9/11 "truthers" would probably rather you not watch this...

[Fairportfan]

Demolition of a 175-foot chimney ... FAIL
.
Right. A professional crew that had full, unfettered access to the site for as long as they needed couldn't bring down a 175-foot chimney.

But there are lots of whackdoodles out there (and on YouTube) who expect us to believe that a stealth operation brought down the Twin Towers flawlessly on the first try...

[MerchManDan]

It surprises a lot of people just how difficult it can be to demolish a building. My city learned it the hard way when we tore down our old hockey arena some years ago; it took a couple of tries, too.

[shadowinthelight]

But... but... the evil Gubmint that can't do nuthin' right masterminded the perfect coverup!

[Fairportfan]

But... but... the evil Gubmint that can't do nuthin' right masterminded the perfect coverup!

Yeah. I always love that sort of argument.

Sort of like the wingers essentially claimed that the fact that there was no evidence Bill Clinton did all those heinous crimes was the best evidence of all, since he wouldn't have covered it all up if he was innocent...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

But... but... the evil Gubmint that can't do nuthin' right masterminded the perfect coverup!

Yeah. I always love that sort of argument.

Sort of like the wingers essentially claimed that the fact that there was no evidence Bill Clinton did all those heinous crimes was the best evidence of all, since he wouldn't have covered it all up if he was innocent...

To each and every situation, XKCD has an equally amusing strip.

Several of them, actually.

[Atomic]

Indeed!

Of course, the most simple explanation is that dozens of Jewish demolition experts casually installed tens of thousands of pounds of explosives on the top 50 or so floors over several months. They explained removing the interior walls to access the structural girders as "interior renovations" while hiding the hundred pound bundles of explosives in their equipment push carts. The real magic of the whole enterprise was wiring all the explosives together in such a way that, despite the damage of the airplane collision and resulting fire, that, after an appropriate hour and some time delay, only the explosives on those floors hit by the aircraft would detonate, and all the other floors would not. And remain hidden in the rubble for the next few months until others Jewish experts removed them all to hide the evidence.

After all, we can't just assume the pilots would hit exactly the right floors the first time, could we? That would be a stretch.

[Jabberwonky]

You can't really justify a months/years long reconstruction with pyrotechnic textiles. Especially when it's obvious that it was scalar weapons.

[Atomic]

You can't really justify a months/years long reconstruction with pyrotechnic textiles. Especially when it's obvious that it was scalar weapons.

Choice commentary:

I don't really understand the physics and can only point out the general concept.

Therefore it must be true, because I don't understand it. Also, shut up!

[Mark N]

What scares me about the Scalar Weapons BS is that so many people believe it even though there is no data from any reputable source. If they did exist, then it is a conspiracy even bigger that the hidden aliens in a bunker. Not one nation on this benighted planet can keep a secret from the public and others think that multiple nations can agree to hide a discovery this important. I'm sorry but that is ignorant of the facts that we know about our alien overlords.

[Fairportfan]

One of my favourite not-SF-but-close books is a little ditty called The Jesus Factor, in which all of the nuclear powers have been keeping just as big a secret 100% hidden since World War 2.

[Jabberwonky]

You're missing the point here. All of the 'leaked' secrets, the UFO flaps, the political misdeeds and wars are distractions from the agenda of the real government that rules the world from the shadows...

You'd know this if you had proper clearance...

[Dave]

You're missing the point here. All of the 'leaked' secrets, the UFO flaps, the political misdeeds and wars are distractions from the agenda of the real government that rules the world from the shadows...

You'd know this if you had proper clearance...

Ah, but you see... what you are saying, is just exactly what the (fnord) white mice want you to believe!

[Jabberwonky]

Frankie and Benjy tell me you don't know what you're talking about...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

ConspiracyCeption!

[MerchManDan]

Webcomic page is related.

[bmonk]

One of my favourite not-SF-but-close books is a little ditty called The Jesus Factor, in which all of the nuclear powers have been keeping just as big a secret 100% hidden since World War 2.

Not so plausible--once the Soviets found out the secret, had they ever wished they could have rolled over the conventional NATO forces in Europe. Unless NATO were willing to sacrifice much of their land by exploding stationary nukes to stop them.

[Fairportfan]

One of my favourite not-SF-but-close books is a little ditty called The Jesus Factor, in which all of the nuclear powers have been keeping just as big a secret 100% hidden since World War 2.

Not so plausible--once the Soviets found out the secret, had they ever wished they could have rolled over the conventional NATO forces in Europe. Unless NATO were willing to sacrifice much of their land by exploding stationary nukes to stop them.

Well - isn't that what would happen if the Soviets acted on the assumption that what they couldn't make work, npbpdy else has figured out how to make work ... and NATO did have viable nuclear weapons?

The Soviets (and the US and the French and the Brits and the Chinese and the Israelis) don't know everything - they know that nuclear devices that are not motionless, in circuit with the ground don't work.

For them.

They don't know if any of the others have found a way around it.

That's the point of the exercise in raving brinksmanship with the Chinese that opens the story and starts the protagonist on the track of the secret. That was the point of the Cuban Missile Crisis. You have to act as if your bombs work ... and you have to assume the other guy's do.

[Boxilar]

You're missing the point here. All of the 'leaked' secrets, the UFO flaps, the political misdeeds and wars are distractions from the agenda of the real government that rules the world from the shadows...

You'd know this if you had proper clearance...

I find it very interesting that in this age of camera phones and mobile internet connections that the number of UFO and bigfoot sightings has dropped off dramaticly.

Not that you'd know it from watching The History Channel.

*rant online*
I think the I can pinpoit the exact moment I stopped believing, even a little bit, that there was captured alien tech at Area 51.

Back before Discorey Cannel splintered into a dozen channels, there was a show called Wings which documented the history and development of a particular aircraft each episode. One episode was about the development of the Hovercraft. One of the vehicles profiled was the Canadian built Avrocar . It was a test bed for a central ducted fan lifting body aircraft that mostly failed. It could bump along on the ground but couldn't really get out of its own ground effect , which was only a few feet off the ground. While it provided a basis for later hover craft development when someone decided to put a rubber skirt around the edge to trap the air and lift a vehicle, it was an abject failure as a true aircraft.

I watched the Wings episode in the early evening, then, later in the evening on the same channel, a "documentary" aired about Area 51 showed "shocking footage" of a Canadian developed vehicle using "captured alien technology". It was the same footage of the Avrocar bumbling around. It went on to talk about "strange triangular aircraft" spotted over Area 51. This was after the US goverment had revealed the existance of the F-117 Nighthawk. In daylight, the Stealth Fighter looks pretty alien. Ican imagine how it would look glimpsed at night over the Nevada desert.

I believe there is most probably life on other worlds, but I don't think their crashed spaceship is at Area 51, and Bob Lazar is full of s**t.

*rant offline*

[shadowinthelight]

What better cover is there for something mundane than something fantastic people want to believe in?

[Fairportfan]

I believe there is most probably life on other worlds, but I don't think their crashed spaceship is at Area 51, and Bob Lazar is full of s**t.

The Truth About Area 51.