As if tiny Haiti didn’t have it bad enough, now it has been hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7.0. Buildings in Haiti are flimsy even without a temblor, and many have fallen, with extremely high casualties very likely. Communication … Continue reading →
This year is an especially poignant year to remember 9/11. Each year I write something about 9/11—or reprint something—on the anniversary of this terrible event. Here’s an excerpt from one of my previous posts, updated to reflect the passage of … Continue reading →
Many years ago I lived in southern California in the hills bordering the San Fernando Valley. Every day I drove towards the city on the San Diego Freeway and then back again. Back then the traffic wasn’t as bad as … Continue reading →
This is not good news: Brazil and France disagree over whether any of the debris claimed to have been spotted by Brazil is really from the missing flight. France is saying that the debris located so far is not necessarily … Continue reading →
It was a juxtaposition of two romantic and wonderful cities: Rio and Paris. Who wouldn’t want to take a flight from one to another? Spirits must have been very high indeed on Air France 447 when it departed. The airbus … Continue reading →
It seems impressive that the terrible earthquake in Italy was forecast by scientist Gioacchino Giuliani. Or was it? He predicted one in the general area but not the exact place, and he thought it would come a few days earlier. … Continue reading →
A brief look at the lives of some of the fifty dead in last Friday’s plane crash. Some say that we shall never know and that to the gods we are like the flies that the boys kill on a … Continue reading →
After the euphoria of the Hudson River landing, in which all on board were safe when it made an emergency splashdown, the news of last night’s crash fatal for all aboard comes as a special shock. And this is especially … Continue reading →
Disasters leaving no survivors are not only tragic and terrifying, they remain mysterious. If no one escapes to tell the tale, we are left to imagine how the unfortunate victims spent their last moments. Was the end quick, or did … Continue reading →
The universally acknowledged hero of yesterday, who made the Flight 1549 story one of a controlled landing rather than a plane crash, is US Air pilot Chesley Sullenberger No one who knew Sullenberger (known as “Sully”) was the least bit … Continue reading →
We can’t get enough of this story. It contains the perfect balance of suspense and joyful resolution: harrowing danger combined with rescue from what had looked to be certain and deadly harm. These ingredients are more ordinarily the stuff of … Continue reading →
No doubt you are aware that the title of this post is not a metaphor for a buying frenzy, but a description of something quite literal. At the Valley Stream, NY, Walmart, on the day after Thanksgiving, an employee was … Continue reading →