A Black Hole of Happiness

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
This site rates your neighborhood for walkability: http://www.walkscore.com/

My apartment gets a 94 out of 100. Maybe that's why I walk in LA.

Walk Score: 97 out of 100

In yo' face!

TM

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
FWIW, I have heard that if your car is going into the water, you want to roll your windows down (counter-intuitively), since otherwise it gets very hard to open the doors.

If anyone knows this to be wrong, or has other practical advice for such circumstances, please let me know, since in the middle of nights like last night I like to lay awake in bed and picture how I'd get children in carseats out of vehicles that have plunged into a major river.

eta"I"

Yes. If the water rises too high above the bottom of the door, the differential in pressure inside vs. outside makes it too difficult for you to get the door open (or to roll down the windows).

This handy safety tip was brought to you by Mythbusters.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
FWIW, I have heard that if your car is going into the water, you want to roll your windows down (counter-intuitively), since otherwise it gets very hard to open the doors.

If anyone knows this to be wrong, or has other practical advice for such circumstances, please let me know, since in the middle of nights like last night I like to lay awake in bed and picture how I'd get children in carseats out of vehicles that have plunged into a major river.

eta"I"

Your local television stations don't throw cars into bodies of water with the crazy news guy inside and then show everyone how to get out during sweeps week? We get a lot of flooding, and once or twice a year idiot decides that their car can make it through some submerged highway.

What you've heard is probably right. The doors are useless once the car is submerged, because of the pressure of the water against them pushing them shut. If the windows are electric, then it's likely that the motor will be shot, so rolling them down before the motor is blown is a good idea. You could break them, but that's harder than it seems.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
Walk Score: 97 out of 100

In yo' face!

TM

I can walk to the Zoo and a golf course, but I bet I get zero for that. this test is urban-centric biased.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
FWIW, I have heard that if your car is going into the water, you want to roll your windows down (counter-intuitively), since otherwise it gets very hard to open the doors.

If anyone knows this to be wrong, or has other practical advice for such circumstances, please let me know, since in the middle of nights like last night I like to lay awake in bed and picture how I'd get children in carseats out of vehicles that have plunged into a major river.

eta"I"

I have one of those life hammer thingies that will break the window and can also quickly cut the straps of safety belts. It was an impulse buy at AAA.

I do not have plastic sheeting, duct tape, Cipro, or a cache of bottled water at home. (So don't come to my house during an emergency, 'cause we ain't sharing the single can of beans.)

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
I noticed that the listing of walkable bars was woefully out of date. I did not really peruse the other categories.* It only listed 8 walkable bars for me. Not that I expected "the local" on there, but there are clearly more than 8 walkable bars. It is a travesty that a certain tequila bar isn't even listed there.

*Because they don't matter.

They only list 8. I know this because I can think of double that number in a one block radius for bars or coffee shops and quadruple for restaurants. I wonder how they pick who they list.

TM

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
What you've heard is probably right. The doors are useless once the car is submerged, because of the pressure of the water against them pushing them shut. If the windows are electric, then it's likely that the motor will be shot, so rolling them down before the motor is blown is a good idea. You could break them, but that's harder than it seems.

So do people in such cars drown or do they suffocate? I would think there'd be enough air in the car to last for a while. And if the car does fill with water, then you can open the doors, right?

I should have taken notes last night.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
FWIW, I have heard that if your car is going into the water, you want to roll your windows down (counter-intuitively), since otherwise it gets very hard to open the doors.

If anyone knows this to be wrong, or has other practical advice for such circumstances, please let me know, since in the middle of nights like last night I like to lay awake in bed and picture how I'd get children in carseats out of vehicles that have plunged into a major river.

eta"I"

Scenarios like these are capably addressed in this book. It's good bed-table reading.

BTW, can't any child over 1 extricate him/herself from a seat faster than any parent?

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
I have one of those life hammer thingies that will break the window and can also quickly cut the straps of safety belts. It was an impulse buy at AAA.

My impulse buy this morning was one of these:

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
My impulse buy this morning was one of these:

If Hank got one, he could use the rockets on the black helicopters that keep "following" him.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Scenarios like these are capably addressed in this book. It's good bed-table reading.

BTW, can't any child over 1 extricate him/herself from a seat faster than any parent?

Two people gave me that book for Christmas one year. I keep one copy in my car just in case I have to figure out how to drive when the breaks go out.

I have never been in more trouble with my parents than the time that I managed to get the car into neutral while parked on a hill, started rolling it, jumped out of the moving vehicle when I realized I couldn't stop it and (this is the part my parents were most unimpressed with) left my sisters in the moving car. My defense is I couldn't get one of them out of the car seat and the other one was too chicken to jump. My brother also made the jump. I think I must have been six or seven, and he was five or six.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Two people gave me that book for Christmas one year. I keep one copy in my car just in case I have to figure out how to drive when the breaks go out.

Good thing it's a short book. Does it have an index?

[Sparklehorse]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Two people gave me that book for Christmas one year. I keep one copy in my car just in case I have to figure out how to drive when the breaks go out.

It made me LOL! to imagine (the hypothetical) you careening down the highway with no brakes and also reaching into the glove compartment to get out a book, looking something up in the index, thumbing through the pages, and so on. (I hope it goes without saying that this does not mean that I wish you any bodily harm.)

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Two people gave me that book for Christmas one year. I keep one copy in my car just in case I have to figure out how to drive when the breaks go out.

I have never been in more trouble with my parents than the time that I managed to get the car into neutral while parked on a hill, started rolling it, jumped out of the moving vehicle when I realized I couldn't stop it and (this is the part my parents were most unimpressed with) left my sisters in the moving car. My defense is I couldn't get one of them out of the car seat and the other one was too chicken to jump. My brother also made the jump. I think I must have been six or seven, and he was five or six.

Uh, did they want to get rid of most/all of the kids at the same time, and be left with nothing? I mean, if it was really that dangerous.

However, you should not have put the car into neutral if you couldn't reach the brakes. BAD girl. Very dangerous. Don't do that again.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
Good thing it's a short book. Does it have an index?

There are a lot of pictures that help you recognize your situation while you're flipping through.

A screenwriting friend of mine and I once wrote a car chase scene where the protagonists used the book during a getaway.

"Ok, it says slowly pump the brakes."

"I'm pumping! I'm pumping!"

"We're not slowing down!"

"What's the next step?"

"Huh? Look out!!"

(car swerves)

"The book! The book! What does it say next?"

"Oh, yeah... Uh, pumping. Did you use light force?"

Glare.

"Um. Ok, ok. If the pumping doesn't work, then try the parking...Oh yeah, a good idea. Use the hand brake!"

The OnStar system of the car also had some running commentary during the chase scene. We figured that Joe Pantoliano would be a good person in that car.

This was part of our larger movie that basically took every movie cliche and had fun with it. The death scene was beautiful.