What just happened in Chile is awesome. The kind of titanic display of advanced technology, high competence and overwhelming organization that not so long ago seemed restricted to places like the USA and Germany has been deployed by a mid-sized Latin American country; little bits of help may have come from here or there, but the whole impulse, ( Read more... )

The thing that struck me the most about the story of the trapped Chilean miners is the self-discipline and group cohesion that 33 men have shown, managing to survive for eighteen days in a rather small space and on minimal rations. There used to be a cliche' in Britain that miners were heroes; this lot certainly seem to be.