http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1259595
July 27, 2002 8:28 PM Subscribe
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1259595 Miners still alive!!!! Yahooooooo!!!!
All day long I've been saying "they're dead, they're dead". This is phenomenally amazing.
posted by owillis at 8:37 PM on July 27, 2002
posted by owillis at 8:37 PM on July 27, 2002
Our country needed something like this, and bad. Much rejoicing will be had tomorrow, and I'll warrant there won't be a single conspiracy theory or voice of dissent to be heard.
It's about damned time.
posted by waldo at 8:38 PM on July 27, 2002
It's about damned time.
posted by waldo at 8:38 PM on July 27, 2002
Good news, indeed.
I loaded My Yahoo, saw that they reached the chamber, and said, "What the hell, are they alive or not?" Upon a refresh ten minutes later, the report was that they are alive.
posted by adampsyche at 8:40 PM on July 27, 2002
I loaded My Yahoo, saw that they reached the chamber, and said, "What the hell, are they alive or not?" Upon a refresh ten minutes later, the report was that they are alive.
posted by adampsyche at 8:40 PM on July 27, 2002
In other news, and I'm surprised it didn't get a link on MeFi already (I didn't link it because of the 'NewsFilter' BS), Ukraine has set the new world record in most fatalities in an air show accident. 78 dead so far. Almost 200 injured.
Saw the clip of the crash on TV earlier, didn't look as morbidly impressive as the previous recordholder from 1988 at a US air show in West Germany in which two planes collided spectacularly.
posted by wackybrit at 8:40 PM on July 27, 2002
Saw the clip of the crash on TV earlier, didn't look as morbidly impressive as the previous recordholder from 1988 at a US air show in West Germany in which two planes collided spectacularly.
posted by wackybrit at 8:40 PM on July 27, 2002
Whoa, hallelujah! But these guys aren't out of the woods yet; at that depth and pressure, a quick ascent could give them the bends. Fortunately, the Navy has recompression chambers waiting for them on the surface.
Link to the Ukraine airshow crash story.
posted by brownpau at 8:45 PM on July 27, 2002
Link to the Ukraine airshow crash story.
posted by brownpau at 8:45 PM on July 27, 2002
This previously brought to mind The Death Of Floyd Collins.
posted by y2karl at 9:00 PM on July 27, 2002
posted by y2karl at 9:00 PM on July 27, 2002
praise be to allah! does anyone have a link for a video of the govenor making the annoucement?
posted by mcsweetie at 9:39 PM on July 27, 2002
posted by mcsweetie at 9:39 PM on July 27, 2002
Cant wait to see the movie based on this real time incident.
posted by adnanbwp at 10:01 PM on July 27, 2002
posted by adnanbwp at 10:01 PM on July 27, 2002
1:00 am eastern time - MSNBC is now reporting the first of the nine miners is now out of the mine.
(sorry, no link - saw it on tv)
posted by yhbc at 10:04 PM on July 27, 2002
(sorry, no link - saw it on tv)
posted by yhbc at 10:04 PM on July 27, 2002
first miner pulled from the mine alive, yay...! randy fogle, 43, married with kids. we went to the movies tonight but in the back of my head all i could think of was these men. i hope they all get out alive and in good shape...
posted by t r a c y at 10:11 PM on July 27, 2002
posted by t r a c y at 10:11 PM on July 27, 2002
The second miner is out officially. I just happen to be spending the weekend in Somerset because I'm attending the Rolling Rock Town Fair in nearby Latrobe, PA. We actually had to drive by the drilling site today (the road passes about 150 yards away) to get there and back and there is a huge encampment of satellite uplink trucks in the parking lot of a defunct grocery store about 1/2 mile from my hotel. I'm glad to see that they're getting them up MUCH faster than their original estimates...
posted by RevGreg at 10:26 PM on July 27, 2002
posted by RevGreg at 10:26 PM on July 27, 2002
They just got the third one out. I am still amazed that they found all nine alive.
wackybrit--That was one hell of a crash, I cannot get over how it just slid sideways across the ground like that. Hopefully, those people never knew what hit them.
Maybe this can be elevated from just a 'NewsFilter' item by comparing all the coverage for nine Americans who are alive, but trapped, versus hundreds of casualties in the Ukraine. Then look at the lack of serious US coverage for the 375+ dead in South Asia due to flooding.
I don't know if it is an issue of proximity or skin color, but it has to take an awful lot of foreign people to die in a really horrible manner for those of us in the U.S. to even hear about it.
posted by sciatica at 10:35 PM on July 27, 2002
wackybrit--That was one hell of a crash, I cannot get over how it just slid sideways across the ground like that. Hopefully, those people never knew what hit them.
Maybe this can be elevated from just a 'NewsFilter' item by comparing all the coverage for nine Americans who are alive, but trapped, versus hundreds of casualties in the Ukraine. Then look at the lack of serious US coverage for the 375+ dead in South Asia due to flooding.
I don't know if it is an issue of proximity or skin color, but it has to take an awful lot of foreign people to die in a really horrible manner for those of us in the U.S. to even hear about it.
posted by sciatica at 10:35 PM on July 27, 2002
Really fast! Four up at last report (live video right now) and the last one took less than 10 minutes. Much better than the original estimate of 45 minutes to an hour...
posted by RevGreg at 10:48 PM on July 27, 2002
posted by RevGreg at 10:48 PM on July 27, 2002
Maybe this can be elevated from just a 'NewsFilter' item by comparing all the coverage for nine Americans who are alive, but trapped, versus hundreds of casualties in the Ukraine.
I agree. We're self-centered. Tragedy strikes daily, you can only concern yourself with so much before you become overwhelmed.
posted by insomnyuk at 10:53 PM on July 27, 2002
I agree. We're self-centered. Tragedy strikes daily, you can only concern yourself with so much before you become overwhelmed.
posted by insomnyuk at 10:53 PM on July 27, 2002
Its proximity, though that can also mean cultural proximity. I sometimes watch news feeds from Mexico city, for example, and you'd be surprised how much coverage there is of even minor events in Argentina or Venezuela. I just took a look at a couple on-line sites out of curiosity:
-No mention of the miners but there is mention of the Ukraine accident.
-The biggest breaking story? The death of Dolores Almedo, one of the biggest art collectors around whose collection includes most of the works of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.
-The biggest sports news is Rivaldo signing a contract with Milan.
So .... I'd say in most cases its just a case of serving your audience.
posted by vacapinta at 11:00 PM on July 27, 2002
-No mention of the miners but there is mention of the Ukraine accident.
-The biggest breaking story? The death of Dolores Almedo, one of the biggest art collectors around whose collection includes most of the works of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.
-The biggest sports news is Rivaldo signing a contract with Milan.
So .... I'd say in most cases its just a case of serving your audience.
posted by vacapinta at 11:00 PM on July 27, 2002
I don't know if it is an issue of proximity or skin color, but it has to take an awful lot of foreign people to die in a really horrible manner for those of us in the U.S. to even hear about it.
You mean as opposed to the huge amounts of front page coverage that OUR tragedies get in their countries? Sorry, don't buy it. I knew about the monsoons hitting Southeast Asia and I read all about the Ukrainian tragedy (it was all over the news when it happened.) I think we should give more attention to those in our own country - just like people in other countries do. What is the point of trying to villify the media over this? I seems like a pointless argument to me. As vacapinta said, it's a matter of serving your immediate audience and what they want to read about.
What is odd is that, as stated above, I've been in Somerset where this is taking place since Friday afternoon and until I met up with some friends and headed to the concert today I didn't even realize that I had driven right through the site where this is occuring Friday night. I wondered why there were police everywhere and the place was lite up like it was still daylight but I hadn't managed to catch the news, read a paper or get my laptop hooked up until later. Until my friends showed up at 2am Friday night, I didn't even know what had happened. YMMV but this is one white American's experience...
...seventh miner up by the way.
posted by RevGreg at 11:08 PM on July 27, 2002
You mean as opposed to the huge amounts of front page coverage that OUR tragedies get in their countries? Sorry, don't buy it. I knew about the monsoons hitting Southeast Asia and I read all about the Ukrainian tragedy (it was all over the news when it happened.) I think we should give more attention to those in our own country - just like people in other countries do. What is the point of trying to villify the media over this? I seems like a pointless argument to me. As vacapinta said, it's a matter of serving your immediate audience and what they want to read about.
What is odd is that, as stated above, I've been in Somerset where this is taking place since Friday afternoon and until I met up with some friends and headed to the concert today I didn't even realize that I had driven right through the site where this is occuring Friday night. I wondered why there were police everywhere and the place was lite up like it was still daylight but I hadn't managed to catch the news, read a paper or get my laptop hooked up until later. Until my friends showed up at 2am Friday night, I didn't even know what had happened. YMMV but this is one white American's experience...
...seventh miner up by the way.
posted by RevGreg at 11:08 PM on July 27, 2002
Maybe this can be elevated from just a 'NewsFilter' item by comparing all the coverage for nine Americans who are alive, but trapped, versus hundreds of casualties in the Ukraine.
god, you are so right. I glance awkwardly and with ruddy cheeks at my overwhelming shallowness!
posted by mcsweetie at 11:14 PM on July 27, 2002
god, you are so right. I glance awkwardly and with ruddy cheeks at my overwhelming shallowness!
posted by mcsweetie at 11:14 PM on July 27, 2002
It was great watching the live feed of the rescue bucket on CNN. Glad they made it.
I will agree with you, vacapinta. Proximity would be the reason why I can't easily find the NASCAR results on the BBC sports page, but they make a really big deal about some fellow named Schumacher.
RevGreg, I didn't mean to vilify the media. When I was trying to watch the Ukraine story this morning, I kept getting 10 seconds of the plane crashing followed by 20 minutes of drill bit pictures. I just wondered if it was purely proximity or something more.
mcsweetie, thanks for playing along with my newbie enthusiasm instead of dumping on me. Your site is a riot, I will be spending a lot of time there.
posted by sciatica at 12:34 AM on July 28, 2002
I will agree with you, vacapinta. Proximity would be the reason why I can't easily find the NASCAR results on the BBC sports page, but they make a really big deal about some fellow named Schumacher.
RevGreg, I didn't mean to vilify the media. When I was trying to watch the Ukraine story this morning, I kept getting 10 seconds of the plane crashing followed by 20 minutes of drill bit pictures. I just wondered if it was purely proximity or something more.
mcsweetie, thanks for playing along with my newbie enthusiasm instead of dumping on me. Your site is a riot, I will be spending a lot of time there.
posted by sciatica at 12:34 AM on July 28, 2002
It's a triumph of technology, ingenuity, hard work by knowledgeble people and good luck. I agree with the Governor that "when people pull together there's no limit to what we can do". Of course it really helped a lot that Geraldo was there. He interviewed the State EPA guy and asked him "who's going to pay for this, do the mining companies have huge insurance policies?" The guy said "we aren't going to talk about that tonight".
posted by Mack Twain at 12:44 AM on July 28, 2002
posted by Mack Twain at 12:44 AM on July 28, 2002
Its good to see some *good* news for a change, instead of all the other depressing stories (airshow crash, forest fires, murdered young girls, etc).
posted by mrbill at 2:15 AM on July 28, 2002
posted by mrbill at 2:15 AM on July 28, 2002
Thanks for redeeming the thread from pure Newsfilteritis, folks.
And as mrbill said, good news is rare these days, and welcome, so it's all good.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:20 AM on July 28, 2002
And as mrbill said, good news is rare these days, and welcome, so it's all good.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:20 AM on July 28, 2002
I don't believe in apportioning news coverage by death toll. There's a value in proximity: some of your audience may be from the location, or know the participants. It's also clear that making that emotional connection keeps people watching or reading, in the line of Stalin's (apocryphal?) "one death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic". Also, sometimes there's only so much story to tell: the airshow deaths were over and done with before any of us heard about it. The mine disaster has been a continuing saga for multiple days.
That said, we could pay more attention to some things. There's rarely been real coverage of the civil war in the Congo; since 1996, 3 million people have been killed, in a racially and ideologically charged conflict, forgotten to most of the world. (The other massive conflicts, Sudan's 2 million and Afghanistan's 1.5 million, occurred over 20 years -- and got lots more attention.) I blogged about the new peace agreements in the African nations, and I surely think it is valuable for the smart news consumer to pay more attention to these forgotten conflicts. But at the same time I understand the motivation for people emotionally exercised over some 300 deaths in Israel (or the West Bank) over the course of a year, compared to a bloody an incomprehensible 2000 deaths a day, year in and year out, for a war that has little meaning to most Americans.
Regarding the miners, I will say one thing about which I was crestfallen. On ABC last night, they noted that before 1945, there were approximately 1000 mining deaths annually; it then began a decline to the present average of around 100. But in the same time, the number of working miners has dropped by 7/8ths. It's still an incredibly dangerous profession. These guys, and their families, were incredibly lucky. One can only imagine the resonant services in their churches later today.
posted by dhartung at 3:42 AM on July 28, 2002
That said, we could pay more attention to some things. There's rarely been real coverage of the civil war in the Congo; since 1996, 3 million people have been killed, in a racially and ideologically charged conflict, forgotten to most of the world. (The other massive conflicts, Sudan's 2 million and Afghanistan's 1.5 million, occurred over 20 years -- and got lots more attention.) I blogged about the new peace agreements in the African nations, and I surely think it is valuable for the smart news consumer to pay more attention to these forgotten conflicts. But at the same time I understand the motivation for people emotionally exercised over some 300 deaths in Israel (or the West Bank) over the course of a year, compared to a bloody an incomprehensible 2000 deaths a day, year in and year out, for a war that has little meaning to most Americans.
Regarding the miners, I will say one thing about which I was crestfallen. On ABC last night, they noted that before 1945, there were approximately 1000 mining deaths annually; it then began a decline to the present average of around 100. But in the same time, the number of working miners has dropped by 7/8ths. It's still an incredibly dangerous profession. These guys, and their families, were incredibly lucky. One can only imagine the resonant services in their churches later today.
posted by dhartung at 3:42 AM on July 28, 2002
> It's a triumph of technology...
Not yet, it ain't. The triumph of technology will come when no one has to go down there just to dig up coal.
posted by pracowity at 3:57 AM on July 28, 2002
Not yet, it ain't. The triumph of technology will come when no one has to go down there just to dig up coal.
posted by pracowity at 3:57 AM on July 28, 2002
CNN has a special report news package (much of their front page is taken up by related links, as well). Apparently in production for some time, presumably adaptable to happy, sad, and mixed outcomes.
posted by dhartung at 4:56 AM on July 28, 2002
posted by dhartung at 4:56 AM on July 28, 2002
It's not just geographical proximity. Nationality has a lot to do with it as well.
In any case...I'm glad the miners are safe and all, but I'm annoyed with how well trapped stories fit into typical U.S. news. It's perfect for them: something ongoing (unlike the Ukraine crash), something that could have a great or tragic ending, something that could have a breakthrough at any moment.
I can't believe the Baby Jessica incident was 15 years ago. Did many of you follow that event?
posted by gluechunk at 5:33 AM on July 28, 2002
In any case...I'm glad the miners are safe and all, but I'm annoyed with how well trapped stories fit into typical U.S. news. It's perfect for them: something ongoing (unlike the Ukraine crash), something that could have a great or tragic ending, something that could have a breakthrough at any moment.
I can't believe the Baby Jessica incident was 15 years ago. Did many of you follow that event?
posted by gluechunk at 5:33 AM on July 28, 2002
I know what you mean, and agree with you, dhartung, but I thought this was funny:
I don't believe in apportioning news coverage by death toll. There's a value in proximity: some of your audience may be from the location, or know the participants.
Participants? ;-) The all new game show! "Trapped Down The Mine!"
posted by wackybrit at 6:50 AM on July 28, 2002
I don't believe in apportioning news coverage by death toll. There's a value in proximity: some of your audience may be from the location, or know the participants.
Participants? ;-) The all new game show! "Trapped Down The Mine!"
posted by wackybrit at 6:50 AM on July 28, 2002
It's so nice to wake up to some good news for a change. I had assumed the worst after the rescuers could no longer hear the miners tapping on the pipes.
posted by ChaosKitty at 7:44 AM on July 28, 2002
posted by ChaosKitty at 7:44 AM on July 28, 2002
This is a great example where that WWW thinger is much more capable of delivering world wide news than the teevee: The World Almanac of Disasters. Relief Web Natural Disasters. Disaster Relief. And there are a lot more sites.
Update: When they put the phone down the shaft the first response was ""There's nine men ready to get the hell out of here. We need some chew." Philip Morris is proud but would have been happier had they specificied 'Copenhagen'.
posted by Mack Twain at 7:44 AM on July 28, 2002
Update: When they put the phone down the shaft the first response was ""There's nine men ready to get the hell out of here. We need some chew." Philip Morris is proud but would have been happier had they specificied 'Copenhagen'.
posted by Mack Twain at 7:44 AM on July 28, 2002
At least the miners know the value of buying American. Local news (Pittsburgh, that is - Somerset is part of our local viewing area so this is pretty much all we've seen since Wednesday) reports that one of the miners asked the doctor in the hospital if he could have a shot of Jack Daniels. Unfortunately, since the miner is still suffering a touch of dehydration, the doctor had to demur.
posted by Dreama at 9:55 AM on July 28, 2002
posted by Dreama at 9:55 AM on July 28, 2002
i was so tired last night but there was no way i could retire for the evening til the 9th miner was above ground. it was such good news and i really needed to see something go right somewhere in the world. it's been a long bad news summer, regardless of locale.
Tragedy strikes daily, you can only concern yourself with so much before you become overwhelmed
insomnyuk's dead on. you can only absorb so much sadness from around the world, or you'd go nuts. sometimes it's just too much to empathize with everyone at once. and when you live in north america you've got international news coming at you non-stop 24 hours a day thanks to outlets like cnn and cbc newsworld. we're likely getting more news than anyone else and it's a lot to take in. personally when it gets too much for me i don't watch the news for a few days, and i gotta say i'm considerably more cheerful and relaxed when i do that.
posted by t r a c y at 11:22 AM on July 28, 2002
Tragedy strikes daily, you can only concern yourself with so much before you become overwhelmed
insomnyuk's dead on. you can only absorb so much sadness from around the world, or you'd go nuts. sometimes it's just too much to empathize with everyone at once. and when you live in north america you've got international news coming at you non-stop 24 hours a day thanks to outlets like cnn and cbc newsworld. we're likely getting more news than anyone else and it's a lot to take in. personally when it gets too much for me i don't watch the news for a few days, and i gotta say i'm considerably more cheerful and relaxed when i do that.
posted by t r a c y at 11:22 AM on July 28, 2002
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posted by bas67 at 8:30 PM on July 27, 2002