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Oxygen deprivation and iPod hatred

by Dan Lurie Oct 25th 2006 at 11:00PM

Climbing the tallest mountain on earth is no small feat, and is certainly something to be proud of, but it's not without its risks; most of which stem from the extremely low Oxygen content in the air in "The Death Zone" above 22,000 ft. Unfortunately, it seems that Neal Muller, a grad student at UPenn's Wharton School succumbed to this lack of O2 and lost some brain cells on the way down. Muller whines in a Washington Post article that he was unable to triumphantly mount the top of the world to to soundtrack of Van Halen, because his iPod died during the climb. Now, my first reaction to this is utter speechlessness, followed by anger and depression about the state of the human race. I won't address Muller's arguments here, as Dan over at Mac User has done a tremendous job of that, but I will outline some of his arguments and their flaws.

  • Muller complains that the hard drive failed; almost 20,000ft above its designed maximum operating altitude, and likely 50 degrees below its minimum operating temperature.
  • He complains that because the iPod doesn't use an "open connection standard," it suffers from a lack of accessories; I suppose that just over 3000 iPod specific accessories isn't really that much compared with... wait... no, thats actually a lot.
  • Argues that the iPod is a "flash-in-the-pan": I guess 85% market share and 5 years of growth don't count for much.

In addition to contradicting with evidence every single one of this morons arguments, Dan poses a really great question; what the hell was this guy doing listening to his iPod on Everest? When you're doing something which kills as many people as summiting Everest does, you should probably be paying attention to your surroundings instead of worrying about how many stars to give the currently playing track.

It's really sad to see that some people really are so stupid as to make these kinds of arguments, and disappointing that the WP would post such drivel. In any case, check it out, if only to laugh at this guys utter clueless-ness.

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Climbing the tallest mountain on earth is no small feat, and is certainly something to be proud of, but it's not without its risks; most of...
 

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Sam

I would just like to note that my Boss's iPod WILL NOT WORK in airplanes. Before and after flying it's fine - just not during. I wonder if this is the same problem.

October 27 2006 at 5:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
spil

Would a FLash based Player wtill work at this high of an altitude?
If so, maybe next time, he should try bringing a shuffle.

I wonder if he took any pictures with his iPod at the top. I don't care if it didn't work or not, that would be the coolest thing on that iLounge "iPods around the world" gallery.

BTW, did his iPod start working when he got back down to the elevation it is supposed to work at?
If not, that would probably make me mad.

October 26 2006 at 11:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
armedmemory

Wrote about this last week, but I think the price comparison is interesting. Apparently, first-year masters students at the Wharton business school don't need to know about inflation. After a bit of a research I discovered a few things: first the Sony Walkman debuted in 1979 for a price of $150.00. If we use a quick inflation calculation, we can see that the Sony Walkman debuted at a price equivalent to $419.21 in today's dollars. Furthermore, It took until around 1989 for the price to reach Mueller's $80.00 price quote, which would be $130.90 in today's money. Lastly, just for comparison, today's 30GB iPod would cost $152.78 in 1989 dollars.

But, hey I'm not a future graduate of Wharton, so what do I know?

October 26 2006 at 4:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Liquidmark

@ GadgetGav

Well, I haven't given that troll a single page hit. I say, screw the bum.

October 26 2006 at 1:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jefe

I believe you can find his info in the student directory of UPenn's Wharton School student directory. I thing I will give him a call to make sure he is seeking the appopriate attention for the brain damage he suffered...but I'm afraid nothing can cure a bad case of yellow journalism with a touch of corporate shill

October 26 2006 at 11:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

So is he only "Standing on top of the world" if he's listening to Van Halen? Sorry... had to. ::flee::

October 26 2006 at 11:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Shaaheen

There is a saying in Persian, ocean never gets dirty by someone's mouth.

October 26 2006 at 11:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Robert

Somehow I don't think this is about corrupting or defiling oxygen...might want to change 'depravation' to 'deprivation' :)

October 26 2006 at 11:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mark

What's a "WP"?

October 26 2006 at 11:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
matthew

BTW, someone needs to tell Neil Mueller that climbing Mt. Everest has become a cliche, who is he to harp on the "Paris Hilton" of MP3 players.

October 26 2006 at 10:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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