MetaFilter posts tagged with tragic

We have all failed Sky

FunkyHelix — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:44:41 -0800

"To Whom it May Concern: If this letter has been opened and is being read, it is because I have been seriously injured or killed by my son, Sky Walker." [...snip...] "I do not want him to be punished for actions for which he is not responsible." Also, because this quoted part is important: "Doctors and teachers in Cleveland who deal with autism begin discussions of aggression with a caveat: Autism does not automatically lead to aggression. No one wants autistic people to suffer the sort of horror-movie stigma that has plagued the mentally ill for so long. But they do not deny the aggressive tendency exists." There are some great links to information in the article and in the comments.

The City So Nice They Named It Twice

WCityMike — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:39:16 -0800

Thirty New York city residents pooled their strength yesterday and hoisted a wrecked school bus into the air to rescue a pregnant traffic warden trapped beneath the five-ton vehicle. Donnette Sanz, the victim of yesterday's accident, could not be saved, but her son was delivered safely at a nearby hospital. "[A] van driven by a 72-year-old man - whose driver's licence listed 20 suspensions - slammed into her. Sanz was knocked into the path of an oncoming school bus, which was not carrying any passengers. [...] The driver of the van, Walter Walker, is being held on charges of criminally negligent homicide. "Walker told reporters that he was driving without a licence because of unpaid parking tickets but claimed that faulty brakes had caused the accident. 'I feel bad, terrible,' he said."

Congo forests sold for $100 worth of sugar

growabrain — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:20:14 -0800

The world's second largest forest and one of the oldest on Earth, was traded for bars of soap and bottles of beer: Logging companies negotiate with local chiefs, walk away rich

granny get your gun

Smedleyman — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 14:26:51 -0800

Plainclothes police serving a drug warrant defend killing an elderly woman in the roughest neighborhood in Atlanta. Perhaps it’s a flaw in the exclusionary rule. Or perhaps “had she been without her precious gun, she’d no doubt be alive today”

Mowgli Music

Smedleyman — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:18:08 -0800

It was that inevitable stomach-churning phone call in the middle of the night. The one we all had been dreading for years. The caller was choked with emotion. His words fell like bricks:

" You heard about Jaco?"

Jaco Pastorius bass virtuoso rediscovered. Photos and sounds and perspectives.