Is there nothing beer will not influence us to do?
Makes you wonder whether the Vikings missed an efficent opportunity. (image from gothamist.com)
The wonderful people at Reuters bring us news of a brilliant money-making venture in the city of Amsterdam. It seems a clever inhabitant has built a large pedal-powered vehicle with room for twenty-two. The passengers pedal for their locomotive needs and are rewarded with the local beer. Brilliant idea for site seeing.
Unfortunately it appears there have been a couple accidents, which is not surprising, and thinking it through a bit, these crashes could be somewhat severe. Performing some simple calculations on broad assumptions, twenty-two people averaging 160 pounds each are roughly 3500 pounds. A fabrication to haul all of that would easily weigh another 1200 pounds leaving us just shy of two and one-half tons. This is roughly the weight of a delivery van. Get that rolling at twenty miles an hour with drunks screaming kareoke, as all foreigners feel the need to do, and quite a calamity could ensue. Hopefully the local busy-bodies will not kill it off in reams of regulation.
I am all for it. When one comes to the hallowed grounds of Lake County I will sign up.
