The rescue of 33 miners trapped a half-mile underground has grabbed worldwide attention in a variety of ways, from marketing opportunities for Elvis Presley to the naming of babies.
The spirit of Elvis lives
Chilean miner Edison Peña, 34, asked for Elvis Presley music to be sent into the mine so the trapped workers could have sing-alongs and keep their spirits up. So the people who run Graceland, along with the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, extended a special invitation for Peña and a loved one to visit Elvis' home in Memphis.
Celebs a-Twitter about miners
TheHollywoodgossip.com captured a few celebrity Tweets:
Kim Kardashian: Wow seriously in tears watching this Chilean miners getting released on CNN! What a tough struggle they made it through!!!
Justin Bieber: Just found out the miners of chile are being rescued!!! happy for the families being brought back together. miracles do happen.
Missy Elliott: The Chileans Miners will be a Testimony of how Real God is! Such a Blessing to see them healthy and n Great Spirits!
Derek Hough: Bless those miners…Pray pray pray…!!!!
Joel McHale: In Japan this whole mine rescue thing is known as a “Game Show".
Carrie Ann Inaba: SO HAPPY about the rescue efforts going on for the Chilean miners. God bless them all and those who are helping them get home! AMEN!!!
I wear my sunglasses at night
If the miners' looks fashionable when they surface, it's probably the eyewear, the only commercial brand seen on them.
Orange County, Calif.-based Oakley donated the $180-a-pair glasses needed to protect the miners from ultraviolet light day or night, reports CNBC, calling the famous Oakley “O” on the side of each miner's glasses as an incredible branding coup.
In worldwide television impact alone, Oakley garnered $41 million in equivalent advertising time, according to research done for CNBC from Front Row Analytics, a sponsorship evaluation firm.
But it wasn't Oakley's idea, CNBC said. A Chilean journalist recommended the glasses to the miners' health insurer. Oakley donated 35 pairs of Radar with Black Iridium lenses in Path and Range lens shapes for the miners. The glasses have Oakley Plutonite lens material that filters out the UV rays.
They knew the drill
A small Berlin, Pa., company took particular pride in the Chile miners' rescue on Wednesday.
The 2,000-foot rescue hole was bored by a drill made by Center Rock Inc. of Berlin, Pa., where workers paused occasioonally in their daily routines to follow computer news feeds. Lunch was brought in to help them celebrate.
"We still have customers who still need products today, so we're working and we're celebrating," inside sales manager Becky Dorcon told The Associated Press.
Center Rock was founded in 1998. The company's profile rose appreciably in July 2002, when it pitched in during a similar rescue to free nine miners trapped underground for more than three days in the flooded Quecreek Mine a few miles away.
Owner Brandon Fisher, 38, and Richard Soppe, 58, his director of construction and mining tools, spent 37 days with scant sleep drilling the rescue shaft. Fisher's wife and sales director, Julie Fisher, joined them about two weeks ago.
But they were back home by Tuesday night and watching the rescue on television.
"When I saw the first guy looking healthy, that's what it's all about," Fisher told the Daily American newspaper of Somerset. "But the mission is not over until the last guy is out."
Baby, you got it
Hope had special meaning when the baby daughter of miner Ariel Ticona and his wife, Elizabeth Segovia, was born Sept. 14. The couple planned to name her Carolina, The Associated Press reported.
But during a video chat from the mine, that changed. Ticona told a relative to take a message to his wife: "Tell her to change the name of our daughter ... and give her a long-distance kiss!" Ticona said as the other miners shouted, "We're going to name her Hope!"
That's Esperanza in Spanish. Her name is Esperanza Elizabeth.
The ordeal has also inspired weddings, said Carolyn Cadtiglia on her Strollerderby blog:
"Father of two Claudio Yanez and his long term partner, Cristina Nunez – who “proposed to him in a letter sent down to the miners,” per the BBC, plan to wed now that he’s been rescued. Esteban Rojas has promised his long-time partner, Jessica Ganiez, whom he married in a civil ceremony, the big Catholic wedding she always wanted. The couple have “raised three children and even have two grandchildren together.”
From outer space to inner earth
Early in the Chilean mine crisis, NASA sent an envoy of two doctors, a psychologist and an engineer to help assist in planning efforts to maintain the miners' health, nutrition and psychological well-being during their prolonged ordeal, Space.com reported. On Wednesday, NASA hailed the rescue.
"For decades, the people of this agency have learned to live, work, and survive in the hostile environment of space," NASA chief Charles Bolden said in a statement. "Our expertise in maintaining physiological and psychological health, and our technical and engineering experience in spacecraft design all proved to be valuable in a situation that is far from our traditional scope of work."
Japan's space agency also contributed space underwear for the Chile miners, Space.com said. Five sets of the space undergarments, which were developed for use on the space station, were given to each miner to help improve their living conditions while underground. The space clothing is designed for comfort and to reduce odors while worn over extended periods.