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Notice: GeekPress is back up and running, thanks to Paul! It's still a not-so-serious tech news blog, but the format is significantly looser. Diana, having given up programming for philosophy, has her own philosophical blog NoodleFood. More of her work can be found at DianaHsieh.com.

 

Never go skiing with a mobile phone

2:51:37 pm mst / 8 February 2001 found by paul / filed in hardware / source Register 216 hits / 2 comments / 0 e-mails

The Register tells this tragic story of a man caught in an avalanche while carrying his mobile phone. Unfortunately, the phone was left on and it interfered with avalanche transceiver signal which rescuers normally use to locate people in such predicaments. As a result, he died.

On the other hand, many people who go skiing and hiking find a mobile phone invaluable in case they get lost. Hence, the key is to keep the phone turned off until needed. (The article also lists a few other bizarre cell phone-related deaths. The article is worth reading for the second paragraph alone.)

Comments

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you fail reading comprehension test by clj 8:11:22 am mst / 9 February 2001 / # 2

The article didn't say that the buried man was killed because his cell phone was on, it said he died because the *searcher's* cell phone was on. In other words, this isn't a Darwin awards candidate, but a potential lawsuit waiting for a sleazy lawyer (if that isn't redundant) to latch on.

Cause of death? by MysteriousStranger 6:50:43 am mst / 9 February 2001 / # 1

This article seemed to cover up the victim's cause of death. The article stated that he was dead when he was found, but didn't say what killed him. It merely blamed his death on the phone. Could he have been killed instantly in the avalanche, or would finding him sooner have saved him? My theory is that if he had frozen to death or suffocated over time, the article would have stated that. But if he suffered severe trauma, it would have been left unstated to make the story plausible and lay the blame on the phone.