1. Forum
  2. Usenet
  3. REC.ARTS.SF.FANDOM

  • Forty years ago today

    From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jan 14 00:45:38 2022
    Forty years ago today a passenger jet crashed into the Potomac river
    due to heavy snow, killing almost everyone on board. It also killed
    people on the 14th Street Bridge on its way down.

    Also, a Metro train had a fatal accident when its driver somehow
    managed to get the front of the train on one set of tracks and the
    rear of the train on another, diverging, set of tracks, forcing the
    middle of the train into the concrete divider.

    Those two totally unrelated events were the two greatest mass casualty incidents in DC in the past 99.5 years. And they happened, not just
    on the same day, but in the same half hour.

    A larger DC disaster happened just under a century ago. Like the
    plane crash, and unlike the Metro crash, it was snow related. A
    theater roof collapsed.

    Before someone brings up 9/11, note that the Pentagon isn't in DC.

    Speaking of 9/11, in Monday's Washington Post I read, about the recent
    Bronx apartment fire, "The blaze was the deadliest in New York City
    since the 1990 Happy Land social club disaster, which left 87 dead."
    I emailed them a correction.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gary McGath@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Fri Jan 14 07:47:37 2022
    On 1/13/22 7:45 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Speaking of 9/11, in Monday's Washington Post I read, about the recent
    Bronx apartment fire, "The blaze was the deadliest in New York City
    since the 1990 Happy Land social club disaster, which left 87 dead."
    I emailed them a correction.

    In mid-2013, a popular Boston website posted a map showing the locations
    of murders that year in the city. I pointed out that it left out a
    highly publicized triple murder in Copley Square.

    I also wonder why lists of "largest mass shootings in US history" never
    include Civil War battles.

    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tim Merrigan@21:1/5 to garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com on Fri Jan 14 07:15:35 2022
    On Fri, 14 Jan 2022 07:47:37 -0500, Gary McGath
    <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:

    On 1/13/22 7:45 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Speaking of 9/11, in Monday's Washington Post I read, about the recent
    Bronx apartment fire, "The blaze was the deadliest in New York City
    since the 1990 Happy Land social club disaster, which left 87 dead."
    I emailed them a correction.

    In mid-2013, a popular Boston website posted a map showing the locations
    of murders that year in the city. I pointed out that it left out a
    highly publicized triple murder in Copley Square.

    I also wonder why lists of "largest mass shootings in US history" never >include Civil War battles.

    Or, presumably, Revolutionary War, or War of 1812, or Mexican/American
    War, or Indian Wars ...
    --

    Qualified immuninity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
    https://www.avg.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Sat Jan 29 02:18:01 2022
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    A larger DC disaster happened just under a century ago. Like the
    plane crash, and unlike the Metro crash, it was snow related. A
    theater roof collapsed.

    The Knickerbocker Theatre roof collapse was exactly 100 years ago
    today. It killed 98 people watching _Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford_ <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343710>. It was due to a heavy load of
    wet snow, combined with poor engineering. (For comparison, covid-19
    currently kills about that many Americans every hour, 24 hours a day,
    7 days a week. And yet millions of Americans are *still* refusing to
    get vaccinated or to wear a mask. Sheesh!)

    And it's snowing again here right now.

    Today is also 36 years since the Challenger disaster, which was also
    due to winter weather combined with poor engineering. One of its
    seven astronauts has now been dead longer than he was alive.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)