September 11th, 2001--Memorial Thread

[Capn Flukie]

I was in my solar system class learning how new worlds were formed from clouds of dust.

 

[sidious618]

When it happened I was in my second period Spanish class. My mom took me out of school around 10:45 because she was nervous I'd heard about it and think my dad had died (he worked right next door and saw a lot he'd rather forget- he still has nightmares to this day and often) or been injured. I was 12 and confused. I thought he worked next to the Empire State Building. My uncle who did work in the WTC was missing at the time but he turned up a-okay.

Bad day although I didn't lose anyone it was sure terrifying. I can only imagine how horrible it must've been for those he did lose someone in this event or other terrorist attacks.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I was in School as well. I'm still upset that We were not informed until we got home. I live far away from New York, so I didn't know anyone there. I did have a buddy who was shot in the chest, and lived, during the resulting Afghan war.

The U.S. hasn't felt the same since that day.

 

[Data Holmes]

The U.S. hasn't felt the same since that day.

So true.

 

[JiNX-01]

the darkest day of human history

lol

Yes, Rii is being hyperbolic, but that should hardly elicit amusement.

 

[clint g]

I wated them to rebuild the world trade center and call it just that which is what they're doing now it appears.

I was just hoping for prettier buildings than the old gray blocks, which we're getting, so I'm happy.

Yeah, this is exactly how I feel. The old buildings were hideous. As for the Freedom Tower name, I think it's sort of stuck as the defacto name. At the very least, it seems like everyone still calls it that.

 

[STR]

A lifetime ago, I was a freelance graphics artist. As a tribute, I built an insanely detailed World Trade Center. It actually got featured on an A&E documentary on 9/11. Here's some of my preliminary renders, the model was in various states of completion throughout this collection.

http://img380.imageshack.us/i/tt86sj3.jpg/
http://img390.imageshack.us/i/tt85kr0.jpg/
http://img530.imageshack.us/i/tt84qp8.jpg/
http://img461.imageshack.us/i/tt78wz3.jpg/
http://img353.imageshack.us/i/tt77si1.jpg/
http://img168.imageshack.us/i/t07ma0.jpg/
http://img381.imageshack.us/i/tt95ft9.jpg/
http://img75.imageshack.us/i/tt94ja4.jpg/
http://img219.imageshack.us/i/tt92qt3.jpg/
http://img229.imageshack.us/i/tt79ve6.jpg/
http://img469.imageshack.us/i/pv2jp2.jpg/
http://img469.imageshack.us/i/pv1vo7.jpg/
http://img229.imageshack.us/i/tt76on9.jpg/
http://img380.imageshack.us/i/tt86sj3.jpg/
http://img390.imageshack.us/i/tt85kr0.jpg/
http://img530.imageshack.us/i/tt84qp8.jpg/
http://img461.imageshack.us/i/tt78wz3.jpg/
http://img353.imageshack.us/i/tt77si1.jpg/
http://img168.imageshack.us/i/t07ma0.jpg/
http://img381.imageshack.us/i/tt95ft9.jpg/
http://img75.imageshack.us/i/tt94ja4.jpg/
http://img219.imageshack.us/i/tt92qt3.jpg/
http://img229.imageshack.us/i/tt79ve6.jpg/
http://img469.imageshack.us/i/pv2jp2.jpg/
http://img469.imageshack.us/i/pv1vo7.jpg/
http://img229.imageshack.us/i/tt76on9.jpg/
http://img201.imageshack.us/i/wtcv053.jpg/
http://img201.imageshack.us/i/wtcv052.jpg/
http://img201.imageshack.us/i/wtcv054.jpg/
http://img201.imageshack.us/i/wtcv055.jpg/
http://img204.imageshack.us/i/tt68ka7.jpg/
http://img213.imageshack.us/i/tt75ti3.jpg/
http://img201.imageshack.us/i/wtcv056.jpg/
http://img278.imageshack.us/i/wtcv019.jpg/

Here's a cool one, it's Tower 2 with the floors and exterior stripped away revealing the elevator system and central core.
http://img454.imageshack.us/f/t64at1.jpg/

Got a few of the new WTC too. This model wasn't nearly as finished as the original. Which isn't saying much since neither is done.
http://img208.imageshack.us/i/test2kr9.jpg/
http://img85.imageshack.us/i/tt97dc7.jpg/
http://img177.imageshack.us/i/232wq2.jpg/
http://img169.imageshack.us/i/236tp7.jpg/
http://img217.imageshack.us/i/231yw3.jpg/
http://img135.imageshack.us/i/230fi2.jpg/
http://img135.imageshack.us/i/229gz0.jpg/
http://img165.imageshack.us/i/702.jpg/
http://img165.imageshack.us/i/703.jpg/


I've got a 1,000 photo and video collection of the WTC from construction to removal of debris too. While I wasn't there on that day, I've seen the horror. The things they never showed on TV...wow...I kinda had a flashback to moment during my research. There was one film crew, embedded with the FDNY, that actually was in 1WTC during the fire. I had almost forgotten the WHAM! sound from the background when a jumper hit the plaza, and way it looked in the aftermath of that...

I can only imagine what it was like for the people that were actually there. No way can you completely get over that.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I wated them to rebuild the world trade center and call it just that which is what they're doing now it appears.

I was just hoping for prettier buildings than the old gray blocks, which we're getting, so I'm happy.

I thought the old World Trade Center looked very good. Extremely impressive from the ground looking up and the stern geometry looks classic from far away too. Imo the twin towers would still look modern today, 30 years or whatever after they were built. I liked them.

 

[STR]

^Minorou Yamasaki, the architect hired by the Port Authority to design the WTC, had a unique style. The WTC was, in a lot of ways, the culmination of his organic, semi-Gothic Modernism. His work didn't fall into any "school" or category of architecture, and is therefore often glossed over, if not overtly derided, by architecture classes. He experimented, the WTC in a way was a experiment writ large. In a lot of ways it was successful. In others...well you gotta try something to figure out whether or not it will work. However, it was never unsalvagable. Right after leasing the Trade Center (6 weeks before its destruction) developer Larry Silverstein contracted architect David Childs to rehab the complex to make more urban friendly. Of course, things turned out differently than expected. Mr Silverstein kept Mr Childs on to design #1 & #7 WTC in the new complex.

Bit of trivia, the reason why the windows were so small in the towers was because Yamasaki was acrophobic. Setting the windows in such a way that let him place both hands on a column allowed him to look around without anxiety.

 

[Data Holmes]

Three youtube vids.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZiHN3z2o08[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2150wkh6Oyc[/yt]

This one kills me every time I watch it. Got to love those Brits. Truly the big brother to the US.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQOQWAKnB1Q[/yt]

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Well that last one got to me too. That was great.

We will never forget.

 

[Rii]

the darkest day of human history

lol

Yes, Rii is being hyperbolic, but that should hardly elicit amusement.

Hyperbole has to be intentional. It's funny in the same way that hyperbolic humour is funny, though.

Incidentally, a few days back I was reading this article on the world's worst textbooks. China's made the list for noting the Rape of Nanjing as "the most horrible [event] in world [history]." Fortunately BrotherBenny isn't writing textbooks or the article's authors would've had to invent entirely new levels of fail to categorise it.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Let's knock this stuff off. It's not appropriate for a memorial Thread.

 

[Cheapjack]

UK news on the day closed with a shot of those steel construction pillars, bent and collapsed.

Terrible.

 

[ST-One]

... the darkest day of human history, ...

Oh please.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Again, let's keep the political stuff out of this Thread. Start another one if you like, or go to TNZ.

 

[Jetfire]

That was a horrible day for me in other ways...I got into a car accident early that morning and later was on the phone with my insurance company when my friend beeped in and asked me did I know what was going on...which I didn't and then he told me to turn on the news...I remember watching the second plane hit live.

 

[cultcross]

I was in my solar system class learning how new worlds were formed from clouds of dust.

Remarkably poignant, in retrospect.


I remember getting home and almost immediately watching the 2nd plane hit live on the news. I knew something was terribly wrong the second I turned the news on, actually - it was in the days when the BBC only used the BREAKING NEWS banner when some serious shit had hit the fan, not 'Cheryl Cole to divorce'.
Weirdly the thing I remember most about the coverage was this shot of a fire engine screaming past that they replayed about a dozen times (they didn't have much footage at that point). For years after I wondered if those firefighters died.

 

[Moopsy]

I cried all day that day, even though I was hundreds of miles away from Ground Zero. I remember that the long-scheduled episode of TOS that aired that day on the Sci-Fi Channel was the ironically lighthearted "The Trouble with Tribbles". I couldn't watch the episode for sobbing. America will always remember the events of that day, and I also will never forget September 11, 2001.

 

[JarodRussell]

Why they don't put two Freedom Towers in there is beyond me.

Though I'm glad they renamed that tower. Sounds way too cringeworthy, like Freedom Fries.