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Word of the Day: Engineericle
I chuckled every time someone said today's Chilean mine rescue was a "miracle."
St. Barbara must be a fairly slack miracle worker if she needs two months and the involvement of several multinational companies, various governments, countless scientists, engineers, technicians, physicians, psychologists, social workers, media, family, friends and clergy. I agree with my friend, K, who calls it an "engineericle."
I didn't watch any of the rescue (I might now, knowing that it went off without a hitch), but I gather some people got quite addicted to watching live coverage of the rescue. Hour on the hour, CBC Radio News gave us an update of how many miners had been plucked from the depths, which was kind of a macabre type of countdown.
The BBC was criticized for sending about 30 people to cover it. I understand why they were criticized, but really, it was the biggest story in the world today. People just seem to have a fascination for stories about trapped miners, or children who fall into wells. Aside from the welfare of the persons affected, these stories have a lot of interesting angles.
The mining stories offer an opportunity to reflect on the dangerous work people do to provide modern conveniences like the metals and electricity it takes to make and operate the very television technology that we use to watch these rescues. On a more abstract level, they also provide a metaphor for all the thankless work that we do, or all the work that we do that compromises us physically or spiritually.
The kid-in-the-well stories rile up all kinds of fears: fears of personally falling, being buried alive, or losing our kids, or the dangers of playing in un-manicured spaces. After a particularly ridiculous amount of media attention on a couple of these stories a decade ago, they became their own trope, featured on the Simpsons; it didn't help that it seemed to fit so well with an existing TV trope, the Timmy's in a Well trope inspired by a catch phrase on Lassie.
In any case, I'm glad the miners got out, and so quickly. I hope they recover well. And that they get a musical. They should have one (especially since one of the characters can be torn between his wife and his mistress). Fortunately, it will have a much happier ending than Floyd Collins, a light opera about a 1925 caving disaster that left one man trapped until a rescue shaft reached him in 17 days (ironically, the miners in Chile were trapped for 17 days before they made outside contact). That rescue attempt attracted a media circus back then, as well. Our fascination for "Timmy's in a Well" stories goes way back!
St. Barbara must be a fairly slack miracle worker if she needs two months and the involvement of several multinational companies, various governments, countless scientists, engineers, technicians, physicians, psychologists, social workers, media, family, friends and clergy. I agree with my friend, K, who calls it an "engineericle."
I didn't watch any of the rescue (I might now, knowing that it went off without a hitch), but I gather some people got quite addicted to watching live coverage of the rescue. Hour on the hour, CBC Radio News gave us an update of how many miners had been plucked from the depths, which was kind of a macabre type of countdown.
The BBC was criticized for sending about 30 people to cover it. I understand why they were criticized, but really, it was the biggest story in the world today. People just seem to have a fascination for stories about trapped miners, or children who fall into wells. Aside from the welfare of the persons affected, these stories have a lot of interesting angles.
The mining stories offer an opportunity to reflect on the dangerous work people do to provide modern conveniences like the metals and electricity it takes to make and operate the very television technology that we use to watch these rescues. On a more abstract level, they also provide a metaphor for all the thankless work that we do, or all the work that we do that compromises us physically or spiritually.
The kid-in-the-well stories rile up all kinds of fears: fears of personally falling, being buried alive, or losing our kids, or the dangers of playing in un-manicured spaces. After a particularly ridiculous amount of media attention on a couple of these stories a decade ago, they became their own trope, featured on the Simpsons; it didn't help that it seemed to fit so well with an existing TV trope, the Timmy's in a Well trope inspired by a catch phrase on Lassie.
In any case, I'm glad the miners got out, and so quickly. I hope they recover well. And that they get a musical. They should have one (especially since one of the characters can be torn between his wife and his mistress). Fortunately, it will have a much happier ending than Floyd Collins, a light opera about a 1925 caving disaster that left one man trapped until a rescue shaft reached him in 17 days (ironically, the miners in Chile were trapped for 17 days before they made outside contact). That rescue attempt attracted a media circus back then, as well. Our fascination for "Timmy's in a Well" stories goes way back!