--- On Wed, 5/19/10, OrionWorks - Steven Vincent Johnson <orionwo...@charter.net> wrote:
> All good points, Kyle. The only individual I can think of > that is trying to > reverse this trend is Dean Kamen, inventor of Segway. > Segway is also not > "practical" but it's still an impressive product that has > found a niche > market. And who knows... Kamen's got a hell of a lot more money than I do... United Neko is after all, a multi-dollar corporation. So far, our best funding source has been the Sofa Cushion Federal Credit Union (member FDIC, an equal housing lender). But more seriously..... I went around town telling people about this thing, and some other stuff I've done/seen. I've seen the polls out there that say American laypersons are scientifically inept, or don't care about anything to do with science, etc. I don't know /who/ is being polled, but they were not like that in Biloxi, Mississippi, and they aren't in Wheatfield, New York. They eat the stuff up when told about it. A black kid at work today was milling about the shop as I worked on his car. He struck up a conversation with me. Most people would expect, from his race and style of dress, that he'd be more interested in rap than anything else. Wrong. I told him about the flame radio. He was there for a long time past what was required to work on his vehicle, simply because he wanted to know /how something so simple can pick up radio waves./ We discussed all sorts of things, including the cancellation of the plans to return to the Moon. Turns out he wanted to see men walk there again. The discussion he and I had made my day. There are people, young people included, out there who are willing to grab on to this stuff. But how are we to get them motivated? --Kyle