WTC Building 7

I've been wanting to write something succinct about 9/11 for a very long time.

I had a brain-flash the other day, so I went and researched "building demolition companies" on the web, because lots of people said that the towers were the result of a controlled demolition - others have said that they fell because of the fierceness of the fires weakened the supports, and the buildings just pancaked to the ground.

Lets leave out the issue for the moment that they fell in near free-fall speed.

Another issue about researching building demolition companies has to do with the fact that Larry Silverstein, the owner of the World Trade Center complex, was interviewed sometime in 2002 (for a documentary by PBS called "America Rebuilds") about Building 7, and he said "they made that decision to pull"

"I remember getting a call from the...er...fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, 'We've had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it.' And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse."

Watch him below:

Perhaps I should let Mr Silverstein recant that statement however:

"The Commander told Mr. Silverstein that there were several firefighters in the building working to contain the fires. Mr. Silverstein expressed his view that the most important thing was to protect the safety of those firefighters, including, if necessary, to have them withdraw from the building."

So perhaps he meant "pull the firefighters out" - the trouble is:

NIST and FEMA and Frank Fellini, Assistant Chief at the time for WTC 7, said:

"...We were concerned that the fires on several floors and the missing steel would result in the building collapsing. So for the next five or six hours we kept firefighters from working anywhere near that building, which included the whole north side of the World Trade Center complex. Eventually around 5:00 or a little after, building number seven came down."

So, given that Building 7 was "pulled' (from Larry Silverstein's own mouth) just how long does it take to place all the explosives in a building in order for it to fall into its own footprint, and minimise damage to surrounding buildings?

Here's where my research comes in - according to http://www.controlled-demolition.com,

they demolished the J.L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit in 1998. Here's what they had to say about how they went about it:

CDI’s 12 person loading crew took twenty four days to place 4,118 separate charges in 1,100 locations on columns on nine levels of the complex. Over 36,000 ft of detonating cord and 4,512 non-electric delay elements were installed in CDI’s implosion initiation system, some to create the 36 primary implosion sequence and another 216 micro-delays to keep down the detonation overpressure from the 2,728 lb of explosives which would be detonated during the demolition.

Read that again. 24 days to place 4,118 separate charges in 1,100 locations.

So how was Building 7 prepared for demolition, on the same day? If CDI's 12 people took 24 days to place 4,118 separate charges in 1,100 locations, then to do it in one afternoon would have taken, what, 288 people? Yet, during the day, there was smoke and dust and debris all over the WTC complex. How could 288 people get so organised, research the design of the building, bring in all the explosives, get inside the building (and why didn't they put the fires out while they were in there?), place the charges, rig up the detonators...

It just seems implausible at best.

If you think that 9/11 was the result of terrorists, you're completely correct.

Thanks to http://wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/2210 for details.

Finally, Do It Yourself Web Server / Hosting...

... has a new look.

I was going to use XSitePro2 to develop the new site, and it would have been mega.

However, Google had me indexed. That would have meant a whole bunch of changes, and really, I wasn't completely happy with XSitePro2. It was great and all, but for SEO stuff, IMHO, you just can't go past WordPress. There were just some issues that I didn't feel comfortable with using XSitePro2 to publish the new site.

There are so many plugins and stuff though for WordPress..... its hard to know what not to install! (That's a topic for a whole other post!)

So if you want to get your own website up and running, head on over to Do It Yourself Webserver / Hosting, do the lessons, and let me know how you go.

New DIYWS site to be released soon

Hey everyone

Been working on a new site for DIY Web Server - was hand coding everything, but came across XSitePro - brilliant.

A few minor tweaks needed, but generally, a great "replacement" for NVU et al.

Talk soon

:)

DIYWS

Hey everyone

After months in the interwebs wasteland (read, no Internet at home!) I've finally got everything up and running again.

Do you want to host your own website AT HOME?

You do! Well, now you can.

Free lessons are available at the Do-It-Yourself Web Server site.

Learn all there is to know about hosting your own web site at home. It really is quite simple - you get shown how every step of the way.

Visit now and start serving your own content to the world tomorrow!

See you there!

A testimonial from a happy vendor...

I thought I'd post this testimonial from a happy vendor whose home I sold.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

It's with pleasure and gratitude that I supply this testimonial about Bradley Thomas, at this time employed as a sales person for Ray White Real Estate Maryborough QLD.

I was impressed from the outset with Brad's positive attitude when he inspected and listed my property.

I was even more impressed with his advertising skills and the unique "spin" he used to portray my property on the Internet. The interest and action was immediate, resulting in several inspections followed by a successful sale.

My property had been listed with several other agents for over a year.

Brad goes the "extra mile" to give customer service, and he kept me "in the picture" throughout the term of that contract. I've observed that he is regularly involved in courses and study to further his skills and career.

With his serious work commitment and his quiet confident manner Bradley Thomas would be a valuable asset to any employer of his choosing.

Yours sincerely

Trevor Knowles

Trevor Knowles

Vendor

Bauple

So if you want to sell your home, give me a call!

:)

2nd hand computers

Hi gang

612 ABC Brisbane (@612brisbane) retweeted a message from 4ZZZ (@4ZZZ) today about donating old computers etc.

I saw an advertisement in a local computer shop:
Celeron Dual Core 2.2ghz
1gb RAM
160GB hard disk
Windows Vista Home
$880

That's just the computer - no monitor etc.

There is a certain supplier of good quality parts etc: here's a breakdown on how to build a completely new PC from scratch!

Motherboard: ASUS P5KPL-CM $78
CPU: Celeron E2200 $108
RAM: DDR2 800 $18
HDD: WD SATA 160GB $57
Case with PSU: Shaw Bach-720 $49
LCD Monitor: 19" LCD Acer V193WB $172 ($143 after $29 cash rebate)
Keyboard & Mouse: ASUS Vento KM-63 $24
OS: Windows XP Pro OEM: $199

Total: $705 (including monitor and operating system - the 2 most expensive items)

PC's are so cheap nowadays it really does pay to chuck the old ones out!

I use a 667mhz with 128mb ram at work - as slow as a wet week especially when you load all the latest software onto it - I'm champing at the bit to get my good laptop back! :)

My current desktop (the one I'm typing this on at home) cost me a whole $175 - brand new - case, motherboard, cpu and ram (I had hard drive, monitor and keyboard/mouse etc)

If you have a few monitors, keyboards and mice floating around, you can save yourself a fortune (not to mention a lot of grief) by chucking out the old motherboard, cpu and ram and reusing everything else!

I did, and this PC works like a dream.

PS - I'm available for building new PC's from scratch with parts - case with power supply, motherboard, cpu and ram - you supply all the rest - save yourself a fortune, not to mention your sanity!

Cheers!

"Tuppence a bag"

Hi gang

Amazing how things work....

Just watched "Mary Poppins" - well, just the TV on in the background actually.. wasn't actually watching.... :)

BUT!

Read the lyrics to the next song very, very, very carefully... and keep an open mind while you look back on what happened in 2008:

Mr. Dawes Sr, Mr. Banks and Bankers:
If you invest your tuppence
Wisely in the bank
Safe and sound
Soon that tuppence,
Safely invested in the bank,
Will compound
And you'll achieve that sense of conquest
As your affluence expands
In the hands of the directors
Who invest as propriety demands
You see, Michael, you'll be part of
Railways through Africa
Dams across the Nile
Fleets of ocean greyhounds
Majestic, self-amortizing canals
Plantations of ripening tea
All from tuppence, prudently
Fruitfully, frugally invested
In the, to be specific,
In the Dawes, Tomes
Mousely, Grubbs
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank!


Now, Michael,
When you deposit tuppence in a bank account
Soon you'll see
That it blooms into credit of a generous amount
Semiannually
And you'll achieve that sense of stature
As your influence expands
To the high financial strata
That established credit now commands
You can purchase first and second trust deeds
Think of the foreclosures!
Bonds! Chattels! Dividends! Shares!
Bankruptcies! Debtor sales!
Opportunities!
All manner of private enterprise!
Shipyards! The mercantile!
Collieries! Tanneries!
Incorporations! Amalgamations! Banks!
You see, Michael
Tuppence, patiently, cautiously trustingly invested
In the, to be specific,
In the Dawes, Tomes
Mousely, Grubbs
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank!


After reading that, can you apportion that idealism to any major bank nowadays?
I think you can - if you are an intelligent person that is.

(Upset at that last sentence? - go educate yourself! - then come and leave a comment)

Can you believe those lyrics? They were written (or at least, the film was released) in 1964.

1964.

Now, while I don't apportion any blame to the lyricists or songwriters (the Sherman brothers), they seem to have been way ahead of their time in understanding the banking industry.

Lets forward to 2008:

So many banks went under:

Why? Perhaps it was exactly as the Sherman Brothers wrote about it Mary Poppins:

Lets review some lines from the lyrics:

"In the hands of the directors "

Well, sure - we know that they were the ones who held the fortunes of the bank - obviously, they are the ones to be held accountable. No?

"You see, Michael, you'll be part of
Railways through Africa
Dams across the Nile
Fleets of ocean greyhounds
Majestic, self-amortizing canals
Plantations of ripening tea"

Hmmm - odd investments to be sure.

So your money has gone toward investing in these so-called "hair-brained schemes" (well, hair-brained as far as you're concerned - even if you knew where your money was invested!) but according to the bank - "as safe as houses!" - and that has to be the most ridiculous statement ever.

Back on topic.

Lets take each of those investments at face value:

"Railways through Africa"

and lets see if we can make any money from that.
OK - according to Railways Africa, you might have made some money with that.... :)

What about:

"Dams across the Nile" ?

Ok, so perhaps the Aswan Dam was a good investment too (at the time)

Next! What about...

"Fleets of ocean greyhounds"

Can anyone say "Titanic" (even though it sank before the brothers Sherman wrote Mary Poppins...)

Next! (ok, ok)

"Majestic, self-amortizing canals"

Oh, ok - Suez Canal..... but! Read this:

“

"One thing is sure... our local merchant community doesn't pay practical attention at all to this grand work, and it is legitimate to doubt that the canal's receipts... could ever be sufficient to recover its maintenance fee. It will never become a large ships accessible way in any case." (reported by German historian Uwe A. Oster)

”

(Bold in the above is mine)

"There's your first clue, Sherlock!"
(The above line used without permission from the 1997 film "Titanic")

So lets go back a bit. All the investments that these big banks have made, on your behalf, (remembering that they are using your money) in the hope that they'll make more money (and pay you what they promised they'd pay you, in terms of interest payments) have essentially crashed and burned.

During this period however, they paid themselves huge bonuses on the expectation that their investments would pay off - remember the lyrics: "In the hands of the directors"

So.

Isn't it the responsibility of the directors of these banks to guarantee the investments of their customers?

Apparently not.

And now, taxpayers money is now used to bail-out these "directors".

Does this seem right to you?

Make a noise. Do it now. Right now.

After all, they are using your money!

And they're the ones who have made you lose money!

Are you angry yet?