# Skyscrapers on fire, not collapsing **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 12, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541 "2010-09-12T22:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**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:** [September 21, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/201 "2010-09-21T04:53:57Z")
I don’t know the proper terminology, but don’t short-sales have a “due date”, so to speak? That, if the stock price drops by that due date, you make money, and if stays high until then, you lose money? The relevant question then would be not when the short-sale was made, but when the due date was. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/202 "2010-09-21T05:23:04Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > > [@Cisco](#): > > > > Is there a single other person who doesn’t understand post #153? Please speak up. If I need to make myself more clear, I will, but I have a feeling Mozart1220 is just dodging the point. > > Well, do you expect a 200 years dead composer to get the “calvinball” reference? 😃 > > But yeah, I understood it just fine. I don’t know where he got this idea that anything was ‘unanimous’. I don’t think that word means what he thinks it means. ---
**Author:** ![psikeyhackr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@psikeyhackr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psikeyhackr)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/203 "2010-09-21T05:50:17Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > > [@psikeyhackr](#): > > > > Since it is obvious that skyscrapers must support more weight at the bottom then more steel must be put there. So the idea that the top of a skyscraper crushing the rest since it must have less steel is somewhat absurd. > > It is not obvious that a skyscraper must be heavier at the bottom. In fact, for those who actually know the history of skyscrapers, we are aware that that statement is utterly false. > Each story of a skyscraper need be only as heavy as every other story; that is the whole point of their construction. **So you are simply wrong**. Here is Lon Waters’ site showing the cross sections of the core columns all of the way up the building. WTC Modeling and Simulation > **[All Pages - Wtcmodel](http://wtcmodel.wikidot.com/system:list-all-pages)** It should not be TOO DIFFICULT to figure out how the cross section relates to weight. psik ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/204 "2010-09-21T06:24:52Z")
> [@psikeyhackr](#): > > > [@tomndebb](#): > > > > It is not obvious that a skyscraper must be heavier at the bottom. In fact, for those who actually know the history of skyscrapers, we are aware that that statement is utterly false. > > Each story of a skyscraper need be only as heavy as every other story; that is the whole point of their construction. **So you are simply wrong**. > > Here is Lon Waters’ site showing the cross sections of the core columns all of the way up the building. > > WTC Modeling and Simulation > [All Pages - Wtcmodel](http://wtcmodel.wikidot.com/system:list-all-pages) > > It should not be TOO DIFFICULT to figure out how the cross section relates to weight. > > psik Please respond to post #153. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/205 "2010-09-21T06:31:46Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Please respond to post #153. Hell, just post an cogent thought. Anything. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/206 "2010-09-21T10:43:09Z")
Heck, I’m waiting to find out what psikey plans to do with this data once he has it. Prove the fires couldn’t have caused the collapse? Find the real killers of Nicole and Ronald? Square the circle? What? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/207 "2010-09-21T15:16:01Z")
Well, obviously he plans to prove that the planes impact couldn’t have knocked down the towers. What I don’t understand is why he needs this specific set of data to prove this, since all the video evidence supports his conclusion and there’s not a single person who is arguing this point. It’s like needing to know the temperature of the sun to prove that it rises in the east. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/208 "2010-09-21T15:33:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Heck, I’m waiting to find out what psikey plans to do with this data once he has it. He will set it aside to ask more questions that have already been answered. Truthers think that as long as they can think up questions all possible scenarios(even the wacky ones promoted on their own websites) are equally likely. If they accept the answers given their theories would have to be discarded, and they couldn’t handle that. It’s like a a distorted version of Schrödinger’s Cat-The “cat”(facts) are in in that box, but as long as they don’t open the box and look inside, they think it could contain a mouse or an elephant or a solid gold Rolls Royce. If they don’t examine the contents they can conjecture to their heart’s content. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/209 "2010-09-21T18:07:20Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > It’s like needing to know the temperature of the sun to prove that it rises in the east. Uhh – some of us here believe that actually, the sun stays still and the earth rotates. Like Galileo said, way back a few hundred years ago. (Fighting ignorance is taking a bit longer than expected! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/210 "2010-09-21T18:12:46Z")
You don’t have the phrases “sunrise” or “sunset” in your native language, **T-bonham**? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mozart1220](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Mozart1220](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mozart1220)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/211 "2010-09-21T20:27:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@Marley23](#): > > > > Which reminds me that we still don’t know who **Mozart1220** thinks is responsible. > > He is here to ask questions, not answer them…or to listen to answers provided, apparently. If I knew who was responsible I wouldn’t have to ask the questions. I do not have to know what the square root of two is, to realize it is NOT Five. Get it? And for the record, I do not think, nor have I ever even suggested, that our government planned or carried out the attacks. But Bush didn’t seem to be concerned about Bin Laden, and Larry Silverstien made out like a bandit, that’s all I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/212 "2010-09-21T20:40:56Z")
Just ‘asking questions’, ehe? 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/213 "2010-09-21T20:47:43Z")
> [@Mozart1220](#): > > > [@Czarcasm](#): > > > > He is here to ask questions, not answer them…or to listen to answers provided, apparently. > > If I knew who was responsible I wouldn’t have to ask the questions. I do not have to know what the square root of two is, to realize it is NOT Five. > > Get it? > > And for the record, I do not think, nor have I ever even suggested, that our government planned or carried out the attacks. > > But Bush didn’t seem to be concerned about Bin Laden, and Larry Silverstien made out like a bandit, that’s all I’m saying. I know it is against the rules for Truthers to say what they _really_ think to O_U_T_S_I_D_E_R_S, but it’s just you and me here, and I promise not to tell anyone-What do _you_ think happened, and who do you think might be behind it? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/214 "2010-09-21T21:15:39Z")
> [@Mozart1220](#): > > But Bush didn’t seem to be concerned about Bin Laden, and Larry Silverstien made out like a bandit, that’s all I’m saying. Wait - you think Silverstein made money on the attacks? He lost his ass. Well, I don’t know how much his ass is worth, but he lost billions because of the attacks. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/215 "2010-09-21T21:18:31Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Just ‘asking questions’, ehe? 😛 > > -XT And ‘just saying’. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/217 "2010-09-21T21:25:11Z")
[QUOTE=CurtC] Wait - you think Silverstein made money on the attacks? He lost his ass. Well, I don’t know how much his ass is worth, but he lost billions because of the attacks. [/QUOTE] I suppose it depends on the TYPE of ‘bandit’. Perhaps he (Mozart1220) was referring to a BUTT bandit, since Silverstein lost his ass… [QUOTE=Czarcasm] And ‘just saying’. [/QUOTE] It’s a refreshing position for him to take. After all, Truthers and other CTers NEVER are ‘just asking questions’ or ‘just saying’… -XT ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/218 "2010-09-21T21:28:16Z")
[QUOTE=lenco12] I give one human peanut butter. That human lives. I give another human peanut butter. That human suffers a massive allergic reaction and dies. Does this prove that I didn’t really give peanut butter to one of the two subjects? [/QUOTE] The autopsy would prove or disprove whether either ate peanut butter, and if it was or was not the cause of death. What’s your point? (Maybe I’m missing something here…seems like a total non-sequitur to me). -XT ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/219 "2010-09-21T21:28:30Z")
> [@lenco12](#): > > > [@L. G. Butts](#): > > > > Thermitic material? You mean like aluminum and iron oxide? What article is this you speak of? > > I give one human peanut butter. That human lives. I give another human peanut butter. That human suffers a massive allergic reaction and dies. Does this prove that I didn’t really give peanut butter to one of the two subjects? What if, instead of peanut butter, you give a direct response? ---
**Author:** ![Mozart1220](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Mozart1220](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mozart1220)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/220 "2010-09-21T21:36:22Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > > [@Mozart1220](#): > > > > But Bush didn’t seem to be concerned about Bin Laden, and Larry Silverstien made out like a bandit, that’s all I’m saying. > > Wait - you think Silverstein made money on the attacks? He lost his ass. Well, I don’t know how much his ass is worth, but he lost billions because of the attacks. He had the towers WAY overinsured. He did fine. ---
**Author:** ![Mozart1220](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Mozart1220](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mozart1220)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541/221 "2010-09-21T21:37:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > > [@Mozart1220](#): > > > > If I knew who was responsible I wouldn’t have to ask the questions. I do not have to know what the square root of two is, to realize it is NOT Five. > > > > Get it? > > > > And for the record, I do not think, nor have I ever even suggested, that our government planned or carried out the attacks. > > > > But Bush didn’t seem to be concerned about Bin Laden, and Larry Silverstien made out like a bandit, that’s all I’m saying. > > I know it is against the rules for Truthers to say what they _really_ think to O_U_T_S_I_D_E_R_S, but it’s just you and me here, and I promise not to tell anyone-What do _you_ think happened, and who do you think might be behind it? Did you read my last post, or are you misdirecting on purpose? IF I KNEW I WOULDN’T BE ASKING THE QUESTIONS. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skyscrapers-on-fire-not-collapsing/553541.md?page=12)