Danga - Slashdot User

Misfired artillery crashes into girl's bed-> 0

Submitted by Danga on Saturday April 12 2008, @11:58AM

Danga writes "Picatinny, NJ, the site of the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, whose mission is to conduct research, development and engineering for weapons systems, misfired artillery that crashed into a little girl's bed fatally injuring her cat.

Full story here."
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Estimated $500 million found in shipwreck

Submitted by

Danga

on Friday May 18 2007, @05:37PM

Danga writes "The only publicly traded shipwreck hunting company, Odyssey, recently found a 17th-century merchant vessel that sank with valuable cargo aboard, estimated to be worth $500 million, about 40 miles off the southwestern tip of England. This would be the largest shipwreck discovery in history. Rare coin expert Nick Bruyer, contracted by the Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration to examine a batch of coins from the wreck had the following to say: "For this colonial era, I think (the find) is unprecedented, I don't know of anything equal or comparable to it." An estimated 500,000 coins were found and Bruyer added: "The coins mostly silver pieces could fetch several hundred to several thousand dollars each, with some possibly commanding much more" Another rare coin expert, Donn Pearlman, who is also the spokesman for the Professional Numismatists Guild had another point of view: "It's absolutely impossible to accurately determine the value without knowing the contents and the condition of the retrieved coins. It's like trying to appraise a house or a car over the phone," Experts said that controlled release of the coins into the market along with aggressive marketing should keep prices at a premium. This is not the companies first find. The company salvaged more than 50,000 coins and other artifacts from the wreck of the SS Republic off Savannah, Ga., in 2003, making millions. But Odyssey posted losses in 2005 and 2006 while using its state-of-the-art ships and deep-water robotic equipment to hunt for the next mother lode. "The outside world now understands that what we do is a real business and is repeatable and not just a lucky one-shot deal," Company co-founder Greg Stemm said. It also sounds like the British government wants to dip its hands into this jackpot. Under the terms of an agreement, Odyssey will have to share any finds with the British government. The company will get 80 percent of the first $45 million and about 50 percent of the proceeds thereafter."