Poll: Death Valley, 1 gallon of water, a family will die no matter what you decide. No whirlpool or bacon

madster11

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Copper Zen said:
Actually they'd roast inside the car and be dead within hours. At least according to this TLC documentary I once saw.
They're in shade (presumably) with the windows open. They'll be fine.

Copper Zen said:
And keep in mind you don't know how long they've been there without waking one of them up and finding out.
Yes i do. They've been in that car for under 2 hours because otherwise there wouldn't be any steam rising from the radiator.

Copper Zen said:
And just to toss a sabot into your (logical) plan to call for help once you get out keep in mind that it might take too long for help to arrive even if you make contact with the right people. Does 911 work on your phone plan just outside of Death Valley? Hmmm...
I'd like to point out at this point that modern mobile phones have a certain amount of power they dump through the aerial on standby and when making a call. If your phone has no signal on standby, it might have it when making a call.
And it sure as shit will have it when calling 911, because modern mobile phones deactivate the power limit to the aerial when making emergency calls and send said call to any of the frequencies it can, on any network. This means that unless you happen to have the worst phone ever made, you are under 5hrs walk away from phone reception.


This is all under the assumption that the car was driven without coolant and oil for any length of time and the engine is seized, otherwise the correct way to do it is by waking the people up and telling them to not be pussies and drive as fast as they can without losing control.
People seem to think that no radiator = death. Oil is a coolant, as is fuel, and even in a water-cooled car if you maintain a decent air flow over the engine block while constantly staying on the throttle to put fuel into it, the engine will survive.
 

Sejs Cube

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Jun 16, 2008
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A combination between 2 and 6.

Wake them up, give them my water, tell them some basic things they can do to try to last longer while I go and get help (use the car for shade, minimize movement, ration the water). Drive my bike out of the valley and come back with proper assistance asap. None of this half-cocked bike people out nonsense, actual rescue and medical personnel. Also, I don't need to get all the way out of the valley - just need to get to Furnace Creek or Stovepipe Wells.

They aren't just going to flat-out expire in the time it takes me to ride a motorcycle out to get help - the math just doesn't add up. They may end up in a hospital, there may be damage, but outright death seems highly unlikely.

If this is supposed to be a philosophical no-win scenario, you need to come up with a better one.
 

Pandabearparade

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Mar 23, 2011
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I'd take the smallest kid and call help when I get a signal. Not really a moral conundrum here, I'm not Superman and if I tried to save everyone we'd all end up dead.
 

Helmholtz Watson

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Nov 7, 2011
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Seriously, what is up with the options in this poll? Its like a cross between Fallout: New Vegas and that radio trap scene in Resident Evil: Extinction.

OP:
I pray to Hashem that he will help them. Later when I get a signal, I call the cops though.
 

Wareve

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Aug 17, 2008
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According to Google maps, the two places farthest from each other with only death valley between them, are the stovepipe wells airport, and the Lone Pine Airport. With approximately 80 miles, which Google estimates to be an hour and a half ride.

Assuming they are at a mid point, between these to places, that means they are, at most, 40 miles, and 45 minutes from civilization.

I split the water, drive for 45 minutes (likely shorter if I go full speed) , and come back in about a hour and a half with aid.

"I don't believe in the no-win scenario." - James T. Kirk
 

exessmirror

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Apr 26, 2011
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when i am in that situation my survival instinct will haver kicked in and i will just drive by without looking back
 

Chairman Miaow

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Nov 18, 2009
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I'm saddened that more people chose 1 than 6. I get that your survival means more than others, but what somebody thinks of you is more important to you than an entire family dying? That's low man.
 

chadachada123

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The issue with your problem, OP, is that the child would not take nearly as much water to live as the adults, and the fact that I'm a fairly fit 21-year old that could survive far longer without water than the average person (I would imagine).

I'd give my water up on the presumption that I'd have a better chance of making it without water than those four.
 

electric_warrior

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Siphoning gas, taking one kid and calling for help ASAP seems like the best bet for me. I couldn't just leave them there. The parents may have been stupid in driving out there without enough supplies, but its not the kids' fault.
 

malestrithe

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Aug 18, 2008
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No shade? There's shade underneath the car. That is automatically 20 degrees cooler.
Also, I would dig them a shelter underneath the car. Because it's sand, it will be 20 degrees cooler at about 12 inches below the surface. I do not have to waste a lot of energy getting the family atleast cooled off by digging them a shelter underneath the car.

As for no reception, problem sure, but a GPS locator/tracker works anywhere. A prepared person would bring one of them with him. Also, there might be one in the vehicle depending on how new it is.

Because I am not totally an idiot, and it being a bet and all, I would tell my friends and family to come look for me if I do not report in by the evening. Assuming they do what they are told, they will find me in the morning with my GPS locator.

When it gets cooler towards night, I would spend time getting firewood, hoping I'd get lucky and find a wellspring, or one of them for animal ones that may or may not exist.

I sacrifice some gas and their interior to make the fire work.
 

manic_depressive13

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Leave them and call for help as soon as possible. Only the biggest dickbag would criticise my decision. What if I take a child and it dies, while the rest of the family is saved by a better equipped passer by?
 

DoomyMcDoom

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this is a no choice decision you keep your ass going and try to call for help, I could treat them with the correct equipment/supplies, but a motorcycle isn't exactly an ambulance/road side assistance truck now is it?

I'd keep going til I hit cell reception, and phone in for help.
 

gravian

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Sep 8, 2011
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Wait a minute. (Big post also)

Copper Zen said:
You have enough water for you and only you to be sure of surviving long enough to make it out of Death Valley alive.
So even if I try to rescue the smallest child or try and share my water out I'll likely die before I could get help (assuming that lack of cell phone reception is throughout the whole of the valley.) That is if I don't run out of gas first from even the extra little weight of the child. In this case even if I run out of gas only a few miles away from the nearest rest stop/point of civilisation at the end of the valley I would still probably end up dead in the heat.

And if the comment "No one will ever know" in the poll means no one would connect me to the family, then it seems like no one else would be driving past anytime soon once I do brake down. It also seems to me that if I tried to siphon gas/water from the car or try to rescue a child that there's a real chance at least one of them (or the child) would wake up, which could quickly wake everyone. Or the child might cry out (if its not too dehydrated) when I leave its parents behind, which could also wake people up and would leave them dying in despair at their situation. So it would also be best ( in my opinion) not to wake them up for their sakes as well as mine.

TLDR:
Because the dilemma is so rigged against helping the others (I think) it seems like the only sensible answer would be to drive on and get help ASAP, even if other people/the media would hate me for doing so if they died. I can't think of anything else that could save the others.
 

A Satanic Panda

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gravian said:
Wait a minute. (Big post also)

Copper Zen said:
You have enough water for you and only you to be sure of surviving long enough to make it out of Death Valley alive.
So even if I try to rescue the smallest child or try and share my water out I'll likely die before I could get help (assuming that lack of cell phone reception is throughout the whole of the valley.) That is if I don't run out of gas first from even the extra little weight of the child. In this case even if I run out of gas only a few miles away from the nearest rest stop/point of civilisation at the end of the valley I would still probably end up dead in the heat.

And if the comment "No one will ever know" in the poll means no one would connect me to the family, then it seems like no one else would be driving past anytime soon once I do brake down. It also seems to me that if I tried to siphon gas/water from the car or try to rescue a child that there's a real chance at least one of them (or the child) would wake up, which could quickly wake everyone. Or the child might cry out (if its not too dehydrated) when I leave its parents behind, which could also wake people up and would leave them dying in despair at their situation. So it would also be best ( in my opinion) not to wake them up for their sakes as well as mine.

TLDR:
Because the dilemma is so rigged against helping the others (I think) it seems like the only sensible answer would be to drive on and get help ASAP, even if other people/the media would hate me for doing so if they died. I can't think of anything else that could save the others.
I'm with this guy. Take their gas and go for help at full speed.
 

Thanatos5150

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Apr 20, 2009
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Curse myself for not bringing extra water with me when I know I'm going through Death Valley, and wail about how much of an idiot I am for not topping off my gas.
The obvious solution is "Drive on", Burn & Coast as much as possible, and keeping checking for signal on the phone, keeping an eye out for the next mile marker so I can give a rough distance to the authorities.
Request said authorities bring additional water, as I, myself, am dangerously low.
Turn around, and give my statement - because you KNOW this will be possible. Wake one of the adults - the one who looks the least heat-strokey, and provide field triage for the remainder for the victims until the ambulance arrives.
One gallon is more than enough for five people to hold out for a few hours, especially with rationing.
 

cswurt

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Oct 26, 2011
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Screw other people, imo.
That's what everyone thinks and you all know it.
It's why people are surprised when some tool rushes into a burning building to save 'em, cuz they're thinking, "No way I'd risk my ass to save some chump in this building."


Why would these people even be in Death Valley?
If these parents are stupid enough to take their young children into Death Valley without water or supplies, then shouldn't you take it as a sign that maybe they want to die?

Could be the bank repossessed their home and they had no other options but to commit suicide out in the desert where no one would try to stop them.



In the end, it doesn't really matter. Because it is them and not me.
 

Ampersand

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May 1, 2010
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Siphon the petrol, ration the water, save the kids, call for help as soon as in mobile phone range. Simple.