The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: Chris_ on January 15, 2012, 04:45:56 PM
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(http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff68/kayaktn/coverart.png)
Rescue teams are combing the waters around a cruise liner that ran aground off the Italian coast in search of 70 people missing after thousands were evacuated from the stricken vessel.
Three people – two French passengers and a Peruvian crewman – have been confirmed dead after the Costa Concordia hit a sandbar on Friday evening near the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio, less than two hours after leaving port.
More than 3,200 holidaymakers – from Italy, Germany, France and Britain – and 1,000 crew were forced to flee the liner, which is now half submerged.
The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/14/italian-cruise-ship-runs-aground)
What a huge mess.
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(http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff68/kayaktn/coverart.png)
Rescue teams are combing the waters around a cruise liner that ran aground off the Italian coast in search of 70 people missing after thousands were evacuated from the stricken vessel.
Three people – two French passengers and a Peruvian crewman – have been confirmed dead after the Costa Concordia hit a sandbar on Friday evening near the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio, less than two hours after leaving port.
More than 3,200 holidaymakers – from Italy, Germany, France and Britain – and 1,000 crew were forced to flee the liner, which is now half submerged.
The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/14/italian-cruise-ship-runs-aground)
What a huge mess.
Sounds like the Captain may be walking the plank soon too.
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I read on some news website yesterday, can't find it now but it was a drudge link, that the Captain was charged with, and I quote: "manslaughter, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of the ship. Abandonment of the ship is the more serious charge."
So what did he do, leave? "Oops! I hit a big rock, time to get the hell out of dodge!" kind of thing? How did he get off the vessel... and why?
In another article I read in the NYTimes fishwrap, there was this statement by the cruise line spokesperson: "“The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore...". Ya think?!?!?! No shit!!!!! What was your first clue, Einstein? Sounds to me like a bunch of morons are in this company.
Fish wrap article (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/world/europe/italian-cruise-ship-accident-raises-questions-about-crew-and-captain.html)
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An Illinois retired couple from Chicago's northwest suburbs was listed as missing; now authorities have asked the family for photos.
Doesn't sound good.
No link. My wife heard it on the radio this morning.
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GIGLIO, Italy - The jailed captain of the cruise ship that capsized off Tuscany made an unauthorized deviation from the programmed course, a blunder that led to its deadly crash against a reef, the ship's Italian owner said Monday.
Rescue operations were halted, meanwhile, after the Costa Concordia shifted in rough seas and fears mounted that any further shifts could cause some of the 500,000 gallons of fuel on board to leak into the pristine waters off the island of Giglio that are a protected dolphin sanctuary.
The confirmed death toll rose to six after searchers found the body of a male passenger wearing a life vest in the corridor of the above-water portion of the ship. Sixteen people are unaccounted for, including two American passengers.
Link (http://www.newsday.com/news/world/costa-concordia-execs-blame-jailed-captain-francesco-schettino-call-crew-heroes-1.3454773)
Bold in the quote is mine. Link contains more photos.
The hull shows some unbelievable damage. There's a huge rock about the size of a small garage embedded in the hull.
Prayers to the families of the missing.
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The news reporting is very fragmented and unclear regarding the circumstances surrounding this incident that it's unbelievable.....
There are some SERIOUS shiphandling and emergency management issues here, just who the f**k was at the helm, and why, in clear calm weather was a vessel of that size even CLOSE to that coast? Every decent Bass boat around here has a bottom-profiling depth sounder aboard.......you're not going to convince me that the data on the water beneath her keel wasn't available to whomever was on the bridge.........
There are some reports that the crew abandoned ship first without aiding the passengers, and that there were several hours between the time she ran aground and efforts to evacuate started. During that period there was more time than necessary to launch lifeboats, before the list became critical. Hell....she appears to have come to rest close enough to the coast for the passengers to nearly walk ashore.
The cruise line needs to bite the bullet, and provide the known details of this incident.......they are going to have the crap sued out of them anyway, they may as well come clean. The Captain's credentials would be a great place to start. Since the ultimate responsibility rests with him, I would sure as hell like to know how he wound up on the beach while there were passengers essentially held aboard by what remained of the crew being told that what happened was an "electrical problem"......
Forget the cabin, galley and entertainment staff, what kind of seamen are they hiring to crew these vessels?!?
doc
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The news reporting is very fragmented and unclear regarding the circumstances surrounding this incident that it's unbelievable.....
{snip}
Forget the cabin, galley and entertainment staff, what kind of seamen are they hiring to crew these vessels?!?
doc
My guess: 1) Capitan went ashore to lawyer up*. 2) Crewed by unemployed Somolia pirates.
(* I read somewhere a passanger said the Captain was seen drinking in the bar before this happened)
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The news reporting is very fragmented and unclear regarding the circumstances surrounding this incident that it's unbelievable.....
There are some SERIOUS shiphandling and emergency management issues here, just who the f**k was at the helm, and why, in clear calm weather was a vessel of that size even CLOSE to that coast? Every decent Bass boat around here has a bottom-profiling depth sounder aboard.......you're not going to convince me that the data on the water beneath her keel wasn't available to whomever was on the bridge.........
There are some reports that the crew abandoned ship first without aiding the passengers, and that there were several hours between the time she ran aground and efforts to evacuate started. During that period there was more time than necessary to launch lifeboats, before the list became critical. Hell....she appears to have come to rest close enough to the coast for the passengers to nearly walk ashore.
The cruise line needs to bite the bullet, and provide the known details of this incident.......they are going to have the crap sued out of them anyway, they may as well come clean. The Captain's credentials would be a great place to start. Since the ultimate responsibility rests with him, I would sure as hell like to know how he wound up on the beach while there were passengers essentially held aboard by what remained of the crew being told that what happened was an "electrical problem"......
Forget the cabin, galley and entertainment staff, what kind of seamen are they hiring to crew these vessels?!?
doc
As I recently went on a cruise (oddly enough with Carnival, which owns Costa as a subsidiary), I get regular updates on this through cruisecritic.com.
The captain is charged with manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning ship. A passenger's account of the tragedy, posted on cruisecritic.com, testified to the very late order to abandon ship, presumably after the captain himself had bailed out. The crew are being lauded as doing everything within their power to do, but the absence of leadership led to real problems.
The opening in her hull was more than 165 feet long on her port side, yet she capsized (as fully as the bottom would have allowed) on her starboard side. Strange thing, that.
The captain was promoted in 2006 and has been with Costa for I think 12 years or so. He is Italian, of course. The ship I sailed on was also captained by an Italian, but we managed to survive.
The principal cause of the shipwreck was the captain's deliberate decision to override an automated course that is suggested by the ship's computers. We were told on our cruise that virtually 90% of a ship's course is determined by computer.
The draft of these ships is remarkably shallow. The 101,000 ton Carnival Destiny's draft was only 27 feet. This is for a ship that just seems to go up and up and up and up. Why and how the ship isn't unstable is a mystery to me, but I'm sure the marine engineers know what they're doing.
The Costa Concordia is larger at 155,000 tons. Her draft is probably around 30-35 feet, max. The shallow draft helps them when it's time to tender and even at pierside.
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I heard a report a while ago, I think on Sean Hannity, that said the Captain had the ship traveling so close to the small island because he was attempting to get the attention of someone on the island. Like a fly by, or a drive by or something?
So strange. The Missouri couple is still missing.
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i heard there is also a retired couple from MN missing.
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Ummm, I mean Minnesota. Not Missouri.
Sorry! That's how rumors get started. Ack!
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My guess: 1) Capitan went ashore to lawyer up*. 2) Crewed by unemployed Somolia pirates.
(* I read somewhere a passanger said the Captain was seen drinking in the bar before this happened)
So, it seems the Kennedy's are actually Italian. Who knew?
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/sadiesinner/forums/6121b226.jpg)
good lord look at that hole and the "pebble" stuck in it!!!!
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I have been reading Cruisecritic.com as well and I also saw speculation that he was possibly "showboating" for the islanders in a move that seems to be common (lights ablaze, getting close to shore, etc...) and that they hit the rock then.
What an effing disaster.
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I went on a carnival cruise in November....I might stick to island vacations from now on.... :???:
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The news reporting is very fragmented and unclear regarding the circumstances surrounding this incident that it's unbelievable.....
There are some SERIOUS shiphandling and emergency management issues here, just who the f**k was at the helm, and why, in clear calm weather was a vessel of that size even CLOSE to that coast? Every decent Bass boat around here has a bottom-profiling depth sounder aboard.......you're not going to convince me that the data on the water beneath her keel wasn't available to whomever was on the bridge.........
There are some reports that the crew abandoned ship first without aiding the passengers, and that there were several hours between the time she ran aground and efforts to evacuate started. During that period there was more time than necessary to launch lifeboats, before the list became critical. Hell....she appears to have come to rest close enough to the coast for the passengers to nearly walk ashore.
The cruise line has already stated they are blaming the captain, they'll supply him with a defense attorney, but it's entirely his fault for deviating from the course and not following company or maritime procedures.
Italian press has reported that the Captain deviated from the programmed route, so they could do a Top Gun style fly by of the Island. Apparently numerous captains and people in the industry retired there, and it's a not unheard of informal practice. They're stating that in this case, the Captain was doing it as a favor to the Head Waiter or something, who was from the Island. From the records, ships that have done that Sail By in the past, did it with smaller ships, several hundred meters farther out to sea. There was even a note about ships of that size, being specifically warned to stay farther away from the island.
Initial reports stated that a number of the life boats couldn't be reached due to being pushed away by the listing of the ship. Nearly all reports are saying that it was a completely uncoordinated evacuation... which we'll finding out why, just below. Additionally, a number of people actually jumped into the water and swam to shore.
Euro news feeds, have already shown both passengers and crew announcing they had no idea how to evacuate or what to do... some even announced they had no training in evacuation procedures. All of that was complicated by the fact that the Captain was one of the first to abandon the ship! He was ordered back onto the ship to coordinate the evacuation by the Port Authority and Italian Coast Guard, and refused...
Check out his discussion with the Port Authority... :o :o :o :thatsright: :censored: First off the ship, first to prison.
00:32am
The port authority asks the captain, Francesco Schettino, how many people are left on board. He says 200-300, therefore claiming unrealistically that 4,000 people were evacuated in only 40 minutes. It quickly becomes clear he has already abandoned ship.
Schettino: "Now I'll go back up", he claims. "I came out to check out to figure out what was happening."
PA (Port Authority):"Will you be the last on board?"
Schsttino:"I will be the last on board"
00:42am
PA asks how many people still need to be evacuated.
Schettino:"I called and they told me there are about 100 people. I am coordinating the operations. But I can't go back on it. We have abandoned the ship."
PA:"Captain, did you really abandon the ship??"
Schettino:"No, no, I am here, I am coordinating the evacuation."
PA:"Captain, this is an order, now I am in charge. Get back on that ship and coordinate the operations. There are already casualties."
Schettino:"How many?"
PA:"You should tell me that! What do you want to do, go home? Now you get back on that ship and tell us what can be done, how many people are still there and what do they need."
Schettino:"Ok, OK, I am going."
(The captain will not get back on the ship)
LINK (http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/16/10164356-captains-favor-to-head-waiter-to-blame-for-cruise-ship-disaster)
FWIW I could almost see some justification in sending a ships officer to take a look at the incident from the water, to give a better picture of the incident. However, to leave thousands of people to themselves on the boat... the captain himself taking off...
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...a full half hour after the incident, Schettino was still asking for his dinner and drinks and reportedly demanded to know where his female companion's dessert was.
The Costa line said the captain was wrong to steer so close to the island, although this video from Italian TV is said to show the Concordia, horns blaring one night last August, sailing within a few hundred feet of the island -- a course the Costa line says was authorized and approved in advance.
LINK (http://news.yahoo.com/cruise-captain-court-did-abandon-ship-120224966--abc-news.html)
The waters are turning a bit murky...
It's also being revealed that Junior Officers rebelled against him and his First Officer in mutiny, over their refusal to acknowledge the danger, issue directions, make the abandonment call, and get people to life boats... partly because, they were having dinner. ::) :o As he abandoned the ship/passengers/and crew, they stayed on to coordinate efforts as best they could. Sounds like there may have been some real heroes on board.
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I heard the Italian Coast Guard in a conversation with the Captain... the Coast Guard official was yelling at the captain to get back aboard.
A snip:
“You go aboard. It is an order. Don’t make any more excuses. You have declared ‘Abandon ship,’ now I am in charge,†De Falco shouted.
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I heard the Italian Coast Guard in a conversation with the Captain... the Coast Guard official was yelling at the captain to get back aboard.
A snip:
What a clusterf**k.......I've taken a few cruises in the past, all on much smaller vessels. All crewed by experienced personnel (typically former naval), mostly Scandinavian or Greek.
Present company acknowledged, and with the full realization that there are a lot of cruise ships out there conducting many safe voyages, I've been reticent about cruises for a while.......it seems far too frequently that they manage to (as in this case) run aground, plow into the pier, or another vessel, catch fire.......or the entire passenger complement comes down with some communicable disease......I'll pass.......
A friend of our oldest son owns several large bluewater tugboats that he uses in the Gulf to move oil rigs around, and only last year, a Carnival cruise ship rammed one of his tugs which was legally moored to a buoy in Galveston Bay, doing nearly 2 million dollars in damage and injuring one of his crewmen. Carnival's excuse was that the "computer" was at the helm at that time as well.....WTF, over.......
doc
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The draft of these ships is remarkably shallow. The 101,000 ton Carnival Destiny's draft was only 27 feet. This is for a ship that just seems to go up and up and up and up. Why and how the ship isn't unstable is a mystery to me, but I'm sure the marine engineers know what they're doing.
Moment of righting, and the differences between metacenter, center of gravity, and center of ballast (all coming back to me VERY slowly from my Navy ROTC days.)
Basically, the greater the difference between the center of ballast (lowest one) and center of gravity and metacenter, the more inherently stable a ship can be. This can be accomplished by placing the larger and heavier items nearest the keel, which means all the machinery, variable and fixed ballast, etc. For all the pretty lights, etc., not a whole lot of mass near the top of the superstructure.
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Holy shit that Captain is absolutely horrible. I can't believe what a coward he is.
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Holy shit that Captain is absolutely horrible. I can't believe what a coward he is.
Yeah, hazarding a vessel is bad enough, but his actions afterward are absolutely unconscionable.
He's a one-man argument for bringing back keelhauling.
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Yeah, hazarding a vessel is bad enough, but his actions afterward are absolutely unconscionable.
He's a one-man argument for bringing back keelhauling.
If someone could really "die of embarrassment" his parents should. How awful, if they are still alive, to know what a piece of shit you raised.
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makes ya appreciate people like capt sully even more
anyone heard if they found the MN couple yet. I havent.
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Well damn... The conversation between the Captain and the Port Authority was horrifying, the now released conversation between the Captain and the Coast Guard is even worse. :thatsright:
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[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNsqDTdykrc[/youtube]
I have no idea what's being said, but that guy got a reaming.
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I have no idea what's being said, but that guy got a reaming.
As translated by Reuters. LINK (http://news.yahoo.com/coast-guard-ordered-ship-captain-back-board-124134509.html)
Coast Guard: Hello.
Captain: Good evening, chief.
Coast Guard: Listen, this is De Falco from Livorno. Am I speaking with the captain?
Captain: Good evening, Chief De Falco.
Coast Guard: Tell me your name, please.
Captain: I am Captain Schettino, chief.
Coast Guard: Schettino?
Captain: Yes.
Coast Guard: Listen, Schettino. There are people trapped on board. Now, you go with your lifeboat. Under the bow of the ship, on the right side, there is a ladder. You climb on that ladder and go on board the ship. Go on board the ship and get back to me and tell me how many people are there. Is that clear. I am recording this conversation, Captain Schettino.
(Captain tries to speak but Coast Guard can't hear him clearly. Voices in the Coast Guard room.)
Coast Guard: Speak up! (captain tries to speak) Captain, put your hand over the microphone and speak in a louder voice!
Captain: At this moment the ship is listing.
Coast Guard: There are people who are coming down the ladder on the bow. Go back in the opposite direction, get back on the ship, and tell me how many people there are and what they have on board. Tell me if there are children, women and what type of help they need. And you tell me the number of each of these categories. Is that clear?
Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Dammit, go back on board!
(Noise can be heard in the background. Apparently other Coast Guard officers are shouting to each other in the same room about "the ship, the ship")
Captain: Please ...
Coast Guard: There is no 'please' about it. Get back on board. Assure me you are going back on board!
Captain: I'm in a lifeboat, I am under here. I am not going anywhere. I am here.
Coast Guard: What are you doing, captain?
Captain: I am here to coordinate the rescue...
Coast Guard (interrupting): What are you coordinating there! Get on board! Coordinate the rescue from on board! Are you refusing?
Captain: No, I am not refusing.
Coast Guard: Are you refusing to go aboard, captain? Tell me the reason why you are not going back on board.
Captain: (inaudible)... there is a another lifeboat...
Coast Guard (interrupting, yelling): You get back on board! That is an order! There is nothing else for you to consider. You have sounded the "Abandon Ship." Now I am giving the orders. Get back on board. Is that clear? Don't you hear me?
Captain: I am going aboard.
Coast Guard: Go! Call me immediately when you are on board. My rescue people are in front of the bow.
Captain: Where is your rescue craft?
Coast Guard: My rescue craft is at the bow. Go! There are already bodies, Schettino. Go!
Captain: How many bodies are there?
Coast Guard: I don't know! ... Christ, you should be the one telling me that!
Captain: Do you realize that it is dark and we can't see anything?
Coast Guard: So, what do you want to do, to go home, Schettino?! It's dark and you want to go home? Go to the bow of the ship where the ladder is and tell me what needs to be done, how many people there are, and what they need! Now!
Captain: My second in command is here with me.
Coast Guard: Then both of you go! Both of you! What is the name of your second in command?
Captain: His name is Dmitri (static)"
Coast Guard: What is the rest of his name? (static) You and your second in command get on board now! Is that clear?
Captain: Look, chief, I want to go aboard but the other lifeboat here has stopped and is drifting. I have called ...
Coast Guard (interrupting): You have been telling me this for an hour! Now, go aboard! Get on board, and tell me immediately how many people there are!
Captain: OK, chief.
Coast Guard: Go! Immediately!
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they need to get him on the ship again and make him walk the plank. hopefully he hits the exposed rocks again!
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"I had no intention of escaping," Francesco Schettino, 52, said during his first court hearing Tuesday, according to Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.
"I was helping some passengers put the life boat to sea. At a certain point the mechanism for lowering it, blocked. We had to force it. Suddenly the system unblocked itself and I tripped and I found myself inside the life boat with a number of passengers."
The captain also reportedly admitted to the court that he lied at one point when he assured officials that he had dropped anchor shortly after the Costa Concordia slammed into a rock to stabilize the luxury liner.
LINK (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-captain-claimed-tripped-lifeboat-report/story?id=15386279#.Txcx9ZiLE5R)
Damn... just damn... he continuously amazes me... Just when I think, he can't become more incompetent...
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LINK (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-captain-claimed-tripped-lifeboat-report/story?id=15386279#.Txcx9ZiLE5R)
Damn... just damn... he continuously amazes me... Just when I think, he can't become more incompetent...
bet he is a liberal
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(http://i41.tinypic.com/xz7m.jpg)
Whoa.
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(http://i41.tinypic.com/xz7m.jpg)
Whoa.
I heard it is listing on Craiglist :rimshot:
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Can you believe that Entertainment News tonight is reporting on this shipwreck and playing the music from Titanic? (my heart will go on by Celine Dion) :o
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All I can say , the commander is in deep whale shit!!!
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His next quarterly review is going to be pretty awkward...
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'Get on board, damn it!' T-shirts bearing harbour master's tirade against Captain Coward Schettino sell online for £12 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088411/Costa-Concordia-T-shirt-harbour-masters-tirade-Captain-Schettino-sell-online-12.html)
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/18/article-2088411-0F8379D700000578-365_634x429.jpg)
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It's sad that people drowned. Were they just caught in the ship or did the actually get in the water? because that ship wasn't sinking
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'Get on board, damn it!' T-shirts bearing harbour master's tirade against Captain Coward Schettino sell online for £12 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088411/Costa-Concordia-T-shirt-harbour-masters-tirade-Captain-Schettino-sell-online-12.html)
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/18/article-2088411-0F8379D700000578-365_634x429.jpg)
the T-shirt is the latest rage in Italy, acknowledging the "hero" status of the Coast Guard captain who basically verbally flogged the shirtbird captain Schettino.
Apparently, the term "cazzo" is a slang term for the male sexual organ, but it's also used as a mild expletive.
(It's important to know about these things.) :rotf:
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the T-shirt is the latest rage in Italy, acknowledging the "hero" status of the Coast Guard captain who basically verbally flogged the shirtbird captain Schettino.
Apparently, the term "cazzo" is a slang term for the male sexual organ, but it's also used as a mild expletive.
(It's important to know about these things.) :rotf:
That dude must be super pissed, everyone around him is all bundled up, and there he is with only his statement t-shirt.
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That dude must be super pissed, everyone around him is all bundled up, and there he is with only his statement t-shirt.
is that a box in his pocket or is he happy to see me?
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is that a box in his pocket or is he happy to see me?
Yes
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Can you believe that Entertainment News tonight is reporting on this shipwreck and playing the music from Titanic? (my heart will go on by Celine Dion) :o
Drama queens much? And that song has GOT to be the most overplayed/overrated love song ever. It is good for inducing vomiting, however.
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Drama queens much? And that song has GOT to be the most overplayed/overrated love song ever. It is good for inducing vomiting, however.
That movie was stupid.
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That movie was stupid.
yeh, some asshole told me the ending before I watched it :argh:
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That movie was stupid.
And we get to experience the stupidity once again, in 3D this time, on April 6th for the 100 year anniversary of the sinking.
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Costa Concordia captain reportedly seen dining with mystery woman before deadly crash
The search for 21 people still missing in the Costa Concordia shipwreck resumed Thursday amid reports the captain was seen dining with a mystery woman -- who may have been on board illegally -- shortly before the liner crashed off the Italian coast.
Cemortan does not appear on any official passenger or crew lists
Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/19/captain-in-cruise-ship-disaster-says-fell-out-ship-during-evacuation/#ixzz1jvaj9Bfq)
:thatsright:
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Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/19/captain-in-cruise-ship-disaster-says-fell-out-ship-during-evacuation/#ixzz1jvaj9Bfq)
:thatsright:
Could she be the reason that he abandoned ship?
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Wonder if it was take out? :rimshot:
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yeh, some asshole told me the ending before I watched it :argh:
There was a survey of high school girls who said it would have ended better if the ship hadn't sunk at the end
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There was a survey of high school girls who said it would have ended better if the ship hadn't sunk at the end
:lmao: :lmao: :bird: I probably was in that survey group
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:lmao: :lmao: :bird: I probably was in that survey group
Somehow a woman is involved in a shipwreck? Color me surprised. Not. :drunksailor: :blowkiss: :rotf:
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Somehow a woman is involved in a shipwreck? Color me surprised. Not. :drunksailor: :blowkiss: :rotf:
(http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/tulsigirl/Trains/Train_wreck_at_Montparnass-1.jpg)
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(http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/tulsigirl/Trains/Train_wreck_at_Montparnass-1.jpg)
Who let my wife drive the train?
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Somehow a woman is involved in a shipwreck? Color me surprised. Not. :drunksailor: :blowkiss: :rotf:
Maybe she was blow deck :naughty:
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Maybe she was blow deck :naughty:
The story I saw said they were dining together but gave no indication of who got off first. :thatsright:
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The story I saw said they were dining together but gave no indication of who got off first. :thatsright:
smack that head :lmao:
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Update:
Lawyers for Francesco Schettino, captain of the stricken Costa Concordia cruise liner, launched a last-ditch attempt to secure a plea bargain as he appeared in court for the start of his trial on charges related to the disaster which killed 32 people.
Mr Schettino faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before his passengers, after crashing the vessel into rocks close to the shore of Giglio, an island off the Tuscan coast, in 2012.
As the trial began in earnest following a lawyers’ strike last week, the chances of Mr Schettino’s plea bargain – which asks that he serve three years and five months – being accepted appeared remote. Prosecutors have already rejected a previous deal with 52-year-old Mr Schettino.
Francesco Verusio, a prosecutor, told the court yesterday: “That Schettino is guilty, is not in doubt. The only thing left to determine is how long his sentence will be.†Plea bargains have been accepted however, from the five other officials indicted – four ship’s officers and Roberto Ferrarini. the crisis co-ordinator of the vessel’s owners, Costa Cruises.
The Moldovan dancer Domnica Cemortan, whom the captain was entertaining on the bridge when the liner crashed, appeared in court yesterday to offer moral support to Mr Schettino. Ms Cemortan, 26, a former hostess with Costa Cruises, is demanding “between €200,000 and €300,000†from the company for the damage to her reputation after it became known that Mr Schettino, who is married with young children, had wined and dined her aboard the Concordia. She is also challenging the company’s refusal to hire her again.
Before entering the theatre-turned-courtroom in the town of Grosseto on Italy’s west coast yesterday, Ms Cemortan, who has previously said that Mr Schettino’s actions on the night of the disaster helped save many lives, told reporters: “Schettino is not the only one responsible. I want the truth to come out.†The main arguments in the trial are expected to begin later this week.
Mr Schettino says his reaction to the crash prevented much greater loss of life, despite Mr Verusio claiming the accused had steered the giant vessel “like a canoeâ€. Prosecutors say Mr Schettino hit rocks while performing a risky, show-boating manoeuvre.
Mr Schettino insists his premature departure from the scene of the accident occurred because he fell into a lifeboat and was unable to get out again. But marine safety experts have told preliminary hearings there might have been no loss of live had the captain ordered the immediate evacuation of the vessel, instead of waiting for more than an hour.
It also emerged today that the John Eaves law firm in the US will begin to sue Costa’s US parent company Carnival Corp on 23 July. Lawyers are looking at punitive damages, as well as individual compensation payments for passengers and crew members.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/costa-concordia-captain-francesco-schettino-launches-lastditch-plea-bargain-8714383.html
32 people died and this ****stick Schettino is trying to negotiate a plea deal.
The ****er ought to be keelhauled from one end of the ship to the other.
Regarding the ship itself:
Sloane, an engineer for U.S.-owned company Titan Salvage, said experts would have one chance to pull the ship upright and float it away to the mainland for demolition. The attempt will probably take place in mid-September. "We cannot put it back" down and start over, said Sloane.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/15/costa-concordia-salvage_n_3599576.html
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^Nice update Eupher.
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he fell into a lifeboat and was unable to get out again.
:thatsright: That's the best he could do ?
following a lawyers’ strike
I could support a lawyers strike here as long as possible. Things would be so much better. :-)
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:thatsright: That's the best he could do ?
I could support a lawyers strike here as long as possible. Things would be so much better. :-)
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Anyone remember what Shakespeare (The Bard) said about lawyers ? Present company excepted.