Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Quick Hits

Maybe not worthy of a full post on their own, but little bits I've noticed.

Remember the constant bleating from the Troofers about how the FEMA report on the building collapses says regarding WTC-7 that "the best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence? They never quote the whole paragraph that's from:

"The loss of the east penthouse on the videotape suggests that the collapse event was initiated by the loss of structural integrity in one of the transfer systems. Losee of structural integrity was likely a result of weakening caused by fires on the 5th to 7th floors. The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to collapse remain unknown at this time. Although the diesel fuel on the premises contained massive potential energy, the best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence. Further research, investigation, and analyses are needed to resolve this issue."


And as we have noted, low probability events occur all the time.

Pyroclastic Flows? Richard Gage and others are very fond of the term "pyroclastic" flows, and in their minds they are referring to the cauliflower-like shape of the dust clouds. But the dictionary defines "pyroclastic" as "Composed chiefly of rock fragments of volcanic origin." Unless Mr Gage is claiming that volcanoes brought down the towers, I think he needs to stick to "cauliflower-like".

Dylan is apparently in Jolly Olde England for the English premiere of his film. His itinerary is posted here with some amusing comments, although for the record I think the trashing of Dylan's ordering a Guinness is a bit over the top.