I am a Mechanical Engineer who spent many years in Aerospace, including structural design, and in the design, and use of shaped charge explosives (like those that would be used in missile warheads).

The structural design of a large aircraft like a 757 is based around managing the structural loads of a pressurized vessel, the cabin, to near-atmospheric conditions while at the lower pressure region of cruising altitudes, and to handle the structural and aerodynamic loads of the wings, control surfaces, and the fuel load. It is made as light as possible, and is certainly not made to handle impact loads of any kind.

If a 757 were to strike a reinforced concrete wall, the energy from the speed and weight of the aircraft will be transferred, in part into the wall, and to the structural failure of the aircraft. It is not too far of an analogy as if you had an empty aluminum can, traveling at high speed hitting a reinforced concrete wall. The aluminum can would crumple (the proper engineering term is buckle) and, depending on the structural integrity of the wall, crack, crumble or fail completely. The wall failure would not be a neat little hole, as the energy of the impact would be spread throughout the wall by the reinforcing steel.

This is difficult to model accurately, as any high speed, high energy, impact of a complex structure like an aircraft, into a discontinuous wall with windows etc. is difficult. What is known is that nearly all of the energy from this event would be dissipated in the initial impact, and subsequent buckling of the aircraft.

We are lead to believe that not only did the 757 penetrate the outer wall, but continued on to penetrate separate internal walls totaling 9 feet of reinforced concrete. The final breach of concrete was a nearly perfectly cut circular hole (see below) in a reinforced concrete wall, with no subsequent damage to the rest of the wall. (If we are to believe that somehow this aluminum aircraft did in fact reach this sixth final wall.)

EXIT HOLE IN PENTAGON RING-C

American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757, is alleged to have punched through 6 blast-resistant concrete walls‹a total of nine feet of reinforced concrete‹before exiting through this hole.

It is physically impossible for the wall to have failed in a neat clean cut circle, period. When I first saw this hole, a chill went down my spine because I knew it was not possible to have a reinforced concrete wall fail in this manner, it should have caved in, in some fashion.

How do you create a nice clean hole in a reinforced concrete wall? with an explosive shaped charge. An explosive shaped charge, or cutting charge is used in various military warhead devices. You design the geometry of the explosive charge so that you create a focused line of energy. You essentially focus nearly all of the explosive energy in what is referred to as a jet. You use this jet to cut and penetrate armor on a tank, or the walls of a bunker. The signature is clear and unmistakable. In a missile, the explosive charge is circular to allow the payload behind the initial shaped charge to enter whatever has been penetrated.

I do not know what happened on 9/11, I do not know how politics works in this country, I can not explain why the mainstream media does not report on the problems with the 9/11 Commission. But I am an engineer, and I know what happens in high speed impacts, and how shaped charges are used to "cut" through materials.

I have not addressed several other major gaps in the Pentagon/757 incident. The fact that this aircraft somehow ripped several light towers clean out of the ground without any damage to the aircraft (which I also feel is impossible), the fact that the two main engines were never recovered from the wreckage, and the fact that our government has direct video coverage of the flight path, and impact, from at least a gas station and hotel, which they have refused to release.

You can call me a "tin hat", crazy, conspiracy theory, etc, but I can say from my expertise that the damage at the Pentagon was not caused by a Boeing 757.

Sincerely,
Michael Meyer

As reported in Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, Zald and his colleagues trained twenty-one people to spot a neutral target image out of a series flying by at ten pictures per second, and then state whether it was rotated to the left or the right. The volunteers performed well except when either a gory or erotic image - more graphic than can be shown here - appeared before the target image. Co-author Steven Most, from Yale University, says in those cases participants were far more likely to miss the target.

"When an emotional picture appears, it seems to short-circuit that processing in the brain that will then help you construct a visual conscious perception," Most explains.

Zald says these emotional blindings happen all the time in our daily lives, but are probably most important for drivers, since a lapse in attention of less than a second is enough to cause an accident.

"A ball that's suddenly come out on the road, a child who's suddenly stepped into the street… Anything that could happen very quickly, we could easily miss it," says Zald.

In a separate interview, Zald gave an example of how this phenomenon plays a role in personal safety. If someone is suddenly shot on the street, witnesses will stop reading their newspapers, take cover, and stare at the victim as he or she falls to the ground. But witnesses may not be able to transfer their attention quickly enough to also determine if the shooter is targeting them next. "The problem is that there's also a cost to it," says Zald, "which is that we don't tend to other information when we see something that's emotional."

The research team also found that some people are more easily distracted than others. "[People who] have the lowest amounts of anxiety are sort of able to override this distraction," Most says. But they have not yet found any other trends.

Illinois University psychologist Daniel J. Simons says the study is "a really neat finding," because it documents how we may be distracted by things beyond our focused attention. He adds however, that whether seeing a car accident, or a racy billboard on the road causes this blindness, has yet to be confirmed. "We don't know if it has that [specific] consequence yet."

In order to conclusively document what happens when we're driving, Simons says researchers would need to design studies that use driving simulators to test peoples' on-the-road reactions to graphic stimuli. His own research however has shown that people often fail to see things even with their eyes wide open. "Looking out the window," he warns, "doesn't guarantee that you will see [everything in front of you]."

Elizabeth Phelps, a psychologist at New York University, also agrees that under certain circumstances some people may be able to suppress this emotionally induced blindness. For example, she says doctors who regularly deal with bloody injuries or people who work in the pornography industry may have become desensitized to graphic images because they are exposed to them on a regular basis. However, she says that in these situations, these professionals are not facing any immediate danger themselves. "With no consequence, is that going to extinguish their emotional response?" Phelps asks."I think so." In other less professional and more everyday settings, she says almost everyone is susceptible to these lapses in attention.

Zald, Most and their colleagues are planning additional studies to see what is happening in the brain when this emotional blindness occurs.

This work was reported in the November 2005 issue of Psychonomic Bulletin and Review and was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The president hopes to give "better depth, understanding and context for how the strategy in Iraq is unfolding," a senior White House official said of the planned speeches. Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other Cabinet members will be making speeches on Iraq in advance of the anniversary of the U.S. invasion.

The public relations offensive is being launched amid intense concern in the White House about polls showing that a growing majority of Americans disapprove of Bush's handling of the war and harbor growing doubts about the prospects for success. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that four in five Americans believe that the ongoing sectarian violence in Iraq will mushroom into civil war. Also, more than half of those surveyed believe the United States should begin withdrawing troops from Iraq, the poll found.

Meanwhile, the president's approval rating remains at 41 percent, virtually unchanged since January and among the lowest in his presidency.

The initiative is modeled on a similar effort the White House rolled out in November and December, when Bush gave four speeches, acknowledging setbacks, pointing out how the military had adapted its strategy and highlighting the administration's plans for victory. That effort, coupled with the success of another round of elections in Iraq, helped the president's approval rating to rebound a little, before it fell again amid the latest wave of violence.

Bush's planned speeches on Iraq come as that nation's fledgling democracy is struggling to put together a unity government against a backdrop of intense sectarian violence. The bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22 ignited a series of attacks and counterattacks that have killed hundreds and brought the nation to the brink of civil war.

"There are some who are trying to, obviously, sow the seeds of sectarian strife," Bush said, during remarks to a group of community newspaper publishers yesterday. "They fear the advancement of a democracy. They blow up shrines in order to cause this Iraqi democracy that is emerging to go backwards, to not emerge."

Bush praised Iraqis for so far not escalating the ongoing crisis into a full-fledged civil war. "As I said earlier, there was -- no question there was violence and killing, the society took a step back from the abyss," Bush said. "And people took a sober reflection about what a civil war would mean."

He also waved away concern about his low poll numbers, saying that they will not cause him to lose sight of his core beliefs. "I understand some of the things I've done are unpopular. But that's what comes with the territory," he said. "If you're afraid to make decisions and you only worried about, you know, whether or not people in the classroom are going to say nice things about you, you're not leading."

As he did during his last round of speeches, Bush will attempt to focus on specific elements of his Iraq strategy in hopes of rallying public support for the war. His speech Monday will focus on the efforts being made by Iraqi security forces to tamp down the ongoing violence. Another address will focus on the military's evolving strategy for detecting and defusing roadside bombs. A third address is likely to be a case study of an Iraqi city or town, which the White House hopes will illustrate its plans for clearing insurgents from parts of Iraq, installing Iraqi security forces then rebuilding.

The ideas is to bring the view "from 30,000 feet down to eye level," the senior White House official said.

During a question-and-answer session with a national newspaper group, Bush became his most animated when talking about the way he handles his job.

A year into his second term, Bush is beset with a job approval rating below 40 percent, with Americans disapproving of his handling of the Iraq war and the U.S. economy.

His support for an Arab company's attempt to take over management of six U.S. seaports, a plan that caused a rebellion among Republicans worried about a security threat, has also caused him to suffer in the polls.

Bush got started on the topic when asked about a Colorado teacher who had been suspended for criticizing his State of the Union speech in January as "Hitleresque."

"Yes, I think people should be allowed to criticize me all they want -- and they do," Bush said to laughter.

He said polls will not cause him to abandon his core beliefs.

"I understand some of the things I've done are unpopular. But that's what comes with the territory. If you're afraid to make decisions and you only worried about, you know, whether or not people in the classroom are going to say nice things about you, you're not leading," he said.

"I continue trying to improve myself as a teacher," he said, adding he would still seek to make his students "think critically."

Disciplinary action was taken against the teacher, though Superintendent Monte Moses declined to provide details. Bennish did not lose any of his salary, his attorney said.

In his lecture during a geography class last month - which student Sean Allen recorded and then made public - Bennish compared President Bush to Adolf Hitler, criticized U.S. foreign policy and said capitalism is "at odds with human rights."

Allen, who appeared Friday on the Dan Caplis and Craig Silverman radio show on KHOW- AM 630, said he was satisfied with the outcome.

"I never wanted him fired," Allen said. "I just wanted him to go back to teaching geography. Hopefully, he won't be teaching the things he previously taught."

Moses said the lecture - which the superintendent thought did not present both sides of the arguments - was a "breach" of district policy. The incident, Moses said, would be discussed among principals and teachers throughout the district.

Some think Mr. Bennish should be fired. Others think he should be praised," Moses said. "In my judgment, the answer is neither. Jay Bennish has promise as a teacher, but his practice and deportment need growth and refinement."

The recording made both Bennish and Allen targets of threats and Internet fodder for liberals and conservatives nationwide over the freedoms that teachers should have in their classrooms. The debate dominated airwaves on talk-radio stations and on cable news.

Even the president weighed in.

At a news conference Friday, President Bush said he thought "people should be allowed to criticize me all they want, and they do."

"Look, there are some certain basic freedoms that we've got to protect," the president said. "The freedom of people to express themselves must be protected."

But teachers in public schools have much less freedom to express their opinions than do university teachers.

A federal appeals court concluded in a 1991 case that teachers do not have a constitutional right to academic freedom. And because teachers are viewed as agents of their school districts, district officials have discretion to decide how far teachers can go with controversial topics.

Since making the classroom recording public, Allen has not returned to his school, though Bennish said Friday that he would "love to have him back in my class."

Allen said he would not return to Overland and planned to enroll at Cherry Creek High School.

Allen and his parents contended that they never wanted Bennish to lose his job over the lecture. During his radio interview, Allen said he was "confident that the decision ... has been investigated for all sides and is the right decision."

News of Bennish's reinstatement raced through Overland via cellphone calls and text messages. Many students said they were happy that Bennish would be back in his classroom. "What makes him cool is exactly what you hear on that recording," said Nerov Rovner, a sophomore who had one of Bennish's geography classes last year. " He says things that will make you think."

Sophomore Noah Perlmutter, who also had Bennish's class last semester, said he was happy other students could experience a class with the teacher.

"It's good to know he'll be able to influence incoming students like he did me," he said.

Inside Overland, science teacher Marilyn Kemp said she trusted the district's decision about her co-worker.

"I'm sure they made the fairest decision they could," she said. "I'm glad to have him back."

For his part, Allen said he would continue to "feel the consequences, both negative and positive, for a long, long time."

Still, he said: "I would do it a million times over. It was the right thing to do."