{"id":7493,"date":"2005-02-21T09:32:49","date_gmt":"2005-02-21T16:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/02\/21\/popular-mechanics-tackles-911-conspiracies.html"},"modified":"2005-02-21T09:32:49","modified_gmt":"2005-02-21T16:32:49","slug":"popular_mechani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/02\/21\/popular_mechani.html","title":{"rendered":"Popular Mechanics<\/em> tackles 9\/11 conspiracies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interesting article from PM debunking sixteen “popular” conspiracy theories regarding 9\/11.<\/p>\n

Healthy skepticism, it seems, has curdled into paranoia. Wild conspiracy tales are peddled daily on the Internet, talk radio and in other media. Blurry photos, quotes taken out of context and sketchy eyewitness accounts have inspired a slew of elaborate theories: The Pentagon was struck by a missile; the World Trade Center was razed by demolition-style bombs; Flight 93 was shot down by a mysterious white jet. As outlandish as these claims may sound, they are increasingly accepted abroad and among extremists here in the United States.<\/p>\n

To investigate 16 of the most prevalent claims made by conspiracy theorists, POPULAR MECHANICS assembled a team of nine researchers and reporters who, together with PM editors, consulted more than 70 professionals in fields that form the core content of this magazine, including aviation, engineering and the military.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

CLAIM<\/strong>: Photographs and video footage shot just before United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center (WTC) show an object underneath the fuselage at the base of the right wing. The film “911 In Plane Site” and the Web site LetsRoll911.org claim that no such object is found on a stock Boeing 767. They speculate that this “military pod” is a missile, a bomb or a piece of equipment on an air-refueling tanker. LetsRoll911.org points to this as evidence that the attacks were an “inside job” sanctioned by “President George Bush, who planned and engineered 9\/11.”<\/p>\n

FACT<\/strong>: One of the clearest, most widely seen pictures of the doomed jet’s undercarriage was taken by photographer Rob Howard and published in New York magazine and elsewhere (opening page and at right). PM sent a digital scan of the original photo to Ronald Greeley, director of the Space Photography Laboratory at Arizona State University. Greeley is an expert at analyzing images to determine the shape and features of geological formations based on shadow and light effects. After studying the high-resolution image and comparing it to photos of a Boeing 767-200ER’s undercarriage, Greeley dismissed the notion that the Howard photo reveals a “pod.” In fact, the photo reveals only the Boeing’s right fairing, a pronounced bulge that contains the landing gear. He concludes that sunlight glinting off the fairing gave it an exaggerated look. “Such a glint causes a blossoming (enlargement) on film,” he writes in an e-mail to PM, “which tends to be amplified in digital versions of images–the pixels are saturated and tend to ‘spill over’ to adjacent pixels.” When asked about pods attached to civilian aircraft, Fred E. Culick, professor of aeronautics at the California Institute of Technology, gave a blunter response: “That’s bull. They’re really stretching.”<\/p>\n

Good stuff. Not that it’s likely to have much effect on the folk who’ve already bought into their particular paranoia.<\/p>\n

(via GeekPress<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interesting article from PM debunking sixteen “popular” conspiracy theories regarding 9\/11. Healthy skepticism, it seems, has curdled into paranoia. Wild conspiracy tales are peddled daily on the Internet, talk radio…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-11"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":135682,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/16\/yes-alabama-bussed-illegal-voters-conspiracy-theories.html","url_meta":{"origin":7493,"position":0},"title":"Yes, there are Alabama Bussed-In-Illegal-Voters Conspiracy Theories","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 16-Dec-17 2:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Of course there are. Because it's easier to imagine something effectively impossible (see attached take-down of what that would have taken, and the improbability of it being done not only successfully but without some bystander with a mobile phone taking a picture of the shenanigans), than to imaging that Your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/roy-moore-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":136937,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/05\/in-denver-we-own-our-conspiracy-theories.html","url_meta":{"origin":7493,"position":1},"title":"In Denver, we OWN our conspiracy theories","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Sep-18 5:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Denver International Airport (DEN) has been the subject of endless conspiracy theories since its construction, from rumors of underground labor camps (or bunkers or dwelling places for lizard people), to swastika-shaped runways, to (for some) bizarre murals, to the clearly evil blue horse sculpture at the entrance (\"Blucifer\" as the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/den-conspiracy-posters-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":138545,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/04\/03\/the-decline-and-fall-of-worldnutdaily.html","url_meta":{"origin":7493,"position":2},"title":"The decline and fall of “WorldNutDaily”","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-Apr-19 6:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The zany birther WND \"news\" site is on the verge of shutting their doors.","rel":"","context":"In "Conspiracy Nuts"","block_context":{"text":"Conspiracy Nuts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/conspiracy-nuts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wnd-page.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wnd-page.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wnd-page.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wnd-page.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":128622,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/06\/aliens-are-getting-rid-of-the-h2-channel.html","url_meta":{"origin":7493,"position":3},"title":"ALIENS ARE GETTING RID OF THE H2 CHANNEL!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 6-Nov-15 3:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"No, wait, it's not Aliens, it's A&E. The network will be replacing (in early 2016) H2 with a Vice channel.http:\/\/variety.com\/2015\/tv\/news\/vice-h2-a-and-e-1201483429\/I have to say, I'll be sorry to see it go. H2 is our default broadcast\/cable channel, since we rarely watch live TV. 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