poll: Your Favorite Technology

[jesse_the_k]

These occurred to sasha_feather and me over lunch. Feel free to add yours in comments!

Poll #23029

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 34

View Respondents

Life is better thanks to

View Answers

parchment paper
10 (29.4%)

carabiners
12 (35.3%)

rubber bands
8 (23.5%)

backpacks
22 (64.7%)

rubber husbands
9 (26.5%)

hairbrushes
8 (23.5%)

castering wheels
9 (26.5%)

checkboxes ☐ ☑ ☒
21 (61.8%)

see my comment
4 (11.8%)

Comments

Re: pencils, yay!

[jesse_the_k]

The zebra design is such a classic -- I don't think it's changed since it was introduced.

Another future poll: longest-lived loved technolgy. Sturmey-Archer 3-speed bike hub is essentially unchanged in 100 years.

Re: pencils, yay!

[esteefee]

I'm not familiar with that bike hub name but I wouldn't be surprised if I had a bike with it at some point. RN I ride a big ol' cruiser (Specialized Roll Elite in metallic green). It has 3x7 21 Shimano gears which ain't bad for a cruiser, and the tires are so fat it bounces right over railway tracks. I fill the basket with supplies and roll it right into the elevator/my apartment.

Re: pencils, yay!

[jesse_the_k]

Oh, what a lovely bike! Given your local terrain, it’s Totally Correct you can end your errands in an elevator instead of hoisting your steed up the stairs.

The “planetary gear” internal hub is great for city riding: Sturmey-Archer invented it in 1902. Street crud doesn’t affect the gears at all, and riders can shift at a standstill as well as moving. MyGuy’s Raleigh hybrid has an 8-speed Shimano Nexus internal hub (but he doesn’t use toe clips/cleats former mechanic sniff).

Yes, I was a bike mechanic in an earlier life. (My first geeky fandom!) I got a step-through Raleigh DL1 Tourist on employee discount. (Almost immediately a railroad track grabbed my front wheel, with unhappy results.) The DL1 was designed for city riding. The tires could be wider, but the 28” wheels elevated me into drivers’ sight lines. The laid back frame angles make for excellent visibility and shock absorption, and the bar brakes have no cable to stretch.

Forgive me if this is a redundant rec, but Lucy Jane Bledsoe’s novel Working Parts is a sweet Lesbian romance about bike mechanics and literacy.