Segway UK Boss Dies After Driving Off Cliff 413
necro81 writes "Jimi Heselden, the British multi-millionaire defense contractor and philanthropist, who bought the Segway company last December from inventor Dean Kamen, died yesterday after an accident while riding one of the machines. While using a ruggedized X2 version of the two-wheeled balancing scooter at his estate in North Yorkshire, he apparently drove over the edge of a precipice and into the River Wharfe. He was found later by a passerby and declared dead on the scene."
The Poor Guy! (Score:5, Funny)
But in all seriousness, I'm very sorry for him and his family. If I didn't constantly encounter the damned things on sidewalks and in pedestrian spaces on the National Mall in DC I wouldn't be so quick to lampoon their maker's untimely demise.
Re:The Poor Guy! (Score:5, Informative)
Note that the inventor of the Segway is Dean Kamen. This article is about Jim Heselden, the guy that bought the Segway company.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It seems slashdotters have also stopped reading the summaries. Perhaps we need some kind of chapta system to check if posters have at least read that!
Re:The Poor Guy! (Score:4, Funny)
Please, anybody who won't even read a three sentence summary certainly won't read a whole chapta.
Inventor: yes/no. (Score:5, Informative)
The Personal Transporter's *actual* inventor is this engineer I've bumped into -- I work with his brother. DK was "merely" the person who put money and PR behind it. Dean gets a lot of credit -- but really, *his* biggest invention was the insulin pump.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Can we please get a citation for this, because this is the first I've ever heard of it, and as far as I know, is totally inaccurate. The Segway is based on the technology that Dean Kamen developed for the iBOT, which is a really cool wheelchair that can climb stairs, drive over rocks, sand, etc. The Segway was merely a refinement and repackaging of that wheelchair's technology. I suspect this guy you work with is BSing you (or his own brother BSed him and he fell for it).
Re:Inventor: yes/no. (Score:5, Funny)
He said Kamen's biggest invention was the insulin pump.
I don't see a value judgment there. Just a clarification.
I also think Segways are bigger than insulin pumps.
Parse that as you will.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
(*whoosh*)
Re:The Poor Guy! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The Poor Guy! (Score:4, Funny)
Why is paraphrasing the first sentence of the article (while attempting to contradict something that GP didn't actually say) modded informative?
Here's how it works: most articles have 3-4 actual interesting facts in them. They get extracted and modded up so we don't have to read the article. That saves about 50,000 nerd-hours per day.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
If you'd taken the time to even read eldavojohn's post, you will not see the word INVENTOR anywhere.
He said "maker", which as the owner of the company that NOW manufactures them, is TRUE.
You assumed he'd said "inventor", called him out on it, then made yourself look stupid by posting anonymously to justify your mistake when you yourself were called on it.
Congrats on that, good job.
Re:The Poor Guy! (Score:5, Informative)
I initially didn't care much -- they call him a "defence contractor". But it seems he made his money from selling crates of earth to use in actual defences, rather than the rest of the "defence contractors" who make guns and bombs, and should really be called "offence contractors".
Re:The Poor Guy! (Score:5, Informative)
It appears that he was a miner who received a redundancy payment and used it to start a business making wire cages that were filled with earth to stabilize canal banks. The military found these useful for building blast walls in Iraq and bought a bunch of them. I'm sure he did well as a military contractor but that was not his business.
Sad for the family.
Re:The Poor Guy! (Score:4, Informative)
I have some experience with these barriers- Every American base in Iraq uses thousands of them for building fortification.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesco_bastion [wikipedia.org]
You'd usually find a ring of them around a building, two deep, with an additional course laid on top of that. They are, as the wiki article mentions, "one of the less heralded life- and labor-saving devices of war" (among other uses).
I felt pretty safe having them around.
-b
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Bystanders were alerted to his demise by the sound of "Yakety Sax" playing loudly as he approached the abyss.
Man. (Score:3, Interesting)
...what a way to go out. Fitting, but jeebus...
Re:Man. (Score:4, Funny)
Hmmm, he didn't sell enough, clearly.
Before anyone says it: (Score:2, Funny)
Please look up the definition of irony [reference.com] before posting anything with that particular word in it.
(This especially includes all Sheryl Crow fans)
Thanks in advance.
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Funny)
Please look up the definition of irony before posting anything with that particular word in it.
(This especially includes all Sheryl Crow fans)
Ironically, you probably meant Alanis Morissette.
Re: (Score:2)
D'oh!
Fair cop... my bad. :)
Re: (Score:2)
Could have been worse, he could have been a spelling pedent.
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Funny)
But it's important to uphold the principals, and not set a bad president.
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Funny)
Where's the duc[tk] tape? My head's gonna blow.
Actually, it isn't used on air ducts... (Score:4, Informative)
To provide lab data about which sealants and tapes last, and which are likely to fail, research was conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Environmental Energy Technologies Division. Their major conclusion was that one should not use duct tape to seal ducts (specialty tapes are available for this purpose). (They defined duct tape as any fabric-based tape with rubber adhesive.) The testing done shows that under challenging but realistic conditions, duct tapes become brittle and may fail.[6] Commonly duct tape carries no safety certifications such as UL or Proposition 65, which means the tape may burn violently, producing toxic smoke; it may cause ingestion and contact toxicity; it can have irregular mechanical strength; and its adhesive may have low life expectancy. Its use in ducts has been prohibited by the state of California[7] and by building codes in most other places in the U.S. However, metalized and aluminum tapes used by professionals are still often called "duck/duct tapes".
from Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
(This especially includes all Sheryl Crow fans)
Ironically, you probably meant Alanis Morissette.
No, penguinisto just really thinks poorly of Sheryl Crow fans. All they wanna do is have some fun, they don't concern themselves with things like the definition of irony.
To his credit, there are no Alanis Morissette fans really.
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Insightful)
To his credit, there are no Alanis Morissette fans really.
I was dragged to one of her shows a year or two ago by my wife, and she and her band put on a shockingly good and rock-like show, not at all what I would have expected. It was almost like watching a metal band fronted by Alanis Morissette cover the works of Alanis Morissette.
I'm a little ashamed to say it reminded me a lot of a Metallica concert, back before Metallica started sucking. AM was even headbanging to the guitar solos.
If that all sounds too surreal to be real, I can only say I would have thought the same thing.
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Insightful)
With spin like that she would have made a good communications major.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Not ironically, Morissette's explanation jibes completely with how I interpreted the song from the first time I heard it. It seems so obvious to me that I remain amazed at the number of people who missed the joke so completely that they think she made a mistake even after it's explained to them.
Re: (Score:2)
is it ironic that you got the musician wrong?
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Funny)
If you imagine watching him post in slow-motion in a stage production, then the part where he started typing "Shery..." was a scene with dramatic irony, because the audience knew he was about to complete a tragic error, whereas the character himself was unaware.
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Informative)
The word they shall all be looking for, is apropos [reference.com].
Isn't a Segway more aluminumy than irony? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Informative)
Hi. This is ironic and certainly contrary to what was expected. I don't see how you can claim otherwise.
I buy the rights to a product. I intend to manufacture it and have it make me wealthy. Instead it kills me. This is irony.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's marginal at best. If he'd bought the Segway company to save his life, or to safely be able to navigate near to cliffs, then I'd say it's definitely irony, but just because his actions inadvertently lead to his death doesn't make it ironic.
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:4, Insightful)
God, everyone's so busy wanting to limit the definition of irony.
NO. Irony does not require that the result be contrary (much less directly opposite) to the stated intentions of the person whose actions led to the result. It does not require that it be contrary to any specific individual's intentions or expectations.
The definition is that it is contrary to what you might expect, and like it or not that's subjective. Most of us wouldn't expect the owner of a company that makes a given product to be sufficiently ill equipped to use that product safely that it ends up killing him or her.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Irony is subjective. Almost anything can be considered ironic or not based on a point of view.
English is not a programming language.
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:5, Funny)
Irony is subjective. Almost anything can be considered ironic or not based on a point of view.
English is not a programming language.
Yes it is. ENGLISH [wikipedia.org]
Is that ironic?
Re: (Score:2)
Man killed by the very product he tried to breath life in to.
Re:Before anyone says it: (Score:4, Insightful)
There are many different definitions of irony, and many people have a pet definition that they think is the 'right' one. Hell, even the oft made fun of Alanis Morissette song has at least a few scenarios that fall under one of the definitions or another. An outcome of events contrary to what was, expected; there is an irony to winning the lottery (and being set for life) and then dying a day later. There's also the definition: as if in mockery of the fitness or rightness of things. A death row pardon two minutes after the execution? Yes, I'd say that's a mockery of the way things should be. Now, a lot of the other scenarios in the song are most definitely not ironic, but there are a few that are.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Ironic Quote of the Day... (Score:2)
Good news is just life's way of keeping you off balance.
Re: (Score:2)
That is pretty stretched logic. One might try to claim irony in the person who makes a device being killed by it, but although unexpected, these sorts are things are not actively contrary to expectations, at least when we don't expect the guy to have special knowledge that makes the device safer.
must've fallen for the hype (Score:5, Funny)
He must have fallen for the pre-launch hype, where the inventor and a variety of major tech figures were claiming that cities would be designed around the things. Maybe he thought it levitated?
Re:must've fallen for the hype (Score:5, Funny)
He must have fallen for the pre-launch hype
really?
I guess the top secret (Score:5, Funny)
amphibious assault Seguay couldn't keep its head above water
inb4 people making jokes of this (Score:4, Insightful)
My condolences to his friends and relatives.
Re:inb4 people making jokes of this (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Hell yes. In my book, insincere condolences are far worse than literally dancing on someone's grave. At least you know how they feel.
Re:inb4 people making jokes of this (Score:4, Interesting)
(quote) Personally I find it just as distasteful to make insincere public expressions of sorrow over something that actually doesn't affect you at all because "it's what you're supposed to do" (/quote)
Perhaps a lot of people are merely working off pre-programmed social norms, like saying "how are you doing?", but speaking only for myself here; as I have grown older and experienced some tragic moments, I genuinely have empathy for others, who have to go through some of the obstacles and misfortunes of life. I also suspect that there are a lot of other human beings who think this way as well.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Thank you.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you drive a Segway off a cliff and die.
(with apologies to Mel Brooks)
Re:inb4 people making jokes of this (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"Are you going to express your sorrow for everyone or just for those who make the news?"
Option Two for me. If mass media don't think them important I'm certainly too shallow to care.
Re:inb4 people making jokes of this (Score:5, Insightful)
Love how people can get a laugh out of everything.
So do I. I hope when I die, people don't decide to have a moratorium on enjoying life. If I die in an amusing way and people don't laugh, I'll come back and haunt them.
That sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sure there will be a lot of smart-ass comments making fun of this guy.
Can you blame them? This story belongs in Idle, not Technology.
Re: (Score:2)
How do you figure? He was the owner of a fairly innovative technology company. It's much more relevant and news for nerds than most things that make the front page.
Re:That sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
Really? A few dozen people you didn't know died just while you were typing that post. And if you take the time to give thought to those, then even more will have died and you could never keep up.
Segway (Score:2, Informative)
*sigh* I'll show^W^W^W^W segway myself the door.
Alas poor segway, I knew him not so well (Score:5, Insightful)
This will just be another clump of dirt on the corpse of Segway. It actually sucks in a way. It was invented to try to radically mix up society and how we travel, change the way we travel in cities. Use less gas, get people moving, less space for parking, all that cool stuff. Instead it became a toy for Segway Polo, jokes for Mall Cops, and t tours. Never getting the impact it was intended for..
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Alas poor segway, I knew him not so well (Score:5, Insightful)
Bicycles do at least as much as a Segway does for most people, and they're a lot cheaper. The Segway tried to fill a niche that didn't really exist -- it isn't the lack of a small, exposed personal transport machine that keeps people in their cars.
Re:Alas poor segway, I knew him not so well (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Alas poor segway, I knew him not so well (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Alas poor segway, I knew him not so well (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Velcro was designed for its exact purpose. Go ask NASA.
Or...one could refer to the actual inventor, instead of NASA which was founded almost 20 years AFTER velcro was invented. Nice try though. ;-)
Re: (Score:2)
It would have if it had been affordable. When your product costs as much or more than many other products that go farther, faster and with greater comfort you have issues with providing an incentive for the general populous to buy. It works for cops (real and rental), tours, and some other niche applications (moving around large campuses comes to mind) but not for everyday travel.
Re: (Score:2)
Part of this may have been the fact that it was looked at almost like a motor scooter. Like those, it cannot remain balanced with power off, and has similar speeds, but unlike them, they take up far more room and cost much more.
Interestingly adding a third wheel to the front, but mounting it on a spring with little resistance would allow the device to remain balanced when the power was off, without interfereing with the lean to drive feature.
But generally people are satisfied with the existing options like
Shameless Marketing Stunt... (Score:5, Funny)
This has to be the worst way to get free press for your product. But I'll give it to the man... He's dedicated.
Re:Shameless Marketing Stunt... (Score:5, Funny)
This has to be the worst way to get free press for your product. But I'll give it to the man... He's dedicated.
Correction: deadicated.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Word is they found his body standing up perfectly vertical on the segway as it balanced his corpse on the fly...
unfortunate (Score:3, Funny)
ATVs are dangerous too (Score:4, Insightful)
simple fact:
if you combine
1. off road conditions
2. high speeds
you are basically deciding to do a passionate tango with death
a ruggedized segway? obviously in the same category as an ATV when it comes to "one dead me, please"
Psst. (Score:4, Informative)
Just an FYI, the XT and X2 lines have been out for years; *IF* that's what he was riding -- and there truly is no other "off-road" Segway -- then it is what it is... but it ain't new.
not the usual segway death (Score:4, Funny)
And yes, I know I'm going to hell.
This is news for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:5, Informative)
So what's the point? Blame (ban?) the Segway?
And, oh, by the way:
In the UK, it is illegal to drive a Segway on the road or even on pavements or cycle paths. They can only be used on private property, despite campaigns to let them be used on cycle paths.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:This is news for nerds? Stuff that matters? (Score:4, Funny)
I know, there's nothing worse than having to pay attention when you're driving a vehicle.
First death? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Certainly Not But Why Phrase It That Way? (Score:4, Informative)
If you lost your balance (due to vertigo upon seeing the dropoff) near the cliff and leaned forward instead of back, then the segway would have killed you.
Personally, I think this is going to turn out to be what happened.
As to who's to blame... the Seqway isn't intuitive. You have to learn the muscle memory and you have to practice coupling it to situational awareness in order to get the machine to go where you want. If you are suddenly in a new situation -- something the randomness of rugged terrain does to you constantly -- it would be easy for your neuromuscular system to make an unexpected adjustment. You might as well be throwing control-system darts. Add vertigo, which is a condition where the neuromuscular system is misinterpreting and misapplying the information available to it, and you could continue to apply the wrong force. I.e., drunken control-system darts.
He'd have had to have trained under safe conditions (ropes, nets, etc.) in that configuration of ridge, cliff height, and lighting to learn how to use it near the edge of a cliff, and therefore take the Segway out of the blame equation. The rule for the thing should be never to ride it in a more dangerous situation than you've been trained to ride it in.
Question (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Question (Score:5, Funny)
What is the British equivalent to "Hey, Ya'll, watch this!"
"Tally-ho!"
My favourite UK Segway... (Score:2)
...goes something like this:
More info (Score:3, Informative)
Don't call it a Segway... (Score:5, Funny)
Call it a Segw
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
y
This ground is a way to get round the stupid whitespace filters
Sounds like a Segfault (Score:3, Funny)
The UK should do something about this (Score:3, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Segways still don't kill people (Score:2)
Driving them around on sandstone cliffs overlooking a fast flowing river does that. As sad as it is, it's definitely a contender for the Darwin Awards.
Giggle (Score:2)
I'm sorry to have giggled at this story. But it's like a Robot Chicken episode come to life. Can't help it.
The device was easily found... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Read the article. It was not the inventor that died, but the owner of the product.
Re: (Score:2)
No, he is the second. The first was GWB aka Dubia.
Re:Not the inventor (Score:5, Informative)
Did you check your facts before you opened up the floodgates of your arse? The guy may have been a defence contractor, but his company made FORTIFICATIONS. Not in the sense of point-defence systems, but in the sense of freaking walls.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Whether it's a gun that kills more people or a barrier that allows troops to advance safely to where they can kill more people really amounts to the same thing.
Re:Not the inventor (Score:4, Insightful)
So do farmers and prostitutes.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not the inventor (Score:5, Insightful)