Did the Titanic Sink Due To an Optical Illusion? 166
Hugh Pickens writes "According to new research by British historian Tim Maltin, records by several ships in the area where the Titanic sank show atmospheric conditions were ripe for super refraction, a bending of light that caused a false horizon, concealing the iceberg that sank the Titanic in a mirage layer, which prevented the Titanic's lookouts from seeing the iceberg in time to avoid collision. According to the new theory, Titanic was sailing from Gulf Stream waters into the frigid Labrador Current, where the air column was cooling from the bottom up. This created a thermal inversion, with layers of cold air below layers of warmer air, creating a superior mirage. The theory also explains why the freighter Californian was unable to identify the Titanic on the moonless night, because even though the Titanic sailed into the Californian's view, it appeared too small to be the great ocean liner. The abnormally stratified air may also have disrupted signals sent by the Titanic by Morse Lamp to the Californian to no avail. This is not the first time atmospheric conditions have been postulated as a factor in the disaster that took 1,517 lives. An investigation in 1992 by the British government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch also suggested that super refraction may have played a role in the disaster (PDF, see page 13), but that possibility went unexplored until Maltin mined weather records, survivors' testimony and long-forgotten ships' logs."
No (Score:5, Funny)
It sank because it filled up with water.
Re:Occam's razor isn't something you shave with (Score:5, Funny)
Occam's world must've been very, very boring.
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ptheh. (Score:4, Funny)
Frankly, so many plausible reasons for the Titanic's sinking have been proposed and proved to be plausible that I won't be surprised if there is a time traveling insurance agency right now back then looking into the possibility of insurance fraud.
Re:No (Score:5, Funny)
It sank because it filled up with water.
No, it sank because it stopped displacing enough water to stay buoyant. FTFY
Hello! Nerd site!
Re:Ptheh. (Score:3, Funny)
Well, he made up for it by not waiting long afterward before getting himself off the ship ...
Re:In Harm's Way (Score:4, Funny)
Well there's that and only 2 other things that make up every submarine movie ever made.
Spoiler alert: here are all 3:
1) Sealing of bulkheads with "good" men on the other side. Order must be given with a followup command, "dammit, I know there are good men in there, I'm thinking about all the other good men aboard my ship!"
2) Going deeper than the sub was designed for. Order must be given with a followup command, "I know what the engineers designed her for, I'm telling you she can take it!" Also, the command, "come on baby" must be given at each increment on the depth meter until it maxes out.
3) All silent. The sub turns everything off, except the red light. The sounds of the ships circling overhead are broadcast through the sub. This always works despite the resident onboard cat always knocking over the stack of pots and pans in the galley.
Take the above and add the following accent for the movie:
Russian accent: Hunt for Red October
German accent: Das Boot
American accent: Crimson Tide