So much of our lives can be boiled down to numbers.
That's one of the reasons I compile a listing in this blog every day I call 'The Daily Numbers.' It doesn't have anything to do with the lottery, although if you have some winning numbers I'm all ears.
For someone who is - and always has been - horrible at math, I seem to spend an in ordinate amount of time fascinated by numbers.
Today is no exception.
One glimpse at our front page proves that.
It is dominated by three numbers.
106.
As in 106 mile per hour.
That's how fast investigators believe Northeast Region Train 188 (another now familiar three numbers) was going shortly before it veered off the tracks at Frankford Junction in Philadelphia Tuesday night.
The suggested speed limit heading into that curve is 50 mph.
That now becomes the perplexing question in the aftermath of a horrific derailment that left seven dead and more than 200 injured, eight of them critically. Several people remain missing in the aftermath of the crash.
It is believed that the train's engineer applied the emergency brakes moments before the crash. It was too late.
That question now lies at the heart of the investigation - why was the train going so fast? Was there a mechanical malfunction? W as the engineer distracted? Were there other factors involved?
For now seven families are mourning. Others are recovering. Still others anxiously await answers.
And all of us are haunted by three simple numbers.
106.
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