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IPOD ID

A blogger killed in a road accident has been identified by iPod. Very sad news, but think of what someone reading that sentence ten years ago would have made of it.

(Via Achewood)

Posted by Tim B. on 09/14/2007 at 01:36 AM
  1. Well I’ll be idenified as Mr. ‘Ruprod’ then. (Ruprecht’s Ipod.

    Posted by Nic on 2007 09 14 at 01:57 AM • permalink

  2. Phatty brags of his iPod audience downloads nowadays ... maybe it was a typo: tripods downloading from SBS got the wrong URL?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 09 14 at 02:04 AM • permalink

  3. The future might involve RFID inserts under our skin, the size of a grain of rice. Some people could lose a whole iPod subcutaneously, or perhaps oroficially.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 09 14 at 02:13 AM • permalink

  4. Whatever the means, at least the young lad in question was ID’d eventually. His family at least don’t have to suffer the anguish of never knowing where their son/brother/cousin went.

    Posted by CB on 2007 09 14 at 02:16 AM • permalink

  5. #4, CB:

    Amen.

    Posted by Grimmy on 2007 09 14 at 02:18 AM • permalink

  6. If your subcutaneous implant has the code DCLXVI, you’re fucked… for eternity. LOL!

    Posted by Hucbald on 2007 09 14 at 02:21 AM • permalink

  7. Was he listening to the iPod when he was struck? All the safety training they give us in the Army steered that thought to the front of my mind while I was reading the article. Others were: Always carry ID and never ride alone. Since the specifics of the accident weren’t provided, it’s difficult to say, but typically auto/pedestrian accidents are avoidable if you focus on safety. My prayers are with the young man’s family.

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2007 09 14 at 03:51 AM • permalink

  8. Agreed, TBob and CB.

    God be with the family of the young man, and also bless the wonders of modern technology.

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2007 09 14 at 04:28 AM • permalink

  9. 10 years ago? Hell, I don’t know what it means now.

    Posted by dean martin on 2007 09 14 at 07:51 AM • permalink

  10. > Was he listening to the iPod when he was struck?

    I did some Google News searches to try to find out more (as I am a cyclist myself).  I couldn’t find much, but one article did say that he was hit by a school bus that was turning left.  That sounds like it would be the driver’s fault, but they said no charges were filed and they gave the impression that no charges would be filed so it’s a little hard to figure out what happened.

    The story didn’t mention the iPod, although I have to presume that since he was carrying only keys and the iPod, he was planning to listen to the iPod at least at some point.  He might have had it on at the time of the accident or perhaps he might have been heading over to a park or a trail (of which there are many in Minnesapolis) and was planning to fire up the iPod at that point.

    > Always carry ID

    I have my driver’s license along on every ride for just such a situation.

    > and never ride alone.

    That isn’t exactly practical.  But, in a city full of people with an ID in your pocket, you’re never really alone.

    > typically auto/pedestrian accidents are avoidable if you focus on safety.

    I think that’s true.  Right of way is a relative concept when it comes to bikes versus buses.

    > My prayers are with the young man’s family.

    Mine, too.

    Posted by kcom on 2007 09 14 at 09:38 AM • permalink

  11. If I died in around 1983, I might’ve been identified by my Sony Walkman.  Then maybe not.  I didn’t use it much.  I bought an MP3 player 18 moths ago, but I now don’t use it.  I find those things antisocial.

    Am I a dinosaur?  Hmmm ...

    Posted by Stevo on 2007 09 14 at 09:52 AM • permalink

  12. apparently the police sent the ipod to apple, who used it to look up their records and find out who the official owner was.
    This is a case of figuring out who someone was via their electronic footprint. Get used to it, because there will be more to come.

    Very sad. Sure, he was probably doing the wrong thing, riding and listening to his ipod, but it’s hard for me to judge, considering some of the stupid risks I’ve taken in the past with zero consequences.
    Funny how fate can turn on the roll of a dice.

    Posted by daddy dave on 2007 09 14 at 10:13 AM • permalink

  13. A friend of mine was training for Ironman Wisconsin a few weeks ago and had a car turn in front of him while he was doing 30+ mph in the aero.  Fortunately he wasn’t hurt too seriously.  He had to drop out of the race, 2 broken ribs and a broken wrist.

    I always carry what I jokingly call my “found on road dead” kit.  Drivers license, insurance card, and cell phone in the saddle bag.  I’ve been run off the road but fortunately, never hit (knock on wood)

    Posted by Old Tanker on 2007 09 14 at 10:23 AM • permalink

  14. People ten years ago wouldn’t have been all that surprised.  People a hundred years ago would have been dumbfounded.

    I recommend the books of Iain M. Banks (particularly “Excession”) if you want some far-out speculation on what life will be like thousands of years in the future.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 09 14 at 12:02 PM • permalink

  15. Reminds me a little of Marine reservist Bob Zangas, the first blogger to be killed in Iraq

    Posted by The Sanity Inspector on 2007 09 14 at 04:04 PM • permalink

  16. They only resorted to the ipod when the name on the label inside his shorts turned out to be someone else.  And these people are tired of getting calls from the cops.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 09 14 at 08:19 PM • permalink

  17. Right of way is a relative concept when it comes to bikes versus buses.

    Right of way is a fine concept. But the fact is that you have to weigh getting seriously injured or killed against what is after all a pretty ethereal concept. As a cyclist, I would yield for pretty much anyone. You’ll get away with aggressive cycling when other road users see you and have time to respond. The first time someone doesn’t see you or doesn’t have time to avoid you, you’re road kill.

    Posted by Zhang Fei on 2007 09 15 at 02:07 PM • permalink

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