My Brother, Action Hero

My brother rides his bike home from work 5 days a week and happens to ride it directly under the 35W bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed yesterday. Thinking it just another normal day, he got to the bridge mere minutes before it crumbled. There he sat on his bike, wondering if he would brave it, knowing it was last minute. And, throwing caution to the wind, he peddled that Huffy straight under and, arriving home, saw the news that the bridge had fell.

"Had I known," he said, "I would have taken a different route." But that's just my brother being modest; like any action hero making it up as he goes along. Don't be surprised to see him on CNN wielding a bullwhip and fedora with his own John Williams' theme blaring over Wolf Blitzer's voice.

Heh. "Wolf Blitzer."
--Alex Sandell

35W Bridge Collapse Minneapolis

Yikes. This bridge is only a few miles from my house. I've been watching the news since it happened (around an hour ago) and I'm starting to ask questions and beginning to feel pretty panicked.

How was this bridge cleared as safe during the last bridge inspection?

How can a big huge bridge like this collapse?

And then I start noticing a pattern as I watch the helicopter shooting the disaster -- over half the "cars" still on the buckled, broken bridge are SUVs, Jeeps and trucks. In 1967 structural engineers could never have anticipated how overpopulated the earth would be in 2007. And they would have never predicted that the average American would be driving big fucking tanks meant for wars and other off-road experiences in the Twin City Metro Area.

Get these OFF-Road cars the hell OFF the road and "keep America safe!" But the media will never go this direction. They're paid lots of money to advertise SUVs and trucks and Jeeps and other vehicles 99.999% of Americans should not be driving but over 50% are.

So yes, I'm upset. And here in the metro area I can't even get a hold of my family or friends to make sure they're okay and weren't on the bridge -- because all you get is the "all circuits are busy" message.

UPDATE: News Anchors just asked people to stop making calls, unless they're in an emergency situation. This begs another question:

How in fuck's name are we even remotely prepared for even bigger tragedies when a bridge collapses and we can't even use a goddamn phone?

I dunno, this whole thing is depressing and upsetting. I hope everyone I know is okay and I hope for as few casualties as possible. And I hope someone figures out how to deal with new technologies ... such as phones and bridges.
--Alex Sandell