On February 26, 1993, a truck full of explosives detonated in the garage of the World Trade Center's North Tower garage. The explosion ripped through several floors of the building and killed six people, one of them ready to go on maternity leave. A thousand people were injured. Eventually, six terrorists were convicted of the attack, which was supposed to bring the towers down. Link
ABC News spoke to some of the people who were affected by the bombing. Link
The Denver Post has a collection of photographs from the aftermath of the bombing. Link -via Metafilter
(Image credit: Joe Tabacca/AP)
Comments (1)
Second, this has been done before. It's not experimental. It's a marketing ploy. I've talked to my local sales rep and his boss about this campaign, and I think it's probably one of the stupidest things in recent marketing history. They'll be over priced, and they won't work well for anything but beaches and boardwalks. We already have beach cruisers for that...
How about focusing on the innovations being made in commuter and utility bikes?
I'd have to agree with Silky; this is 95% marketing and 5% innovation. The Coasting gimmick is basically a 3-speed hub with a fancy gizmo that does the shifting for you. How much help should anyone need for 3 speeds? The problem with the concept is that a fancy bike will get people to ride for the short term, but it'll soon be hanging in the garage, unused. Getting people to ride bikes regularly in the real world will take more than a gimmick like Coasting.
The work part is what keeps most people from using bikes more; heck, I'd ride a bike to work 11 months of the year (and I live in the currently frozen North) if I didn't have to worry about other people smelling me all day in the office. The thing that would make bicycling really take off is adding an electric or gas motor to the bike to make the commute easier, and make terrain less of an issue. I'm considering the purchase of one such electric unit for myself; some start at about $200, and many are pretty darned simple to install.
If bike companies would start making turn-key bikes with electric or gas assist more mainstream and more affordable, you'd see them everywhere.
I know people have to be presentable for their jobs (well, I don't, but I'm a grease monkey), but I think the solution to that would be for companies to provide lockers and showers, rather than fix motors to bikes. I live in Atlanta, and Turner provides all their bicycle commuters with stipends and free gym memberships so they can stow their riding gear and shower before work.
Regards,