sadness

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The Case of the Wrong Way Driver

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 in sadness by Will

On July 26th, Diane Schuler left Sullivan County, New York, on her way home to Long Island. Around 1:30 p.m., she entered the northbound Taconic State Parkway from an exit ramp, and proceeded to travel south. A few minutes later she collided head-on with another vehicle, killing herself and seven others.

If she was driving from Sullivan County to Long Island why did she crash there?

Investigators have since located the cell phone Mrs. Schuler used to call her brother. It was found resting on a barrier just past the toll booths on the Tappan Zee Bridge. Apparently she pulled over to make the call. Mrs. Schuler’s niece spoke to her dad. And then someone left the phone on the barrier.

Getting from the Tappan Zee Bridge to where she entered the Taconic involves a sequence of probable mistakes: taking Saw Mill Parkway north instead of I-87 or the Sprain Brook Parkway south; deciding to take the Taconic south after missing the Taconic’s junction with the Saw Mill; then entering the Taconic from an unmarked exit ramp, before seeing the signs for the entrance ramp.

But why did she turn there?

I have to wonder if she was following instructions from a computer.

The other option is that she intentionally drove north from the Tappan Zee before deciding to turn around. I think that’s less likely than computer error.

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Speaking of Hate

Monday, April 20th, 2009 in liberty, rhetoric, sadness by Will | Comments closed

I really hate that the rhetoric of liberty is perverted in the service of illiberal causes. And I hate this not just because of the hypocrisy of it. I hate this because now that the language of liberty is indeliably associated with those wishing to deny liberty to others, it is relatively simple for all who wish to deny liberty to others to argue that it is in fact those who wish to defend liberty who are in reality attempting to suppress it.

For example, it is well-known that the Ku Klux Klan would deny liberty to blacks, Jews, and Catholics, among others. Yet in rallying people to their cause, they speak of defending their freedoms. Now any who would defend liberty can be discounted as fellow travelers, tarred by association.

This rhetorical identification allows those who would expand their power at the expense of liberty greater discretion. You don’t really want to be like them, do you?

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Bobby Dunbar

Monday, April 20th, 2009 in sadness by Will | Comments closed

I’m listening again to This American Life’s story “The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar.” The story is remarkably affecting, sad, and hard to imagine.

[This paragraph intentionally left blank in a moment of silence.]

But didn’t the DNA test simply demonstrate that Bobby Dunbar, Jr., and Alfonso Dunbar did not have the same male ancestor?

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Lost Friends

Thursday, November 13th, 2008 in sadness by Will | Comments closed

I lost touch with my room-mate from Hampden-Sydney. He dropped out after my first semester there, and I ended up with a single for the next year. We did not keep in touch. I’ve often wondered what happened to him, but never put much effort into finding him. The Internet makes catching up with old classmates so easy that I never bothered to do something as simple as calling the alumni office to see if they knew where he was.

Now I know.

He died.