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November 1, 2008
Weren't Segways designed to be peaceful people movers, not police chariots?
One of my regular reads is Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools, which is much more than a gadget site. He and his readers offer reviews of lots of gadgets, but they also look at books, hardware, websites - ways to make life simpler or more interesting.
KK has some other websites which I check more rarely, including Street Use, which documents ways people re-create technology. In his own description, Herein a collection of personal modifications, folk innovations, street customization, ad hoc alterations, wear-patterns, home-made versions and indigenous ingenuity. In short -- stuff as it is actually used, and not how its creators planned on it being used.
One of the creepiest things I've ever seen, appropriate for yesterday, is this entry with lots of pictures, Guns on Segways. "When the lovable Segway was unveiled, who would have guessed that its chief street use would be a platform for cops and soldiers.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at November 1, 2008 7:15 AM
Comments
Weird -- I have seen cops on Segways, and not been bothered, but that's because they've always been set up like cops on bikes or horses -- fairly non-threatening (yes, I know that mounted police can be and are supposed to be threatening, but in ones or twos, they're often good PR). Recoil questions aside, the heavily armed ones really are eerie. And ookie.
Posted by: Another Damned Medievalist 
at November 1, 2008 9:31 AM