positive

[thedarkproject]

You know, we hear about so many negative things and hear so much bad news, but this rescue of the Chilean miners is quite amazing by comparison. Humans have been mining for thousands of years, and accidents have happened all that time, and for most of our history those men would have been left to die. Now, despite them being a third of a mile underground, and it taking 17 days just to make contact with them, never mind the 70 days they've been waiting down there, it looks like they're going to all make it back to the surface alive.

"Fifty-four-year-old Luis Urzua is scheduled to come up last. He's has been credited with showing the leadership that enabled the miners to survive the first 17 days - when they were entirely cut off from the outside world."  He was keeping morale up all that time, and now is seeing the job through by making sure everybody's out safely, even though at his age they'd be more than willing to bring him up quickly - what a guy.

Comments

[yourapocalypse.livejournal.com]

Mmmm. I've been watching the news unfold, and it's given me a warm glow as well.

[drcuriosity]

That is true heroism, as far as I'm concerned.

My grandfather was a mining engineer in Fiji when they had a collapse and some workers got trapped in a tunnel filling with water. He and his men worked night and day designing and building equipment to bore in and pump the water out, to keep them alive long enough for the tunnel to be cleared. The day when everybody comes out alive is not easily forgotten.

[jen-whitewave.livejournal.com]

It's just amazing isn't it :)

[troubled-strife.livejournal.com]

I've been watching the live feed at work. It's amazing that they've achieved. It makes a nice change to have some really good news for a change.

[hellbound-heart.livejournal.com]

...and as others have said, it's a nice irony that Margaret Thatcher's birthday has been eclipsed by a country looking out for its miners :)

[thedarkproject]

She was just concerned about their safety! :P

[ironlord.livejournal.com]

Now all we need to do is borrow the drills, take them somewhere other than Chile (the middle of Argentina, say) and see how far down they can drill. At the bottom of the shaft, measure the temperature. If it's above 100°C, we know how far we have to drill to achieve geothermal powerplants without being next to a tectonic plate boundary or a hot spot. It'll be a double whammy of brilliance!