RoR: Forum

Post 0

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - 1:53pm

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John,

While you're right about folks seeming more like sheep nowadays, the science guy had just tripped, fell, got back up, and then fainted for 5 seconds (most likely due to orthostatic hypotension). It's not like folks just sat there watching him unconscious as the clock ticked and ticked.

There wasn't a lot of time before he woke up and joked about it.

Ed

Post 1

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - 2:52pm

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Well the article does say some students reported that people went to their mobile devices first before getting out their seat to help the guy. So it sounds like they had ample time to do post status updates and tweet so I question whether there wasn't enough time to react to help the guy out. Also the 5 seconds time you're referring to is from one internet posting so it's hard to say it really was just 5 seconds without further corroboration from other witnesses. I'm leaning towards the guy passed out, and people didn't care to help at the moment.

Post 2

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - 2:57pm

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Just as a suspected, another eyewitness says it was 10 seconds and no one responded to his collapse: From the LA Times article referenced:

"Then after about 10 seconds, he popped back up with much gusto and asked everybody how long he was out for and went on with a story about how a similar thing happened to him that morning."....

"Nobody went to his aid at the very beginning when he first collapsed -- that just perplexed me beyond reason," USC senior Alastair Fairbanks said. "Instead, I saw students texting and updating their Twitter statuses. It was just all a very bizarre evening."