wow.

it takes about 400 yards to reach terminal velocity for a typical human (probably less drag coefficient for a one month old baby), so Eric didn't reach 140mph.

I knew some of you were wondering. It's a public service.

Engineers are strange, strange people.

I've been seeing/hearing this everywhere, always presented as an incredible inspirational story, and the guy catching the baby sure did a good thing, but I can't help thinking the mom was being irresponsible at best. The baby could have easily been seriously injured or killed, and she outrights says she "didn't think" and "just dropped him" and prayed he'd be OK.

The guy who caught the baby not only saved the baby but also saved her reputation as people would be looking at her a lot differently if she had been rescued unharmed after hurtling her baby out the window to its death.

Hey Slub, even stranger, you just know somebody's going to challenge my math.

I'd bet you a paycheck on it.

BTW, it's about 40 and overcast here. Like, normal. There?

Are you stupid, Bob? but I can't help thinking the mom was being irresponsible at best.

Yeah bob. She was doing it for the publicity.

BTW, it's about 40 and overcast here. Like, normal. There?

19 and snowing.

If the baby hadn't been caught, I wouldn't blame the mom. She was trying to save its life.

I wonder if the kid is going to want to watch that video when he grows up.

Crap, I was just about to comment on the physics and Dave cuts off the debeat by preemptively shaming me... As I've said before about Dave- BASTARD

uh... unlike the Go-Gos I don't have "debeat"... I meant debate.

I forgot:

40-ish and calm. Kinda crisp, but not too bad.

Anonymous, where did I say she was doing it for publicity? I said she was being irresponsible by throwing a baby out of the window "moments" (the exact word in the story) before firefighters rescued her from her apartment. How does saying that make me stupid?

And that's not even mentioning that she started the fire in her own kitchen.

So let's say things did not go well and the baby died on impact. This is what we'd have then: Mom starts a fire in the kitchen, then moments before she and the baby would have been rescued she tosses the baby out the window and it dies. Would you think she was a hero then? Yet the only difference between that and what happened is someone pulled off a great catch...but that doesn't change her actions at all. Furthermore, that baby's body clearly whiplashed when caught (watch the slow-mo part of the video closely), so it may very well have sustained unnecessary (though thankfully not fatal) injuries.

Again, this is taking nothing away from the rescue workers, the guy who caught the baby, or the other people ready to catch the baby. They all did good jobs.

If the baby hadn't been caught, I wouldn't blame the mom. She was trying to save its life.

Of course she was. I am not questioning her motives one bit. She was panic-stricken and wanted to save the baby. I just think her choice of action was irresponsible and could have unnecessarily lead to a very bad result. Thank goodness it didn't.

Bob: They all did god jobs.

Pretty clearly, they were being irresponsible by not getting there fast enough, or not catching the baby while on the ladder, or not getting out the safety net, or for not getting into her kitchen and helping her cook.

And that's not even mentioning that she started the fire in her own kitchen.

Bitch.

So let's say things did not go well and the baby died on impact.

Let's say she threw the kid onto the fire instead of out the window. Because she was hysterical and confused. It said that in the story too.

How does saying that make me stupid?

Because you're fisking the poor girl for her actions when she was in a crisis situation. Because unless you were there, you really have no idea. And because you're simply being an ass for presuming to know better.

19 and snowing

brrrr.

I'm wearing a light jacket outside. You'll get to mock me in August.

BASTARD

Is it wrong of me to say I just live for these moments?

Brrr is right.

At least it's not freezing rain or sleet.

Yet.

A bit chilly this morning in southern CA. I won't be able to open the windows until later.

(fighting urge to type a smiley face)

You are all bastards.

Each and every single one of you.

Dave, did you accout for the binky in your calculations?

Didn't think so.

Also, how full was the baby's diaper?

Bob: They all did good jobs.

Pretty clearly, they were being irresponsible by not getting there fast enough, or not catching the baby while on the ladder, or not getting out the safety net, or for not getting into her kitchen and helping her cook.

As far as I know that wasn't the case. If it comes out later that they stood around smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee while watching the fire for 15 minutes until one of them finally said, "Well, I guess we should get to work on this", then that would be another story. But from the facts on hand, all we know if they were there at a fire when a woman decided to drop her baby out of a third-story window and they made a great catch and saved the baby from a bad landing.

And that's not even mentioning that she started the fire in her own kitchen.

Bitch.

No, someone who made two very bad mistakes (starting a fire and throwing her baby out of the window to save it), one of which she was happily saved from by a fantastic catch. I just don't think she did anything heroic or inspirational in this situation, but I hope she is able to recover from this, be a little more careful in the future, and have a good life for her and her child.

So let's say things did not go well and the baby died on impact.

Let's say she threw the kid onto the fire instead of out the window. Because she was hysterical and confused. It said that in the story too.

Why would we say that? My point is about the actions she actually took and how they could have ended badly for the baby.

If you had a kid that walked out into a busy street and a car had to veer out of its lane to avoid hitting the kid, you would tell the kid that they could have been killed, right? Or would have you instead talked about how if the car had been driving on the sidewalk then it would have killed everyone else? That's about as much sense as your example makes.

How does saying that make me stupid?

Because you're fisking the poor girl for her actions when she was in a crisis situation. Because unless you were there, you really have no idea. And because you're simply being an ass for presuming to know better.

What I know is she was rescued apparently unharmed "moments" after tossing her baby out of a window to save it from a fire she started. Nobody told her to drop the baby; she said she just did it and hoped for the best. Sorry, but that's irresponsible. I'm glad it turned out as well as it did, and there are some heroes in the story, but she isn't one of them. The are a bunch of people that lived in that building that are now homeless because this "poor girl" burned their apartment building down, so pardon me if I don't hail her as a her because some other people caught her baby when she dropped it out of a third-story window.

I meant "hail her as a hero", not "hail her as a her" (which would be definition be true).

Dave, did you accout for the binky in your calculations

Eric was face up, no effect.

Diaper volume accounted for.

Interestingly enough, for those of you who are prospective parents, that number on the side of the diaper package is actually the weight of the child, not the capacity.

Again, a public service.

meant to italicize that first line. and add "Lipstick, " to third line

loose shit on me

What I know is she was rescued apparently unharmed "moments" after tossing her baby out of a window to save it from a fire she started.

In the article, it says that she believed that the baby was suffocating. A little baby would react to smoke inhalation more quickly than an adult. Most people who die in fires die of smoke inhalation.

And thanks for fixing my typo.

Not!

In the article, it says that she believed that the baby was suffocating. A little baby would react to smoke inhalation more quickly than an adult. Most people who die in fires die of smoke inhalation.

OK, OK, perhaps I'm just being a grinch. Putting aside that she started the fire, and considering that she was no doubt panicking, and further considering that she saw the people with outstretched arms below her, and given that she may not have realized rescue was "a moment" away, this may have truly seemed like the best thing for her to do.

If in that same situation (believing everything I just stated), I would have jumped while holding the baby, choosing to take the impact myself, figuring a live baby and broken legs was better than the alternative. But the mom might not have thought about that or been worried about landing on the baby, and maybe if I did that I'd end up landing on and crushing the baby, so who is to say.

Also, I missed on my original reading that it said the baby was uninjured. That is certainly good news, because that looked like a pretty hard impact from the catch.

Obviously starting the fire was a terrible mistake with tragic results, so overall I wouldn't call the mom a hero, but I hereby renounce my "irresponsible" accusation with respect to dropping the baby. The mom was doing what she thought was best at the time, and I'm glad it worked out well for the baby.

Crap.

Looks like it's raining out, but rain doesn't bounce.

Ice. Should be a fun drive home.

Even more credit to the guy that caught the baby. Did you notice how the receiver shook off all those defenders? Hope he scored.

Good thing he didn't spike the baby after that great catch

This is the catch of the day or the year should they call the kid WHO as in WHOS ON FIRST?

I take back what I said about Spurwing. He's a much better troll than Cedarford. In fact, he cracks me up pretty much all the time.

If in that same situation (believing everything I just stated), I would have jumped while holding the baby, choosing to take the impact myself, figuring a live baby and broken legs was better than the alternative.

That shd read "had to squeeze . . ."