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The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

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Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#61

Post by conroe64 »

danso wrote: post #12

This bit about how certain groups of people have somehow developed different responses to cold is fascinating: Were you a Norwegian fisherman or Inuit hunter, both of whom frequently work gloveless in the cold, your chilled hands would open their surface capillaries periodically to allow surges of warm blood to pass into them and maintain their flexibility. This phenomenon, known as the hunter's response, can elevate…

Here is a trick I learned biking around in cold Las Vegas nights to warm your hands. Squeeze whatever you are holding hard, (or make a fist and squueze) in pulses about a second apart. It will force the blood through, like a miniature heart, and your hands won't feel cold at all.

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#62

Post by tjoff »

sardonicbryan wrote: post #40
30thElement wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming the exhaust pipe is clear isn't the best assumption when you're in a ditch in the middle of a blizzard. Even if the pipe is clear, rust from the all the salt on the road or damage from going into the ditch could easily put a hole in your exhaust.

So what is the best play then? Wait in the car without the engine running?

Might not be that bad, there was a case here in Sweden last winter with a man that got trapped in his car for 60 days, with temperatures reaching -28 C.

He apparently survived by eating some snow (and drinking some soda?) but had nothing else to eat. He had a sleeping bag and I guess the snow makes quite good isolation. Not something I'd recommend though, he was lucky to survive and was in a really bad shape when he was found.

( some pictures: http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article14394731.ab )

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#64

Post by tomrod »

dmor wrote: post #53

This topic makes me think of the Jack London story "To Build a Fire", which is one of my favorites. http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html Also timely, one of our power users at Referly just made a preparedness kit list for winter driving. I probably should have had some of this when driving alone in the Sierra Nevadas last month. http://refer.ly/winter_driving_preparedness_kit/c/789d5ae050...

My thoughts exactly

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#65

Post by johnbellone »

eigenvector wrote: post #60
johnbellone wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a phone you can make an emergency call from it as long as there is service. The different networks have different frequencies and if your phone doesn't have the antenna its not going to work. This is more than just CDMA vs. GSM, although not sure about GPRS. I was a big fan of the Android phones that had AM/FM radios awhile back. At least you'd be able to hear broadcasts to have a general idea of where th…

Most Android phones can receive AM/FM radio using the Bluetooth antenna with a custom ROM that enables that functionality. Most common ROMs include it. Dedicated antennae for that purpose are rare but that's no reason to go without.

I am pretty sure that one of my older phones used the headphones as an antenna?

Again, my Galaxy Nexus doesn't seem to have this functionality, although that's merely me trying to locate the pre-baked application and not finding it. So you're probably right about the ISV not including it.

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#66

Post by ghurlman »

maxerickson wrote: post #51
waterlesscloud wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if it's physical or at least partially psychological. I live in Los Angeles and my brother lives in Flagstaff. Every year at the holidays, I go spend a week with him and his family. In Flagstaff there can be entire days below freezing and the nights can easily reach single digits F. When I'm there and it's 25 F, I'm fine. Toodle along like normal. Come back to LA and it's 50 and I shiver. Same outfits even.…

Could it be the humidity? Wet air usually feels colder.

True, but the humidity in November is usually lower than that of March... in the NE US anyway.

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#67

Post by UnFleshedOne »

corin_ wrote: post #21
afandian wrote: post #15

I spent the whole article translating those temperatures into Centigrade. Kind of broke the flow.

Edit, ignore the following: Worst was where they switched without even mentioning it. One paragraph they're still using F and said "The lowest recorded core temperature in a surviving adult is 60.8 degrees." , then the very next paragraph, with no talk of changing units, they talked about people dying "though temperatures never fell below freezing and ranged as high as 45". Just because the second story happened in E…

They do use kilocalorie that is defined with degrees of celsius though. It isn't as bad here, but unit mixing is extremely annoying in aviation books in canada. In the same chapter of "From The Ground Up" you can see nautical miles, statutory miles, multiples of thousands of feet for height (took me a while to realize a mile is not a multiple of 1000 feet, wtf?), degrees of celsius, pounds, kilograms, kilopascals, millimeters of mercury and so on. At least I haven't seen degrees of fahrenheit anywhere...

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#68

Post by protomyth »

mobweb wrote: post #39
freehunter wrote: post #8

Living in Michigan, this is one of my biggest fears. Due to the massive lakes that surround us, we frequently get a blast of warm, wet air that causes rain, and of course that warm wet air is being pushed off the lake by a cold front, causing high winds and sub-freezing temps. This combined with large stands of farmland and no trees for windrows means wind blows right across the road and freezes the rain instantly, s…

> no cell service, or the cell service is only for Verizon phones I remember reading somewhere that emergency calls can use any network.

Often, in a blizzard, the cell towers fail.

On a side not, at home, the local phone company tends to be pretty good at keeping the line going even when power fails. Last time, I got stuck 20 hours without power, the phone line worked the whole time. The cell towers did not.

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#69

Post by freehunter »

johnbellone wrote: post #65
eigenvector wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Android phones can receive AM/FM radio using the Bluetooth antenna with a custom ROM that enables that functionality. Most common ROMs include it. Dedicated antennae for that purpose are rare but that's no reason to go without.

I am pretty sure that one of my older phones used the headphones as an antenna? Again, my Galaxy Nexus doesn't seem to have this functionality, although that's merely me trying to locate the pre-baked application and not finding it. So you're probably right about the ISV not including it.

I had previous Windows Mobile phones (Motorola Q and an HTC Touch Pro) that would pick up AM/FM radio so long as headphones were plugged in. I think my Samsung Focus was able to do it as well.

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#70

Post by bitwize »

recursive wrote: post #34
billyjobob wrote: post #20

How old is this article? It seems to use the old Fahrenheit temperature scale. I'm sure my grandfather would understand those temperatures but for myself I had to convert each one into modern units. Eventually I couldn't be bothered and stopped reading.

New Fahrenheit is the same as old Fahrenheit. In other words, it never changed.

Fahrenheit is old. Celsius is modern. The real avant-garde give all temperatures in kelvins...
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