The operator's sense of helplessness can be worse when the person on the tracks doesn't actually want to die, Tohman said. A trainman he worked with was once crossing a long viaduct over a high drop when he saw a young woman in the beam of his headlight. No suicide, she began running toward the end of the bridge. The engineer hit the brake but could do nothing more than shriek as the gap between train and girl grew smaller.

"She didn't make it," Tohman said. "That just blew that poor guy away."

Harpua wrote:Good story from the WaPo today on how suicides/fatalities on the railways impact the train engineers. Can't say I ever would have thought about that otherwise.

To add: there a numerous anecdotes in the story, but this was probably the hardest to read. Sweet Jesus.

The operator's sense of helplessness can be worse when the person on the tracks doesn't actually want to die, Tohman said. A trainman he worked with was once crossing a long viaduct over a high drop when he saw a young woman in the beam of his headlight. No suicide, she began running toward the end of the bridge. The engineer hit the brake but could do nothing more than shriek as the gap between train and girl grew smaller.

"She didn't make it," Tohman said. "That just blew that poor guy away."

Woody wrote:

Harpua wrote:Good story from the WaPo today on how suicides/fatalities on the railways impact the train engineers. Can't say I ever would have thought about that otherwise.

To add: there a numerous anecdotes in the story, but this was probably the hardest to read. Sweet Jesus.

The operator's sense of helplessness can be worse when the person on the tracks doesn't actually want to die, Tohman said. A trainman he worked with was once crossing a long viaduct over a high drop when he saw a young woman in the beam of his headlight. No suicide, she began running toward the end of the bridge. The engineer hit the brake but could do nothing more than shriek as the gap between train and girl grew smaller.

"She didn't make it," Tohman said. "That just blew that poor guy away."

Creepy article, especially because this just happened right near my house

dajafi wrote:The whole reason I came into work today was to go to Chipotle.

But my boss wants to meet at 1.30, and some researchers in DC want to talk to me around 2... which I'm hoping to push back to 3. I'm not hungry yet, and I hate having to rush eating the burrito. Problems.

FTN wrote:I kind of lost interest in Bill Simmons in the last few years, but I think now that hes done writing his billion page book, the quality is starting to come back, especially in the podcasts.

FTN wrote:I kind of lost interest in Bill Simmons in the last few years, but I think now that hes done writing his billion page book, the quality is starting to come back, especially in the podcasts.

CrashburnAlley wrote:So I recently had my car inspected and it passed with flying colors. Now my check engine light won't shut off. In the words of Tourette's Guy, "$#@! salt."

Bucky wrote:

CrashburnAlley wrote:So I recently had my car inspected and it passed with flying colors. Now my check engine light won't shut off. In the words of Tourette's Guy, "$#@! salt."

Raise your hood and check if your engine is still there. (/Steven Wright)

A common cause of this is not tightening your gas cap tightly enough (seriously). Even after it is tightened properly, it could take some combinations of engine on/off cycles and time for the light to go out.

Otherwise, find somebody with and OBDII reader to check the code and erase the light. If it comes back on after that, you'll want to research what the code means.

CrashburnAlley wrote:

Bucky wrote:

CrashburnAlley wrote:So I recently had my car inspected and it passed with flying colors. Now my check engine light won't shut off. In the words of Tourette's Guy, "$#@! salt."

Raise your hood and check if your engine is still there. (/Steven Wright)

A common cause of this is not tightening your gas cap tightly enough (seriously). Even after it is tightened properly, it could take some combinations of engine on/off cycles and time for the light to go out.

Otherwise, find somebody with and OBDII reader to check the code and erase the light. If it comes back on after that, you'll want to research what the code means.

Thanks for the tips. I already tried the gas cap thing several times hoping that it'd work but alas.

I'm so ready to get another car. Wonder if I qualify for that Cash For Clunkers jawn.

PrattRules wrote:

FTN wrote:I kind of lost interest in Bill Simmons in the last few years, but I think now that hes done writing his billion page book, the quality is starting to come back, especially in the podcasts.

I think I like him best when he's discussing random topics. Obviously, he would fit in really well with this thread. Outside of that, his Vegas columns are always amazing.

TenuredVulture wrote:My check engine light has been on for over a year. It turns out there are two check engine lights--one for stuff that actually should be addressed (my car needs coolant) and one where you have to take your car to the dealer and have him plug the thing into a computer, and they still can't figure out why it's still on so they'll reset it to off and then it will stay off for awhile and go back on again.