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Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

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Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#111

Post by raxxorrax »

flingo wrote: post #108
raxxorrax wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somehow I prefer this solution than ubiquitous drones with superior audiovisual capabilities everywhere and especially in the most remote regions of the planet.

> Somehow I prefer this solution than ubiquitous drones "When all you have is a hammer..." My only question is where most of that $300 cost is coming from.

Me too, but I would think the price is due to the low batch size in manufacturing. If we want PLB to spread, we would need to integrate them in smartphones. The price of the hardware would probably drop dramatically.

Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#112

Post by rorykoehler »

dhsysusbsjsi wrote: post #59

Interestingly the international ground air code for requiring help is normally an X or a V. But I would still write SOS or HELP. You can imagine the scenario: “Hey Jane check out that - looks like a V in the sand” “Heh yeah”. “Weird”. or “Hey Jane does that say HELP?” “Heh yeah. Wanna check it out?” “Yeah let’s take a look”.

Surely the best approach is to do every variation you can think of.

Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#113

Post by Delk »

esperent wrote: post #100
dhsysusbsjsi wrote: post #59

Interestingly the international ground air code for requiring help is normally an X or a V. But I would still write SOS or HELP. You can imagine the scenario: “Hey Jane check out that - looks like a V in the sand” “Heh yeah”. “Weird”. or “Hey Jane does that say HELP?” “Heh yeah. Wanna check it out?” “Yeah let’s take a look”.

How cross culture are HELP or SOS? We're talking about being on a tiny remote island here. There's no guarantee that the people who see your message speak English, or have much exposure to western culture at all. Is SOS known to all cultures?

I don't think English would be the barrier. My parents would have known SOS decades ago, and I don't come from an English-speaking country.

I am from Europe, though, so I don't know if it might be more specific to Western culture. Although I also imagine pilots would have more of an exposure through either experience or education.

Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#114

Post by kahirsch »

checkyoursudo wrote: post #110
staplung wrote: post #79

Reminds me of the Farside comic: https://imgur.com/r/TheFarSide/hQAT2Go

I feel like I remember a Gilligan's Island episode where they try to write SOS on the beach and it ends up messed up somehow and ignored, though I can't find anything with a quick search and it's possible that my memory from childhood is faulty.

https://gilligan.fandom.com/wiki/Splashdown

Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#115

Post by Grue3 »

esperent wrote: post #100
dhsysusbsjsi wrote: post #59

Interestingly the international ground air code for requiring help is normally an X or a V. But I would still write SOS or HELP. You can imagine the scenario: “Hey Jane check out that - looks like a V in the sand” “Heh yeah”. “Weird”. or “Hey Jane does that say HELP?” “Heh yeah. Wanna check it out?” “Yeah let’s take a look”.

How cross culture are HELP or SOS? We're talking about being on a tiny remote island here. There's no guarantee that the people who see your message speak English, or have much exposure to western culture at all. Is SOS known to all cultures?

>Is SOS known to all cultures?

At least all cultures who listen to ABBA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvChjHcABPA

Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#116

Post by lm28469 »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #4

Call this a freely given and viable but hard to monetize idea - this is a very tractable area for software and drones. Same with locating people in lost wilderness areas. You have a programmatic way to organize coverage areas, you have access to above-human audio and video capabilities, and it reduces the resources/time ratio that is critical in rescues. This was the tragic and avoidable story that convinced me this…

> prone to anxiety, a diminutive 66-year-old woman with a poor sense of direction, hiking the Appalachian Trail by herself, who wandered into terrain so wild, it is used for military training.

Not to be insulting but I feel like the issue could have been solved 10 steps before the need to involve swarms of drones. If people want to go in remote areas they should carry ways to be located, there are no reasons not to carry one. It's the kind of thing that would make sense if money didn't exist, like having a police officer in front of every single house in the country to prevent burglaries.

Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#117

Post by hluska »

Alupis wrote: post #75
hluska wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve got to compliment you. This is one of the better conversations that I’ve had online in a very long time. You’re a big part of why this has been so enjoyable. Thanks for the fun and for raising so many good points. I was a lot more certain before I started reading you and now I’m not sure. Big respect and thanks again. If you’re interested, here’s an absolute nightmare scenario that actually happened. People were…

A spirited debate now and again is good for the brain. :) It challenges your thoughts and positions, and makes you actually question and rationalize why you think the things you do. On occasion, you realize you were wrong. On other occasions, it enables you to fully develop your thoughts and prepare to rationally support them. Either way, it's healthy, and far preferred to being in an echo chamber hearing only your o…

I completely agree with you and I'm absolutely grateful for all the opportunity that people like you give me to escape my own echo chamber.

Hacker News has made me a better person, a better developer and given me the tools to become a better parent. I can't say that about any other community I've ever been a part of.

Thank you and everyone else for being part of my growth. I love you all unconditionally, but especially because you won't just blow smoke up my ass and let me think I'm smrt. I guess that's maybe not unconditional love, but that's the best phrase I can come up with to explain how I feel about all the wisdom and kindness that I get to experience here.

Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#118

Post by blaser-waffle »

waheoo wrote: post #98
dhsysusbsjsi wrote: post #59

Interestingly the international ground air code for requiring help is normally an X or a V. But I would still write SOS or HELP. You can imagine the scenario: “Hey Jane check out that - looks like a V in the sand” “Heh yeah”. “Weird”. or “Hey Jane does that say HELP?” “Heh yeah. Wanna check it out?” “Yeah let’s take a look”.

Universal attention sign is usually three of the same. Three dots in a triangle, three flashs in a row, etc. Its just easy for the human mind to detect it as an unnatural pattern. It still probably better to use SOS or help but sometimes that's not an option.

While hunting, 3 rapid shots usually means distress or "need attention". e.g. you slide down a hill and screw up your ankle and knee -- fire off 3 rounds.

A lot of hunting regs also limit you to 2+1 rounds (2 in mag, 1 in chamber) for sporting purposes, so firing off 3 rounds also implies you're deliberately emptying your gun.

Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#119

Post by squarefoot »

jessriedel wrote: post #104
squarefoot wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a safety device; it must work reliably in adverse conditions, which is a requirement no consumer device, including €5000 TV sets, can meet. Also I believe in case of failure it would expose the manufacturer to some nasty lawsuits, hence the cost which very likely is equally spread on research, top notch build, quality control and insurance.

Why must it? Why not have they work only with 80% reliability if it could lower the price and put it in the hands of way more people?

Because if it had 80% reliability it wouldn't be a safety device at all. Think of cars, would you buy at a very discounted price a car whose brakes would fail 2 times out of 10? Different contexts, I know, but when safety is a must price doesn't matter much.

Re: Men rescued from Pacific island after writing SOS in sand

#120

Post by perl4ever »

squarefoot wrote: post #119
jessriedel wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why must it? Why not have they work only with 80% reliability if it could lower the price and put it in the hands of way more people?

Because if it had 80% reliability it wouldn't be a safety device at all. Think of cars, would you buy at a very discounted price a car whose brakes would fail 2 times out of 10? Different contexts, I know, but when safety is a must price doesn't matter much.

When I think of cars and safety, I think of Takata airbags.
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