9/11, eight years later

Anyone watched "102 Minutes that Changed America" on the History Channel. We just did. Chilling stuff. I feel bad for these 9-1-1 dispatchers that were telling people in the towers, "Stuff towels in the door jambs and stay where you are. Help is on the way."

 

Perhaps some of the long-timers can confirm, but it's my understanding that the old teletype machines had three bells - I think - to alert breaking news.

If we were still using that technology, my guess is it would have been like an alarm clock that wouldn't shut off for days.

 

The book "102 Minutes" was incredible.

 

Watched it too. It's even more chilling, I think, because there's no narration. By now we know the big picture of what was happening, but watching it happen the way the people were, not knowing what's going on then realizing the disaster that's taking place. There was that couple that had several videos throughout it. After the South Tower collapsed she tells her husband that she thinks it's gone. He says it's probably just all the smoke from the other one. Then she says, no, it's gone. And shortly later, the North Tower's gone too.

 

Re-air at 1 a.m. EST

 

"Maybe its just chairs falling out of the windows." I looked at my girlfriend and said, "If that's gonna' help her sleep at night..."

They did another 30 minute documentary interviewing the people who supplied the videos and actually interviewed that girl. SHe admitted that she knew damn well it was people jumping but was in denial.

 

Reading those AP alerts just gave me chills, as did the A&M photo. Oddly enough, I was near DC and in NYC today. Just...a weird feeling.

Here's Stewart's return to the airwaves. It's my "favorite" (really can't figure out a better way to say it) of these.

http://www.tvkon.com/clip-50.html

 

Agreed. If your options are (a) a bunch of hero passengers re-claimed the cockpit and crashed the plane and (b) the United States Air Force shot down this plane you're taking the former every time. Even if it would have been completely justified to do so, I'd bet any money there would be lawsuits out the ass if it was ever proven to be true.

 

Oh c'mon. This is not an irrational stance.

Katrina wiped out a major American city and sent an entire region of the United States into a reeling mess. It exposed the underlying poverty of our nation to the world. Politically it brought the GOP to its knees and the destruction left in its wake was much larger than that of 9-11.

And I still maintain the economic collapse trumps both. History will prove me right.

 

Well, congratulations. Like others have said, what is the need to rank tragedies? 9/11 was horrible. Katrina was horrible. The financial collapse was/is horrible. And all for reasons that may overlap, and might not. Trying to rank them in a morbid pissing contest is just stupid.

 

Even better. They sold t-shirts for $10 a pop with the proceeds going to 9-11 charities.

Fun fact: I have the poster of this that aTm sold. I still need to get it framed.

 

It's not. But this also isn't the time and place for that discussion.