http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/13/chile.miners.emerge/index.html?hpt=T2

I must say, it's friggin awesome that we live in a world where we can rescue 33 miners who have been trapped 2000 feet beneath the surface of the earth for months.

For once we have a news story that is incredibly positive, in a sea of worldwide negativity.

Sending good vibes for the rest of the miners yet to be extracted!

yeah I watched part of it on BBC news, very joyful vibe, though, I can't imagine what the smell wouldve been like down there

Probably about the same as the smell of a man cave... sweat and stale farts.

...man cave, DSettahr?

How long ago was it that we would have just forgotten about them? 100 years? 50 years? 10 years?

Depends on whether the media decides to pick up the story or just ignore it.

I don't know much about this story, how did they survive down there for so long? I'm guessing they had some sort of supply shaft?

Also how does one shave when trapped in an underground mine? I expected them to come out looking like hispanic ZZ top clones.

Modern mines are like miniature cities underground. They're aren't just shafts with mine carts like you see in movies set in the Victorian era.

There was a mining accident in West Germany back in 1963 apparently. The current rescue tube is based on a design that was used to rescue many miners back then.



For 17 days they were essentially on their own. There was emergency supplies (intended only for 3 days, they stretched for that long), then a probe drill found them. In fact, the miners taped a note to the probe drill bit before it came back up, to alert rescuers, before the rescuers even knew anyone was alive.

From then on, they received medical supplies, food, water, and oxygen from that, and 2 other probes that were also drilled.

Edit: also, in reply to Emon, they had ~2km area of open mine to live in, at the location they were trapped at.

I thought it was funny that as soon as they had the line drilled so they could lower supplies and such, the miners immediately requested beer.

Haha that was fast...

So basically they were living the life down there, like it was Moria.

Not really?

Also, they didn't get to just lay around. In order to keep them from going crazy, they all had different jobs to do.

And games. They did races and similar events to keep their spirits and exercise up

The exercise was a good idea. If they just got fat, they would not be able to fit out.

I also heard that they were all smoking 40 cigarettes a day, and asked for "Dranks"(alcohol), yet to no avail, drunk miners = earthquake.

http://amazingdata.com/mediadata32/Image/hot_weird_funny_amazing_cool5_a-coober-pety-underground-41_200907261819063453.jpg

Some random thoughts on the matter:

Last night I was wondering, I just know there must be some leftist blog somewhere where people are disparaging all the resources used and the damage to the environment to rescue so few people. I did a brief search and had no problem finding random comments along those lines but nothing substantial.

Also, I was thinking back to during 9/11 and how Clinton and his acolytes had made comments which alluded to how he never had the opportunity for greatness that 9/11 afforded Bush. I wonder what perception there is within the Obama camp of how the Chilean president expertly, energetically, and popularly handled the situation and if there is some jealousy. This could be particularly hard for Obama considering he already had an opportunity with the Gulf Oil Disaster they botched. It was hard for me not to think about this as I saw the president embracing the rescued miners.

I also noticed that the Chilean president thanked many foreign leaders by name and "many more" but neglected Obama. That seemed amazing to me and I took it as a huge snub. Not that I disagree but I don't see how it couldn't have been extremely noticeable for anyone watching.

In regard to all of this: Who ****ing cares?

They definitely weren't all smoking 40 cigarettes a day. Only one person was really a smoker, and all he was offered was nicotine patches, which he turned down.

I wonder if these guys are in store for some serious OT paychecks.

IIRC (reading the wiki page), a judge seized $2 million from the company over this, despite the company insisting it had no money.

While I hope they do get a lot of money (as it was not entirely an accident, there was a TON of negligence that resulted in them being truly trapped), I wouldn't be surprised if the company screwed them over on it somehow.

What I want to know is how many go back to mining after that.

I believe I heard that the company already went out of business. Could be wrong, though. So many companies are going out of business right now.



I would posit that Obama does.

Why must you bring up Obama in a thread that is unrelated to him?

I related it. Reading comprehension ftw!

Remember when Tibby couldn't post new threads? Wookie shouldn't be allowed to post about Obama. I imagine most people are tired of seeing threads ruined by pointless trolling.

This isn't trolling. I'm seriously discussing thoughts I had on the issue. At least they were substantive, unlike many others in an otherwise boring thread that nobody seemed to really post much in. I always wait before bringing up topics that I know the "sensitive" here will get all upity about.

The point is this event has literally nothing to do with Barack Obama. You tried to relate it, but just came off as someone really trying to bash Obama for whatever reason.

Did Obama (or the US) do anything to aid the rescue effort (forgive my ignorance on the subject)? If so, then yes that does seem kinda inappropriate. If not, then why should the Chilean president thank him?

Also, Antony, wasn't he moreso bashing the Chilean president for not giving credit where it's due?

It seemed an awful lot like "This Chilean president knows what he's doing, unlike that ******* Obama" in many more words.

Okay, I'll make it simpler for you.

I wonder if:

Some liberal group out there is bashing rescuing so few people?

What Obama thinks of the Chilean President's handling of the matter?

What people think of the Chilean President's snub of Obama in his speech after the last miner was brought up?

1. Why the hell would liberals be bashing the notion of saving lives?

2. Who cares what Obama thinks of his handling of the rescue?

3. Who cares that he didn't thank Obama? Did Obama really do anything to help?

Well, NASA helped a bit. Developed some diets or something.



That could be interpreted from my post.

Because of the resources used and the damage to environment to rescue so few. There are people out there saying exactly what I am referring to.



Um, because a relatively unpopular president has seen his popularity soar due to his handling of the crisis. Obama has actually already had this opportunity and blew it.


Well now, that's the question isn't it? By the way, have you bothered to see who he did thank? Do you think they all really did anything to help?

Wookiee attempts to disturb **** over one of the most beautiful events in modern history.
Don't talk to him, ignore him and focus on the matter at hand, you aren't going to sway his retarded beliefs anyway. You'll just get angry for nothing in a thread that should be about something amazing.
It really is amazing, all the support those people gave, the volunteering. This is truly one of those defining events that happens once in a while, and for once it was a good thing.

Dear Wookie;

What the **** dude, you need to stop hitting the pipe. Or start hitting the pipe. Something. All I know is that your life needs more or less pipe.

Really.


Anyways, this story is rad in a has nothing to do with Barack Obama sort of way.

This whole thing reminded me of that Simpsons episode where Bart gets trapped in a well, which in turn reminded me of older trapped-in-a-well stories.

I also had a vague memory of some old TV series (possibly Bonanza) where some people get trapped in a mine, but the Simpsons episode with the wellular unwellness was the first thing I was reminded of.

This story reminded me of a recentish collapse here in which in typical fashion the company in charge issued a press release that kinda went "oops, lol, sorry" and OSHA was all I'm gonna fine you $10,000 and you might get six months of jail time but probably not.

Yes, as a Liberal I'm desperately dismayed that so many resources were diverted away from my red brothers for the saving of so few unworthy peasants.

Obama totally agrees with me too. He told me so in the Socialist Super Secret Newsletter.

ha! I knew it!