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¶ walking on thin ice.
I think my parents figured out how to googlestalk. Hi dad.

I realize now that I accomplished pretty much jack shit this past semester. Learned a lot, but basically didn't do any research at all. Not so good. How am I supposed to graduate if I don't do any research!? *pulls hair out*

[rant]
Went to the woods today to see how thick the ice on the lake was. Did the standard procedure - drill to check depth, move 10 feet, repeat until safety limits are established. Got really annoyed cause this woman walking her dog by the edge started yelling at us saying the ice wasn't safe and to get off the ice. I tried telling her that I was drilling the ice to see how safe it was, but it was useless. She started spouting some bullshit that you need six inches of ice to safely support a walking person1 and ended by yelling "have fun falling in!" and walking away.

Stuff like that really bugs me. I would've been fine if she had just said something like 'be careful, I don't think the ice is safe' and left it at that, or even if we could've had a nice conversation where I explain to her the safety procedures I was following. But she wouldn't hear a single thing I said and just kept on freaking out on me.

It happened again with the second person we saw that day, about 10 minutes later. I was about ready to explode with frustration.

The actual ice depth varied from 1" in some places to 3" in others. Not safe if you're not careful where you step.

No, we did not fall in.

Even if we had fallen in, we would've gotten cold, wet ankles at worst. The water was never more than 2' deep in the areas we walked through.

I guess what bothers me more generally is when people don't have a clear understanding of true safety limits for a certain activity, and then try to restrict your actions based on their misinformation. Or even when they do have a good understanding, but treat you like a helpless imbecile nonetheless. For example, when MIT sent out a message to the general community urging everyone to stay indoors during the world series. That's just insulting.

I'm not saying that I never make safety mistakes, cause I do. But what I would appreciate is if when people see someone doing something that seems unsafe, they take a second to establish just how unsafe it is, and if the person is aware of both the risks and consequences, instead of just going all freaky ballistic.
[/rant]
1 2" is sufficient for a single walking person if you're not obese, 6" is enough to support a decent pickup truck. Most ice safety charts you'll find nowadays will cite a minimum depth of 4" to be safe, but that's also bullshit. See here and here for examples of conflicting figures.



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