Twoofers Lose To Science, AGAIN

This is the final report on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) investigation of the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 (WTC 7), conducted under the National Construction Safety Team Act.  This report describes how the fires that followed the impact of debris from the collapse of WTC 1 (the north tower) led to the collapse of WTC 7; an evaluation of the building evacuation and emergency response procedures; what procedures and practices were used in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the building; and areas in current building and fire codes, standards, and practices that warrant revision.  Extensive details are found in the companion reports, NIST NCSTAR 1-9 and NIST NCSTAR 1-9A.

Also in this report is a summary of how NIST reached its conclusions.  NIST complemented in-house expertise with private sector technical experts; accumulated copious documents, photographs, and videos of the disaster; conducted first-person interviews of building occupants and emergency responders; analyzed the evacuation and emergency response operations in and around WTC 7; performed computer simulations of the behavior of WTC 7 on September 11, 2001; and combined the knowledge gained into a probable collapse sequence.

The report concludes with a list of 13 recommendations for action in the areas of increased structural integrity, enhanced fire endurance of structures, new methods for fire resistant design of structures, enhanced active fire protection, improved emergency response, improved procedures and practices, and education and training.  One of these is new; the other 12 are reiterated from the investigation into the collapse of the WTC towers.  Each of the 13 is relevant to WTC 7.
October 2008

NIST NCSTAR 1A:  Final Report on the Collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 

NIST Video: The Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Building Fell

Source: Science Daily

Hat Tip: Pirate's Cove

Commentary

I have been in more arguments with the loons known as 9/11 Twoofer (or Truthers) than I care to recall. One thing they all share in common is a blatant disregard for science (even when I walk calculations through with them step by step), photographic evidence, and a severe lack of connection with reality (I mean look at it, these guys listen to ANYONE who says it was a conspiracy of some sort, and ignore ANYONE who says it wasn't, and lays out the evidence).

I predict this will mean nothing to the lunatic fringe who need to believe that there is a conspiracy involved for purely selfish, insular, and psychological reasons (mostly to compensate for cases of severe inadequacy, paranoid delusions, and so forth). I also have a hunch that there may be a spiritual component to this mental virus these people suffer from, it is so destructive to those that suffer from it.

Attempting to show these people the truth is more akin to spreading pearls before swine.