The Segway [A Flash In The Pan]

This episode explores the idiom "flash in the pan." We are talking about Segway's, muskets, and failure!

Guests:

Don N. Hagist, author – Noble Volunteers: The British Soldiers Who Fought the American Revolution, Editor of The Journal of The American Revolution

Dr Samuel West, founder and curator – Museum of Failure

Sources:

EF Tours Blog – Dean Kamen: Inventions and Opportunities in Failure
https://blog.eftours.com/article/dean-kamen-inventions-and-opportunities-in-failure/

CNN – How the Segway Became a Joke and a Blueprint for the Future
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/tech/segway-history

Emerging Tech Brew – How the Segway Paved the Way for Micromobility Startups
https://www.emergingtechbrew.com/stories/2025/03/21/segway-micromobility-startups

TIME Archive – Reinventing the Wheel
https://time.com/archive/6905012/reinventing-the-wheel-3/

Journal of the American Revolution – About AllThingsLiberty.com
https://allthingsliberty.com/about/

Early English Books Online (EEBO) – Flash in historical texts (A59339)
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?q1=Flash&type=simple&rgn=full+text&c=eebo&cc=eebo&idno=A59339.0001.001

WIRED (2015) – Why the Segway Was a Technological Marvel That Didn't Work
https://www.wired.com/2015/01/well-didnt-work-segway-technological-marvel-bad-doesnt-make-sense/

WIRED (2006) – Glitch Leads to Segway Recall
https://www.wired.com/2006/09/glitch-leads-to-segway-recall/

Archive.org – The Flintlock: Its Origin, Development, and Use
by Torsten Lenk, translated by J.F. Hayward
https://archive.org/details/Flintlock_The/page/n127/mode/2up?q=Marin

Topics:

flash in the pan, Segway, Museum of Failure, innovation, failure, idioms, history, personal growth, technology, expectations, muskets, flintlock