Day: June 20, 2023

Titanic Tragedy (Again)

Most everyone watch the movie Titanic (spoiler if you have not…the ship sinks) and since 1912 there have been theory after theory about this tragedy.

Then along came James Cameron and a movie and documentary on this famous wreck…..fast forward to 2023 and the interest in this shipwreck is still high…..

The operator of the submersible that went missing on a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic says it is “exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.” In a statement, OceanGate Expeditions said its “entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families,” the CBC reports. The company says it lost contact with the sub, which has a 96-hour oxygen supply, Sunday morning. OceanGate says it is rushing to get a remotely operated vehicle capable of diving 20,000 feet to the site. The Titan submersible vessel has a capacity of five, though it’s not clear how many people are on board. Action Aviation has confirmed that its chairman, British billionaire Hamish Harding, was on the sub, the AP reports

“Every attempt is being made for a rescue mission. There is still plenty of time to facilitate a rescue mission, there is equipment on board for survival in this event,” said Mark Butler, the aviation company’s managing director. In a Facebook post Saturday, Harding said the expedition “is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”

Canada’s Coast Guard says a military aircraft and a Coast Guard ship have been sent to assist the US Coast Guard with the search and rescue operation around 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, the New York Times reports. Experts say it’s not clear what happened to the sub, though there is a chance it could have released a drop weight after losing power and is on the surface of the water waiting to be found. Parks Stephenson, technical director on James Cameron’s Titanic movie, says the loss of communication with the vessel is a “highly unusual event,” reports the BBC.

Time is running out for those trapped in this ‘sub’……including some random billionaire……

Billionaire British adventurer Hamish Harding is among the five people aboard the submersible that went missing during a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic Sunday. The 58-year-old chairman of private jet dealer Action Aviation is also a “renowned explorer,” the BBC reports. Last year, he flew to space on Blue Origin’s fifth human-crewed flight. He’s also been to the South Pole multiple times and set three world records, including longest time spent at full ocean depth when he went on a dive to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench. He posted on Facebook Saturday that he was to be a mission specialist aboard the Titanic expedition, which he said would likely be the only manned dive to the wreckage this year.

He said that was “due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years,” and said that a “weather window” had just opened up that should allow them to start the dive at 4am local time Sunday if the weather held. The wreckage sits 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. US Coast Guard officials lost contact with the submersible about an hour and 45 minutes into the dive, and a Coast Guard official said Monday that he understands the vessel likely had 70 hours left of its 96-hour oxygen supply at that point, Axios reports. Sources tell Sky News two of the others aboard the submersible are French submersible pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet and Stockton Rush, chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, the company that runs the submersible tours.

Sorry this ‘adventure’ is not and never was on my bucket list……never did I ever consider being in a small metal tube thousands of feet under the water.

Some things should just stay a ‘mystery’……this is one of them.

Any thioughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

So Much For The Sanctions Idea

WE know that since last February the US and NATO has imposed heavy sanctions on Russia as a penalty for invading Ukraine.

These sanctions do not seem to find a way to stop the madness now exploding (no pun intended) in Ukraine.

Sanctions, at best, are a feel good action….seldom do anything to curb any bad activity by this country or that.

Let me go off track for a moment….

As a nuclear super power where does all the uranium come from that is needed to make those lovely bombs and stuff?

Here’s a hint for you….the nation is under extreme sanctions.

Roughly one third of the enriched uranium used in the United States is now imported from Russia, the world’s cheapest producer.  Most of the rest is imported from Europe. A final, smaller portion is produced by a British-Dutch-German consortium operating in the United States. Nearly a dozen countries around the world depend on Russia for more than half their enriched uranium.
 
The company that operates the Ohio plant says it could take more than a decade for it to produce quantities that rivaled Rosatom. The Russian nuclear agency, which produces both low-enriched and weapons-grade fuel for Russia’s civilian and military purposes, is also responsible in Ukraine for commandeering the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s biggest, sparking fears that a battle over it could cause leaks of radioactive material or even a larger meltdown.
 
It is one of the most significant remaining flows of money from the United States to Russia, and it continues despite strenuous efforts among U.S. allies to sever economic ties with Moscow. The enriched uranium payments are made to subsidiaries of Rosatom, which in turn is closely intertwined with Russia’s military apparatus.
 
I have said and written many times that this sanction thing does nothing but help politicians feel good and something they can use to separate fools from their money.
 
Not something that is common knowledge by the people….but not to worry there is plenty more that we do not know.
 
At what point do we allow this BS to continue?  (that is a rhetorical question)
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”