i'm just needing to rant and vent today so please forgive me...

but here is another really good example of how people read things and have no desire to understand or learn the facts, they just want to "react" to the headline.

I own a Segway (one of those cool two wheel self-balancing "scooter-like" things (p.s. the segway community hates when they are refered to as "scooters ) and most people heard on the news that they were recalled a few months ago because of a safety issue. When I ride mine, no one has every seen one before or heard of one before or knows anything about it but EVERYONE knows they were recalled and I therefore should not be riding it anymore.)

Here are the facts: the Segway was designed with an AMAZING amount of safetly features built in (the inventors previous products are mostly in the health field, he invented the heart splint or shunt or whateveryoucallit, a portable kidney dialisys machine, and the one with the most exposure, the wheelchair that balances and can go up and down stair... really cool)

So the Segway he wanted to be ABSOLUTLEY SAFE. EVERY electronic and mechanical system in the device has double redundancy, meaning there are TWO of everything... there are two computers, the motors have two sets of windings, there are two batteries... and the system is designed that even if something should SUDDENLY FAIL the backup system automatically kicks in so that the machine can keep you balanced rather than falling over, it can gently slow down and stop (it does this automatically) and then issue a very noticable "warning" to tell you something is wrong and you should step off. So even if one of the batteries suddenly shorts out it switches that one off and the second one has enough power to operate the machine until you can get off, likewise is an electronic component fails.

The same thing happens when the batteries are drained. As they get low the display flashes red and it begins to beep. If you keep riding it, it will slow down and stop, and then issue the vibrating warning that you can't miss to tell you your batteries are going dead, so get off it now! When you get off the machine shuts off (it has foot sensors so it knows never to shut off while you are standing on it).

When you get one you take a training session just to help you know what the machine is all about and what it can and can't do. One thing they tell you (and it is also in the manual) is that once the batteries drain down and you get the warning and the machine shuts off, do NOT try to start it again and keep riding (you know how if you drain the batteries on a flashlight and shut it off for a while and then turn it back on the bulb will come on again dimly for a few moments).

Well of COURSE some people didn't follow that warning. After the low batttery shutdown they tried restarting it, and you can sometimes go a few yards before it gives you the warning and the shutdown again. Then you can start it again and maybe get a couple more yards before it shuts down. Then do it again and maybe get a few more feet before it shuts down. Well if you keep doing that, DUH eventually the batteries are going to get so drained that they won't even have enough juice to keep the unit powered to stay balance for the warning period. I say again, DUH.

But of course people were doing it anyway and there were reports of a few people falling off and getting hurt. (Injuries are like a skinned knee. I wear a helmet when riding in case I hit a rock or something just as I would do on a bicycle, we are not talking broken bones or stuff here).

So the segway company instead of just reissuing the warning, maybe publishing it more or emailing it or mailing it to all owners, etc, because they are so concerned about safety, they issued a mandatory recall to every owner (I got a letter, an email, and a personal phone call).

Now here's where the facts really get distorted. This recall was not a notice to send the unit back to the factory for "repair" or to be "redesigned"... the recall is a simple SOFTWARE UPGRADE. They changed the software to make it more sensitive to low battery conditions, so it now actually gives you the low battery warning earlier under some conditions and makes it more difficult to try turning it on again and to keep riding after the warning.

The saying goes "if you make something idiot-proof someone will always come along and build a better idiot" and honestly that is the case here... there are so many safety features in this thing and yet some people found a way to still hurt themselves so the company rewrote the software to accomodate this "better" idiot.

Now the recall didn't even involve a return to the factory (although you had that option if you wanted). They set up centers in some key cities where you could walk in during the day over a course of like a week or two weeks or something and they would plug you in and do the software upgrade in a few minutes. They even gave out a small gift to encourage people to come. For people who weren't near the centers or couldn't make it there conveniently they arranged for someone to come to your house and do the software upgrade there. THEY CALLED YOU to schedule the appointment, they really want to make sure there is no chance of anyone getting hurt.

I actually chose to forgo the upgrade. I never try to push the machine that hard so that condition is not an issue for me, and I don't want the more conservative battery warning to lesson the range I can get on the device. There is no safety issue for me as long as I operate it properly (it was hard to forgo the upgrade, the technician actually called me about 5 times asking to schedule an upgrade)

So this as you see was a REALLY MINOR ISSUE, only effected safety of people misuing the device, and even then people who really really pushed this misuse to the extreme, and the company took care of it easily and effectively so it was hardly an issue at all for anyone... just set up 5 minutes at your most convenient time for someone to come and do the upgrade.

But what do I hear now EIGHT MILLION TIMES when I am riding it on the street "HEY! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT THOSE THINGS WERE RECALLED? THEY AREN'T SAFE!"

yikes.

BTW go look up how many recalls are issued on whatever brand of car you are driving each year. Once in a while something big causes a huge public announcement that causes a car to be recalled to the factory for modification... but almost every car has hundreds of minor part recalls during the course of production. These are usually really minor things, they of course do not effect safety, and the change is usually just something implemented on new cars from that point forward unless an owner makes the effort to bring their car in and have that part changes, of course most people wouldn't even know about it if they didn't look. But an equivalent minor thing with the Segway makes headline news because, well, it's news and its newsworthy!"

You know it is not the reporting that bothers me it is the NON reporting that goes to misunderstanding by not putting things in perspective. OK Segway had a recall how many other common products get recalled? Is this something common and usually unnoticed or something truly rare and informative?

OK some there may be some suicides related to some anti-depressant medications. How many suicides are related to depressed people who don't seek treatment at all?

And also it is not at much the media to blame (although I would like to see them show a littl e more responsiblitly) but the people who just want to go along like sheep.

Honeslty, when I first heard about the thing with Prozac (it was not long ago sometime after I started taking it and this caught my eye) my first reaction was to go around the web to find out what this is all about. Not five minutes later I had more info, the possibliyt that it might just be the "increased energy" thing and that it wasn't really something for me to worry about as long as I knew to be aware of it.

I don't think it is as much that people are lazy just that it is so much of a social thing to get on the bandwagon and react, makes you feel part of a group, something to talk about at the water cooler, etc. I think it fulfills a social need.

Geez I'm going on and on today.

-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
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