--- Nick Arnett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <to another, but it applies to me also>
> I'd hate to be the firefighter who comes into your > house to rescue you, > after you've been breathing enough smoke to have > trouble making sense of > things. Sounds like he or she would stand a good > chance of taking a round > or two. You'd be astounded at the crazy things > people do, mostly involving > hiding from the scary firefighters, when they're > woken up abruptly in the > middle of the night, partially poisoned by smoke. > Sesame Street found that > preschoolers hide from firefighters; other studies > found that adults often > do, too. Even without smoke, strange lights and > noises, plenty of us wake > up less than alert, especially in the dead of night. > > Lock your doors. Get an alarm. Have a webcam that > sends photos of > intruders off-site continuously, so they'll know > they'll be recognized > eventually (yeah, doesn't work so well for banks and > 7-11s, but it helps). > I think it's a bad idea to suggest that most people > can wake up in a very, > very frightening situation and immediately be aware > enough of what's going on to handle a firearm. <snip> <another grimace> I'm not a preschooler. In the intruder situation I described earlier, even though I instinctively and immediately 'knew' the figure standing in my doorway wasn't my roommate, I said, "Lisa...is that you?" It moved -- approx. 3-4 seconds had passed since I woke up -- and I went into survival/attack mode. I was *quite* sure that he wasn't a firefighter, and I think 4 seconds is plenty of verbal response time for a rescuer to call out (think of how long it takes you to identify a telemarketer). When my cat woke me at ~ 1am in the middle of a Texas thunderstorm, by growling and then running to the apt. front door, I didn't grab my gun and shoot him because I was confused on being painfully awakened (claws in the chest as he jumped off); I said ~ 'what on earth is wrong with you, it's just thunder!' (OK, and probably some [EMAIL PROTECTED] too) -- but realized within 4-5 seconds that he was crouched and growling at the door. Peering through the eyehole, I saw a man (not her boyfriend) was trying to jimmy my neighbor's lock; I'm going to guess that ~ 15 sec had passed from my abrupt awakening. I didn't grab my gun and confront him, or shoot him through the door; I called the on-site super and told him to set loose his Rottweiler, then called 911. Had the fellow actually succeeded in picking my neighbor's lock, I'd've felt obliged to go after him, knowing that my neighbor didn't have a gun, and that Hans (135 pounds of unneutered aggressive dog) would be upstairs momentarily (let even an armed intruder try to handle a huge Rottie and an armed defender at once! And I had no fear of Hans going for the wrong person - he adored me). When I lived in Dallas, it was not unusual to be wakened by gunfire (it was a poor neighborhood); I never woke clutching for my [loaded-and-on-the-nightstand] gun, but after listening for a few seconds, determined whether it was "happy weekend night shooting in the air" or "drug deal gone bad" gunfire. The former didn't even merit getting out of bed, but the latter meant I dropped to the floor, called the cats away from the windows, and called 911. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, here, but I don't like being shortchanged in the 'sense' category. What is the actual percentage of 'adults who often wake confused too?' My cats have the sense to know that nap-disturbing footsteps outside our door in the afternoon are only worthy of an earflick and perhaps one eye slitting open, whereas footsteps on the sidewalk at 3am will send both into "alert" mode (waking me). I think I have at least as much sense as my cats. In the time that it takes the police to get to my house to defend me, I could be killed. It will be small consolation to my friends and family that the murderers are caught. If they are. And while Denver isn't as dangerous as other cities, at least 2 women have been killed within 1-2 miles of where I live, in the past 3 years, and a married couple in their home. Approx. once/week someone is killed, attacked, raped or kidnapped in the greater Denver metropolitan area. Debbi who strives to be aware of her surroundings at all times, and is very glad for her 'watchcats' who guard her sleep (but must admit that if she lived in the country, she'd get a dog too, for the deterrance factor) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM). http://calendar.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
