Echo

Christmas vacay is in full swing. And it's good to be here. I actually have next to nothing to write about, as I've been doing next to nothing (kinda the plan all along). Did some christmas type shit, you know.

So I'm listening to this song today, and it got me interested in the title. So I'll work backwards and tell you the story.

April 2006 in Tasmania. There's a mine with 17 guys working when an earthquake collapses the mine. 14 guys get out right away, and one guy is crushed to death from collapsed rock. Two men remain alive, but they're trapped real good, and almost a kilometer below the surface. Both had minor injuries, but were ok.

The two men survived by drinking ground water. The one guy had a muesli bar with him, and they waited a few days before splitting it (although one guy dropped and lost most of his half). Weak. The mine was still pretty unsafe for any rescue efforts, but some blasting was done to try and regain the tunnel, and find the men. Nobody knew they were still alive at that point.

After 5 days, thermal imaging revealed that the two men were still alive. So above ground they were scrambling to figure something out, underground the boys were entertaining hope. The blasting stopped because it was too dangerous, and a small hole was drilled all the way down (about 9cm's wide). Water, food, and communications were delivered. They would be given stuff until a bigger hole could be drilled to get them out.

When asked what they wanted, one guy said that he wanted an mp3 player with some foo fighters music. So along with letters from family, deoderant, warm clothes, and light, the guys got their ipod. And a letter from Dave Grohl. "Though I'm halfway around the world right now, my heart is with you both, and I want you to know that when you come home, there's two tickets to any Foos show, anywhere, and two cold beers waiting for yous. Deal?"

So after 14 days underground, the guys were pulled through a drilled hole, and walked out. They went to the mine gate, switched their safety tags to 'safe', and went home.

Eventually, Grohl was taken up on his offer... And over a year later, the Foo Fighter's released their latest album. Check out track 9.

'Half of the time we're gone, but we don't know where'