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Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

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That burning Oakland freeway footage

Posted: Monday, April 30, 2007 2:15 PM by Will Femia

I'm not sitting near a TV today but I'm guessing there are bits of this running on the air.  The first minute or so is the best, not just for the footage but for the reactions.  The YouTube description links to this higher resolution version if you've got DivX.

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Bridge made of steel and concrete collapses...weakened by burning gasoline tanker...OR MILITARY JET LOADED WITH EXPLOSIVES?!?! Let the conspiracy theorists have fun with that one.

Alex, Lawrence, KS (Sent Monday, April 30, 2007 9:00 PM)

Fire can't melt steel so this was clearly a controlled demolition...

Sean, N.Y. (Sent Monday, April 30, 2007 10:48 PM)

Fire can't melt steel, eh? Do we think steel comes out of a mine in the shape of a bridge?

Chas, Wilmington, DE (Sent Tuesday, May 01, 2007 12:09 PM)

Fire can't melt steel? What kind of uber-steel do you guys have in New York?? 1370 degrees celcius (~2500 Fahrenheit) melts iron. This temperature could be reached 6000 years ago in a controlled environment for smelting purposes. Gasoline can burn at temperatures up to 15,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Fire melts steel.

Sam Gibson, Portland, OR (Sent Tuesday, May 01, 2007 12:18 PM)

Steel will melt around 2500 F degrees. http://education.jlab.org/qa/meltingpoint_01.html My father was on the USS Forestall, the aircraft carrier that John McCain was on during the Vietnam War, and the reason for the Navy to implement sweeping changes in fire safety on all navy vessels. He described being under the deck in the hangers and the ceiling above was transparent white with heat. It glowed brightly and there were driplets of steel landing on the hanger floor below - catching everything it touched on fire. He doesn't talk about the experience much but when he does I always listen. This was a powerful moment in his life and since he was beneath the deck working on planes when it started he was fortunate to be alive today. This site has an amazing shot of the ship during the accident: http://www.glynn.k12.ga.us/BHS/academics/junior/luko/brendonm29548/home.html There's a reason fire brought the human race out of the stone age. 8^) Apologies, Sean, if you were being sarcastic. Hard to tell without the emoticons. 8^p

Sterling, Tallahassee FL (Sent Tuesday, May 01, 2007 3:20 PM)

My interpretation of Alex and Sean's comments is that they're making fun of 9/11 conspiracy theorists who claim that the burning fuel from the planes would not have been enough to melt the metal structure of the towers and cause them to fall.

Will Femia (Sent Tuesday, May 01, 2007 6:29 PM)

What's the emoticon for sarcasm? All I know is smile, frown, wink and stick yer tongue out... Will, get to work setting up some of those little round faces that roll their eyes and make rude hand gestures. ;-)

Sean NY (Sent Tuesday, May 01, 2007 8:02 PM)

did'nt the tanker driver have a fire-extinguisher ? LOL

RON Birmingham,AL (Sent Thursday, May 03, 2007 4:40 PM)



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