The National Institute of Standards and Technology? Or Rosie “Fire can’t melt steel” O’Donnell?
Conspiracy theorists have long pointed to the collapse of the 47-story structure (WTC 7) as key evidence that the U.S. government orchestrated or abetted the 9/11 attacks. No planes struck the building, and the commonly available views of the exterior didn’t show significant damage. Yet, at 5:20 pm, 7 hours after the collapse of the Twin Towers (WTC 1 and 2), WTC 7 rapidly fell in on itself. Since WTC 7 housed Secret Service and CIA offices, conspiracy theorists claimed that the building was destroyed in a controlled demolition in order to obliterate evidence of the U.S. government’s complicity in the terrorist attacks. “It is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved,” stated actress and TV personality Rosie O’Donnell of ABC’s The View in March 2007. “For the first time in history, steel was melted by fire. It is physically impossible,” she said.
Today’s report confirms that a fire was, indeed, the cause.
Dern, who saw that coming?
19 responses so far ↓
1
Marianne Matthews
// Aug 22, 2008 at 10:24 am
I’ve always admired Ms O’Donnell’s determined stupidity. She constantly makes didactic statements about things of which she knows nothing.
In my early days as an editor, I worked for a manufacturing company which made all kinds of specialized castings for such things as the cable saddles for bridges, etc. I spent more than a few hours up on the furnace platforms, watching ‘fire melt steel’ and do a good job of it. I’m sure many of the commenters on this blog have had similar experiences. Good luck trying to influence the Rosie O’Donnells of this world. It’s like trying to wrestle a pig. You’ll lose and the pig enjoys it.
Marianne
2
Kris, in New England
// Aug 22, 2008 at 11:08 am
Marianne: Well said, though I’d also venture to say it’s like trying to wrestle a greased pig.
You’ll still lose, and it will be messy in the process. Feeding these kinds of trolls only makes them grow bigger.
I work with someone who, until recently, impressed me with her open mind and interesting life. Earlier this week she completely dispelled my notions that she is a clear-thinking professional, intelligent individual.
She blames the U.S. for 9/11. On the surface she looks so - normal. Conspiracy theorists hide among us, waiting to pounce.
3
Jim C
// Aug 22, 2008 at 11:54 am
Ughh,
these people make me so angry (trying to keep it G rated). We all watched what happened on 9-11. It happened right in front of us on TV. For some of us it happened literally right in front of us. Why do these morons insist on tellingt us that what we saw with our own two eyes didn’t happen?
It’s sad that for most of them (like Rosie O’donnell) their idiocy appears to be caused by a deep hatred and loathing of our President.
Jim C
4
Byron Audler
// Aug 22, 2008 at 11:59 am
Damn, 37 years as a shipfitter, and I always thought it was the fire on the torch that melted the steel. I shoulda known it was the CIA….
5
Michael A
// Aug 22, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Perhaps if some of today’s celebutards had spent more time in high school studying or taking field trips to manufacturing plants and less time in doughnut shops (in Ms O’Donnell’s case), we’d all be better off.
6
Mike Myers
// Aug 22, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Rosie O’Donnell is living proof of the theorem that nothing is idiot proof. The Good Lord just supplies a better class of idiots–and she, greasy pig and all, is the best I’ve ever seen in that line of work.
7
craig mclaughlin
// Aug 22, 2008 at 1:03 pm
To Rosie The Crucible is just a really bitchin’ play by Arthur miller
8
Wilko
// Aug 22, 2008 at 1:31 pm
I’m sure Rosie is glad that fire can’t melt the tin foil hat she’s wearing either.
9
SBW
// Aug 22, 2008 at 2:11 pm
A standard part of the firefighter training curriculum is a warning about the dangers of warehouse structures with exposed steel roof support trusses, especially compared to wooden beams. Many firefighters died before people figured out that while thick wooden beams take hours to burn through, exposed steel will get hot enough to fail in a matter of minutes.
For high-rise buildings, the steel support structure is always (?) insulated. Which just delays the failure, hopefully long enough for the fuel to be exhausted, or suppression systems to work–if they haven’t been compromised by they failure of the building next door, as in this case.
On the subject of tin-foil hats, some MIT students did a study of the effectiveness of tin-foil hats at shielding the frequencies allocated to government satellites. They found that not only did they hats not provide effective shielding, they acted as antennas and increased the strength of the signals that would reach the brain.
10 Blue Crab Boulevard » NIST Versus Rosie: No Contest // Aug 22, 2008 at 2:12 pm
[...] Found via Neptunus Lex. [...]
11
Lou
// Aug 22, 2008 at 4:23 pm
“Rosie O’Donnell is living proof of the theorem that nothing is idiot proof. ”
I thought that was sailors
Our city (Charleston) lost 9 firefighters last year in the type of fire that SBW described.
12
DirtyBlueshirt
// Aug 22, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Lou: There’s a huge difference between idiot-proof and sailor-proof:
Idiots are pretty random in their efforts to cause failure.
Sailors work at it.
13
AFSister
// Aug 23, 2008 at 2:15 pm
OhmyGOD…
The South Park boys are incredible. I really need to tivo that show!
14
AFSister
// Aug 23, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Craig,
That’s the best literary reference I’ve seen in a VERY long time.
A most excellent analogy!
15
lex
// Aug 23, 2008 at 2:25 pm
You can download that episode from iTunes, if you’re equipped.
16
craig mclaughlin
// Aug 23, 2008 at 2:58 pm
AFSister,
Glad you enjoyed it.
17
Todd
// Aug 25, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Here’s a technical link on the effects of fire on wood versus structural steel. Pretty telling stuff.
http://www.softwood.org/AITC_eVersion/EN/p3.htm
18
Casey
// Aug 26, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Oh, Lordy, I see that I must be the contrarian here.
First let me point out that Rosie O’Donnell is an idiot. No argument there.
But… The whole “fire doesn’t melt steel.” argument drowns in the sloppy imprecision of the participants. The wingnuts are just so hard-nippled excited to beat down the moonbats that they can’t restrain their own ignorance.
First, did the NIST report actually state that any structural steel members melted?
Second, we need to consider context. Define steel. Then define fire. For example, during the discussions of the Twin Towers destruction some people pointed out that steel melts at c. 2750 F, while jet fuel burns between 800-1500 F. Do the math, guys. Given a jet-fuel-only fire, the conflagration won’t melt steel. That’s simple physics.
The sad truth is that steel facing thermal expansion was the culprit, not steel melting.
BTW, Byron: how hot was your torch burning? Was it run off of kerosene and/or burning office furniture?
Yes, Rosie is an idiot. But let’s keep the real world in mind while we’re beating up on her advocates.
19
lex
// Aug 27, 2008 at 1:16 am
Golly, Casey. At the risk of encamping myself within the wingnutosphere, the point of the whole exercise is that Rosie - and other troofers - triumphantly saying that “fire doesn’t melt steel” is a false syllogism. Dudn’t have to melt steel, it only has to (as you point out) sufficiently alter the building’s structural integrity in order to create the conditions for a collapse.
You’ve got to follow the rest of us on the deductive jump to the finish, pard: There was no conspiracy, 9/11 was caused by a bunch of pissed off Muslims. Just like the South Park kids said.
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