Eagle-eyed Reg readers* have spotted that the first name on yesterday's DARPA patent application for a ludicrous man-firing chair on rails (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/16/man_slinger/) is one Dean Kamen.

Yes, the very same Dean Kamen that spawned upon on the world Segway (http://www.segway.com/), the 'Human Transporter' beloved of donut-guzzling law enforcement lazybones, marauding campus geek squads, and unnamed Reg hacks (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/11/1108_letters/) alike.

Segway kindly provided a testdrive (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/23/segway_snaps/) of the "pogo stick on two wheels" for Register staff back in November.

Thus, never ones to dodge danger, we'd like to be first to volunteer to test DARPA/Kamen's latest blueprints (http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220060086349%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20060086349&RS=DN/20060086349), should they ever come to bone-crunching fruition.®

*Kudos to Mike Earl, first to spot the hand of an evil genius at work.

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