The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[donaldtoo]

To follow up, I’m definitely not against the adventurist spirit, as I’ve done rock climbing, rappelling, etc., in my younger years, and also two gyroplane/gyrocopter flights, before Covid, in my older years, but, you couldn’t pay me enough (much less me pay you) to get in one of those subs (and this was before this incident happened).

However, this was totally exhilarating, for sure, and I’d do it again (gift from our 3 kiddos) in a heartbeat…!!!!!!!

 

[Communicora]

To follow up, I’m definitely not against the adventurist spirit, as I’ve done rock climbing, rappelling, etc., in my younger years, and also two gyroplane/gyrocopter flights, before Covid, in my older years, but, you couldn’t pay me enough (much less me pay you) to get in one of those subs (and this was before this incident happened).

However, this was totally exhilarating, for sure, and I’d do it again (gift from our 3 kiddos) in a heartbeat…!!!!!!!

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This makes me think of architect Ralph Rapson's drawings, but you would never get me up in one of those!

 

[Disney Analyst]

To follow up, I’m definitely not against the adventurist spirit, as I’ve done rock climbing, rappelling, etc., in my younger years, and also two gyroplane/gyrocopter flights, before Covid, in my older years, but, you couldn’t pay me enough (much less me pay you) to get in one of those subs (and this was before this incident happened).

However, this was totally exhilarating, for sure, and I’d do it again (gift from our 3 kiddos) in a heartbeat…!!!!!!!

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I’m all for adventure, but I’m also a risk averse type

 

[Phroobar]

Anyone hear from George Lucas on a Bench lately? I hope he wasn't on the sub.

 

[ParkPeeker]

I get where you're coming from, and that exact thought crossed my mind while watching the news this afternoon.

But that's where I thought "Hey, it's a no-man's land out there. No one owns it, no one is in charge, laws don't apply."

I think that's how they were able to sell these trips. Because they were mostly unregulated and no one had authority over them for the key part of their paid service; a submarine ride 2 miles underwater in international waters to look at the Titanic.

Now once their base ship got within US waters and sailed back into port, they had to have licenses and insurance and proper lighting and fire extinguishers and life saving supplies on board, etc. But the actual submarine that was being used a thousand miles out in the Atlantic where no nation has authority? That part is totally unregulated and there's not much you can do about it.

Or so much as I can figure. If anyone knows differently about some "Global Tourist Submarine Authority", I'd love to know about it.

See, this is why I don’t feel so bad for these billionaires, except for the 19 year old who was low-key forced to go on by his Titanic obsessed father. These people all have the same mentality of private enterprise, deregulation, as the future of humanity. So when they see waters with no authority over it, instead of looking into regulations and thinking, ‘huh maybe these exist for good reason,’ instead of following them as a guide or for best practice, their thick headedness goes, “Screw red tape, all that crap’s fake and restraining, we will take the opportunity of this freedom,” and go on to make some make-shift sub. And despite expert opinion and warnings, they go on ahead with their make shift toy, thinking all these faults are somehow innovations, something that could never be done with govt. restrictions. They’re so in their heads. These billionaire customers saw that this thing had previously gone down and probably thought the experts didn’t know what they were talking about. They saw the risks of death on paper, and probably thought they were more or less baseless, and bought into the CEO’s toy. Buying into that marketing, cause they all have the same general ethos. “We have money, we should be able to play around and just throw crap together, in the name of the innovation, exciting, restrictions are mostly fake news, we could do more while saving more profits, we are the step into the future!” They have themselves in mind and little regard for how anything could affect anyone else. Well in this case, their ethos and stubbornness had real deadly consequences, and in this case, it was to themselves, so I guess at least it didn’t cause any physical harm to the general public.

edit: replacing bad words that were censored

 

[Disney Analyst]

See, this is why I don’t feel so bad for these billionaires, except for the 19 year old who was low-key forced to go on by his Titanic obsessed father. These people all have the same mentality of private enterprise, deregulation, as the future of humanity. So when they see waters with no authority over it, instead of looking into regulations and thinking, ‘huh maybe these exist for good reason,’ instead of following them as a guide or for best practice, their thick headedness goes, “Screw red tape, all that ’s fake and restraining, we will take the opportunity of this freedom,” and go on to make some make-shift sub. And despite expert opinion and warnings, they go on ahead with their make shift toy, thinking all these faults are somehow innovations, something that could never be done with govt. restrictions. They’re so in their heads. These billionaire customers saw that this thing had previously gone down and probably thought the experts didn’t know what they were talking about. They saw the risks of death on paper, and probably thought they were more or less baseless, and bought into the CEO’s toy. Buying into that marketing, cause they all have the same general ethos. “We have money, we should be able to play around and just throw crap together, in the name of the innovation, exciting, restrictions are mostly fake news, we could do more while saving more profits, we are the step into the future!” They have themselves in mind and little regard for how anything could affect anyone else. Well in this case, their ethos and stubbornness had real deadly consequences, and in this case, it was to themselves, so I guess at least it didn’t cause any physical harm to the general public.

edit: replacing bad words that were censored

And the more you read about it... the arrogance is insane. The disdain towards experts, and industry knowledge / warnings is foolish.

Titan sub CEO dismissed safety warnings as 'baseless cries', emails show

Warnings over the sub's safety were dismissed by OceanGate's CEO, emails seen by the BBC show.

www.bbc.com

Really parallels all the wannabe experts these days that think they know better than scientists, doctors, etc.

 

[Disney Analyst]

VFX artists and animators need a union to protect them. The studios are horrid to them.



ETA:

Gross.

 

[donaldtoo]

This makes me think of architect Ralph Rapson's drawings, but you would never get me up in one of those!

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They’re quite safe these days, actually (although there was a period in between when experimentation was going on, and sometimes didn’t end well - they’re still considered “experimental” in the USA, but, not in the UK).
The “autogyro” was invented by Spaniard Juan de la Cierva in 1923. IIRC, he lost a friend in a plane crash due to the plane stalling, so he developed a flying machine that wouldn’t stall. It was, essentially, a plane without wings. The free-spinning rotor provides the lift.
Also, if the engine that provides the forward thrust, via prop, cuts out, you can still land it safely.
There are YouTube videos of guys purposely shutting off their engines and landing them safely.
Not gonna’ go as well with a plane or even a helicopter. The vast majority of the times a helicopter tries autorotating safely to the ground things don’t turn out well.
Plus, a gyroplane can land in about 50 ft. (the width of most commercial airliner runways).
And takeoffs are very short, too. The engine that powers the prop is also used to run up the rotor during takeoff (via a retractable gear), and then disconnected after takeoff.
I’m tellin’ ya’, there’s nothin’ like, literally, touchin’ the clouds at 5,000 ft., like we did on my last flight…!!!!!!!

 

[chadwpalm]

VFX artists and animators need a union to protect them. The studios are horrid to them.



ETA:

Gross.

From what I hear, a lot of animators are up in arms about Secret Invasion using AI artwork in their opening credits instead of real animator's drawings. I wonder if any of these artists are part of the Animation Guild? Given the amount of hours they were forced to work and the mass exodus I'd assume they weren't.

 

[Parteecia]

It's a mix of it all. Unequal reporting, a lack of care or knowledge by many of us in the general public, it's also on the organizations and governments, who allow this to happen, don't resolve why it is happening, and offer little to no assistance when tragedy strikes.

For better or worse that's true here in the US, but in other parts of the world, like the Middle East, the submersible was a far lower priority story.

Subhead in the printed newspaper:
"Story plays big in U.S. and U.K. media. Elsewhere, migrant shipwreck off Greece evokes more grief."

While sub disappearance transfixes some, many say their focus is on other calamities

The search for the missing submersible has transfixed the U.S. and U.K., but in other parts of the world, the migrant shipwreck off Greece is more concerning.

www.latimes.com

 

[Parteecia]

From what I hear, a lot of animators are up in arms about Secret Invasion using AI artwork in their opening credits instead of real animator's drawings.

I hated them but didn't know why. Couldn't look at them.

 

[TP2000]

Okay, gang, it's Friday and it's finally summer. It's calendar summer, it's meteorological summer, it's Hallmark summer, it's summer.

Time to have some fun, fun, fun!! Which brings me to this surprising news:

Last night I was talking to the family on a group call organizing summer schedules at the beach (Disneyland still not on their wish list for this summer ), and one of the summer plans now is for all of us to go see....

The Barbie Movie. And it was MY idea. I had to get the family on the call watching the YouTube trailers in real-time after they protested (and asked how much I'd had to drink and what my current medications were), and then they were in on it too. They're as excited as I am. I'm in charge of snagging seats for us at the fabulous Del Mar Cinepolis.

I'm calling it now. The Barbie Movie is going to be huge. It's going to bring America together. It's going to be the hit of the summer.

And I'm not joking. Happy Summer!!

 

[Disney Analyst]

Sounds like Canada's Transportation Safety Board will launch an investigation into the Titan sub and what happened.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and US Coast Guard have also started their own investigation.

 

[Phroobar]

Okay, gang, it's Friday and it's finally summer. It's calendar summer, it's meteorological summer, it's Hallmark summer, it's summer.

Time to have some fun, fun, fun!! Which brings me to this surprising news:

Last night I was talking to the family on a group call organizing summer schedules at the beach (Disneyland still not on their wish list for this summer ), and one of the summer plans now is for all of us to go see....

The Barbie Movie. And it was MY idea. I had to get the family on the call watching the YouTube trailers in real-time after they protested (and asked how much I'd had to drink and what my current medications were), and then they were in on it too. They're as excited as I am. I'm in charge of snagging seats for us at the fabulous Del Mar Cinepolis.

I'm calling it now. The Barbie Movie is going to be huge. It's going to bring America together. It's going to be the hit of the summer.

And I'm not joking. Happy Summer!!

I predict it will make more than The Little Mermaid.

 

[Parteecia]

To follow up, I’m definitely not against the adventurist spirit, as I’ve done rock climbing, rappelling, etc., in my younger years, and also two gyroplane/gyrocopter flights, before Covid, in my older years, but, you couldn’t pay me enough (much less me pay you) to get in one of those subs (and this was before this incident happened).

However, this was totally exhilarating, for sure, and I’d do it again (gift from our 3 kiddos) in a heartbeat…!!!!!!!

View attachment 725883View attachment 725884

That's kind of tempting. I've enjoyed ultralights (basically a hang glider with a lawn mower engine) on tropical vacations. Don't know if my inner ear could take it nowadays.

ETA kind of related to the submersible, when we went on Kauai it was flight suits, helmets and a safety training video. On Rarotonga it was "yeh sure, hop on. Try not to lose your flipflops."

 

[Parteecia]

Okay, gang, it's Friday and it's finally summer. It's calendar summer, it's meteorological summer, it's Hallmark summer, it's summer.

Time to have some fun, fun, fun!! Which brings me to this surprising news:

Last night I was talking to the family on a group call organizing summer schedules at the beach (Disneyland still not on their wish list for this summer ), and one of the summer plans now is for all of us to go see....

The Barbie Movie. And it was MY idea. I had to get the family on the call watching the YouTube trailers in real-time after they protested (and asked how much I'd had to drink and what my current medications were), and then they were in on it too. They're as excited as I am. I'm in charge of snagging seats for us at the fabulous Del Mar Cinepolis.

I'm calling it now. The Barbie Movie is going to be huge. It's going to bring America together. It's going to be the hit of the summer.

And I'm not joking. Happy Summer!!

Will you be tracking reviews before you buy the tickets?

 

[TP2000]

Will you be tracking reviews before you buy the tickets?

Nope. I’m already all in on this one just from the trailers. And it’s likely the ONLY movie I’ll go see this summer, perhaps entire year.

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut.

 

[Consumer]

This morning I had the joy of waking up in Yosemite Valley. I do not believe there is a more beautiful place on earth than here.

 

[mickEblu]

This morning I had the joy of waking up in Yosemite Valley. I do not believe there is a more beautiful place on earth than here.
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Wow, Beautiful shots! Was there in 2016. The view from Glacier Point feels like you're looking at a painting.

 

[ParkPeeker]

From what I hear, a lot of animators are up in arms about Secret Invasion using AI artwork in their opening credits instead of real animator's drawings. I wonder if any of these artists are part of the Animation Guild? Given the amount of hours they were forced to work and the mass exodus I'd assume they weren't.

Artists are mad about BOTH. It’s an especially bad week for them (it’s been a bad year in general)

VFX artists and animators need a union to protect them. The studios are horrid to them.



ETA:

Gross.

The sad thing about this is that when that AI intro came out, people were making this the juxtaposition, the example of what it means to respect and value artists. Then it turns out the artists were also being exploited here.