The Inside Story of Virgin Oceanic's Mission To the Mariana Trench 93
the_newsbeagle writes "Millionaire adventurer Chris Welsh, the driving force behind Virgin Oceanic, wants to name his sub "Scarlett" after Scarlett Johansson—that's how sexy this vehicle is. Welsh plans to pilot the experimental, cutting-edge sub to the bottom of the Mariana Trench sometime this year, in what would be only the second human descent to the deepest spot in the world's oceans (the first trip down was in 1960). This inside account of the Virgin Oceanic mission describes a team fueled by ego, science, and derring-do, and explains how their high-tech sub could usher in a new kind of marine exploration. The article also tells the story of an adventure on the high seas last summer, when Welsh & co visited the trench to test some robotic deep-sea landers... and ran smack into a typhoon."
Virgin (Score:5, Interesting)
Something I've always wondered about that UK company, does the adjective virgin have the same connotation in the UK as it does here?
Or is it kind of like "I need a fag" means something completely different in the UK vs US?
Do all Virgin(TM) advertisements revolve around the inside breathless account of men penetrating deeply into the never before seen trench or cave or whatever female analogy they can scare up?
Re:Derring Do (Score:4, Interesting)
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/derring-do [wiktionary.org]
Etymology
From Middle English daring to do.
Noun
derring-do (uncountable)
1. Valiant deeds in desperate times.
2. Brave and adventurous, often reckless actions.
</pedant>
Re:Virgin (Score:4, Interesting)
From Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:
The brand name "Virgin" arose when Branson and a partner were starting their first business, a record shop. They considered themselves virgins in business. The current Virgin logo was originally sketched on a paper napkin and remains largely unchanged since 1979.
Of course, that sentence has [citation needed] on it on Wikipedia, so I won't dare claim that it's accurate.
As for its meaning in the UK, I couldn't say. I live on the other side of the pond.