WalkCar is the personal transporter if you don’t want to ride a bike or take a car
When you first see it, you may be forgiven if describing it as a laptop with wheels. However, it is actually a personal transport device that weighs only 6.6 pounds and packs into a backpack.
The portable transport intends to resolve your commuting woes and offer an alternative that is comparatively easy to use and store. It is so compact that one can even carry it around in their laptop bag.
How does one maneuver the WalkCar? It is powered by a Lithium-ion battery and does not have a steering wheel. One simply needs to shift one’s weight from one side to the other to navigate the WalkCar. Keeping your balance should not be an issue as the portable solution has four wheels. When you want to halt, simply get off the WalkCar.
The demo video shows that the WalkCar is able to handle inclines with ease, but we also wonder if those tiny wheels are capable of withstanding pressure from stones along the path or cracks on the sidewalk.
The WalkCar is also capable of gaining maximum speeds of 6.2 miles per hour and can go a distance of up to 7.4 miles on a three-hour charge.
Is there a doctor on board? Managing medical emergencies at 30,000 feet
What happens when a passenger gets sick on a plane? A call for a medical professional goes out on the plane. Most of the time there is a medical professional and, if not, flight attendants go into action.
The surprising finding for Martin-Gill was this: In 3 out of 4 of those medical emergencies, a medical professional was on board to volunteer, and 50 percent of the time, that medical professional was a physician.
In other words, having medical professionals step up is more common than not, and that’s a good thing for sick passengers. Because while flight attendants must be trained in CPR and using an automated external defibrillator, they will be the first to tell you they are not medical professionals.
Flight attendants are familiar with the contents of the onboard emergency kits (which include, in part, syringes, needles, a blood pressure meter, devices — in three sizes — to open airways, an IV set with tubing and tourniquet, and a variety of medications) but they’re not trained to use those items. That’s when you hope that the person sitting next to you is either a nurse or doctor, and/or they happen to be carrying exactly what you need — like glucose or a glucometer, in the situation I saw — that they’re willing to share.
A Chilly Reception — Why do hotels think guests want access to ice in their rooms?
This article looks at why ice machines have become standard in hotels. It seems a strange expectation and I wonder about how many people use the ice machines. I don’t remember the last time I used one. What about you?
From housekeeping service to a Bible in the nightstand drawer, there’s a standard set of amenities you can expect to find in most American hotels. We can chalk up housekeeping to hospitality and Bibles to the Gideons, but what about ice machines — how did these hulking apparatuses come to be so common in the alcoves of American hotel hallways? Sure, ice is theoretically useful, but who decided that hotel guests must have free access to it at all times?
Major credit goes to Kemmons Wilson, the founder of Holiday Inn. The original Holiday Inn, which opened in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee, was the first hotel to offer free ice to guests via the ice machine. Wilson was frustrated by the upcharges and additional fees he encountered when traveling — yes, hotels once had the nerve to charge for ice — so he decreed that ice would be free for all guests in his hotels. He was also, importantly, an early proponent of franchising, envisioning a chain of hotels where guests could expect the same services whether they were in Miami or Milwaukee. As more Holiday Inns opened in subsequent years and each one was equipped with ice machines, the trend gradually spread across the nation.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.