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9/11 5 years later
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"Have you guys heard that the United States are under attack? Two terrorist driven planes have hit the World Trade Center towers, another one has hit the Pentagon, and there's still more in the air!"
My first thought was "nonsense", but then I felt he had no reasons to be lying. I remember thinking "this can't be good, but maybe it's not that bad as it seems". The news spread across the classroom fast, and the professor interrupted the class and asked what was going on. We told him, and he said "Well I'm not sure about the WTC towers, but if the Pentagon has been hit, that is by itself a war statement...".
The towers had colapsed by the time the class was over. As it ended, we hurried down to the cantina, empty by now. A TV set was on, and we could see CNN images showing NY under this huge cloud of smoke and dust. "God damn!", I thought, as I realized it was worse than I thought. By then, I thought it was worse than it really was, judging by those first images I thought NYC had been completely destroyed!
I quickly found a computer at a lab and emailed a friend in the US, while I tried to access some webpages to know more about it. CNN had this static small webpage running, yahoo was very slow... Even penny arcade had removed their content!
Me and a coleague went to lunch at a small place outside the university, and as we walked we were talking on what could possibly happen after this day. We ate looking at the TV screens, as were everyone at the place.
I left to my job in my car, listening to the radio. As I got to the office I didn't see anyone from my department (the IT one), they were at a meeting room watching the news on TV. Back then the B2C section of that company (a major retailer corporation) was located at a single floor and I used to work right next to the marketing department guys. I was all day listening to their coments on how GWB would act, and stuff like that, on who had done it... I couldn't web surf too much so I didn't have much information about it. As I left work at night, I heard on the radio that name, for the first time... "it all indicated that the action taken was commanded by Osama Bin Laden", said by a NY correspondent live. I kept listening to it until I got back.
for the rest of the day, I was pretty much watching the news on TV< seeing the images over and over again... Still not understanding what I was seeing... Unaware of the future consequences...
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i remember hearing about it before getting into class and laughing. me and my friends were saying "what idiot would fly into the world trade center?"
of course the thought that popped into our heads was a small cessna plane or some kind of small personal aircraft. so when i got into my economics class my teacher sort of ran in and turned the tv on and said nothing to us. everyone in the class was talking about it and some were laughing at the same sort of stuff i was with my friends. when the picture finally came up on the tv my teacher instantly changed the station to CNN. when we saw both buildings burning everyone in the classroom just froze. we couldnt believe what we were seeing. some jackass students continued to laugh and were told to leave the classroom. she was disgusted at the lack of respect at such a given point in time. i'd never seen her so mad before.
i was sitting in the front row and remember looking into my teachers eyes as she watched the tv without ever blinking. she had her mouth covered with her hand as if studying the situation. this was the first time in my life that i was actually kinda worried to see an adult with such concern on their face. as time went on the entire class just sat there glued to the tv. finally the first tower began to collapse. i remember my jaw dropping looking around at everyone else to see if what i was seeing was indeed for real. i had no clue what to do or say. i looked to my teacher for some sort of reassurance that things would be alright. her eyes were full of tears, but she kept them from coming out. i remember the principal coming on the PA system and telling us that school would be cancelled for the day. and as the classroom slowly emptied my teacher said nothing to any of us, but continued to watch the events on CNN. i wanted to say something to her, as we had always had a close relationship and got along rather well. but i just walked out of the room with my head down.
ill never forget that day or the atmosphere of that room when the first tower began to collapse.
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Think everyone of these people had there own lives almost 3,000 story which each person had of there lives.
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I got out class that day, got into my car, and at some point during the commute to work I turned on the radio (local station, WAAF) and the female DJ was saying something about plane/planes hitting the Pentagon and I thought "This is a strange parody. Don't really know if I get this joke." I listened for a little while longer and they were exclusively talking about the World Trade Center towers and all that (and this being a rock station, I knew it was no joke seeing as no music was being played and they were deadly serious,) it seemed too unbelievable to be true. By the time I got to work everyone - employees and customers alike - were just planted in front of this little TV we had on the floor, listening and watching the coverage and staring at the footage of the plane crashing into the second tower that seemed to be playing on an endless loop.
I remember that for days and days that was all that was on TV.... it was constant and nearly universal coverage. Insane.
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Then I turned on the TV and saw that the towers were gone... I realized that there would be a war that instant. It was Pearl Harbor all over again.
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Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
I realized that there would be a war that instant. It was Pearl Harbor all over again.
Same here. I was working in a hospital at the time and one of the doctors learnt about the first plane hitting from his wife on the phone and told the rest of us. We all assumed it was an accident, and the plane was small. My shift ended and I drove home in time to catch the second plane hitting. Like Chaltab, I knew this meant war, and I was just waiting the rest of the day for the announcement from the president. That evening I went to my best friend's house and we watched TV all night then at dawn went out to get the first edition of the national newspaper. I remember everyone saying how much it was like a hollywood movie. Aliens blowing up the white house would have been no more shocking or unreal.I realized that there would be a war that instant. It was Pearl Harbor all over again.
War does not make one great.
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There is no lingerie in space…
C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.
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The worse thing I remember were all the people jumping to their deaths, and how they'd loop that footage over and over.
What’s the internal temperature of a TaunTaun? Luke warm.
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I was at home recovering from a foot operation a few days before so I was off work, I remember the day like yesterday, It was around 2.00 here in the afternoon here in the U.K and I was flicking through the channels because I was more or less bed-ridden recovering at the time, and I caught Sky News more or less straight after the first plane went into the WTC, they thought the first one was just an accident, so I thought to myself this looks interesting not realising the full implications of what was happening, so I carried on watching the Sky News coverage and then the second plane went in and then guessed this was some sort of an attack, so then I just carried on watching the continous news coverage til about 3 in the morning.
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They started grounding planes everywhere and reports were coming in from all over about the other two planes. I remember talking to the accounting lady at work. Her grandparents were trying to get home (I think they lived in NY), but all the rental places were charging exhorbitant prices to rent a car (no one wanted to fly). It was a sad day all around. I don't think I'll ever forget that morning. Everytime I watch a 9/11 special or see any footage, I remember being in my room, watching it live.
The world changed that day and it would never be the same.
You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.
Pissing off Rob since August 2007.
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I went home for the rest of the day and tried to get news from wherever I could, including radio. It was a 50 minute drive home and all the stations were carring the news. I remember hearing them say that NATO had invoked Article 5 of the treaty, and I was wondering just how big it was going to be. Very scary.
http://ttrim.blogspot.com
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I had left with my father (he worked at the college) like usual at roughly 7:30 in the morning. My first class didn't start until 8:30, but I usually hit the computer lab before class so I could check my email, etc. Class ran from 8:30 to 9:45, as scheduled. My next class started at 10. No one was in both classes, so I walked alone. When I arrived at my second class I heard a couple other students talking about something and mentioned an airplane, but I really wasn't paying enough attention to hear all the details.
This class ran from 10 to 11:50, but at 11 (when the class usually took a 10 minute break), another teacher came in, talked to my teacher and it was announced that classes had been cancelled for the rest of the day.
I walked to my Dad's office (less than 5 minutes), where he was getting his things together. He told me what happened. I was understandably shocked. We went to the parking garage and sent probably the next hour and a half trying to get out of the garage. We had the radio on, but I really wasn't paying much attention. All I remember is that Dr. Laura was supposed to be on, but in light of what happened, the local morning guy was working overtime, acting as a mouthpiece for the station news staff.
Things got a little faster after getting out of the campus garage, but not by much.
You see, Cleveland was very much involved in the whole 9/11 situation. Flight 93, which had recently broadcast its distress call about a bomb being on board, crossed paths (different elevation) with another flight at about the same time its transponder and radio were shut off by the terrorists. Cleveland, being the regional center for air traffic control, had no idea which of the 2 flights had made the broadcast.
When one plane turned back east and the other continued towards Cleveland, the decision was made to evacuate the entire downtown Cleveland area. We were in bumper-to-bumper for probably another hour or more until we got on the highway back to the suburb where we lived. The plane that didn't turn east continued to Cleveland, landed at Hopkins International and was searched. By that time, the attacks were long since over.
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There is no lingerie in space…
C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.
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Afterwards, I didn't know what was going to happen. It was a relief when September 12 and the ensuing days passed by without another attack. The country responded in unity unprecedented in my memory. Unfortunately I feel that this country has gone back and is now as divided as ever. But it's not what people are saying but rather how they are saying it. Whatever happened to civility and goodwill toward another? That is the question I believe everyone should ask themselves five years later.
It was very discouraging to see Hurricane Katrina used as a political device for every activist group. Whatever position they opposed was somehow responsible for an act of God. Instead of what can we do to help like after September 11, the idea was let's figure out who to blame. It really turned me off to the whole tragedy in 2005. And I have a feeling others may have felt that way too and it hurt the people affected the most.
I must say that I am very impressed with this site. When someone disagrees or posts why he doesn't understand the anamorphic issue, people don't bite his or her head off. And when someone is idiotic to wish for Lucas' death or likewise, they are rightly told off for it. That's not the case at other websites where someone might get banned for simply politely disagreeing or where rudeness and sub-childish immaturity is permitted or seemingly encouraged.
This is a comment from an actual website.
“What I notice that differentiates liberal versus conservative dialogue is the absolute vitriol, the ad hominem attacks and the vituperations spewing from liberals.”
We hate your guts. What’s the problem? Did you think people were gonna love you for being an a**hole?
Comment by Eat The Lazy Rich — August 11, 2005 @ 8:07 pm
The vast majority of user comments I read were at that site just like this. The writer could not have made the previous poster more correct. I see it on both sides and it doesn't help anything. At all.
Take back the trilogy. Execute Order '77
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“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
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Video of someone who was in an apartment blocks away. 20+ minutes of video. Will give you a better sense of the the sounds of the day and the impact of the cloud cover on the neighborhood and the exodus of people. Although some of the significant moments are cut out this is a view point i haven't seen anywhere else.
Personally i was working on 27th street.
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