Free Republic

Friday December 6th marks the thirtieth anniversary of the "Montreal Massacre" - a grim day in 1989 when fourteen female students at the École Polytechnique were murdered by a man known to posterity as "Marc Lépine". Much followed from that terrible slaughter, including various useless "gun control" measures - and the formal annual commemorations that, three decades on, are attended by as many eminences as Remembrance Day or Dominion Day. The men present in that classroom are now in their mid-fifties; the women are not. I was far from home that December and was not back in Quebec until Christmas....

SAFAGA, Egypt - An Egyptian passenger ferry carrying nearly 1,400 people sank in the Red Sea early Friday during bad weather, and rescue ships and helicopters pulled dozens of survivors and bodies from the water. At least 263 escaped on lifeboats, the transport minister said.

The pictures I've seen of this ferry make it look to me like it has had the addition of three or four decks behind and above the wheelhouse. If this is in fact true, the ship would have higher windage and potentially a higher center of gravity as well. this would greatly increase the danger of capsizing in rough seas or strong winds. The apparent additions are not of the same style/design as the lower parts of the ship.