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Fare for Coimbatore Mumbai LTT (Kurla) Express 11014
Runs Daily
Pantry Car
Class - 1A 2A 3A SL
|Base Charges
|₹ 431
|Reservation Charges
|₹ 40
|₹ 24
|Total Amount
|₹ 495
Train 11014 Coimbatore Mumbai LTT (Kurla) Express Reviews
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Yay! I finished a Forum Battle!!!
"Don't take another step, Nagirrac! I don't want to shoot you, but I will if I have to."
"Don't shoot me then! It'll make it that much easier to kill you!" shouts Nagirrac as he charges the Insectoid.
Semaj runs his spear through the bug, but not without paying a steep price. He takes a laser blast to the chest.
The Insectoid is dead...
... And because of a lucky roll, the High Chancellor is only wounded.
With the sound of battle gone, an eerie silence falls on the compound. Semaj makes his way past the dead. His blood trails behind him.
He begins the short climb down from his former prison.
The ninja waits patiently as his prey approaches.
"Avalon... my home... so many... gone..."
"And you will join them!" screams the ninja.
Semaj Nagirrac, High Chancellor of Avalon, valiant defender of the realm, finally joins his fallen brethren.
Ying Si Ninja win. (Dark Paladin)
FINAL Overwatch
"Master, I present to you the head of Semaj Nagirrac and the body of Uther Pendragon."
"It can't be... This is all finally coming to pass..."
"But are these events unfolding as you predicted? I still see no demon gates opening on this rock." says a mysterious voice behind the master.
"Your blood will be sufficient to open a hundred gates. Speak quickly before we run you through."
"Oh, there is no need for intimidation, I can assure you. My name is Cyrus. Father of the Peaches."

subset: commoncrawl


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Richard Gonzales
Correspondent Richard Gonzales is based in San Francisco. His reports are featured regularly on NPR's award-winning newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.
Gonzales describes his beat this way: "Willie Brown, Jerry Brown, medical pot, gay marriage, the U.S. Ninth Circuit, the California State Supreme Court, and any other legal, political, or social development occurring in Northern California the rest of the country should know about. California has the reputation for generating new ideas and trends and we try to keep track of them."
He began his California stint in September 1995, after spending a year studying the impact of international trade and information technology on the American political process as a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University.
Gonzales joined NPR in May 1986 when he covered the U.S. State Department during the Iran-Contra Affair and the fall of apartheid in South Africa. In August 1990, he assumed the post of White House Correspondent and reported on the prelude to the Gulf War and President George Bush's unsuccessful re-election bid. From 1993 through 1994, Gonzales covered the U.S. Congress, focusing on NAFTA and immigration and welfare reform.
In 1988 Gonzales received a World Hunger Media Award for "Street Children in Maputo." He was also honored by the World Affairs Council of Northern California in 1984 for his documentary on the war-ravaged Miskito Indians of Nicaragua.
Before joining NPR in May 1986, Gonzales was a freelance producer at KQED-TV/San Francisco. From 1979 to 1985, he was a reporter, producer, and later, public affairs director at station KPFA-FM/Berkeley.
Gonzales graduated from Harvard College in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and social relations. He is a co-founder of Familias Unidas, a bi-lingual social services program in his hometown of Richmond, California.


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Good Morning all:
I would like to invite each and every one of you out to the 7th annual Winter Snowkite festival at cooking lake …February 7th and 8th.
It is going to be a blast this year…more and more kiters will be attending…so those of you …thinking of kiting…and wanting to check it out…you will never see more kites on snow in any one place at one time in Canada this winter.
Mike Dowie from Flysurfer will have his Wood fired Sauna cabin on the ice…so bring your surf trunks or bathing suits if you want the full winter kite experience.
Please see the attached poster and map for details for the event.
I hope to see you all there at some point during the weekend…if not for the whole event.
The link for directions is listed below…just turn North at the intersection of Range Road 220 and highway 14 east.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s ... iwloc=addr
All the best and happy snow kiting in the meantime.
Scott Currie
Trident Sports
7027-83rd Street
Edmonton, AB
Canada, T6C 2Y1
780-462-2859 office
780-918-5242 cell


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This post is part of the October Blog Party: Bio-regional herbs for the Cold and Flu Season being hosted by Rosalee de la Foret at www.methowvalleyherbs.blogspot.com
Photo by Darcey Blue French
My relationship with Eastern Skunk Cabbage began with a dream about digging its roots to treat my own asthma -- a journey chronicled in an earlier post.
Recently I have been finding that many of my own experiences with the plant are consistent with the discoveries and practices of the Eclectics who knew the plant as Dracontium foetidum. (By the 1890's, most botanists were using the name by which the plant is known today, Symplocarpus foetidus, but I much prefer the older name.)
I believe Eastern Skunk Cabbage deserves a place in the Materia Medica of modern New England herbalists as an excellent ally in treating asthma and respiratory infections -- including the stubborn, lingering respiratory infections that often follow when someone does not get enough rest to fully recover from a serious bout of the flu. We have a tremendous amount to learn from earlier generations' usage of the plant.
The 1898 edition of King's American Dispensatory describes Skunk Cabbage root as "a stimulant, exerting expectorant [. . .]" Just as the plant's contractile roots reach deep into swampy soils to drink up moisture, the root as a medicine brings up excess mucous from deep in the lungs. Energetically it is neutral to warm -- well suited to treating the kind of deep, cold congestion that can set in with a stubborn lingering case of bronchitis or pneumonia.
Yet as a diaphoretic herb it can also help to release the excess heat associated with influenza and the ensuing inflammation of the lungs.
The Eclectics frequently combined Skunk Cabbage with Lobelia in their formulae. Lobelia would help to open the airways while Skunk Cabbage would help to bring up phlegm.
Both medicines are profoundly antispasmodic, and Skunk Cabbage is slightly narcotic, so the combination would also help to quell violent coughing fits and allow a sick person to sleep.
Skunk Cabbage root is also a nervine. King's American Dispensatory notes that "Its action upon the nervous system is marked, relieving irritation, and it has a tendency to promote normal functional activity of the nervous structures." As an asthmatic I know that the shortness of breath caused by the contraction of my airways is always compounded by the wave of panic that ensues when I can't get enough oxygen. Skunk Cabbage helps tremendously in calming that panic.
I harvest the roots Eastern Skunk Cabbage in March, when the green buds of the flowers have emerged but have not yet turned purple. There is usually still snow on the ground -- Skunk Cabbage is thermogenic and melts the ice, frost, and snow around it to become the first plant emerging in the swamp in spring. I dry the roots for a few days as a precaution because drying diminishes the levels of calcium oxalate crystals present, and then tincture them in 100 proof vodka. For acute respiratory infections I use 5-15 drops 4-6 times a day.
For bronchitis and bacterial and fungal pneumonias I usually use Skunk Cabbage along with Usnea.
For persistent, deep, cold, wet bronchitis and pneumonia I use Skunk Cabbage along with Elecampane and Pleurisy Root.
Large doses of Skunk Cabbage root may be emetic -- and in one nineteenth century formula, Skunk Cabbage was combined with Lobelia, Wild Ginger, Pleurisy Root, and Bloodroot as an "emetic for children and infants, [. . . ] safely used in croup, whooping-cough, bronchitis, asthma, convulsions, and in all cases where an emetic is required." When my asthma was at its most severe growing up, I often felt relief only when I would throw up, forcing some of the mucous from my bronchi in the process. In my own practice, I am not quite ready to revive old emetic therapies for acute bronchial and pulmonary congestion, but the idea is worth thinking about.


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V006 Basic reloading course
Budsjett $250-750 AUD
Project for Ozzmotor
As usual, see the brief.
This is a slightly longer video, you'll also note that there are some new components to 3D model here as well. Pretty simple compared to the last project though.
Any questions, just ask away.
## Just waiting on Voiceover, but this gives you a head start.
I've added some comparison charts to compare the 6.5 creed more to the 9mm rounds. The 6.5 CR is quite much bigger and designed for a rifle, the 9mm is design for a handgun. Have a look at the comparison charts, that will give you greater clarity. When you 3D model the rounds, they need to be close to the right shape, but more importantly be accurate in size when compared to each other.
Tildelt til:
Ready. Relevant Skills and Experience Animation. Proposed Milestones $100 AUD - Draft $150 AUD - Final
8 frilansere byr i snitt $390 for denne jobben
https://www.freelancer.in/u/dreamsnaper.html please follow link and i hope you will get idea regarding quality, waiting for reply thanks :) Relevant Skills and Experience https://www.freelancer.in/u/dreamsnaper.html p Mer
Hi, I would love to build an awesome working relationship with you by my Expertise, Honesty, Sincerity and Hard Work.:) Thanks Rubby Relevant Skills and Experience I Have More Than 5 Year Plus experience in 3ds Mer
Locally based in Melbourne and putting in a genuine bid. I can create this animation for you in a combination of Cinema4D and Element3D, I will model the bullet in Cinema4D and clone it for animation in Element3D for Mer
Every render is a very lively interpretation for its Design. Our renderings bring abstract blueprints to life with stunning depth, color and [login to view URL] my profile and show reel. Relevant Skills and Experience 3d mo Mer


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Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member opposite that I have long been engaged on the issues of first nations education throughout this country.
More specifically, I can assure the member that the 32 first nations that I represent have been engaging with me as their member of Parliament over the last six years to ensure that we build a stronger and more vibrant education system within our community and throughout this country.
I will take no lessons from the member opposite. Of course, he is new to the House and may be unaware of the work that this government and I have undertaken. That is why it is important that he listen to the speeches today so that he might be able to learn about some of the advanced work that has been undertaken by this government in partnership with first nations communities across this country.
I am proud of the work that we have been doing and we will continue to do. I could speak all day on our accomplishments, even in my local communities.


text:
MissyWard needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 49 designs submitted by 18 freelance designers.
I will be updating MissyWard Thesis Theme for Wordpress and redoing this entire site. I'm looking for a logo that will insipire me, capture maturity, sensuality, creativity and my love for wine.
I'm an online marketer, social butterfly that loves good wine. I want the logo to capture that for my personal brand.
- Item 1... The logo should say MissyWard.com and incorporate a glass of white wine.
- Item 2... I'm feeling dark red (think cabernet), black/grey and creme but I'm open to suggestions.
- Item 3... Final logo must be delivered in 300 dpi Photoshop layered file (.psd) or Adobe Illustrator (.ai)
- Item 4... All artwork used (if any) must be royalty-free.
- Item 1... I don't want it to look like anything that's on missyward.com because I can't stand looking at the mess that it is any longer.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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By Shawn Langlois
Stocks looked poised for a rebound late Thursday, a comfy reminder that the market wasn't about to get derailed by a few down days. Then Obama took to the airwaves.
"Today, America is coming to help," the president said. "The U.S. cannot turn a blind eye."
The minute Obama said he gave the OK for targeted airstrikes in northern Iraq, traders scurried for shelter from a market that, in a change of course, seems to be looking for a reason to drop instead of a reason to rally.
This is not the market that we all agreed would just keep going up forever.
If that speech does, in fact, send bears into a giddy romp throughout the trading day, it'd be right on track with what historically goes down at this point in the presidential cycle, according to Tom McClellan of the McClellan Market Report.
"It shows that the steep drop which began from the July 24 top is happening pretty much on schedule," he said, adding that the bottom, if the pattern follows, should hit around Sept. 10. After that, we can look forward to the bull move of the third year.
Cast it off as some of that "Dilbert" palm reader business we mentioned in yesterday's blog. But here's the chart anyway. Life line intact.
Key market gauges: There will be blood. Futures on the Dow /quotes/zigman/21588489/delayed YMU4 and the S&P /quotes/zigman/20258909/delayed ESU4 are under pressure early, after Asia /quotes/zigman/6959860/realtime XX:ADOW endured sizable declines, led by a 3% drop on the Nikkei /quotes/zigman/5986735/delayed JP:NIK . Europe /quotes/zigman/2380150/delayed XX:SXXP is also having a rough go. No surprise that gold /quotes/zigman/635641/delayed GCZ4 is rallying.
The quote of the day: "It's kind of like punching a pumpkin. It's the same thing, the same thing, the same thing and then all of a sudden it all caves in. I would still be surprised to see full-year 2014 GDP exceed 2%." — Jeff Gundlach, "Bond God" at DoubleLine Capital, on his belief that forecasters will eventually figure out they were wrong about the economy reaching "escape velocity."
Earnings: Zynga /quotes/zigman/7720406/delayed /quotes/nls/znga ZNGA shares have slumped after the company posted a wider second-quarter loss after Thursday's closing bell, while Gap /quotes/zigman/227242/delayed /quotes/nls/gps GPS and SolarCity /quotes/zigman/13139813/delayed /quotes/nls/scty SCTY are two bright spots following some upbeat numbers late yesterday.
The buzz: The junk-bond yard sale continues, with a record $7.1 billion leaving U.S. based high-yield bond funds in the latest week, according to Lipper data cited by Reuters. The exodus coincided with a 1.4% drop in these bonds in the week ending August 1. That was their worst weekly performance in more than two years.
Tesla /quotes/zigman/118681/delayed /quotes/nls/tsla TSLA shares almost reached an all-time record close Thursday. Now they are drifting further from that mark. A sketchy Friday session could increase that gap.
The chart of the day: Debt problem? What debt problem? For all the headlines claiming the U.S. is curbing its debt burden, BlackRock's Russ Koesterich has this to say: bollocks! Well, he didn't say that, exactly, but he did say this: "Tell a lie often enough, and people start to believe it." He pointed out that, in reality, non-financial debt has surged to a record 250% of GDP. "The rising U.S. debt burden is one of the reasons why I continue to advise caution toward consumer sectors, as well as why I have more modest expectations for long-term U.S. stock returns."
The call of the day: We are witnessing the end of democracy in Italy, says Martin Armstrong. He pointed that for the second time this year, Italy saw a decline in its GDP by 0.3% year on year — a grim stat that hasn't been seen in 14 years. Now, with Brussels applying the pressure, Italians can no longer rely on their "vibrant underground economy" and are left without a voice.
"Not since Benito Mussolini has Italy lost such power of the people," he said. "The land that had inspired the American Revolution against monarchy is now itself surrendering the last vestige of the republican process yielding to the growing tyranny of Brussels under the pretense of saving the Euro."
Random reads: Houston is cooler than SF, and Riverside is cooler than NY? This is the list that puts to shame all other lists that think they're the worst list ever.
This subway map will help you get to Casterly Rock from Kings Landing.
Red alert! We have a security breach at the White House. Suspect is wearing diapers and may be armed with his blanky and/or his binky.
How many times have you said to yourself, "if only this Bloody Mary was garnished with an entire chicken." Well, then, just head on out to Milwaukee.
Is LeBron's new "Big Three" better than the last? Yes.
Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your e-mail box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The e-mailed version will be sent out at about 7 a.m. Eastern.


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2004 IAWM Mitchum Crockby Michael Warren • July 19, 2004 Share:
Friday, July 16, 2004 turned out to be a perfect day for golf as the Indianapolis Association of Wabash Men held the 34th Annual Robert Mitchum Crock Golf Tournament. The winds were low and so were the scores as the top three teams posted scores of 16, 17, and 18 under par on the 18 hole course at the beautiful Golf Club of Indiana. Low gross winners at 18 under was the team of Jason Cantrell '93, DJ West '93, Garry Groh '93, and Bud Cantrell and the team of Lu Hamilton '76, Lee Hargitt '88, and Dave Olsen '80 took the prize for low net.
Once again the event was host to more than 100 Wabash alumni, current students, family, and friends. Following golf, the group was treated to a fine catered meal by Boulder Creek Dining Company (Brownsburg) as many great prizes were distributed to the winning teams and raffle winners.
Special thanks to the Staff at GCI, the Boulder Creek Caterers, and the Mitchum Crock committee of Lee Clark '73, Dave Reed '89, Kelley House '90, Tim Oliver '91, and David Waldman '93. Also thanks to the 11 major sponsors and the 10 holes sponsors, whose support allows the IAWM to put on this great event plus subsidize many other events throughout the year.


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THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
I was going back through my files of draft blogs for the past 6 months (particularly looking for things that are wrong in my book,) and I found this one that covers something that I found really fascinating.) In this thread, a person was attempting to create a pessimistic lock by applying an XLOCK in a hint. Seemed reasonable to me, since an XLOCK is incompatible with all other lock types, right?
Well, not exactly. It turns out that SQL Server does a particular optimization where, if it knows that a page has not changed, it reads through an exclusive lock (which are used to mark when a page is being written to) since the definition of READ COMMITTED is technically being met.
So, say you have the following table:
create table test( testId int primary key)goinsert into test (testId)values (1)go
Then in one connection run this:
set transaction isolation level serializablebegin transactionselect *from test (xlock)
An then in another, this one should be blocked, right?
select *from test
You will see that that isn't true. But, rollback the transaction of the the first batch and this time update the table, then start a transaction:
--in one connection run this:set transaction isolation level serializableupdate testset testId = testIdbegin transactionselect *from test (xlock)
and you will find that the select statement is blocked. This statement will continue to be locked is no longer considered dirty (it has been flushed to disk). Clearly this dirty page condition is not a good thing to rely on to block other users.
Per KB Article 324417, you can use PAGLOCK along with the XLOCK hint to give you a blocking condition everytime, but you can also guess that you will get more than the single row KEY lock you were actually desiring. (read the KB article for some more information). Also credit to Tibor Karaszi for his reply in this post (and a few others) about the subject.
Hopefully one day of the real deep thinkers who have blogs will blog about this topic in more detail. (Hint Hint?)
Crossposted to http://drsql.spaces.live.com
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Subscribe to this post's comments using
i am having one question
con1.ConnectionString = SQLConnectionString;
if (con1.State == ConnectionState.Closed)
trans = con1.BeginTransaction();
SqlCommand cmd1 = new SqlCommand("select name from testinfo WITH(XLOCK) where ID='" + textBox1.Text + "'", con1,trans);
SqlDataReader dr1 = cmd1.ExecuteReader();
if (dr1.HasRows)
while (dr1.Read())
label1.Text = dr1["name"].ToString();
catch (Exception ee)
MessageBox.Show("Access By Other User ");
this code is working properly ,it generate an exception which is correct , gives an message "access by another user " ,but this system define exception required lot of time min 10 sec it take , so i want to find any other condition which will show that this row is access by another user.is there is any other parameter so i can identify that this row is exclusive lock by other user.
Trace the locks; XLOCK works fine. The SELECT on the other hand, does not ask for a Shared lock on the row. You can force it by changing the SQL statement to:
select *
from test with (repeatableread)
Or the select needs to be more than a select. Imagine you have such statement:
Insert Into test2 Select testId From test Where testId = 1
Then SQL turns the select into repeatable read lock mode and the statement has to wait for the first one.
I wasn't suggesting that there was anything wrong, just that the concept of an "exclusive" lock doesn't always keep others away.


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When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade and when the garden is producing kilos of fava and neighbors deliver homegrown artichokes and asparagus we make this delicious warm salad! It's a shame to call is a 'potato salad' but when I asked a handful of guests, as they were eating this dish after a cooking class they all replied 'the best potato salad ever!' Use whatever Spring veggies you've got but the combo of warm boiled new potatoes with sweet artichoke hearts and bright asparagus & or fava is simply...the best potato salad ever!
Check out the short video on Tastemade to see a glimpse of the cooking class with this one the menu!
Serves 4
12 artichoke hearts, cleaned (we have small artichokes, if you are using big Roman artichokes you can use 1 artichoke heart per person, cut into quarters)
4 medium potatoes (the best looking potatoes you can find)
2 handfuls of cleaned, double shelled fave beans (or peas)
handful of thin asparagus if you have them (grilled or blanched)
handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered (seeds removed)
small handful of chopped herbs: oregano, basil, parsley - whatever you've got.
good extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
In separate pots, of boiling salted water, cook: the artichoke hearts, the potatoes with the skin left on whole and fave beans until just soft, but not mushy. Drain and allow to cool slightly.
When you can handle the potatoes, peel them and cut into similar size chunks as your artichoke hearts.
While everything is still warm, place the potatoes, artichokes, bean/peas and tomatoes, etc. into a bowl and season with salt & pepper, chopped herbs and dress with olive oil and vinegar. (General rule of thumb, dress with 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, i.e.: a 3 count pour of olive oil to a 1 count pour of vinegar.)
Toss gently, adjust seasonings and allow to sit for five minutes and serve slightly warm. Garnish with grated hard egg over the top if you like.


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Event box
Toddler Time
A special storytime designed for ages 1-2. Come join the fun with rhymes, stories, music, movement games and more! Toddler Time is a great way to increase language development and other pre-literacy skills for your busy toddler.
- Date:
- Wednesday, March 21, 2018 Show more dates
- Time:
- 10:30am - 11:00am
- Location:
- Central Meeting Room
- Campus:
- Central Library
- Categories:
- Event Storytime
Event Organizer
Vivian Rutherford


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For the 1964 model year the Ford Falcon was all new, inside and out. Equipped with an optional 260 V8, it was the perfect car to go chasing after a kite while wearing a sensible sweater.
Ford's redesign of the Falcon was a big part of their new look for 1964. This ad captures a brief 6 month period in 1964 before the Mustang was introduced when the Falcon was the small performance car in Ford's lineup. Once the Mustang was introduced, it's popularity and sales success pushed the Falcon back into the responsible compact car role for the rest of the 60s.
Although the basic premise of chasing your son's lost kite down in your new Falcon is a little far-fetched, the ad is still very effective. It could be the seasonally appropriate aspect of the ad or my love of the Falcon's automotive underdog status but watching this ad a couple times had me longing for a nice Falcon convertible with "Pure V-8 Go" and a kite to chase after.


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Is "9/11 Truth" based upon a false theory?
by Jim Fetzer (with T. Mark Hightower)
Given my background in the history and the philosophy of science and as a professional scholar, I founded Scholars for 9/11 Truth for the purpose of promoting collaborative research on the events of 9/11 by creating a web site, issuing press releases, archiving old research and supporting new research, sponsoring conferences, announcing public presentations, and making efforts to reach out to the public with the results of our investigations. The most intense conflicts in relation to the 9/11 Truth movement, however, turn out to come from within and between research groups, which have all too often found themselves at odds and severely attacked and even denounced one another.
Based upon my experience, I can report with confidence that the three most controversial issues within the 9/11 Truth movement are these:
(1) the Pentagon attack, especially, whether a Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon, which I have addressed in "What didn't happen at the Pentagon" and in "Inside Job: Seven Questions about 9/11";
(2) the planes in New York, especially, whether video fakery was used there, which I have addressed in "New Proof of Video Fakery on 9/11" and "Inside Job: More Proof of 9/11 Duplicity"; and,
(3) the demolition of the Twin Towers, especially, how it was done, the dominant theory being that they were destroyed using nanothermite as the principal mechanism, which I address here.
These are questions that can be investigated using scientific reasoning to evaluate alternative hypotheses. The benefits from this appear to be considerable, since, if my efforts are successful, (a) we will have a better understanding of what happened, (b) there will be fewer, less intense conflicts between us, and (c) we will become more cohesive and effective in promoting our objectives and goals. A "9/11 Truth" movement, after all, has to be based on truth, where science is our most reliable method for distinguishing between what is true and what is false, where I can apply my background and the 35 years I spent offering courses in logic, critical thinking and scientific reasoning.
The evidence presented in those studies about (1) the Pentagon attack and (2) the planes in New York and (3) the demolition of the Twin Towers here not only falsifies the official account of 9/11 but also implicates the Department of Defense in the case of (1) and the national media in the case of (2) with its deceit and deception in perpetrating fraud on the American people. While I have no doubt that the Mossad was involved, it could not have been responsible for the "stand down" of the US Air Force on 9/11 nor for the failure of the Pentagon to take measures to protect itself from an aircraft, whose approach was known to Dick Cheney and to the pilot of a C-130, who was circling the building at the time. The Mossad is far more likely to have been deeply involved in (3) the destruction of the Twin Towers.
The Nanothermite Theory
While there are many points of agreement within the 9/11 Truth community, which include that the North Tower was hit first but "collapsed" second'; that the fires burned neither long enough nor hot enough for the steel to have weakened, much less melted; that collapse scenarios were not even physically possible; and that NIST has never been able to justify a "point of initiation", much less present a serious collapse simulation, there has been ongoing controversy over how it was done, where the prevalent theory is that nanothermite was the principal ingredient. If any single event could be said to have inspired the 9/11 Truth community, it was the publication of an article in the Bentham Open Science journal:
Bolstered in their belief by this article by Niels Harrit, Jeffrey Farrer, Steven Jones, Kevin Ryan, and others, "Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe", in The Open Chemical Physics Journal 2 (2009), pp. 7-31, the theory has become dominant in 9/11 research. And this has remained the case even though the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Marie-Paule Pileni, who specializes in nano-materials research at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in France, resigned her position in protest of its publication, which she regarded as very inappropriate.
The article itself, which was based upon studies of dust that was collected from the immediate vicinity of "Ground Zero", maintains that nanothermite residue was found in the dust and suggests that this finding holds the key to understanding the means by which the Twin Towers were blown apart. It was done using "explosive nanothermite". The article asserts, for example,
"The feature of 'impulse management' may be significant. It is possible that formulations may be chosen to have just sufficient percussive effect to achieve the desired fragmentation while minimizing the noise level" (page 26);
And concludes with the following (somewhat ambiguous) declaration:
"Based on these observations, we conclude that the red layer of the red/gray chips we have discovered in the WTC dust is active, unreacted thermitic material, incorporating nanotechnology, and is a highly energetic pyrotechnic or explosive material" (page 31);
. . . which has been widely construed to have established scientifically that nanothermite was found in the dust, that nanothermite is explosive, and that nanothermite was the crucial ingredient in bringing about the conversion of the Twin Towers into a few large pieces and millions of cubic yards of very fine dust, which appears to have been critical for the preservation of the bathtub, the shattering of which would have allowed Hudson River water to flood beneath Lower Manhattan, the subway and the PATH train tunnels, causing monumental damage to the most valuable real estate in the world, which the conspirators, it appears, wanted to preclude by employing a novel mode of demolition.
Enthusiastic Endorsements
The widespread acceptance of nanothermite as the crucial component of the demolition of the Twin Towers has become a matter of common knowledge within the 9/11 Truth community. But here are samples of the extent to which it has become embedded in reasoning about 9/11. On April 5, 2009, for example, Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth published "Exotic High Tech Explosives Positively Identified in World Trade Center Dust", presenting its ringing endorsement of its findings:
"A ground-breaking scientific paper confirmed this week that red-gray flakes found throughout multiple samples of WTC dust are actually unexploded fragments of nanothermite, an exotic high-tech explosive.
"The samples were taken from far-separated locations in Manhattan, some as early as 10 minutes after the second tower (WTC 1) collapsed, ruling out any possible contamination from cleanup operations. . . .
"Ordinary thermite burns quickly and can melt through steel, but it is not explosive. Nanothermite, however, can be formulated as a high explosive. It is stable when wet and can be applied like paint."
During an interview in RUSSIA TODAY (July 2009), Neils Harrit, the paper's first author, offers observations that are rather more qualified by suggesting that, while thermite was "used for melting the steel beams", he is certain that conventional explosives were also used:
"There is very solid evidence for that some thermite has been used for melting the steel beams. We should not, I do not know, we do not know if the thermite that we have found is the same thermite which has been used for melting the beams. It's very very possible that different varieties was used and I personally am certain that conventional explosives were used too in abundance." When asked what he meant by the phrase,"in abundance," he said "tons, hundred tons, many many many tons."
In his admirable "Left-Leaning Despisers of the 9/11 Truth Movement: Do You Really Believe in Miracles?", GLOBAL RESEARCH (6 July 2010), David Ray Griffin, the dean of 9/11 research, expressed his emphatic support for nanothermite as a powerful explosive capable of exerting enormous force and ejecting large sections of steel hundreds of feet:
"NIST thereby admitted that debris had been thrown out horizontally from the North Tower at least 350 feet.84 NIST's report also stated:
"When WTC 1 collapsed at 10:28:22 AM, . . . some fragments [of debris] were forcibly ejected and traveled distances up to hundreds of meters. Pieces of WTC 1 hit WTC 7, severing six columns on Floors 7 through 17 on the south face and one column on the west face near the southwest corner. The debris also caused structural damage between Floor 44 and the roof.85
"Debris that caused such extensive damage, including the severing of seven steel columns, had to be quite heavy. NIST seemed to be granting, therefore, that sections of steel columns had been hurled at least 650 feet (because "hundreds of meters" would mean at least 200 meters, which would be about 650 feet). Enormous force would be needed to eject large sections of steel that far out.
"What could have produced this force? According to NIST, as we saw earlier, there were only three causal factors in the collapse of the Twin Towers: the airplane impacts, the fires, and gravitational attraction. The airplane impacts had occurred 56 minutes (South Tower) and 102 minutes (North Tower) earlier, and gravitational attraction pulls things straight downward. Fire could, to be sure, produce horizontal ejections by causing jet fuel to explode, but the jet fuel had, NIST pointed out, burned up within "a few minutes."86 Therefore, although NIST admitted that these horizontal ejections occurred, it suggested no energy source to explain them.
"High explosives, such as RDX or nanothermite, could explain these horizontal ejections. According to NIST, however, explosives did not contribute to the destruction of the Twin Towers. Those who accept NIST's account must, therefore, regard these horizontal ejections as constituting yet another miracle."
And there can be scant room for doubt that Griffin's characterization has become the dominant view within the 9/11 Truth community, where it has assumed a standing akin to that of a religious dogma, where those who challenge that belief have been subject to severe reactions from within the community, including forms of banishment and blackballing, very much on the order of heretics in theological disputes of the past, many of whom were even burned at the stake.
The Split in Scholars
And I have been among them. When I founded Scholars for 9/11 Truth, I invited Steven Jones, a physicist from BYU, to serve as my co-chair, on the advice of David Ray Griffin, whom I invited first. I would later learn from David that, at that time, he had no confidence that a society could make a difference, which was an opinion he would later retract. In the months between founding the society in December of 2005 and the American Scholars Conference in Los Angeles in June of 2006, I had heard a lot about thermite, thermate, and nanothermite, but was skeptical that it could perform the feats of blowing massive assemblies of steel hundreds of yards and converting two 500,000 ton buildings into millions of cubic yards of very fine dust. On Saturday of the conference, I approached Steve in the lobby and asked him if he was confident that nanothermite could bring about these effects—and was not entirely persuaded when he assured me that, "Yes, it could!"
By the end of the year, I had become convinced that it was necessary to broaden the range of hypotheses that were under consideration as candidates to explain the destruction of the Twin Towers. None of us had any problems with WTC-7, which exhibited all the characteristics of a classic controlled demolition: the explosion began at the base, ran up the side of the building with a kink in the roof, where all the floors fell at the same time into the buildings foundation at the approximate rate of free fall and a stack of debris about 12% of its original height remained. The Twin Towers were different, where all of their floors remained stationary until they were "blown to kingdom come" (in the memorable phrase of Morgan Reynolds), where they were destroyed at the approximate rate of free fall, too, but where, as Fr. Frank Morales from St. Mark's Episcopal Church observed during two interviews on a radio program I co-hosted with Kevin Barrett, "The Dynamic Duo", both buildings, unlike WTC-7, were destroyed below ground level!
The differences between us were exacerbated when I interviewed Dr. Judy Wood, a former professor of mechanical engineering, who was promoting the alternative theory that directed energy weapons might have been used to destroy the buildings rather than thermite in any of its guises, which took place on November 11, 2006. What I liked the most about Judy's work was that it offered a fresh perspective about how it could have been done, where she asked me to guess where a directed energy device could have been located and, when I offered WTC-7 as a guess, she corrected me and said, "In space!" I would bet that this interview caused more division in the 9/11 Truth community than any other event before or after. Judy began being attacked for advocating "space beams" and "death rays", while I was castigated for supporting her. That I was SUPPORTING RESEARCH on her theory as opposed to ENDORSING IT was a subtlety that was lost on the crowd, where it has become part of the presumptive history of the 9/11 movement.
Critique of Steven Jones
Perhaps my strongest critique of Steve's work occurred by accident. On May 17, 2007, my scheduled guest on "The Dynamic Duo", Don Paul, was a no-show and I had to wing it for two hours. So for the first part of the show, I talked about my collaborative research on the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone and on the assassination of JFK. During the second part, however, I focused my attention on a new paper he had just published, "Why indeed did the World Trade Center buildings completely collapse?" A copy can be found on the Journal of 9/11 Studies 3 (2006), which I suppose is a close facsimile of the paper I discussed, although Steve has sometimes revised his work on-line without formal notice. In my critique, I pointed out that the title was wrong, since the buildings had not "collapsed" and that he was talking about the Twin Towers, but my more serious criticisms concerned his deeply flawed conception of the scientific method and what I regarded as inadequate support for his thermite/thermate/nanothermite theory, "On the Manipulation of the 9/11 Research Community". Here are a few passages for the flavor:
"Don't forget that eleven hundred bodies were never recovered. Eleven hundred bodies were never recovered. Those were bodies that were turned into very fine dust. Never recovered. That's completely inconsistent with a "collapse". Even involving explosive, you would expect to find body parts, even if they were detached from bodies. And you'd find lots of skulls and torsos and arms and legs, but here we're talking eleven hundred bodies, no parts of which were recovered. This is stunning stuff. And it certainly implies that something was going on here far beyond the use of any merely conventional explosives.
"But what's going on in the research community is an attempt to constrain research that would actually have the capacity potentially to explain what's going on. By reaching beyond conventional weaponry in to the range of unconventional weaponry, such as lasers, masers, plasmoids, mini-nukes. I mean, who knows in advance of actually conducting an investigation that theories or hypotheses about the use of lasers or masers or mini-nukes are wrong? You can't know that without investigation. And I'm going to suggest that a gigantic hoax is being perpetrated on the research community by the claim that [the] scientific method supports this very narrow definition of the use of thermite and thermate . . . .
". . . where I have now taken a look at the latest paper of the leading proponent of that view, Steven Jones, and it doesn't add up. I mean it may be impressive to those who are naïve about the nature of science and who are incapable of reading a paper that has the least degree of technical sophistication to it, but I'm going to suggest to you as we go through this paper that what we have here is a rather elaborate "snow job", where the most important points made are actually concessions that the evidence he has found is merely consistent with the use of thermite or thermate but doesn't prove it was produced by thermite or thermate, where, provided that there are multiple alternative possible explanations, he has not done the job. And I'm going to claim that he has not done the job because he has a commitment to a conception of scientific method that is hopelessly inadequate. Hopelessly inadequate. And that while he talks a lot about science, he is, alas, not practicing it."
Jones' maintains that the scientific method is a process of observation, formulating an hypothesis, performing tests and experiments, and then publishing the results in a peer-reviewed journal. That's wrong, because science cannot simply begin with observation (since there is too much we could observe) and it cannot proceed by studying one hypothesis at a time. Science is a process of puzzlement (because something doesn't fit into your background knowledge), speculation (by identifying the alternative hypotheses that might explain the data), adaptation (of hypotheses to data by calculating and comparing their likelihoods), and explanation (by accepting the hypothesis with the highest likelihood when the evidence has "settled down", in the tentative and fallible fashion of science). His inadequate methodology derives from the failure to grasp that scientific research requires the comparison of alternative hypotheses and cannot focus only on one.
"Houston, we have a problem!"
The most glaring empirical failure of the then-current version of his paper is that he finally gets around to talking about barium nitrate, and by the time you reach the final page, he has acknowledged that what he is talking about is not actually thermite but what he calls a "thermite analog", which he does not actually define, and he admits that thermite, which he now calls "TH3", is an analog of thermite that contains sulfur and barium nitrate and now he talks about thermite "as defined here". It turns out this barium-nitrate-containing thermite is the military grade thermite that he has been using to demonstrate the effectiveness of thermite, illustrated by the use of a thermite grenade on the top of an engine block. But no barium nitrate has been found in the analysis of the chemical residue in the analysis of the dust by Steven Jones or by the US Geological Survey. So in this version, he has pulled a bait-and-switch. Looking at the current version on-line, however, barium nitrate is mentioned on page 19 but not at the end of his paper, which means that it has been revised since I critiqued it.
I am not the only one to have evaluated that version of his paper in caustic, negative terms, since a complementary critique comes from Stephen Phillips, "A Physicist Critiques Steven Jones' New Paper" (May 21, 2007), where the present version is clearly not the same as the one he and I were addressing—a reflection of which may be that he actually includes my name in the acknowledgements! So let's look at the conclusion of the current version and consider what he says there:
"Remarkably, the controlled-demolition hypothesis accounts for all the available data rather easily. The core columns (and corner perimeter columns) on floors damaged by the planes are cut near-simultaneously using radio-signaled explosives/incendiary-cutters. In this scenario, cutter-charges were set every two or three floors during routine "maintenance" of elevator shafts, etc., so that the cutting sequence could be matched in a controlling computer to begin at the level where the plane entered each Tower. Next cutter-charges were detonated from the top downward for the Towers, ejecting beams and material long distances horizontally as observed during the destruction. The "collapses" are thus near-symmetrical, complete, at near-free-fall speeds with accompanying "squibs". Thermite analogs (whose end product is molten iron) including the explosive form, nano-thermite, may account for the molten metal which then pooled beneath the rubble piles as well as the sulfidation observed in steel from both the WTC 7 and Towers rubble piles (points 1 and 2 above). WTC 7 evidently proceeded in a more conventional fashion for controlled demolition, with collapse-initiating explosions starting on lower floors (rather than at high-floor levels as for the Towers)."
Notice that, like Architects & Engineers and David Ray Griffin, Steve is attributing vast powers to thermite in its "explosive" nanothermite form, including the capacity to eject steel beams and materials long distances horizontally "as observed during the destruction". He appeals to "thermite analogs" whose end product is molten iron—"including the explosive form, nanothermite"—may account for the molten metal that pooled beneath the rubble piles, where WTC-7, he acknowledges, "evidently proceeded in a more conventional fashion for controlled demolition", beginning on the lower floors rather than from the top. This is well and good and moves in the right direction. But can even these claims for nanothermite be sustained? It appears that they cannot.
Nanothermite: A Feeble Explosive
I has been my great pleasure over the past twelve months or more to participate in a research group focusing on the properties of thermite in all its original, thermate and nanothemite forms. We were aided and abetted in this process by contributions from Daniel Fairchild, a Vietnam veteran experienced in dealing with explosives, who was my guest on "The Real Deal" on
, an interview that stimulated our thinking about how explosives work and how they might have been employed on 9/11. While some of his numbers struck us as faulty, Dan's work motivated T. Mark Hightower, an engineer who has worked in the chemical industry and the space program—including with NASA for 21 years—to undertake a search of the open technical literature on nanothermite to determine its explosive potential in comparison to other explosives.
What Mark discovered was surprising, especially given the extent to which leading figures of the 9/11 Truth movement have promoted it. The highest degree of explosiveness for iron oxide/aluminum nanothermite—the chemical form claimed to have been involved in WTC destruction—that Mark could find documented in the technical literature has a detonation velocity of only 895 m/s (or meters per second). Since TNT, the universal standard for comparison, has a detonation velocity of 6,900 m/s, the explosive potential of thermite in its most potent form of nanothermite is acutely disappointing. When we divide the velocity of nanothermite by that for TNT (895/6,900), it turns out nanothermite is not even 13% as powerful as TNT. (See "Table of Explosive Velocities" from Wikipedia.)
As Mark has explained in a blog, "Has nanothermite been oversold to the 9/11 Truth community?", and an interview on "The Real Deal"
, 895 m/s is obviously too low of a value to account for the explosive effects observed in the catastrophic destruction of the WTC Twin Towers, including turning concrete and other materials into dust or separating and propelling steel members and other materials outward. Comparisons with the detonation velocities of conventional high explosives, such as 8,750 m/s for RDX or 9,100 m/x for HMX (not to mention 8,040 m/s for C-4 and 8,400 m/s for PETN), it is clear that nanothermite is not even in the same ballpark. While thermite in one or another of its guises as a rapid incendiary could have been used to sever or pre-weaken steel members, this low velocity melting process is a totally different mechanism for the cutting of steel than the shock wave method that requires detonation velocities of at least 3,200 m/s for concrete and 6,100 m/s for steel.
With respect to the demolition of the Twin Towers and blowing them to bits, low-explosive nanothermite, which does exist, can be eliminated as an hypothesis because it is ineffective. High-explosive nanothermite as an alternative can be eliminated because it simply does not exist. Mark therefore concludes that the phrase, "explosive nanothermite", when used to describe the causal mechanism for demolishing the Twin Towers is either seriously misleading under a charitable interpretation and at worst deliberately deceptive under an uncharitable one. Either way, conventional or unconventional explosives would have had to be combined with thermite, even in its nanothermite form. And if such a blend had been employed, the nanothermite would function more as an additive to high explosives rather than as the main ingredient itself.
The Nanothermite Challenge
On May 1, 2011, Hightower published, "The Nanothermite Challenge", as part of a longer study, "Has nanothermite been oversold to the 9/11 Truth community?". The challenge comes to this:
"Find and document peer-reviewed scientific research [publications] that demonstrate that a gas-generating nanothermite (GGNT) based upon iron (III) oxide (Fe2O3) and aluminum (Al), where the gas-generating chemical added to the nanothermite is not itself a high explosive, can be made to be a high explosive with at least a detonation velocity of 2000 m/s. The author of this paper will donate [to AE911Truth] $100 for every 1000 m/s of detonation velocity that can be documented, the donation not to exceed $1,000."
The deadline date of June 20, 2011 passed with not even one entry to this contest. Interestingly, Kevin Ryan posted an article at 911blogger that very day entitled "The explosive nature of nanothermite". In this article, Ryan admits that they know very little about the role that nanothermite played in 9/11.
"Although we know that nanothermite has been found in the WTC dust, we do not know what purpose it served in the deceptive demolition of the WTC buildings. It could be that the nanothermite was used simply to drive fires in the impact zones and elevator areas – fires which would otherwise have gone out too early or not been present at all – and thereby create the deception that jet fuel-induced fires could wreak the havoc seen. Nanothermite might also have been used to produce the explosions necessary to destroy the structural integrity of the buildings."
In Ryan's paper he cites (what he claims to be) "ten references to the fact that nanothermites can be made to be explosive." During my interview with Mark Hightower of
, on "The Real Deal", however, Mark refuted every one of Ryan's ten references. Let me document just one especially interesting example of those refutations here. Ryan's reference 4 states,
"A high explosive creates a shockwave that always travels at high, supersonic velocity from the point of origin. This paper describes how – 'the reaction of the low density nanothermite composite leads to a fast propagating combustion, generating shock waves with Mach numbers up to 3.'"
All you need to do is go to the title of this paper to see that it is not relevant to the nanothermite hypothesis advanced by Jones, Ryan, Griffin and Harrit, among others, because it is for the wrong chemical form of thermite. The Twin Towers destruction allegedly involved the use of iron oxide/aluminum nanothermite, but in this paper, "Generation of fast propagating combustion and shock waves with copper oxide/aluminum nanothermite composities", Applied Physics Letters (2007), we have copper oxide/aluminum nanothermite. Although not the main thrust of the paper, it gives a qualified reference to iron oxide/aluminum nanothermite research. It says,
"Recently, we reported that higher combustion wave speeds were achieved for the composites of ordered porous Fe2O3 oxidizer and Al nanoparticles (5) as compared with the one containing porous oxidizer with no ordering of the pores and Al nanoparticles."
Unfortunately no velocities are given, so it was necessary to go to the reference (5) cited in this paper to find more data, which Mark has done. The information for the reference (5) paper is as follows: Mehendale, Bhushan , Shende, Rajesh , Subramanian, Senthil , Gangopadhyay, Shubhra , Redner, Paul , Kapoor, Deepak and Nicolich, Steven(2006) 'Nanoenergetic Composite of Mesoporous Iron Oxide and Aluminum Nanoparticles', Journal of Energetic Materials, 24: 4, 341 — 360
On page 357, there is a graph, where the highest velocities (referred to as "burn rates" on the graph) are reported for the specified iron oxide/aluminum nanothermites. Those velocities are all less than 300 m/s, which is even less than the 895 m/s that Mark Hightower has established for iron/oxide aluminum nanothermite. It is safe to say that nothing revealed by Kevin Ryan provides an adequate response to "the nanothermite challenge".
Replies from Researchers
In retrospect, it should have been obvious that nanothermite could not live up to its capabilities as they have been advanced by Steven Jones, Kevin Ryan, and others, who regard themselves as the custodians and only true practitioners of the scientific method in 9/11 research. Thus, Denis Spitzer et al., "Energetic nano-materials: Opportunities for enhanced performances", Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids (2010), where, given the crucial role of the rapid expansion of gases to perform work by explosives, states, "Gas generating nano-thermites: Thermites are energetic materials, which do not release gaseous species when they decompose. However, explosives can be blended in thermites to give them blasting properties", which implies that, unless supplemented with explosives, nanothermites are not explosive.
In his efforts to inform prominent researchers about his discoveries, Mark wrote to Steven Jones, Richard Gage, and others. Dwain Deets, the former Chief of Research Engineering and Director for Aeronautical Projects at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, wrote to Mark and told him that he had listened to our interview on "The Real Deal" and said: "Excellent interview. A step toward trimming back claims that overshoot the evidence." He also sent a diagram illustrating certain detonation velocities as well as the sonic (speed of sound) velocities in various materials. Thus, for a high explosive to significantly fragment a material, its detonation velocity has to be greater than the speed of sound in that material, which requires a detonation velocity of at least 3,200 m/s to fragment concrete and 6,100 m/s to fragment steel–far beyond 895 m/s for nanothermite.
On July 7, 2011, Hightower received emails from both David Ray Griffin and Richard Gage. Gage wrote back that "it [nanothermite] should not be called a 'high' explosive". Griffin made a similar suggestion and, in reply, Mark observed that calling it simply "an explosive" would convey to most members of the public that it is "a high explosive" or, given it's invocation by the "hard evidence" crowd, at least, has the ability to disintegrate concrete and even steel. Since that is the impression that has been indelibly implanted in the consciousness of the public, within and without the 9/11 Truth movement, until that claim is corrected, the 9/11 Truth movement will be based upon a provably false theory.
Griffin himself, of course, is not a scientist and is relying upon the work of Jones, Ryan, and others. But when he wrote back, "We are happy with our formulation, that it can be tailored to work as an incendiary or [as] an explosive. We cannot be responsible for the fact that many people may equate 'explosive' with 'high explosive'", his answer raised a number of rather disturbing questions about the ethical implications of allowing these enormously misleading impressions to linger:
(1) Will Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth inform the public that it has misrepresented the potential for "explosive nanothermite"?; and,
(2) If nanothermite only exists as a low explosive, that it cannot "hold the key" to the destruction of the Twin Towers, as has been claimed?; and,
(3) Will A&E admit that nanothermite cannot possibly be the "smoking gun" of 9/11 research, when the hard evidence contradicts that claim?
The 9/11 Truth Dilemma
Once again, as in the case of the Pentagon crash site and the question of "planes/no planes", serious students of 9/11 are placed in a dilemma. If they are committed to truth, as the name "9/11 Truth" implies, then they have to confront the fact that claims advanced on behalf the nanothermite hypothesis—that the scientific key to understanding the demolition of the Twin Towers is the use of the nano-version of thermite—cannot be sustained. When the detonation velocity of nanothermite is only 895 m/s, while TNT has a detonation velocity of 6,900 m/s, the explosive potential of thermite—even in its most potent form as nanothermite—is more than acutely disappointing. When it turns out nanothermite is not even 13% as powerful as TNT, the very idea that nanothermite should "hold the scientific key to understanding what happened to the Twin Towers" is simply absurd.
But shouldn't the leaders of a self-proclaimed 9/11 "scientific research" group have sorted this out before they proclaimed that nanothermite was "the key"? As Mark has observed in his study, Steve Jones made a mistake early in his 9/11 research career by classifying nanothermite as an explosive in the same category with RDX, HMX, and others, whose detonation velocities are overwhelmingly greater. Alas, "The 9/11 truth movement has never recovered from from this error, for to this day nearly everyone in the 9/11 movement refers to 'explosive nanothermite', as even this clever cover for a fictitious 'For Dummies' book [above] illustrates." And shouldn't those who were promoting it to the community have discovered their blunder and taken steps to correct the false impression that they were thereby conveying?
My critique of Steve Jones' research, "On the manipulation of the 9/11 Truth Community", in which I observed, for example, that "the most important points [he has] made are actually concessions that the evidence he has found is merely consistent with the use of thermite or thermate but doesn't prove it was produced by thermite or thermate, where, provided that there are multiple alternative possible explanations, he has not done the job. And I'm going to claim that he has not done the job because he has a commitment to a conception of scientific method that is hopelessly inadequate. . . . And that while he talks a lot about science, he is, alas, not practicing it", was presented on the air on on May 17, 2007. It was even published on 911blogger, but met with derision and hostility, where the comments were extremely revealing.
And there were other signs of trouble brewing. The Rock Creek Free Press (May 2009), for example, published a piece about nanothermite, which offered a more reasonable assessment of its explosive capabilities, explaining that even if it has the potential to be a low grade explosive, its use as a high explosive—which might be capable of doing the work required to bring about (at least a major part of) the destruction of the Twin Towers—would require that it be combined with a high explosive. Surely this front-page article, which featured photos of Neils Harrit, Jeffrey Farrer, Kevin Ryan, and Steve Jones, ought to have caught the attention of the leaders of the "hard-evidence" research group.
Even now, after the publication of "Has nanothermite been oversold to the 9/11 Truth community?", some of its most important advocates, such as Steven Jones, Kevin Ryan, and Neils Harrit, remain its obdurate supporters. There are signs that others may be more appreciative of the significance of these considerations, where recent handouts from Architechts & Engineers for 9/11 Truth advance the slightly more modest claim, "WTC dust samples contain chips of highly energetic nano-thermite composite materials – uniformly nano-sized, proportioned in an organic gas-generating (explosive) matrix", which appears to be the fallback position: nanothermite may not be explosive, but it can be combined with explosives to make it explosive. The same, alas, can also be said of toothpaste. At some point, therefore, these "leaders" of the 9/11 Truth movement have to concede that a mistake was made and that they have misled the movement: nanothermite cannot possibly hold the key to understanding the demolition of the Twin Towers on 9/11.
James H. Fetzer is a former Marine Corps officer, the founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, and a columnist for VT.
T. Mark Hightower has worked as an engineer for nearly 30 years, initially in the chemical industry, then in the space program for NASA, and currently in the environmental field, also with NASA. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). His research on 9/11 is an exercise of his Constitutional rights as a private citizen and in no way represents his employer or any of the professional societies of which he is a member.
No Brain Theory:


text:
Build a DIY Portable North Light Photo Studio
Six years ago, I wrote on Strobist about how to build a $10 macro studio. Since then over a million photographers have seen how they could easily take control of light—any light—to easily produce professional quality product photos.
Four years later while brainstorming with my friend Mohamed Somji about how to light an upcoming photo project, I started thinking about how to reproduce this type of studio on a human-sized scale.
Turns out, it's not so hard.
Mohamed was traveling back to his native Tanzania to make portraits of local albinos in hopes of raising awareness about the severe discrimination and superstitions they face. The photographic problems were logistical: harsh, high sun; no power guarantees; a need for portability.
We talked about creating a collapsible light tent out of nylon and PVC and using the harsh sun as a light source, albeit now a controllable one. That's what he ended up doing, and it planted the seed in my mind for creating a larger, portable studio that I not only could use anywhere but could give me many, many different styles of solar- or flash-driven lighting.
Will it Scale?
Over the years, I have gotten a tremendous amount of feedback from the original DIY macro studio. Some people have actually transported the idea to some pretty big boxes—think full-sized refrigerator—in the name of larger subjects.
But this still would not work for people. Especially not full-length portraits of a firefighter who is 6 feet tall before the helmet. Plus, while cardboard is cheap and readily available, it is not exactly durable at that size.
So the structure and framework needed to be lightweight, but portable and durable. And ideally, it would be built of modular items which were reasonably priced and had multiple photographic uses beyond this project.
As I found more and more uses for my portable background supports it began to dawn on me that this was the ideal module on which to build what would essentially be a large cube. When LumoPro started selling the 12' crossbar assembly separately, the pieces literally came together in my mind.
The North Light Studio
Think cube, built with two complete background supports and two extra crossbars. All-in, the pieces are about $500. It's two background kits placed in parallel, supporting two additional perpendicular crossbars on top. I sandbagged the four stands (one ea.) for extra stability.
The "skin," which is extremely variable, is inexpensive nylon in black (and translucent white) attached with cheap Home Depot A-clamps. (Sources for building it are listed at the bottom of the page, with more notes on a companion piece linked/embedded below.)
On this day I was doing two different shoots in the cube as shown, so I hung a brown muslin as a backdrop for the second of two shots. The sides and top were black ripstop nylon, which you can get online for $5 a yd or less. Across the front we stretched a white ripstop to catch and diffuse the sun, high overhead behind the camera position.
In the frame shown above we are exposed for the full sun outside. We hung some half-width white paper on a C-stand arm as a backdrop sweep. Erik Couse, a Captain in the Montgomery (MD) County Fire Dept., is standing inside and catching all of that diffused sun—and the full sun bouncing off of the asphalt. The lower, reflected light is a little brighter that the top diffused light, getting us detail up under his helmet. This ratio could be swapped by a strip of black nylon across the bottom.
As we said, the above exposure is balanced for the overall daylight. But when we open up to expose for Erik is standing in the shade of the cube, you start to see the quality of the light in this (straight-out-of-camera) frame:
With some normal toning (and extending the skinny white background a little in Photoshop) the light becomes pretty ridiculous, considering we are just bouncing and diffusing sunlight. (Check out a 2k pixel version of the image at the top of this post.)
A Versatile Light Box
The beauty of the cube framework in the North Light Studio is that you can define the sides however you want by how you allocate the fabrics. Plus, the structure is big enough to work completely inside if you like. Practically speaking, you can configure it up to 9' wide by 12' deep by 10' high. Going beyond this starts stress the frame, IMO.
Working inside the box with the brown muslin as a backdrop, I enclosed the wall behind me with white translucent nylon. This gave me a 9x9 foot on-camera-axis light source right behind me which was, of course, gorgeous as fill.
The room itself cut the ambient levels even as it shaped the sun into that huge fill light. The drop in ambient was enough so that you could underexpose the fill and lay a key light in on top of that. Even with speedlights.
Using nothing but two LumoPro 160 speedlights (and the sun) as light sources, we made this portrait inside the box:
The exposure? Try f/5.6 at a 60th of a sec at ISO 50. Heck, even a Canon can sync that low. And still, we are overpowering the on-axis (ambient) fill, which allows us to easily use a speedlight as key.
Remember, we are cutting the quantity of sunlight as well as amping the quality of it. We had a fog machine inside the cube and shot the backlight (bare LP160, with a 1.5 cut of CTO gel) right back towards the subject through some smoke. The key is a LumiQuest SB-III on another LP160 with a quarter-cut CTO. Neither flash was over one quarter power.
This to me is remarkable, considering we were subduing and shaping a cloudless, sunlit day and then adding small strobes on top of it. Again, the quality of light using just the sun and two speedlights on low power is fantastic. Take a look at the 2k pixel version. Don't click over to the 6k version. It'll just piss you off.
Rather than think of this as a one-trick pony, I am already starting to think of the different ways I can use various parts of this studio setup to accomplish different looks. And on top of that, most all of the individual components are usable in different ways on their own.
For assembly notes and more details on using this portable studio, I have created a document with detailed instructions and full sourcing for everything. The embed/link is below.
But I am just as interested in your ideas (and questions) as this idea has turned out to be a significant jumping-off point for me and I am assuming it may be for some of you, too.
If you do have any questions though, please read the companion notes before asking. Your question may well be answered in there.
Portable North Light Studio Notes
Companion Notes in Scribd
Component Sources:
LP Background Supports
LP Extra Crossbars
(**SPECIAL PRICE Kit for above**)
White Nylon
Black Nylon
Home Depot Clamps
Sand Bags
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text: Solomon Beach is one of St. John's many breath-taking beaches. Due to its unconventional access, Solomon Beach draws less crowds then some of the other beaches located in St. John. If you don't mind a little bit of a walk to get to your destination, and want somewhere where you can enjoy the water and sand with some privacy, then Solomon Beach is the perfect St. John beach for you. This beach also features an amazing view of many other islands surrounding St. John.


text:
SOURCE: Hy9 Corporation
December 17, 2012 10:16 ET
HOPKINTON, MA--(Marketwire - Dec 17, 2012) - Hy9 (http://www.hy9.com), the leading provider of point-of-use, high purity hydrogen generation products for fuel cells, and Nedstack PEM fuel cells today announced their agreement to collaborate to develop the market for reformer-based fuel cell power systems. The collaboration joins Nedstack's leadership position in long-life water cooled PEM fuel cell stacks with Hy9's capabilities in point of use hydrogen generation and purification products.
Gary Clarke, Hy9's president and CEO, commented, "Our collaboration with Nedstack will help expand the market for both Nedstack and Hy9 by offering a robust, scalable alternative to compressed hydrogen. Using a commodity liquid fuel such as methanol in combination with a Hy9 reformer that produces 99.9999% pure hydrogen on-site makes fuel cell power systems suitable for sites where compressed hydrogen is impractical:
"We are particularly excited to work with Nedstack on delivering reformer-based systems to meet the continuous power demands of our customers operating in remote areas. We believe Nedstack's unique long-life stacks combined with Hy9's HGS™ product offers mobile telecom operators a robust solution for their continuous power demands."
Nedstack has a decade of experience in producing PEM fuel cell stacks. Nedstack combines proprietary bipolar plate technology and design with the best available long-life MEAs. The design and composition of their proprietary cell plates results in high fuel efficiency and low parasitic losses.
Combining Hy9 and Nedstack's products ensures reliable uninterrupted power at low operating costs to critical infrastructure systems even in the most remote locations. Replacing diesel gensets by these systems will not only save fuel costs: the systems emit no particles and noise, making them a green alternative.
About Hy9:
Hy9 is the leader in the development and marketing of hydrogen purification membranes and point-of-use pure hydrogen generation for clients who require high-performance solutions to their critical power needs. With over 10 years of experience, Hy9 partners and clients benefit from high reliability and high performance. Hy9 -- Making Hydrogen Pure and Simple™.
For more information please contact:
Chris Kellogg
Director of Sales
Hy9 Corporation
106 South Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748
(508) 435-3789 x401Email Contact
For more information please contact:
Chris Kellogg
Director of Sales
Hy9 Corporation
106 South Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748
(508) 435-3789 x401Email Contact
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text:
Sam Worthington Kills It in 'Wrath of the Titans' Trailer — Hunk of the Day [PICTURES, VIDEO]
Ever since Sam Worthington appeared in 'Avatar' and 'Clash of the Titans' audiences have been endlessly searching for shirtless shots of this English-born actor. Although it seems that the modern, Australian version of 'Macbeth' is the primary, if not only source for that, we can only hope he'll take his top off in 'Wrath of the Titans,' out this coming March.
Even if he doesn't, though, we'll still be plenty happy with the close-up shots of his smoldering good looks and good-guy-with-a-bad-side Perseus character. So far, Worthington hasn't needed to show off his chest for the world to fall in love with him. He already accomplished that when he first flashed his devilishly handsome smirk.