the CATS buses and the LYNX probably counted for a lot.
In other Charlotte news, they closed the Quaker Steak and Lube on Woodlawn. The Concord one is still open. This really upset me when I found out about it, as we took almost all of our out-of-town guests there at least once. It's also really the only place in Charlotte where I had fond memories of the time I spent with Jeff (http://touamb.com/index.php/topic,3752.0.html) and his wife during their brief time here. Damn you, commerce!
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I had still never been there. Damn.
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The security guards at the mall on Long Island use them while wearing helmets.
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The failure of the Segway is an indication that capitalism works.
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I dunno. It's actually a really good idea in a lot of ways, if poorly executed, that basically only failed because the transportation infrastructure was too entrenched for it to catch on.
Is the fact that Los Angeles... nominally... works as proof against the idea of light-rail public transportation?
I wouldn't say so, it's just proof that oil and car companies were able to buy off the politicians to tear up the street cars and now... sixty years later... business interests won't allow for the massive changes required to put it back and the local and regional governments are fuck*ng spineless cowards in the face of those interests.
Depends on what "works" means. If "works" means more money for the people who already had all the money, sure.
If "works" means encouraging the common good and innovating, I'm not so sure.
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Chicago police use them all the time downtown. They always have a slightly embarrassed look on their faces.
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Every time I see this thread title, I think of this:
To the tune of Subway! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkPh8As-y6E)
Rollin' down the street
It's so easy on your feet
It's the Segway
Segway!
Moving right along
You can even bring a bong
On your Segway
Segway!
Lean forward to go forward and lean back to go back
It's like a model train except there isn't a track
Better shell out now
For a ride that's super-wow
On the Segway
Segway!
You can ride it through the trees
It makes hiking seem a breeze
It’s the Segway
Segway!
Mind if I play through?
You can ride while golfing too
On the Segway
Segway!
Order it online and they'll ship it express
It will go right to your local address
Swaying to and fro
It's the only way to go
On the Segway
Segway!
A Segway’s just so cool
When I see one I just drool
Wanna ride one to my school
Anyway, everyway, anywhere
Cops are cruising by
They’re patrolling from up high
On the Segway
Segway!
If you are a purist
You can be a rolling tourist
On the Segway
Segway!
Its the greenest travel option in town
The dorkiest way to travel around
It’s so very pretty
But it’s banned in New York City
Oh the Segway
Yes, the Segway!
Order it online and they'll ship it express
It will go right to your local address
Buy a Segway now
For a ride thats super-wow
On the segway!
On the segway!
On the segway!
On the segway!
Ohhhh.....
(edited for linkage.)
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Way to go. That argument was a rope that bounced off the wall in left field.
Had about as much connection to the origin as my baseball thingy up there, too.
You're right. Out of place. I have a visceral reaction to the hubris of the "It" campaign and the idiocy that bought into "It" when the thing debuted.