Steve Alten Starts Off "Promote Me Week" Poorly

Steve Alten starts off his week of trying to get troofers to bail out his flagging career by appearing on Mike McConnell's radio show. To sum it up, he gets spanked like a red-headed step-child. The whole interview is pretty good, but this part left me shaking my head, about 16:15 in.

Mike: The normal rate of speed for those buildings to have come down would have taken 9 seconds. It took 15. Now if in your mind 15 is less than 9 than you are right it did fall faster than gravity, but 15 is more than 9.

Steve: Who said that 15 seconds is the normal speed that a building that's on fire would collapse?

Mike: It's not. Nine seconds it how long it would take in free fall.

Steve: If it was imploded...

Mike: In a free fall for those buildings to come down.

Steve: Yeah, but why?

Mike: Instead, it took 15.

Steve: But Mike, why were those buildings falling at free fall speed? There's never been in the history of steel structures...

Mike: Wait a minute. You're having a problem with this. Fifteen seconds is not free fall speed. They did not do what you say they did. Fifteen is not 9.

Steve: The buildings fell in 10 seconds, if you go back... even if they fell in 15, which is a matter of semantics at this point...

Mike: No, no, they are not semantics, they are real numbers.

Steve: Mike, why are you determining that the World Trade Centers should have fallen in 15 seconds?

Mike: I didn't say it should.

Steve: Why are you determining?

Mike: I said it did, not that it should.

Steve: And what I am saying is that World Trade Center 7, which was a 50 story building which wasn't hit by any plane fell in 15, 10 to 15 seconds, at free fall speed.

This guy should give up on thrillers and become a comedy writer.