Some one on TV said it was a terrorist attack. A very important some one.

Most likely, it was just an accident... but I guess we'll have to wait and see what the investigations dig out...

 

Most likely, it was just an accident.

Don't believe in accidents. It usually means someone messed up.
As in "it was a car accident" No, someone wasn't paying attention and caused the wreck.
Brzrkr

 

Don't believe in accidents. It usually means someone messed up.
As in "it was a car accident" No, someone wasn't paying attention and caused the wreck.
Brzrkr

Obviously, someone messed up ... in fact, that's my definition of the word "accident"

 

Don't believe in accidents. It usually means someone messed up.
As in "it was a car accident" No, someone wasn't paying attention and caused the wreck.
Brzrkr

An "accident" does not mean that no one is at fault, merely that it was an unplanned event and not an intentional act. In some cases the act may have been intentional but it was not intended to yield what resulted from it.

 

There was one small film clip that captured the "mushroom" shock wave very similar to a nuclear blast from a distant vantage point. Short because as the donut ring expanded whoever was holding the camera went tumbling.

 

Some one on TV said it was a terrorist attack. A very important some one.

It happened in a place with a 40+ year civil war history (the 1983 attack on the US military stationed there was only one of countless bombings) so my first thought was a terrorist attack.

 

There was one small film clip that captured the "mushroom" shock wave very similar to a nuclear blast from a distant vantage point. Short because as the donut ring expanded whoever was holding the camera went tumbling.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1290840907969777666

 

If it was, indeed, caused by ammonium nitrate, it's interesting to note that the amount of ammonium nitrate stored in the warehouse (to which I ask: why? Why hadn't they dealt with it properly in 2014 when they say it was confiscated to begin with?) that exploded was nearly 1000 times more by mass than what was used in the Oklahoma City bombing (had to look it up - it was before my time). Two or three tons of it did a lot of damage then, so imagine what 2750 tonnes (3031 tons) of it could do....

The "mushroom cloud" effect in explosions comes from, if I remember correctly, a supersonic shock wave/pressure front forcing the water (and other gasses) in the air to condense into a superheated steam. While iconic of a nuclear blast, any thermobaric weapon or sufficiently powerful explosion can generate the cloud. If my estimations are correct (based on a combination of Google maps and the videos of the explosion), the shock wave was moving at roughly 530 m/s, or 1.6 times the speed of sound (expanding to a height of 1500 ft in 1 second, or about 1/30th the height of the cloud from the Little Boy bomb). Some internet sleuths have estimated it had an explosive equivalent of 300 tons of TNT, which matches with my quick-'n-dirty approximation of 500 tons (15 kilotons/30, basically).

 

We would watch the pressure front contrails from the helicopter blades during takeoffs and landing.

A cold weather helicopter blades example.

 

Flying grain silo.

 

Yup was similar to the 2nd pic except at a further distance and much better defined. Didn't think to estimate the time but it was pretty quick after the well-defined donut started expanding. When I heard nitrate one of my first thoughts was it made Terry's tuckload look like a piker. So a quarter ton yield eh. Take that and estimate the devastation from the real deal. And on the day of remembrance for Hiroshima, it gives pause.

 

That video is worthy of its own thread. I LOVE SPACE X!!!

 

Yup was similar to the 2nd pic except at a further distance and much better defined. Didn't think to estimate the time but it was pretty quick after the well-defined donut started expanding. When I heard nitrate one of my first thoughts was it made Terry's tuckload look like a piker. So a quarter ton yield eh. Take that and estimate the devastation from the real deal. And on the day of remembrance for Hiroshima, it gives pause.

Beirut - Lebanon Explosion 14 Different Camera Angles: Footages of Massive Blast

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Rhosus

MV Rhosus is a general cargo ship previously owned by Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin that was abandoned in Beirut, Lebanon, after the ship was declared unseaworthy and the charterers lost interest in the cargo. The roughly 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate the ship was carrying was later confiscated and brought to shore and helped to cause the 2020 Beirut explosions.

https://clubofmozambique.com/news/b...ng-2750-tons-of-ammonium-nitrate-lusa-167926/

Two successive blasts rocked Beirut on Tuesday, causing more than a hundred deaths and 4,000 injuries, according to the latest assessment by the Red Cross. Beirut’s city governor Marwan Abboud said up to 300,000 people have lost their homes and authorities are working on providing them with food, water and shelter.

 

I guess we'll have to wait and see what the investigations dig out..

so my first thought was a terrorist attack.

 

Reminiscent of a dust explosion. The first blast "shakes the rafters" causing the dust/air cloud which then ignites causing a massive explosion. Pretty obvious it started in the fireworks shop/whse.

 

But you guys don't get in front of the world and make statements.

Sure, the smart thing for decision makers is to say, nothing.

That Someone was at a or was briefed about a first alert (FLASH TRAFFIC about possible attacks) meeting where a Intel guy was asked what's the most likely cause (low confidence with little information other than a massive blast in a war torn city). When Someone was asked later, Someone said, what Someone was told, at that time.

 

Sure, the smart thing for decision makers is to say, nothing.

That Someone was at a or was briefed about a first alert (FLASH TRAFFIC about possible attacks) meeting where a Intel guy was asked what's the most likely cause (low confidence with little information other than a massive blast in a war torn city). When Someone was asked later, Someone said, what Someone was told, at that time.

But the flash briefers are refuting that assumption.

 

But the flash briefers are refuting that assumption.

If they didn't say that terror attack is on the list of possible causes at some initial information meeting then they all need to be fired.

 

But you guys don't get in front of the world and make statements.

If I were a public figure, I would never speculate about anything... I would either say that the investigation was ongoing, or make a statement after the facts had been verified...

I love being a private citizen, I can make as many wild assumptions as I want...

 

If they didn't say that terror attack is on the list of possible causes at some initial information meeting then they all need to be fired.

Oh they did say possibility, just not, what someone said. He said it was a fact that he was told.