Bike share programs are springing up all over the world. For an idea of how they work, a system in the bustling, northern Italian city of Milan provides a good example.
You know when it’s a rent-a-bike
There’s no confusing a colorful bike share bike, which is clearly marked with municipality and conspicuous I.D. number (an effective theft-deterrent). Continue reading
Tess and the Kimmunicator
The humble flip phone may revolutionize the way we experience theme parks. It’s all happening at Disney World’s Epcot, courtesy of a girl named Kim.
“The Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure simply gives guests something that they want. People want to be active, physically and mentally,” Jonathan Ackley – who directs Walt Disney Imagineering’s Interactive Division – told The Durable Human.
My 8-year-old cousin, Tess – like many girls of a certain age – loves Kim Possible. Kim stars in her own Disney Channel animated series as a high school cheerleader who turns secret agent. On our recent trip to Disney World, Tess heard on the bus from the airport that there was Something Kim at Epcot and I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it until we found her. Continue reading
Lots of American kids are following the lead of their parents this week by riding their bikes to work. Schoolwork, that is.
Take it from Wolftrap Elementary in Vienna, Virginia, which issued a “BikeWalk Challenge” to see how many families would give their kids a chance to walk and roll.
Jeff Anderson, bike aficionado and Wolftrap parent, turned pied piper on wheels by leading a “bike bus” through the neighborhoods. Continue reading
December 19, 2009
The snow just keeps on coming. In front of my house, a lone pair of tire tracks fades with each falling inch. Yet, under the drifts at the end of the driveway, is a plastic bag with today’s Washington Post. It’s as if it’s 1999, when everyone got the paper and the day couldn’t start unless you devoured those words along with your toast and coffee. But the bag is skinny now and fewer subscribers are on the street, yet someone still managed to bring my paper in the worst December storm on record.
The front page tells of another endangered habit. People complain about empty mailboxes and no festive cards to make their day. But others are glad to be done with the tradition. They love using Facebook because they can send quick, paperless greetings and a steady supply of family snapshots all year long.
I, too, am toying with discarding the card idea. In the few days our grown-up kids were together this summer, no one thought to take a perfect picture. But we’ll hang in for another year and send a generic photo. Whatever goes in the mail, I know I can depend on a slew of hard-working humans to get it where it needs to go.
Amazon depends on humans, too. I never thought much about that until I stumbled on a link to their holiday help-wanted ad. Amazon hires walk 10 to 15 miles a day and “repetitively lift, bend, stoop and squat”. I suddenly realized, when I order on Amazon, a great effort will be made on my behalf – not by robots or machines – but by living, breathing people. Continue reading
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