In that week I just went without posting, I meant to post a few items… either I would start writing something up and not finish or (more frequently) get distracted by shiny objects… so to sum up what you missed last week, here’s the quick rundown:

• The train operator in the recent Metro accident was speculated to have been distracted by her cellphone at the wheel.  WMATA eventually laid this hypothesis to rest by stating that the operator’s phone was found in her bag.  (unlike a different Metro operator who was caught texting while driving today!)  Nevertheless, the breath of the unfounded rumors reflect pretty strongly on attitudes of the public towards cellphone use while driving.
• Jeff Goldblum was also the subject of some rumors lately, only in his case they were put to rest when he demonstrated that he was, in fact, alive.  While Joe Biden may also be alive, I hear that stories are now circulating about him…
• Michael Jackson is no longer with us, however.  I had a lot of random things to say about this, but I’ll boil it all down to two links:  the sad and the happy.
• Finally, one other thing died a happy death recently:  my car loan!  After five years, my lean mean drivin’ machine is paid off in full and I’ve got the title to prove it… yay!

(Image courtesy Fox5 / DCist)

(screenshot from Metro's Rail Alerts website)

I’m sure the WMATA folks had a number of higher priorities than making sure their website gave sufficiently detailed descriptions of service delays this evening. Nevertheless, there is something a little incongruous about the description given (a description that was live on the site until at least 7:30). That said, I’ve seen enough Metro incident reports to be sufficiently jaded to say,”sounds like a derailment” when one of my coworkers informed my project of the situation by reading this description. Unfortunately, that assessment was all too correct…