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Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Priorities, man

The stepson of a passenger on the Titan submersible is facing criticism for his decision to go see a concert while the fate of the sub remains in doubt, USA Today reported.

As rescuers race to try to find the group whose presumed air supply would be running out sometime on Thursday, Hamish Harding’s stepson, Brian Szasz, tweeted to members of the rock band Blink-182, “My stepdad Hamish is on this submarine lost at sea. I’m devastated but coming to the San Diego show tonight (Monday) so you guys can give me hope and cheer me up.”

25 comments:

  1. Did you see the philosophy of the OceanGate CEO? He eschewed hires of “50-y/o white guys, experienced submariners, SMEs” for the young twenty somethings.

    Informative video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dka29FSZac&t=1244s
    Those naïve “customers” are dead. Either mush or slowly suffocating.

    (If you’ve got money as a thrill seeker, at least K2 isn’t claustrophobic, even if O2 at 8000m ain’t plentiful.)

    That video I link shows the fabrication of the composite right circular cylindrical shell of the “Titan” submersible with a unidirectional wrap. As one who studied Mechanics of Composite Materials in grad school, I wonder if other orientations of wrap were incorporated (which is orthodox makeup for strength). (If it were me, I’d have gone with the SSN/SSBN HY80 steel, or titanium.) I did enjoy that course.

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    1. is class dissmissed yet? i think i forgot to take a prerequisite course.

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    2. Damn Ken, you got professors coming to your site to learn! Heh
      MadMarlin

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    3. In Aerospace applications we use multi layer laminates and each layer is a specific part number with a specific ply orientation. We rotate through ply orientations at each layer and are basically achieving homogenous mutli direction strength after the full vacuum/autoclave process. We learned early on to pay attention to ply orientation with respect to structural load paths. Also, those people on that submersible are all dead so you might as well go to a concert. I know I am this weekend!

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    4. Apparently Mr. Lane has real rocket scientists visiting his site!

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    5. The company fired a guy in '18 because of faults in the carbon fiber hull that he saw. Like you, I would have gone for steel as well. Although Carbon Fiber is strong and light, the stuff better be perfect.

      I don't know what they are using for ballast, but the Trieste used steel plates that could simply be released to get back to the surface. I have my doubts they will rescued.

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    6. Their emergency ballast is sand bags, using a material that disintegrates in a few days under water. If the sub held together, the bags would fail and they'd pop to the surface long before they used their 96 hours of air.

      But once someone got a robot submersible down their, it became clear the sub didn't hold together. There's a largish debris field with the titanium and glass endcaps at each side and other parts and a lot of disintegrated carbon fiber between. It seems pretty clear that the carbon fire failed - and once one part fails, it all comes apart.

      The sub has been down to the Titanic and back up several times, so I think we can assume the carbon fiber composite was wound correctly. But is it subject to fatigue failure? Or did they bump something hard enough to put a crack in the composite?

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  2. He didn't cause it, he can't do anything about it, and worrying won't change a thing. Party on.

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  3. Narcissistic little brat... all about meeeee!!!!

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  4. Different people have different coping mechanisms. Not going to jump the gun on this one.

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    1. Agreed. We all process loss in our own way.

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  5. Bad decisions must run in the family.

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  6. WTF can the stepson do, other than wait? He'll cope as he chooses. And if he's smart, he'll ignore the mob.

    I'd bet the CEO (a white, 50 ish male....) is rethinking his decision to go to the bottom of the sea in a boat designed by inexperienced 20 somethings, but, hey, his call. Sometimes you learn the hard way. Best thing about this is that he's there, not up here.

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  7. Nothing he could do, but shoulda kept quiet

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  8. He's a red head and saw the will.
    Daryl

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  9. Coping with tragedy is a personal thing. People have to have a way to maintain their psychological health. First responders often tell inappropriate jokes that can seem downright sick to outsiders.
    This guy says he finds comfort in Blink 182s music. If going to their concert helps him keep his head screwed on straight then more power to him. Some of the "anonymous" posters here could probably learn something from him.

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  10. What they are searching for is a 20,000 lb object, 21 ft long and 8 ft in diameter. What they should be looking for is an object about 2 ft in diameter.
    The submersible was downgraded several years ago and no longer rated for the depth. You might cheat death once or twice, but eventually you die.

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  11. Mommy's billionaire cuck might be daid!?

    Anyway...

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  12. Has anyone considered that air enough for 5 people to last 96 hours will go a lot further if there is just one or two people to breath it?

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  13. when my dad died, I got the call when I was at dinner at a sub shop. I had 'em wrap it to go and went to the hospice center. he passed before I got there. I spent about half an hour in his room, and went out to my car to eat. I was starving by that point, and what good would continuing to starve do? according to my 2 sisters I was a monster. how dare I leave to do something like eating when I was hungry? they came to their senses later but we had some words in the parking lot.

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  14. Forget experienced 50 yo's.
    We need more dysfunctional neurotic mess young men in dresses in cases like this. NOT!
    I don't think the sub has a crying booth, but it's shaping up to be a dying booth.

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  15. I understand not wearing your heart on your sleeve but damn. Agreed, he should have kept quiet.

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  16. Breaking: Leonardo DiCaprio was actually the 5th person on this vessel. He was a stow away disguised as a Paki Billionaire

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  17. hey...life goes on

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  18. And what's he supposed to do? Ask to tag along with the Coast Guard?

    I want to scream when I hear people in the media trying to class these people as "adventurers." They're rich tourists and nothing more. Well...they were rich tourists.

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