News and curiosity
Great news, last night the 33 Chilean miners were rescued...
I've been watching this story since August. Not seriously following but checking up on it and trying to keep them in my regular prayers. It truly is great that they survived 69 days buried in the mountain, two weeks before they were located and then the remaining 55 days with help from above.
The parts I'm curious about - exactly what happened. Why? How were they able to survive before they were located? Just how bad was the mine (lots of contradictory stories)? How far is too far (for mining, for government regulation/deregulation, etc)?
Seriously - there are so many people pointing fingers.
More than one blogger and more than one pundit blamed the US and backed it up with the accords signed in 1973 by Nixon & Kissinger. I'm over here going, WTF? Chile is its own country and has its own laws. It has not been an American colony since the 70's. Yes some of the rules and regulations and treaties from that time impacted the current laws, but they do not fully define them... or do they? My Spanish is good but reading law in Spanish is a lot harder than reading law in English and that's bad enough! However, since Chile is its own country it has passed a lot of its own laws and regulations since 1973 which impact the mining industry. And the local government regulators as well as the company have been following some, ignoring others, making as much profit as possible (and yeah, that more than likely means graft and I know it). So how does that mean America is the root of the mine collapse? Greed - that I would believe. Ignorance (whether intentional or unintentional) I can also believe. And don't forget the sheer perversity of nature which can, will and does fight back by proving that humanity is not the end all and be all of the world. Every single time, nature wins and humanity goes back to the drawing board.
The stories about the mine pretty much point out that a LOT of regulations were being ignored. So were a lot of complaints from the miners. But there were also a lot of safety measures being used. Could it have been a miracle from God that kept those men alive for two weeks on food meant for two days? Heck yes! I firmly believe in miracles. Could angels have been working overtime? With God all things are possible. That does not rule out that some of the safety measures that were in place helped, after all with God ALL things are possible.
For all the finger pointing, we all have to admit that every one who uses the products from that mining company are technically a bit at fault. We use the iron ore for our steel. We use the gold in our electronics and our jewelry. Therefore, we, as consumers, drive up the prices for those commodities. We also, push for more every day with every purchase and every use of the end productions using that ore. And if I look around my room, I see probably one hundred or more things that would have used either gold or steel, starting with my computer and the frames of my glasses.
The truly curious thing is that with all the attention on Chile, how many mine accidents have there been around the world. How have the miners in them fared? How has the news media portrayed those accidents/incidents? Have you even looked? I did. Scary. But what do the main news sites show? The Big story in Chile. Yes, it's news, fabulous news. Joyful news. Not the only news.
That does not mean I don't want more information and believe me I'm going to be popping up at lots of official news sites, as well as the less official blog/journal sites, trying to find out just what happened, why, how, and in what order.
And maybe, tomorrow will be safer for the miners. But seeing as since the collapse in Chile there have been half a dozen around the world that have killed more than number of rescued workers in Chile (all of which have been tiny blurbs in the news) I kind of doubt it.
I've been watching this story since August. Not seriously following but checking up on it and trying to keep them in my regular prayers. It truly is great that they survived 69 days buried in the mountain, two weeks before they were located and then the remaining 55 days with help from above.
The parts I'm curious about - exactly what happened. Why? How were they able to survive before they were located? Just how bad was the mine (lots of contradictory stories)? How far is too far (for mining, for government regulation/deregulation, etc)?
Seriously - there are so many people pointing fingers.
More than one blogger and more than one pundit blamed the US and backed it up with the accords signed in 1973 by Nixon & Kissinger. I'm over here going, WTF? Chile is its own country and has its own laws. It has not been an American colony since the 70's. Yes some of the rules and regulations and treaties from that time impacted the current laws, but they do not fully define them... or do they? My Spanish is good but reading law in Spanish is a lot harder than reading law in English and that's bad enough! However, since Chile is its own country it has passed a lot of its own laws and regulations since 1973 which impact the mining industry. And the local government regulators as well as the company have been following some, ignoring others, making as much profit as possible (and yeah, that more than likely means graft and I know it). So how does that mean America is the root of the mine collapse? Greed - that I would believe. Ignorance (whether intentional or unintentional) I can also believe. And don't forget the sheer perversity of nature which can, will and does fight back by proving that humanity is not the end all and be all of the world. Every single time, nature wins and humanity goes back to the drawing board.
The stories about the mine pretty much point out that a LOT of regulations were being ignored. So were a lot of complaints from the miners. But there were also a lot of safety measures being used. Could it have been a miracle from God that kept those men alive for two weeks on food meant for two days? Heck yes! I firmly believe in miracles. Could angels have been working overtime? With God all things are possible. That does not rule out that some of the safety measures that were in place helped, after all with God ALL things are possible.
For all the finger pointing, we all have to admit that every one who uses the products from that mining company are technically a bit at fault. We use the iron ore for our steel. We use the gold in our electronics and our jewelry. Therefore, we, as consumers, drive up the prices for those commodities. We also, push for more every day with every purchase and every use of the end productions using that ore. And if I look around my room, I see probably one hundred or more things that would have used either gold or steel, starting with my computer and the frames of my glasses.
The truly curious thing is that with all the attention on Chile, how many mine accidents have there been around the world. How have the miners in them fared? How has the news media portrayed those accidents/incidents? Have you even looked? I did. Scary. But what do the main news sites show? The Big story in Chile. Yes, it's news, fabulous news. Joyful news. Not the only news.
That does not mean I don't want more information and believe me I'm going to be popping up at lots of official news sites, as well as the less official blog/journal sites, trying to find out just what happened, why, how, and in what order.
And maybe, tomorrow will be safer for the miners. But seeing as since the collapse in Chile there have been half a dozen around the world that have killed more than number of rescued workers in Chile (all of which have been tiny blurbs in the news) I kind of doubt it.