Friday, September 22, 2006

Germans Test High-Speed Train with Real People, 23 Dead

In a tragic story that could only happen in Germany the AP reports a high-speed magnetic train carrying 29 people went off a test track in during a test run in Lathen. 23 people are feared dead. Most of those people were in the front of the train when it crashed head-on with a maintenance wagon on the elevated track.

You can't read this and immediately not think of the Simpsons' monorail episode. Or the time Homer took Bart and Lisa to the Springfield Auto Show and Lisa observes a crash-test video by Fourth Reich Motors--and brings the demonstration to an early end when she points out the crash test dummies are real people.

Hey, those aren't dummies!

Thus far only China has been able to successfully tame and use the power of giant magnets for high-speed transportation. You win this round, China.*

*Someone smarter than me has pointed out that the train in China was built by the Germans.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually the train in China was build by the German company.

Faux Outrage said...

haha, wow. The same company? Well, I knew I shouldn't have added that last part. I'll leave it in so people'll know what you're referring to.

Thanks for pointing that out.