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The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2020 8:41 pm

AndyC wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2020 5:16 pm Unseen footage shows moment of Beirut explosion in 4K slow motion:

https://www.newsflare.com/video/371810/ ... low-motion

I can't get newsflare to display anything more than a blank white page. :(

It loaded for me; took a little bit but I'm always behind a VPN. On a 26" monitor, this was a pretty amazing look at how it proceeded. The cars on the roadway in the mid-foreground give a good idea of the actual timing. First time through, the video looks like it was running at either normal frame rate or just slightly slowed, like maybe .75, but shows the whole lead-up with small arms munitions cooking off or fireworks, and you see how long it actually took before the ammonium nitrate actually detonated. From there the blast is on top of the camera in a heartbeat. The subsequent pass slows it way down, but doesn't show all the fireworks stuff, just some. But, wow, do get a full sensation of the power of that blast. In slow motion you see the shockwave absolutely dismantle multistory buildings and everything in its path, and you can see exactly where the shockwave is as it rips stuff apart.

As of 12 hours ago the reported death toll stands at 158. But it's hard to believe if those buildings within a half-mile of the blast were even 20% occupied, that the death toll won't climb considerably as more of the area is cleared.

Geez, look at that structural damage where he was. Wow. All things considered, it looks like a greater power was watching out for him.

mrvmax wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 5:22 pm All I can say is if it was ammonium nitrate something had to initiate the explosion. I’ve witnessed 15000 pound BLU-82’s dropped, B52 bombing, conventional ALCM, thousands of pounds of comp b, C4, TNT and dynamite blow and I do not ever recall seeing a shock wave move that fast.

Every single angle I've seen video of, you can almost feel some of the overpressure just watching it. I don't think I've seen footage of a MOAB going off except from a very distant viewpoint and in an area where there isn't much in the way of buildings or features to help illustrate the force but, yeah, this was a Big Explosion. Which stands to reason if what detonated was around 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate. I mean, that's 99,790 25-kilo bags of the stuff. That's like 1,000 times the amount used in the Oklahoma City bombing. But you just don't drop a match onto a pile of NH4NO3 and have it blow up. If it wasn't planned and intentional, it sure as heck wasn't accidental. Like shooting yourself while cleaning a gun, it's flat-out negligence; nothing accidental about it. But if 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate had just been sitting there, in storage in the port area right there in the city, that would sure be a target of opportunity for a Bad Actor.

As more and more videos of the aftermath come in...just staggering.

I've had Fox News on the past hour. At least 60 evidently confirmed dead and it's believed thousands have been injured. Much of the port area was flattened and buildings even miles from the blast site have seen damage, balconies fallen, windows shattered. This was a Bomb with a capital B. One resident who was over 500 yards from the site said that he was literally knocked off his feet by the blast.

Abbas Ibrahim, chief of Lebanese security, said the explosion might have been caused by highly explosive material (possibly ammonium nitrate) that was confiscated from a ship some time ago and stored at the port. So the actual cause of the blast seems to be unclear at this time.

And it may be at the worst possible time for Lebanon, hit by both a financial crisis and the pandemic. In recent weeks the value of the Lebanese pound has tumbled against the dollar; the pandemic is placing business/employment restrictions, and simultaneously the practical value of people's savings is shrinking rapidly.

They need our prayers.