- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Motocompo in 1980s and
- https://motocompacto.honda.com just a few years ago. This one is electric.
I sincerely wonder if this wasn't hazmat back then?
I was stopped by the metal detector at an airport. I didn't know why. Then the guy in the lane next to me said, "Oh, I'm wearing steel-toed boots."
I said, "Oh, I am too." (True)
Without any further questions or checking, they let us both through.
"That? It's just a giant, red, spherical Christmas ornament, with a string to hang it by, that happens to smell of gunpowder... and the monogram 'TNT' on the side."
My first time flying myself was a school trip in January 2002, so a lot of the security theater hadn't started yet. There was more security, and I had to remove my jacket and belt, but it was still just a metal detector, and potentially a pat down (saw someone getting pat down).
By the time I was flying a lot for work (2006-2012), it was the full shebang (shoes off, using 3 different bins per person - and waiting for more bins, no jackets, no belts, no hats, no facial expressions as TSA looked at your ID).
Now when I fly it seems like the security takes no time anymore. When I last flew in October, I didn't even give the agent my ticket. Just my passport that they scanned and handed back to me without even looking at me. Same with Customs in the UK and US, scanned my OWN passport, and a gate opened for me to pass through, no border agent or anything.
- So do I get an Aston Martin?
- Well ...
Today's consumer innovations I see coming out of Japan are like "hey, wanna buy a cheaply made nostalgia-bate plastic replica of a popular 1980's digital Casio metal watch, for more than the price of a bluetooth smartwatch?"
(By the way, I'm looking for a suitcase with air pressure wheels)
Is the ad character inspired by, or the inspiration for, Mr Bean?
PS: What I miss from growing up - being awoken about 7:35 am to my next door neighbor's Solar Gold LS Wankel rev shifting from 1st->2nd as he commuted to Spectra-Physics.