September 11

[Americalex]

I distinctly remember it yes!

[Windwalker]

I lived in "the quads" next to a community college, and worked night-shift at a Grocery. I had come home early that night and fallen asleep on my couch. The maintenance guy, who had a personality like Jerry Siegnfeild's Kramer character (though only 5 feet tall and probably spun on crank more often than not) came and woke me up (knowing that I was a National Guardsman) to tell me we were "under attack!" I thanked him and turned the TV on just in time for the both of us to see the second tower struck live on my little 17 inch TV.

I do remember taking note of the fine weather that day later on... Something odd about the way the sun was shining on the hedges along the east side of the highway on the other side of the Campus... like they were illuminated more brilliantly than normal and had a strange untypical ambient glow to them.... I had always assumed it was just me "tripping" because of the minor shock setting in that I was going to be fighting in a real War within a few years. Maybe there actually was something odd with the weather that day?

[Bayowolf]

^^^^^^
There's something about our country getting sucker-punched "from somewhere in the back" that would heighten the senses. Although it's usually bright & sunny here in the Arid Zone, I remember that in the week following 9/11 the sun was particularly bright--as if God Himself was wielding His Mighty Arc-Welder where the blue of the sky fades to almost-white and the shadows on the mountains appear to dance and vibrate. This is a common occurrence around the Summer Solstice when the sun is almost directly above and the temperature about 120 degrees but, since it rarely (if ever) happens in September, I knew that I was having a mild but sustained adrenalin rush (along with some weird dreams about SCUD-alerts and MOPP gear).

[Windwalker]

^^^^^^
There's something about our country getting sucker-punched "from somewhere in the back" that would heighten the senses. Although it's usually bright & sunny here in the Arid Zone, I remember that in the week following 9/11 the sun was particularly bright--as if God Himself was wielding His Mighty Arc-Welder where the blue of the sky fades to almost-white and the shadows on the mountains appear to dance and vibrate. This is a common occurrence around the Summer Solstice when the sun is almost directly above and the temperature about 120 degrees but, since it rarely (if ever) happens in September, I knew that I was having a mild but sustained adrenalin rush (along with some weird dreams about SCUD-alerts and MOPP gear).

A general sense of heightened awareness was certainly present across the Country, but there was also "opportunity" to collect invaluable weather date while all the commercial air-traffic was grounded...

The consensus is, we normally have enough additional cloud-coverage from contrails to artificial inflate ground-temperatures by approximately 1.5 to 2 degrees, if my memory serves on the numbers... Considering I was in the Willamette Valley in Oregon at the time (basically a air-traffic super-highway up and down the west coast) the actually exaggeration of temperatures here due to contrails could be as concentrated as double the average or more.

[Fat Tony]

Unusual weather phenomenon is a treat to witness. These things do happen often, it is just that it is by chance only that you or someone gets to see it. I only saw mammatus clouds a few years ago & it was amazing. There is another one called the green flash only seen way out at sea at sunset, mainly in the Pacific. I am not atempting to explain anything away. Surreal experiences are a fact of life.

[Bayowolf]

I read that the "green flash" is the sun, when it's just below the horizon, beaming through the ocean.

[Fat Tony]

The weather is reminiscent of that year now. However this type of weather is a characteristic of this time of year. Perhaps this time of year is a difficult time for some still. The fin du siecle feel of it (the expectation) still lingers although the publicity is fading somewhat. I am sure though that for example there are some who remember KAL 007 (friends & family) like it was yesterday. Eight Canadians were forever lost on that flight as well.

[Fat Tony]

http://911digitalarchive.org/collections/show/260

The Atlantic actually has the most comprehensive & dignified photographic memorial.

[Fat Tony]

The subject of the attacks is difficult to revisit even for someone like myself who was not in any way affected by the attacks directly. I recently made the mistake of watching some of the old archival footage again, & this was not even the most controversial stuff.

[Fat Tony]

[Fat Tony]

Seventeen years later. It pains me to think about what I read recently. It has been estimated that the number of 9/11 fatalities due to the ingestion and / or inhalation of the toxic dusts by those who survived the collapses in NYC, and by those who rushed to NYC to assist in the national emergency will soon surpass the number of immediate fatalities. I stopped watching the old archival footage. Too much even after all these years. I also mostly (except for here) stopped making comments about it out of respect to America. It is an American tragedy, very much a third rail subject.

[Windwalker]

I have pretty much stopped following the news cycle all-together, being disgusted at how fickle it can be.... But the double-edged-sword effect there is, the issues at present when I dropped-out of the news cycle, are artificially exaggerated in my own mind relative to the general population.



Sometimes you can't win for losing, or however that one goes...

For me, the people that are still overly-sappy about the event near a full generation later, need to get up off their ASS and just do whatever it is they feel like they should have but didn't do back then.

My oldest Son just turned 18, and I am currently well within the Stardard to insist going in his stead in a draft-scenario, so I need to start focussing on THEIR war instead of reminiscing about MINE.

[Americalex]

We need to keep our focus on the future to be effective and live meaningful satisfying lives.. looking back can paralize us in a trance of hesitation and regrets that doesn't bring anything constructive.