Re: Words once had meaning

On 7/25/2025 10:59 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Fri, 25 Jul 2025 10:20:52 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
 

It burns me when electric or gasoline powered motor vehicles
are called 'bicycles', but I just lost it with this report:
>
https://nypost.com/2025/07/24/tech/company-proves-star-wars-style-speeder-bike-is-real/
>
To me, a flying jet powered vehicle is not a 'bicycle'.

 That is probably retaliation by the motorcycle industry for daring to
call a human powered machine a "bike".  The latter should be called a
"bicycle" except that breaks down with an "e-Bike".
 My guess(tm) is that it's was faked.  The article claims:
"In May, Volonaut stated that the AirBike is powered by jet
propulsion..."
Where is the jet engine?  Where is the downward facing jet engine to
allow it to hover?  Where are the fuel tanks?  Where are the
aerodynamic fairings that are needed for it to fly at 124 mph without
ripping the pilots helmet (and head) off?
 Where is the independent confirmation?  Self-confirmation isn't good
enough.
"Volonaut is confirming the authenticity of all officially released
video materials saying that a real, fully functional and flying
prototype vehicle has been piloted by the inventor with zero use of
special effects, AI or computer generated imagery."
 This is what I would expect from something that actually flies:
<https://nypost.com/2023/03/07/worlds-first-flying-bicycle-hits-market-for-555k/>
 

We've seen criminal vaporware before:
https://www.velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=27615&g2_imageViewsIndex=1
https://mombatbicycles.com/MOMBAT/Museum/Plastic_Bike_History.html
Clever use of Imron to promote an investment swindle.
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971