Costa Concordia

Radio conversation btwn coastguard co-ordinator and Schettino being broadcast on C4 news now. Incredible stuff, coastguard threatening, accusing, ordering, swearing, so frustrated.

TS: Francesco Schettino vs Francisco Jose Garzon Amo

Last night investigators were probing whether Garzon had been talking on his mobile when his train derailed while apparently doing 118mph – more than twice the speed limit – near the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain.

Respected Spanish newspaper El Mundo also cited colleagues of Garzon claiming he had switched off a safety system that could have helped prevent the tragedy because it caused communication problems.

legend

this reminds me that among the lengthening series of things i need to get around to this summer is a thread about one of my culture heroes, a true legend for whom the contraction ledge would be inadequate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitaly_Kaloyev

The region where Kaloyev came from has a tradition of blood feuds which are settled in a manner parallel to the legal system

What is the current state Ossetian self-determination?

*of

that's common in mountainous areas that never fully came under national or imperial dominion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjakmarrja

the ossetians were traditionally the most favourable to russia among the caucasian peoples because they are christians so north ossetia is relatively peaceable for that region i think

south ossetia wants to secede from georgia though

It's not entirely uncommon for surviving passengers in a fatal road accident to lynch the driver of the other car before the police arrive but I don't think that's confined to the region.

North Ossetia is a Russian republic. South Ossetia is still resisting Georgian control.

A fortified tower (kullë) used as a safe haven for men involved in a blood feud. Theth, northern Albania.

Thomas Pynchon writes fairly extensively about Balkan blood-feuds and safe-houses in Against The Day, but then I would say that

doesn't seem as if northern spain has had a tradition of blood feuds in the modern era, although it did in the c15th

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Bands

Around 1420 the Gamboinos extended their feuding with an assault by night on the Oñaz family, also of Guipúzcoa. On Christmas, the Oñaz' manor was set alight and the head of the house plus nine others died in the blaze. The Oñaz family lands were then ravaged by the Gamboinos and their allies, but the allies of the Oñaz came to their defence. Of the latter, the Lescano attacked the Gamboino-allied Valda family and killed its leader.

childish gamboinos amirite

Oñaz bike, son

drove past the wreck site the day after the crash; lotsa people spying on the carnage, ugh. was there again today, Santiago still eerily quiet for this time of year

hello again

this lubitz affair has me thinking of these woeful men and their grand incompetence (as opposed to lubitz' malice)

Counter-examples[edit]
In some cases the captain may choose to scuttle the ship and escape danger rather than die as it sinks. This choice is usually only available if the damage does not immediately imperil a vast portion of the ship's company and occupants. If a distress call was successful and the crew and occupants, the ship's cargo, and other items of interest are rescued, then the vessel may not be worth anything as marine salvage and allowed to sink. In other cases a military organization or navy might wish to destroy a ship to prevent it being taken as a prize or captured for espionage, such as occurred in the USS Pueblo incident. Commodities and war materiel carried as cargo might also need to be destroyed to prevent capture by the opposing side.

In other cases a captain may decide to save himself to the detriment of his crew, the vessel, or its mission. A decision that shirks the responsibilities of the command of a vessel will usually bring upon the captain a legal, criminal, or social penalty, with military commanders often subject to capital punishment and dishonor.

July 17, 1880: The captain and crew of the SS Jeddah abandoned the ship and their passengers in a storm expecting it would sink, but the ship was found with all passengers alive two weeks later.
August 4, 1906: Captain Giuseppe Piccone abandoned the SS Sirio at the first opportunity. Between 150 and 400 people died when the ship sank.
December 17, 1939: After being damaged in an engagement with British cruisers, the Graf Spee put to port in Montevideo, Uruguay. Under the Hague Convention, the ship had to leave the neutral port within 72 hours or be interned, along with the crew. Captain Hans Langsdorff, having received fictitious reports that a large British force was approaching, instead decided to scuttle the ship just outside the harbor. He returned to shore with his crew, but shot himself two days later.
July 30 1945: The USS Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. Captain Charles B. McVay III managed to survive in shark-infested waters for three days before the survivors were discovered, and later became the only captain in the history of the U.S. Navy to face court-martial for his ship being sunk by enemy action. He committed suicide on November 6, 1968, and was cleared of wrongdoing by the Secretary of the Navy in 2001.
November 12, 1965: When a fire broke out aboard the SS Yarmouth Castle, Captain Byron Voustinas was on the first lifeboat, which had only crew and no passengers aboard. 90 people died.
April 7, 1990: Having been erroneously informed the ship was evacuated, Captain Hugo Larsen abandoned the MS Scandinavian Star after arson caused the ship to burn. 158 people died.
August 3–4, 1991: Captain Yiannis Avranas of the cruise ship MTS Oceanos abandoned ship without informing passengers that the ship was sinking. All passengers survived. A Greek board of inquiry found Avranas and four officers negligent in their handling of the disaster.
January 13, 2012: Captain Francesco Schettino abandoned ship during the Costa Concordia disaster. 32 people died in the accident. Schettino was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role.
April 16, 2014: Captain Lee Joon-seok abandoned the South Korean ferry MV Sewol. The captain and much of the crew were saved, while hundreds of high school students embarked for a school trip remained in their cabins, according to instructions provided by the crew.[17][5] Many passengers apparently remained on the sinking vessel and died. Following this incident Lee Joon-seok was arrested and put on trial beginning in early June 2014, when video footage filmed by some survivors and news broadcasters showed him being rescued by a coast guard vessel. Orders to abandon ship never came, and the vessel sank with all life rafts still in their stowage position. He was subsequently sentenced to 36 years in prison for his role in the deaths of the passengers, and later was also given a life sentence, after having been found guilty to murder of the 304 passengers that did not survive.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bhve5KwIUAA9s5P.jpg

do you get ads for Costa cruises on tv in the UK? we get them here in France and even my kids are like "oooh the cruise to DOOM". I'm surprised the brand hasn't been damaged beyond repair (maybe it has?)

worries about the Costa living