The paper edition of the Rocky Mountain News reported today that the BYU physicist, Steven Jones, Co-Chair of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, who has been contesting the official explanation of the collapse of the Twin Towers has been suspended from his job pending an investigation. I haven't been able to find a 'net version of the story or I'd link it.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
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http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B2GGGL_enUS177&q=Steven%20Jones&sa=N&tab=wn



www.google.com is amazing.


Good for the University he can make plenty of money on the conspiracy theorist circuit and Star Trek conventions.

He did have some pretty off-beat ideas about what happened to the towers.

So much for the theory of free enquiry in academia.

Bot

It stretches credulity way past breaking to think anyone was ready with bombs to be placed in the towers just after the airplane collisions, and that they could have done so w/o being seen.

All the footage makes it look clear that they collapsed from the top down.

I don't dispute that Rummy and Cheney moved to take maximum political advantage from 9/11 but that's a far cry from saying that anyone took steps to insure the totality of the tragedy.

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1984 300D, 138K

It's BYU. Not your typical university.

"Scholars for 9/11 Truth" Riiiiiiight

"Swift Boat Veterans For Truth"

I wonder if by some chance they are related

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I cut this from an article about how scientists view their pursuit. I hope the historical perspective is appropriate to this discussion.

B

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Although scientists have been committing their memoirs to paper for centuries, there seems to be a difference in tone between memoirs written in the twentieth century and those that came before. Earlier memoirs describe a world where science was still largely an amateur activity—literally, one pursued out of love—rather than a profession. In their memoirs, Joseph Priestley, Charles Darwin, and others demonstrate a sentiment about science rather than any distinct scientific personality. That sentiment was infused with an abiding wonder and fascination with the natural world—not wholly devoid of ambition, of course, but also bounded by a humility that came from their respect for the vast amount that was, and would remain, unknowable. The ambition to be the known discoverer of new truths about nature was concealed, in large measure, in the stylistic modesty of the student, a modesty in tune with the culture of the age. Present, too, was an idealism that perhaps could only be nurtured in an age of amateur science, still filled with a healthy appreciation for the power of chance. Not long before his death in 1727, Isaac Newton touched on this sentiment when he wrote, “I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

The nonconformist Unitarian clergyman Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) demonstrates a similar approach to the natural world in his Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley. Priestley’s tale is that of a religious man who happens to enjoy dabbling in science, and most of the text is devoted to his various theological wranglings. As a young man, Priestley had an eclectic education, studying algebra and geometry as well as reading Locke and learning Hebrew and Arabic. His own assessment of his young talents was modest: “For my own part,” he wrote, “I can truly say I had very little ambition, except to distinguish myself by my application to the studies proper to my profession.” That profession, the ministry, was not always an easy one for him. His pronounced stammer and unorthodox ideas often tried the patience of his congregations and his clerical superiors. (Priestley eventually fled England for the United States after a mob, angry over his views on religion and his support of the French Revolution, attacked his home).

Alongside Priestley’s questioning of church doctrine existed a questioning spirit about the natural world. His earliest interest was in electricity, and he maintained a correspondence with Benjamin Franklin on the subject (admitting in his memoir that he was gravely disappointed that Franklin was not a Christian). Priestley published a history of electricity in 1767 that was fairly well received. But it was his move to a parish in Leeds—and the chance of fate that found him living in a house next to a brewery—that piqued his curiosity about the properties of air. A series of experiments eventually yielded what he called “dephlogisticated” air—as opposed to the “fixed air” (carbon dioxide) he found in the brewery—in 1774. (The French chemist Lavoisier would build on Priestley’s discovery, naming the new gas oxygen.) Yet even after such a momentous discovery, Priestley was more a man of the cloth than a man of science: his memoir describes a trip to France, where he met with “many unbelievers in Christianity,” but neglects to describe the meeting with the French chemists where he explained his discovery.

Although rarely personally or emotionally revelatory (he refers to his wife only as “a daughter of Mr. Isaac Wilkinson, an ironmaster”), Priestley’s memoir does provide the reader with a sense of the culture of science at the time. Despite the existence of at least some men dedicated solely to science, the field still welcomed the discoveries of amateurs like Priestley. A small but thriving international community of the scientifically minded existed, with journals and meetings and the other accoutrements of a fledgling profession. But the careful gate-keeping and credentialing and hyper-specialization of later eras had not yet taken firm hold, allowing a dabbler like Priestley to make an important contribution to man’s knowledge of nature. One is left, in the end, with an impression of Priestley as a seeker—primarily after spiritual fulfillment and only secondarily after knowledge of God’s creation.

How much of histime was devoted to the subject matter? The university has the right to pull the plug at some point.

Wayyyy back in the late 60's a couple doctors were dabbling with this camera inside the knee and shoulder to eliminate the need to scalpel a persons knee. The University hierarchy thought it was useless and had no merit and cut funding. A then very small orthopedics company decided to take the risk and we now have something called Arthroscopic Surgery; the company and doctors lived very happily ever after.

Moral of the story, academic freedom is a shame if the idea has merit there will always be someone that will pick up the tab. Universities have to draw the line somewhere.

The "what, why and when" are extremely important in the decision about when to withhold support of a faculty member.

Was this guy causing harm? What kind and how much? If he was a physical threat to society then show him the door. If he was seeking research funding in support of his theory then fund or reject funding on the scientific merits of his theory.

If what he is doing is promoting unpleasant inquiry then counter his argument with rational argument.

B

And that line had damn well better be a political line.

It's ok to believe that Jesus visited North America but it's not ok to believe that the official explanation of how the World Trade Center buildings came down is flawed.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

As an aside, I did a motorhome exchange with a British couple who are retired school teachers. He taught science at the school where Joseph Priestley had been a student.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

One of my friends is CEO of a construction consulting firm, decades of experience working with architects, engineers, etc. on high rise buildings, during both construction and demolition. I called him as soon as this was happening to see if he was watching. He told me he was, and that 'those buildings will be gone by nightfall'. His comments on why they would fall were pretty much like the 9/11 report on why they did fall, so I don't see much reason to look for a conspiracy here.

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John

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Click to see 87 300E

What account did he give of the collapse of Bldg 7?

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Time Magazine, in last weeks issue (I have it and if folks insist, I'll transcribe the relevant portion), mentioned that the engineering analysis of it's catastrophic failure is due to be released in the next few months. Time Magazine said it was due to fuel from the aircraft spewing onto the building and the design of the support of a ConEd station within or on the building. No fiurther explanation, but it will be interesting to see whether the engineering analysis will be as thorough as the one done for the Towers.

B