Segways
Fri Sep 13 15:00 EDT 2013
RangeUp to 24 miUp to 38 km
Max Speed12.5 mph20 kmh
Weight105 lbs47.7 kg
Tire Diameter19in48cm
Footprint19 x 25 in48 x 63 cm
There was a Segway locked up in the bike cage today. I found i2 Commuter Specs online. It's got the range to do my commute, and it was plugged in and charging, which could double the range. The top speed isn't as fast as my downhill, but I'd be hard pressed to go that fast for long on flat ground in calm air. (Competitve cyclists would leave it behind.) City streets are going to be a lot of stop-and-go. (I didn't find anything about regerative braking on the website.) I don't know whether they're allowed on the bike trails; I don't know whether they count as vehicles, but they are "motorized". I don't see them running around in the streets either, and they'd need lights at night. Staying on the sidewalk for my commute would drive me nuts - poor visibility, curb cuts, pedestrians. Segways seem to start around $6,500, so they're not really competing with bicycles. (Of course, you can spend that much on a bike.)
And further proof that anything can have a dark side:Chinese anti-terror police practise killing drills on scooters. (July 2008: Members of the country's armed police unit practised on the Segway models that have been re-named 'Anti-Terror Assault Vehicles' in the eastern province of Shandong.)
More digressions off that China/Segway page:How we made Victoria Beckham's $2,379 tent dress out of an $85 blanket... Be honest... can you really tell the difference?
You think that's saving money? Did you really spend $85 on a blanket?
Naomi Campbell Rolling back the years: Naomi Campbell enjoys a fashion flashback as she rocks the same bondage-style dress she wore 21 years ago.
So what? I wore a shirt from high school to work last week. Is that newsworthy?
I so do not get this whole business of celebrity. Why do people care what these people do? We don't know them. We haven't met them. They don't help me get more sleep, or eat better, or commute without stress, or pay my bills.
One of my co-workers has noticed an open WiFi hotspot accessible in our basement office. My Kindle connected to it easily. I didn't have any use for it at the moment, so I disconnected. Having WiFi enables the ads for many of the free apps, and that's a waste of (someone else's) bandwidth, as well as an annoyance to me. It will be nice to have on days when I might bring my own laptop to work. (Metro-commute days.) I'm wondering whether it's "public" Internet for agency guests? I think there is an auditorium on the other side of one of the office walls.
In the plaza on the north side of the White House this evening I passed a woman who was obviously excited by my bike. I wasn't in a hurry, so I circled back. (I like to promote the cause of bicycles in general and recumbents in particular if people seem interested.) She was on the phone with her Mom in Arkansas, and she's been thinking about recumbent bikes. So I told her about mine, and answered her questions. She was relaying occasional tidbits back to her Mom all through this. It was rather amusing.
Water Street (under the Whitehurst Freeway) going home was much busier than usual. Ahh, it's Friday night, and this is the fringe of trendy Georgetown. Note to drivers: if you are looking for a parking space, you probably should not pass that bicyclist. It's very rude to pass someone and then slow down. The cyclist is probably not looking for a parking space, and if (s)he is, (s)he can pretty much park wherever (s)he likes, since there are utility poles everywhere; (s)he will not be doing a slow, searching cruise to her/his destination, the way you are. I was not from out of town and lost. I was not looking to park or turn around. I was not even stopping at the end of the "dead-end" street; I was going through the gate and miles up the trails.
[This entry was originally posted as http://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/627262.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
RangeUp to 24 miUp to 38 km
Max Speed12.5 mph20 kmh
Weight105 lbs47.7 kg
Tire Diameter19in48cm
Footprint19 x 25 in48 x 63 cm
There was a Segway locked up in the bike cage today. I found i2 Commuter Specs online. It's got the range to do my commute, and it was plugged in and charging, which could double the range. The top speed isn't as fast as my downhill, but I'd be hard pressed to go that fast for long on flat ground in calm air. (Competitve cyclists would leave it behind.) City streets are going to be a lot of stop-and-go. (I didn't find anything about regerative braking on the website.) I don't know whether they're allowed on the bike trails; I don't know whether they count as vehicles, but they are "motorized". I don't see them running around in the streets either, and they'd need lights at night. Staying on the sidewalk for my commute would drive me nuts - poor visibility, curb cuts, pedestrians. Segways seem to start around $6,500, so they're not really competing with bicycles. (Of course, you can spend that much on a bike.)
And further proof that anything can have a dark side:Chinese anti-terror police practise killing drills on scooters. (July 2008: Members of the country's armed police unit practised on the Segway models that have been re-named 'Anti-Terror Assault Vehicles' in the eastern province of Shandong.)
More digressions off that China/Segway page:How we made Victoria Beckham's $2,379 tent dress out of an $85 blanket... Be honest... can you really tell the difference?
You think that's saving money? Did you really spend $85 on a blanket?
Naomi Campbell Rolling back the years: Naomi Campbell enjoys a fashion flashback as she rocks the same bondage-style dress she wore 21 years ago.
So what? I wore a shirt from high school to work last week. Is that newsworthy?
I so do not get this whole business of celebrity. Why do people care what these people do? We don't know them. We haven't met them. They don't help me get more sleep, or eat better, or commute without stress, or pay my bills.
One of my co-workers has noticed an open WiFi hotspot accessible in our basement office. My Kindle connected to it easily. I didn't have any use for it at the moment, so I disconnected. Having WiFi enables the ads for many of the free apps, and that's a waste of (someone else's) bandwidth, as well as an annoyance to me. It will be nice to have on days when I might bring my own laptop to work. (Metro-commute days.) I'm wondering whether it's "public" Internet for agency guests? I think there is an auditorium on the other side of one of the office walls.
In the plaza on the north side of the White House this evening I passed a woman who was obviously excited by my bike. I wasn't in a hurry, so I circled back. (I like to promote the cause of bicycles in general and recumbents in particular if people seem interested.) She was on the phone with her Mom in Arkansas, and she's been thinking about recumbent bikes. So I told her about mine, and answered her questions. She was relaying occasional tidbits back to her Mom all through this. It was rather amusing.
Water Street (under the Whitehurst Freeway) going home was much busier than usual. Ahh, it's Friday night, and this is the fringe of trendy Georgetown. Note to drivers: if you are looking for a parking space, you probably should not pass that bicyclist. It's very rude to pass someone and then slow down. The cyclist is probably not looking for a parking space, and if (s)he is, (s)he can pretty much park wherever (s)he likes, since there are utility poles everywhere; (s)he will not be doing a slow, searching cruise to her/his destination, the way you are. I was not from out of town and lost. I was not looking to park or turn around. I was not even stopping at the end of the "dead-end" street; I was going through the gate and miles up the trails.
[This entry was originally posted as http://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/627262.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]