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‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

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Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#121

Post by jacquesm »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #118
jacquesm wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Downhill for hours eh? Calling bs ;) But seriously: I've had the old lady thing happen to me more than once.

It really only goes that fast on even stretches, of which there are plenty in northern & east Germany, and you literally need minutes to get there - downhill you can go a bit faster, but that gets scary quick. As soon as there is even a slight incline it starts to slow down, thats true. And I'm talking about the LPG version with 90 PS! Thats why you want to floor it: "Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt."

> Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt.

That had me laughing.

Funny story: I once, long ago in the corridor stopped to help a bunch of people in a Trabant, the engine had seized and it really wasn't going to go anywhere so I offered to tow them behind my 230E, which could easily do that. They agreed happily and we hooked them up, and one of their party switched to my car to show me where to go (illegal to go off the corridor, but screw it, this had massive consequences later on but at the time I was still totally oblivious). So we're back on the highway and doing 50 or so and the guy asks 'can't you go any faster?'. I say sure, but what about the tow? 'They will have to follow ;)'. Ok, so doing a 110 or so (where you could legally go maybe 90 at the time) for an hour took us to Frankfurt a/d Oder where they lived, I dropped them off at home and the guy that drove the Trabbi came to me and said that they'd never gone that fast with it before...

Good times. Obviously, for East Germans before the wende there was a lot of misery (same in Poland, my destination) but there was also a strong camaraderie, 'us against the system'.

Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#122

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #16

Drowning is the leading cause of death in national parks and recreation areas. It's scary how powerful water is.

Force in numbers.

It's powerful because there's a lot of it.

Also it's deceptive as hell. See all the stories here about strange pockets of rivers that almost killed people, or the author's own note about the 252 degree hot pockets in Yellowstone Lake with an average survival time of 20 minutes.

I think when people see water they're tempted to think it's a nice pool or a lazy river to enjoy - when really it's most likely a death trap.

Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#123

Post by giantg2 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #82
giantg2 wrote: post #54

Risk can be fun. I don't feel bad if someone gets hurt or killed doing an activity that is inherently dangerous. They died doing what they enjoyed and feeling alive. Don't feel bad for me if I go that way either.

I think it's basically an "informed consent" thing. If people are clearly informed and consciously aware of the risk, that's completely up to them (eg. free solo climbers). Where it gets tricky, in my opinion is: - we aren't convinced the person is currently capable of making rational decisions - we aren't convinced the person is fully informed and equipped with an intimate understanding of the risk they're undertaki…

I'm not sure how we could enumerate all the possible risks in a wilderness or near wilderness setting.

Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#124

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

h2odragon wrote: post #37
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #3

Because of modern civilization we have a rose-tinted view of nature and take it for granted. Raw nature is scary and easily able to kill you.

"Raw nature" is around you all the time. Safety is an illusion, you never know when there's a meteor with your name on it.

Sure, but if you live in New York City, you don't really need to worry about getting eaten by a bear on your walk to the coffee shop.

Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#125

Post by Arrath »

citizenpaul wrote: post #85
emtel wrote: post #48

One time, I was driving at night in the Sierra after a storm - roads were covered in snow. It's a drive I've made close to 100 times without incident. Going around a bend, I saw a car in the ditch on the outside of the curve. I stopped the car, put on the hazards, and went to see if there was anyone in the car. As I was about to cross the highway a car come sliding around the bend more or less sideways. I stopped and…

Nearly the same thing happened to me. Except instead of the car missing me my brain told me perhaps from tornado safety training in school? If I dropped into the narrow V shaped drainage ditch so the car would pass over me I would live. It did and I did. I can still remember the tire passing inches over my face in slow motion as the car flew into the trees. I was fine. The driver was some kid that stole their parents…

Holy shit, glad you're okay. That was quick thinking.

Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#126

Post by _fat_santa »

bombcar wrote: post #42
itsmemattchung wrote: post #26

Some tips on where to begin to learn more about nature and survive in the wild? Maybe an REI class? I'm a little embarrassed to admit that should I ever venture out into the wilderness, I would definitely not survive. I lack basic survival skills and nature would eat me alive. That being said, I always admired folks who could go camping for days (or weeks), who could cook up a warm (and edible) meal over a campfire.

Honestly the three things you can do easily: 1. Only go deep into nature (out of cell range) with someone experienced. 2. Obtain a rescue device (Apple satellite cell, Garmin GPS emergency beacon, etc). 3. If stranded in a vehicle stay with the vehicle!

I disagree with #1, I live in Colorado and many trails here are out of cell range. My advice here is either get a satellite phone and/or do some research about where you are going and only go if it's a well travelled trail. I often go out by myself into places without cell coverage but I always research the place to make sure that if I run into issues, there will almost certainly be someone there to help me. It's not a perfect system but it's better than going in blind somewhere.

Also, pack 2-3x the water you think you will need.

Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#127

Post by jononomo »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #47

> I did other reckless shit with my own car. [...] Drove it 120 miles per hour just to see what it felt like. Admittedly this gave me a chuckle. Most people don't go that fast, but with the right kind of car this no big deal on the Autobahn.

That is 193 KPH -- seems pretty fast to me, even for the autobahn.

Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#128

Post by bombcar »

Swizec wrote: post #115
bombcar wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly the three things you can do easily: 1. Only go deep into nature (out of cell range) with someone experienced. 2. Obtain a rescue device (Apple satellite cell, Garmin GPS emergency beacon, etc). 3. If stranded in a vehicle stay with the vehicle!

“out of cell range” is not a great measure for deep nature imo. On the California coast, for example, you can lose cell range without even leaving the road. And in the Alps, you have areas with so many tourists the path is affectionally called a highway, but it would take 2 hours of hiking to get into cell range because mountains block signals. I think it depends more on how many people you’re likely to meet per hour…

True, but "out of cell range" is a helpful indicator; if you're in cell range you can call for help. There are places out of range that are perfectly safe (due to people passing by) and there are places in cell range that I'd be worried to travel without others; but as a rule of thumb I think it works.

This also goes for driving - especially in winter! Do not leave the commonly travelled roads if you don't know what you're doing! A stuck car gets freezing cold quite fast in many places.

Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#129

Post by giantg2 »

ip26 wrote: post #90
giantg2 wrote: post #54

Risk can be fun. I don't feel bad if someone gets hurt or killed doing an activity that is inherently dangerous. They died doing what they enjoyed and feeling alive. Don't feel bad for me if I go that way either.

In many incidents, people are completely misinformed on the degree of risk, or woefully unprepared, which does strike me as tragic. E.g. happy family who takes a pleasant hike a few miles from the car, except they weren’t thinking about the fact it was August in Utah and they only brought 8oz of water. It’s also evident in her story about getting caught by the river. She thought, I’m not going to do anything crazy li…

I think she had fair warning. The story states that the ranger told her that statistically one of them would die that summer. Sure they didn't enumerate all the possible dangers, but who could? It's a wilderness or near wilderness setting with innumerable risks and scenarios.

Simply saying it's so dangerous that one of you should die this summer should be sufficient for someone to then do their own research and take precautions given that the total risks of the area can't be covered.

Re: ‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022)

#130

Post by dsfyu404ed »

MrFantastic wrote: post #69
AYBABTME wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I almost drowned on a beach without surveillance, jumping into the surf waist high, for fun, until suddenly the receding water pulled me just a few meters further away and now I couldn't touch the floor anymore, and was slowly being pulled further and further away from the beach. My girlfriend of the time was on the beach far enough away that she couldn't hear or grasp that I was struggling. By luck and after perhaps…

If you aren't strong swimmer you should not play in ocean waves. If you don't know if you are a strong swimmer you are NOT. The ocean doesn't give a shit about your life.

Why not just tell people never to swim? There are never "no waves" when you are at an ocean beach. These sorts of absolutist rules of thumb are of no benefit to anyone but the people offering them up.

People will go swimming in the ocean and in all myriad of bays and estuaries that are more than capable of having enough surf to kill them depending on the weather. You just need to exercise good judgement about how much surf is too much.

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