Discussion
LA Times: California sisters among hundreds stranded in Asia after cruise ship halts operations over high fuel costs
"...Carol Larson and her sister, Crystal Lavering, both from California, were among those forced off the ship this week. Larson told the Associated Press she had paid $120,000 in installments for her cabin, in addition to monthly maintenance fees. Her sister purchased her own cabin. Larson said she was promised the possibility of living aboard for up to 15 years. ..."
@fgbjr Stranded in Cambodia sounds better than being stranded on Mars 😂
Almost everywhere on Earth is better than Mars.
https://boingboing.net/2004/01/08/sterling-ill-believe.html
"I'll believe in people settling Mars at about the same time I see people setting the Gobi Desert. The Gobi Desert is about a thousand times as hospitable as Mars and five hundred times cheaper and easier to reach. Nobody ever writes "Gobi Desert Opera" because, well, it's just kind of plonkingly obvious that there's no good reason to go there and live. It's ugly, it's inhospitable and there's no way to make it pay. Mars is just the same, really. We just romanticize it because it's so hard to reach."
@alienghic @fgbjr Excellent point!
I also think about this when billonaires talk about UBI, and I go "wait... you're disparaging people who can't find a job, or are having problems paying for basics, and you're saying you'll be behind UBI in the future after laying off everyone because of AI?!?!"
@ai6yr I've been to Cambodia. They have air and everything!
Future Mars (El*n Timeline): "Hi... we've decided your position is not needed here on the planet anymore... If you can step into the airlock immediately! Okay, goodbye!"
@ai6yr one hundred and twenty thousand dollars
@ai6yr This is a serious candidate for "Most WTF Story of the Year."
@ai6yr Count me as skeptical that the fuel costs were the only factor here. It seems like a convenient explanation for the ship company to cover for deeper mismanagement and infrastructure problems.
Certainly fuel costs have increased dramatically, but that's an expected variable in that industry. It's like being surprised that there are tides.
@mattblaze @ai6yr Also, why wouldn’t they just stay in ports longer to defray fuel costs? I imagine there will be lots of lawsuits in the future, which might not help those women, who look to be in their upper years.
@mattblaze @ai6yr I mean, they could have just shortened their trips for a while, or even just moored someplace nice.
@mattblaze @ai6yr I suspect the fuel is what tripped them over the line from 'continuing to not tell anybody we are fucked' to 'everybody off the boat'. My guess is that the Cambodians were not willing to extend any kind of credit and thus, <kaboom> to the whole enterprise.
Very mysterious. And I wonder how much fuel you use just sitting there keeping things powered? I mean you should be able to revert to "apartment building" based on "houseboating" rules.
@ai6yr Also "retire to a life abord a cruise ship" sounds like some kind of euphemism for hell.
As Samuel Johnson wrote, “Going to sea is like being in prison with the added possibility of drowning.”
not to mention how trivial it is to become a plague ship...
@mattblaze LOL my in-laws are in the land version of a cruise ship 😬
Pretty much it's the world of "The Prisoner" 😬
YouTube
@ai6yr
IMHO it sounds like a classic "we're putting all our money onto growth (or our own pockets)" and will keep robbing Peter to pay Paul until the SHTF.
@ai6yr This abortive 15-year cruise contract is a modest worked example of the "Seasteading" that Peter Thiel & Co. get excited about.
It's also a peek at the fate awaiting the privately funded libertarian colony on Mars that they also get excited about.