XPost: alt.forestry, misc.rural   
   From: gilmer@crosslink.net   
      
   > As with most things you lose about 50% when the real stuff happens.   
   >  That is 50% of training, knowledge and common sense. Ask anyone   
   >  that has trained to fight. Once you have to fight on the street, all that   
   >  training diminishes real quick. No matter how many ring fights you have   
   >  had, when it's on the street, it's different. Believe me, been there.   
      
   I understand that completely.   
      
   But, but ...   
      
   This guy had DAYS to sort things out.   He was an intelligent man but he   
   failed to apply his mind to the problem he faced.   
   >   
   > I'm real good with a fire drill in my back yard or a camp. No idea of how   
   I   
   > would really be lost in a   
   >  strange place. I see a guy that sacrificed himself for his family. Bad   
   > judgement?   
      
   Indeed!   It was a needless and foolish "sacrifice."   Aside from losing his   
   own life he INCREASED the risk to his family because his own body heat no   
   longer contributed to keep the car warm.   You have to admire his motives   
   but we don't want folks to take away the wrong lesson.   The important   
   lession is that he screwed up.   
      
   I have been in "stuck" situations and I even admit to temporary "panic"   
   feelings.   But (knock on wood) I have been able to sort things out after a   
   few minutes.   I guess the best "survival" advice would be to DO NOTHING for   
   a few minutes unless there is an obvious reason to act (the car is on fire,   
   under water, etc.)   
      
      
   >  Of course for those of us that know the outcome. He didn't. I probably   
   > would have stayed   
   >  myself, but then again, that is from someone in the backyard and camp   
   > experience.   
   >  I'm glad his wife and kids can go on. I'm sorry he didn't.  But chance   
   does   
   > favor the prepared mind.   
   >  Check yer trunk for sech stuff what will keep ya alive. It don't take   
   that   
   > much room. >   
      
   Well, our previous set of cars such have some of this stuff but I accept   
   your point as our present set doesn't have a "winter survival kit."   OTOH   
   "around here" it's quite unlikely to get stuck for "days and days."   
      
   BTW:  some years ago just across the Potomac River from DC, some guy ran his   
   car off the GW parkway.   Fresh snow covered up the tracks and the guy died   
   days later from a combination of cold and his injuries.   But the roads   
   around here are just roads and it would be difficult to find a place when   
   you could run off the road and not be noticed (and your car "tagged.")   
   > > .   
      
   It's good to want to do the right thing but it's dumb not to think first.   
      
   About 3 years ago, for example, I saw an accident when an old woman stepped   
   on the gas instead of the brake and ran her car through a brick wall.   The   
   old woman was shaken up but was literally able to walk away from the   
   accident.   
      
   However, a witness who wanted to "help" crossed a busy street without   
   looking for traffic.   She (the witness) was "clipped" by a car and ended up   
   with a broken arm.   She was lucky at that.   A few inches closer and she   
   would have been knocked into another traffic lane and might easily have   
   received fatal injuries.   
   > >   
   > >   
   >   
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)