June 30, 2008
The Effects of Piracy
Eagle One reports on how the piracy off the coast of Somalia is threatening to end food shipments. He also makes some typically sensible proposals for
dealing with the situation.
Here is a proven solution....
For extra credit, who can identify the ship?
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
07:58 PM
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1
That looks like the ship in the movie "The Sand Pebbles".
Or maybe not. It's been a hell of a long time since I saw that flick.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Mon Jun 30 21:08:11 2008 (+rSRq)
Posted by: Rich at Tue Jul 1 07:23:17 2008 (HT/CR)
3
That was fast.
Steven Den Beste wins the cruel trick question.
The vessel is an elaborate prop...the river gunboat San Pablo from the film
Sand Pebbles.
It does look similar to several US river gunboats such as the Paynay...because it was designed to.
If only I had a Gluchko plushie...instead of these cat ears.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Jul 1 08:29:47 2008 (QM9Py)
4
One of the things that was cool about that movie was Steve McQueen using a BAR.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wed Jul 2 23:29:34 2008 (+rSRq)
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June 14, 2008
Coastiecopters Save Fishermen In Bering Sea
A particularly challenging rescue...
Great video from Popular Mechanics, with really lukewarm narration here.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
11:34 PM
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If I was a coastie, I dunno if I'd want to be assigned there.
It's the most lethal area of ocean anywhere in the world, because the weather is horrible, and the crab is delicious, so those kinds of rescues are needed a lot of times per year. If you are part of a search-and-rescue squad, you'll get more business there than anywhere else.
But it's also a horrible and dangerous place to be doing rescues. I bet the Coast Guard has lost more men there than anywhere else.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sun Jun 15 16:44:55 2008 (+rSRq)
2
Are You Still Living in the continental
USA ?
Posted by: Elliott at Sun Jun 15 18:29:48 2008 (LnTtG)
3
No. I am actually blogging from my secret fortress which is located far beneath the Earths crust.
Due to its location in the mantle, it is not considered part of the
Continental United States.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jun 15 18:55:25 2008 (V5zw/)
4
Regards Stevens thoughtfully on-topic comment:
A couple of the Alaska stations are actually considered hardship posts more due to the lack of entertainment facilities in the frontier communities than the risk to life and limb.
It is a dangerous place however. Several helicopters have been lost while hovering during rescue operations.
It now seems probable they were lost due to being physically knocked out of the sky by rogue waves over 30m high (a phenomenon that until recently was not thought possible).
After the last such event produced survivors (and independent observation by a nearby cutter), the hovering height has been modified.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jun 15 19:08:34 2008 (V5zw/)
5
Another thing about that post is that a lot of the time what they bring back is a corpse rather than a survivor. Even with the special suits that all the crab fishermen now wear, half-life of a man in the water there is less than half an hour because of hypothermia. Being a crab fisherman in the Bering Strait is reputed to be the most dangerous job there is.
(Except maybe "Chinese coal miner.")
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sun Jun 15 20:19:33 2008 (+rSRq)
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June 05, 2008
June 01, 2008
Navy Contemplating Withdrawal
Via Yankee Sailor, the US fleet on station off Myanmar Burma are on the verge of giving up and leaving
as the evil murderous Junta will not allow any save a trickle of aid
through....Anybody the aid might have saved at this point is likely
dead already.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
08:20 PM
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