ON JAMES KIM FAMILY'S ORDEAL AND TECHNOLOGY

LOST AND FOUND

(Update 12.06.06:  Very sad ending to this story...James Kim was found deceased less than a mile from where his family was stranded...more in this CNET story.)

The San Francisco Chronicle has a good report on the harrowing story of CNET editor James Kim and his family, who were stranded in the snowy wilderness in Oregon:

"Hope was running low for the Kim family nine days after they became stranded in the snowy mountains of southwestern Oregon while making their way toward home in San Francisco. Then, at 1:45 p.m. Monday, Kim spotted a helicopter her family had hired to help in the search. She waved an umbrella on which she had taped reflective striping, and soon she and the girls were saved.

Now they are hoping that her husband, James Kim, is still alive. The 35-year-old Kim left the family to look for help Saturday morning dressed in a jacket, sweater and blue jeans and carrying snowshoes, and he never came back. Searchers spotted his tracks in the snow and were looking for him Monday night.

Kati Kim, 30, and her daughters, 4-year-old Penelope and 7-month-old Sabine, were found with the family car just off Bear Camp Road, a treacherous, little-used mountain route that runs across the Coast Range from Grants Pass along Interstate 5 to the coastal town of Gold Beach. The car had become stuck in snow."

It's a well-written piece and tells an amazing story of a plucky family's path to survival.  We're all obviously hoping for a complete happy ending with the safe recovery of James Kim.

What's particularly interesting is how what happened to the Kim family could happen to anyone dependent on technology today, both the good and the bad.

For example, a Gizmodo post notes that an everyday gadget came to the rescue in this story, sort of a "digital Lassie":

"It's poetic: CNet editor loves gadgets, gadget saves man's family.

Authorities said searchers had tracked the family by tracing signals from a cell phone the Kims were carrying. The Kims were not able to make a call, but their attempt was enough to narrow the search area.

Cellphones are the new Lassie."

Unfortunately, technology MAY have been the cause of the Kims getting stranded in the first place.  As the Chronicle story notes towards the end:

"Terri Stone, an innkeeper at the Tu Tu Tun Lodge in Gold Beach, where the Kims were to have stayed the night of Nov. 25, said the Bear Camp Road is shown on some Internet road-direction sites as the best way to get to the coast from Grants Pass, but she advises against it.

"It looks like the shortest distance, but it is very, very treacherous,'' she said."

It's not clear from the story what the Kims were using for directions on their trip.

I'll admit that in recent years, I've become probably overly  dependent on GPS technologies while driving and blindly trust the "shortest route" offered. 

I can easily see this happening to me.

Here's hoping they find James Kim safe and sound soon.

Comments

[Sonny]

I agree with you that we may be relying too much on technology. How many times I have told a host that s/he need not send directions since I will map it - only to realize that I took a more complicated route to get there and even got lost, while the host knew the fastest way to get to her/his home. I don't think that I want to give up the technology but sometimes it might have just helped them to ask the woman at the hotel counter if it was the best way to reach the next destination.

[yopy]

michael,

i am trying to add your rss into my rssreader but seem to hv a problem.

it said 'unexpected RSS or Atom number'. so, i just want to forward this info to u.

[Tim]

I was watching tv when I heard James passed away. I'm a 58 year old man, and so many tears came to my eyes.

My heart goes out to the Famlies.

He's a Hero in my mind.
Tim