NoAC lives

There was a reason cabling hadn't been put on yet that didn't have anything to do with structural stability. Won't say more than that but it was an intentional choice.

Ultimately though even with the cabling, the report found the structure was unsound, ie there's a good chance this could have happened eventually even with the cables in place.

The off-campus Bonfire they have today doesn't have any logs stacked on top of each other like it did in the past - each log touches the ground. It's still a large undertaking but it's far far safer.

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7,000 trees a year cut specifically for a bonfire is a frick ton. I can't imagine the logistics behind that.

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Workforce of hundreds 1, sometimes 2 days a week over 5 or so weeks. (Hazy on that last number)

The environmentalists always bitched but we were cutting down trees that were going to be cleared regardless. If it wasn't us, it would be heavy machinery.

Interesting bit of trivia : The collapse wasn't at 2:42. It was almost right at 2:30. The 911 log starts at 2:42 and for reasons unknown they went with that as the official time.

If those are the dorm logs on the outside I don't think we cabled those on. You can't see the wiring on the upper tiers because of scale.



You can see the wires we used on the right.

There was some safety oversight but not not a ton. And the administration suffered the same faults as the students. It's actually an interesting study on groupthink and institutional blindness.

Initially stack (the construction phase) had limited hours but in the last few weeks it went from 6PM-6AM. It wasn't that bad - your dorm or corps outfit would rotate through a schedule - 6-12 one night, 12-6 following morning, then off the next day. The lateness didn't really matter, college students after all.

After about 2AM you'd weed out all but the hardcore.

The idea of a return to campus is a pipe dream. I had friends who were on the committee who looked into the idea. Never happen without insurance and insurance wasn't expensive, it was impossible. No firm who could cover it would touch it. (And really can you blame them?)

I wish they got to experience what I did, but when has that NOT been the case at A&M?

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Is this the part where old army and new army get to argue? I like that part

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Yes, when did you guys start answering for people who happened to be in your class?

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What is the significance of saying "here"? I saw that aggies did that in the comments of the youtube videos as well.

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We have a ceremony each year with a roll call for the deceased. People answer "here" when someone they knew's name is called. LINK )

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What actually caused the collapse? Wind? Faulty construction of the pyre?

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See my post in the other thread : LINK

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The '99 Bonfire that fell had a first and second stack that were both of almost equal size, they did this thinking it would make it stronger when in fact the opposite was true. That is why the collapse was so catastrophic and without warning, just too much weight.

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I don't recall that being listed at all in the Linbeck report. It's also not accurate. 1st stack was 18 feet and second stack was 16 feet. Those figures were in line with the averages for the preceding twenty years.

The two primary causes were excessive wedging of second stack into first and a lack of containment of outward stresses caused both by lack of cabling (as we used in previous years) and insufficient wire strength.

But the ultimate conclusion was that the design was untenable.

As for the earlier post about the location change, it had jack to do with it. The 1994 issue was caused by heavy rain. They tested the soil in 1999 and it was perfectly stable.

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Pretty pedestrian, would not count on it. Do you have other options?

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*This* isn't even an option yet. Just the only out of state job I'm looking at at the moment so I wanted to check out the area. Sounds like I'd miss a few things but generally like it there.