h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just a rant. This'll teach me to watch the discovery channel. Anyway, I saw a doccumentary about the development of rescue techniques at sea and something struck me. For nearly every great sea accident, the technology was available to lessen the loss of life, and just wasn't instigate for that old cost factor. Specific example that annoyed me was the Piper Alpha oil platform. Covered, fast launching and self righting lifeboats (Specifdically designed for oil rigs) were available at the time, but were conisdered too expensive for installation. Only after the platform exploded did teh companys install them. This is a constant trend and in my mind, is one reason why humanity sucks.