Please Pass The Smelling Salts
No! This is an alternate universe, that's the ticket! Brigham Young University has placed Steven Jones, 9/11 conspiracy theorist extraordinaire on paid leave while they investigate his involvement in the cult of nuts group called the "9/11 truth movement". Rank sanity has broken out in the ivory tower….
PROVO — Brigham Young University placed physics professor Steven Jones on paid leave Thursday while it reviews his involvement in the so-called "9/11 truth movement" that accuses unnamed government agencies of orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.
BYU will conduct an official review of Jones' actions before determining a course of action, university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. Such a review is rare for a professor with "continuing status" at BYU, where Jones has taught since 1985.
Jones was teaching two classes this semester, which began Tuesday. Other professors will cover those classes, and Jones will be allowed to continue to do research in his area of academic study, Jenkins said.
Jones became a celebrity among 9/11 conspiracy-theory groups after he wrote a paper titled "Why Indeed Did the World Trade Center Buildings Collapse?" The paper was published two weeks ago in the book "9/11 and American Empire: Intellectuals Speak Out" and lays out Jones' hypothesis that the three towers fell because of pre-positioned demolition charges — not because of the planes that hit two of the towers.
When Jones began to share his demolition theory publicly last fall, he politely declined to speculate about who set the charges other than to say terrorist groups couldn't have been the source.
Then, later, he started to speak publicly about research conducted at BYU on materials from ground zero. He said he found evidence of thermite — a compound used in military detonations — in the materials.
In recent weeks, after becoming the co-chairman of the group Scholars for 9/11 Truth, Jones seemed willing to go further, implicating unnamed government groups but not President Bush.
The Deseret Morning News requested a statement from the university Wednesday afternoon for a story it was preparing on Jones and his high-profile role in the 9/11 truth movement. University officials informed Jones of the decision to place him on leave Thursday afternoon and released a statement to the newspaper Thursday night.
"BYU has repeatedly said that it does not endorse assertions made by individual faculty," the statement said. "We are, however, concerned about the increasingly speculative and accusatory nature of these statements by Dr. Jones." (Emphasis mine)
Jones does not have tenure, which is not used at Brigham Young. This is actually huge news. Jones is doing damage to the one thing the University must protect at all costs. Its reputation.
UPDATE: Notice to any "truthers" who like to come by and troll. Read the comment policy ("About" page). I've already nuked the first one that violated the policy. I will continue to do so. This site happens to belong to an engineer and I know and understand structural steel and NFPA fireproofing. That would be the only warning I am inclined to give.
UPDATE: Thanks for the tip, Allah! Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change, Loose Change,
UPDATE: For the people who have not succumbed to the nonsense the "truthers" spew, here's a handy dandy point by point rebuttal of the "evidence" they claim.
The Ivory Tower | Gaius Friday, 8 September , 2006
By Blackhawk, Friday, 8 September , 2006 @ 8:36 pm
Way!
No way!
WAY!
Even Bill&Ted can see through these quacks.
(Gratuitous air guitar licks…)
By Shawn, Friday, 8 September , 2006 @ 10:41 pm
What in the world? What’s going on with the Loose Change repeated links? Hackers?
If that’s all they did, I think they aren’t very impressive hackers.
By Gaius, Friday, 8 September , 2006 @ 11:02 pm
Googlebomb. Pile on.
By Kev, Thursday, 14 September , 2006 @ 2:26 am
Interesting piece… I agree that most of what passes for ‘questions’ posed by the 911 ‘Truth’ people are pure b/s. They’ve arrived at a conclusion because they hate Bush and are scrabbling around to find evidence to support it.
But… I do have a question… I dont believe for a second that the building was blown by thermite/thermate charges, but what is the evidence of sulphurisation of the WTC steel that the conspiracists refer to? Is this a result of sulphur present in jet fuel or some other chemical process?
By Gaius, Thursday, 14 September , 2006 @ 5:12 am
I am guessing here, but it is likely some sulfur present in the jet fuel (you’ve smelled in when you get some sulfur in your gasoline). Coupled with the fact that it is also often a contaminant in other building products like wallboard.