Made In China

[Konrad]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17827983

Phfft, kids. In my generation you were either athletic enough to recover from these setbacks, or you were nerd enough to carry a 10' pole in your bag of holding. Gee, good thing she didn't drop her phone, with a little luck maybe she'd get strong enough signal to call emergency services.

On a side note ... is recorded CCTV surveillance on every unremarkable street corner completely routine in China's cities? If so, then I expect North America and Europe will soon follow.

[Airbozo]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17827983

Phfft, kids. In my generation you were either athletic enough to recover from these setbacks, or you were nerd enough to carry a 10' pole in your bag of holding. Gee, good thing she didn't drop her phone, with a little luck maybe she'd get strong enough signal to call emergency services.

On a side note ... is recorded CCTV surveillance on every unremarkable street corner completely routine in China's cities? If so, then I expect North America and Europe will soon follow.

Europe is already covered in camera's and the US is not to far behind in major cities. Last time I was in British Columbia, the camera's were starting to pop up there too.

[d_stilgar]

I find it more than a little odd that people keep trying to blame this on the fact that she was on her cell phone.

Walking into fountain while texting = your fault
Walking into poles or other obviously visible static objects while texting = your fault

Walking into invisible sink hole boobytrapped in the sidewalk while doing anything = not your fault.

Also, I've seen the video and I'm not sure she had an easy way to get out of there. It looks small enough to spiderman up, but maybe not. Maybe it's too small. Maybe there weren't places to grip to climb. Maybe there was a small hole where she fell in, but it was larger below so even if she climbed up she couldn't get back to the opening.

On the CCTV thing, yeah, they're all over Europe already, which is pretty sad. A right to privacy should really include the ability to leave your house without the world knowing what you are doing. I know it's great for proving guilt as well as innocence, but it all just screams big-brother to me.

[Airbozo]

I agree, not much she could have done and the phone (in this instance) was not the cause.

[Konrad]

I'll admit that having the ground suddenly shifted or yanked away underfoot is startling and can knock anybody down unawares. Situational awareness kinda doesn't really help against stuff like solid concrete instantly vanishing when you touch it. I just thought a teenager might have some kind of flailing-grasping-panic-balance reflex, even a completely ineffective one, rather than a protectively-hold-onto-cellphone-for-dear-life reflex.

She probably fell into an abandoned lead-painted magical cavern full of toxic toys, illegal iClones, and discarded Shenzhen PSU components.

[Airbozo]

I'll admit that having the ground suddenly shifted or yanked away underfoot is startling and can knock anybody down unawares. Situational awareness kinda doesn't really help against stuff like solid concrete instantly vanishing when you touch it. I just thought a teenager might have some kind of flailing-grasping-panic-balance reflex, even a completely ineffective one, rather than a protectively-hold-onto-cellphone-for-dear-life reflex.

She probably fell into an abandoned lead-painted magical cavern full of toxic toys, illegal iClones, and discarded Shenzhen PSU components.

lol!

Well, they had to hide it somewhere...

[jdbnsn]

I don't see how she could have reacted any better, it was a split second. CCTV is very uncommon in the streets of China as a whole, at least in 2004 when I was there I saw none except for Beijing. But times are changing, and they maybe everywhere by now. I agree that USA is sure to be peppered with these damn things.

[crenn]

If you watch, she does actually try to grab the pavement.

As for CCTV, if it ain't everywhere, the terrorists win! (I'm not serious, but to me, it seems that's why)