Padeye–
I can sympathize…I was lucky…when I was advanced to 3rd, I didn’t get it too bad…and when I went to 2nd, our UoTD was cammies…kinda hard to tack the little metal crows on…but I actually kinda missed it. It did give you a sense of having made it to another level, of being part of a select group. But like I said…some took it too far. I think the same thing is going on with this bonfire. It was going to be…what? 50-70 feet tall when completed?..somehow I don’t think they used cranes and engineers to build the first one.
According the the NEW YORK TIMES, A&M officials limited the bonfire to 55 feet in 1970.
Previous to that year, students had built the tower as high as 110 feet.
Uke
When I first heard about this accident, I didn’t catch the nature of it. (I thought that some people had been burned to death when I heard “bonfire”.)
Then a mention was made of a candlelight memorial to be held. I thought, “Are we sure they can handle fire?” 
I know this is in bad taste, but the recent reporting has caused this to leap from the recesses of my memory and I need to set it free:
"What rolls down stairs
alone or in pairs,
all over your neighbors’ dog?
Great for a snack,
sits on your back:
Log! Log! Log!
It’s Log, It’s Log!
It’s big, it’s heavy it’s wood,
It’s Log, It’s Log!
It’s better than bad, it’s good!
from Blammo!"
To Enright3: If you believe that the bit about New Mexico is Urban Legend, by all means take it up with Mr. Brunvand. It’s his area of expertise and, having been a college professor himself, he would be more likely than most to be familiar with it.
dougie,
I wasn’t trying to insult anyone one, or call them a liar. This just sounded like a story that could easly be told with: “This happened to a friend of mine…” Especially since I live in Atlanta, and the same thing supposedly happened for someone buying tickets for the Olympics.
Don’t take it so personally. I’m not saying it didn’t happen… I’m just amazed that it’s happened both here at the Olympics, and at the U of NM. By the way who’s Mr. Brumvand, and if he’s a professor, should that be Dr. Brumvand to you?
Enright3
Enright: you might recall that a bridge across some narrows in Washignton State was designed and built by engineers. Damn thing collapsed.
I don’t know for sure if that is an Urban Legend or not but I do find it a little hard to believe that University of Texas employees would not know that New Mexico is a state. Criminy, that state is our neighbor. I was born and raised in Texas and my town was only 20 miles from New Mexico. Many Texans have cabins in New Mexico, or go skiing or to the horse races there. I also heard it happened when someone was buying tickets for the Olympics in Atlanta. This is the first time I have heard it attributed to UT. (And researching Urban Legends is a hobby of mine.) Beverly “Sam Houston Institute of Technology” Hamilton
Keep in mind that the A&M students were building a bonfire, not a building. There are no design or building codes for it. It is intended to collapse on itself as it burns rather than have the 50 foot structure fall to the side.
The bonfire structure is more than just a big pipe of logs. It uses a center support pole with four layers of logs leaning on it. The logs are put in place by cranes. The students climb the pile so they can unhook the logs from the crane and wire them in place.
The bonfire is not a bunch of kids carrying firewood in pickup trucks. Building the bonfire is a construction project. Contractors donate the use of the cranes and other heavy equipment, and operators for them. The students act as project directors and as manual labor. They follow a proven design.
Other than the center support, the logs do not need to be lumber quality wood. It is wood that, when clearing land, you would pile up and burn because no one wants the wood.
VV, you were having flashbacks to Ren & Stimpy from the John K. days.
I apologize to Enright et al. I did not mean to imply or state directly that you, Enright, are a liar, or that anyone else is. I freely confess to having read the item somewhere and I don’t remember the source.
Jan Harold Brunvand, as Cecil and doubtless most of the Teeming Millions know, is THEauthority on Urban Legends and has written at least six books on the subject. He is in fact a Professor Emeritus of the University of Utah and this is most certainly his area of expertise.
You gotta remember, people : (BRIGHT) + (FROM TEXAS) = Does not compute.
Anybody who wears hats that are that stupid looking is no mental marvel.
However, “YEE-HAH!” is not an expression. No, it is a tragic speech impediment caused by generations of inbreeding.
So, try not to be too hard on the poor <STRIKE>idiots</STRIKE> Texans.
Is an appreciation of beauty a function of the human soul?
Mr. Bostaph -
Y’all best not be crossing that Red River any time soon. We got posses to take care of varmints like y’all. Jes’ take yerself fur away, y’hear? Don’t mess with Texas less’n y’all wanna be road kill.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Somebody from Tennessee is going to razz Texas? Bet’cha think you know where UT is, right? Wrong.
A friend of mine was at the bonfire when they were building it. He left an hour or two before it collapsed.
A friend of a friend was not so lucky. She was killed.
When the in-between friend told me that she was dead, she added “At least she was a good Christian.”
I asked her if that made it more okay that she was dead, and sadly, the answer was yes. I’m very sad now.
Cessandra
Why sex is better than religion: You can scream “Oh, God” during sex, but just try saying “Oh, f***” in church!
For what it’s worth to bring it up now, I have known some Texans in my time and they seem to be as varied in temperament as people from anywhere else. There are those whom I wouldn’t believe if they told me the sun would rise tomorrow morning, and some I wish I knew better. As for intellect–who knows?
For the record, I was born in Indiana and have lived in Southern California for 47 years.