Brain Drippings

It’s very early in the morning and I get a phone call from a friend out of state.

“Turn on the TV, now.”

“What channel?” I ask.

“Doesn’t matter.”

The line goes dead.

This is not a call you ever want to get. It’s 2001, so I still have a TV, but I get to the computer first.  Before I bring up a web browser though, I take a peak at my IRC client.

[07:09] <Jamraza> A PLANE HAS CRASHED INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER
[07:09] <mavhc> ouch
[07:10] <Jamraza> Massive damage
[07:10] <Jamraza> Smoke everywhere
[07:10] <Jamraza> It looks like it could have been a jet
[07:10] <Pompon> bloody hell look at the mess
[07:10] <Jamraza> Checking CNN/BBC News NOW
[07:10] <electrich> fark
[07:10] <oZRiC_> news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1537000/1537469.stm
[07:11] <Jamraza> It’s a passenger aircraft
[07:11] <Jamraza> It looks big
[07:12] * Jamraza shakes his head
[07:13] <oZRiC_> just seen the pic.. bloody hell
[07:13] <mavhc> maybe a 737
[07:13] <Jamraza> The plane was coming in low… and clipped the WTC at an angle
[07:14] <Pompon> yep .. so i guess it landed at jfk ? but it might have been dmamged
[07:14] <Pompon> must have been ..
[07:14] <Mephisto_> what the hell is a plane doing at that altitude?!1?
[07:14] <Pompon> bllody hell
[07:14] <chrisqeld> argh
[07:14] <Pompon> see that
[07:14] <Jamraza> SHIT!
[07:14] <Jamraza> WHAT THE HELL!
[07:14] <mavhc> something else exploded
[07:14] <Pompon> more explosions
[07:14] <Pompon> yeah
[07:15] <Pompon> both towers on fire now .. what the hell ?
[07:15] <Jamraza> WHAT THE FUCK!
[07:15] <Jamraza> WHAT THE FUCK!
[07:15] <Mephisto_> once again, I wonder why that plane was flying so low
[07:16] <mavhc> maybe 2 planes now
[07:16] <Jamraza> What happened to the chopper!
[07:16] <Jamraza> Did it explode…
[07:16] <Jamraza> God…
[07:17] <mavhc> speculating that it was deliberate
[07:17] <Jamraza> It definetly looks it
[07:17] <Jamraza> This is…
[07:17] <Jamraza> Man… That plane flying into it was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen
[07:18] * oZRiC_ goes to watch news24
[07:18] <xloco> building 2 blewnup
[07:18] <xloco> tv has no sound
[07:18] <MiMei> sorry my connection broke down
[07:18] <Pompon> looks like the chopper crashed into the 2nd tower
[07:19] <mavhc> plane they said on cnbc
[07:19] * Jamraza shakes his head
[07:19] <Pompon> talk about making a bad sitch worse
[07:19] <xloco> my dads driving around down there
[07:19] <Jamraza> This is massively screwed up
[07:19] <MiMei> I wonder whats going on :(
[07:19] <Jamraza> The second plane
[07:19] <Jamraza> Looked like a 737 that kinda thing
[07:19] <Jamraza> The guy on News 24 says…
[07:19] <Pompon> there was one tower on fire .. and then something else crashed into the second tower .. weird
[07:19] <Jamraza> The second one looked deliberate
[07:19] <Pompon> yeah
[07:19] <Jamraza> I.E.. This is terrorism
[07:20] <Pompon> either than or really bad flying
[07:20] <Pompon> god imagine trying to climb down the stairs in that smoke ..

There was a lot of confusing facts. A friend of mine from Texas was the first to mention bin Laden.

[07:26] <NoZ_> i got 10 words for you
[07:26] <NoZ_> Usama Bin Laden

No one knew what he was talking about.

[07:29] <Mephisto_> what the hell is usama bin laden>?

There were other reports

[09:03] <Watcher^> Al-Jazeera the Qatari News channel has said the the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine took responsability

[09:54] <server88> osama bin laden threatened the US adn UK 3 weeks ago

And it goes on. And on. And on. At first there’s some half-hearted joking, but then it becomes clear that something extraordinary has happened, and the tone is somber, business-like. Everyone wants information and we have different sources. It’s IRC, so there are people in the channel from the UK, France, Australia, Holland, Belgium, Israel, Japan, and Germany that I know of, in addition to the majority from the US.

Two and a half hours later, there are still more questions than there are answers. In the background my wife is watching CNN. I am trying to reload CNN and BBC newspages and hitting overloads. People who get any bit of news are posting it to IRC.

[09:48] <JustMeNow> three planes crashed 2 AA 1 UA confirmed.
[09:48] <micmck> flew in treetop level, put it in the side – thru to courtyard
[09:48] <[syth]> Just: 4 planes confirmed down
[09:48] <Balgewolf> They have been saying that the pentagon one was maybe a 767
[09:49] <[syth]> 2 AA 2UA
[09:49] <Buffy_Fan> i can’t believe they didn’t have planes up to shoot the pentagon one down
[09:49] <Perky> anyone know if was american’s atticking themselves or another country?
[09:49] <koe_182> George Bush is back in DC
[09:49] <Nakorite> noone knows who was behind it yet
[09:49] <Perky> ok
[09:49] <Athene> no one knows yet
[09:49] <Nakorite> they’ll know soon, when they review the black box, and the airport cameras
[09:49] <GJiss> BF there’s a airport next to the pentagon
[09:49] <micmck> bf – reagan airport is so close, a plane doesn’t have to get far out of norm flight path
[09:49] <RMsad> Perky: This can only be a terrorist attack from outside
[09:49] <[syth]> I don’t think anyone thinks this was a domestic act

Six hours later we are still scrabbling for any sort of coherent picture as to what happened. Details are still scarce, but we’re keeping up on everything we can find.

[13:00] <Athene> when was the P hit, in the course of things?
[13:00] <JustMeNow> Schools kept open in NY to keep the kids in. Normal schedule.
[13:00] <pootle> shit, no civil flights over central London
[13:00] <Wallace2> Athene: I think it was about the time of the second plane at the WTC
[13:00] <Buffy_Fan> all disney us theme parks…there’s the other one in florida and another in california (california adventure or some such)
[13:00] <Athene> was it hit after both towers?
[13:00] <Wallace2> and the Pentagon was later.
[13:00] <darly> just after Bush made the first or second speech about the WTC I think Athene
[13:00] <Buffy_Fan> after both towers
[13:01] <micmck> yeah, i think the pentagon was after both towers
[13:01] <Wallace2> BF: yeah.
[13:01] <Athene> ok
[13:01] <micmck> but not long after
[13:01] <Buffy_Fan> www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/index.html
[13:01] <Buffy_Fan> chronology
[13:01] <Buffy_Fan> with times
[13:01] <Athene> and the tower hits were 20 min apart?
[13:01] <Athene> ty BF
[13:01] <micmck> yeah, 18 min
[13:01] <Buffy_Fan> almost an hour after the second plane
[13:01] <Buffy_Fan> 45 minutes
[13:01] <Wallace2> 8:50am 1st tower 9:08 second tower “about 10am” pentagon. Pittsburgh plane was sometimes between 908 and 10 I think.
[13:01] <Wallace2> course, no one knows for sure yet

Twelve hours later and there are a lot more details, none of them pretty.

[19:01] * Mephisto_ just saw the footage of someone plummeting from the WTC
[19:01] <Mephisto_> makes me sick to my stomach
[19:01] <oZRiC__> it’s unreal don’t you think meph
[19:01] <Mephisto_> I can’t imagine why one would jump
[19:01] <micmck> because there’s fire burning you, meph
[19:02] <Inzo|Work> jump or burn to death
[19:02] <Mephisto_> if you head for the stairs, you have a chance at survival but jumping from say the 50th floor pretty much nullifies your chances
[19:02] <darly> better than the alternative I suppose
[19:02] <Muffle> i think i’d rather jump to myd eath than burn slowly
[19:02] <Mephisto_> yeah, but wouldn’t you try heading for the stairs?
[19:02] <Mephisto_> I know I would
[19:02] <micmck> i don’t think stairs were an option
[19:02] <Muffle> if it were possible
[19:03] <Mephisto_> but still
[19:03] <Mephisto_> can’t imagine choosing to fall to my death
[19:03] <oZRiC__> perhaps it wasn’t a jump.. there must have beem so much smoke, so much darnkess and panic wouldn’t surprise me if some people just fell
[19:04] <Mephisto_> and maybe they were pushed out by the blast or something
[19:04] <Inzo|Work> fuck that
[19:05] * Mephisto_ is going to try to get some sleep
[19:05] <Mephisto_> almost 3am here
[19:05] <micmck> whoa – highway sign says “new york city closed”

New York City Closed.

[20:47] <^Sp|ke^> well my sis just called from NY she lives 40 blocks from the WTC
[20:48] <^Sp|ke^> although instead of waking up with her alarm she woke up with a big explosion
[20:49] <^Sp|ke^> she went around giving blood

By now it’s nearly 23:00 on the east coast. Most the European’s have trickled off to bed and the flow of news has slowed.

A couple of days later I find out that my step-mom was in New York City at the time, about 30-40 blocks away. I had no idea. Late night the only news seemed to be of threats and attacks against Muslims in the US.

[21:39] <BTVSlayer> LOS ANGELES (CNN) — Several Arab and Muslim groups in California received threatening phone calls Tuesday in response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Maha Elgenaidi, executive director of the Islamic Networks Group in San Jose, said “a lot of Islamic Centers have shut Web sites down because of the amount of hate mail they were getting.” Her organization received two “hate” calls after the a
[21:39] <BTVSlayer> Elgenaidi said the first caller told her to “get the hell out of this country. You people have done nothing but ruin this country. You don’t belong here. Your religion is vile and evil.”

Originally the US Air Fleet was only going to be grounded for a day.

[22:10] <darly> The White House announced late Tuesday that the first-ever nationwide grounding of flights would be lifted Wednesday and planes should be flying by noon.

[22:11] <Hebby> yeah hon. :( bloody horrible
[22:12] <bazbar> man, what a day. Security at work was armed with machine guns at the gate
[22:12] <|mozart|> where do you work, baz?
[22:12] <xloco> my heads killing me
[22:12] <scorpi> hey loco
[22:12] <darly> no idea spike
[22:12] <bazbar> Brookhaven National Lab

And mostly by no the people left were there as some small measure of comfort.

[22:21] * Topic changed on # by |mozart|: PLEASE go donate blood 1-800-GIVELIFE | www.shunn.net/okay/
[22:21] <samman> guess this isn’t my day
[22:21] * |mozart| is like shaking
[22:21] * xloco sits quietly
[22:22] <samman> I actually felt and heard both explosions
[22:22] <Muffle> ugh there is newsgroup spam using the terrorism to advertise their porn web sites
[22:22] * |mozart| frowns
[22:23] <rickson_> good topic
[22:24] <scorpi> hey ricky
[22:24] <|mozart|> rickson
[22:24] <rickson_> howdy everybody
[22:24] <Hebby> hi rickson
[22:24] <samman> hey rick
[22:24] <rickson_> slaymeSTUD!@
[22:24] <rickson_> hebbolina! Sam.
[22:24] <Hebby> *hugs*

Tony Blair’s speech was popular

[22:35] <slayme> i thought Tony Blair’s speech was great
[22:35] <samman> much better than Bush’s
[22:35] <TracyAway> Tony Blair was amazing – that was a fantastic speech
[22:35] <Shanny^> bush can’t use big words
[22:36] <Muffle> first time ive heard someone say that :)

Approaching the end of the log and it’s still unclear who was responsible:

[22:47] <KeeperOfM> Any news yet on who did it ?
[22:47] <TracyAway> just ideas – no one wants to say for certain
[22:47] <TracyAway> they are being really careful
[22:48] <Nakorite> its highly likely it was the bin laden
[22:48] <darly> Japanese communist group have claimed responsibility, Bin Ledan is denying it, DFLP claimed and then retracted
[22:48] <KeeperOfM> Yesterday on some channels it looked as if it was Bin Laden for sure. No i’m not so sure any more.
[22:49] <darly> Laden says he supports it but he didn’t do it. People in the UK think whoever did it had to have had some sort of government sponsorship
[22:49] <TracyAway> What I’m wondering is – they say that he is one of the few who has the resources, but what resources (besides the hijackers) do they need?
[22:49] <|mozart|> money
[22:49] <|mozart|> lots of money
[22:49] <darly> secure communication to organise
[22:49] <|mozart|> flight simulators
[22:49] <Nakorite> when essentially, if any terrorist group even has the resources to do something like this, they should be eliminated
[22:49] <TracyAway> Its not as if it was an expensive bomb
[22:49] <TracyAway> but they could be trained to fly in a military
[22:49] <Nakorite> regardless of if they claimed they didn’t do it
[22:49] <slayme> ther are serving search warrants in Florida right now based on the passenger lists from the planes..

And now it’s midnight. The replays are still going on all the news channels. At this point I’ve seen the second plane impact at least 100 times. IRC is winding down.

[23:50] <samman> well, I’m off to bed. nite all. hopefully tommorrow will be a better day
[23:53] <Keoni> amen to that………
[23:56] <SarahASKW> keoni
[23:57] <rickson_> Keo
[23:57] <rickson_> !
[23:57] <Keoni> hey!!!!!!!!!
[23:57] * SarahASKW hugs keoni
[23:57] * Keoni hugs sarah
[23:58] <rickson_> what;s up with you keo!
[23:58] <Keoni> shocking day…..
[23:58] <rickson_> yeah for all of us
[23:58] <BTVSlayer> 2 phone calls intercepted that confirm that bin laden was involved.
[23:59] <BTVSlayer> -from fox
[23:59] <BTVSlayer> BBC says that Bin Laden said that he wasn’t involved
[23:59] <Keoni> i cant believe the towers are gone….

And the digits flip over to a new day.