Safety of life at sea

Esav Benyamin

Esav Benyamin

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Experts say cruises vulnerable, but lines defend security plans

It sounds like a scene in a Hollywood blockbuster: Pirates hit a luxury cruise ship with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns off a lawless African country. The cruise crew tries to ram both pirate boats, uses an earsplitting high-tech weapon on the attackers and evades them.

That was the real-life situation the crew and passengers of the Seabourn Spirit found themselves in off Somalia last weekend. With piracy common in some areas and terrorism fears present after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, cruise lines say they train their crews and have security measures to respond effectively to these threats. ((snip))

Kenneth Bissonnette, staff manager for surveillance and security at Carnival Cruise Lines, told The Associated Press in March 2004 that security personnel for the world's largest cruise line didn't carry firearms, but had defenses like pepper spray. He said the company's security staff recruited heavily among Gurkhas, elite Nepalese soldiers renowned for their fearlessness.
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I guess that will do it.

What a way to add a little spice to a vacation cruise! I can hear the passengers now, "Ah, yes, we were sailing along under beautiful warm tropic skies when suddenly, boatloads of drug-crazed terrorists attacked us, but ... we drove them off. Our security staff was VERY disappointed that the terrorists never got on board ..."
 
I wonder how they knew the pirates were drug-crazed terrorists? :rolleyes: :confused:
Are all the pirates sailing in the seas where piracy is prevalent drug crazed?
Perhaps the pirates are in the wrong business if they have that free of access to plentiful drugs that could be sold at a tremendous profit?
Could it be that instead of the pirates looting the cruise ships that they could be distributing drugs to the wealthy tourists and making even more profit than they ever did from looting?
 
Yvsa my friend,
The chewing of Khat, which contains amphetamine-like compounds is a big problem in Somalia. It is common among the criminal element. When the US was fighting in Mogadishu, the men in the "technicals", the armed vehicles, would charge right into gunfire with no regard for their safety, because they were cranked up and high. While I don't know that the pirates were high, I'd be surprised if they weren't. Heres a link with some info on Khat.

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/bulletin/bulletin_1987-01-01_2_page006.html

Modern day pirates. Wow. You don't hear about them much, but there are other areas where they are prevalent. I think Malaysia is another danger area, even the Carribean. http://globalization.about.com/library/weekly/aa031203a.htm

Interesting thread.:thumbup:

Steve
 
I don't know, but the pirates would have HAD to been on something. The images on the news last night showed a huge cruise ship, and two boats, about 20 feet long, with 5-7 guys in them attacking the cruise ship.



There's an old story about an ant crawling up a cow's rear leg, assuring her he will be gentle.

The news didn't mention the Gurkhas. Hell, with a platform like a cruise ship, I could have held them off with my old milsurp .308.
 
Thanks Steve. I wasn't aware of that but then there's lots of things I'm not aware of.;)
 
Yvsa said:
Thanks Steve. I wasn't aware of that but then there's lots of things I'm not aware of.;)
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Me too. When I was 20 I knew everything.;)

Now I'm 52, and know nothing, and can see both sides of most issues. That sucks. Oh, to be blissfully ignorant, self assured, and always right again. :o

Steve
 
[Now I'm 52, and know nothing, and can see both sides of most issues. That sucks. Oh, to be blissfully ignorant, self assured, and always right again/QUOTE]

33 here, but I'm right with you Steve. Yep, it was easier when I knew everything;)

If you look into Zen and many other spiritual paths, you find that they spend years trying to embody and understand that they knew all they needed to know, and were already perfect BEFORE they did any spiritual seeking/meditation etc... ie, they/we were born perfect and have become lost in our constantly self reassuring egos which drive us to be constantly dissatisfied with the present moment, always looking to some future time when all will be well. It's taken me a long time to see the wisdom in that, but I still get lost in the "what's next?" mentality...
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Sound weapons are nothing new. Both sound and visual torture were used by the allies during WWII. Several sound weapons have been invented with different effects. There are frequencies of sound that will make you vommit, hurt your ears, etc. The new energy weapons I'm excited about (I'm an antenna engineer) are the microwave weapons. (I do govt research) Currently the govt is testing one that puts a high power signal through an antenna and aims the energy at the ememy lines (covers a large area) (unclassified by the way). They have been able to create an itching and burning sensation on the skin. Prolonged exposure would be real bad (basically you would be slow cooked). Unfortunately for now you need a huge generator to go with it. Needs refining.

I'm more interested in insect weapons. Picture being in a bunker when a huge sack of bees or ants or snakes was catapulted into it. I bet you'd bug out!!!:)
 
ferguson said:
The chewing of Khat, which contains amphetamine-like compounds is a big problem in Somalia.
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I'm guessing it's a little more potent than the pack of Trident spicy cinnamon in my desk drawer. At least mine has stuff in it to prevent cavities. :rolleyes: :)
 
I can hear it now. Trident-crazed terrorists attack cruise ship...

I dunno, something just sounds funny about that...

:D :D

Nam
 
"Trident-crazed terrorists?"


Isn't that how the whole Neptune story got started?
 
BruiseLeee said:
I'm guessing it's a little more potent than the pack of Trident spicy cinnamon in my desk drawer. At least mine has stuff in it to prevent cavities. :rolleyes: :)
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"We tried to keep the pirates at bay. Had them in our sights and everything. But they asked so politly to come aboard and such a nice smile."

Yo Ho Ho, and a package of gum

Jake
 
aproy1101 said:
Several sound weapons have been invented with different effects. There are frequencies of sound that will make you vommit, hurt your ears, etc.
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On sale at your local security equipment website! :D

Sonic Nausea is a small electronic device which can really turn one's stomach. It generates a unique combination of ultra-high frequency soundwaves which soon leads most in its vicinity to queasiness. It can also cause headaches, intense irritation, sweating, imbalance, nausea, or even vomiting.

Super Sonic Nausea. This "industrial strength" version of the Sonic Nausea is now available for non-government sales. It provides serious, substantial capability to disrupt and disperse gatherings.
 
Shucks, I've got a plan, set up a rotational "tour of duty" on the cruise ships for our soldiers and marines that have been slugging it out with bad guys in Iraq/Afghanistan. It would give the pirates a nasty surprise, and give our boys some well earned R&R. Imagine what a Barrett fifty cal., in the hands of a trained sniper, would do to a pack of scum in a twenty foot boat.:eek:

Sarge
 
aproy1101 said:
The new energy weapons I'm excited about (I'm an antenna engineer) are the microwave weapons. (I do govt research) Currently the govt is testing one that puts a high power signal through an antenna and aims the energy at the ememy lines (covers a large area) (unclassified by the way). They have been able to create an itching and burning sensation on the skin. Prolonged exposure would be real bad (basically you would be slow cooked). Unfortunately for now you need a huge generator to go with it. Needs refining.
)
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Yup. It's called the "pain beam" Ideal for riot/non-lethal applications. Makes you feel like an instant bad sunburn.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/pain-beam.htm

Absolutely, I must be the first kid on the block to have one. Mounted on my boat, I can use it to repel pirates AND cook fish on the spot.


Ad Astra
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
It would give the pirates a nasty surprise, and give our boys some well earned R&R.

Imagine what a Barrett fifty cal., in the hands of a trained sniper, would do to a pack of scum in a twenty foot boat.:eek:

Sarge
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Well it sure as hell would blow the Khat right out of a bunch of drug crazed pirates.:thumbup: ;) :D

Besides --- wouldn't about five well placed rounds of AP start the 20 foot boat on its way to the bottom anyway?;) :cool: :D
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
Shucks, I've got a plan, set up a rotational "tour of duty" on the cruise ships for our soldiers and marines that have been slugging it out with bad guys in Iraq/Afghanistan. It would give the pirates a nasty surprise, and give our boys some well earned R&R. Imagine what a Barrett fifty cal., in the hands of a trained sniper, would do to a pack of scum in a twenty foot boat.:eek:

Sarge
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Boat? What boat?
 
Esav Benyamin said:
On sale at your local security equipment website! :D

Sonic Nausea is a small electronic device which can really turn one's stomach.

Super Sonic Nausea. This "industrial strength" version of the Sonic Nausea is now available for non-government sales. It provides serious, substantial capability to disrupt and disperse gatherings.
Click to expand...

Yep, but I don't think there's a system yet developed to make one loose their bowels which would be quite an effective way of stopping someone hell bent on making your day a bad one I would think.
At the least it would make them all walk very funny.:D
And I would think it would also cause a less well trained unit to stay as far apart from one another as possible perhaps making them easier targets.;)

On the Discovery Channel the other night they had Adam wearing a rather large diaper over his clothes and was bombarding him with several low wavelengths of sound with a large amount of decibels.
The myth was that some Rock Bands produced a subsonic(?) bass that would cause folks to loose their bowels when the wavelengths overwhelmed them.
Several different bass sounds too low for the human ear to hear were bombarded at Adam without the desired results.
Obviously the myth was Busted!;) :D
Dayumed shame too, I really wanted to see Adam lose control.:grumpy: ;) :D
 
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