I'm sure Mulally was genuinely thrilled; I met him back when he worked for Boeing, and struck me as being a really kind, nice, engineer-type guy.
Kudos to Ford!
MushyHeirloom promoted this comment
Edited by Shamoononon: I shave my legs. at 10/13/09 7:23 PM
Shamoononon: I shave my legs. was starred
Shamoononon: I shave my legs. was unstarred
@Shamoononon: I shave my legs.: Hey, those cows chose to go onto the freeway, for all we know they could've been suicidal. Plus is your cubicle really that safe? Can it stop an F-150 going 65 mph? I don't think so. So what will you do if a F-150 ever comes plowing through your office building? Just think about it, just think.
@alexander_the_car_salamander: Oh crap, a cow just came flying through my forth floor office window and took out F-150 that inhabits the neighboring cubicle.
Yeah, I know I just edited the story a couple times, I had to get all the facts together.
"I had a twisted vertebrae, dislocated ribs, a concussion, and some burns from the airbag." I was trying to figure out how this could happen in a vehicle that did NOT hit an immovable object and does not have any deformation of the passenger compartment, and then it hit me: chucklehead was not wearing his seatbelt. It's interesting that he raves about the safety features while ignoring the most basic and effective of them.
Near where I formerly worked-a rural two lane highway in Middle Tennessee saw two men driving a pickup hit a full sized bull which had gotten loose at night. It killed one of them and severely injured the other- killed the bull, of course. The blood stain on the road was immense until several rains washed it way. The bull's idiot owner tried to tap dance that "it wasn't his" but he got fined for it getting loose. Unforetunately the idiot owner didn't have any money/property to sue for so the families of the dead and injured men got nothing.
I also once met a guy who had split a horse in half at 45-50mph with a 1982 Honda CBX1000 motorcycle while riding a rural Maryland road at night. Luckily for the guy, the CBX (the famous inline 6 cylinder) was the completely faired sport-touring version so the plastic fairing/windshield essentially disintegrated but slowed him enough to survive (plus full face helmet and leather riding jacket). Totalled out the motorcycle but the police could not believe the rider had survived. Guy said he was was un-injured other than being coverered with horse blood, guts, and crap...
@econobiker: I suffered through a similar accident with a friend. One cold and raining night, rounding a corner in his truck, we came across a cow in the middle of the road which had somehow escaped (through a neglected section of fence, we discovered later) and slammed into it, destroying the friend's truck and killing the cow instantly. Since the conditions were miserable for standing around, I had enough presence of mind to pull out a pocketknife and saw away the tagged ear, much to the consternation of my friend, before we walked a few miles to my father's house to call the police and a towing company to clear the wreckage away. We were astonished to return to the scene of the accident to find a demolished pickup truck and no carcass, at which point I explained to the arriving officer that I had the ear tag and could we deal with the situation tomorrow, after everyone had a good night's rest. He agreed to that, and personally stopped by later the next day to accompany us to the dairy. The meeting in the office was subdued, with the manager figuring out what had happened immediately upon being presented with the severed ear and unbroken tag, considerately sealed into a plastic bag the night before. He said while it might take a while to figure out which stupid but well-meaning (for the company) ranch hands were the ones who did the quick disposal job on the carcass, there wasn't any reason, if no one had been injured, to immediately set things right. It took a few phone calls but less than half an hour later my friend was told, "just head on down to any of these dealers and pick out any truck you want; we'll pick up the bill".
In remote areas, if there are ear tags or other specialized identifiers attached to the animal which just destroyed your vehicle, making certain to secure those bits of evidence can prevent a lot of legal grief later, especially if the main body of evidence pulls a disappearing act.
@felis_concolor: It disappeared because they're liable if it was their livestock that wandered out. You must have some sort of magical powers to have the forethought to grab that ear.
@felis_concolor: +1. The only thing I'd add is that the most important identifier is often going to be a brand. In many states brands are registered with the state and are a conclusive link to the owner of the cattle. [www.cowboyshowcase.com]
@felis_concolor: Wow. Well done, and sound advice for any domesticated animal/vehicle encounter. "Saw away the tagged ear" shall forever be a part of my lexicon. Sir, I salute you.
@BavarianFanatic: Not mystical; I just spent the better part of my first 3 decades growing up and working on a small farm, so what seems to be arcane knowledge to most is common knowledge to me.
And if ever given the chance to play around in vintage race cars with unsynchronized gearboxes, my experience in double-clutching the Kubota's crunchbox will stand me in good stead. Spur gut gears at the end of the stick? No problem!
@P161911 probably shoudn't have: Yeah, I witnessed a trooper double tap a bull point-blank as I drove past an accident a few years ago that was similar to the one described here...
No one died in that accident either, they were driving a late 90s Camaro...
@IN THE FACE!: After killing three cows with a broken leg, the trooper asks the truck's driver "What's wrong with you?" Truck driver with obviously broken leg replies: "NOTHING at all!"
10/14/09
Kudos to Ford!
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I Tell you what
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Yeah, I know I just edited the story a couple times, I had to get all the facts together.
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I also once met a guy who had split a horse in half at 45-50mph with a 1982 Honda CBX1000 motorcycle while riding a rural Maryland road at night. Luckily for the guy, the CBX (the famous inline 6 cylinder) was the completely faired sport-touring version so the plastic fairing/windshield essentially disintegrated but slowed him enough to survive (plus full face helmet and leather riding jacket). Totalled out the motorcycle but the police could not believe the rider had survived. Guy said he was was un-injured other than being coverered with horse blood, guts, and crap...
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In remote areas, if there are ear tags or other specialized identifiers attached to the animal which just destroyed your vehicle, making certain to secure those bits of evidence can prevent a lot of legal grief later, especially if the main body of evidence pulls a disappearing act.
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And if ever given the chance to play around in vintage race cars with unsynchronized gearboxes, my experience in double-clutching the Kubota's crunchbox will stand me in good stead. Spur gut gears at the end of the stick? No problem!
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No one died in that accident either, they were driving a late 90s Camaro...
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I'm sure the whole thing was a summary of what Mulally said?