Why do people like this ....

[voice]

Lucky to survive.

www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93y147z4pdo

[flatandy]

I hope she had good insurance which paid out well to the poor bastards who had to risk their lives rescuing her.

[Repat Van]

Oct 6, 2024 22:35:45 GMT flatandy said:

I hope she had good insurance which paid out well to the poor bastards who had to risk their lives rescuing her.

A but harsh. Lots of people enjoy mountain climbing and seems they were unlucky in their rope snapping.

[Repat Van]

Aug 28, 2024 22:52:55 GMT voice said:

Dumb ways to die, also a bit of a Darwin Award this one

www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvyge44nppo

Why is it a Darwin Award? Boat capsizing in bad weather doesn’t seem especially stupid on the part of the people sailing.

[flatandy]

Oct 7, 2024 7:24:39 GMT Repat Van said:

Oct 6, 2024 22:35:45 GMT flatandy said:

I hope she had good insurance which paid out well to the poor bastards who had to risk their lives rescuing her.

A but harsh. Lots of people enjoy mountain climbing and seems they were unlucky in their rope snapping.

I understand it's unfortunate. But they're out getting their jollies in a very extreme environment. She chooses to climb particularly difficult routes. Many climbers are out in extreme environments and either have equipment failures or are caught out by bad luck with weather or just make stupid choices. There's no reason to be there, yet someone has to come and rescue them when there's some kind of f**k up and the rescuers also get put in extreme danger.

The rescuers shouldn't do it out of the good of their heart and the Nepalese and Indian and Pakistani taxpayers shouldn't pay to rescue people doing stupid sh*t. Particularly as the rescues are almost inevitably - almost by definition - going to be in extremely dangerous and crappy places. Rescuers should be paid a really f**k**g impressive lump of cash considering that they're putting their lives on the line for someone who just chose to go somewhere extreme for personal entertainment. "Adventurers" should have really good rescue insurance because it's part of the true cost of going out having type 3 fun at 6000m above sea level.

[mids]

Our lifeboat crews and mountain rescue are volunteers. Our seas are more dangerous than Nepal's too.

[flatandy]

Oct 7, 2024 7:25:50 GMT Repat Van said:

Aug 28, 2024 22:52:55 GMT voice said:

Dumb ways to die, also a bit of a Darwin Award this one

www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvyge44nppo

Why is it a Darwin Award? Boat capsizing in bad weather doesn’t seem especially stupid on the part of the people sailing.

Choosing to be on a ridiculously outdated style of boat that has been superceded many hundreds of times by many hundreds of safer styles of boat in order to experience how Vikings got across the Atlantic in dangerous boats and tough conditions is, almost by definition, doing something very high risk for no particularly good reason, where you didn't actually have to put your life on the line. Doubly so if you just stated how terrifying it looks for giant modern boats getting thrown around in those waves, and you're in a tiny open hand built wooden boat trying to replicate the crossing of the Norwegian Sea by a "great Viking navigator" who actually didn't make the crossing as planned as he got blown off course. God knows how many Vikings - who spent decades learning how to sail on these crappy ships - drowned on their voyages. We have a selection bias of only knowing of the ones who mades it. And these Vikings largely had to get out in this water to fish or to do Vikingy pillagey stuff because they were ordered to by their monarchs. Yet you chose to do it for nothing more than the idea of seeing what it was like.

Incredibly high risk. Utterly unnecessary. Totally Darwin.

[flatandy]

Oct 7, 2024 13:16:23 GMT mids said:

Our lifeboat crews and mountain rescue are volunteers. Our seas are more dangerous than Nepal's too.

The UK's lifeboat crews should be paid properly. The UK shouldn't rely on volunteers* for this stuff. Also, the UK's lifeboat crews rescue people who actually have a fairly good reason to be on the water like being Britain's three remaining fishermen, or being a Taiwanese container ship crew bringing hand stitched footballs from a sweatshop in Bangladesh, or whatever.

Mountain Rescue's a slightly different matter, but even if the rescuers are unpaid the rescues cost lots of money because of all the equipment and because flying helicopters ain't cheap.

* I am a bit shocked to discover that the UK Coastguard isn't really professional and doesn't have its own boats. The US Coastguard is a genuine, professional part of the armed services.

[perrykneeham]

Ah, the Coastguard and Coastguards are slightly different things. The old buffers that hang around in the various lookout around the coast are,i I believe, volunteers (and aren't even allowed to use the radio, lest they cause an actionable accident). I'm surenI've seen a Coastguard helicopter, but it was probably just a re-badged job on secondment from the Navy. Or a contractor.

All of which is different to RNLI, which does have pros.

[flatandy]

From a bit of reading, the UK Coastguard has some professional coordinators and has a handful of helicopters but doesn't have many boats that go around rescuing people. It does have "3000 trained volunteers" who are Coast Guards. It's bizarre that most of UK's marine rescue stuff apart from those choppers is done by charities and/or volunteers.

[perrykneeham]

Yeah,but it's a very big coast and, there's not that much call for interventions.

[mids]

As an aside, I think it's funny that the RNLI also covers Ireland.

[mids]

Interesting. Also, having lifeguards on beaches is gay.

"The RNLI is a charity based in Poole, Dorset. It is principally funded by legacies (65%) and donations (30%). Most of its lifeboat crews are unpaid volunteers. They operate more than 400 lifeboats from 238 stations. Paid lifeguards provide services at nearly 250 beaches. The RNLI also provides free safety advice to many different groups of people, and has been involved in international cooperation since 1924."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_National_Lifeboat_Institution

[perrykneeham]

Yeah, but it gives public schoolboys and schoolgirls something to put on their CVs.

[Repat Van]

Oct 7, 2024 13:09:50 GMT flatandy said:

Oct 7, 2024 7:24:39 GMT Repat Van said:

A but harsh. Lots of people enjoy mountain climbing and seems they were unlucky in their rope snapping.

I understand it's unfortunate. But they're out getting their jollies in a very extreme environment. She chooses to climb particularly difficult routes. Many climbers are out in extreme environments and either have equipment failures or are caught out by bad luck with weather or just make stupid choices. There's no reason to be there, yet someone has to come and rescue them when there's some kind of f**k up and the rescuers also get put in extreme danger.

The rescuers shouldn't do it out of the good of their heart and the Nepalese and Indian and Pakistani taxpayers shouldn't pay to rescue people doing stupid sh*t. Particularly as the rescues are almost inevitably - almost by definition - going to be in extremely dangerous and crappy places. Rescuers should be paid a really f**k**g impressive lump of cash considering that they're putting their lives on the line for someone who just chose to go somewhere extreme for personal entertainment. "Adventurers" should have really good rescue insurance because it's part of the true cost of going out having type 3 fun at 6000m above sea level.

Lots of people need rescuing all the time. I don’t understand the vitriol for those who like to climb mountains.

[Repat Van]

Oct 7, 2024 13:21:13 GMT flatandy said:

Oct 7, 2024 7:25:50 GMT Repat Van said:

Why is it a Darwin Award? Boat capsizing in bad weather doesn’t seem especially stupid on the part of the people sailing.

Choosing to be on a ridiculously outdated style of boat that has been superceded many hundreds of times by many hundreds of safer styles of boat in order to experience how Vikings got across the Atlantic in dangerous boats and tough conditions is, almost by definition, doing something very high risk for no particularly good reason, where you didn't actually have to put your life on the line. Doubly so if you just stated how terrifying it looks for giant modern boats getting thrown around in those waves, and you're in a tiny open hand built wooden boat trying to replicate the crossing of the Norwegian Sea by a "great Viking navigator" who actually didn't make the crossing as planned as he got blown off course. God knows how many Vikings - who spent decades learning how to sail on these crappy ships - drowned on their voyages. We have a selection bias of only knowing of the ones who mades it. And these Vikings largely had to get out in this water to fish or to do Vikingy pillagey stuff because they were ordered to by their monarchs. Yet you chose to do it for nothing more than the idea of seeing what it was like.

Incredibly high risk. Utterly unnecessary. Totally Darwin.

*Shrugs* the Vikings managed it. It’s not like it’s a dinghy.

[flatandy]

A dinghy would be safer. Did you see pictures of the little boat they were using? Also, people crossing the Channel in dinghies have better reason to do so.

[flatandy]

Oct 8, 2024 20:53:08 GMT Repat Van said:

Lots of people need rescuing all the time. I don’t understand the vitriol for those who like to climb mountains.

Most of the people who need rescuing end up needing rescuing after doing fairly low risk activities that you can't expect to need rescuing from, or are doing important high risk things like being a fireman or fisherman or whatever. People climbing mountains are incredibly high risk and there's nothing except person valour to doing it.

Not that I have any vitriol towards them, per se (although I do have a bit towards people who feel a need to tell you all about how miserable it was while glorifying themselves). Do something you enjoy. That's great. But just assume the cost of your hobby and don't expect a taxpayer to pay for your rescue. Particularly as these rescuers are generally in much harsher conditions than the blokes who pick someone of Snowden who turned their ankle.

[perrykneeham]

Oct 8, 2024 20:59:51 GMT flatandy said:

A dinghy would be safer. Did you see pictures of the little boat they were using? Also, people crossing the Channel in dinghies have better reason to do so.

No, they absolutely don't.

[mids]

Oct 8, 2024 20:59:51 GMT flatandy said:

A dinghy would be safer. Did you see pictures of the little boat they were using? Also, people crossing the Channel in dinghies have better reason to do so.

A desire to rape?