How much hurt have skyrocketing gas prices inflicted on commuters? So much that many Americans have turned away from gas-guzzling SUVs and have gotten Segway scooters instead.

According to a recent write-up in The Wall Street Journal, "sales at Segway Inc. have risen to an all-time high," and CEO Jim Norrod fully expects sales this quarter to jump 50 percent from a year earlier.

Perhaps not surprising, many of the two-wheeled, self-balancing vehicle's new customers are universities and local governments that are replacing traditional automobiles with the all-electric scooters due to pinched budgets.

The Segway's appeal: cheaper than a typical new car, less emissions compared to your standard vehicle, it plugs into a standard electrical outlet and can get up to 25 miles per charge. Also, Arrested Development's G.O.B. made it look good.

The shortcomings: the still-pricey $5,000 price tag on a typical model, the 12.5 mile-per-hour top speed, safety concerns and the limitation to short distances. Also, riders look ridiculous.

Puzzle House
Earlier this month, two days after our 9 Bizarre Buildings piece, The New York Times published a feature on a pretty crazy (crazy cool) mystery puzzle-mansion.

According to the NYT:

The apartment is quite attractive and perfectly functional in all the typical ways, and its added features remained largely unnoticed by its inhabitants for quite some time after they moved in, in May of 2006.

Basically, a rich family in New York City hired a designer to "renovate" their 4,200-square-foot Fifth Avenue apartment and, as a fun thing for the crazy rich people and their kids, he turned the whole place into a scavenger-hunt/puzzle kind of thing: hidden messages, clues, compartments, ciphers and the like.

The house even has its own soundtrack and a book that contains clues to the scavenger hunt in addition to a mystery story. Check out photos of the interior here.

Speaking of puzzles, here's a brainteaser for ya's. . .

Wheelbarrow Brainteaser
Two men working at a construction site were up for a challenge. So, during their lunch break, they confronted one another.

One man, obviously stronger, said "See that wheelbarrow? I'm willin' to bet $50 that anything you can wheel to that cone 20 yards away and back, I can wheel twice as far. Do we have a bet?"

The other man shook his hand and began formulating his plan. He looked at the objects lying around: a pile of 600 bricks; a standard W27x102 steel beam; the nine men and two women who had congregated to watch; and a stack of 13.5 bags of concrete mix.

He thought for a bit, and then finalized his plan. "All right," he said, and revealed his object.

At the end of the day, the clearly stronger man went home $50 poorer. What was the weaker man's object?

Highlight the following for the answer: The weak man looked the strong man right in the eye and said, "Get in."