Something to think about during the next us-east-1 outage
Something to drink about.
Water ?
How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
41–50 of 102 posts
Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
#42The nice thing about being calm is, it prevents you from doing worse things from the worst.
Yes, the worst could be worse if you got panic.
Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
#43So the secret is to remain calm and keep hope (both of which are helped by drunkness) besides the obvious "be last to get into the water" and "put on more layers of clothing" (though I didn't know that more clothes help even when wet).
I remember reading about Battle of Atlantic. Statistically on a sinking ship a sailor who couldn’t swim had better chance of surviving than a sailor who was a good swimmer. In a cold Atlantic water the former had been expending less energy then the later, so he would last longer until being rescued.
> a sailor who couldn’t swim had better chance of surviving
I don't know about the statistics, but I'm descended from a small Scottish fishing village and remember being told that sailors didn't lean to swim. The logic was if you went overboard you were dead, the non swimmer would suffer less as they'd drown sooner.
I'm not sure how much truth is in that, and I doubt it applies these days as it was probably from the days of sail when a ship couldn't just stop & turn around.
Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
#44Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
#45> cannot seem to kill I live in a cold Canadian city that has a substantial population with drug addictions. I was talking to a cop one night (he was off duty) and he was telling me about how you eventually learn some of the regular offenders names and stories. He told me how tough some of these guys are. How he'd pick one up for stealing and he's out in -30C with ganggreen on his leg. "Cockroach energy" he called it…
Similar to Crackhead Strength you might encounter in the states. There's videos of sketchy looking folks hauling away anything they can find while riding bikes that were probably stolen too. One guy hoisted a fridge into his shoulder and biked it away.
I remember a video from long ago describing exactly what you mention. A tweaker riding a bike with a full sized fridge on his shoulder. Wild thing is that it wasn't even a full sized bike. lol. I think it was a BMX one.
Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read about a north fisherman whose boat sunk. everyone perished in the cold water but he was so large and wrapped in heavy clothing he eventually paddled to shore, walked a mile and knocked on a door, without dying. Fat and cloth layers really help. He was also said to have survived because he was incredibly drunk. Maybe the alcohol in the system reduces the effects of the cold?
Sounds like anti-freeze keeping the oxygen circulating to the brain.
If this ends up being anti-freeze...
Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Somewhat unfortunate when the police do a routine breathalyser test an hour later though.
On the contrary, it can provide a defence. “You have a defence if you can convince the court that you drank the alcohol in question after you had driven and that you were not over the limit whilst you were driving.”[1] With that said, your BAC can be estimated from whatever you prove you drank after the accident, which would reveal a discrepancy. Not a reliable way to get away with a terrible crime. [1] https://www.p…
Interesting case but ingesting alcohol can only improve a defense when you start out with alcohol on board. Otherwise it will worsen it.
Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Similar to Crackhead Strength you might encounter in the states. There's videos of sketchy looking folks hauling away anything they can find while riding bikes that were probably stolen too. One guy hoisted a fridge into his shoulder and biked it away.
I remember a video from long ago describing exactly what you mention. A tweaker riding a bike with a full sized fridge on his shoulder. Wild thing is that it wasn't even a full sized bike. lol. I think it was a BMX one.
Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
#49I find it hard to believe he survived in the water for that long.
I read about a north fisherman whose boat sunk. everyone perished in the cold water but he was so large and wrapped in heavy clothing he eventually paddled to shore, walked a mile and knocked on a door, without dying. Fat and cloth layers really help. He was also said to have survived because he was incredibly drunk. Maybe the alcohol in the system reduces the effects of the cold?
I don't think it reduces the physical effects so much as makes you -feel- the cold less and therefore be more able to keep going.
Let's never find out.
Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)
#50I find it difficult to believe. It was April -2C air temp in the open ocean and water temp probably 0C or 1C. Even with clothes on or relaxed you'd be dead in 15 minutes. I live in Canada on the coast and there are many news articles of people drowning after falling into cold water. And those people were in modern cold weather clothing.
Some people do have quite a bit more innate cold tolerance than normal. See for example Wim Hof. Hof claims his high cold tolerance is due to exercise and lifestyle, but his identical twin brother has similar cold tolerance without having done the things Wim attributes his to suggesting its genetic. That fits what scientists who have studied Hof found. They found that (1) he really does have very high cold tolerance,…
There are some really wild stories about Wim Hof. I read that he would sometimes sit on a fountain in a park in Amsterdam, using it to flush his bowel. Then one day, the fountain nozzle was changed without him knowing, and next time he did this he had to go to hospital because of perforated intestines.
I googled around a bit and did find some evidence that this actually happened but not that he did this regularly. I read it in an NRC or Volkskrant (Dutch papers) article if I remember correctly.