Coffee Talk #396: Bomb Threats, Gadgets, and You

Last Saturday my apartment complex was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Details were scarce. One minute the police were calling for one building to be evacuated. A short time later, my building was being…

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Last Saturday my apartment complex was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Details were scarce. One minute the police were calling for one building to be evacuated. A short time later, my building was being evacuated. My initial thought was, “Where’s my phone?!?” This was quickly followed by, “Where’s my iPad?!?” and, “Should I nab my 3DS and PSP?!?” In the end, I decided to just grab my phone and quickly leave the building. If it were a bomb threat on any other day than September 11 then I would have taken more time and packed more gear with me.

How would you react in a similar situation? How precious are your gadgets and pieces of gaming gear? Would you try to pack as many precious geek goodies in a bag before evacuation? Or is it safety first? What do you think your answer says about you?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

24 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #396: Bomb Threats, Gadgets, and You”

    1. The same prick who wants to role play Dennis Hopper's role in Speed. I think this guy might have escaped from Arkham.

      -M

      1. Now that I too read the 2 paragraphs… I sympathize a little more.

        I mean… if I was 62… and I couldn't afford Viagra… I might get a little creative with some bomb threats myself.

      2. I'm surprised you didn't call in a bomb threat to Heinz field on Sunday and do the Steeler nation a favor by ending the game in the third quarter.

        -M

      1. Yeah I read the two paragraphs they tried to pass off as a news article. Clearly, this old guy is not right in the head.

        Personally, I blame violent video games. ;o)=

        -M

    1. Agreed. Even worse; Developers.

      Nintendo – "Motion controls are the future of gaming!

      5 years later…

      Microsoft – "Now, with our advanced Kinect technology, we're taking gaming to a whole new level!"
      Nintendo – "Yeah, audience, remember E3 2006? JK, the future of gaming is actually dual analogs and high-res gaming.

  1. Well, if I were you in this situation, I'd remember to grab my wallet so I could grab a latte at starbucks.

    1. That's a great point that I should have mentioned in the article. I DIDN'T bring my wallet. My thoughts went from phone to iPad to portable consoles. My wallet never entered my head…which is kinda stupid.

      1. And people wonder why portable gaming systems are so important. Yeah, that's right all you console fanboys out there, wattaya gonna do when you're evac-ed by a bomb threat? Carry your plasma screen around with a backup generator and PS3 attached?! Hah!

        Portable Consoles 1, Consoles Nothing!!!!!

        …ahem. That was a joke.

      2. Everytime I leave the house, my mental checklist goes like this:

        Phone
        Keys
        Wallet
        Cigarettes
        Lighter
        Anything else I may need

        Then I end up running back in the house at least 2 more times for whatever I'm forgetting… which happens everytime.

        But in reality… the very first thing on my checklist is pants.

      3. well if you had a digital wallet on your phone like some companies (I'm vaguely remembering someone wants to do this) want to do then you wouldn't have to worry about grabbing both wallet and phone, just grab your phone.

  2. If its at my job then i have my backpack always so im always ready to go.

    If im at home then my consoles and external HDD are what must go with me along with my phone and wallet of course

  3. I would save myself, electronics can be replaced. However, if have time I would just take my phone and Mac mini because it is tiny.

      1. This is something I've always noticed. Everytime I go to a convenience store, gas station, restaurant, etc… there's that sign on the door that says "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service"…

        Which automatically leads me to believe that pants are optional.

      2. A few years ago my dorm caught fire (incidentally it was two/three day before my 120 page paper was due and I didn't bring my laptop because everyone thought it was a fire drill) at the beginning of November and people went outside in towels straight from the shower, or just in boxers, pajamas, etc. Again this was due in part because we all thought it was just one of the annoying drills again.

        I grabbed my phone and wallet but my laptop wasn't a priority (actually a really stupid move at that point given there was a lot of smoke damage, an actual fire, and I had about 110 pages written and only saved on my laptop). That actually made me think about this situation, so now I always make sure I know exactly where my phone, keys, and wallet are. Depending on the situation I would also grab my laptop, xbox (for saved game info), external HDD for sure (almost 500gb's of movies and tv shows) since I would have to replace that manually.

        My parents always talked about this situation and mention our family pictures as being something they would go back for first. Interesting how much technology can change our value system. Now I would just save my hard drive and print more later, they can't do that with the 20-30 volumes of pictures they have hard copies of. Overall this is always an interesting topic. My priority items are always close by, and I like to keep a backpack empty to shove it all in, just in case.

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