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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 335 responses total. |
rcurl
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response 232 of 335:
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Aug 29 17:39 UTC 2003 |
The LED light I have on my keychain requires continuous pressure to light.
It might be better to have one with a switch that does not require occupying
a hand to activate.
If you are really paranoid, you could keep a separate cell phone in the trunk.
Or (why didn't I think of this sooner) drive a station wagon......
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cross
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response 233 of 335:
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Aug 29 20:34 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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rcurl
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response 234 of 335:
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Aug 29 20:40 UTC 2003 |
What are you trying to do - embarrass us into dropping this thread?
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cmcgee
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response 235 of 335:
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Aug 29 21:02 UTC 2003 |
cross, you're in for a surprise.
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mcnally
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response 236 of 335:
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Aug 29 21:36 UTC 2003 |
re #233: I have, I have!
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cross
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response 237 of 335:
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Aug 29 22:29 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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jor
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response 238 of 335:
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Aug 29 22:46 UTC 2003 |
no, the embarrassment is, no trunk music yet.
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tod
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response 239 of 335:
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Aug 29 23:17 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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scott
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response 240 of 335:
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Aug 29 23:50 UTC 2003 |
Well, I wouldn't expect anybody to realistically carry around a "trunk escape
tool" just in case they were abducted. But a little pocket flashlight is
quite handy anyway, and knowledge is usually even easier to carry around with
you.
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cross
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response 241 of 335:
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Aug 29 23:52 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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carson
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response 242 of 335:
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Aug 30 00:46 UTC 2003 |
(I've never been forcibly kidnapped, but various friends from high school
can attest to my trunk-riding skills, word. balee dat.)
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mcnally
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response 243 of 335:
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Aug 30 01:27 UTC 2003 |
> (2) #233/242: Dan Cross (cross) Fri, Aug 29, 2003 (16:34)
> By a show of hands, how many grex users have ever been forcibly kidnapped
> and thrown in the trunk of a car by unknown villains?
>
> (2) #236/242: Mike McNally (mcnally) Fri, Aug 29, 2003 (17:36)
> re #233: I have, I have!
>
> (2) #237/242: Dan Cross (cross) Fri, Aug 29, 2003 (18:29)
> No, I'm serious; has this really happened to someone? If so, inquiring
> minds want to know all about it!
I'm serious, too. I don't know if the Ann Arbor News makes its archives
available for free browsing (I rather doubt it) but if you were to go back
to the last week of October, 1993, you'd find a story with the headline
"Gunmen Rob Man, Force Him Into Trunk" describing the incident, or you can
go to http://www.state.mi.us/mdoc/asp/otis2profile.asp?mdocNumber=223282
to see the one of my kidnappers who still remains in prison (the others,
Fortson and Wilson, cut plea bargains but Pryor wasn't offered any deals
as he'd been on parole for unarmed robbery when he decided to upgrade to
armed robbery & kidnapping.)
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slynne
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response 244 of 335:
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Aug 30 03:11 UTC 2003 |
whoa. that must have been really scary
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mcnally
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response 245 of 335:
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Aug 30 05:14 UTC 2003 |
re #244:
> whoa. that must have been really scary
It mostly just seemed unreal at the time. There was a definite feeling
of "I can't believe ths is happening," even after I'd been whacked on the
back of the head with a pistol butt..
The way I look at it now, years after the incident, is that it really
helps put the minor things in perspective. Even when things aren't going
well at all, it always helps to be able to tell myself "OK, things kind
of suck at the moment but at least I'm not locked in the trunk of my own
car by guys who've bragged that they are going to kill me.." Even in the
bleakest moments a shot of perspective like that almost never fails to
give me a lift..
Anyway, I might only have one evening more's experience in my car trunk
than the people with the helpful safety suggestions but I believe I can
still safely say that for the most part they're talking out of their ass.
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jaklumen
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response 246 of 335:
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Aug 30 06:54 UTC 2003 |
resp:232 that's how it is with LED lights, I suppose. I don't like
Maglight Solitaires much-- they don't light well and don't hold
together. I just didn't have a good experience with mine.
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oval
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response 247 of 335:
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Aug 30 13:00 UTC 2003 |
i have been held hostage in my bedroom by my housemate's schizophrenic sister
who was hiding from the cops outside my door.
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jmsaul
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response 248 of 335:
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Aug 30 13:58 UTC 2003 |
Re #246: Cabela's sells a keychain LED light with a metal body and a switch
that will either do intermittent or constant on. Very bright for
its size, too.
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tod
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response 249 of 335:
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Aug 30 19:58 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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mcnally
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response 250 of 335:
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Aug 31 01:37 UTC 2003 |
re #249:
> Who did they brag to that they were going to kidnap you?
They had already kidnapped me; they bragged that they were going to kill me.
> Were they mob wanna-be types?
They were "gangsta" wannabees. They talked a fair amount about what
professional criminals they were and it was in that context that they
boasted that they were going to kill me.
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jep
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response 251 of 335:
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Aug 31 03:03 UTC 2003 |
Mike, is there a flashlight in your trunk now? Do you drive a
trunkless vehicle such as a station wagon, SUV, minivan, van or pickup
truck in order to avoid such an experience again?
It sounds like it was a terrifying experience, and I certainly don't
envy you it.
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mcnally
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response 252 of 335:
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Aug 31 06:21 UTC 2003 |
re #251:
> Mike, is there a flashlight in your trunk now?
Yes, but for more mundane reasons -- dead battery, flat tire, etc..
I had a flashlight in my trunk the night I was kidnapped, too.
I spent much of that evening twisted onto my back in the trunk with
the flashlight in one hand and my tire iron in the other with the
hope that the trunk wouldn't be opened from outside but the thought
that if it was I intended to get in at least one good swing with the
tire iron. Fortunately for me it never came to that.
> Do you drive a trunkless vehicle such as a station wagon, SUV,
> minivan, van or pickup truck in order to avoid such an experience again?
No. In the first place, despite my propensity for occasional unplanned
adventures, I consider it fantastically unlikely that anything like that
will ever happen to me again. In the second place, I have no way of
knowing what the outcome would have been if I had been driving a trunkless
vehicle that night but it seems at least as likely that I might now be dead
for lack of a trunk to place me in than that the robbers would have decided
not to rob me for the same reason.
> It sounds like it was a terrifying experience, and I certainly don't
> envy you it.
It's absolutely not an experience I'd care to repeat -- I might easily not
be as fortunate in the outcome second time 'round. However, though I would
never have guessed it ahead of time the net result on my life has been
positive. In the end I wound up with an interesting story to tell for the
price of a few painful bruises, a couple of dollars plus some unimportant
personal possessions, and possibly a bit of hearing loss. On the plus side
recalling the incident has often provided me with a much-needed dose of
perspective during hard times and I don't know if I could overstate how
effective a near-death experience can be in refocusing your attention on
life goals and choices..
Anyway.. far too much about me. Doesn't anyone have any General
Announcements they'd like to make?
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carson
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response 253 of 335:
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Aug 31 12:34 UTC 2003 |
(I'm back in Ann Arbor.)
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jep
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response 254 of 335:
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Aug 31 13:07 UTC 2003 |
Mike, it's an interesting story. I'd seen it once before, but thanks
for telling it again.
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glenda
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response 255 of 335:
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Sep 1 02:36 UTC 2003 |
re 253: and we are in the UP, Houghton as a matter of fact. We wondered if
you where in A2 or Marquette. We have fallen in love with the area between
Houghton and Copper Harbor and thinking about buying property up here at some
point. I am entering this from Cyberia, a Cyber Cafe on the main drag in
Houghton.
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carson
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response 256 of 335:
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Sep 1 05:15 UTC 2003 |
(you're in Houghton AGAIN?!)
(I was in Chicago for two and a half months, but have since returned.)
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