So, check it. You're out and about with mum and dad on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, eager to get whatever's on the grill into your own grille. You're pondering the origin of wildflowers, the middle name of America's 18th president and how humanity functioned prior to the invention of Mighty Putty. You're only ten years old, but your young eyes have lived to see a lot... so much, in fact, that you're semi-seriously considering penning your own novella.
Bang. Three inches to your left lies a mildly deformed swivel-screen laptop, and all you can think about is the gush of air that's still rustling your fauxhawk. Turns out, a medical helicopter departing St. Cloud Hospital in Minnesota forgot to bring their Panasonic
Toughbook onboard before heading out, and if fate were feeling just a bit more cruel, that shock-mounted hard drive may have left you out for the count. But as it stands, you've got a fairly stupendous show-and-tell to deliver in class this week, and who knows -- maybe that DIMM will work in your
Nickelodeon Edition Mini 10.
posted April 20th 2010 10:54AM
Only in the midwest. (Whats up twin cities!)
@One Love
Much as I love Darren's (or Machinegun Murph's eh Mr. T Senior) posts, they can be very cryptic!
So after three reads, what happened? HDD bust, RAM ok? And seriously how did it end up there? I read it (3 times..) as if they left it or forgot it? But I presume they must have dropped it out.
@FORDY I assume that he makes his posts cryptic so he doesn't steal all the glory from the original source and lets the reader go to the original report if they want the whole story. It's common blogging courtesy really.
Damn, I missed the little nerd by 3 inches. Still that's not bad from a moving helicopter. I'll get him next time though.
That kid just escaped death!
@benr So what? The kid looks like the Palm Pre chick!
@Bosco You'd look like that too if you were that close to having your head caved in by a laptop. O_o
@benr
Yes, a very lucky kid. And a kid with a stand-up family, too. From the source:
"Grayson's family said they know how important the work Life Link crews do and they know leaving the computer on the helicopter's skid was an honest mistake."
I bet half the families in America, given this situation, would be filing a lawsuit for "emotional distress" right now.
@benr
Hehe, that kid has the saddest expression on his face. More importantly, did the hard-drive survive the fall?
@benr
Hehe, that kid has the saddest expression on his face. More importantly, did the hard-drive survive the fall?
@Bosco
The Palm Pre chick?
I was thinking more along the line of Chicken Little. How appropriate is that?
@Mike
Dear Mr. Mike,
I represent NHAnimator and have been notified of your post as of 11:15am of this April 20, 2010 on the InterTube site hftp:\\ngadget.ww.com. Your generalizations and possible application to the personality owned by my client, NHAnimator, and as outlined by your 50% coverage estimate, is considered defamation of character and will be addressed as such in a court of law. It is advised that you retain counsel.
Sincerely,
Mr. Slym E. Weasel
@NHAnimator The sad part is that I'm not sure if you are serious or not : /
@Mike43110
Nothing is serious on an internet comment. But it was nicely done, so there's that.
@benr
Now he has to lock himself in a padded asylum room to prevent fate from finishing the job.
More like not-so-Toughbook.
But seriously, tethers guys. Use 'em.
That's going to hurt sales. Sucks to be them.
@Slygathor
Lord Kanti!
@n8equalsd Cha boi.
Tough Books - Can't survive a fall from a helicopter.
I lived 10mn from St cloud. This is the best thing to happen to our city in forever.
@uck You mean a ginger kid almost dying?
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget
Gingers have souls too!
Guess the doctors wanted a new laptop, when they "accidentally" dropped it out of the helicopter. They should switch to the Ipad before they leave their HeliPad. It's perfect. It's already in the name.
@SNESimon
Except that it would survive the fall from a stretcher, let alone a helicopter.
@etwashoo
correction: wouldn't
(sucky comment tech)
@SNESimon Hey man, I don't think we need to be slicing kids up!
hilarious Darren!
@SushiAlex Darren, not everything you write has to be full of lame jokes. Sometimes the wit is lighthearted and funny. Sometimes it is forced and makes reading the article a pain. There's a middle ground where you can report a story w/o trying to be the funniest writer in the world.
@jgibbs3718 Hey, not all of your comments have to be full of douche. Good article Murph.
@jgibbs3718
Article was painful to read. What the hell about the hard drive?
@SushiAlex
Personally I like to ponder the 33rd president's middle name. But that's just me.
@SushiAlex Thanks folks :)
LOL! Follow the link and watch the video clip, towards the end kid says "Stupid Computers" and it is priceless!
I got hit by a golfball while standing in my garden once.
@jasonbot
If I were you I'd wish it was from Tiger Woods lol
Somebody left a Helicopter at a Bar?
I am kind of ticked off now. How you wrote this post would seem that all kids/teens just watch Nickelodeon and cartoon network. I started watching Star Trek TNG when I was 4, and started avidly watching Stargate SG-1 at 6. Now at 14, I have my HP Touchsmart TM2, but I got my first Tablet PC (Gateway M275) at 11 or 12.
It would be nice if Engadget would see that not all kids/teens are not intelligent.
@Apeman96 but they sure are whiny
@Boyo
True, True.
@Apeman96 :) You are smart!
@Boyo And spoiled.
Sounds like Mom and Dad parent from the wallet.
@Apeman96
Double negatives FTW!
@WayneS
Actually, I buy all of my tech stuff with my own hard earned money.
Toughluck that is! And you got to be very clumsy to drop something like that, I mean it got tonnes of grips on it.
@hero785 something about leaving it out on the skid of the chopper tells me it wasnt 'grips' that caused the drop.
RTA...
@Phenom
I missed that part and I don't see it in this piece so I guess I should have clicked on the link. BTW regardless of whether it was in someone's hands or not, you don't just leave $XXXXs equipments unattended. No excuse for that!
Very illustrative writing. A+ for effort.
As God as my witness, I thought Toughbooks could fly....
This just in...
http://www.theonion.com/video/breaking-news-some-bullshit-happening-somewhere,16928/