Replies

1. 
   PhillGiles | Jul 28, 2002 09:25am | #1

   Yes, we were alternating between the World Youth Day Vigil and CNN's coverage of the mine disaster - just turned it off as #6 came up - miracle, no other word for it.

   .

   Phill Giles

   The Unionville Woodwright

   Unionville, Ontario

2. 
   BossHog | Jul 28, 2002 03:40pm | #2

   I agree - It was amazing. I gave some thought to staying up last night just to hear how it turned out. I wish now that I had.

   With all the negative stuff they report, it's nice to hear about something positve for a change.

   "How do you drive an engineer completely insane?
   Tie him to a chair, stand in front of him and fold up a road map the wrong way."

1. 
   FrankB89 | Jul 28, 2002 04:06pm | #3

   I did stay up...it had me captivated.  Like you say, it was good to have a positive story with a wonderful outcome for a change.

   BTW, I'm building a house for an engineer right now;  I can't wait to spring that map thing on him! 

1. 
   JeffBuck | Jul 29, 2002 02:18am | #4

   What do the non PA people think of our fill-in Gov?

   I though he was great....thinking the Rep's might have to rethink the upcoming ballot!

   We've been following the story since it started...since it's kinda local...in the grand scheme of things. Rented a movie last nite....after it rewound...the VCR shut off and they had just got the second guy out! We hadn't even heard that they were definitely alive. Big thrill.

   Had to work first thing today........but we couldn't turn the TV off! Watched from about 1:15 till after 3am. Great TV just to see those guys come up and get themselves outta that rescue cage. Our Sat dish is out...so all we had was 2 of the local channels.....both of which had the CNN feed.

   What an ordeal. Went to bed happy for the families. Jeff

      She's exotic ,but not foreign, like an old Cadillac......she's a knockout!

   Edited 7/28/2002 7:42:11 PM ET by Jeff J. Buck

1. 
   FrankB89 | Jul 29, 2002 02:44am | #5

   I'm 2500 miles away, don't know the players, but the whole thing made my weekend.  Lots of loggers in my country...same breed of cat...

   Your governor did great IMHO.  I don't care what party he's in...he was like a happy kid!  Real positive, a great cheerleader.  Actually, everybody involved impressed me, and I enjoyed the news hounds having to play second fiddle to the families.

   It was a fine turn of events, overall. 

2. 
   BossHog | Jul 29, 2002 03:02am | #6

   If ya liked the map thing - Have you heard the "engineer/bicycle" joke? I'll repeat it just in case you haven't:

   An engineer is walking along one day and runs into a friend of his who is also an engineer. The 2nd engineer is pushing a bicycle.

   The 1st engineer asks the 2nd: "Where'd ya get the neat bicycle"

   The 2nd engineer replied:"I was walking through the park a few minutes ago, whan a georgeous woman rides up on this bike. She jump off, rips off all her clothes, and says:"You can have anything you want""

   The 1st engineer says: "Good choice, taking the bicycle - The clothes probably wouldn't have fit anyway"

   .

   Back on the mine rescue thing - I thought the governor did a great job of keeping the media away from the families of the trapped miners. Good move on his part. Forgot to mention that this morning.

   Sometimes you go fishing to catch fish; Sometimes you go fishing just to fish.

1. 
   FrankB89 | Jul 29, 2002 03:19am | #7

   Good joke.  I'll burn him with that one, too! 

1. 
   4Lorn1 | Jul 29, 2002 03:38am | #8

   I kept thinking "Why are they drilling down? So much like the case of Floyd Collins. Why can't they call in some cave divers? Might not be able to get them back but support, food and heat could get there. 5 miles of swim would have taken an afternoon not 60+ hours the drilling was taking."

   Well they are up. Thought it would be a body recovery. Smiles all around. Miracle? More like a long shot. Happy ending to a lousy situation. Still don't know why divers couldn't have been used. I might drop a e-mail to a friend knowledgeable in mine safety. Hmmm.

2. 
   FrankB89 | Jul 29, 2002 04:43am | #9

   I know more about diving than mining, but I know nothing about the conditions there.  My response to your question is that if getting divers in is not a problem, getting them in with extra gear for the victims, training the victims to use it under less than ideal conditions (and possibly with injuries [no one knew]) might pose a bigger challenge than drilling.

   From my perspective, all the players involved (including the victims) were familiar with the equipment, the rescue  proceedures, etc. (that's one of the reasons for crew safety meetings).

   Sending in divers, if conditions warranted it, might have been an option but with even longer odds.

   Doesn't matter anyway, at this point.