Every so often I read a headline, and my first impulse is to laugh. And I do, and then I feel incredibly guilty and like slime because it really isn’t funny, it’s terrible and tragic, but it still seemed like horrifically sick irony. Such was my reaction to the following headline off AOL:
“Miss Deaf Texas Killed by Train”
And it’s exactly what you’d think: The poor woman was walking along the tracks and didn’t hear the whistle blowing. How she didn’t feel the vibrations, I can’t even begin to comprehend. But she didn’t, and she got killed, and I feel badly for her even though I didn’t know her, but…sheesh. What a headline.
PAD
• 
“A few years ago a local newspaper ran the headline: MAN SLIPS ON BANANA PEEL.
I thought this was hilarious – I mean, it’s THE classic slapstick situation that NEVER actually happens, right? Then I read the story. Seems the man was a pensioner, he fell, split his head open on the pavement and died. How horrible.”
So you could say he suffered from a fatal banana split…
Okay, see, that’s my problem, right there. I should seek professional help.
PAD
>>Okay, see, that’s my problem, right there. I should seek professional help.
I disagree. That “problem” is part of what makes your work so entertaining!
Cheers.
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=EE418016-0667-4C62-9602-0C699962154F
Flying Cow Leaves Two Police Cars in Flames
Probably happens more often than you think.
Probably happens more often than you think
Well, I should certainly HOPE so.
TWL
Sadly the media has no sense of compassion anymore, to them, a shock headline like that means sales….Sickening isn’t it!>
If the media had any compassion, it would have said something like this; “Woman tragically killed by train while crossing the tracks.”
At least that would have at least been saying that this woman died and we feel sorry for her and her family.
“So you could say he suffered from a fatal banana split…
Okay, see, that’s my problem, right there. I should seek professional help.
PAD”
And how insulting and offensive is that to others who have suffered for fatal banana-related accidents?
Almost as offensive as commercials where the punchline is “That killed him.”
How she didn’t feel the vibrations, I can’t even begin to comprehend.
Probably because despite the fact that fact that it’s one extremely noisy beast, trains make a surprisingly low amount of vibrations.
Don’t worry, you’re not the first person I’ve had to explain this phenomenon to. I know common sense says “it’s very noisy, it should make a lot of vibrations.” But it doesn’t work like that.
The main factor in what makes a person feel the vibrations is the “echo quality” of the sound. Trains tend to be in wide-open space, which does not give itself well to creating echoes. Likewise, trains travel on one of two types of rails: 1) wooden rails — which absolutely kill any residual vibrations. 2) tightly-jointed metal rails — which makes one big ballast but doesn’t travel far.
In both cases, the wide-open space and the materials of the train tracks makes it so that a person who can’t hear pretty much won’t feel the train until it’s about 10 feet away. By the time you feel the vibrations, it’s way too late to move out of the way.
(and as someone who has lived near railroad tracks I can attest to the feeling of a train coming down the tracks).
In your case, you were in an enclosed space. Sound waves coming from the train would bounce around a lot in your house, creating echoes, creating vibrations you can feel.
This girl wasn’t in a house. She was outside.
OK, say I’m with somebody. He’s standing, let’s say, maybe five feet from me. If he’s standing by a wall and he screams into the wall, I’ll feel it. If he’s standing in the middle of the room, but still five feet away from me, and screams out loudly, I might or might not feel it, depending on how deep his voice is. Now say we’re outside, and he’s five feet away from me. He could scream all he wants, and I wouldn’t be able to feel it at all. Same distance every time, but whether I feel the scream or not changed based on how close my friend is to something that echoes.
Same deal with trains.
Careful, Peter…you don’t want that Starving Writer guy after you again….
It’s nice that I’m still so beloved.
Sheesh, I mean, that whole thing happened before 9/11. My priorities kinda have changed since then. I just stay away from PAD’s political stuff now (it’s a lot easier now that he’s on the losing side). Even started picking up a couple of his titles (“Friendly Neighborhood Spidey” and “Spike vs Dracula”).
In response to college bound students and the expectations that they be smarter; at MSU it was (and probably still is) a practice to hop the train that cuts through campus to get to one side or the other.
Hey, I go to MSU now. I know that particular set of tracks you’re talking about. Yeah, students still try to hop the train. I personally think anybody who does that is an idiot, but that’s just me.
A viewpoint from the Deaf … I beg to differ- I believe most deaf people had a different reaction- disbelief and in my case, frustration. We don’t think it’s funny but I do see the ironies in the situation.
I’m another deafie. My initial reaction was pretty much, “Another deafie killed by a train? Sheesh, when will they learn?”
When I was a young kid (I believe I was in the first grade at the time) one of my schoolmates got killed by a train. They put up the newspaper article about his death and it stayed up on that wall for years. I think it might’ve still been there by the time I left that school in the 8th grade. It was basically a big warning sign: “Deafies … BEWARE of trains!” Well, my teachers tried to use that as propaganda to make us wearing hearing aids. They said “If this boy was wearing hearing aids, he would still be alive today.” Personally I doubt that claim, but that’s only because hearing aids are completely and utterly useless for me. But I digress.
Once I got past my initial reaction, my next reaction was of sympathy and empathy. I was nearly run over by a train my freshman year in college (yeah, I know, sorry PAD, maybe next time you’ll be luckier). I was heading to a class and had to cross the train tracks. Never saw it coming, never felt it, and if I had not noticed the reaction of the student in front of me, I very likely would’ve never been aware of how close I came to getting smeared into a mile-long red paste. There were no warning lights and my line of sight were obscured by trees.
I thought something similiar might’ve happened to this girl, but as I read the story, I saw that she was text-messaging when she got killed. That changed my impression of the story.
I want to clear up one misconception y’all are gonna have- She did NOT die because she was deaf.
Yes she did. She died because of three reasons. 1) She was deaf. 2) She was stupid. 3) She was careless.
Deaf … well, if she could hear, she would’ve heard the train a long time before it ran her over, and she would’ve very likely moved out of the way.
Stupid … a deafie walking near train tracks. Need I say more? I mean, come on! As a young deafster, I had it drilled in my head … Always be aware of your surroundings, especially if you’re in a potentially dangerous place. That she opted to take a shortcut by walking next to set of train tracks is nothing short of sheer stupidity. If she was going to do that, she should’ve stayed at least five feet away from the tracks at all times. She do that, she’s still alive today with a nice story to tell.
Careless … The pager thingy. If she was not so busy chatting away on that stupid pager, she might’ve been a bit more aware of her surroundings. Who knows, she might’ve actually looked over her shoulders every once in a while, and might’ve seen the oncoming train.
Cell phone/text message addiction is a powerful force. As people who cross streets while oblivious to what’s going on around them thanks to their oh-so-important phone conversation indicates. We need 12-step programs to wean people off these things. Or at least get it under control.
I agree 100%. Those devices are evil and might possibly be soul-sucking as well.
How she didn’t feel the vibrations, I can’t even begin to comprehend.
Probably because despite the fact that fact that it’s one extremely noisy beast, trains make a surprisingly low amount of vibrations.
Don’t worry, you’re not the first person I’ve had to explain this phenomenon to. I know common sense says “it’s very noisy, it should make a lot of vibrations.” But it doesn’t work like that.
The main factor in what makes a person feel the vibrations is the “echo quality” of the sound. Trains tend to be in wide-open space, which does not give itself well to creating echoes. Likewise, trains travel on one of two types of rails: 1) wooden rails — which absolutely kill any residual vibrations. 2) tightly-jointed metal rails — which makes one big ballast but doesn’t travel far.
In both cases, the wide-open space and the materials of the train tracks makes it so that a person who can’t hear pretty much won’t feel the train until it’s about 10 feet away. By the time you feel the vibrations, it’s way too late to move out of the way.
(and as someone who has lived near railroad tracks I can attest to the feeling of a train coming down the tracks).
In your case, you were in an enclosed space. Sound waves coming from the train would bounce around a lot in your house, creating echoes, creating vibrations you can feel.
This girl wasn’t in a house. She was outside.
OK, say I’m with somebody. He’s standing, let’s say, maybe five feet from me. If he’s standing by a wall and he screams into the wall, I’ll feel it. If he’s standing in the middle of the room, but still five feet away from me, and screams out loudly, I might or might not feel it, depending on how deep his voice is. Now say we’re outside, and he’s five feet away from me. He could scream all he wants, and I wouldn’t be able to feel it at all. Same distance every time, but whether I feel the scream or not changed based on how close my friend is to something that echoes.
Same deal with trains.
Careful, Peter…you don’t want that Starving Writer guy after you again….
It’s nice that I’m still so beloved.
Sheesh, I mean, that whole thing happened before 9/11. My priorities kinda have changed since then. I just stay away from PAD’s political stuff now (it’s a lot easier now that he’s on the losing side). Even started picking up a couple of his titles (“Friendly Neighborhood Spidey” and “Spike vs Dracula”).
In response to college bound students and the expectations that they be smarter; at MSU it was (and probably still is) a practice to hop the train that cuts through campus to get to one side or the other.
Hey, I go to MSU now. I know that particular set of tracks you’re talking about. Yeah, students still try to hop the train. I personally think anybody who does that is an idiot, but that’s just me.
A viewpoint from the Deaf … I beg to differ- I believe most deaf people had a different reaction- disbelief and in my case, frustration. We don’t think it’s funny but I do see the ironies in the situation.
I’m another deafie. My initial reaction was pretty much, “Another deafie killed by a train? Sheesh, when will they learn?”
When I was a young kid (I believe I was in the first grade at the time) one of my schoolmates got killed by a train. They put up the newspaper article about his death and it stayed up on that wall for years. I think it might’ve still been there by the time I left that school in the 8th grade. It was basically a big warning sign: “Deafies … BEWARE of trains!” Well, my teachers tried to use that as propaganda to make us wearing hearing aids. They said “If this boy was wearing hearing aids, he would still be alive today.” Personally I doubt that claim, but that’s only because hearing aids are completely and utterly useless for me. But I digress.
Once I got past my initial reaction, my next reaction was of sympathy and empathy. I was nearly run over by a train my freshman year in college (yeah, I know, sorry PAD, maybe next time you’ll be luckier). I was heading to a class and had to cross the train tracks. Never saw it coming, never felt it, and if I had not noticed the reaction of the student in front of me, I very likely would’ve never been aware of how close I came to getting smeared into a mile-long red paste. There were no warning lights and my line of sight were obscured by trees.
I thought something similiar might’ve happened to this girl, but as I read the story, I saw that she was text-messaging when she got killed. That changed my impression of the story.
I want to clear up one misconception y’all are gonna have- She did NOT die because she was deaf.
Yes she did. She died because of three reasons. 1) She was deaf. 2) She was stupid. 3) She was careless.
Deaf … well, if she could hear, she would’ve heard the train a long time before it ran her over, and she would’ve very likely moved out of the way.
Stupid … a deafie walking near train tracks. Need I say more? I mean, come on! As a young deafster, I had it drilled in my head … Always be aware of your surroundings, especially if you’re in a potentially dangerous place. That she opted to take a shortcut by walking next to set of train tracks is nothing short of sheer stupidity. If she was going to do that, she should’ve stayed at least five feet away from the tracks at all times. She do that, she’s still alive today with a nice story to tell.
Careless … The pager thingy. If she was not so busy chatting away on that stupid pager, she might’ve been a bit more aware of her surroundings. Who knows, she might’ve actually looked over her shoulders every once in a while, and might’ve seen the oncoming train.
Cell phone/text message addiction is a powerful force. As people who cross streets while oblivious to what’s going on around them thanks to their oh-so-important phone conversation indicates. We need 12-step programs to wean people off these things. Or at least get it under control.
I agree 100%. Those devices are evil and might possibly be soul-sucking as well.
How she didn’t feel the vibrations, I can’t even begin to comprehend.
Probably because despite the fact that fact that it’s one extremely noisy beast, trains make a surprisingly low amount of vibrations.
Don’t worry, you’re not the first person I’ve had to explain this phenomenon to. I know common sense says “it’s very noisy, it should make a lot of vibrations.” But it doesn’t work like that.
The main factor in what makes a person feel the vibrations is the “echo quality” of the sound. Trains tend to be in wide-open space, which does not give itself well to creating echoes. Likewise, trains travel on one of two types of rails: 1) wooden rails — which absolutely kill any residual vibrations. 2) tightly-jointed metal rails — which makes one big ballast but doesn’t travel far.
In both cases, the wide-open space and the materials of the train tracks makes it so that a person who can’t hear pretty much won’t feel the train until it’s about 10 feet away. By the time you feel the vibrations, it’s way too late to move out of the way.
(and as someone who has lived near railroad tracks I can attest to the feeling of a train coming down the tracks).
In your case, you were in an enclosed space. Sound waves coming from the train would bounce around a lot in your house, creating echoes, creating vibrations you can feel.
This girl wasn’t in a house. She was outside.
OK, say I’m with somebody. He’s standing, let’s say, maybe five feet from me. If he’s standing by a wall and he screams into the wall, I’ll feel it. If he’s standing in the middle of the room, but still five feet away from me, and screams out loudly, I might or might not feel it, depending on how deep his voice is. Now say we’re outside, and he’s five feet away from me. He could scream all he wants, and I wouldn’t be able to feel it at all. Same distance every time, but whether I feel the scream or not changed based on how close my friend is to something that echoes.
Same deal with trains.
Careful, Peter…you don’t want that Starving Writer guy after you again….
It’s nice that I’m still so beloved.
Sheesh, I mean, that whole thing happened before 9/11. My priorities kinda have changed since then. I just stay away from PAD’s political stuff now (it’s a lot easier now that he’s on the losing side). Even started picking up a couple of his titles (“Friendly Neighborhood Spidey” and “Spike vs Dracula”).
In response to college bound students and the expectations that they be smarter; at MSU it was (and probably still is) a practice to hop the train that cuts through campus to get to one side or the other.
Hey, I go to MSU now. I know that particular set of tracks you’re talking about. Yeah, students still try to hop the train. I personally think anybody who does that is an idiot, but that’s just me.
A viewpoint from the Deaf … I beg to differ- I believe most deaf people had a different reaction- disbelief and in my case, frustration. We don’t think it’s funny but I do see the ironies in the situation.
I’m another deafie. My initial reaction was pretty much, “Another deafie killed by a train? Sheesh, when will they learn?”
When I was a young kid (I believe I was in the first grade at the time) one of my schoolmates got killed by a train. They put up the newspaper article about his death and it stayed up on that wall for years. I think it might’ve still been there by the time I left that school in the 8th grade. It was basically a big warning sign: “Deafies … BEWARE of trains!” Well, my teachers tried to use that as propaganda to make us wearing hearing aids. They said “If this boy was wearing hearing aids, he would still be alive today.” Personally I doubt that claim, but that’s only because hearing aids are completely and utterly useless for me. But I digress.
Once I got past my initial reaction, my next reaction was of sympathy and empathy. I was nearly run over by a train my freshman year in college (yeah, I know, sorry PAD, maybe next time you’ll be luckier). I was heading to a class and had to cross the train tracks. Never saw it coming, never felt it, and if I had not noticed the reaction of the student in front of me, I very likely would’ve never been aware of how close I came to getting smeared into a mile-long red paste. There were no warning lights and my line of sight were obscured by trees.
I thought something similiar might’ve happened to this girl, but as I read the story, I saw that she was text-messaging when she got killed. That changed my impression of the story.
I want to clear up one misconception y’all are gonna have- She did NOT die because she was deaf.
Yes she did. She died because of three reasons. 1) She was deaf. 2) She was stupid. 3) She was careless.
Deaf … well, if she could hear, she would’ve heard the train a long time before it ran her over, and she would’ve very likely moved out of the way.
Stupid … a deafie walking near train tracks. Need I say more? I mean, come on! As a young deafster, I had it drilled in my head … Always be aware of your surroundings, especially if you’re in a potentially dangerous place. That she opted to take a shortcut by walking next to set of train tracks is nothing short of sheer stupidity. If she was going to do that, she should’ve stayed at least five feet away from the tracks at all times. She do that, she’s still alive today with a nice story to tell.
Careless … The pager thingy. If she was not so busy chatting away on that stupid pager, she might’ve been a bit more aware of her surroundings. Who knows, she might’ve actually looked over her shoulders every once in a while, and might’ve seen the oncoming train.
Cell phone/text message addiction is a powerful force. As people who cross streets while oblivious to what’s going on around them thanks to their oh-so-important phone conversation indicates. We need 12-step programs to wean people off these things. Or at least get it under control.
I agree 100%. Those devices are evil and might possibly be soul-sucking as well.