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Can You Hear Me Now?
squarefish writes "CNN has this story about a hiker stranded in South America's Andes mountains when a blizzard begins. He reaches into his backpack for his cell phone -- only to find his prepaid minutes are up. Out of nowhere, a phone company solicitor is calling on his cell phone, asking if he would like to buy more time. Is this convenient or what?"
as far as i know, you are still able to make emergency (911) calls from a cell phone even if it has no service agreement. however, seeing as it wasn't the united states, more power to the sales guy or something. :))
next we'll be hearing a story about how spam saved someone's life. (i don't care whether its the canned or electronic kind, would be interesting either way
Although, if they had cell phones on that soccer/football (or was it rugby? I forget) that was forced to resort to cannibalism, they all probably would have gotten sales calls - after all, they always call during dinner.
WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
Besides, chilling your battery will not revive it. It will only slow down power loss.
What a stupid article!
"...Ok Mr. Diaz you don't need to make up some stupid story about being lost in the Andes mountains. If you are not interested, you could just say so." *click*
... is whether or not they made him buy the minutes before they would help him.
True, but if I'm going to freeze to death, I'd much rather do it drunk.
It's more convenient than you think. How did the hiker get stranded in the first place? My theory is that the phone company had a hand in getting him lost in the first place. Who benefits? Suddenly here is a heartwarming story that makes the phone solicitors look like benign life-saving angels rather than annoying pricks paid to disrupt our most precious moments of peace....
Contrary to popular belief, it is easier to get signals on top of mountains. Why? Because at the top of the mountain you have line-of-sight with many different ground antennas. It is the same reason that you get a good 'view' :)
Also, from my personal experience in the Alpes, phones seem to work pretty well at high altitudes - so much, that I even get signals from neighbouring countries' networks sometimes. The major problem with large height is that your cellphone might appear in many cells simultaneously and the networks might become confused. (And this could be one of the reasons why you can't use a cellphone inside an airplane)
As far as the batteries are concerned.. I am aware that lower temperatures lower the reaction strength => the internal resistance of the battery increases => it becomes unusable very quickly. However it works again when it becomes warm. This does appear bogus...
... what do you expect from a story related with telemarketers and reported by Journalists working in US Media Conglomerate B]
I miss my rubber keyboard.(Homepage)
Alcohol is a vasodialator, so you do get increased bloodflow, especially in surface capillary veins. So you do suffer from hypothermia at a greater rate, but you also prevent frostbite. Depending on the amount of exposed skin, drinking small amounts alcohol is often considered a good thing. If your boots get wet and then freeze, drinking is the only thing you can do to help keep the circulation going and save your toes. Alcohol and water are both vasodialators, but alcohol works best. Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, which is a bad thing for frostbite. Brandy contains lots of sugars, so would have an overall warming effect, assuming he had reasonable clothing.
Chilling batteries can cause the output voltage to rise, because the internal resistance is a complex function based on temperature. I've seen the graphs of battery output for satellites, very non-linear, with several peaks and dips for different temperatures.
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
Now we can't even DIE in peace, without some ($*%&$ing phone solicitor bothering us.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
On the other hand, if you eat the snow you can freeze to death trying not to dehydrate. I'm sure a very slow but steady diet of snow is the best way to go.
I'd carry a plastic bottle that I could put snow into, then put the bottle into my clothes. After it melts, then you can drink it. That's much safer.
Do not eat without melting! Eating snow and ice can reduce body temperature and will lead to more dehydration.
Melt ice or snow and boil it if possible. Don't eat crushed ice - it can injure your mouth and can also cause further dehydration.
Lundin says eating lots of snow is a common and potentially deadly mistake.
"Don't eat snow," said Mike Sheets. "Don't put it in your mouth and try to melt it if you're thirsty. You'll use up too much of your body's heat, and you need that energy for yourself."
Drink a lot of water, 8 to 12 glasses a day. But do not eat snow to satisfy your thirst. Eating snow can lower your body's core temperature, triggering deadly hypothermia.
Don't waste body heat by eating snow. Make a fire; heat water before drinking.
Do not eat snow as it tends to dehydrate the body
Do not eat snow to obtain water, it will just make you colder.
"Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative" - Miyamoto Musashi
I think that goes for OS's too
The guy was lucky he wasn't a crusty, battle-hardened American consumer. Otherwise, here is what would have happened:
Man, I'm freezing... This brandy is good (Hiccup)...
Riiiinng...
Hello?
Hi, maybe I speak to Mister Diaz?
Leave me alone, you f&@*$%ing telemarketer bitch! Click. Hey, wait a sec... Hello? Hello? Oh crap...
That's right, boys and girls, telemarketers are not only a nuisance, they also create deeply ingrained reflexes that can hamper your survival if you happen to be drunk, stranded and out of minutes at the same time...
Did you hug a telemarketer today? Good! Keep hugging him until he chokes.
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