freakin awesome

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i'm sorry to just post a link here and not ask a question, but this is freakin amazing:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/485218p-408507c.html

Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 12:22 (seventeen years ago) link

that is very awesome!

lexpretend (lexpretend), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 12:37 (seventeen years ago) link

"Am I dead?" Hollopeter asked, according to the man who saved his life. "Am I dead?"

Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 12:47 (seventeen years ago) link

OK. Wow. That's amazing. What a decision to have to make.

ailsa_xx (ailsa_xx), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 12:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Knowing a train was likely to pull into the station at any moment

So if there wasn't a train immediately in sight, was there no way that incoming trains could be halted or the power to the lines switched off, instead of just diving on top of the guy?

I mean, it's fantastic that he took the decision to act swiftly and try and save him, but it must have been very traumatic for his two young daughters to think their Dad had just been killed under a train.

C J (C J), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 12:59 (seventeen years ago) link

that is cool./

wogan lenin (doglatin), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 13:39 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow. That guy should get some type of hero grant from the government and never have to work another day in his life.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 16:35 (seventeen years ago) link

whoa
i guess he was really confident about the amount of clearance underneath the train.

false cat (sleep), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 16:42 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/851-subway_autreySmile.JPG

amazing

urghonomic (gcannon), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 16:43 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes, especially with his big giant balls of steel getting in the way!

xpost

onimo (nu_onimo), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 16:46 (seventeen years ago) link

I think about that all the time!! "If there's no side clearance, could I get in the middle?" I guess at least on the IRT you're okay!

Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 16:55 (seventeen years ago) link

If that was the Simpsons, guy would go "whew" and rest leg by standing on rail.

M Grout (Mark Grout), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 16:56 (seventeen years ago) link

I also think abt this quite a lot because of a Roald Dahl short story where some kid gets tied to a train track by bullies and wiggles his head enough to clear some gravel between the track, so the train goes over him. (I forget how he gets free but I guess that's a secondary issue)

Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 16:59 (seventeen years ago) link

in chicago they have steel plates attached to the front of the trains to act as snow plows. clearance is roughly 6".

otto midnight has a pudding problem (otto midnight), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 17:02 (seventeen years ago) link

So in Chicago my meager tit-allottment will finally be a plus.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 17:30 (seventeen years ago) link

Not to mention the sad asslessness.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 17:31 (seventeen years ago) link

So if there wasn't a train immediately in sight, was there no way that incoming trains could be halted or the power to the lines switched off, instead of just diving on top of the guy?

You can actually see the next station up at this stop, so he might've seen it sitting there getting passengers. It's unclear from the story but it obviously happened within a very quick amount of time so presumably the lights were visible from the next station up. And with that amount of time, no, I would not believe they'd be able to stop the oncoming train--someone would have to go find a station manager or a subway cop, which is next to impossible on the upper reaches of the 1, for starters...

Allyzay heard you got beat up in a club. (Allyzay Eisenschefter), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 17:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Fergal, that was probably the first short story I've ever loved! It's called 'The Swan', and features what was a regular theme in Dahl: the seamless swerve from horrifying realism into (if you think about it equally horrifying) supernatural fantasy. He gets free when the bullies cut him free and tie a dead swan to his back, make him climb a tree and shoot him. He falls out of the tree but somehow flies home, using the swan's wings, before dying in the arms of his mother. It's an incredibly good story.

Comrades, meet Tildo Durd (Scourage), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 17:37 (seventeen years ago) link

yes, my asslessness would also be a plus in this situation but there's no way my melonhead squash would fit between train and tie.

otto midnight has a pudding problem (otto midnight), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 17:41 (seventeen years ago) link

beth, tit-allotment is cracking me up.

emsk ( emsk ), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 17:43 (seventeen years ago) link

that story freaked the SHIT out of me as a kid. (xxp)

a mediocre black-and-white cookie in a cellophane wrapper (hanks1ockli), Wednesday, 3 January 2007 17:46 (seventeen years ago) link


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