WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[plaques]

I'm reminded of Richard Feynman and the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Finally put down to the seal that went brittle under extreme cold temperatures. This took place under NASA's watch. I doubt if this submersible has the same technology back up. .

[PanBiker]

If they make the surface they have a slim chance of being found. They cant open the hatches themselves so to speak so could still asphyxiate as they have a finite air supply. They have no communication capabilities and if they are on the bottom at that depth they are lost. Either running out of air or destroyed by the pressure. No doubt, the search teams will call it shortly. Probably safer to go upwards, there is more expertise in that area.

[Stanley]

Thanks for that David. I miss Janet at times like this, she would have been able to give me the latest and best information as undersea communications with submarines was the field she and Big Harry worked in.
Barring a miracle I think we have to assume they are lost and can only hope it was quick and not a prolonged end. I can't get out of my head the thought of five of them in a space smaller than the interior of a Transit van.
And the paid $250,000 each for the privilege..... Include me out.

[PanBiker]

Apparently the sub is supposed to have quite few safety features one of which is an automatic return to the surface feature which works autonomously even if all the "crew" are disabled. If that is the case it should be on the surface. The running out of oxygen catch 22 still applies though even if that is the case. Hiding to nothing comes to mind.

The sub has multiple failure points.

No exit from within.

Finite oxygen supply

No communication.

Any one of those should ring alarm bells even to billionaires.

[Tripps]

No news yet - nor will there be I guess.

I can't help remembering this Anoxia from a Michael Portillo programme - not too long ago.

[Cathy]

Maybe they ventured into the Titanic wreckage and got stuck. My question is who is paying for the recovery expenses?

[PanBiker]

Back in the local forest. The ongoing saga of my UK Calls boost that I have been trying to cancel. If you remember, I went on chat and got an assurance, (and a transcript of the conversation) that TalkTalk would cancel the boost and give me a rebate or contra payment as they liked to term it! Nothing happened and my account stills shows the boost as live. I went on the website again today to check but this time I found that I could change it myself! To test I cancelled the free UK calls but added two free options to see if it would change those as well. Pleased to say it accepted barring premium rate numbers and calls to mobiles. Shortly afterwards I received an email to that effect, Added premium and mobile number barring and cancelled free UK calls so - £16.00. I might have just got there in the end.

[Cathy]

Saw the news this morning reporting the implosion of the Submersible.

[Stanley]

Morning Cathy.... See THIS BBC report.
A robotic diving vehicle found five parts of the vessel about 1,600ft from the Titanic shipwreck on Thursday
It ends an international five-day search for the submersible which had been on an expedition to the century-old wreck
It's emerged that the US Navy detected “an acoustic anomaly consistent with an implosion” shortly after the Titan lost contact on Sunday banging sounds reported earlier this week are now thought to have come from other ships in the area
I'm sorry for the deaths and feel for the families but still think that anyone who would pay $250,000+ to be shut in a plastic tube and dropped into the ocean is wired up differently than I am. Include me out.....
(It struck me yesterday that they would have given a lot more than a quarter of a million dollars to simply walk to the back door, open it and go into the yard. We should be grateful for small mercies....)

[Tripps]

This Youtube contribution answers a lot of my questions regarding this vessel, and is worth a look.

Not the main one though - why on earth would any sane intelligent person want to do it?

Submersible

[Stanley]

My question is the same David. Include me out.

[Stanley]

I note the collapse of Thames Water and also recognise the correlation between their debt of £60billion and dividends paid out of £50billion. To my mind this shows a business model that has taken advantage of a monopoly market and record low interest rates to run a business based on borrowing to produce a fiscal performance that justifies high wages for executives and ample dividends.
I struggle to see how this can't be described as fraud and think it's an insult to say that the shortfall in investment in maintenance has to be made up by increasing the price of water to consumers.
Some of us said that this privatisation was madness at the time. It would appear that we were right...... The question is will this Right Wing administration admit that the only sensible solution to the problem is for the government to take over control.

[PanBiker]

In my view, basic business practice would dictate that if a business is not making a profit there should be no bonuses for the boss or dividends for the shareholders. That is the risk they take with investments. Anyone who cant understand that is a bit thick and if they do and are bending the rules they are committing fraud.

[plaques]

The Chancellor would like the driving force behind the economy to be the pension funds.

Growth

Mr Hollands said that however desirable it might be to the UK economy to receive more investment in these areas, “private pensions funds are not there as piggy banks for the Government to achieve its policy objectives, their purpose is to secure a decent retirement for their members”.


Jeremy Hunt would like the pension funds to take more risks. They in turn remember Liz Truss and having to sell bonds at lower prices because of her actions. It wouldn't surprise me if the talks involved more investments in Thames Water, that way the government could claim that by pumping more tax payers money into supporting them they were actually protecting pension funds and not a failed privatisation scheme.

[Stanley]

I'd like to hear someone talking about sanctions that could be applied at least to the people who got the enormous wages and bonuses. Hard to talk about going after the investors who took the dividends because of course that includes the pension funds.
I have never understood why it was such a good thing to sell off assets to foreign investors but every government tells us it's a good thing. How can this be when that means that any returns go abroad and not into UK taxation?
What attracted my attention yesterday was mentioned in the discussions about my Firestick. It qualifies for David's 'spooky' category I think. As Kev was doing his magic and I watched the screen I kept seeing this US zip code appearing, 55057, and I knew that I knew it and in the end I asked Kev to look it up on Google. I was right, it was Northfield, Minnesota. I have spent months there many a time at Martha's house of course. Question is, why does Amazon's Firestick evidently believe I live there? I can't think of any instance where I have entered that zip code on Amazon but there it is in my data. All I can think is that this is indicative of the depth of data companies like Amazon hold on us. Beyond spooky and verging on scary!

[Tizer]

Reading a novel set in 1871 a family which normally goes to France during the summer has had to cancel their plans because it's become too dangerous. Much rioting in the streets, shootings, burning down of houses etc. Remind you of anything?

[Tripps]

Beyond spooky and verging on scary!

Agreed . At one point I was going to say that they must be reading this board to know about Minnesota - but dismissed the idea as fanciful.

On the recommendation of my big lad - (who knows about these things) I joined the full google set up - mainly for photo storage. If you put a name to a face it identifies and can group all other photos with that face in them. Impressive and useful.

Then later it occurred to me that they can also group the faces and names with those on other peoples' computers?

They wouldn't do that would they? Why would they?

[PanBiker]

Noted that it would have been Chinatykes (Grahams) birthday today, he would have been 77.

[Stanley]

RIP Graham.....

[Tizer]

On a lighter note...
`Your pictures on the theme of 'aviation'' BBC Newsw web site

[Stanley]

Good Pics Peter....

[Stanley]

I've just been in the Co-op for a few odds and sods. I only looked at the till and it cost me £21.
God knows how poor people are managing, I know I am lucky.

[Stanley]

I have become the new best friend of a lady called Polly who is having trouble answering the qualification problems in the registration process.
(Seven emails this morning so far......)

[Big Kev]

Congratulations to Wendy and Colin on their anniversary

[PanBiker]

I have become the new best friend of a lady called Polly who is having trouble answering the qualification problems in the registration process.
(Seven emails this morning so far......)

I have emailed you Stanley.