Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory

["Jonathan King" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On 7/7/07, Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> Mike Miller wrote:
> > I happened to see this book in the book store this afternoon and it does
> > look intriguing...
> >
> > http://www.amazon.com/Debunking-11-Mechanics-Defenders-Conspiracy/dp/156656686X
> >
> > Every customer review on the first page (all 13) gives it five stars and
> > it has 4.5 stars on average.  So maybe it is good.
> >
> > Mike
>
> The only conspiracy I spent any time looking into was the theory that
> the NASA moon landings were faked.  I found this conspiracy theory
> extremely unconvincing.  I got involved in a discussion on the "multiple
> shadows" and it was suggested that maybe the light from the earth would
> provide another light source.  I looked into it and found out that the
> earth would appear four times as big on the moon as the moon appears on
> the earth.

Well, four times the diameter, anyway. And that's important because we
are now talking about something that has sixteen times the apparent
surface area, with a pretty high albedo. So I'm guessing that
reflected light from the earth would not be a trivial thing.

> It also made me realize that the view of the earth from the
> moon must be extremely beautiful and stunning - no wonder the astronauts
> described as a beautiful jewel.

Indeed. I think it's also important that the moon has no atmosphere,
so the earth shines out of pitch black even in the daytime.

> Also, my favorite "who killed Kennedy" theory is that the whole thing
> was masterminded and executed by a single mentally ill man who shot
> Kennedy from the top floor of a textbook warehouse.

Yeah, I think that's the most likely story. But I think it's easier to
understand Kennedy conspiracy theories more than some others because
the mentally deranged man had, among other things, defected to the
Soviet Union and then come back, and the man who killed the assassin
had fairly clear mob connections.

> I saw the two towers collapse live on TV.  The whole thing seemed
> extremely real to me, and I found the manner in which the towers
> collapsed extremely plausible.

I'm really not sure what people find implausible about the tower
collapse scenario. I have heard stuff like "no skyscraper has ever
collapsed due to heat from a fire", but this ignores two important
facts. First, the heat from this fire was ludicrously higher than
anything you're likely to see if you don't fly several tons of jet
fuel into a building and therefore start multiple intense fires on
multiple floors simultaneously. Second, the design of the Trade Center
towers made them especially vulnerable to this kind of attack.

In any case, the real problem with the vast majority of conspiracy
theory stories is the implausibility of keeping (for decades) the
kinds of massive secrets that are usually required for the theories to
"work".

jking

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