Guys, I am so psyched about all the piracy off of the African coast right now. I mean, it sucks and all, but with all the other bad news about, this is the one thing that the media can kind of have a good time with. They have to keep it kind of subtle, but you can be sure every station and channel plays the theme song to "Pirates of the Caribbean" as they fade out of their daily pirate segment. And I forget who was doing the interview, but one of the NPR guys was talking to the head of one of the security companies working to quell the pirate situation, and it turns out they use some kind of sonar noise thing to chase the marauders away, and he (NPR guy) definitely had a hard time getting out "so you're saying you use iPods to keep the pirates at bay?" without losing it.
It's probably not great for the people dealing with this mess that nobody really wants to take them seriously. But it sure makes a nice interlude between talks of the non-existent auto bailout and ever-plummeting stocks.
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i also found it amusing given the collapsing of so much around us to have something like piracy in the news referring to something other than DVDs on street corners in China is wonderful. this was all enhanced in the news last night when someone on the news mentioned the British planning an armada to deal with the situation. Pirates and Armadas? I'm not facing a collapsing economy with no future employment opportunity as i leave school - NO - I am in a high seas adventure circa 1588.
1) I never realized how massive those supertankers are. Holy crap. Bigger than Amherst it seems. 2) I think the pirates have been inspired by Animal Planet's "Whale Wars." Or maybe "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." This is Wes Anderson's fault. 3) Seriously though, the shipping companies' short term strategy for dealing with this uptick is to send their ships the other way around Africa. The long way. Guess who's going to pay for the extra time, fuel, etc. that requries? And I had just started to enjoy the sub-$2 gas prices...
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