# Anyone over 30 who can't remember where they were when they heard about 9/11? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 28, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921 "2016-05-28T20:45:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/41 "2016-05-30T02:49:49Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Well, could be hanging out at home for a few days. Seriously though, a few of these messages seem to be verging on personal insults because someone did or did not hear about this event in a given timeframe. Not insulting. Just shocked and incredulous that someone could be so disengaged from the world outside their immediate bubble. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/42 "2016-05-30T02:50:38Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > I’ve always wondered about the people who were off-grid for some reason and didn’t hear about 9-11. That was my parents to some extent. My brother worked in one of the buildings nearby so he saw it from the ground and started running north and eventually made it home (Kips Bay). I am thankful to this day that I heard from him before the phones got overloaded, because I mistakenly believed he worked in one of the towers and would have been out of my mind. Anyway, my parents were out west on a camping trip and only heard about it when they emerged and saw a paper. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/43 "2016-05-30T02:51:34Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Well, could be hanging out at home for a few days. Seriously though, a few of these messages seem to be verging on personal insults because someone did or did not hear about this event in a given timeframe. The claim was “no one spoke about it”, not “I stayed at home and didn’t talk to anyone”. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/44 "2016-05-30T02:54:58Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Well, could be hanging out at home for a few days. Seriously though, a few of these messages seem to be verging on personal insults because someone did or did not hear about this event in a given timeframe. Some of us are more familiar with this person’s posting stlye. Also, implying that talking about the 9/11 is on par with talking about the Kardashians, is, in itself, insulting. [QUOTE=spamforbrains] I haven’t watched live TV since hmm, I was 12? Better alternatives were invented. I’ve never listened to the radio. I don’t read newspapers, who does? It was not all-consuming for many of us who prefer to live our actual real lives. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/45 "2016-05-30T02:56:37Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The claim was “no one spoke about it”, not “I stayed at home and didn’t talk to anyone”. Maybe no one they spoke to did. I heard about it that day, but couldn’t tell you if it was being talked about the next day where I lived. I don’t socialize a lot - was in class most of the time, so discussing listening to teach talk about the lesson. If you’re not chit-chatting, but talking about work or a project due, it might not come up. > [@](#): > > Not insulting. Just shocked and incredulous that someone could be so disengaged from the world outside their immediate bubble. Some it reads as at least borderline insulting to me. On both sides of the argument. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/46 "2016-05-30T03:00:07Z")
“It might not come up?” It was all anyone talked about for weeks. If you weren’t camping out in Bumfuck, Wyoming, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/47 "2016-05-30T03:12:19Z")
While it wasn’t quite exactly true that every conversation for the next few days was about the event, it was true that any discussion that wasn’t about it was prefaced by saying that it wasn’t about it. Like, I think the first thing I said to anyone after hearing about it was something like “I know we’ve all heard the news, and it’s a big deal, but right now, we have a lab to do”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/48 "2016-05-30T03:21:12Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Maybe no one they spoke to did. Maybe I’m the Queen of England posting here under a pseudonym. > [@](#): > > Some it reads as at least borderline insulting to me. On both sides of the argument. Why don’t you report the allegedly insulting posts? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/49 "2016-05-30T04:03:42Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > I haven’t watched live TV since hmm, I was 12? Better alternatives were invented. If you didn’t hear about the worst terrorist attack in human history for two fucking days, I wouldn’t exactly consider them “better alternatives”. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > I’ve never listened to the radio. I don’t read newspapers, who does? Uh, those of us who like to keep informed about the world around us? :dubious: > [@](#): > > It was not all-consuming for many of us who prefer to live our actual real lives. Yeah, really. Yeah, it’s not like what happened that day was “actual real life”. :rolleyes: Jesus fucking Christ, are you for real? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/50 "2016-05-30T04:21:29Z")
What I don’t get is why someone would come to a site dedicated to fighting ignorance to seem proud of deliberately staying uninformed about things that don’t affect them. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/51 "2016-05-30T06:48:51Z")
I wasn’t long home in Melbourne Australia from the US and fell asleep watching “The West Wing” and woke to see the news, it took me quite a while to realise it wasn’t a plot line. I jumped online and checked in with my email discussion list and in fact broke the news to a number of American friends who hadn’t turned on TV or radio before checking email. We watched it all unfold together with messages flying. The server at the Manhattan campus of St John’s University stayed up for two days. I didn’t sleep until we lost contact when that failed. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/52 "2016-05-30T07:22:30Z")
Like **Thylacine** \*\*, I’d fallen asleep watching the TV, and woke to the sight of the first plane going into the tower. I figured it was a scene out of whatever I’d fallen asleep to and toddled off to bed. Only in the morning did I fully appreciate the horror that had unfolded. \*\*We’re in Australia…happened night time our time. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/53 "2016-05-30T08:04:08Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > > [@John\_Mace](#): > > > > The claim was “no one spoke about it”, not “I stayed at home and didn’t talk to anyone”. > > Maybe no one they spoke to did. I heard about it that day, but couldn’t tell you if it was being talked about the next day where I lived. I don’t socialize a lot - was in class most of the time, so discussing > listening to teach talk about the lesson. If you’re not chit-chatting, but talking about work or a project due, it might not come up. > > > [@](#): > > > > Not insulting. Just shocked and incredulous that someone could be so disengaged from the world outside their immediate bubble. > > Some it reads as at least borderline insulting to me. On both sides of the argument. Um, do you know how to use the quote function properly? Because you put a quote of mine without attribution in the same post that you quoted **John Mace**. If you’re going to quote one of my posts, I’d prefer that you attach my name to it, also. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/54 "2016-05-30T13:38:22Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > How so? Never affected my life at all. You don’t have to be directly involved in an incident for it to affect you. Most of the conversation I participated in was not about a direct link to the events, but rather an indirect one. Lots of conversation around who might be responsible, whether we had other events to fear, whether you knew anyone in the towers or on the flights. Serious question, do you have a job where you just don’t interact with others (or did you at the time)? I noticed in another thread that you have a PhD, so I’m imagining some type of ivory tower or lab situation where you don’t see or talk to other people much. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/55 "2016-05-30T16:07:58Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > How so? Never affected my life at all. Perfect screen name/post combo. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/56 "2016-05-31T16:40:55Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > at least a day or two. I live near -ish dc and my sister could see the smoke from the Pentagon from her office. No planes for a couple of days at all after. I lived inside the Beltway at the time. I remember a distinct lack of contrails in the sky so I was curious when I noticed two planes high in the sky a day or two later. One kept approaching the other until it looked like they were about to collide. Then I realized it was a fighter and tanker performing a refueling maneuver. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/57 "2016-05-31T18:45:45Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > I remember a distinct lack of contrails in the sky… Interestingly, the post-9/11 grounding of all air traffic in the US for several days provided [an opportunity to study the effects of contrails on climate.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrail#September_11.2C_2001.2C_climate_impact_study) ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/58 "2016-05-31T18:51:09Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Perfect screen name/post combo. My thoughts exactly. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2016, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/59 "2016-06-01T01:32:56Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Interestingly, the post-9/11 grounding of all air traffic in the US for several days provided [an opportunity to study the effects of contrails on climate.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrail#September_11.2C_2001.2C_climate_impact_study) I’m back living in the DC area and after work today, I counted how many contrails I could count–there were easily more than a dozen. You couldn’t miss them and there were probably more I couldn’t see due to trees or buildings. The DC area has three major airports: Dulles, BWI, and National, so after 911, the lack of contrails was unusual and a little eerie. And, I believe the East Coast was having great weather–cloudless blue skies during that time, so contrails were more conspicuously absent, than say, on days that had clouds, like today. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921/60 "2016-06-01T02:36:49Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > I noticed in another thread that you have a PhD Ha! :D. Good one! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-over-30-who-cant-remember-where-they-were-when-they-heard-about-9-11/755921.md?page=4)