Richard Gage Redux

So to continue with my last post, pointing out the idiocies of Richard Gage's interview with Kevin "Hang 'em High" Barrett. Now he starts misrepresenting the FEMA report on World Trade Center 7:

Gage: FEMA, who came up with this conclusion, pulls the rug out from under themselves by saying that the best hypothesis, which is fire plus the random damage from the debris from the World Trade Center, remember this building was not hit by an airplane, uhh their best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence. They are saying we have no faith in our own best hypothesis. So they give it to NIST, NIST does nothing with it, NIST punts.

If Gage had actually read the FEMA report though, he would know that the "best hypothesis" does not refer to the general theory that the building collapsed from fire and debris damage, but it is referring to a specific hypothesis regarding a specific collapse mechanism, and FEMA's desire that the matter should be studied further.

The loss of the east penthouse on the videotape suggests that the collapse event was initiated by the loss of structural integrity in one of the transfer systems. Loss of structural integrity was likely a result of weakening caused by fires on the 5th to 7th floors. The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to collapse remain unknown at this time. Although the total diesel fuel on the premises contained massive potential energy, the best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence. Further research, investigation, and analyses are needed to resolve this issue.

Gage doesn't seem to realize that real science takes time, and requires more than a gut feeling that the buildings should topple over like a beer bottle.

Now Gage shows why he is not an engineer, in fact he is barely able to put an intelligible sentence together, from 14 minutes in:

Gage: NIST, of course, is at fault, chiefly for stopping their entire $20 million 3 year investigation at the instant of aircraft impact into the building, uhh, before the structural behavior of the building, uhh, showed uhh, it's uhh collapse. Well why would they spend $20 million examining every turbine of the uhh airplane, and also the uhh the fires, uhh, the incredible of uhh analysis and stop the investigation right when the the collapse begins. It... it, they only have one half of a page in this 10,000 page report that merely speculate that uhh well it was obvious from they say that uhh the massive weight above the impact, uhh, could not be uhh, absorbed by deformation by the steel below. Uhh, and therefore we have a freefall collapse. (laughter) And it is absolutely ludicrous that the 80,000 tons of steel below the jet plane impact had no capability whatsoever to even slow down this weight.

Uhh, it is not, uhh, speculation, it is called math. Real scientists do actual calculations, they don't rely on arguments from incredulity.

Later Gage discusses the "demolition" of the towers, which apparently is so obvious I can't believe that I did not recognize it before.

Gage: You have the blast waves removing these columns symmetrically all the way around the building. The firemen describe these explosions wrapping around the building like a belt. And sure enough the videos show these explosions occurring all the way around each side of the building symmetrically, and progressing actually, I am told and we're doing this analysis now, faster than free fall. Now that is impossible by physics! Something can only fall as fast as... as... as... free fall speed. Uhh, so what is happening is the concrete is being completely pulverized to fine dust and to gravel.

What videos has he been watching? And what has he been smoking? I thought even the slow truthers had given up on this faster than free fall thing. I guess nothing ever dies in trutherville.