I’ve heard from a few people today who are wondering what to make of the child survivor of the Yemeni plane crash in the Indian Ocean.
It’s not yet clear how old the child is (early reports said the child was 5--and male; more recent reports point to a 14-year-old girl), and This child is now said to be a 14-year-old girl, but we know little else at the moment. Still, it seems like a good excuse to talk about how children fare in plane crashes in general.
The answer: not well,…
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It’s nice to take a break from the mayhem of the moment and reflect on the mayhem of days gone by. I have a piece in this week’s issue of TIME about Eleanor Roosevelt--a First Lady ahead of her time (and ours). I was struck by what she managed to get away with--close friendships with pacifists, lesbians and men half her age, an apartment in the Village, a role shaping U.S. policy on segregation, the military and education, among other things.
I’m not saying it was easy; the…
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If you happened to check Twitter this week you probably saw many reactions to Monday’s red line metrorail crash here in DC. Commuters were instantly “tweeting” about the crash, the horrific commute that night and the following day, and their experiences with WMATA. Couple that with a wide range of responses from all over the country, and Twitter revealed an interesting look at people’s reactions.
Some Twitter users posted the traditional responses:
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Accidents happen. One way to compound the damage is to keep important information from the public--the very people who need the information most. You end up with what happened last night in DC--hundreds of passengers stranded without any idea what was happening. Passengers stuck in trains and stations for hours, hearing regular announcements about a “train experiencing mechanical difficulties” up ahead--not hearing what CNN and the Washington Post were reporting at the same time, about a massive collision that paralyzed the entire Metro system.
A revealing chronology of alerts in the Washington Post today.…
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Horrific story from the evening commute here in DC. One Red Line Metrorail train slammed into another, plowing into it from behind with enough force to launch it up on top of the other train. The Washington Post is reporting at least 6 deaths and an estimated 70 injuries. The collision happened between two stations just south of the border between DC and Maryland. No idea yet what caused the accident.
But it’s already clear that as in most sizeable emergencies, regular people did the hardest work…
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Thursday’s in-flight death of Continental Airlines pilot, Craig Lenell, may have been a surprise to passengers, but it’s not the first time a pilot has died in-flight. As recently as 2007, another Continental pilot died en route from Houston to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. An MSNBC list of other instances where pilots died or passed out in-flight is published here.
Lenell, who served 32 years as a Continental pilot, was 60 and apparently healthy (per FAA rules, commercial pilots over 40 are required to undergo twice-yearly physicals). He died of a heart attack. According to
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Introducing a new, highly portable Unthinkable. Fifty percent lighter. New bonus section on How to Boost your Survival Odds and assorted other updates. More book, less money. Ta-da!
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