Editing 1598: Salvage

{{comic
| number    = 1598
| date      = November 2, 2015
| title     = Salvage
| image     = salvage.png
| titletext = My hobby: Taking advantage of the rice myth by posting articles on "how to save your wet phone" which are actually just elaborate recipes for rice pilaf.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic''}} was a large ocean liner which, when it was completed in 1912, was the largest ship afloat. The ship famously hit an {{w|iceberg}} on its maiden voyage and sank, killing two-thirds of its complement (approximately 1,500 people out of the estimated 2,224 people aboard) in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters ever.

As it sank, the ''Titanic'' broke into two pieces. The ship was lost for decades until the {{w|Wreck of the RMS Titanic|wreck site}} was discovered in 1985. A number of proposals have been made to salvage the wreck of the ''Titanic'' both before and since the wreck's discovery, famously fictionalised in the thriller novel and film {{w|Raise the Titanic!|''Raise the Titanic!''}} There could be a joke on this title as in ''Rice'' the Titanic, even though it would not be possible to mistake the two words when spoken. This comic may play on the dual meaning of the word "[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/salvage salvage]" in respect of {{w|Salvage data|electronics}} and {{w|Marine salvage|maritime wrecks}}.

The general consensus at this time is that the wreck is too fragile to be salvaged intact. Numerous expeditions have been made to the wreck site since its discovery, with several parties (without any outside authorization) taking various artifacts from the site. A popular view is that the wreck is effectively a mass grave and that plundering the site for profitable artifacts is akin to grave-robbing. Most believe the wreck should be left where it is, intact. That said, explorers have already done notable damage to the wreck.

This comic shows a fictional attempt to salvage the two main pieces of the ''Titanic'' wreck, which, as it likely would in real life, garners media coverage as a 'historic salvage'. The salvage seems to consist of several ships raising the hull via cables attached to some sort of buoyant sled placed under the hull (as might actually happen). This is followed by helicopters carrying the hull in unison, again via cables to the cradle (a much less practical operation). The hull halves are then dropped into a giant tub of rice. The entire salvage attempt is increasingly cartoonish and unrealistic, but the tub of rice takes this to another level. Also, the two parts of the Titanic collapsed when hitting the sea floor, and thus could not be moved as shown in the comic. See this video of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSGeskFzE0s How Titanic Sank].

The punchline to the comic references the "rice myth," a popularly disseminated method of salvaging consumer electronics (usually cell phones) which have been submerged in water. (See [http://www.hud.ac.uk/news/2013/november/researchshowsriceistheanswerforawetmobile.php Research Shows Rice is the Answer for a Wet Mobile]). The method entails burying the wet device in a bowl of rice. This process is commonly claimed to dry the device, but investigation reveals that the process is only mildly effective (though not entirely a myth either).

The comic suggests that the wreck of the Titanic would benefit from being dried as quickly as possible, but this would probably not benefit a large ocean wreck. Surviving non-metallic material on board the ship may not benefit at all from drying. Far more ancient shipwrecks are best preserved by keeping the recovered timbers ''wet'' (but progressively desalinated, where applicable), cool and anoxic, at least while conserving chemicals such as {{w|Polyethylene glycol}} are infused into the wood to allow safe and gradual drying without causing further damage. Leather, cloth and other organic remains may have variations on this regime. Thus the rice might benefit an electronic device briefly exposed to water, but is not likely to benefit a ship that has been immersed for over a century, where the interest is in more than merely stabilizing the remaining metal hull and infrastructure.

The title text tells of another [[:Category:My Hobby|hobby]] of [[Randall|Randall's]]. He likes to take advantage of the "rice myth" to post fake articles on how to save your wet cell phone. But the instructions turn out to be elaborate recipes for rice {{w|Pilaf}} - so the joke on you is that you have just put you wet phone into your dinner dish, which will most likely just make maters worse. But people are willing to try anything if they find it by goggling it. It is thus clear that Randall considers the 'rice' method of electronic salvage to be a myth. There are numerous on-line discussions of the technique with mixed levels of success. Critically, where rice is tested against other methods, rice appears to perform worse than other methods. Controlled experiments on this topic tend to show that {{w|silica gel}} (aka the "Do Not Eat" {{w|Silica_gel#Desiccant|packets}} often found in boxes with electronics or pharmaceuticals) is the most effective drying agent, with mixed results for rice. (see [http://smartphones.wonderhowto.com/how-to/myth-debunked-uncooked-rice-isnt-best-way-save-your-water-damaged-phone-0154799/ Myth Debunked: Uncooked Rice Isn't the Best Way to Save Your Water-Damaged Phone], where it turns out that leaving the phone to air-dry may actually be the best solution).

==Transcript==
:[Megan is shown standing at the rail of a ship with a microphone reporting the event shown in the background. A small helicopter and a larger two rotor model, lowering a rope with hook, are hovering over a crane ship with its hook down line going down in the water. It is depicted like a news screen as seen on TV. Below Megan are two headings. The first in a white insert with double frame, and the other written in white over the gray ocean water.]
:Historic Salvage
:Live

:[Four crane ships are shown lifting the bow part of the RMS Titanic. There are pontoons beneath the ship to help it float up. The name of the ship can be seen.]
:RMS Titanic

:[Both parts of the Titanic are now flown by helicopters, four for the stern and five for the bow. One helicopter for each part is a two rotor model. Ropes go from the helicopters down on each side of the ship parts to pontoons below them. Below in the ocean there are two crane ships.]

:[The two parts of the ship is now lowered in to a huge bowl of rice (labeled) standing at the coast just out of the ocean, which can be seen to the left. One of the five helicopters for the bow is missing. For scale there are drawn two trees to the left, and something is parked to the right, maybe a truck.]
:Rice

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]