14 comments

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  homofascist

  9 months ago

  Great. He was gay and texting with two 14 year old boys. I can only imagine how that will be spun. At least Mark Foley didn't kill 24 people.
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  rptrcub

  9 months ago

  That must mean that commuter trains are toooootally gay. Even though many of them don't have proper cabooses. (cabeese?)
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  KurtGodel

  9 months ago

  The LA Times is reporting that the kids were "train aficionados." We'll see.
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  Cynica

  9 months ago

  I think it's more "Trainspotting" than "Cruising."
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  blogenfreude

  9 months ago

  Every day I see wage slaves crossing Manhattan streets as they send email on their Blackberrys. Soon one of them will win a Darwin Award for making the ultimate sacrifice for their firm.
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  SanFranLefty

  9 months ago

  He wasn't gay, really? I thought he was just a big nerd. I think that the crash had more to do with the fact that he'd worked 24 hours in the past 30 hours as a subcontractor . Though I only wish the Cal. PUC order would apply to Muni bus drivers in S.F.
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  Tommmcatt_For_A_Muse_Of_Fire

  9 months ago

  @Kurt
  
  Dude, I was TOTALLY into running trains at their age...
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  redmanlaw

  9 months ago

  I think we were all waiting for that one, our trigger fingers itchy, wondering if we ourselves could craft and send it properly . . . TC + 1
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  JNOV

  9 months ago

  Alls they had to do was install some sort of switch endorsed by the NTSB that prevents trains from running red signals and slamming into each other. The Acela has them. But, no, the switches are too expensive, and when you do the cost-benefit analysis, the projected payout for lawsuits is still cheaper than the amount of money needed to install the switches.
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  rptrcub

  9 months ago

  It hearkens back to the day when the evil, evil railroad companies would do stupid shit like this back in the late 19th/early 20th centuries (stemming arguments for nationalization). CSX/Union Pacific/CN Rail/Norfolk Southern/etc. would have to pay for it, since they own the lines (correct me if I'm wrong, pls, about who actually owns the rail infrastructure upon which Metrolink runs).
  
  BTW, bewbie hugs!
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  JNOV

  9 months ago

  @sweetcubbielove: Bewbie hugs indeed! It's been too long, and my nerves are frayed. But you, sweet darling, fill my heart with joy.
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  flippin

  9 months ago

  A friend of a friend was injured in that accident. Last I heard she was brought out of her medically-induced coma because the swelling on her brain had gone down and now faces two surgeries to reconstruct her ankle and skin grafts for burns. Please send your thoughts to FSM/Community Organizer in Sky on behalf of Racheal.
  
  @jnov and rptrcub: The disaster-prone Chicago Transit Auth. still has manual switches and signals too because of expense. It's not just the 19th century graft we're facing, it's 19th century equipment and technology.
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  Cynica

  9 months ago

  @SFL: Last fall, I took a Salisbury city bus out to Stonehenge. ON the return trip, the bus driver, while speeding down narrow English roads, was having a screaming fight with his girlfriend on the cell phone, accusing her of cheating: "I saw you with him at the pub, you slag!" As we took the roundabout, without slowing to see what was there, at about 60 mph, the passengers were practically clinging to each other and saying their final prayers.
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  SanFranLefty

  9 months ago

  @Flippin: Shit, girl. Scary stuff. Sending my good St. Francis karma down south.
  @Cynica: Yeah, that sounds about like riding Muni. Substitute "Power Exchange" for pub and "ho" for slag, and make no assumptions re: the gender of the driver or the person on the other line.
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