6.26.2009

Catoe on Catoe: Online Chat at 2:30

There's no justice like angry Internet mob justice.

Today at 2:30 PM Metro General Manager John Catoe will be hosting an online chat to address questions about Metro's safety.

Will he answer the big, important questions? Will his lawyers advise him not to answer them?

I am currently out of town, in the land of Windy Shoulders, so I may have to miss this chat. I urge all of those in Internet land to attend if you can. See if your questions get answered.

Perhaps we can also administer some type of Turing Test to make sure that we're actually talking to a human, and not Skynet. The NTSB is realizing that Skynet let us down, and instructed the striking train to continue at 59 mph.

I'm curious to know if WMATA had any information about a sensor problem prior to the crash. Track work had been done in that area, and with the volume of trains on the Red Line it seems as though someone would have noticed this problem. Maybe not, though.

Also, Catoe announced Metro would be putting Series 1000 cars in the middle of trains, where they would be less vulnerable. Given that Series 1000 cars make up something like 30% of the rolling stock, it's not possible to do this in every case. However, why was this not already in place, given prior NTSB recommendations? Also, is that not admitting that Series 1000 cars are unsafe? I know this paints Metro into a corner here, but still.

Too little, too late? Or just enough? What do you want to ask John Catoe?

Also, are we still getting NextBus on July 1?

15 comments:

  1. And to think: mat mocked you for blogging about Metro. What a fool he is.

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  2. I'm amazed that a stunningly simple computer problem - keeping track of the locations of a couple hundred trains on a fixed system - could ever fail so catastrophically.

    The investigators said they found that a train stopped at that same point in the crash in a test "disappeared from the system"

    What fucking system would ever allow a train to "disappear?" I don't care if every single sensor suddenly stops transmitting. This should not cause the system to forget about the existence of a train that was there moments before. The software isn't smart enough to, say, raise a major alert condition when a train suddenly "disappears?"

    There is a software developer somewhere who REALLY needs to be flayed.

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  3. AnonymousJune 26, 2009

    i'm amazed that dave is still blaming catoe for being unable to find a non existent solution to solve multiple problems that were created by other people. the 1000 series cars are being moved to the center of trains in an attempt to pacify reactionary, short sighted keyboard drivers like dave, people who probably couldn't balance their checkbook let alone the finances of a multi-billion dollar agency.

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  4. anonymous said...

    And to think: mat mocked you for blogging about Metro. What a fool he is.


    --Um, k.... I still think it's lame. Change the name to Why I Hate Metro And Love The Simpsons.

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  5. Willie said: short sighted keyboard drivers like dave, people who probably couldn't balance their checkbook let alone the finances of a multi-billion dollar agency.

    --Amen. A lot of nubile blog readers who like "D.C. blogs" like what is called "snark." Snark is, by my definition, in an attempt at wit via sarcasm that... makes a small, easy point. It's lightweight shit.

    The blogger's credentials as journalist: He is a former Ace hardware manager turned into low-level IT jockey. There you go.

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  6. Jamie said: There is a software developer somewhere who REALLY needs to be flayed.

    --Take a time-travel trip back to 1977 or so and flay that software developer....

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  7. Mattie, no one wants you here anymore, stop being bitter and go away.

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  8. I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure commenting on the Metro, since it is so imperfect, yet so necessary to so many people in Washington, D.C. actually makes a lot of sense. Also, M@, if it's such "lightweight shit," why are you still reading it and commenting on it? It's a blog, if you don't like it, don't read it.

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  9. M@ is bringing a lot more hate to this blog in his new role. Kudos.

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  10. Daniel--I can't argue w/ that logic, genius. It's shit but I'm drawn to it.... Just like you.

    Oscar--I'll be bringing more "hate" to a more prominent Web site in D.C. with even more traffic. You haven't seen the last of me. Or maybe you have. But I'll have an audience. Don't worry.

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  11. OK, Oscar. You're right. That's the last time I ever comment on this piece of shit blog if Dave Stroup is hacking it up. That's it. You're right. No more. I'm going to go cold turkey. No more reading this shit.

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  12. Does anyone know how to tell if a car is 1000 series from the outside?

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  13. mat's dad is an F-List "actor". Hence mat's dogmatic adherence to the notion that he himself is an 'artist'.

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  14. I still love the fact that anon comments got turned off.

    HA HA HA!

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  15. AnonymousJune 29, 2009

    We like the blog much better now that Dave is giving some Hate to old school topics like Metro and DC politicians.

    If that's really M@, we don't understand why he's giving comment Hate to a blog that other people built and were nice enough to let him post on.

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