|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 12/04/2004 : 11:19:00 [Permalink]
|
The old style stamps and envelope were so foul that come bill-paying time, I used to use a damp sponge (now, I do it all on-line and the Post Office be damned!). Some envelops were even flavored, making them yet more nauseating.
The electric wheelchair. I'm getting one soon and I will again be able to tour zoos and museums, and go pier fishing. Also, I am looking forward to popping wheelies in the VA Hospital lobby. 
 |
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
|
 |
|
|
R.Wreck
SFN Regular
USA
1191 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2004 : 13:21:41 [Permalink]
|
quote:
filthy wrote:
The electric wheelchair. I'm getting one soon and I will again be able to tour zoos and museums, and go pier fishing. Also, I am looking forward to popping wheelies in the VA Hospital lobby.
Back in college (20+ years ago), we worked on a design for a way to better protect wheelchair occupants riding in their chair in a van. If I remember correctly, the state of the art at that time was some sort of clamp that held the bottom of the chair to the floor of the van, and a strap around the occupant's chest and the back of the wheelchair to hold him/her in place. The problem was that the chair backs themselves were not that structurally strong (being attached only at the level of the seat), so in a crash when the person was thrown forward or back, the wheelchair tended to break (the heavier you are, the worse it is).
There were no standards for passenger protection in this case, unlike for a regular vehicle seat. Have things gotten any better since then? |
The foundation of morality is to . . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibliities of knowledge.
T. H. Huxley
The Cattle Prod of Enlightened Compassion
|
|
|
|
filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 12/04/2004 : 13:40:40 [Permalink]
|
quote:
There were no standards for passenger protection in this case, unlike for a regular vehicle seat. Have things gotten any better since then?
Actually, they have. The vans themselves are being customized in such a way that the patient doesn't ride in the sick-sled, but has easy access to it when it's needed. They also have hydrolic lifts and ramps for easy access. In my case, as I'm still a little mobile, my sled will be carried on a lift mounted on the trailer hitch of my S-10 Blazer.
Also, wheelchairs, the manual kind, themselves are much better designed and stronger (except those used by the VA Hospital, some of which, I do believe, date back to the Precambrian!).
|
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
