http://www.sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=37978
http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/30/cnets-james-kim-and-family-missing-have-you-seen-them/#comments

Hope everything turns out ok but I always get a bad feeling in my gut when something like this happens

11/30/2006 11:28:30 PM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16070337/?GT1=8816
RIP

12/7/2006 7:48:09 AM

Good that his family's ok, I guess. Sucks that his daughters will have to grow up without a dad though.

edit: wait, they found him by using the signal from his cell phone when it was getting a text message. So why didn't he call or text for help? I'm confused.

12/7/2006 7:58:04 AM

This is terribly tragic, but I can't help but shake my head when I read this

Quote :

"Kim, a senior editor for the technology media company CNet Networks Inc.; his wife, Kati; and their two daughters, Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, went missing Nov. 25 when they left Portland and headed home after a holiday trip to the Pacific Northwest. Sometime along the way, they missed a turnoff and got lost."

You'd think they would have GPS in his ride being a senior editor of a tech company that has no doubt reviewed hundreds of such devices.

12/7/2006 8:01:41 AM

he reviewed audio devices so that's not really a fair statement.

12/7/2006 8:44:16 AM

One of the speculations I heard was that he took a route that was closed for the winter. The family was carrying two maps: one that had the road marked that it was closed, the other that did not. If they followed the latter map (a Rand-McNally at that)...

12/7/2006 9:11:08 AM

I think everything he did was logical and absolutely warranted. I would have done the same thing in his shoes. He definately had passion and motivation. That warrants a "hero" label.

I mean, you drive up a road and get lost. You're afraid to turn back because you'll just get more lost. You wait 7 days in hopes that someone comes by. No rescue comes. You're only option is to go out and try and find help. You've gone a couple of miles. There is no turning back. If your goal is to rescue your family, it's not logical to turn back.

I'm sure he would have used his cell phone if it was usable. I believe his cell phone was being pinged for a text message. Not that it actually recieved a text message. I'm not sure, but I'm sure that we can't jump to conclusions.

I don't know if many of you have had to hike through snow/wet conditions in below freezing conditions, but it's not fun. I've been on hiking trips where we were well fed, well clothed, and well equiped and we still didn't travel as far as James Kim supposedly traveled. And we didn't have to worry about below freezing wet weather or unpassable terrain.

It's really discouraging to hear he couldn't make it. He'll definately be missed. I've always been a fan of his since he was on techTV.

12/7/2006 10:40:18 AM

It made me rather sad to know that he didn't make it.

12/8/2006 1:36:00 AM

Tragedy indeed. RIP.

12/8/2006 1:57:03 AM

Quote :

"he reviewed audio devices so that's not really a fair statement."

Not trying to talk shit about the dead here, but I think it's pretty fucking fair to say that a guy that is the senior editor of a consumer technology media company would be prudent to have an interest and opinion of all things in consumer technology, especially something as rudimentary as a GPS device.

12/8/2006 6:16:11 AM

Oh yea I remember this guy now.

12/8/2006 4:57:57 PM

^^ hindsight is 20/20

he may have had an intrest in them, but didnt feel he needed one.
some people prefer paper maps over a gps, and there are people who have gotten lost following the directions given by a gps.

Quote :

"Tragedy indeed. RIP."

12/8/2006 8:55:20 PM

I don't know if a GPS would have kept them from getting lost, as the problem was that they took a road which is not accessible in winter. Doubt the GPS would have known that.

12/8/2006 9:57:13 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/09/AR2006120900180.html

It appears that some vandal cut the locks to the gate that shut the road down for the season. What an unncessary tragedy.

12/9/2006 8:21:54 PM