‘That girl is going to get herself killed’ (2022) • Hacker News Board

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

#281

Post by brnt » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:25 PM UTC

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…

Oh, I had that "why is my arm vibrating" more often than I should. But not often enough for my brain to reduce time to diagnosis, which surprises me every time.

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

#282

Post by shortstuffsushi » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:28 PM UTC

kkielhofner wrote: post #277

shortstuffsushi wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't mind sharing, what was the reason to get in the car with them to drive? Were you planning to head out to an event like a hike or something that you had arranged online, but hadn't known the people ahead of?

I wish it was anywhere near that "respectable". I was visiting a college town for an away football game. This was the night before the game and some of my friends and I went out. I met these two guys at a college bar my friends and I went to. My friends were going back to our hotel but these guys (who we had all met maybe an hour before) had invited me to a party. It was still fairly early and I thought "Neat, this w…

I guess in the scheme of "things that happen in a college town," being invited to another party from a public bar with people you just met there doesn't seem like a particularly unusual thing to take part in either. It being a college town, and stemming from a bar, does seem like it may have aided in the inappropriate response from the police, unfortunately. I wonder how many college kids end up in a similar situation, where in most cases the police likely won't even be able to do anything to follow up. A friend's brother had a similar experience, having been approached at a gas station for help and ultimately being beaten up and mugged. Aside from also being treated like a drug addict (which he was, to be fair), he was told they they couldn't/wouldn't do anything about it anyway since they had no way of knowing the people involved.

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

#283

Post by xeromal » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:41 PM UTC

angst_ridden wrote: post #208

A lot of folks don't appreciate how quickly normal can turn into dangerous in the wilderness. Because most of the time, it's all so tame. With our specialized gear and tech, there's not much threat ... most of the time. I've been on mountain peaks on nice summer days when storms appear as out of nowhere (not the typical afternoon rains), and there's lightning, high winds, and 50ºF temperature swings. In that kind of…

Just read this article and I love how they called the Grand Canyon, the inverted mountain.

I hiked down into it a few years ago. I feel like I'm a well-prepared person. On less than a day mountain hikes, I always bring about 1500 calories worth of bars, 2.5L of water, a flashlight, multitool, and something warm if it's cold. It adds a bit of weight but I feel at ease with some backup tools. I made my way down to the bottom (easy) when I realized I was already out of water. WTF I said and I opened my camelback and behold, there was a hole. When I had sat down for a short breather, a really sharp rock had stabbed right through my bag and water bladder with ease and the the bag completely drained.

I pushed my way back up but it was very hot and I think I hit the first or 1.5 stage of heat exhaustion. Like the article, my brain felt like mush and I felt a massive struggle to move. Luckily, there's a spring or some kind of water source midway or so and I just drank a solid amount of water before moving on to the next. I ended up making it ok but it definitely was uncomfortable thinking you were going to dehydrate as you went up.

Random story but I just wanted to share that you can prepare all you want and sometimes life still tries to kick you in the butt. These days I carry a small garmin device that can call a helicopter anywhere in hte world. It costs a bit but it's worth the peace of mind that if I manage to injure myself to the point of being unable to move, I can call for help.

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

#284

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:42 PM UTC

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #106

scruple wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doing risky things in an environment where you can get help vs. an environment where you're on your own . There are good lessons to learn by taking physical risks in more controlled environments. Like learning not to take dangerous and/or unnecessary risks when you're on your own because you know you might get yourself into a situation where you depend on help.

Given this is a story about a woman who repeatedly nearly dies it doesn't seem like it helps.

[deleted]

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

#285

Post by scruple » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:42 PM UTC

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #106

scruple wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doing risky things in an environment where you can get help vs. an environment where you're on your own . There are good lessons to learn by taking physical risks in more controlled environments. Like learning not to take dangerous and/or unnecessary risks when you're on your own because you know you might get yourself into a situation where you depend on help.

Given this is a story about a woman who repeatedly nearly dies it doesn't seem like it helps.

Maybe she should've spent more time at the playground as a child.

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

#286

Post by tasuki » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:45 PM UTC

advisedwang wrote: post #247

tasuki wrote: post #246

How does: > Either way, statistically, one of you will die this summer. go together with: > But you can take comfort in knowing that there were less than eight deaths per 10 million visits to national park sites between 2007 and 2018. ? I'm confused. How many people were there in that room when the ranger said statistically one of them would die? Were they for some reason more statistically likely to die than the oth…

They were employees of the park, not random visitors.

How many do you think there were? And what do you think is a chance for a single park employee to die during a given summer? To me, this still doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

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

#287

Post by brianpan » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:48 PM UTC

taeric wrote: post #159

kibwen wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. The lesson here is this: lightning strikes twice (frustratingly, the usual idiom is as wrong as can be). In other words, if you observe an outcome and have no oth…

Is it that lightning strikes twice, or that most events are not as rare and in need of as much setup as a lightning strike?

I think other people have sort of answered it, but a more general version might be:

If you observe an extremely unlikely event, you should update your Bayesian prior about how likely that event is.

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

#288

Post by sweetjuly » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:50 PM UTC

It's tragic but it seems like anyone who regularly does any wilderness activities/adventure sports knows one or many people who have died doing it. I know some that have drowned, others that fallen due to badly placed cams. It's awful but, as the article says, if you know enough people it'd be bizarre if you didn't know a few...

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

#289

Post by tootie » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:51 PM UTC

brnt wrote: post #281

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…

Oh, I had that "why is my arm vibrating" more often than I should. But not often enough for my brain to reduce time to diagnosis, which surprises me every time.

Me too. A light socket was apparently powered via two separate circuits. I turned off one but not the other. Idk what was happening because I touched a live wire with my hand while my elbow brushed a metal door jamb so I think the juice flowed through my forearm and not the rest of my body. Made my arm buzz, but didn't really hurt and I was able to let go. New rule is just turn off every circuit in the house every time.

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

#290

Post by cat_plus_plus » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 9:58 PM UTC

Any optional activity has some risks and activities that are most fulfilling and exciting tend to have the most risk. Taking maximum precautions also tends to take away from fun, like flying commercial with an experienced pilot vs hang gliding. For me the takeaway is simply to weigh pros and cons of different options and if someone doesn't make it, it was still their choice.

I once decided to climb Half Dome cables despite clouds that could have brought a thunderstorm and electrocuted me. On the other hand, I feel that 1. having had the experience of climbing Half Dome was a great asset to me in two decades since, 2. due to various life circumstances since I would probably not have come again later and 3. By now I am probably too old and busy with other priorities to manage requisite backpacking trip with two full days of hiking. So in retrospect, I don't regret my decision and, had it not worked out, well I would not be around to regret it. So long as one goes into things with eyes open, I am not going to judge.