Giant Waves
Chandler Howell has a great post about giant waves [link to http://thurston.halfcat.org/blog/2006/10/30/a-hole-in-the-sea/ no longer works]. He quotes extensively from “Monster Rogue Waves” at Damninteresting:
More recently, satellite photos and radar imagery have documented the existence of numerous rogue waves, and it turns out that they are far more common than previously thought. During a three-week study in 2001, radar scanning detected ten monster waves in a 1.5 million square kilometer area. Satellites and direct observations have also established that rogue waves can happen anywhere, but they are most numerous in the North Atlantic and off the western shore of South Africa. In spite of their frequency, monster waves rarely meet with sea vessels because they are so short-lived.
He has interesting things to say about the waves and risk management, and I’d like to tie in my current thinking on breach analysis. The wave of reports about how people lose control of data entrusted to them is rocking some boats, and sinking a very few. As we get more and more data, we’ll be able to better analyze it, and focus our risk management techniques better on what matters most.
Speaking of the effects of naval risk management, don’t miss Nick Szabo on Genoa.