The Off Topic Topic

[mongers]

Luckily it seems that the leader of it is one of the unhappy souls on the vessel and I hope that he still is alive to ponder what he could have done differently.

At least he went down with the ship so to speak. Designing and operating a safer craft would have been a lot more expensive and would have pushed the price tag out of the well-off range, severely limiting their potential client base.  

Yeah, I cannot see the benefit of using carbon-fibre other than cost cutting, as I'd guess Titanium/alloys provide an near ideal metal to make the main hull out of?

[grumbler]

Luckily it seems that the leader of it is one of the unhappy souls on the vessel and I hope that he still is alive to ponder what he could have done differently.

At least he went down with the ship so to speak. Designing and operating a safer craft would have been a lot more expensive and would have pushed the price tag out of the well-off range, severely limiting their potential client base.  

Yeah, I cannot see the benefit of using carbon-fibre other than cost cutting, as I'd guess Titanium/alloys provide an near ideal metal to make the main hull out of?

Titanium in submersibles is good for things like framing, but not for hull plating.  It gets brittle at very low temperatures, like those at the depths of the Titanic.

[Maladict]

Debris found on ocean floor has been assessed to be from the external body of the Titan sub

From CNN's Priscilla Alvarez

The debris discovered within the search area of the missing Titanic submersible has been assessed to be from the external body of the sub, according to a memo reviewed by CNN.

The search for the crew capsule of the Titan vessel continues, the memo says.

The debris was located on the ocean floor, roughly 500 meters (about a third of a mile) off of the bow of the Titanic, and it was found around 8:55 a.m. ET.

It was discovered by a remotely operated vehicle that was searching the seafloor, according to the US Coast Guard.

The discovery came at an urgent time for the search and rescue effort. Experts say the sub and its five passengers would be reaching the limit of the sub's roughly 96 hours of life support, having gone missing Sunday morning.

[Barrister]

It's amazing how it took decades to try and locate the Titanic itself - it was a huge discovery when it was found back n the 80s.

They find this sub in a couple of days.

[Legbiter]

At least they died instantly from the depressurization instead of suffocating over days.

[Barrister]

At least they died instantly from the depressurization instead of suffocating over days.

I think "depressurization" is the exact opposite of what happened to them.



(too soon?)

[Legbiter]

I think "depressurization" is the exact opposite of what happened to them.



(too soon?)

Sorry meant decompression.   But yeah the implosion would snuff you out fairly instantly.

[Tamas]

A good point by a Guardian article that the rich bastards dying in that sub received WAY more media attention than the 100+ regular people dying on that Greek migrant boat. Paints a bad picture of us as a species.

[HVC]

Migrants die all the time, rich people imploding in a sub is unique. Plus you have the titanic angle.

[Sheilbh]

A good point by a Guardian article that the rich bastards dying in that sub received WAY more media attention than the 100+ regular people dying on that Greek migrant boat. Paints a bad picture of us as a species.

Yes - although I've mainly seen people mainly talking about the migrant boat sinking in order to dunk on people talking about the sub. I don't remember people mentioning it much last week after the story broke. Which is its own rather sad story.

I mean I thought about posting an article on it and then didn't - again not great

[Josquius]

Yeah, the boat story rather got swept under the carpet as the investigation uncovered more grizzly details.

[mongers]

A good point by a Guardian article that the rich bastards dying in that sub received WAY more media attention than the 100+ regular people dying on that Greek migrant boat. Paints a bad picture of us as a species.

Yes - although I've mainly seen people mainly talking about the migrant boat sinking in order to dunk on people talking about the sub. I don't remember people mentioning it much last week after the story broke. Which is its own rather sad story.

I mean I thought about posting an article on it and then didn't - again not great

I think I posted about it, but sometimes it's hard to get a conversation going here. 

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, the boat story rather got swept under the carpet as the investigation uncovered more grizzly details.

Yeah and as Tom Chivers pointed out, in terms of engagement (and again, perhaps sadly) "Greek authorities callous and/or incompetent, many dead" is less exciting  to most people than "people stuck with time running out". In part it's not a million miles from the appeal of liveblogs - the news literally happening now.

[Admiral Yi]

The submersible is a good news story because it unfolded before our eyes.  As someone said, like Thai children in a cave, or Chilean miners.

[Grey Fox]

It's amazing how it took decades to try and locate the Titanic itself - it was a huge discovery when it was found back n the 80s.

They find this sub in a couple of days.

It is really astounding how many technological advancement are derivative from the hunt for the Titanic.

That's why none of this surprised me. The Titanic wreck has always been a driver of, well, everything.