humans are amazing 39
I realize there’s something a bit lame in just linking to another story in a major news daily, but this one was so good I couldn’t resist.
This story was on the front page of the New York Times today. It appeared below the fold and I reprint it here in its entirety. You can go read the original here.
Also, the writing explodes (action verb!) off the page. I can imagine that this is the kind of story reporters love to craft (even though it’s just pure “human interest”). You have an excuse to show off all your mighty writing chops. But, I am not a reporter, I don’t understand their complicated reporter games, so perhaps I am wrong wrong wrong. OTOH, most of time, Ms. Buckley is writing about homicides, so I imagine this was a nice change of pace.
By CARA BUCKLEY
It was every subway rider’s nightmare, times two.
Who has ridden along New York’s 656 miles of subway lines and not wondered: “What if I fell to the tracks as a train came in? What would I do?”
And who has not thought: “What if someone else fell? Would I jump to the rescue?”
Wesley Autrey, a 50-year-old construction worker and Navy veteran, faced both those questions in a flashing instant yesterday, and got his answers almost as quickly.
Mr. Autrey was waiting for the downtown local at 137th Street and Broadway in Manhattan around 12:45 p.m. He was taking his two daughters, Syshe, 4, and Shuqui, 6, home before work.
Nearby, a man collapsed, his body convulsing. Mr. Autrey and two women rushed to help, he said. The man, Cameron Hollopeter, 20, managed to get up, but then stumbled to the platform edge and fell to the tracks, between the two rails.
The headlights of the No. 1 train appeared. “I had to make a split decision,” Mr. Autrey said.
So he made one, and leapt.
Mr. Autrey lay on Mr. Hollopeter, his heart pounding, pressing him down in a space roughly a foot deep. The train’s brakes screeched, but it could not stop in time.
Five cars rolled overhead before the train stopped, the cars passing inches from his head, smudging his blue knit cap with grease. Mr. Autrey heard onlookers’ screams. “We’re O.K. down here,” he yelled, “but I’ve got two daughters up there. Let them know their father’s O.K.” He heard cries of wonder, and applause.
Power was cut, and workers got them out. Mr. Hollopeter, a student at the New York Film Academy, was taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. He had only bumps and bruises, said his grandfather, Jeff Friedman. The police said it appeared that Mr. Hollopeter had suffered a seizure.
Mr. Autrey refused medical help, because, he said, nothing was wrong. He did visit Mr. Hollopeter in the hospital before heading to his night shift. “I don’t feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help,” Mr. Autrey said. “I did what I felt was right.”
I wonder if in the coming days various politicians will attempt to capitalize on this man’s heroism. Gee, I wonder.
But it wouldn’t be the New York Times without some fabulous corrections too. Here’s my favorite of the day:
An article in Business Day on Saturday about possible ways to curb sharp increases in executive pay misstated the percentage increase in the value of a pension for Lee R. Raymond, the former chief executive for Exxon Mobil, because of bonuses from 2003 to 2005. It was a 50 percent increase, to $98.4 million from just under $66 million — not 33 percent.
There were also a couple of my favorite sub-category of corrections, obituary corrections. For people whose obits which were “in the can” ages before they died. About events that occurred years ago. And yet there are still corrections to make (the second correction doesn’t fit in that category, but it was paired with the first):
An obituary on Thursday about former President Gerald R. Ford misstated his relationship to the three brothers with whom he was raised. They were his half-brothers, not his stepbrothers.•
An article on Saturday about mourning for Mr. Ford in Palm Dessert, Calif., misstated the year he moved there after leaving the White House. It was 1977, not 1976.
best work of electronic art I've ever seen: "Bright Nights" 48
It’s a work of art by Tord Boontje (and probably other uncredited people). It also happens to be a product placement for Target. This article has a good picture of the piece. Just in case that goes away, here’s what the picture looks like:
Here’s some video. That gives you a better sense of it. We’re staying in NYC for the week and in Union Square, there is this magnificent piece. It’s like crack for kids. Amira could spend hours just wandering around, delighted by the lights, stunned by the crowds, amazed at the spectacle.
If I had a touch screen, it would be neat to clone this app for the Mac. Perhaps you could do it with the mouse or gestures with an iSight. But that still wouldn’t be as cool.
Part of the joy of it is the collective experience of a crowd of people exploring this bit o’ magic in the midst of the city. Watching children lose their minds is also fun. And then there’s the fact that the interface just works—it’s up to you to figure out what it does. You walk through one of the squares, the piece reacts to you, and your (well, at least, my) initial reaction if just silly happiness. Then you start to wonder how it works, what makes each square different, etc. And it works on many layers. But the social aspect of it, in all its “brick and mortar” glory, is the best part.
Unfortunately, tomorrow is its last day. Perhaps it’ll move elsewhere or be back next year.