[HN Gopher] "One Day Longer and Those 13 Boys Would Be Dead"
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       "One Day Longer and Those 13 Boys Would Be Dead"
        
       Author : Tomte
       Score  : 646 points
       Date   : 2021-07-10 12:29 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.zeit.de)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.zeit.de)
        
       | jtchang wrote:
       | It's only after the rescue that they can give retrospectives on
       | exactly how difficult things were at the time. My utmost respect
       | goes out to each of these heroes for doing what needed to be done
       | even at the possible cost of their own lives.
        
       | CRConrad wrote:
       | I'm not even going to click through to any fricking article or
       | video: Just reading the comments here gives me quite enough
       | claustrophobic shivers.
        
       | sdfsadfjaslj wrote:
       | https://archive.is/j6410
        
         | dt3ft wrote:
         | Thank you.
        
         | wizzwizz4 wrote:
         | That's only one page.
        
           | chris_overseas wrote:
           | There's a link to page 2 at the bottom https://archive.is/o/j
           | 6410/https://www.zeit.de/wissen/2021-0...
        
             | wizzwizz4 wrote:
             | It redirected to a paywall when I clicked it. (But it was
             | that exact link, before the redirect. Strange.)
        
               | tpmx wrote:
               | Someone archived it too, eventually. Looks like
               | archive.is/archive.today rewrites links to URLs it has
               | archived.
        
           | detaro wrote:
           | and if you click the link to the second page you get to ...
           | the second page.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | sandebert wrote:
       | Season one of the podcast "Against all odds" is also about this.
       | 
       | https://wondery.com/shows/against-the-odds/
        
       | fab1an wrote:
       | The most harrowing thing I have read in a long time. I can't even
       | begin to fathom the immense bravery of these divers - and that of
       | the boys. I didn't really follow the Musk bit of the story, but
       | the fact that he had the audacity to shitpost about any of these
       | guys make me think vastly less of him (and I'm usually in the
       | Musk-respecter camp)
        
         | throwaway2048 wrote:
         | Lets not make this comments section about an idiots
         | disparagement of a hero.
        
         | ryzvonusef wrote:
         | >I didn't really follow the Musk bit of the story
         | 
         | I did, and it's shocking how something only a few years away,
         | and so publicly recorded, has been so muddled. There was this
         | thai journalist I had been following on twitter to get all
         | details on the whole situation, pity I forgot the account.
         | 
         | anyhoo, here is the cliffnotes version from my memory,
         | apologies if I got something wrong, I'm not a journalist, can't
         | be arsed to dig through the old tweets (but a more tech savvy
         | person could probably do so easily, they are still there iirc):
         | 
         | ----
         | 
         | 1- people on twitter start asking musk for help, and a thai
         | telecommunication/satellite/something CEO contacts him for
         | help, Musk's own employees personally asks him and volunteer to
         | help, Musk decided to dive in.
         | 
         | 2- First option they decided (and something everyone was
         | tweeting at him) was to use his Boring tunnel Drills, he flew
         | his boring tunnel team on the SpaceX jet to check, they
         | realized ground was too unstable to drill, so that that option
         | was closed, but the team was still there, with their geology
         | sensing equipment and what not.
         | 
         | 3- Iirc tesla gave some powerwalls to run the base camp
         | somewhere in the timeline, but don't recall any other help for
         | that musk company.
         | 
         | 4- They are in discussion with the rescue team, the main issue
         | is that the kids might be malnourish and not able to make the
         | journey, you can't send wheelchairs and stretchers, so Musk's
         | team is asked to make some alternatives
         | 
         | 5- key point is that it was a two way collaborative process,
         | Musk's team didn't unilaterally offer his "submarine", iirc,
         | Musk shared emails from the rescue team leader to that affect.
         | 
         | 6- the first product made was NOT the submarine. There is a
         | video, where tesla or spacex suppliers (i.e a seperate company,
         | but affiliated with one of musk's business) made this really
         | cool rubber/plastic/something stretcher/wrap like item for
         | free, that would help carry a weak child through the tunnel and
         | float in the watery bits, but iirc it was not used because time
         | was running out.
         | 
         | In the analogy, this was the wheel chair equivalent, since the
         | child was supposed to hold himself together somewhat, and was
         | an aid, the child would have to be submerged and breath from an
         | oxygen tank, but the aid would help him bind to a rescuer and
         | not sink or float away, not be too big a burden on the rescuer.
         | 
         | 7-The Submarine was the a quicker and more urgent solution, and
         | was for a child that was totally unconscious. This is the
         | ambulance stretcher equivalent, where the child simply has no
         | control. The idea was proposed by the spacex/boring tunnel team
         | (they were the same company basically then) to quickly re-
         | furbish and use an existing falcon tube.
         | 
         | Here is a quick reminder, the Tunnel was essentially like the
         | Letter M, and there was tight points and lower water points,
         | The "submarine" was NOT meant for the tighter points, and only
         | for the lower and longer water-logged bits, where the child
         | could not be presumed to even breath from an oxygen tank.
         | 
         | The idea was to ONLY use the submarine (hence the name) in some
         | of the longer bits, where the child was to be locked in with
         | the necessary oxygen, and then removed once again, especially
         | during the tight bits, where the submarine wouldn't, as many
         | internet sleuths pointed out, fit.
         | 
         | this was tool of absolute desperation, and this why the rescue
         | team had been in contact with musk's team, time was running out
         | and they feared the children wouldn't be able to move on their
         | on. Luckily it wasn't needed, but there was a genuine fear.
         | 
         | 8- But then the rescue happened, and the submarine was not
         | used, since things were not that bad as feared, but still, it
         | was anything goes till that point. Things start to unravel
         | after that, since because the item was not used, people thought
         | the item was useless.
         | 
         | 9-vernon said some unkind things about musks's submarine (not
         | sure if warranted), musk flips his cool and says some REALLY
         | bad things about vernon (totally not warranted), some shyster
         | gets involved and fools musk into thinking vernon was an
         | actually pedo (dude can land rockets, but he was not so smart
         | on the conman front) the lawsuit happens, musk wins because
         | insulting people is not a crime in the US, and so here we are.
         | 
         | -----
         | 
         | E&OE
         | 
         | I think people forget that behind the rescue operation were
         | actual people, not named musk or vernon.
         | 
         | first of all were the actual thai kids, whose sitaution was
         | getting precarious day by dat. Secondly were the rescuers, who
         | were worried about the rescue and were looking at any and all
         | who could help. then there were the people working in musk's
         | team.
         | 
         | One of the people was a thai spacex employee for example, and
         | this was personal to him, and he was responsible for getting
         | musk involved, iirc. the submarine idea was not musk's, but his
         | spacex employees, and all he did was give them a blank cheque
         | in using company resources.
         | 
         | yes musk was a an absolute cnut in insulting vernon that way,
         | and in no way justifies his crass remarks, but behind him
         | flipping his cap, was him being insulted on behalf of not just
         | himself but his employees and his suppliers, who had
         | volunteered for free, and were not deserving of vernon's unkind
         | remarks(though again, simply not comparable to musks's remarks,
         | he should just have shut the fcuk up)
         | 
         | Life moves on, those spacex/tesla/boring company employees and
         | suppliers have moved on, heck even vernon and musk have moved
         | on after the lawsuit, but we are all still stuck here in this
         | strange world of half truths and misinformation.
         | 
         | I think the real victims of this whole musk-vernon fiasco has
         | been the capacity for silicon valley nerds to volunteer their
         | skills, I doubt those spacex/boring tunnel employees/suppliers
         | would ever venture to volunteer on such a scale again, much
         | easier to keep quiet and work the beaten path, at soup kitchens
         | or some "approved" setup like UN etc, much safer options to
         | give back.
        
           | ryzvonusef wrote:
           | here is what i can dig up, will update as I find more
           | sources:
           | 
           | ---
           | 
           | Here are all of elon's tweet's during the time period:
           | 
           | (23-Jun-2018 to 11-Jul-2018)
           | 
           | https://twitter.com/search?q=(from%3Aelonmusk)%20until%3A201.
           | ..
           | 
           | ----
           | 
           | here is the email between elon and richard stanton, the
           | rescue lead: where richard seems to urged elon to continue
           | the work on the mini sub
           | 
           | https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1016684366083190785
           | 
           | ---
           | 
           | unless I am mistaken, this is thai billionaire guy:
           | 
           | @JamesWorldSpace
           | 
           | https://twitter.com/search?q=(from%3Ajamesworldspace)%20unti.
           | ..
           | 
           | you can check his account for details I guess
           | 
           | ----
           | 
           | this is the inflatable raft that I was thinking of, made by
           | the suppliers
           | 
           | https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2018/jul/7/elon-musks-plane-
           | was...
           | 
           | ----
           | 
           | I _think_ this is the thai journalist i was following back
           | then
           | 
           | https://twitter.com/thanr
           | 
           | https://twitter.com/search?q=(from%3Athanr)%20until%3A2018-0.
           | ..
        
           | FullKirby wrote:
           | Thank you for posting this!
        
             | ryzvonusef wrote:
             | No problem! It depresses me that something so recent, so...
             | open and easily accessible (literally a click away) is so
             | misunderstood, what hope do we have of countering
             | misinformation on a larger scale, if even the nerdy techy
             | folks of HN can't be bother do counter misinformation.
             | 
             | It doesn't have to be pro or anti musk, you just have to
             | look at the facts
             | 
             | ____
             | 
             | I was just on Twitter DM (magic of technology, you can just
             | talk to a rando person a thousand mile away now!) with the
             | Thai journalist (@thanr) who had been reporting on site on
             | behalf of the BBC or some other press, and he told me there
             | are so many other facts not publicly know, like the scope
             | of the cooperation between Musk, The State Dept, The
             | American Embassy in Thailand and the Thai government. I've
             | requested him to perhaps write some article or a book or
             | something to detail those.
             | 
             | it's understandable if not knowing _those_ not easily
             | google-able facts were perhaps the cause of the confusion.
             | But not doing a simple tweet search? The man is a prolific
             | tweeter, why not just... go read what he said, and make
             | your opinion on that? Good, Bad whatever, but atleast you
             | should be fully informed.
             | 
             | neither Musk nor Vernon come clean out of this mess, but
             | atleast there is some clarity to be gained.
        
         | camjohnson26 wrote:
         | Vernon Unsworth. He sued Musk for libel in the United States
         | and lost. Musk not only called him "pedo guy" on Twitter, but
         | implied he had married a child bride, when he hadn't, and later
         | hired a private investigator to dry to dig up dirt on Unsworth,
         | which found nothing. Musk also sent this letter to Buzzfeed
         | where he doubled down. He thought it was off the record, and
         | says some terrible things:
         | https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/elon-musk-thai-...
         | 
         | It came out later that the private investigator was scamming
         | Elon Musk, and lied to him about finding damaging information.
         | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/08/elon-musk...
         | 
         | Bizarrely, Unsworth's lawyer was L Lin Wood, famous for later
         | apparently having a mental breakdown and supporting conspiracy
         | theories accusing chief justice John Roberts of pedophilia and
         | murder, and being asked to undergo a mental examination by the
         | state bar of Georgia.
         | 
         | L Lin Wood's handling of the Unsworth trial was widely panned
         | as incompetent. Unsworth is clearly a hero, and Musk inserting
         | himself into that situation and permanently tainting Unsworth's
         | name was unconscionable.
         | 
         | https://reason.com/2020/12/31/pro-trump-lawyer-tries-to-impl...
         | 
         | https://reason.com/2021/01/31/treating-lin-woods-wild-conspi...
         | 
         | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-defamation-win-mis...
        
           | sandworm101 wrote:
           | >> supporting conspiracy theories accusing chief justice John
           | Roberts of pedophilia and murder
           | 
           | I miss the good old days when such accusations were extreme.
           | Reporters would hesitate to say the word pedophile on air.
           | Airing such an accusation would almost certainly trigger a
           | serious defamation lawsuit. News outlets would instead talk
           | of unspecified personal accusations. Now, thanks to a certain
           | popular letter-based conspiracy theory, calling any public
           | figure a "satan-worshipping pedophile" doesn't even raise
           | eyebrows.
           | 
           | Is is "popular letter-based conspiracy" or "letter-based
           | popular conspiracy"? I'm slipping on my royal order of
           | adjectives.
        
             | Majora320 wrote:
             | The former.
        
             | incrudible wrote:
             | If the accusation is ludicrous enough, the "artistic
             | license" defense can work. Alex Jones has used it. Tucker
             | Carlson has used it. Rachel Maddow has used it. There's a
             | difference between serious factual reporting and
             | shitposting on Twitter. The fact that _some_ readers might
             | not be able to distinguish the two may be disturbing, but
             | it should not guide jurisdiction.
        
           | FearlessNebula wrote:
           | This doesn't excuse Elon slandering Vernon Unsworth, but
           | didn't Vernon talk shit about Elon's good faith attempt at
           | making a submarine to try to rescue the people?
        
             | ergocoder wrote:
             | So what?
             | 
             | You can call each other names and fight.
             | 
             | Musk has gone beyond that and accused Vernon of being a
             | pedophile and marrying child bride.
             | 
             | Maybe it was the heat of the moment. But then some days (or
             | weeks) later he followed up with "I'd bet my signed dollar
             | (that Vernon is a pedo)" (or something like that).
             | 
             | Musk intended to destroy Vernon with the pedophile
             | accusation. There is no doubt of that. This is pre-
             | meditated plan to destroy a person with the pedophile
             | accusation.
             | 
             | For some reason, there's no outrage from tech companies
             | though. People are still praising Musk as usual. I'm
             | looking at you all the CEOs like Jack Dorsey and etc.
        
               | FearlessNebula wrote:
               | I'm not debating that Musk slandered him, and I think
               | Musk should have payed out in court. However I still
               | think Vernon's response to Musk's submarine solution was
               | distasteful. Instead of saying "sorry, this won't work
               | because xyz", or "we'll try that if our original plan
               | fails", he told Musk to "stick it where it hurts". Not a
               | very professional response.
        
               | ducktorcoolass wrote:
               | Oh, so what? It's totally normal to make up baseless
               | accusations, abuse accuse some guy of some specified
               | sexual crime and try to destroy their life and
               | reputation. This is normal, and good. The shining example
               | of one of the greatest things our beautiful culture has
               | given us. The ability to sidestep our ageing legal system
               | and hang men who deserve it anyway for stuff we choose to
               | accuse them of. Thank you to 3rd wave feminism and metoo
               | for normalizing this long overdue vigilantism against the
               | evil patriarchy that's been the only thing blocking and
               | destroying women from their potential forever. So what if
               | some "Innocents" get caught up in the cross fire? Who
               | cares if Musk wields the same axe? The more important
               | thing is that we have a chance to do it to them for once.
               | We have to destroy male confidence and get them running
               | scared, that's the only power we have over that
               | pernicious make privilege and false sexual entitlement to
               | women's bodies. We need to use this scalpel to remake
               | evil traditional male sexuality to not be toxic to modern
               | women, that's the only thing that matters, whatever the
               | cost. How is that not obvious?
        
             | cma wrote:
             | Didn't Elon disrupt the whole operation at one point,
             | traveling there to get footage or an Instagram Story video?
             | 
             | It is easy to see what is going on and that it isn't in
             | good faith. Look a his breached commitments during the
             | Flint water crisis (filter every home to below FDA levels),
             | coronavius (produce ventilators), Peurto Rico huricane
             | aftermath, and more. He as a common pattern with these kind
             | of events.
        
               | FearlessNebula wrote:
               | I'm not familiar with his commitments during flint or the
               | hurricane, but his behavior during COVID was despicable.
               | I'm pretty sure he fought to try and prevent work from
               | home, and constantly downplayed the severity of the
               | disease.
        
               | cma wrote:
               | "Please consider this a commitment that I will fund
               | fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water
               | contamination above FDA levels. No kidding."
               | 
               | https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1017149641991680002
        
               | camjohnson26 wrote:
               | Not to mention reopened in defiance of Alameda County
               | regulations.
               | 
               | And Vernon did not initiate the Twitter fight, he gave an
               | interview and suggested Musk "stick his submarine where
               | it hurts". Musk took to Twitter where he has millions of
               | followers to strike back.
               | 
               | The tweets are deleted but somebody saved a screenshot: h
               | ttps://twitter.com/RickyReports/status/101859724527555788
               | 8?...
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | lupire wrote:
             | Now you are slandering Unsworth.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | FearlessNebula wrote:
               | I'm really not. He told Elon to "stick it where it
               | hurts", which was why I said he talked shit to Elon.
               | Again, I'm not trying to deny that Elon is the bad guy
               | here. But Vernon can be the good guy in a situation and
               | still have made a distasteful mistake (talking
               | disrespectfully).
        
             | Peritract wrote:
             | He didn't 'talk shit' about a 'good faith attempt'.
             | 
             | Unsworth - who knew the cave system - said that Musk's idea
             | was impractical and a PR stunt. Both of those claims are
             | valid and came from a reliable source. During a crisis,
             | there is no particular need to be polite to people getting
             | in the way.
        
               | postmeta wrote:
               | https://www.gq.com/story/musk-submarine-where-it-hurts
               | seems kinda rude, or just british /jk!
        
               | FearlessNebula wrote:
               | I thought he called Elon name's on Twitter and Elon
               | reciprocated (two wrongs don't make a right). Maybe I am
               | wrong. Even if his idea was impractical, I was under the
               | impression that he made a best effort attempt (I doubt he
               | willingly chose something impractical) and the solution
               | they chose was the better one (divers).
        
               | camjohnson26 wrote:
               | Musk started the Twitter fight after Unsworth gave an
               | interview: https://twitter.com/RickyReports/status/101859
               | 7245275557888?...
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | rtkwe wrote:
             | The sub was a bad plan from the beginning, one of the main
             | issues with the rescue was the narrow twisty path through
             | the cave. This wasn't unknown when Musk was touting his
             | sub. Also even if someone was talking shit about his sub
             | and it wasn't a bad idea, that doesn't justify insinuating
             | they're a pedophile...
        
               | FearlessNebula wrote:
               | Hence " This doesn't excuse Elon slandering Vernon
               | Unsworth". I still think Vernon's response to a good
               | faith attempt at solving the problem "stick it where it
               | hurts" was distasteful.
        
               | rtkwe wrote:
               | I'm think it wasn't really a good faith effort because
               | there were such clear problems with trying to shove a
               | rigid steel tube through the cave that it was clearly
               | wasted attention/effort. There was a lot of criticism
               | during the whole thing that it wasn't doing any good
               | except to get Musk more attention.
        
               | FearlessNebula wrote:
               | Fair point
        
           | postmeta wrote:
           | https://twitter.com/QTRResearch/status/1017914936289349635
           | sounds kinda rude, but not worth a reply
        
           | camjohnson26 wrote:
           | Musk's submarine was a joke. The video of it shows it was
           | clearly too large and too rigid to maneuver through the
           | caves. Musk said they would make a video showing the
           | submarine going from point a to b, but never did. Watch these
           | videos of Unsworth both after the rescue and the trial and
           | compare them to Musk's response. It was absolutely sickening.
           | 
           | https://youtu.be/uDP6_4jUmiQ
           | 
           | https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-50698294
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHJZGcj5KHU
        
             | mseidl wrote:
             | I'll have to find the video, but he said that sub wouldn't
             | have made it through the first 50m.
        
             | geomark wrote:
             | I saw and touched the sub; it was featured at a science
             | expo in Bangkok not long after the rescue. It was a metal
             | tube with some plexiglass plates on it with air valves
             | mounted in them. I'm sure there was some engineering
             | involved, but didn't seem at all impressive.
             | 
             | My son was a big fan of Elon, the "cool rocket guy". But
             | after his comments about Unsworth he asked me "Why did Elon
             | say that stuff about the man who is a hero?" My son is a
             | Thai boy living in Thailand, close the the same age as the
             | boys who were rescued. Sadly I had to walk back the idea
             | that Elon was a good role model.
             | 
             | I thought Unsworth should have sued Elon in Thailand. It
             | wouldn't have meant much since Elon would never travel here
             | again. But in Thailand defamation is a criminal offense
             | that carries jail time. And since Unsworth is a national
             | hero there's little doubt the court would have found in his
             | favor and Elon would have had an outstanding arrest
             | warrant. Again, wouldn't mean much unless Elon forgot about
             | it and ended up traveling to or through a country that
             | would arrest him on behalf of Thailand.
        
               | loceng wrote:
               | So now you can update your son based on another comment
               | we know that Elon was lied to by a private investigator -
               | and seems safe to assume his comments based on that
               | faulty/made up information;
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27796249
               | 
               | Elon is a good role model, he's not perfect though. I'm
               | not sure why so many people blindly put him on a pedestal
               | assuming he should be superhuman - especially at the
               | abnormal level of pressures and responsibility he has.
        
               | imtringued wrote:
               | Tesla bought Solar city to bail out around $6 billion in
               | assets owned by the Musk family. He came up with an
               | overhyped product launch (the solar roof) to instill
               | confidence while behind the scenes he gutted Solar city
               | (renamed to Tesla Energy) to nothing. I don't want him to
               | be a role model for anyone.
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QqtSqy3oeY
               | 
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f0PzbJOau8
        
               | hef19898 wrote:
               | Not to mention credit deals between SpaceX and Tesla as
               | well. Also his habit of promissing outlandish stuff (self
               | driving taxis for example) to keep money flowing and
               | evaluations high. And then manipulating the unregulated
               | Bitcoin market, trying that with stock traded on wall
               | street would get you in hot water with the SEC. Something
               | Elon has already experience with. Good cororate
               | governance is something else.
        
               | kaba0 wrote:
               | A scam billionaire that did nothing by himself is
               | anything but a role model.
        
               | loceng wrote:
               | Has anyone done anything by themself? Weak argument.
        
               | ryder9 wrote:
               | so you agree then?
        
               | geomark wrote:
               | That's a good idea. A demonstration of that old phrase
               | "birds of a feather flock together." Musk employs a
               | sleazebag to do Unsworth dirty, gets done dirty himself.
               | Or maybe karma is a better word for it.
               | 
               | I don't know about that putting on a pedestal thing. Musk
               | is a brilliant guy, but has demonstrated that he has a
               | pretty rotten character. IMO, a good role model for a kid
               | really needs to have good quality of character above all
               | else.
        
               | rundevilrun wrote:
               | musk hired a pi after making defamatory claims
               | 
               | the absolute STATE of musk apologists jfc
        
               | andi999 wrote:
               | To me hiring an investigator to find dirt on a guy who
               | bruised your ego by pointing out correctly that the sub
               | sucks, is already crossing a lot of lines for me.
        
               | jb775 wrote:
               | It wasn't just bruised ego, the guy _brought_ legal
               | charges against Musk claiming libel.
               | 
               | How is hiring a 3rd party to investigate the underlying
               | libel not a good initial response? Especially if he could
               | easily afford it.
        
               | j4yav wrote:
               | He had already called him pedo guy amongst other things
               | at that point (i.e., the libel in question in the first
               | place). So it couldn't have come from the investigation
               | that came later about the libel. The timeline just
               | doesn't make sense.
        
               | roenxi wrote:
               | > But in Thailand defamation is a criminal offense that
               | carries jail time. And since Unsworth is a national hero
               | there's little doubt the court would have found in his
               | favor and Elon would have had an outstanding arrest
               | warrant.
               | 
               | While Thailand is certainly within their rights to run
               | their justice system how they want:
               | 
               | 1) The punishment doesn't in any way fit the crime.
               | 
               | 2) "He's such a hero" is a terrible reason to do
               | something. Focusing on who the person being wronged was
               | is a bad path to justice - it is better to focus on what
               | the perpetrator did.
               | 
               | So I hope the courts in Thailand would have found in
               | Musk's favour.
        
               | Dah00n wrote:
               | How do you know the punishment doesn't fit the crime when
               | the case is a thought experiment at most? Or are you
               | saying that because it would be a criminal case it is too
               | much no matter what? It makes no sense to me that it is
               | too much just because it isn't US style justice. Criminal
               | doesn't mean prison time. It's not like the US justice
               | system is much better (clearly not working at all in this
               | case). Compared to those countries justice systems the US
               | should be compared to it's broken, corrupt and unfair (to
               | the extreme for minorities).
        
               | roenxi wrote:
               | The comment was hoping that Elon would have an arrest
               | warrant out on him, of the belief that he would never
               | enter Thailand and was pointing out that the maximum
               | penalty was imprisonment. There is an element of crazy -
               | nobody should be facing arrest for saying nasty things.
               | Maybe a fine, after a difficult court case.
               | 
               | Leaving aside that Thailand's defamation laws are largely
               | a club to stop people criticising the government and not
               | really intended for use against people like Musk.
        
               | geomark wrote:
               | More than "a club to stop people criticising the
               | government", it's used extensively by the rich and
               | powerful to stop anyone from criticising them.
               | 
               | Another funny thing about it is that the truth is not a
               | defense. So even if Unsworth was a pedo and Musk could
               | prove it, that would not be a defense against a
               | defamation case. All that is needed is to show that the
               | person making the defamatory remark intended to cause the
               | victim to lose face.
        
               | hyperpallium2 wrote:
               | "impressive" is not a relevant criterion for prototypes
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | astoor wrote:
           | As well as completely transforming many people's view of Musk
           | (he ceased to be "the least bad billionaire" for many), the
           | case also reflected extremely badly on the US legal system,
           | showing that if you are rich enough you can get away with
           | pretty much anything.
        
             | tialaramex wrote:
             | "Least bad billionaire" is a weird tag to give Musk.
             | 
             | I mean, there are a bunch of people who either inherited a
             | billion dollars or married into it, and, not being
             | psychopaths, they just decided to spend that money doing
             | good and have done with it. That seems pretty easily to be
             | "less bad" than somebody like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, or
             | Warren Buffett who set out to acquire wealth..
             | 
             | I guess if you've got a really out-there moral utility
             | function maybe saving the eyesight of a million children or
             | whatever counts for nothing while making a slightly better
             | toaster oven is a 100% goal achieved, but outside that I
             | can't see any way Musk could be the "least bad
             | billionaire".
             | 
             | Actually I can see a case for a different weird utility
             | function _if_ we also had some billionaires who got wealthy
             | from scientific discoveries or mathematical breakthroughs
             | or philosophical insights. If Martin Hellman had earned
             | $100M per year since the 1980s for licensing fees from DH
             | kex he could be a billionaire and we could argue about
             | whether that 's an important thing to give to the world. Or
             | if Judith Butler had become fabulously wealthy explaining
             | to people that gender is a social construct, she'd be a
             | billionaire and we could argue whether that was great. But
             | in reality we do not pay philosophers or cryptographers
             | billions of dollars, that sort of money goes to somebody
             | like Musk or Bezos.
        
               | shawabawa3 wrote:
               | JK Rowling is a good example. She became a billionaire
               | from writing Harry Potter but didn't stay one for long as
               | she donated most of it
        
               | prteja11 wrote:
               | Well, she is widely criticized as being transphobic. So
               | there's that.
        
               | rowanG077 wrote:
               | Well you are considered transphobic for disagreeing with
               | the twitter trans community about anything. So I wouldn't
               | put much weight into that.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | anonymousiam wrote:
             | Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla July 10, 1856 - January 7, 1943
             | 
             | https://www.news18.com/news/lifestyle/nikola-tesla-birth-
             | ann...
        
             | YeGoblynQueenne wrote:
             | "Least bad billionaire" - isn't that Tony Stark, rather?
        
           | jb775 wrote:
           | I find it interesting that you position this guy as a "hero"
           | with supporting arguments being that he brought _failed_
           | legal action against someone else for calling him a name on
           | twitter, while implying the reason he lost was because the
           | hero _chose_ to hire a crazy lawyer. Then say he 's _clearly_
           | a hero since the lawyer he _chose_ has opinions about things
           | you don 't personally agree with, as if that has any
           | relevance whatsoever to the legal case here.
        
             | nick0garvey wrote:
             | Pretty sure the reason he is being positioned as a hero is
             | due to his involvement in literally saving the lives of 12
             | children.
        
           | mcguire wrote:
           | " _Bizarrely, Unsworth 's lawyer was L Lin Wood, famous for
           | later apparently having a mental breakdown and supporting
           | conspiracy theories accusing chief justice John Roberts of
           | pedophilia and murder, and being asked to undergo a mental
           | examination by the state bar of Georgia._
           | 
           | " _L Lin Wood 's handling of the Unsworth trial was widely
           | panned as incompetent. Unsworth is clearly a hero, and Musk
           | inserting himself into that situation and permanently
           | tainting Unsworth's name was unconscionable._"
           | 
           | Bizarre! I saw his suits when I went digging through the
           | post-election hootenanny. Incompetent would be the gentlest
           | way to describe them.
        
             | redis_mlc wrote:
             | Roberts has been associated with Epstein (like Gates), so
             | how is that "bizarre"?
             | 
             | FYI: all of the election lawsuits had a kernel of truth,
             | but I would agree about "incompetent" - the problem is that
             | lawyers often are not election experts or voting machine
             | experts. Also they were pressed for time on filing.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | rowanG077 wrote:
         | Well not to say that it was not smart what Musk did. The guy
         | did shitpost first and Musk responded. It's not like Musk just
         | out of nowhere started hammering the guy.
        
           | A_non_e-moose wrote:
           | Pedophilia accusations might be just a tad overescalated as a
           | response to "your sub sucks"...
        
             | rowanG077 wrote:
             | I agree. But I already said that.
        
         | hyperpallium2 wrote:
         | Consider: why wouldn't a Mars colony be an Elon company town?
        
         | wnevets wrote:
         | That was the exact moment I decided I would never buy a Tesla
         | despite wanting one.
        
           | saalweachter wrote:
           | The good news is that the Tesla is far from your only option
           | for an electric car at this point.
        
             | sundvor wrote:
             | Pretty much thanks to Tesla.
             | 
             | Electric cars wouldn't be anywhere near where they are
             | today without him - whatever we may think of his
             | personality, the advancements in tech and environmental
             | impacts for generations to come are real.
        
               | argomo wrote:
               | Perhaps, perhaps not. The market innovation of Tesla--
               | selling electric vehicles based on sportiness and
               | performance rather than eco-friendliness--pre-dates
               | musk's involvement with the company.
        
               | wnevets wrote:
               | The need for a certain portion of the internet to defend
               | Musk at all times is absolutely weird.
        
               | fastball wrote:
               | Yin and Yang.
               | 
               | The defenders come out of the woodwork at approximately
               | the same moment the attackers do.
        
               | wnevets wrote:
               | Why tho? Musk calls someone a pedophile for petty
               | reasons, he gets called out for it and his defenders
               | respond by saying he is the reason the electric car
               | market exist. It's absolutely bizarre.
        
               | suction wrote:
               | That is absolutely not true.
        
               | kaba0 wrote:
               | Do you have any info on what is actually new in Teslas?
               | The only hard problem of electric vehicles is the battery
               | - which is third party in Teslas. So what exactly is
               | novel there?
        
               | Seanambers wrote:
               | "The only hard problem of electric vehicles is the
               | battery - which is third party in Teslas".
               | 
               | No the entire system efficiency is whats hard and is why
               | Tesla is way in front of the competition with regards to
               | performance and range. Batteries have so far been a
               | commodity - 18500 & 21700s, its only now that Tesla is
               | starting to focus on that part of the system in reference
               | to Battery Day.
        
               | rndgermandude wrote:
               | Yes and no.
               | 
               | Tesla did innovate, but frankly not as much as many
               | people want to give them credit for. And a lot of the
               | innovation happened before Musk even joined, at least
               | when it comes to basic EV tech, not talking about
               | AutoPilot or whatever.
               | 
               | Their real achievement was creating a market and
               | interest. This new consumer and investor interest was
               | also in large part to Musk throwing his ego around in
               | public. A lot of other car makers had models in late
               | stage development phases too, but didn't really see
               | enough interest and a market need to bring those models
               | forward to reach production. They were fat and happy,
               | selling their fossil fuel models.
        
               | sundvor wrote:
               | Your part about generating real interest in EVs is
               | exactly what I had in mind when I wrote my reply. I have
               | been following EVs for a couple of decades now; the way
               | especially the Tesla Model S was launched was a
               | breakthrough in shaping the perception of electric cars
               | as something entirely different, and desirable.
               | 
               | There were a number of years when a Tesla was the _only_
               | good EV you could buy, and they forced the entire
               | industry to take note and actually develop their own
               | programs. (Fast forward to today, and it 's sometimes
               | pure comedy to see latecomers such as Mazda's first
               | attempt being a complete "what?" with their first EV
               | having under half the range of and being more expensive
               | than a Model 3.)
               | 
               | Sure, someone else could eventually have gotten there,
               | but Musk and Tesla were the ones who did it - and I
               | believe with a rather significant margin of time.
               | 
               | There's a long list of things I don't like about
               | personalities and design choices, but I feel it's ok to
               | keep that separate from the above.
               | 
               | (I don't own an EV. Still saving and waiting for the
               | right time to upgrade from a 10 year old Subaru Outback
               | ICEV bought new then.)
        
               | A_non_e-moose wrote:
               | If it wasn't Tesla someone else would, most likely Rimac.
        
         | wdr1 wrote:
         | A good recap on the Musk aspect:
         | 
         | https://www.vox.com/2018/7/18/17576302/elon-musk-thai-cave-r...
        
         | jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
         | When Musk first appeared I was hugely supportive. Definitely a
         | fan of what he was doing both with SpaceX and Tesla.
         | 
         | I'm still a fan of what those companies are doing but Elon has
         | destroyed my view of him with his own behavior and words. We
         | should stop turning a blind eye to his labor practices.
         | Likewise, we should give the engineers and other workers that
         | are actually accomplishing these things more credit, vs
         | pretending it's one lone genius. Tom Mueller in particular
         | deserves far more credit.
        
           | _tulpa wrote:
           | I don't really see what Elon actually does beyond cultivating
           | public image and having money.
        
             | jamiek88 wrote:
             | Let's not go too far the other way now.
             | 
             | He's chief engineer at spacex for starters.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | heavyset_go wrote:
               | He's also the Technoking of Tesla. The titles don't mean
               | much when he can make them up and give them to himself
               | whenever he feels like it.
        
               | delecti wrote:
               | Edit: I can admit when I'm wrong. I stand by my assertion
               | that it's absurd to call him a founder of Tesla, but his
               | position in SpaceX seems to be legit.
               | 
               | ~~He may be _credited_ as chief engineer at SpaceX, but
               | that doesn 't mean he's meaningfully contributing to
               | actual engineering efforts.~~ He's also _credited_ as a
               | founder of Tesla, despite not actually being involved in
               | the founding of that company.
        
               | kiba wrote:
               | Elon Musk is a real engineer, especially if other
               | engineers said he's an engineer.[1]
               | 
               | Whatever his history is with other people or whatever his
               | personality flaws or weakness, he's the real deal.
               | 
               | [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/k1e0t
               | a/eviden...
        
               | Dah00n wrote:
               | >if other engineers said he's an engineer
               | 
               | Nonsense! Engineer is an education, not a job title. It's
               | no different than Musk calling himself Doctor. He either
               | went to school for years to become an engineer or he
               | isn't one.
        
               | iso1210 wrote:
               | The term Engineer is pretty much meaningless in the US.
               | The IT trade is pathetic in this area -- if you swap out
               | a few cat5s you're suddenly an "Network Engineer". Cut
               | and paste some stackoverflow snippets together and you're
               | a "Software Engineer".
               | 
               | In the UK the term is meaningless too, but CEng isn't.
               | You don't become a Chartered Engineer until you've done
               | the education but also have monitored professional
               | practice experience.
        
               | hef19898 wrote:
               | The bare minimum is to have bachelor's degree in
               | engineering, no matter what engineering field. You have
               | that, you are an engineer, you don't you'rr not.
               | Regardless of the career you choose after graduation.
        
               | emptysongglass wrote:
               | I'm a software engineer. I do software engineering with
               | other software engineers. But I didn't go to school for
               | it, I was self-taught. That doesn't make me less of an
               | engineer.
               | 
               | It's ok to express an opinion about Musk either way. You
               | can not like him for all kinds of reasons. But he
               | actually wrote video games as a kid growing up. He wrote
               | code at his earliest startups and a lot of it.
        
               | TheRealNGenius wrote:
               | It kinda does, not because you were self trained, but
               | because it is software engineering. https://en.wikipedia.
               | org/wiki/Regulation_and_licensure_in_en...
        
               | Tabular-Iceberg wrote:
               | I know the word gets thrown around a lot, but "software
               | engineering" doesn't really have anything to do with
               | engineering at all, and it certainly doesn't make anyone
               | engineers. Not just because it doesn't have any formal
               | recognition as an engineering discipline but more
               | importantly because the field is too immature for any
               | such recognition to be at all meaningful. Case in point,
               | all those private certification schemes and how lousy
               | predictors they are of project success.
        
               | TheRealNGenius wrote:
               | this is correct, it shouldn't be called engineering at
               | all actually.
        
               | AussieWog93 wrote:
               | Even if he doesn't do the hands-on design work himself,
               | he's clearly good at both recognising engineering talent
               | and evaluating information that's presented to him. You
               | couldn't have either of these skills without some
               | engineering knowledge.
        
               | delecti wrote:
               | I edited my comment a while ago, I'm not sure your reply
               | is really relevant to the updated version.
               | 
               | But what you described is just being a CTO. That's an
               | important job, but is still separate from being chief
               | engineer.
        
               | _hyn3 wrote:
               | "He's obviously skilled at all those different functions,
               | but certainly what really drives him and where his
               | passion really is, is his role as CTO," or chief
               | technology officer, Reisman said. "Basically his role as
               | chief designer and chief engineer. That's the part of the
               | job that really plays to his strengths."
               | 
               | From that Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXL
               | ounge/comments/k1e0ta/eviden...
        
               | Dah00n wrote:
               | Sure, but having engineering knowledge doesn't make you
               | an engineer just like having medical knowledge doesn't
               | make you a doctor.
        
               | andi999 wrote:
               | So when will his engineers tell him that hyperloop won't
               | work (assuming he honestly doesn't know).
        
               | _hyn3 wrote:
               | Why won't it? It's just scaling up bank air tubes. But
               | that's almost irrelevant to my larger point:
               | 
               | Where would we be right now if [pick _any_ inventor] had
               | listened when the experts said,  "it won't work"?
               | 
               | An inventor's job is to have a big imagination. A
               | _successful_ inventor usually has enough of an
               | engineering background to test their hypothesis and
               | refine as needed. Most of them also know how to gather
               | highly educated minds to help them.
               | 
               | Many successful inventors do not have deep academic
               | backgrounds, because often those educational backgrounds
               | tell them only what is impossible, not _what is
               | possible_.
        
               | na85 wrote:
               | >He's chief engineer at spacex for starters.
               | 
               | He calls himself that, sure. Elon is a smart guy, and
               | that's why I think he positions himself the way he does.
               | He doesn't want to be Bill Gates, he wants to be
               | perceived as a man of the people. A dudebro who happens
               | to be rich. That's why he's smoking joints with Joe Rogan
               | on camera and tweeting about WSB.
               | 
               | There is zero percent chance that Elon is actually doing
               | any technical analysis or design for SpaceX.
               | 
               | He calls himself Chief Engineer for the same reason Trump
               | claims to be a master-level deal maker. They're
               | narcissists cultivating their respective cults of
               | personality, and the legions of sycophants just lap this
               | stuff up.
        
               | kiba wrote:
               | This is 100% public perception that he's a business
               | development guy and all, because all we see is him
               | tweeting, memeing, and sometime making a fool of himself.
               | 
               | He's an engineer, and there's a bunch of engineers who
               | worked with him who will attest to that.
        
               | na85 wrote:
               | >He's an engineer, and there's a bunch of engineers who
               | worked with him who will attest to that.
               | 
               | He's not, and all those quotes from that reddit thread I
               | know you're thinking of are very careful to dance around
               | the point.
               | 
               | He's not an engineer.
        
               | solveit wrote:
               | Which thread is this? I'm curious.
        
               | na85 wrote:
               | The same reddit thread that gets trotted out by Musk
               | worshippers every time someone points out he's not an
               | engineer.
               | 
               | It's full of quotes saying stuff like "he understands a
               | lot about spaceflight and aerodynamics" and similar
               | weasel statements.
        
               | Dah00n wrote:
               | Why do you need someone who worked with him to attast it?
               | Engineer is something you go to school to become, not
               | something you become because you have money or workers.
               | Either he have an education as an engineer or he isn't an
               | engineer. Giving yourself a title in your own company
               | doesn't make it so.
        
               | iso1210 wrote:
               | In many countries, Engineer is a protected status job
               | title. In the US I believe "Professional Engineer" is
               | protected
               | 
               | In the US, going to school to become a Graduate Engineer
               | does not make you a Professional Engineer.
        
               | fastball wrote:
               | You definitely don't need formal education in order to be
               | an engineer.
        
           | sx_throwaway wrote:
           | I used to work at one of the Musk companies. He was a huge
           | mark in the "cons" column when I was deciding whether or not
           | to take the job. He is embarrassing and he made me a little
           | ashamed to say where I worked. I did my best to ignore him
           | and I suspect others did too. No one ever talked about him.
        
           | heavyset_go wrote:
           | > _We should stop turning a blind eye to his labor practices.
           | Likewise, we should give the engineers and other workers that
           | are actually accomplishing these things more credit, vs
           | pretending it 's one lone genius._
           | 
           | We also need to hold him to account when Musk tries to ruin
           | the lives of his employees who speak up about what goes on in
           | his companies. He even tried to frame one of them as a mass
           | shooter to police[1] in an effort to get them SWAT'd.
           | 
           | [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-03-13/when-
           | elon...
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | NavinF wrote:
             | Source does not support your claim. It says that an
             | anonymous tip got the employee swatted.
        
               | yarcob wrote:
               | Musk has a history of going after people who critisize
               | him in public. He (and his staff) have again and again
               | attacked journalists, former employees, and anyone else
               | who said anything bad about Tesla or Musk. A common
               | thread is that they always try to present critics as
               | liars and try to destroy their reputation.
               | 
               | It's happened so often, that we must assume it's their
               | standard method of operation.
               | 
               | And whether that call was made by Musk himself or someone
               | he instructed to ruin that persons life doesn't really
               | make a difference. The fact is that Musk himself or one
               | of his bullies lied to the police and they got away with
               | it.
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | > _Musk has a history of going after people who critisize
               | him in public._
               | 
               | Does he? Can you name three cases?
               | 
               | > _He (and his staff) have again and again attacked
               | journalists, former employees, and anyone else who said
               | anything bad about Tesla or Musk._
               | 
               | Again, can you name three cases where Musk went after a
               | journalist or former employees, and we _know_ , beyond
               | reasonable doubt, that the victim was right - and not, in
               | fact, lying through their teeth?
               | 
               | I ask because there is documented history of the
               | _reverse_ happening. Consider:
               | 
               | 1. _Top Gear_ did a hit piece on their first car, lying
               | about its range (55 vs. 200 miles). This doesn 't sound
               | serious until you realize that, back then, people didn't
               | believe in electric cars, mostly because of range
               | worries. This kind of bullshit was arguably life-
               | threatening not just to Tesla, but to the entire EV
               | industry.
               | 
               | Anyway, Tesla sued for libel and lost[0]. Here's a
               | kicker: they lost because the judge deemed Top Gear is an
               | entertainment show and not documentary, therefore they're
               | not obliged to be factually accurate.
               | 
               | 2. The incident with Top Gear made Tesla install
               | telemetry in the cars given out for test drives; this
               | came in handy few years later, when John Broder from _New
               | York Times_ decided to publish a hit piece on Model S[1].
               | Tesla then released data from the logs, directly
               | contradicting the story, and demonstrating that Broder
               | put in extensive effort to fabricate the bad results he
               | then reported on.
               | 
               | I can't blame them from being a bit sensitive after
               | situations like these. For the past decade, there were,
               | and still are, a lot of people standing to make boatloads
               | of money from bringing Tesla and the EV market down.
               | 
               | --
               | 
               | [0] - https://www.wired.com/2012/02/tesla-vs-top-gear/
               | 
               | [1] -
               | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/feb/14/tesla-
               | pos...
        
               | saiya-jin wrote:
               | What the heck are you talking about, Tesla failed at Top
               | Gear because when you drive the car hard on laps (which
               | is what TG was mostly doing), just like any other
               | electric car the theoretical range goes down
               | significantly. Just like any other car running on any
               | other source of energy.
               | 
               | It annoyed the hell out of them that after driving for
               | few laps they have to wait for hours to charge the car to
               | do few more laps.
               | 
               | Musk's ego simply couldn't swallow the fact that show
               | which is being watched by 300 million people regularly
               | slanted his baby. Luckily in this case, his enemy wasn't
               | some lone expert diver but BBC with team of expensive
               | lawyers, hence the result.
        
               | yarcob wrote:
               | Regarding the NY Times test drive, I would recommend to
               | read an independent review rather than taking Musks blog
               | posts as gospel.
        
           | tedivm wrote:
           | Gwynne Shotwell deserves far more of the credit for SpaceX
           | than Musk does.
        
             | s5300 wrote:
             | And Musk _repeatedly_ publicly gives this to her /says this
             | himself.
        
             | abraae wrote:
             | I'm no fan of Musk's shitty and arrogant behaviour. His
             | treatment of Unsworth was truly disgusting.
             | 
             | But that's like saying after a rugby game that the left
             | wing deserved far more of the credit than the coach or
             | captain, since they were the one who ran in the winning
             | try.
             | 
             | The thing is that Musk makes things happen. Not in some
             | lame and purely money driven field like crypto or ad tech -
             | but genuinely moving the needle in combating climate
             | change.
             | 
             | I feel I have to cut him some slack and laud his
             | achievements, even though he comes across as a person you
             | would involuntarily punch in the face for his hideous
             | behaviour.
        
               | tedivm wrote:
               | Gwynne Shotwell is the coach in this hypothetical, while
               | Musk is just the mascot.
        
               | lazyasciiart wrote:
               | No, it's more like saying the left winger deserves more
               | credit than some stupid fan who jumped onto the pitch and
               | got in the way.
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | Most large companies have people that deserve more credit
             | than the sitting CEO. However, that's part of the role of
             | CEO is to be the one people look to as being in "charge".
             | 
             | Musk definitely doesn't shy away from that part to his
             | detrement (clearly he doesn't see it that way). But I'm
             | firmly with the previous poster in that I like what
             | Tesla/SpaceX are doing and attempting, but think Musk is a
             | bit of a tool. The irony is not lost on me that sometimes a
             | calmer figurehead might not have been able to lead to
             | success a company like Tesla and/or SpaceX.
        
           | mcguire wrote:
           | Musk first appeared as what eventually became that
           | universally loved company, PayPal. Which he was booted out
           | of. Twice.
        
           | jimbob45 wrote:
           | No one here turns a blind eye to his labor practices.
           | Everyone here at HN knows to steer clear. It's everyone that
           | doesn't frequent this website that needs enlightening.
        
           | exporectomy wrote:
           | > We should stop turning a blind eye to his labor practices.
           | 
           | Aren't there legal systems to make sure that's being done
           | right? Is "we" some labor inspectors?
           | 
           | If you want to give credit to engineers, where does it end?
           | There are millions of engineers in the world doing important
           | things. Crediting that many people will dilute the value of
           | it all.
        
             | heavyset_go wrote:
             | > _Aren 't there legal systems to make sure that's being
             | done right? Is "we" some labor inspectors?_
             | 
             | "We" can be past, current and future employees, who might
             | not contact or work with labor inspectors out of reverence
             | to "the mission" or Musk himself.
        
       | realityking wrote:
       | Single page version: https://www.zeit.de/wissen/2021-07/thai-
       | cave-rescue-thailand...
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | uoaei wrote:
       | What the fuck is this dark pattern? You must agree to ads before
       | later revoking consent?
        
         | t0astbread wrote:
         | Well, at least they're being upfront about it: You can pay or
         | get ads + tracking (or, the hidden third option: leave the
         | site).
        
           | mahathu wrote:
           | this is very common across German websites. I assumed it was
           | a common pattern elsewhere too!
        
             | Dah00n wrote:
             | Are you saying German sites doesn't follow the law (only
             | freely given consent is legal)?
        
               | germanier wrote:
               | The law is not that absolute in this respect and there
               | have been cases before higher courts accepting "data in
               | exchange for value" contracts under some conditions.
               | There are also legal opinions out there that this is
               | illegal but note that there is a controversy here.
        
         | arendtio wrote:
         | I also don't understand how this can be in legal in the sense
         | of the GDPR, but AFAIK there are multiple German news sites
         | which use this pattern (e.g. Golem, Heise and Spiegel from the
         | top of my head).
        
       | happynacho wrote:
       | Non-paywall?
        
         | jauhar wrote:
         | you can view the article if you click the green "i agree"
         | button
        
       | janci wrote:
       | I still don't get it. The tunnels were too narrow near the
       | ceilling, but wide near the floor. The divers could not keep at
       | the floor because they could not navigate due to zero visibility,
       | zero communication and no tether points.
       | 
       | Would not a sonar help? A full spacesuit-like helmet with air to
       | be able to talk via radio? Laying down some flexible tunnels that
       | could be inflated with air or maybe just pumped with clear water
       | to gain visibility? So many ideas come to mind, but they chose
       | the most difficult transport of sedated and tied up kids ever. I
       | assume they had a good reason, but still do not understand it.
        
         | brazzy wrote:
         | > Would not a sonar help?
         | 
         | Portable sonar systems with in-helmet displays were put in use
         | by the US Navy only last year: https://www.navalnews.com/naval-
         | news/2021/03/us-navy-teams-w...
         | 
         | > A full spacesuit-like helmet with air to be able to talk via
         | radio?
         | 
         | Would fuck up your buoyancy, but there are systems where you
         | have only an air pockt around your mouth. But the range would
         | be so low as to be nearly useless inside a cave.
         | 
         | > Laying down some flexible tunnels that could be inflated with
         | air or maybe just pumped with clear water to gain visibility?
         | 
         | Even assuming that you had those already available, laying them
         | would be a very slow process, and they would be a hindrance
         | rather than help in very narrow passages.
        
           | watwut wrote:
           | > Even assuming that you had those already available, laying
           | them would be a very slow process, and they would be a
           | hindrance rather than help in very narrow passages.
           | 
           | The point would be to use them so that there is no necessity
           | to go through narrow passage. The diver says that when boys
           | went in, they walked through wide openings on bottom.
           | 
           | But, they were probably impractical for other reasons.
        
           | bccdee wrote:
           | This may be a somewhat silly question, but why couldn't they
           | just have used flashlights? I'm sure there's an obvious
           | reason, but I don't know what it is.
        
             | biasedbrain wrote:
             | Mud
        
             | jgwil2 wrote:
             | I assume it wasn't just darkness they were dealing with,
             | but also that the water was so muddy it became opaque, in
             | which case lights wouldn't have helped them.
        
               | bccdee wrote:
               | Ah of course, yeah that must be it.
        
             | lamontcg wrote:
             | They do, but in zero viz there's so much crap suspended in
             | the water that you literally can't see anything more than
             | an inch in front of your face. Its the worst driving-into-
             | a-snowstorm problem you can imagine.
        
             | ben0x539 wrote:
             | I assumed it's not just darkness but mud.
        
         | lamontcg wrote:
         | > Would not a sonar help?
         | 
         | I'm not even sure what you're envisioning but something
         | lightweight and not bulky that is capable of producing sonar
         | images similar to whatever the detectors were in Aliens doesn't
         | exist. And it was zero viz and in completely zero viz you can
         | barely see your hand in front of your mask, assuming you have
         | illumination.
         | 
         | > A full spacesuit-like helmet with air to be able to talk via
         | radio?
         | 
         | That creates a dead space that fills up with CO2, you'd need to
         | actively pump that out through the rebreather which now creates
         | more things to bash into rock and fail and kill you, plus
         | generates more bulk which is the last thing you want into those
         | tight caves.
         | 
         | You can use a full face mask (FFM) that has comms with a
         | rebreather but in a single file cave there's no point and cave
         | divers know how to communicate in single file in zero viz by
         | touch contact. And there's not much to communicate since either
         | you're moving or you're temporarily stuck and the person behind
         | you can't really help you much. With a rebreather you can also
         | talk pretty well in water if you're just close enough to each
         | other. I've also managed to communicate effectively by talking
         | into a normal scuba regulator as well, without having to write
         | anything down.
         | 
         | > Laying down some flexible tunnels that could be inflated with
         | air or maybe just pumped with clear water to gain visibility?
         | 
         | That would probably take weeks and you'd be fighting the
         | pressure of the incoming water inside of the cave. Air probably
         | wouldn't work at all, you'd need to build a pressure
         | differential airlock so that's likely impossibly complicated.
         | Water might work if you built a reservoir at a higher altitude
         | to gain pressure, but them you need to pump the water up there
         | and you need flexible inflatable tubing that can hold a couple
         | atmospheres of pressure and is large enough for a human, and I
         | think I'd prefer to be surrounded by rock rather than by saran
         | wrap that could fail and I'd get entangled it in the shredded
         | plastic and drown. No thanks. As evidenced by the successful
         | recovery, zero viz can be dealt with.
         | 
         | > So many ideas come to mind, but they chose the most difficult
         | transport of sedated and tied up kids ever. I assume they had a
         | good reason, but still do not understand it.
         | 
         | They're all trained at more or less doing that, they've been
         | through the environment, and they've all been through rescue
         | training to drag an unconscious buddy out of the cave.
         | Strapping the kids down, giving them sedatives and putting a
         | FFM on them solved all the problems of taking someone out of
         | the cave that wasn't trained in diving at all. It gives you the
         | smallest package to drag out of the cave along with giving you
         | access to the kids. The coffin that Musk was proposing was more
         | or less just that. By trying to keep the kids dry, now you have
         | CO2 problems, you need a scrubber in the coffin and you need
         | strong enough walls to deal with the pressure differential,
         | that creates bulk and makes it more difficult to move through
         | the restrictions, and if anything goes wrong the kids suffocate
         | and die and there's no access to them at all.
         | 
         | From the perspective of a trained cave diver the solution that
         | they used was nearly perfect.
        
         | cirrus3 wrote:
         | > I still don't get it.
         | 
         | Clearly not. Why does someone always have to assume they know
         | better?
         | 
         | > they chose the most difficult transport
         | 
         | What are you even basing this statement on?
        
           | janci wrote:
           | I do not assume I know better. I am just asking why any of
           | these ideas would not work.
           | 
           | > What are you even basing this statement on?
           | 
           | As I understand it, the transport was immensely difficult.
           | The divers and the rescued kids were at great danger. It is
           | unbelievable to me they managed to save them without any
           | special solution.
           | 
           | I'm sorry if my comment was misunderstood.
        
             | fastasucan wrote:
             | How do you know that this wasn't the easiest/only option?
             | (Since you said it was the hardest).
        
               | janci wrote:
               | From the article:
               | 
               | >Later, after the water had run off, you could see that
               | down at the bottom, where the boys walked in, there were
               | much larger gaps. But the divers couldn't attach anything
               | to the muddy bottom when laying out the guide lines. They
               | had to follow along the ceiling. The only path they found
               | was through the narrow passageways.
               | 
               | As I understand it, they had to use the narrow passages
               | at the top because they were not able to discover the
               | wide gaps near the bottom. I assume some equipment could
               | help with that making the transport easier once a more
               | comfortable path was found.
        
               | watwut wrote:
               | > I assume some equipment could help with that making the
               | transport easier once a more comfortable path was found.
               | 
               | Or maybe your assumptions are wrong.
        
               | janci wrote:
               | Maybe. That's why I am trying to discuss. To find out why
               | are they wrong.
        
         | fastasucan wrote:
         | Im amazed that you come to the conclusion that the people who
         | work with this and risked their lives didn't have these obvious
         | ideas rather than there is reasons why they wouldn't work that
         | you dont understand.
        
           | anonydsfsfs wrote:
           | What? The GP didn't come to that conclusion. It's pretty
           | clear to me they're trying to understand the thought process
           | of the rescuers and why they rejected the obvious ideas.
           | Asking an expert why they decided against something obvious
           | is a great way to learn what works and what doesn't work. It
           | doesn't mean you're insinuating the expert is an idiot.
        
         | makeitdouble wrote:
         | I think it was also filled with mud , or is it what you cover
         | with the "no tether points" part ?
         | 
         | My take away from the article is that there could have been
         | many more solutions, some more clever, some involving more gear
         | etc., but they were completely short of time and verified
         | information to come up with other viable plans.
         | 
         | Basically any other plan would have needed more checks,
         | preparation, waiting for the gear to be ready, rehearsal, etc.
         | And as said in the beginning of the interview, they feared the
         | kids would be dead any day. As I get it, that's also why
         | civilians where chosen instead of the pro rescue team, because
         | they were the only one with appropriate gear and experience at
         | that moment in that place.
        
           | janci wrote:
           | > filled with mud
           | 
           | As I understood there was mud layer that prevented the divers
           | to navigate near the bottom (no way to tie a string as to
           | anchor point to not get lost in zero visibility, no way to
           | feel where the bottom is, etc.). But not so much mud that
           | only the narrow passage was left.
           | 
           | > And as said in the beginning of the interview, they feared
           | the kids would be dead any day
           | 
           | They would be dead if they did not find them on the last day,
           | as it was considered to stop the search. Once the kids were
           | found and supplied with food they had enough time to plan,
           | prepare, rehease, re-check and execute the rescue.
        
         | jimsimmons wrote:
         | You ask as if these people were working with Iron Man and
         | Jarvis. The things you describe would take at least weeks to
         | build. "Full space suit like helmet with air to be able to talk
         | over radio " retrofitted to work with whatever dive equipment
         | they had loll. What else? Maybe they could have a Mac n cheese
         | dispenser in the side too
        
           | janci wrote:
           | From the article:
           | 
           | > There was even a discussion about leaving the 12 kids and
           | the football coach inside the cave for the whole rainy season
           | and providing them with food and supplies from outside for
           | months.
           | 
           | I suppose building the equipment for few weeks is better than
           | waiting for months to end of rainy season.
        
             | watwut wrote:
             | But that plan was rejected. It is not like they would
             | conclude that staying there for long is good idea.
        
         | heisenzombie wrote:
         | I've had very limited experience of low/no visibility diving -
         | it's hard to overstate how incredibly difficult it is to
         | accomplish anything. You can't see anything, you can only hear
         | your own loud disorienting breathing, you can't feel gravity,
         | your sense of time goes completely out of the window. It makes
         | moving very short distances hilariously slow. You constantly
         | have to keep yourself oriented in full 3D space. If I had
         | dropped something 10 centimetres from my face, I may have never
         | found it. Trying to map out alternate routes through kilometres
         | of unknown cave system with incredible time pressure? It's a
         | miracle they found even one route.
        
         | McDyver wrote:
         | A sonar wouldn't help in such a pressing situation. The sonar
         | would only provide a map that would still need to be
         | interpreted, and wouldn't solve the actual problem of
         | transporting the boys.
         | 
         | Those "helmets" exist, but helmets as such are used in
         | commercial diving with a tether to the diver. Not very
         | practical to have it running along the cave for multiple
         | divers. The full face masks that allow that are mainly used in
         | open circuit diving and are bulky. I don't know if the
         | pros/cons would make a huge difference.
         | 
         | At one point I believe Tesla or just Musk were planning and
         | developing a pod to carry each boy, but the tunnels and sumps
         | were so narrow that they wouldn't be able to make the turns.
         | 
         | Having tunnels with compressed air to inflate them would have
         | similar issues with the bends. Not to mention the amount of gas
         | and pressure needed to displace all that water.
         | 
         | I guess they took the most direct and logistically available
         | option. I'm sure it will be a case study for the future.
        
       | laingc wrote:
       | What is outrageous is that the divers got at most an MBE - on the
       | same New Years Honours list where heroes such as Michael Palin
       | and Twiggy received knighthoods.
       | 
       | I have never seen anything really deserving of a knighthood than
       | what those divers did.
        
         | pmyteh wrote:
         | The two lead divers (Richard Stanton and John Volanthen) both
         | got the George Medal, the UK's second highest civilian award
         | for gallantry. I think the knighthood is seen more as a kind of
         | national treasure long service award these days.
        
           | mhh__ wrote:
           | And civil servants [Yes Minister]
        
       | bastawhiz wrote:
       | This man showed some extreme self restraint in not even bringing
       | up Elon Musk beyond a casual mention of the submarine idea. If
       | Elon had called me a pedo because I didn't use his spaceship
       | submarine I don't think I'd have held back quite as much.
        
         | tpmx wrote:
         | Musk wrote that tweet about a separate UK diver.
         | 
         | Still, this Finnish diver did show remarkable restraint here.
        
           | muthdra wrote:
           | I respect Musk more than many commenters you see around. I
           | understand he's not the billionaire savior many people seem
           | to believe. I remember him mentioning something about how the
           | sub couldn't go wrong because if the kids got there and the
           | water rose, it should get where the kids were. How feasible
           | was it, really?
        
             | nradov wrote:
             | It was never even remotely feasible. Musk's design was
             | simply too large to fit through the restrictions in the
             | cave. It's the kind of nonsense that only someone with no
             | real diving experience could come up with.
        
               | TheParkShark wrote:
               | The restrictions were in the upper part. The article
               | explains the boys walked in through a much larger path
               | underneath.
        
               | freeopinion wrote:
               | Musk had no diving experience, and no knowledge of these
               | caves. He was working from incomplete knowledge and
               | intuition.
               | 
               | Almost all of Musk's critics in the matter were working
               | from no knowledge of the caves and little to no diving
               | experience. Some of Musk's critics were working from the
               | best available knowledge in both areas.
               | 
               | But this diver points out exactly what Musk intuited.
               | There was a much easier route for all those boys to have
               | hiked into the cave. Musk's submarine would probably have
               | worked over that route. But nobody had knowledge of that
               | route at the time.
               | 
               | One solution would have been for Musk or somebody to
               | build little robots that could explore the caves in zero
               | light with sonar mapping equipment. The robots would need
               | to navigate and operate underwater and abovewater in very
               | difficult terrain. It seems like an impractical pursuit
               | under the circumstances. Why even mention such a
               | ridiculous idea? Well, why not? Why not put all options
               | on the table. You can dismiss the "Have Scotty beam them
               | out" stuff immediately. But they were talking about
               | establishing supply lines for months to keep them alive
               | until the water went down. They were talking about
               | drilling holes 1km+ to hopefully tap the chamber where
               | those kids were. They were talking all sorts of stuff.
               | 
               | And yes, somebody was talking body-sized submarines. And
               | somebody might have been talking about dive robots. And
               | sonar mapping.
               | 
               | I was glued to my news feed with a bag of potato chips
               | and so were almost all of you. I don't know diving and I
               | don't know those caves.
               | 
               | I think the divers who rescued them are mental. I mean
               | really crazy. I mean, seriously, who in their right mind
               | would do stuff like that? I think the effort just to find
               | the kids was risk-taking at a scale that terrifies me.
               | Their brains do not work like mine. Thank goodness.
               | 
               | Musk's brain doesn't work like mine, either. I'm not
               | going to criticize the divers. They are clearly heroes.
               | Musk doesn't come off as a hero in this story. But I'm
               | not going to criticize him either. His intuition was
               | right. He did more than click reload on his browser for
               | two weeks. Nobody else liked his idea. Isn't that the
               | story of his life?
               | 
               | In the end, his idea was one of many that were rejected.
               | Instead they went with the crazy idea to tie everybody
               | up, knock them out, and hope they don't accidentally
               | knock their masks off. Who's bright idea was that? Well,
               | it worked.
               | 
               | Let's not bag on the people who made tremendous efforts
               | to rescue the kids. And let's not bag on the people who
               | made some efforts that didn't produce results. And please
               | don't bag on me, who did nothing.
        
               | jimsimmons wrote:
               | You don't seem to understand the power that a platform
               | like Musk's has. What if those humble cave divers thought
               | Elon knows his stuff and pursued his plan instead of
               | theirs? What if they got pressured by outside entities,
               | whomever they maybe, and were told to follow him?
               | 
               | When it doesn't go well "he's just putting options on the
               | table". When it does he's colossal genius?
               | 
               | The bigger issue people point out is Musk's inability to
               | know limits of his knowledge. He is naive and that's news
               | to a lot of people
        
               | freeopinion wrote:
               | You don't seem to understand the power that a platform
               | like Musk's has. He put forward his idea. He built a
               | prototype. He did initial testing. He put out a lot of
               | work (or paid/persuaded others to do so). He was mocked
               | and criticized and rejected. We don't have to play what
               | if on your scenario. We can see the real world results.
               | 
               | If you want to play what if... What if he provided dive
               | robots and body submarines and mapping experts? What if
               | it took him a week to map the caves, find a workable
               | route, and save those kids? What if just one kid had his
               | mask scraped off using the technique they actually did
               | use? What if one kid got stuck and the helper got killed
               | trying to get them unstuck?
               | 
               | The what if game is fun for me with optimistic what ifs.
               | It's a terrible game with pessimistic what ifs. It's
               | largely pointless either way. But sometimes the
               | optimistic version is useful. Sometimes somebody develops
               | dive robots after the fact because the what ifs capture
               | their imagination in a good way.
               | 
               | More people should reject their limits and reach for big
               | things. I don't think Musk is the most amazing person in
               | the world. I realize he has a downside (like we all do).
               | But I hope he inspires people to dream big and accomplish
               | big. That requires optimism. Sometimes even naive
               | optimism.
               | 
               | "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The
               | unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to
               | himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the
               | unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw
        
               | krapp wrote:
               | >"Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable
               | man." - George Bernard Shaw
               | 
               | Except when it doesn't. Sometimes the unreasonable man is
               | just an asshole who wants to play Batman and progress
               | depends on ignoring him completely.
        
               | freeopinion wrote:
               | The heros that rescued those kids came up with a
               | preposterous and unreasonable plan. We could have ignored
               | them, too. And ignored the drilling crews, and the dudes
               | with miles of hose and giant pumps. We could have said
               | that any rescue would require an unreasonable effort.
               | 
               | It sure is easy to slip "we" all over that paragraph. I
               | certainly don't deserve any credit for the decisions that
               | were made and the heroics that saved the day.
               | 
               | But if we reject all the unreasonable efforts, we are
               | left with the status quo. That would mean those kids
               | wouldn't have even been located, let alone rescued. Thank
               | goodness for people who flew around the world to do crazy
               | things. Thank goodness for divers who ditched their wives
               | on their anniversary and flew over there just on the
               | chance they might carry the bottles for the Navy experts.
               | Those are not reasonable actions.
               | 
               | Unreasonable people aren't always right. Maybe they're
               | not even usually right. Maybe. But thank goodness for the
               | times when progress depended on them and they didn't fail
               | us by being reasonable.
        
               | apocolyps6 wrote:
               | This is conspiracy theory logic, thinking that the
               | armchair theorist and the subject matter expert are on
               | the same level.
               | 
               | You keep stressing that the plan was preposterous and
               | unreasonable, as if everyone one over there just did
               | whatever they wanted and nobody was coordinating. This
               | was an unprecedented operation, but by that same logic
               | was the first ever heart transplant "preposterous and
               | unreasonable"?
               | 
               | There's a world of difference between picking the best of
               | many risky plans, and shouting over better informed
               | people to advance the plan that makes you look like a
               | hero.
        
               | freeopinion wrote:
               | Yes! Now you're getting it. The first brain surgery was
               | preposterous and audacious. The first pacemaker was crazy
               | (You want to add batteries to my heart?).
               | 
               | Crazy ideas require crazy amounts of careful design,
               | careful planning, careful execution. That's what makes
               | them crazy. Along with the high probability of failure
               | even with the greatest care. How many open heart surgery
               | patients died before the first success? None? That's
               | crazy!
               | 
               | You want to host the summer olympics in Yuma, AZ? That's
               | crazy!
               | 
               | You want to build a giant reusable spaceship on the
               | border of Mexico? That's crazy!
               | 
               | You want to drill a hole through somebody's skull to
               | drain the swelling and relieve the pressure? That's
               | crazy!
               | 
               | You want to cut a hole in somebody's throat so they can
               | breath? That's crazy!
               | 
               | You want to plant 10 trillion trees to change the Earth's
               | atmosphere? You're crazy!
               | 
               | You want to teach every child in the world how to read?
               | Crazy!
               | 
               | Not all of those things are the best of many risky plans.
               | 
               | And quit pretending that somebody shouted over better
               | informed people. I'm sure there were critics of all the
               | plans. Some people might have shouted. Some might have
               | quit in protest. Some pondered quietly. Some people were
               | terrified but did it anyway. They planned and organized
               | the best they could. And despite mistakes, and even spur-
               | of-the-moment adlibs they pulled it off. Crazy!
        
               | jimsimmons wrote:
               | They are crazy at the start. The ones that do succeed do
               | so by having a plan. Not by trying to be crazy / rebel
               | without a cause. We still don't know all the variables.
               | Those with experience knew some and ultimately executed
               | on it. They were informed by hands-on experience. Note
               | the governments and the navy SEAL units from multiple
               | countries are getting involved with the operations.
               | Imagine being whomever you are and advocating for your
               | solution. What message are you sending? That everyone
               | should haggle with these operational experts and get an
               | answer for why their ideas wouldn't work?
               | 
               | Don't you think the time, attention and energy that these
               | people expend dealing with famous cool guy's ideas are
               | ultimately resources that are taken away from the core
               | operation.
        
             | [deleted]
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Please let's all show the same restraint.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | paulpauper wrote:
         | except that elon did not initiate the exchange of words. Elon
         | proposed his submarine. He was told by the diver Vern Unsworth
         | to 'stick his submarine where it hurts'.
        
           | krapp wrote:
           | Elon Musk is a grown man, not a child, and he should be
           | capable of tact and self control. "He started it" is not a
           | valid excuse for his public, slanderous little temper
           | tantrum.
        
             | LegitShady wrote:
             | capable != required
             | 
             | If he seriously proposes to help and is told to stick it
             | where he hurts, he can choose whether or not to respond
             | with 'tact and self control' but he isn't required to.
             | 
             | The diver is the one without tact and self control, but you
             | slag elon for responding in kind instead of the diver. You
             | expect more from musk but musk owes you nothing - not even
             | tact. He doesn't have to accept abuse from someone else out
             | of fear of losing your good opinion. It literally doesn't
             | matter to him at all.
        
               | bwship wrote:
               | Musk is still a dick for the comment. He was butt hurt,
               | because his stoner idea of a tiny submarine was met with
               | the "umm, WTF" that it should by actual people saving the
               | kids lives.
        
               | LegitShady wrote:
               | I don't disagree but he wasn't a dick in a vacuum -
               | someone was a dick to him, he was a dick back. Your
               | expectations that musk should just take it on the chin
               | without responding in kind are your expectations and
               | honestly nothing to do with musk. This guy was rude to
               | him, he was rude back, you're disappointed in musk, musk
               | doesn't care, you're still fixated on the response rather
               | than what set the tone - the original rude message.
               | 
               | I don't see why musk should care about being nice to
               | someone who started off being rude.
        
               | detaro wrote:
               | Yes, that was his excuse, "back home calling someone a
               | pedo was just a normal insult", but Musk did a bit more
               | than "was rude back". Hiring a PI to dig up dirt? Sending
               | further lies about the guy to media?
        
               | LegitShady wrote:
               | its why I don't start fights with billionaires who can
               | afford to look into you without effort. I wouldn't do it,
               | but once it became a thing I'm 100% every billionaire has
               | a firm who looks into people who start fights with them.
        
               | cycomanic wrote:
               | If someone is derailing an important rescue, by making
               | useless suggestions to please his own ego, what in your
               | view is the appropriate response.
               | 
               | What in your opinion should we say to spectators at
               | accidents you hinder the rescue workers, by e.g.stanfing
               | next to them and giving advice?
        
               | LegitShady wrote:
               | The question is the tone - this person was rude first,
               | and got a rude reply, and the fixation is on the rude
               | reply rather than the one that set the tone.
               | 
               | The tangent about 'hindering rescue workers' has nothing
               | to do with reality. they were exchanging messages on
               | twitter - it's nonsense to equate that to anything like
               | you are.
        
             | dehrmann wrote:
             | Musk actually won the defamation case because--my words--
             | you can't take anything he says seriously.
        
               | hef19898 wrote:
               | Ah, the Tucker defence!
        
               | busterarm wrote:
               | Correction, the Rachel Maddow defense.
               | 
               | You have to pick the person to use it first.
        
               | techrat wrote:
               | Terrible attempt at a "No, u, lib" retort.
               | 
               | https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-karen-mcdougal-
               | case...
               | 
               | > A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against
               | Fox News after lawyers for the network argued that no
               | "reasonable viewer" takes the primetime host Tucker
               | Carlson seriously, a new court filing said.
               | 
               | https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-
               | cant-...
               | 
               | >Now comes the claim that you can't expect to literally
               | believe the words that come out of Carlson's mouth. And
               | that assertion is not coming from Carlson's critics. It's
               | being made by a federal judge in the Southern District of
               | New York and by Fox News's own lawyers in defending
               | Carlson against accusations of slander. It worked, by the
               | way.
               | 
               | https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-tosses-suit-trump-
               | affair-...
               | 
               | > The judge said that lawyers for Fox "persuasively"
               | argued that "any reasonable viewer 'arrive[s] with an
               | appropriate amount of skepticism' about the statements"
               | Carlson makes, according to a court filing.
        
               | busterarm wrote:
               | 1. I'm a liberal.
               | 
               | 2. Both cases were about a news network program not being
               | news but an opinion show (not statements of fact).
               | 
               | 3. Seethe harder.
               | 
               | 4. We liberals need to learn how to self-critique and
               | also accept criticism from within without labeling
               | everyone as enemies or as "others". This shit is
               | fracturing our identity and driving people to the right.
               | The correcting function to our shitty behavior is going
               | to be ugly.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | hef19898 wrote:
               | From the law suite: A reasonable viewer would not
               | actually think OAN is paid Russian propaganda, instead,
               | he or she would follow the facts of the Daily Beast
               | article; that OAN and Sputnik share a reporter and both
               | pay this reporter to write articles," Bashant wrote.
               | "Anything beyond this is Maddow's opinion or her
               | exaggeration of the facts."
               | 
               | Source: Variety
               | 
               | Reads different from the Tucker defence:
               | 
               | A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against
               | Fox News after lawyers for the network argued that no
               | "reasonable viewer" would take the network's primetime
               | star Tucker Carlson seriously.
               | 
               | Source: Business Insider
               | 
               | Saying some opinion wouldn't be take. serious is _very_
               | different from saying the person having thay opinion
               | wouldn 't be taken serious.
        
               | kevmo wrote:
               | Musk won the case because he had the most expensive
               | lawyers in the world.
        
             | Helloworldboy wrote:
             | The slander case was dropped because the diver was indeed a
             | pedophile
        
       | indigodaddy wrote:
       | " Together with Finnish journalist Johanna Elomaa, I wrote the
       | book "Sukellus Valoon" (Diving into the Light) about my
       | experiences during the rescue mission and how it changed my life"
       | 
       | ^ From page 2 of the article. I Googled for this book but wasn't
       | able to find anywhere to buy it. Supposed to have been published
       | in 2018. Perhaps no English version yet... was anyone able to
       | find the book?
        
         | homarp wrote:
         | https://www.johannaelomaa.com/books/sukellus-valoon/#mctmp
        
           | indigodaddy wrote:
           | Ah thanks! It's unclear whether there is an English version
           | yet. From all indications on that page it appears perhaps
           | not. Also the "Order here" link appears non-functioning (at
           | least on iOS Chrome).
           | 
           | I'd bet an English version will be not too far in the future
           | (I hope!)
        
             | tpmx wrote:
             | http://kontextagency.com/non-fiction/diving-into-the-light
             | 
             | Looks like there's only a Finnish original issue and a
             | Swedish translation published so far.
        
       | trackofalljades wrote:
       | paywalled
        
       | wintorez wrote:
       | I wish there was a way to flag behind pay wall links.
        
       | lilSebastian wrote:
       | > what dedicated, skilled, selfless people can do.
       | 
       | Save lives and earn the accolade 'Peado guy' from Elon Musk for
       | having the audacity to do so.
       | 
       | Edit: the Musk fanboys are heavy on the down votes today.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Please don't take threads on generic tangents (this story ->
         | cave story -> pedo guy tweet -> reductio ad Muskum). Please
         | don't post cheap flamebait to HN. Also please don't go on about
         | downvotes or post swipes about other users. It's all very
         | tedious and we're trying for something interesting here.
         | 
         | We've had to ask you before to follow the site guidelines.
         | Would you mind reviewing
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the
         | intended spirit of the site more to heart? We'd be grateful,
         | because we're trying to avoid the tailspin into internet dreck
         | which has traditionally been the fate of forums like this.
         | 
         | We detached this subthread from
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27795166.
        
         | arcticbull wrote:
         | Yea haha I was going to remind folks of that too. Elon was
         | building a submarine that everyone involved told him was a
         | terrible idea and to please leave them alone because he was
         | hampering the effort, and Elon responded by calling one of the
         | lead rescuers a "pedo guy" and got sued over it.
         | 
         | I believe his defense was that "pedo guy" was a common insult
         | in South Africa.
         | 
         | Simpler times haha.
        
           | marvin wrote:
           | It's probably not worth the effort providing any form of
           | defense of any part of Musk's role in this, but his team did
           | ask the British lead divers whether they should carry on
           | working on the sub (well, underwater transportation tank)
           | project, and they received the response that the lead divers
           | wished them to continue as a contingency.
           | 
           | Also, one should obviously not falsely accuse someone of
           | being a pedophile, including if they tell you to shove your
           | submarine up your ass.
           | 
           | But really, this whole thread shows up every time the cave
           | story is mentioned, and I think the whole thing just detracts
           | from the fantastic international act of heroism that the
           | rescue was. It was really a beautiful achievement where no
           | adversaries had to be hurt, the kind of uniting against the
           | cruel laws of nature that I wish the world would see a lot
           | more of.
        
           | lilSebastian wrote:
           | Simpler times... 3 years ago...
        
             | arcticbull wrote:
             | "Before the war" if you will haha - as in before COVID,
             | which has distorted at least my perception of time greatly.
        
               | paledot wrote:
               | Also when the very last of my respect for Musk died.
        
           | bambax wrote:
           | Musk showed his true character.
        
             | Karsteski wrote:
             | It was an asshole thing to say, but I don't think someone
             | being an asshole means that that moment defines their "true
             | character"
        
               | detaro wrote:
               | He afterwards paid someone to dig up more dirt and
               | emailed media with further lies about the guy. At that
               | point it kind of stops being "heat of the moment".
        
               | lilSebastian wrote:
               | An expert in the field risks their life to save children,
               | is accused of being a peadophile. That's a long way from
               | being an a-hole.
        
               | adamisom wrote:
               | Yeah if every harmful thing constituted the "true
               | character" of someone, we'd all be sinners. Granted, if a
               | lot of harm is done, then it might be fair. (Cue the
               | knee-jerk "isn't dragging a hero's name through the mud a
               | lot of harm?"; I don't know, can you tell me what _wouldn
               | 't_ qualify as a "lot of harm" under your worldview?
               | Everyone knows the diver was a hero and if you have
               | evidence his life is affected, pls share)
               | 
               | It's just negativity bias; considering the negative to be
               | "more true" or accurate than the positive.
        
               | jazzyjackson wrote:
               | > we'd all be sinners
               | 
               | We are all sinners tho, that's kind of the nature of sin.
        
               | dafelst wrote:
               | I have a friend of a friend who worked directly under
               | Musk at one of his big ventures. Can confirm that Musk is
               | a giant egotistical asshole, albeit a brilliant one.
        
               | getlawgdon wrote:
               | b./SpaceX?
        
               | pjc50 wrote:
               | Lots of people say dumb things in the heat of the moment.
               | Choosing to stick by it and not apologize is the
               | confirmation dialogue for showing your character.
        
               | dylan604 wrote:
               | Oh, but it wasn't just that one thing. It's just layer
               | upon layer with that guy. This one was pretty damn bad
               | though
        
             | s5300 wrote:
             | Just like when he gave tens of thousands of kids in Flint
             | Michigan safe drinking water the U.S. government has been
             | denying them for decades.
        
               | jazzyjackson wrote:
               | Not that it's musks fault, but the most recent update I
               | can find on this (March 2021) sounds like they never got
               | the filters working
               | 
               | https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2021/03/after-
               | roadblocks-wi...
        
             | cmurf wrote:
             | So did the American legal system.
        
           | swiley wrote:
           | IMO: those weren't "simpler times." Everyone just seems to
           | let Elon get away with saying a lot of BS on Twitter for
           | whatever reason. Trump was the same way until he became
           | president.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | >I believe his defense was that "pedo guy" was a common
           | insult in South Africa.
           | 
           | This is also what Luis Suarez said about his comment that got
           | him in trouble that his comment is common where he's from.
           | Just because it's what is said in one place does not mean
           | that it is acceptable anywhere else (if even in the one
           | place).
        
             | pezezin wrote:
             | Nowhere the same case, Suarez used a common friendly term
             | with his friend, as a thank you, and he wrote it in
             | Spanish. Anybody who has half a clue about the Spanish
             | language knows that was not an insult, quite the opposite.
        
       | chha wrote:
       | There is a couple of other stories that comes to mind,
       | unfortunately both of them were about recovering the dead.
       | 
       | "Raising the Dead" is about the accidental discovery of a diver
       | in SA, and the recovery efforts there. [1]
       | 
       | "The cave divers who went back for their friends" is about a trio
       | of finns who went back into a Norwegian underwater cave system to
       | recover two friends who got stuck and died there. [2]
       | 
       | [1] - https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/water-
       | activi...
       | 
       | [2] - https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36097300
        
         | pontifier wrote:
         | 4 friends of friends died in a flooded cave in my home town.
         | 
         | https://www.deseret.com/2005/8/23/19908025/4-drown-in-cave#8
         | 
         | I had been hearing about the cave, and had been invited to go
         | there a couple of weeks before this happened. I decided not to
         | go because it didn't sound safe. I was concerned about the
         | oxygen content of the air pocket and decided it was too
         | dangerous.
        
         | goodcanadian wrote:
         | This one is more a story of dumb luck, but there was a case of
         | a crew member surviving for 2.5 days in an air pocket in his
         | sunken ship:
         | 
         | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-25205914
         | 
         | He was discovered by divers hired to investigate the sinking
         | and recover the bodies.
        
           | dntrkv wrote:
           | Every time I watch that I get so emotional. Imagine being in
           | his shoes. Stuck underwater for days, knowing that you are
           | most likely going to die there. Then just by dumb luck you
           | are rescued. The relief this man must have felt.
        
           | skhr0680 wrote:
           | That video is classic. My favorite part is when the diver
           | sees the man and "mission control" thinks the diver is
           | panicking from seeing a corpse and tries to get him to calm
           | down, then the swearing while they're trying to figure out
           | what to do.
        
             | djmips wrote:
             | How about "What is your rank?" "I'm the cook" "You're the
             | cook?" "Yes sir" "They always survive..."
        
           | arwineap wrote:
           | I just want to re-iterate that these are some of the same
           | divers involved with the thai cave rescue in TFA
        
         | mongol wrote:
         | There is a great documentary about the Finnish cave divers.
         | "Diving into the unknown":
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_into_the_Unknown
         | 
         | "Last breath" is also a really good documentary about rescue
         | under water
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Breath_(2019_film)
         | 
         | Both of these I rate 5/5
        
           | 34679 wrote:
           | I'm just going to toss this here because I really enjoyed the
           | audiobook:
           | 
           | Shadow Divers - The True Adventure of Two Americans Who
           | Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World
           | War II
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Divers
        
             | gpanders wrote:
             | This book is absolutely incredible. I just read it
             | recently. I didn't expect to like it that much (the
             | description doesn't sound _that_ interesting), but Kurson
             | is such an excellent author that he totally hooked me.
             | Highly recommended.
        
       | pleaser wrote:
       | page 1 https://archive.is/j6410
       | 
       | page 2 https://archive.is/d6i50
        
       | pan69 wrote:
       | > ...as a teenager, I caused the death of a friend and that
       | accident has marked my life. I had largely blocked it out until
       | this mission in Thailand.
       | 
       | Whoo. This guy must have gone through so much mental stress
       | during this time.
        
       | dools wrote:
       | This is such an awe inspiring story, and at the same time it made
       | me sad.
       | 
       | It reminded me of the story of a young Rwandan girl who was about
       | the same age as those trapped boys when she and her family
       | escaped to the Congolese jungle ... I can't remember her name but
       | she ultimately survived and has become a public activist.
       | 
       | She tells her story now frequently and I remember her saying that
       | she though the entire world must have suffered some catastrophe
       | because no one was coming to save them.
       | 
       | Later she found out it was just because no one really cared
       | enough to save them.
       | 
       | Imagine if we treated all lives with such value, and applied the
       | same heroism and bravery to their rescue.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | rPlayer6554 wrote:
         | Could you/someone post the link to the article or her name?
        
           | dools wrote:
           | I can't for the life of me find the quote nor remember where
           | I originally saw it. I thought it was something like a ted
           | talk or at least a review of a ted talk, but I can't find it
           | now :( that sentiment certainly stuck with me though, the
           | idea that this girl assumed that, if they could, someone
           | would have come to help, but that they had actually been
           | abandoned which was a harsh realisation she came to later.
        
         | ddingus wrote:
         | Intriguing take.
         | 
         | Priorities. Our world could be very different given a
         | reconsideration of what is worth what.
         | 
         | And some of us live more in that world, lucky to have agency,
         | fellowship, resources to make it work.
         | 
         | Humanity is partitioned. Not all sets makes sense.
        
       | locallost wrote:
       | It's difficult to find the right words. Just reading this felt
       | like a million times more intense than anything I ever
       | experienced. I felt the stress and claustrophobia the whole time
       | as I was reading it. Just wow.
       | 
       | Except Elon Musk is a total juvenile jackass. Those words are
       | easy to find. It's a pity he has no shame.
        
       | makeitdouble wrote:
       | It's such an incredible, but also well balanced, very down to
       | earth story.
       | 
       | The rescuer is so diligent in putting things into perspective,
       | especially regarding the future repercussions on cave diving or
       | why they had to do it.
       | 
       | Personally I was only remembering Elon Musk's jerkiness from the
       | whole story, and am so glad to be reminded there are so many more
       | positive takeaways, incredibly brave and supportive people
       | working together and putting in all they have to make it work
       | despite the odds.
       | 
       | Also RIP the diver who lost his life a few days before while
       | preparing for the rescue.
        
       | stanrivers wrote:
       | Good lord, I am hyperventilating just reading this. The people
       | that went in and saved these boys are amazing. I am glad the
       | author took the time to pull this together to share the story of
       | the divers as well. Absolutely amazing - mind-boggling amazing -
       | what dedicated, skilled, selfless people can do.
        
         | emmelaich wrote:
         | Excellent charts and animations at the SCMP.
         | 
         | https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/world/article/2154457/thai-...
        
         | ddingus wrote:
         | My response was the same. Those divers are very high quality
         | humans.
         | 
         | I feel good people like that walk among us.
        
         | IX-103 wrote:
         | Did you see the video that was linked where they go back
         | through the path they swam after the water cleared out?
         | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zGEmSHP4Idw&list=UUSPfkBf-K2vQ...
         | 
         | I'd be too scared to go through there dry. That's insane.
        
           | lightcatcher wrote:
           | Wow. These videos bring home how insane the rescue was. I
           | could not imagine anyone going through those tunnels with
           | zero visibility and diving equipment, let alone while moving
           | a sedated person along as well.
           | 
           | Here the diver's blog post to accompany these videos:
           | https://www.mikkopaasi.com/post/return-to-tham-luang-cave
        
         | iforgotpassword wrote:
         | I was wondering how far they had to dive as soon as I started
         | reading, and then when they finally revealed it I was like
         | "holy hell!"
         | 
         | It was mentioned that one of the drivers damaged his gear going
         | in, and that's the case where it's something attached to your
         | body, which you can develop a fair amount of feeling for, like
         | you get used to driving a car and just know how wide it is. I
         | can't imagine how it must feel to drag along a sedated human
         | when you can't see anything. There must have been situations
         | where you accidentally hit some obstacle with one of the kids
         | and then this dreaded feeling of not knowing if you displaced
         | the mask and are now dragging a kid drowning in it's sleep
         | across the mud for another hour.
         | 
         | As cheesy as it might sound, this is one of these rare stories
         | that restore faith in humanity. Absolutely amazing.
        
       | pentae wrote:
       | I was staying on the small island in Thailand where Mikko lives
       | in when he returned from the caves.
       | 
       | Word had obviously spread through the local Thai community that
       | he was on the passenger ferry and there must have been 100 of
       | them lining the streets to cheer him for his bravery once he
       | arrived.
       | 
       | It was a really touching thing to see.
        
       | jonplackett wrote:
       | Is there a film being made of this yet?
        
         | cududa wrote:
         | No idea why you got downvoted so much, but yes it's out, it's
         | called The Cave
        
           | jonplackett wrote:
           | Yeah, seemed like a fairly reasonable question!
           | 
           | Thanks! I wonder if it gives as chilling a representation as
           | this article. I will go find out!
        
           | makeitdouble wrote:
           | Didn't downvote, but I also share the weird malaise when
           | every remarkable event is expected to become a movie.
           | 
           | In this case a the diver (co-?)wrote a book, so a movie is
           | just another step in that direction and he seems cool with
           | it. It would be shitty though to have a movie in any other
           | circumstance.
        
       | mongol wrote:
       | What effect did the sedation have? Were they still conscious?
        
         | dingusthemingus wrote:
         | Yea this sounded pretty strange to me,
         | 
         | Im aware sedation slows breathing down, so some oxygen can be
         | saved if human attached to tank is not hyperventilating for
         | hours,
         | 
         | Pretty crazy the kids were sedated and hands bound and feet
         | tied!
        
           | thatguy0900 wrote:
           | The divers said why, they had previously rescued two adults
           | from that cave in a much easier tunnel, but the adults
           | panicked underwater and ripped their masks off. The people
           | you're saving can easily kill you too if they hit your mask.
        
             | lamontcg wrote:
             | Yeah just in Open Water rescue course you learn that people
             | will panic and reject all their gear, including the
             | regulator that could keep them alive, and will start to rip
             | your gear off and try to take you with them.
             | 
             | One of those things that you have to consider, particularly
             | if you don't know the person that you're trying to rescue
             | is at what point you're basically going to wind up fighting
             | back and possibly intentionally drown the other person so
             | that you survive. If the person is on the surface of the
             | water and you have working scuba gear this can be as simple
             | though as just descending and they'll stop trying to kill
             | you. I've thought about the problem if you're in a cave and
             | someone is nearly OOA and panicking and what would have to
             | happen, but that's unlikely enough of a situation that
             | hopefully I'll never have to worry about it.
             | 
             | Its real obvious to me why the kids were strapped down and
             | pumped full of happy drugs.
        
               | apocolyps6 wrote:
               | If I remember correctly, in my diver training we were
               | instructed if someone was in need of saving to grab them
               | from the back by the hair and drag them behind you to
               | safety. That way there is minimal chance of the person
               | freaking out and dealing you any damage.
        
               | lamontcg wrote:
               | Grab them by the tank valve on their back and hook your
               | knees around their tank and ride them like a bucking
               | bronco. You still need to be ready to get away from them
               | if they don't calm down. And that assumes you're able to
               | get behind them in the first place.
        
           | tokai wrote:
           | From wikipedia:
           | 
           | <<The effect of ketamine on the respiratory and circulatory
           | systems is different from that of other anesthetics. It
           | suppresses breathing much less than most other available
           | anesthetics.[29] When used at anesthetic doses, ketamine
           | usually stimulates rather than depresses the circulatory
           | system.>>
        
           | janoc wrote:
           | Probably the last thing you would want is an untrained kid to
           | panic during the rescue. They would most likely kill both
           | themselves and their rescuers in the process.
        
             | masklinn wrote:
             | Yes especially during cavediving, it's difficult enough for
             | an experienced diver, and panicking / flailing individuals
             | can drown would-be rescuers in pools.
        
           | VistaBrokeMyPC wrote:
           | The purpose of the ketamine vs other analgesics is you don't
           | need to intubate or monitor respiratory system nearly as much
           | as you do for say, propofol.
        
         | ianlevesque wrote:
         | I don't think so, towards the end the diver stated:
         | 
         | > If need be, we were to give them another shot of ketamine in
         | case they were waking up.
        
           | gameswithgo wrote:
           | being on ketamine while trapped in a cave would be
           | ammmmaaaaazzziinnngg (ly terrifying)
        
             | mhh__ wrote:
             | On the way down from some ketamine I fell asleep in my VR
             | headset while virtually inside someone else's room (high
             | Res photogrammetry), that was spooky - took me a while to
             | work out why I couldn't see my arms.
        
             | goldenkey wrote:
             | There's a difference between a k-hole and being sedated..
        
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       (page generated 2021-07-11 23:02 UTC)