Segway-Powered Sledding Guarantees Your Kid Will Grow Up Fat and Lazy [Machine Vs Nat

[DesertSeg]

Wow, feast your eyes on this post! Brian @ Gizmodo posted my letter on the site and most of the comments are relatively positive. Plus there's a little shout out to Segs4Vets!

http://i.gizmodo.com/5157028/reader-...king-on-segway

[Bob.Kerns]

Originally Posted by DesertSeg

Wow, feast your eyes on this post! Brian @ Gizmodo posted my letter on the site and most of the comments are relatively positive. Plus there's a little shout out to Segs4Vets!

http://i.gizmodo.com/5157028/reader-...king-on-segway

Great job!

Now, if I can get that silly site to let me comment, maybe I can address the meme that the rest of Segway users are lazy.

While I got my Segway because my legs don't work (and hurt like heck, and are worse the more I use them...), for most of my Segway miles, I COULD use my car -- like all those lazy-minded posters so eager to pile on their "witty" comments. Props to any using a bike, but when out I'm on my Segway, in driving rain, carrying a 50-pound backpack, legs flexing as I fly over tree roots, and wincing when that makes my legs cramp up -- somehow I don't feel "lazy" should even be associated with Segways.

Now, I admit, some of you are lazy. You know who you are! I don't -- you're probably even too lazy to post. But owning a Segway marks you as LESS lazy than the typical lazy slob -- not more.

[DesertSeg]

Thanks, Bob! I thought of adding something in my email about the green aspect of Segways, but I wanted to drive home the point for those of us who are disabled and have chosen Segways over more traditional devices.

I'm pleased with the overwhelmingly positive comments on the thread so far.

[emrnyc]

Originally Posted by DesertSeg

Thanks, Bob! I thought of adding something in my email about the green aspect of Segways, but I wanted to drive home the point for those of us who are disabled and have chosen Segways over more traditional devices.

I'm pleased with the overwhelmingly positive comments on the thread so far.

Great post!

[DesertSeg]

I had a little exchange with someone in the comments section who apparently must have failed reading comprehension:

"There's a very important reason why people rag on the Segway. The hype leading up to its debut was unbelievable. We had major CEOs declaring it would be bigger than the PC and the Internet, that it would revolutionize transportation as we know it.

The Segway turned out to be a prohibitively expensive, self-balancing scooter. I repeat, the Segway "HT" is a scooter. It's a personal transportation device that goes slower than a healthy person can run, costs as much as a decent used car and is banned from use in many areas where it would be convenient.

Dean Kamen and the Segway, or IT or Ginger, deserve every mocking, derisive, acidic barb they get. Yes, it's neat. Yes, it's a cool gadget. But it's a toy for the rich and bored, as well as a nice gadget for lazy cops or tourists.

I have never tried a Segway, but I have no doubt it would be a blast to ride. It looks like wicked fun. But people, when you hype something like that, you better be prepared for the world to call you on it. If he had just said "Here's my new invention. It's a self-balancing scooter that will be useful in crowded urban areas and save energy," I'd have been like "Huh, cool. Maybe if it gets cheap I'll pick one up. Looks like fun."

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather keep my computer, my Internet, and my gas-guzzling sedan than fork over five grand for a scooter."

My reply:



@Markarian: I don't think you even read the post. But allow me to clarify for you:

"We had major CEOs declaring it would be bigger than the PC and the Internet, that it would revolutionize transportation as we know it". True, Steve Jobs was one them and most would agree he has a pretty good eye for good products. I guess no one is perfect.

"It's a personal transportation device that goes slower than a healthy person can run." The key word here is healthy. The whole point of the original letter was to point out that lots of disabled people use them instead of wheelchairs and scooters, including return vets who were injured while serving our country. [www.msnbc.msn.com] Are you going to to tell these guys, or any other disabled person who chooses a Segway for basic mobility that five grand is too much to pay? How much is your ability to walk and run worth?

[It] "costs as much as a decent used car". Yeah, one that doesn't run on gas, need insurance, or have any emissions. I'd like to buy a used car like that for less than five grand!

"I have never tried a Segway, but I have no doubt it would be a blast to ride". Thanks for declaring your ignorance. You're railing against a product that you know nothing about, and completely failed to comprehend the original story.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather keep my computer, my Internet, and my gas-guzzling sedan than fork over five grand for a scooter." No one suggested that you give up anything. If you don't need a Segway, don't buy one. But don't act like a complete douchebag becuase these things actually help a lot of people.


Talk about complete cluelessness!

[KSagal]

I'll go a step further and say right now, I doubt that most people really know of that hype at this point, nor care. Yes, some people did think it was going to be much bigger than it is. I have heard the same thing about many things...

I do not use it to replace walking. I use it to replace driving short distances. There is a huge difference.

The problem is that so many people are saving their capacity to think for a time when they will really need it, and do not want to squander their few synapses on making themselves sound like they actually know what they are talking about... That is lazy.

People see bikes in the street, as they are supposed to be by law. When they see people on bikes in the street, it is not much of a leap to figure, one more bike, one less car.

People see segways on the sidewalk. They make the dumb association that one more segway on the sidewalk, one less person walking on the sidewalk.

They don't even consider that one more segway anywhere is one less car in the street. That is the major problem.

As far as I am concerned, that is as far as the topic goes.

If you have a mobility issue, you will not be walking on the sidewalk, and if so, not far. You will more likely be driving in a car any distance at all, and in a chair inside. That is the nature of a mobility problem, you are NOT THAT MOBILE!

If you do not have a mobility issue, I do not know of any people who do not walk because they can segway. I know lots of people who do not drive because they can segway...

I go all kinds of places on a segway that I can walk to, but simply do not. IF I have an errand a mile or two away, I do not walk. I can. I just don't. I usually do not have the time, but most often, don't really even think of it too much, unless the day is great weather wise, and I want some exercise.

So I drive. Or I take a bike, or a segway.

Now, I understand why bikers do not like able bodied seggers. If ever there was a potential for a swap of conveyances, it would be bikes to segways... Even though this is much more real in my mind, I have never heard a single person yell out a car window that a segger should be pedaling instead... That would require thought. (see paragraph 3 above)

So, to the reasonable biker, one more segway, one less car. To the insecure biker, one more segway, one less bike. To the overly self important biker, one more segway, one more target to attack, like every other moving thing in my line of sight. (these are the ones I refer to as the spandex road kings)

To me, one more segway, one less car.

Eventually, the majority will come around to understand that is reality.