How exactly does he steer that thing?
Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
11–20 of 66 posts
Re: Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
#12Criminal complaint: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23937421-baluchi
Re: Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
#13I don't understand why they have to intervene besides giving him warnings. At some point, tell him he's not their responsibility anymore if he refuses again and go do something more productive.
Countless human hours spent preventing someone from doing something that would harm no one but himself.
There are probably good Samaritan laws forcing public officers to provide "help" if they are informed of a situation and no way out of it. A family member that is a cop said to never tell anything in good faith to a cop because then they are forced by law to follow procedures, even if they don't want to otherwise they are the ones getting arrested/fired/suspended.
Re: Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah I was curious what law is actually being broken by doing this? > [US Coast Guard] officers determined Baluchi was conducting a manifestly unsafe voyage," the criminal complaint says. Since when is it illegal to do things that are unsafe in America? Why can I own a gun and fireworks and liquor and gas stoves and toxic chemicals then? > Officials said he refused to step off the vessel and threatened to kill himsel…
The article says he was charged with “preventing boarding” and “disobeying the port captain”. Presumably if he’d chartered a tug to drop him off in international waters he could’ve been clear of the coast guard.
Yeah, that seems to be it. The Coast Guard has quite a bit of power in US waters, and if they see this thing they're likely to investigate. Maybe they thought it was the latest tech from a drug cartel.
Re: Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
#15At what point should the Coast Guard just say "Give us contact details for your next of kin, then go ahead. YOYO."? It's not like they'll be inundated with Darwin Award wannabe's anywhere near as creative and determined as this guy.
Yeah I was curious what law is actually being broken by doing this? > [US Coast Guard] officers determined Baluchi was conducting a manifestly unsafe voyage," the criminal complaint says. Since when is it illegal to do things that are unsafe in America? Why can I own a gun and fireworks and liquor and gas stoves and toxic chemicals then? > Officials said he refused to step off the vessel and threatened to kill himsel…
> Mr Baluchi's voyage began as officials were preparing for the arrival of a major hurricane.
> Officials said he refused to step off the vessel and threatened to kill himself. He also claimed that he had a bomb on board, according to court papers.
> On 1 September, he eventually surrendered and abandoned his vessel after being brought to a Coast Guard base in Miami.
> Officials later determined that the "bomb" had been fake.
> He is now facing federal charges of obstruction of a boarding, and violation of a Captain of the Port order.
He wasn't arrested for an unsafe vessel, he was arrested for everything else it appears.
Re: Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
#16At what point should the Coast Guard just say "Give us contact details for your next of kin, then go ahead. YOYO."? It's not like they'll be inundated with Darwin Award wannabe's anywhere near as creative and determined as this guy.
The problem is that this will turn into another one of those high profile search and rescue operations like the Titanic submersible. The Coast Guard is going to have to spend weeks looking for this dude’s debris under constant mass media scrutiny, wasting untold amounts of taxpayer dollars.
No amount of “he made his own adult decision” is going to fix the optics of not helping his family on CNN begging the state to bring daddy's half-eaten remains back for a proper burial.
Re: Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a generality , "unsafe voyage" is a reasonable thing to outlaw. Morons will need search & rescue on the CG's taxpayer-supplied dime, then maybe need medical care at public expense, too. Plus too-trusting friends & family who are along for the ride on their SS Davey Jones, collisions with other boats, cleaning up the wreckage and oil slicks, etc., etc. Vs. this guy's "water wheel" seems to fairly-mostly avoid those…
> Morons will need search & rescue on the CG's taxpayer-supplied dime, then maybe need medical care at public expense, too This sounds like something adults should be allowed to opt out of. As long as the rest of us can be mature enough to not call for heads when some of them inevitably die, there shouldn’t be moral hazard. (Or maybe you’re rescued but you foot the entire bill.)
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Re: Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
#18At what point should the Coast Guard just say "Give us contact details for your next of kin, then go ahead. YOYO."? It's not like they'll be inundated with Darwin Award wannabe's anywhere near as creative and determined as this guy.
exactly. the idea that they needed to save him from himself is pretty stupid.
dude wants to try to run across the ocean in a hamster wheel? fuck yeah, let’s cheer him on.
Re: Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
#19So a man can't cross the Atlantic in a hamster wheel, but rich people can go to the bottom of the Atlantic? Unfair
Re: Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a generality , "unsafe voyage" is a reasonable thing to outlaw. Morons will need search & rescue on the CG's taxpayer-supplied dime, then maybe need medical care at public expense, too. Plus too-trusting friends & family who are along for the ride on their SS Davey Jones, collisions with other boats, cleaning up the wreckage and oil slicks, etc., etc. Vs. this guy's "water wheel" seems to fairly-mostly avoid those…
> Morons will need search & rescue on the CG's taxpayer-supplied dime, then maybe need medical care at public expense, too This sounds like something adults should be allowed to opt out of. As long as the rest of us can be mature enough to not call for heads when some of them inevitably die, there shouldn’t be moral hazard. (Or maybe you’re rescued but you foot the entire bill.)
Adults who are rational and mentally healthy, sure.
If a person were on top of a tall building wearing a bed sheet as a cape, letting them jump would be a similar moral issue in my eyes.
If this person was warned that he would not be rescued and the next day sent out a distress signal, do you really think coast guard and other agencies would ignore the call for help?