Maura Murray

Judged:

1

Ridiculous wrote:

<quoted text>
Emmett,
I have a buddy from up here who fronts a local cover band. He did an originals cd a few years back and hasn't had any luck getting exposure or marketing it. Any Ideas? Youtube Jonathan Webster band..if you get a spare minute...Thanks ; )

Judged:

1

1

1

amy researches wrote:

<quoted text>
I would accept help from a stranger and think that in those circumstances I would feel scared/trapped and be grateful for sbd's offer to call police. If I had been drinking and feared getting in trouble, maybe not. Then I would probably accept a ride with the next willing stranger to get away ASAP, at Maura's age especially. I would be more scared to run down an unknown road not knowing what might be out there. I'm not a fan of wildlife so personally if my choice was running into woods or getting arrested, I'd be in jail. We are all different though. No telling what was going through her mind or if she was intoxicated.
If I had a choice to take a ride with someone who seemed safe versus going to an unknow door, I probably would take the ride, especially when I was younger. I always thought I would never accept a ride from a stranger. Until I got lost walking and ended up in a bad neighborhood. I accepted a ride out. Naive yes, maybe, but it felt better than the alternative. If I was desperate to avoid contact with police, as Maura might have been, I can see myself getting into a stanger's car at that age. Especially if a woman was in the car.

Orko Kringer wrote:

<quoted text>
I just have one basic question though.
If you are Maura or are in a situation like that yourself (middle of nowhere, car is broken down at night) and you decide to hitch a ride ... Where do you tell the person giving you a lift to take you?

Judged:

1

1

1

hannah_b wrote:

<quoted text>
Didn´t Bill-WTH tell us a rag in the tailpipe is not going to stall the engine. I believe him, he knows a lot about a lot of things.

Judged:

1

1

BillNH wrote:

<quoted text>
John Green usually does not refer to himself in the 3rd person.....
Is there any way this could NOT be creepy?

Judged:

1

Emmett Dove wrote:

<quoted text>
He is pretty decent bro! The thing about marketing now in the "digital age" is persistance... You need your music on itunes, soundclick, reverb nation, soundcloud... There are people that buy songs just cus of the "sound" or cus its someone they never heard before, its strange! You have to pay Apple to put it up, It was around $80 for a full cd (LP) & it takes around 2-3 months before its fully on there, but it stays on there and people are always looking!! Also, ive noticed artist from Maine, Vermont & New Hampshire have had a harder time with exposure, idk why, but in the years ive been in it, its been like that! I have an Artist from Vermont, MDK, and it took me almost 7 months to really get his name out, But, if your good your good and persistance will help soo much!!! Does he have a demo he wants played on the radio? If so, let me know & I can make that happen easily!

Maruchan wrote:

<quoted text>
This is why it is impossible for anybody to say with any authority what Maura did that night.
I have completely different answers to Amy and Snowy. Of all the options available in Maura's scenario, the very last one I personally would take would be getting into a stranger's car, no matter what age I was. The only "wildlife" I would fear is human, so going into the woods would feel much safer to me than walking down the road. I wouldn't even climb into SBD's bus to accept help even though it is a school bus simply because I would be with a man alone, trapped, as it were, in a place I couldn't get out of, and not knowing where he was going to go. I would see him as a possible threat.
If the car started, I would drive it, regardless of condition, back towards the "civilization" I had left behind just a few miles back. That would feel like the safest option, even if I destroyed the car - my personal safety would be far more important than what I did to the car, and no, I have never had a lot of money.
If the car wouldn't start, I would probably knock on FW's door before ever considering taking a ride - their house was highly visible from the road, with no trees or bushes around it, which makes it look fairly "safe" to me. I would knock and ask them to call the police or more likely AAA since I wasn't injured, and I would stand in their front yard until the tow truck showed up. Lastly, I would start walking back towards the civilization I had recently passed - I would know that at the very least, that the Swiftwater store was not far away and that I could probably use a phone and possibly get indoors away from the cold. Because I fear being abducted by a stranger in a vehicle more than any of those other things, I would duck into the trees on the side of the road to avoid being seen whenever possible.
I would do all these things if I had been drinking too and was afraid of a DUI. If I thought the SBD had called the police, I would probably not approach the Westman's house, but would walk again towards civilization, not away from it, and hide behind trees when I saw headlights approaching. If that meant climbing the snowbanks, I would still do it.
The very last thing, as a female, that I would do in that situation, in that area, is accept a ride from a stranger.
So, we have three different women, all of whom would react in different ways. There is simply no way anybody can say what Maura would have done, as Amy said, we are all very different.

Judged:

3

2

2

SnowyB wrote:

thinking back to West Point. first of all, it's FREE. when you've got 3, 4, 5 or 7 kids at home, it's a good plan and a good solution for providing higher education.
Maura, in high school, was a student and athlete.
the expectation and progression, especially since a sibling paved the way, was to follow with daughter #2.
at the finish line, the obligation to fulfill is military service.
Maura, obviously, didn't complete her education at WP.
what was the financial obligation, if any, for leaving after approx 3 semesters or 1 1/2 academic years?
and what was the end date marking her departure from WP, and the start ate of the transfer to UMASS? the transition matters.
did she send a semester in-between living at home? was she a day student during that time? or was the semester completed at WP and she was able to jump right into her studies at UMASS?
apart from the reason(s) for her being dismissed from WP, were her academics suffering during that last semester?
was she managing to rise to a tough major, chem engineering, with associated challenges and competition at WP...or was she falling?
i don't believe any of the information coming from sources that surrounded MM and her family on discussion boards in all of these years. there are all kinds of story lines made up about her life and relationships prior to her disappearance, many of which were spoon-fed and swallowed whole by the public.
alas, without verification from the institutions, and given records are inaccessible, as you know and have found, there will be no answers. and those puzzle pieces are important.
was there a financial obligation for having spent those semesters at WP?
how did expenses overlap during the transfer to UMASS? even if tuition was provided, room and board would need to be met, along with associated loans. it gets complicated.
and then she cracks up a car...and another.
if she was not the victim of stranger abduction on a rural road in NH in a matter of minutes, then the answers to her disappearance lie in the progression of starts and stops in her life beyond high school.
and why did she leave UMASS on that day, anyway?
i don't envy the task you've set out for yourself.

Judged:

1

Jenkins wrote:

<quoted text>
LOL, GREAT source you got there Hannah- some anonymous guy on the Internet, I'm sure that's a REALLY reliable source.
What's funny about that is what he says directly contradicts two seperate auto mechanics who have spoken on the record about this case and independently they both said that a rag in a tailpipe could be a good way to make a car stall out. That' Lavoie n N. Havehill and Ferris' automotive n Hanson mass who was interviewed by Maribeth Conway.
IDK about you but I'm going to take the word of a real mechanic who actually spoke on the record about it over some anonymous person online, but that's just me.
I don't blaim you for believing Bill though, he talks a good game. I like how he says that a rag won't stay in the exhaust of a 'modern high compression engine', but this is just to make it sound like he knows what he's talking about when he really doesn't.
What is he even talking about 'modern high compression engine'? What does he think these mechanics were talking about model T's? It's funny because a '96 saturn has a lower compression ratio than most cars of the 60's and 70's so that statement is clearly misleading.
A rag can definitely stall a motor if it's folded up and put in there the right way. A car with a rag in its taillpipe will run for up to a few miles because a rag is not airtight but it will stall out bc the engine will run too rich when it can't exhaust enough gases.
I'm sorry but it's insane to take the word of an anonymous person on the internet over an expert with 25 years of experience who's spoken on the record, and in this case we actually have 2 of them. So believe what you will but a car can most definitely be stalled out with a rag..

Judged:

1

1

Jenkins wrote:

<quoted text>
LOL, GREAT source you got there Hannah- some anonymous guy on the Internet, I'm sure that's a REALLY reliable source.
What's funny about that is what he says directly contradicts two seperate auto mechanics who have spoken on the record about this case and independently they both said that a rag in a tailpipe could be a good way to make a car stall out. That' Lavoie n N. Havehill and Ferris' automotive n Hanson mass who was interviewed by Maribeth Conway.
IDK about you but I'm going to take the word of a real mechanic who actually spoke on the record about it over some anonymous person online, but that's just me.
I don't blaim you for believing Bill though, he talks a good game. I like how he says that a rag won't stay in the exhaust of a 'modern high compression engine', but this is just to make it sound like he knows what he's talking about when he really doesn't.
What is he even talking about 'modern high compression engine'? What does he think these mechanics were talking about model T's? It's funny because a '96 saturn has a lower compression ratio than most cars of the 60's and 70's so that statement is clearly misleading.
A rag can definitely stall a motor if it's folded up and put in there the right way. A car with a rag in its taillpipe will run for up to a few miles because a rag is not airtight but it will stall out bc the engine will run too rich when it can't exhaust enough gases.
I'm sorry but it's insane to take the word of an anonymous person on the internet over an expert with 25 years of experience who's spoken on the record, and in this case we actually have 2 of them. So believe what you will but a car can most definitely be stalled out with a rag..

Judged:

3

2

2

hannah_b wrote:

<quoted text>
About obligations to WP if quitting, I actually researched that a couple years ago and posted to Adv´s defunct 2nd forum. Not sure if this has already been answered, I´m having difficulties loading pages due to slow connection (windy in the woods, sorry forests, today). A cadet who leaves for ANY reason, even if due to medical probz, before their Junior year, have to pay WP full fees for tuition and everything. Maura would not have been obligated to pay back. This info originally comes from a forum for WP parents I found when googling back in 2009.

Judged:

1

BillNH wrote:

<quoted text>
Mythbusters the tv show could not get anything to stay in the pipe when the car was started. Those guys are pretty thorough. They did it on video and we know they actually tried it. I have a feeling most of the mechanics who offer an opinion on it, never tested the theory...why would they?

Judged:

1

hannah_b wrote:

<quoted text>
Clarifiaction: Cadets do not owe anything if they leave before the Junior year. After that they owe everything WP spent on them, even if they left for medical reasons.

Judged:

1

hannah_b wrote:

<quoted text>
Years ago some posters actually tried to "investigate" the possibility of stalling a car by stuffing the tailpipe with rags, potatoes and what not. Everybody as far as I recall failed. Boy, I would have loved to see it, must have looked crazy funny.

Judged:

1

Catnip wrote:

<quoted text>
You are incorrect. Cadets who are separated for a medical issue that would prevent them from commissioning into the Army, even after they have signed their Reaffirmation of Oath, do NOT repay their education. Oftentimes the injury is incurred in military training or PT. West Point does everything possible to work with cadets so they are able to commission---after all, they have a lot of money invested in their education and training.