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Monday, January 12, 2009

Darwin's Natural Selection Strikes Again

Slim hope for survivors of lost Indonesian ferry - Yahoo! News

PAREPARE, Indonesia – More than 230 passengers and crew were missing and presumed dead at nightfall Monday, after the boat suddenly capsized before dawn Sunday in a cyclone off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi island, killing hundreds aboard. (emphasis added)
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Natural selection at work once again.

What gives? I mean, did the captain not know he was on a ferry? A ferry is about as seaworthy as a fishing boat, maybe less so, in a cyclone. Cram it full of people and cars and who knows what else Indonesian's put on it, and the potential for disaster while going through, or near, a cyclone points to almost certainty. But it doesn't take a captain to know that.

"Oh I see that the weather really sucks because of a cyclone nearby... hmm, let's take a ferry through it!" Worse, these people took their kids with them.

It's one thing to die on a ferry because of a sudden storm or mechanical problem, it's another thing to die on a ferry that you know is going to dance with a cyclone. Stupid.

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