Goin’ to the fair….
Okay, maybe I’m at the fair.
It’s all about using the complimentary gateway computers to post an entry to your website. :) Highlight of the day: Met James Lileks at the Star Tribune booth. If you read The Bleat, well, he’s really like that in real life. I got a picture but I don’t have a cable with me to transfer the picture onto this thing. :) (Plus I’d have to install pscp and probably some sort of image editor and I don’t think these guys would like it too much.)
EVERYTHING is on a stick here. Sightings include pork chops on a stick, hot dogs on a stick, slots on a stick (special state fair instant win lotto tickets, and yes, they were on sticks), fudge on a stick, chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick, and my favorite, human on a stick (the Segway HT booth). The funny thing was that right before we saw the segways, Peggy and I were joking about Vlad the Impaler setting up a booth here and having “peasant on a stick” and stuff like that.
Segways are pretty cool, but not 5,000 dollars worth of cool. I might change my mind though; I got a coupon for a free segway tryout ride. (The segway dealership (DEALERSHIP!?!!) normally charges 5 bucks to test drive them. I suspect THAT’s how they’re making money, because the only segways I’ve ever seen are the ones here at the booth.)
Peggy says the fair is too big to see everything. I think that’s because we got a late start; we didn’t get here until 12:30 or so.
Alright, that’s it for now. We’re going to check out the rest of the technology building, the art building, and then we’re going to see Lileks co-host the Hugh Hewitt show on live radio. W00t! Probably there’s going to be some elephant ear eating and more food on sticks (we’ve already had Minnekabobs — shish-ka-bobs made with Minnesota produce.) Then we’ll walk back — fortunately Peggy lives close enough to walk to the fair, but not so close that everyone is trying to park there. :)
August 23rd, 2003 at 2:36 am
what’s a segway?
August 23rd, 2003 at 4:14 am
http://www.segway.com/. That’s a segway. It’s electric powered; you lean forward and it goes forward, you lean backwards and it goes backwards. It balances on two wheels because it has 6 or 7 gyroscopic sensors which tell it whether or not you’re off balance. You know how you can balance a broomstick on your hand, and if it leans forward you can shove your hand forward faster and keep it in one spot? Like that, only with wheels and dorky plastic bumpers.
Dean Kamen (the guy who invented the segway) claimed that segways were going to replace cars; but not only did he price them at 5k apiece, he made the mistake of waiting too long to invent the thing. If these things were for sale back in the late 90s when all the dotcommers were wiping their ass with hundred dollar bills, then it wouldn’t have mattered how much they cost — they’d be much more popular now, and probably cheaper.
Anyway, I’m home now. Peggy pointed out that I forgot to mention the map on a stick (a free map of the fairgrounds from the Star Tribune), but then again I also forgot the sausage on a stick, pickle on a stick, flag on a stick (duh!), walleye on a stick, and probably more. We did see deep fried twinkies but didn’t try them because the line was so long. Sadly, they were not on sticks, but that could probably been fixed really easily.
August 23rd, 2003 at 3:30 pm
Peggy is probably also close enough to hear the fireworks every night but not *see* them. Its a cruel, taunting world.
August 25th, 2003 at 8:33 pm
Oh yeah… Last year I managed to come home with the coveted “Brain-on-a-Stick”. That is, a pencil with a brain-shaped eraser - oh those wacky UMN Neurologists…