Once a year.

Is it just me, or do people get trapped in a coal mine in some east coast city at least once a year?

Why havent we, you know, made a safer system or somthing.

Also, maybe I am a heartless bastard, but when I found out that the news originally said that all 12 of the guys were found alive (The Orlando Sentinal, the paper I get here, their giant headline was "Miracle in the Mines!") I laughed. I can only picture that the company gave the job of going and telling these happy, rejoicing familys that the miners were really dead to the lowliest intern that everybody in the office hates.

reifidom wrote: Better systems aren't cost efficient. That particular mine had a horrible track record. And it was a couple of executives that went to go and break the news. A few of the family members tried to attack the executives.

As expensive as being sued by all those families???

Tae Kwon Do wrote: piranhakiller wrote: reifidom wrote: Better systems aren't cost efficient. That particular mine had a horrible track record. And it was a couple of executives that went to go and break the news. A few of the family members tried to attack the executives. As expensive as being sued by all those families??? Methinks that the company had some sort of waiver for the job.

Well if their smart enough to know how "expensive" it is to be safe and are too selfish to fix their track record then I don't doubt it

Tae Kwon Do wrote: Methinks that the company had some sort of waiver for the job.

You don't get to waive this type of thing.  If the mining company was negligent (which they may not have been) they will pay.  My guess is that they will pay regardless.

And there is a safer way - nuclear power.

Oreo -

Why do you say that?

Count the number of nuclear power related accidents in the entire world, and compare to the number of nuclear reactors.

There has only been one serious nuclear accident - ever - and that was in a plant that was mis-designed, mis-constructed, mis-managed, and mis-operated.

Several large countries (like France) are primarily nuclear-powered, and the US already gets 20% of its electrical generation from nuclear.  Neither France or the US has had any real problems, relatively speaking, and improvements in safety are made all the time.  Coal, on the other hand, kills people constantly and is devastating to the environment - both the mining and the burning.

Nuclear is safer, cleaner, and more reliable than coal, and cheaper than anything else except coal.

Any serious attempt to wean ourselves from coal/oil/gas for electricity will have to involve significant increases in nuclear power.