Modern Buddy

http://www.hovding.com/en/index

Very interesting.

I am holding out for the full body everyday safety version....

$584 USD!

The full face will suffocate me.

I love the idea of this. The cost is more than a Hit Air airbag jacket, though! I guess it's due to being based oman accelerometer and collecting rider info in its black box.

The tech is very interesting and may actually someday have a useful and not astronomically high use that benefits motorcyclists and scooterists.

I love it when the tech from my favorite sci fi books (in this case, Snow Crash) makes it into real life.

hackett wrote:I love it when the tech from my favorite sci fi books (in this case, Snow Crash) makes it into real life.

+!
REAMDE has been sitting, unread, on my nightstand since Christmas. It's laughing at my short attention span. Of course, I'd include reading the Baroque Cycle as a major life accomplishment.

I like how the model is still trying to look fashionable and sexy with that big ridiculous inflatable parade-float astronaut helmet monstrousity on her head. I could not stop laughing.

hackett wrote:I love it when the tech from my favorite sci fi books (in this case, Snow Crash) makes it into real life.

Yeah, but can I retrofit those networked pizza warmers into my minivan for when I take carryouts home to my burb?

ericalm wrote:Of course, I'd include reading the Baroque Cycle as a major life accomplishment.

++. And this from a guy who's read Cryptonomicon like 10 times. I just cannot get moving on the Cycle.

chas wrote:I like how the model is still trying to look fashionable and sexy with that big ridiculous inflatable parade-float astronaut helmet monstrousity on her head. I could not stop laughing.

I thought it was kind of beautiful. It reminded me of some of the spacey Pierre Cardin designs from the '60s, costumes from 2001: A Space Odyssey and so on.
Cardin:





2001:

In the fashion show vid, most of the models are wearing some sort of scarf, or jacket, or something that covers up the 10" wheel wrapped around their necks. Maybe they should make a cover in the design of a Prima Whitewall.

don't you love Flo ? Perfect hair every time.

PeteH wrote: Yeah, but can I retrofit those networked pizza warmers into my minivan for when I take carryouts home to my burb?

Soon, no doubt.

PeteH wrote:

ericalm wrote:Of course, I'd include reading the Baroque Cycle as a major life accomplishment.

++. And this from a guy who's read Cryptonomicon like 10 times. I just cannot get moving on the Cycle.

I read the first two books of the Baroque Cycle when they came out, but by the time the third was released I couldn't remember half the characters, much less the plot up to that point. I can't help but feel like he became a little over-indulgent with that series. But Snow Crash is an all-time favorite; I loved Cryptonomicon, and I still want to pick up REAMDE.

PeteH wrote:

ericalm wrote:Of course, I'd include reading the Baroque Cycle as a major life accomplishment.

++. And this from a guy who's read Cryptonomicon like 10 times. I just cannot get moving on the Cycle.

TOTALLY WORTH the half a year it'll take to read, ha. I started right before the last book came out, which probably helped. And I went straight through.

I've only read Cryptonomicon once, but read most of it on a trip to the Philippines, which was kind of an odd coincidence.

Are you guys serious? For a bicycle wreck, maybe. Thrown from a horse? Sure. But a motorized vehicle wreck? No thank you. That design looks utterly useless for a faceplant (which makes up 40% of all impacts), and especially a slide. I don't see anything keeping that model's pretty little face from fitting right through that opening once the big fluffy "visor" hits the ground. And how much abrasion damage can it sustain before deflating? After all the damage I've seen on full face helmets, you couldn't PAY me to wear that.

EDIT: I redact this entire statement upon realizing it IS just a bicycle helmet.



~SM

Swordsman wrote:EDIT: I redact this entire statement upon realizing it IS just a bicycle helmet.

LOL.

It is, but many types of airbag tech for motorcycles are out there and may become more commonplace (and hopefully more affordable) with time. Airbag jackets are a great idea and some appear to work quite well.

After head injuries, the leading cause of fatalities in motorcycle crashes is thoracic injury. Most motorcycle jackets offer almost zero protection to the ribs and chest. And as I learned the hard way last year, when wearing armored gear, any part of the body not covered by armor is vulnerable.

This might just make it safe enough to ride in a golf cart now.

ericalm wrote:

chas wrote:I like how the model is still trying to look fashionable and sexy with that big ridiculous inflatable parade-float astronaut helmet monstrousity on her head. I could not stop laughing.

I thought it was kind of beautiful. It reminded me of some of the spacey Pierre Cardin designs from the '60s, costumes from 2001: A Space Odyssey and so on.
Cardin:






2001:

Those pictures are pretty rad actually. The girls in the last two pictures look like they are wearing sperm costumes though.

I've always had a thing for high fashion, as it seems to be so comically strange most of the the time but I guess that's what happens though when you are mixing equal parts fashion and art. I've always been taught that art isn't art unless it's disturbing somebody to some degree.

chas wrote: Those pictures are pretty rad actually. The girls in the last two pictures look like they are wearing sperm costumes though.

Given that those two pictures are from 2001: A Space Odyssey, it wouldn't be inconceivable that Kubrick wanted those costumes to invoke that image...

Swordsman wrote:That design looks utterly useless for a faceplant (which makes up 40% of all impacts)

+1

You can do a face plant on a bike if a car pulls out in front of you.

Life is too short to take unneccessary chances, IMO...

Protect the family jewels!

ericalm wrote:Protect the family jewels!

What.... the hell..... are those?

~SM

Weight-loss inflatable pants, if I remember the old adverts correctly.

http://io9.com/5909221/dear-people-of-t ... ly-popular