Random News Stories

[Ed Gordon]

Question: Are pilots required to navigate ships on the US east coast?

In my area (west coast Washington state) their are laws requiring that pilots navigate foreign ships on local waters.

ON THE SALISH SEA NEAR PORT ANGELES – From our home in Port Angeles, my wife and I have a commanding view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Guests from Seattle enjoy watching the ships come and go, and they take a particular interest in the pilot boat that launches from Ediz Hook to connect with the vessels. From our faraway perspective, that boat is a tiny red dot, but it has a crucial task: delivering a pilot who can take those giant ships safely through the inland waters of Puget Sound.

Licensed Puget Sound pilots are required on all foreign-flag commercial vessels sailing those waters: freighters, tankers, cruise ships, container ships. Once a ship enters the Strait, that “tiny red dot” brings to the vessel a pilot to navigate the ship to port. Pilots have extensive knowledge the depths and currents along the Sound’s 2,000-plus miles of shoreline; they’re familiar with weather patterns and tidal action at the various harbors, piers, and docks.

Source: https://www.pspilots.org/2024/01/16/...boat-captains/

What are the operation rules in New York and Baltimore?

[Leo Enticknap]

Once again, apologies for the crass joke. The story I originally pasted stated that everyone involved in the accident had been accounted for, as did two other sources I checked before posting that. The initial news agency reports were wrong, and it's very sad to read that two crew members died as the result of falling from a mast. More info:

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So the perspective of the first photo taken from the shore I posted earlier was a little misleading, but not wildly: the foul was 20ft, not 40-50 (assuming that the river was at or near high tide at the time of the accident). It is also being reported that the ship was departing New York for a transatlantic crossing at the time of the accident, which supports the theory that it was never supposed to go under the bridge at all (because doing so is in the opposite direction from the ocean), and that therefore it was out of control. The missing piece of the puzzle is how control of it was lost. Nevertheless, coming so soon after the Baltimore accident, I'm surprised that safety protocols weren't in place that were able to prevent this, especially with such an obvious risk (unusually tall ship maneuvering close to a bridge with a lower deck).

Either that, or the Italians must have released Captain Schettino early...

I saw a documentary about him (in a hotel room following a flight cancellation, and so was looking for boredom relief) a few years ago, which argued that he was made the scapegoat for the basically non-existent safety culture within that cruise line. The filmmakers claimed that pretty much all the senior officers spent their watches drunk, shagging chorus girls, or otherwise distracted and leaving the autopilot to drive the boat. Schettino's "he played his ukulele as the ship went down" response to the grounding was a gift to the Italian authorities, as it enabled them to pin the entire disaster on him and, with credibility, cover up the lax regulation, corner cutting, and other questionable practices that the filmmakers claimed was endemic in the Mediterranean cruise industry. He thoroughly deserved to have the book thrown at him, but so did many others who got away with it.

[Randy Stankey]

I think the ship was adrift. It went under the bridge stern first.

Since everybody was in "parade mode," there probably wasn't anybody close enough to the bridge who could get the engines started on time. Remember, you don't just turn the key and press a button to bring a big diesel engine, like that, on-line in ten seconds. There's a whole, big procedure that likely takes two or three minutes, even in an emergency. By the time the captain, his mate and the helmsmen got to their posts, I bet the ship was already under the bridge!

[Marcel Birgelen]

Leo, We'll just have to wait and see what the report says... I also think if it lost the engine, even with the tug assisting, that it still would have happened. The current in the river there moves fast.

It has to be an engine or other kind of control failure, even if they mistook feet for meters, you have to be a special kind of blind not to see this coming. Either that, or the Italians must have released Captain Schettino early...

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Firstly, apologies for the joke above: when I made it, all the coverage then online stated that there were no deaths and only two minor injuries.



It's like the hybrid ships of the mid c-19 (when reciprocating steam propulsion had been invented, but not scaled up to have enough power to drive a large ship at a significant speed), in that it had both sails and engines, according to this.



If that's the case, then presumably there was never any intention for it to pass under the bridge. From these pics, it appears that there is no way it possibly could have done:

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Unless the perspective is seriously distorted in the first photo (it obviously is in the second), the front mast was at least 40-50 feet higher than the bridge deck. My wife speculated that either they thought that the tide was lower than it was (which would explain getting it wrong by a few feet, but not that much), or that they had a figure for the height of the bridge deck that they thought was in meters but was actually in feet. But the ship being totally out of control and there being no intention to pass under the bridge at all would also explain it.

If so, that raises the question as to why lessons seemingly weren't learned from the Baltimore bridge accident a few months ago.

Leo, We'll just have to wait and see what the report says... I also think if it lost the engine, even with the tug assisting, that it still would have happened. The current in the river there moves fast.

[Randy Stankey]

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Facepalm...

[Leo Enticknap]

Firstly, apologies for the joke above: when I made it, all the coverage then online stated that there were no deaths and only two minor injuries.

That thing has sails. "Lost power" == wind stopped blowing?

It's like the hybrid ships of the mid c-19 (when reciprocating steam propulsion had been invented, but not scaled up to have enough power to drive a large ship at a significant speed), in that it had both sails and engines, according to this.

Authorities blamed “mechanical issues”, and said the ship had lost power before the crash, at about 8.20pm on Saturday evening.

But some experts have speculated that the ship’s engines may have been stuck in reverse after tug boats pushed it into position to set sail.

If that's the case, then presumably there was never any intention for it to pass under the bridge. From these pics, it appears that there is no way it possibly could have done:

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Unless the perspective is seriously distorted in the first photo (it obviously is in the second), the front mast was at least 40-50 feet higher than the bridge deck. My wife speculated that either they thought that the tide was lower than it was (which would explain getting it wrong by a few feet, but not that much), or that they had a figure for the height of the bridge deck that they thought was in meters but was actually in feet. But the ship being totally out of control and there being no intention to pass under the bridge at all would also explain it.

If so, that raises the question as to why lessons seemingly weren't learned from the Baltimore bridge accident a few months ago.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I just watched another, much clearer video shot from an office building. It shows the Tug racing to try to get around the front. Ultimately, it was stopped by a piling immediately on the other side of the bridge...

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

That thing has sails. "Lost power" == wind stopped blowing?

They apparently lost control of steering as they likely did not have the engine running at more than idle because the Tug had them, also the tug was trying to get around it into position in the front to push it back from the bridge, but could not get there in time. That river has a really fast current.

[Frank Cox]

That thing has sails. "Lost power" == wind stopped blowing?

[James Biggins]

More seriously, how could it have been possible for the officers on that ship not to know that their masts were taller than the bridge they were trying to sail underneath?

Apparently it lost power while manoevering.

[Leo Enticknap]

Here.

Massive sailing vessel collides with Brooklyn Bridge in dramatic NYC crash caught on camera
NYPD Harbor Unit conducted rescue operations after the Cuauhtémoc training ship struck the underside of the famous bridge

By Alexandra Koch Fox News
Published May 17, 2025 10:20pm EDT

A search and rescue operation is underway after a naval training ship donning a massive Mexican flag crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on Saturday night, sending passengers into the murky water.

Videos posted to social media appear to show the mast of the ship crashing into the bridge just before 8:30 p.m., as passengers and nearby onlookers screamed.

The 150-foot-tall Mexican Navy training ship, Cuauhtémoc, struck the bottom side of the roadbed portion of the Brooklyn Bridge, officials with the New York Police Department (NYPD) told Fox News.

Flags and debris from the ship plummeted into the water below, as the vessel rocked back and forth, pushing its way under the landmark.

All 250 occupants onboard have been accounted for, according to the New York Fire Department (FDNY).

The ship appeared to have veered to the side after passing under the bridge, nearly crashing into a nearby pier before coming to a stop.

The NYPD Harbor Unit is on scene aiding with rescue operations. There is no visible damage to the bridge, according to the NYPD.

"I’m praying for everyone who was on this ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge this evening," New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote in a post on X. "New Yorkers should follow local guidance while our first responders do their jobs."There is no visible damage to the bridge, according to the NYPD.

Sinko de Mayo!

More seriously, how could it have been possible for the officers on that ship not to know that their masts were taller than the bridge they were trying to sail underneath?

[Harold Hallikainen]

The US has also used subaudible tones on AM broadcast and subcarriers on FM broadcast for utility load management. Some utilities have also used dedicated VHF or UHF frequencies for utility load management. I heard of one utility that would give a discount if they could install a radio on your air conditioner to allow for load shedding when demand is really high.

Broadcasters have always looked for "data broadcasting" markets, pretty much without success. The new US digital television standard being rolled out once again is touting its data broadcasting capability. However, I think the data broadcasting market is extremely limited compared when compared with interactive data retrieval.

I believe that in the US, most "smart meters" use mesh radios that then link to an internet gateway (which often uses a cellular data connection). The smart meters typically allow for time of use metering. I don't think they typically do load shedding since a very large SSR or relay would be required. Also, it would shut down the entire load behind the meter and not just some high power load (like an air conditioner).

I think the current method utilities are handling load shedding is very clever. They are giving customers thermostats that have a WiFi radio in them. The WiFi connects to the consumer's WiFi access point and then to the utility. The utility can shed loads by applying an offset to the temperature setting to reduce power consumption by air conditioning or hearing systesm. This is a very low cost way of getting load shedding capability.

[Leo Enticknap]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025...ing-to-an-end/

Powerful programming: BBC-controlled electric meters are coming to an end

Customers are being pushed to smart meters that have their own signal problems.

Kevin Purdy – Apr 11, 2025 1:43 pm

Radio signal broadcasts have their usefulness, but they eventually end (except, perhaps, for SETI). Every so often, we mark the public end of a once-essential wavelength, such as 3G cellular, analog television, or the Canadian time check. One of the most weirdly useful signals will soon end in the United Kingdom, with notable consequences if its transition is not properly handled.

Beginning in the early 1980s, UK homes could have electrical meters installed with a radio teleswitch attached. These switches listened for a 198 kHz signal from the BBC's Radio 4 Long Wave service, primarily broadcast from the powerful Droitwich Transmitting Station. These switches listened to 30 messages per minute, waiting for a certain 50-bit data packet to arrive that signaled that electricity was now at cheaper, off-peak rates ("tariffs" in the UK).

With this over-the-air notice, homes that bought into Economy 7 or Economy 10 (7 or 10 hours of reduced-price power) could make use of ceramic-stuffed storage heaters that stayed warm into the day, prepare hot water heaters, and otherwise make use of off-peak power. How the electrical companies, BBC, and meters worked together is fascinating in its own right and documented in a recent video by Ringway Manchester (which we first saw at Hackaday).

Very fragile tungsten linchpins

But BBC Radio 4's Long Wave transmissions are coming to an end, due to both modern realities and obscure glass valves.

Two rare tungsten-centered, hand-crafted cooled anode modulators (CAM) are needed to keep the signal going, and while the BBC bought up the global supply of them, they are running out. The service is seemingly on its last two valves and has been telling the public about Long Wave radio's end for nearly 15 years. Trying to remanufacture the valves is hazardous, as any flaws could cause a catastrophic failure in the transmitters.

Rebuilding the transmitter, or moving to different, higher frequencies, is not feasible for the very few homes that cannot get other kinds of lower-power radio, or internet versions, the BBC told The Guardian in 2011. What's more, keeping Droitwich powered such that it can reach the whole of the UK, including Wales and lower Scotland, requires some 500 kilowatts of power, more than most other BBC transmission types.

As of January 2025, roughly 600,000 UK customers still use RTS meters to manage their power switching, after 300,000 were switched away in 2024. Utilities and the BBC have agreed that the service will stop working on June 30, 2025, and have pushed to upgrade RTS customers to smart meters.

In a combination of sad reality and rich irony, more than 4 million smart meters in the UK are not working properly. Some have delivered eye-popping charges to their customers, based on estimated bills instead of real readings, like Sir Grayson Perry's 39,000 pounds due on 15 simultaneous bills. But many have failed because the UK, like other countries, phased out the 2G and 3G networks older meters relied upon without coordinated transition efforts.

The valve (vacuum tube) in question:



This wasn't the only time that data was embedded in public radio broadcasts in the UK. In the days before smartphone GPS apps, when standalone "satnav" (as they were called in the UK) hardware was used, at least one system was able to receive real time traffic congestion info and suggest alternative routes: the data was embedded within Classic FM. So wherever you were driving, if you couldn't receive Classic FM clearly, your satnav wouldn't know if you were about to get stuck behind an accident for half an hour.

Still, it's surprising what some of the consequences of phasing out old infrastructure can be. When I left the UK for good in 2013, DAB (digital terrestrial radio) was rapidly superseding all analog radio: only the reluctance of auto makers to put DAB receivers in cars was holding it back. But even there, concerns were being expressed about signal resilience and coverage in more rural areas, just as they are here as a result of AM (medium wave in the UK) receivers not being supplied as standard in many EVs.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Back when I lived in St Charles, IL, there was a nearby Chinese joint that was very good and we got stuff from there quite often. Then one day I was reading through the local newspaper only to learn they were cutting and chopping food right on the floor. Thankfully, they were closed down and never reopened...