Howard, you make it so easy for us. I don't know where to start.
More "pancake theorists" selling bad science. A hypothesis based on one single incident which has never occurred before, and has not nor cannot be
reproduced since. If two guys in Melbourne say the Earth is flat yet can't produce any results of real-world experiment or real-world observation to
support their hypothesis, then I'm sorry, the rest of us will just keep believing that the Earth is round.
Let's see what they have to say...
Australia's tall buildings, and many others around the world, are designed around a central core that contains things such as the lifts and
emergency stairs. This core is designed to take most, if not all, of the loading that comes from forces such as wind or earthquakes. The external
frame is designed to take vertical loading in the form of weight from the structure above and human and materials on each level only.
Their hypothesis, by their own admission, is based on the observation of the WTC towers. NEWSFLASH guys: the WTC towers were not designed at all in
the way you describe!

The WTC cores were designed to take 50-60% of the vertical load. Back to the drawing board, eh fellas?
"This way, if one or more support columns and beams are knocked out, progressive collapse is prevented as the load from above is distributed
laterally and onto other columns and beams," says Mendis.
Did these two just get out of bed or what? If they actually do some reading they might discover that the WTC towers were designed specifically with
lateral load distribution between the core and the perimeter, and between columns in each.
But wait, it gets better...
"It was estimated that 80 per cent of the deaths in the Oklahoma bombing were due to the progressive collapse of the building rather than the
blast itself."
Wow, these guys really need to do some more homework. Here is what the man who was called in by the US government to investigate the OKC bombing, USAF
ordinance expert Bigadier General Benton K. Partin, concluded about the building damage and "collapse":
www.okcbombing.org...
And guess what? The Murrah building was still standing after half the building was blown away. Because the bombs that were still in the building
failed to explode. And they had to call in a demolition crew to destroy the building. Ironic, eh?
But what's most amusing about the few lemmings who are coming out with this all-new "pancake collapse" theory which has never been reproduced
before or since that one day in Sept 2001, is that their hypothesis is never presented to the people who deal not in bogus science, but rather in
real-world application of real science in building collapse, i.e. demolition experts. If this 'Earth is flat' hypothesis were true, it should be
revolutionizing the demolition industry worldwide. But whaddyaknow, demolition corporations are still imploding buildings the good old fashioned way,
destroying all the columns and supports in a building. I don't see any of them consulting with these two guys in Melbourne about how buildings can be
imploded by knocking out a column or two at the top 8% of the building.
Perhaps
associate professor Mr. Mendis and his friend Mr. Ngo the "PhD candidate" should give a real professor a call. I'm sure Professor
Jones can give them a lesson or two in basic physics for free; he seems like a nice enough bloke. And perhaps they can explain to him how their
computer game predicts pools of molten metal in the basements of these imploding buildings. That would be a good one.
Is their paper published online so we can take a look at what other gaping flaws it contains?
[edit on 2005-12-6 by wecomeinpeace]