• 15 whales found in a “graveyard”: Over the span of 15 days, paleontologists have found the remains of 15 whales, in just one area of Chile. Some of the fossils date back seven million years. Not only that, but the scientists have also discovered new species, too. “The whale discovery is a discovery of global importance,” said Sol Squire, one of the paleontologists on the project. source

• All the life story rights are vested in this company and we have not yet granted anyone the official rights to the story.
• Chilean attorney Guillermo Carey • Discussing what the Chilean miners plan to do with their made-for-a-movie story. Rather than just letting any one of the guys individually release a book and fight for the movie rights (and thereby splitting the Chilean miner film market), they plan to do everything together, possibly as a massive package deal. The deal would mean that the miners would stand behind a single book and film deal, possibly with a multilevel promotional push that would make Brangelina jealous. We can’t wait to play the Chilean miner video game on our Nintendo Wii. We bet it’d be called “Run Inside of This Room for 69 Days.” Or possibly even a branded reboot of the “Lemmings” franchise. source

• $20 million cost, but goddamn, that was some good TV

• » So, who pays the bill? Well, you would assume the mining company that owned the mine, San Esteban Primera, but they’re nearly broke. So state-owned company Codelco has owned the effort, paying $15 million of the total cost, with private firms paying the rest. Expect lawsuits and criminal charges.

And here are the big winners:

• 3.4 million number of viewers CNN got in the first hour of the rescue
• 7 million number of viewers Fox News got in the final hour of the mining escapade

• 4M pageviews per minute on news sites at the peak of the mining incident
• $7,000 worth of sunglasses given away to the miners by Oakley
• $41Mthe amount of free advertising Oakley got in the process source

• Dear Jon Stewart: Thank you for proving our point that this whole story has basically been kibble for cable news channels.

• KNOW HOW WE KNOW THIS IS A HUGE STORY? Because CNN put their headlines IN ALL CAPS. SCREAMING. CONGRATS!

• Maybe we’re a bit sarcastic and all, but we almost feel like this rescue is getting the coverage it is because it’s a piece of red meat. We’re very happy to see the story slowly work its way towards an improbable ending, but we don’t like the way the media coverage is playing out. The is the kind of story that 24-hour news networks love, because it means ratings (especially if you’re CNN). But this? It’s like baby Jessica fell down the well all over again. source

• 65 days for the drill to reach the trapped miners (whew!) source

• four months the amount of time drilling a new hole to reach the miners will take
• two months the amount of time expanding an existing hole will take source