Ignorant media

codprawn · 27 December 2006, 00:08

Right on topic this as it involves a RIB!!!

Was just watching "Police camera action" or some such similar drivel - I think the present was a news reader - Alastair Stewart or similar.

Anway after the usual police chases etc they showed a "fast launch" as used by Dyfed Powys police - it was a small Delta with a 3 man crew. It mentioned the advanced navaids and zoomed in on the plotter - fair enough. It then mentioned the self righting and zoomed in on the Echomax - classic or what???

The ignorance of the press in these situations amazes me. When they go on about pollution or climate change they either zoom in on clouds coming from a car exhaust or from cooling towers at a power station - it's steam for god's sake!!!

Another classic is whenever it shows military aircraft taking off they say "loaded with bombs and missiles" and then zoom in on the drop tanks!!!

Still think that self righting echomax was a classic though - wish I had bought one instead of my trilens now!!!

Nos4r2 · 27 December 2006, 00:30

Just goes to prove you can feed the masses any crap and they'll believe it.

Biggles · 27 December 2006, 00:37

Just goes to show the power of the press.

When you think about it all the press are just people who can talk crap, well.

They went through school, college and university and were people who liked speaking. Not necessarilly good at anything but could quite happily stand up in front of an audience and speak. These are people who have no comprehension of real life but look good and sound good in front of a camera. Unfortunately its what counts in a modern world. And thats why we get people saying the echomax is a self righting aid when obviously its not.
Unfortunatlely with my old age now, when I meet these people I am quite happy to just say to them they are talking absolute sh--e. Its the only thing that shuts them up. The south of England seems to have more than its fair share of self proclaimed experts.
In someways its quite funny to listen to them spouting off for a while and then to put them right.

tinker · 27 December 2006, 20:56

Just think, you know a lot about RIB's so can see the the bulls**t from miles. What about the stuff they tell you that you aint got a clue about and would struggle to know if they are telling the truth, thats the real worry, for some..

codprawn · 27 December 2006, 22:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinker

Just think, you know a lot about RIB's so can see the the bulls**t from miles. What about the stuff they tell you that you aint got a clue about and would struggle to know if they are telling the truth, thats the real worry, for some..

Well I have such diverse interests that rarely happens and when it does I immediately look it up to check the "FACTS" - sadly most people take things at face value whilst I am the other extreme and never do - I have learnt that seldom are things in black and white - usually just a massive grey mush!!!

matt h · 28 December 2006, 19:05

talk about a hypocrit!! alistair Stewart got caught Drink Driving a few years back!! why dont the press hone in on that!!!

codprawn · 28 December 2006, 19:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt h

talk about a hypocrit!! alistair Stewart got caught Drink Driving a few years back!! why dont the press hone in on that!!!

Actually he's been done at least twice!!!

Aidan · 29 December 2006, 16:36

Too right Codders,

what about the Bird flue as they tracked it across Europe, It looked like we would all die (and we may well do sometime) as birds were found each day closer to home etc... Then it all happened, I think it was Wayne Rooneys Ankle or Beckam tears or whatever, but it all turned to Football and behold, the bird flu had gone...
Are they making idiots of us or what?

I also recall another day when there was a big Headline called Tsunami UK.
It was only a what if but was trying to create panic...
Obviously nothing happened that day.

Happy new year

Aidan

Biggles · 29 December 2006, 17:22

Its called looking after ones self. If there was no news then they wouldn't need all those newscasters. Therefore they need to prattle on about something.

codprawn · 29 December 2006, 18:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aidan

Too right Codders,

I also recall another day when there was a big Headline called Tsunami UK.
It was only a what if but was trying to create panic...
Obviously nothing happened that day.

Happy new year

Aidan

The Tsunami was a classic case in point. Many of the news broadcasts showed a simulation of a gigantic wave crashing down on a city with waves at least 100' high - in reality most of the people were killed by a wave on average about 15' high - the sort Britain is lashed by all the time - the difference is we don't live on the beach!!!

Aidan · 29 December 2006, 21:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

The Tsunami was a classic case in point. Many of the news broadcasts showed a simulation of a gigantic wave crashing down on a city with waves at least 100' high - in reality most of the people were killed by a wave on average about 15' high - the sort Britain is lashed by all the time - the difference is we don't live on the beach!!!

Hi Codders, we get freak waves on West coast of Ireland often.
Mostly the waves are the foreboding of a depression offshore (hundred miles etc) and are ahead of it. These are on the back of further Depressions well of shore that may have gone past and north (of jet streams),
Add to this the local Wind conditions and it makes for prety good surfing especially in a West facing bay.
However, on occasion with some Sea floor seismic activity, one gets in a fast moving envelope of water that one does not notice of shore. It comes fast and a volume of water only a few feet or so high.
This is often to blame for washing unwary "non local" fishermen on the flat shelf of rocks into the sea as I believe happened to atleast two Polish men who were fishing in the last three weeks.

And yes, that story you mention was the one I was referring to.

There was a second Tsunami that day two years ago codders, the first one sent the volumes of water of across the Indian Ocean, but a more local "land slip under sea" something he equiv of a Chunk or wedge of Ground either popping up or equally, down under the sea floor. This one was a local result of the first Earthquake, but whilst this was local, it was also a sharp spike of som e33 meters on top of what already happened and thus a wave (3 in total, short succession of up o 120 feet happened in North Banda Ache, as far as I understand.
This does not take from the sensationalism and lack of professionalism that you mention on that day in the paper.
Besides, if it were tohappen as it can including, The Mountain in Tenerief, Cosmic Chunks in Atlantic, or Earthquakes in Atlantic, Poor old Ireland will break your fall.

codprawn · 29 December 2006, 22:47

I said on average - there were places where the waves were focused but most of the dead were caused by a much smaller wave - the amount of damage was due to the flatness of the land and the types of construction. You will see many videos shot by people who took refuge in larger concrete hotels who survived whilst everything else was destroyed.

Remember these places never have much in the way of rough seas or huge tides so it is usually safe to live close to the beach.

Aidan · 29 December 2006, 23:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

I said on average - there were places where the waves were focused but most of the dead were caused by a much smaller wave - the amount of damage was due to the flatness of the land and the types of construction. You will see many videos shot by people who took refuge in larger concrete hotels who survived whilst everything else was destroyed.

Remember these places never have much in the way of rough seas or huge tides so it is usually safe to live close to the beach.

Of course, it was very local and I only found out about a few months ago.
I also had seen the footage and I could not reconcile some of the footage with what I was hearing. Apparently when they checked some levels of local wash, it was very much higher in some few spots and they went looking for answers. Most interesting, basically they had no chance.

It must have been end of world stuff, it was for a good few.

I have often wondered do people actually have any idea of what the terrain looks like after a Hurricane washes over the entire area such as outer banks east coast USA.

We all know what it is like normally but can you imagine getting out of bed in the middle of the night and coming down stairs out your front door to howling winds, Water everywhere so much so that you do not know which way the ocean is and where land is and it does not matter because the Inter coastel is between you and there anyway. Now add a few kids and not knowing if your house will stand.....
I dont but I can only imagine...

I am sure most of Bangladesh is like this, low lying and when the Typhoon hits thats that. I seem to recall some 30 years ago that 250,000 people died there during one typhoon.

Any takers with that one,, I only remember it borderline

jyasaki · 31 December 2006, 23:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aidan

We all know what it is like normally but can you imagine getting out of bed in the middle of the night and coming down stairs out your front door to howling winds, Water everywhere so much so that you do not know which way the ocean is and where land is and it does not matter because the Inter coastel is between you and there anyway. Now add a few kids and not knowing if your house will stand.....
I dont but I can only imagine...

Well, my take is that if you ignore all the forecasts and hurricane tracking and advanced warnings to evacuate, well...

Not to make light of the situation in New Orleans, but they've known for nearly a hundred years that a Cat 4 or 5 hurricane would decimate the region. It boggles the mind that people simply presumed it would never happen.

Quote:

I am sure most of Bangladesh is like this, low lying and when the Typhoon hits thats that. I seem to recall some 30 years ago that 250,000 people died there during one typhoon.

I don't think *all* of Bangladesh is low-lying, but there is an unbelievable density of residents living in the delta of the Ganges. Last estimates I heard was that if they were hit by a major storm and resulting storm surge, or a fairly direct hit by a large-ish tsunami, body counts may well surpass a million.

The one that scares me is the volcano in the Canary Islands. Recent geologic surveys reveal that the west flank of the island is unstable, and may drop a couple-mile long chunk about a thousand feet down into the Atlantic. Result will be a mega-tsunami aimed at the US eastern seaboard, causing waves that may reach several hundred feet (or more) tall. Estimated affected region is supposed to be several tens of miles inland (doesn't sound like much, but that is probably greater than the diameter of a major city.)

jky

Aidan · 01 January 2007, 01:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

Well, my take is that if you ignore all the forecasts and hurricane tracking and advanced warnings to evacuate, well...

Not to make light of the situation in New Orleans, but they've known for nearly a hundred years that a Cat 4 or 5 hurricane would decimate the region. It boggles the mind that people simply presumed it would never happen.

I don't think *all* of Bangladesh is low-lying, but there is an unbelievable density of residents living in the delta of the Ganges. Last estimates I heard was that if they were hit by a major storm and resulting storm surge, or a fairly direct hit by a large-ish tsunami, body counts may well surpass a million.

The one that scares me is the volcano in the Canary Islands. Recent geologic surveys reveal that the west flank of the island is unstable, and may drop a couple-mile long chunk about a thousand feet down into the Atlantic. Result will be a mega-tsunami aimed at the US eastern seaboard, causing waves that may reach several hundred feet (or more) tall. Estimated affected region is supposed to be several tens of miles inland (doesn't sound like much, but that is probably greater than the diameter of a major city.)

jky

Hi Jky, yeah This is the one I was talking about but as usual my specifics were scant. I guess the bofins can work out the displacement and resultant wave. Any takers with specifics on this one.

codprawn · 01 January 2007, 01:27

Some pretty big masses fall off glaciers when they calve - doesn't seem to cause much damage - even to ships close by!!!