Rosie O'Donnell O'Dunce O'Dumbass Implodes

Well, it had to happen. Another actor/comedian/singer that I used to think was even slightly entertaining has had to out their personal views and reminded me why I don't really watch any of these folks anymore.

It's not enough that Rosie O'Donnell portrays routine anti-smuggling interdiction (which happens every day) as some conspiratorial provocation for war (when the Iranians clearly have a much bigger reason to conspire). She had to go on and say that she believed there was some sort of government cover up OR direct involvement in the 9/11 incident.

For that she should be kicked to the curb and her limo drained of all gasoline and lubricating oil so she has to push it all the way back home.

People are poking fun at her left and right, but Popular Mechanics took it seriously and, once again, put together the definitive explanation as to why the towers collapsed (as if, watching it that day, from plane entry to burning embers).

For my own answer, I simply can't believe that this woman would get away with acting like she is a structural engineer. She's a G_d Damned comedian, for the love of all things holy.

I would like someone to give me a platform to vent my spleen on such morons.

I'll point to two other local disasters that were from similar issues: stress on beams and connections not meant to carry the weight.

Hyatt Regency Catwalk

In 1981, the famous "atrium catwalks" at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency collapsed. 114 people died and 200 were seriously injured. While the noted document discusses the technical engineering concepts that led to the collapse, the best part of the explanation (and probably the simplest that Rosie would understand):

The potential for disaster was cemented when the design was changed by Havens Steel Company. Instead of using the single-rod design originally proposed by G. C. E. International, the designers adopted a double-rod design. In this design, a set of rods would connect the fourth floor walkway to the trusses of the roof of the atrium, and a second set of rods would connect the second floor walkway to the fourth floor walkway independent of the first set of rods. These rods would be secured to the beams of the walkway by bolts at the end of each rod [8].

The single rod design and double rod design can easily be compared with an analogy. If one monkey is hanging on a branch, and another monkey is hanging below it on the same branch, then each monkey only has to support its own weight. If the second monkey is hanging onto the legs of the first monkey, then the first monkey must be able to hold both it’s weight and the weight of the first monkey or else they will both fall. Since the designers failed to understand very elementary concepts involving force and stress concentration, the plan for an engineering failure was created.

Get that, Rosie? Once the overall support structure for the towers was damaged, the entire building was damaged. The rest of the beams and support structures for each subsequent floor was forced to hold up the weight of the others. Something it was not designed to do.

Thus, with the first monkey having to hold up all the other 80 remaining monkies (floors), they all fell down.

Unfortunately, Rosie only chooses to imitate two of the three monkies, see no evil (Iranian mullahs aren't "evil" even though, if Rosie went to Iran she would either be hanged as a lesbian or forced to under go trans-gender surgery in order to get her man's lust for woman into a man's body) and hear no evil (obviously, the continued "Death to America" and "Wipe Israel off the Map" chants don't make it into Rosie's gigantic dressing room at the View to Stupidity):



Instead of "say no evil", Rosie decided to do this:



When she should have been doing this:



Kemper Arena Roof

If you're going to pretend to be an engineer, at least read the above link and get some clue about engineering before you speak. Of course, Rosie is too busy making a monkey out of herself and pretending she is still funny after all these years so she probably won't take the time.

Thus, I will excerpt a few important, edifying excerpts (I hope these words and concepts aren't too big for Rosie) - form and function:

6.1 STEEL
Steel is a very affordable and strong material. There are many different types of steel; however, all are composed of iron and carbon with small amounts of other metals in it that give it specific qualities. The production of steel in mass quantity has two different strengths. Regular structural steel has a yielding strength of 36,000 pounds per square inch and high-strength steel has a yielding strength of 50,000 pounds per square inch (Salvadori 64). However, steel can theoretically have a yielding strength of 4 million pounds per square inch. Right now, we have steel cables that have an ultimate strength of 300,000 pounds per square inch with an allowable stress of 150,000 pounds per square inch. This is strong enough to suspend the Leaning Tower of Pisa from a cable that is 1.1 inches in diameter (Salvadori 65).

However, there are some downsides to steel. It melts at relatively low temperatures, around 1200 degrees F, and becomes brittle at relatively high temperatures, around 30 degrees F. Without proper treatments, steel becomes useless and dangerous (Salvadori 65). In addition, if treated improperly, steel in a high building slices into pastry thin layers. This phenomenon is called lamination stress. Improperly welded joints cause similar stresses. Finally, repeated compression and tension fatigue steel (Salvadori 66).

Remember those underlined portions. Going on with the "weight" and "structure" aspects of the Kemper Arena incident:

13.2.1 SCENARIO
On June 4th, 1979 at 6:45pm, a downpour of rain with 70 mph hit Kansas City. Arther LaMuster, worker and only person in the arena at the time, heard odd noises 25 minutes later. He inspected the area and barely had time to get out as the center of the roof collapsed. It was determined later that approximately one acre, or 200 x 215 ft of roof collapsed. The air pressure, increased by the rapidly falling roof caused some of the walls to blow out. However, the portals remained undamaged. Ironically, thousands of architects there for the American Institute of Architects Convention had been sitting in the arena only 24 hours before (Levy 59).

Okay. Got that? As the roof came down, it compressed the air in the building. It had to go somewhere so IT WENT OUT through the walls causing an "explosion". The same phenomena as seen on the day the towers collapsed. Documented in many unfortunate, non-government organized, even non-terrorist, disasters.

Note the image below showing the planes took out significant structural support systems that are damaged by the planes:



You simply cannot change physics and chemistry. All things that Rosie knows jack about. As an actual engineer points out, steel will melt at 1,200 degrees farhenheit. A standard house (not Rosie's), fully furnished, can reach temperatures up to 4,000 degrees fahrenheit at its "peak". Maybe Rosie thinks the towers were embued with magical powers that could resist all known physics, chemistry and laws of gravity?

Now, an important picture that shows the top 30 or so floors of the building collapsing down on the remaining structure.




I would like Rosie to explain to us how the other 80 some floors were supposed to hold up under the weight of those top collapsing floors.

*crickets*

That's what I thought.

Now let's see what happens when you drop 30 floors and 2997 dead on Rosie's head:



Just what I thought.

As for the "radical Christians", here I am. I am about as radical as they come. That is to say, I don't congregate, I don't subscribe to any denomination and I have actually read the bible a few times. In a rather interesting, radical side effect, I decided that it did not tell me to kill anyone who did not believe as I do.

Thus, Rosie remains alive and able to spew all over the British, their captive sailors, the families of these sailors, the national tragedy of 9/11, the dead, their families and Christians in general.

Now, that is radical.

*psst - Barbara and the rest of the "View": If I believed in conspiracies, which hollywood is full of, I would guess that this is some effort to boost your ratings. You know, "even bad publicity is good publicity." I don't, however, believe that it was anything more than several of your folks showing complete and utter idiocy, a disregard for reality and a serious lacking in couth and compassion for all those who died and all those who were left behind.

I suggest, instead of the British apologizing, that your show should apologize instead. That, or get off the air because, like Rosie's old magazine, I have a feeling you are about to get canned."