Thursday, June 28, 2007

Spray Painting Over Blast Damage: It's Not the Crime, It's the Cover-up

Note especially the middle window on the right. It has been blasted outwards into the air shaft, which is forward, toward the facade of the Pentagon; in other words, in the opposite direction an aircraft supposed took, which entered the building from the outside in.

Also on the right corner, is a clear indication of the technique used, of gradating metallic shades in imitation of the natural shades on planes as seen in sunlight. The giveaway however, ruining the trompe l'oeil effect, was in painting over even the window glass.

The brightest goldest gold is reserved for the cleave that splits the back of the E-ring on the left, and I would submit it serves as the central iconic symbol of an opening up of a rich vein of wealth, a manifest destiny for the 21rst century, complete with downspout, but hidden, meant to be seen only by the knowledgeable few--and of course, predicated on war. I should think being "cut in" on a deal like this is a powerful inducement for keeping the secret, that, and the implications behind the little rhyme, "snitches get stitches."

Also note on the extreme left, on a fifth-floor windowsill, the hardened puddle of melted blast-proof window.

This photograph sure gets around. It can be found in one Navy and two Army image archives, and it's even available commercially---I found it at the Corbis image archive, although they makes three mistakes--one, it is not by Ron Sachs, two, it is not an aerial view, and three, they have it positioned sideways!




0000382189-006| RM| © Ron Sachs/CNP/CORBIS
AERIAL VIEW OF PENTAGON AFTER ATTACK

Original caption: Result of the crash of an American Airlines aircraft on the Pentagon. The offices were destroyed.
Image:
© Ron Sachs/CNP/CORBIS
Photographer:
Ron Sachs
Date Photographed:
September 14, 2001
Location Information:
Arlington, Virginia, USA
This image is distributed as Rights Managed.

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And why did these "blast-resistant" windows on the exterior facade of the E-ring fail so catastrophically? Sgt Lagasse's little dissertation in the PentaCon film Smoking Dutch Cleanser, that the explosions at the Pentagon were deflagrations not detonations, misses the connotations of the conflagrations , which were concussive not percussive and Lagasse is a little ass-e.

(Flickr terminated my 3000-image study account of editorial material I had downloaded off the web. This image was of an office interior with untouched photocopy machine, but with windows melted from exterior heat.)

If this was a test, the windows failed.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

My Friend Russ the Retired New York City Fireman

Well, some heard "surprise party" but i heard "slumber party" so I'm wearing my new pair of pajamas, damn it. Others heard "funny hat" party, which Ill go along with because funny hats make terrific centerpieces and I don't want to run out and buy a mess of flowers.

Russ, my retired New York City firefighter friend, just came by with some supplies, and be brought his old New York City fireman's hat from the 1970's when he was a probie and I just love saying the word, let alone trying to spell it. It's made of tooled leather and it is melted in the back. Russ told an excruciating story about how his brass emblem came to be bent like that and I believe him.
His head went inside here.

Russ says that the average carbon fire can burn at 1000 degrees and that a skyscraper fire can burn much hotter--2000 degrees! I don't argue with him because he is much bigger than me. He also gives great hugs and I don't want to alienate him.

I don't know why I act so difficult online. Do you think it has to do with the new technology? In person I'm much more cautious about consequences.

He's a terrific dancer too! I think I could fall in love with a real person.

Friday, June 15, 2007