Here's a good story.
Over the past several weeks, there has been a big run-up in the news about the planned demolition of the Zip tower, the tallest building in South Dakota which rises to the almost inconceivable height of 210 feet. There were literally front-page headlines and 4-page spreads as the norm in the final week leading up to the event. And so, the city excitedly gathered in various locales outside on December the 3rd around 12:55 pm for the toppling of a building (or, for those who did not wish to brave the single-digit temperatures, in the comfort of their homes as the whole ordeal was being broadcast live on all the local channels).
As residents of this city and members of this community, we MVS'ers felt it our duty to attend the function and watch the unfolding destruction. We gathered on one of the more empty hilltop locations and waited for the excitement to commence.
Suddenly there was a great bang...
And then we waited...
And we waited some more. Nothing seemed to be happening. The building had seemed to fall a few stories and then just stopped. Several minutes went by, and it became apparent that nothing more was going to take place. Spectators began to laugh, and disperse. Kids looked up asked their parents why someone didn't push the button again, or if someone had pushed the wrong button. Even Becky was confused.
We decided to get closer to the action to try to figure out what was going on. As we approached, the crowds became denser, and the answer became clearer. The planned toppling had instead resulted in a leaning tower.
(Okay, so Homeland Security really had nothing to do with this; it still makes for a funny photo.)
Coda: The demolition plan was to blow away one side of the base and let the stiffness of the concrete in the remaining side allow the building to fall like a toppling tree. According to the contractors, however, the concrete had been weakened over the years, and so they used too much explosives and the whole base was blown away and the building just fell and wedged itself in the ground. Sounds a bit suspect to me. You'd think they do some tests beforehand on this stuff to make sure their plan will work. Now they are going to tear it down with a giant crane. Bor-ing!
There are videos and other news floating around the internet for those with curiosity and time.
As residents of this city and members of this community, we MVS'ers felt it our duty to attend the function and watch the unfolding destruction. We gathered on one of the more empty hilltop locations and waited for the excitement to commence.
Suddenly there was a great bang...
And then we waited...
And we waited some more. Nothing seemed to be happening. The building had seemed to fall a few stories and then just stopped. Several minutes went by, and it became apparent that nothing more was going to take place. Spectators began to laugh, and disperse. Kids looked up asked their parents why someone didn't push the button again, or if someone had pushed the wrong button. Even Becky was confused.
We decided to get closer to the action to try to figure out what was going on. As we approached, the crowds became denser, and the answer became clearer. The planned toppling had instead resulted in a leaning tower.
(Okay, so Homeland Security really had nothing to do with this; it still makes for a funny photo.)
Coda: The demolition plan was to blow away one side of the base and let the stiffness of the concrete in the remaining side allow the building to fall like a toppling tree. According to the contractors, however, the concrete had been weakened over the years, and so they used too much explosives and the whole base was blown away and the building just fell and wedged itself in the ground. Sounds a bit suspect to me. You'd think they do some tests beforehand on this stuff to make sure their plan will work. Now they are going to tear it down with a giant crane. Bor-ing!
There are videos and other news floating around the internet for those with curiosity and time.
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