What’s new to me in this interview, besides the 100 of tons of conventional explosives, is the following claim:
Does anybody have any comments on this?
Off-hand, I would say that he is utterly guanophrenic and knows pretty well nothing about the apllication of thermite in arson.
The idiot just crossed into my trerritory here.
Thermite is useful as a tool in burglary, in that it can be used to cut the hinges off of some pretty serious security doors, cut entrances through steel bar cages and even open some heavy-duty safes.
It's a bit quicker than using a cutting torch, but it has some disadvantages.
For the most part, it would be of interest to an arson investigator in that it would be part of a modus operendi of an individual criminal. Many arson fires are set to cover up another crime.
As a means of torching your house, however, there are just too many drawbacks.
The big blob of cast iron sitting on the floor near the point of ignition, the white powdery residue on survivng surfaces, the vitrified concrete or tiles...
Then there is the fact that most thermite charges are going to need a mechanical linkage of some sort to ignite them. The cell phone remote control is just not all that feasible. If you are going to go that route, it would make far more sense to use a can of gasoline. That would, at least, have the advantage of spreading quite a way through the structure when it blows. Thermite is very intensely hot, but also very localized. It would look a little odd at first glance, to see an area a few feet in circumferrence in which everything was totally burned up while the rest of the house shows signs of having burned for only 10-20 minutes before the fire department arrived. This would be clear indication that an accelerant of some sort had been used and that tests were needed. As i stated earlier, a blob of cast iron would be a good indicator of what to test for.
But no, generally, thermite is not one of the items for which the fire investigators would look.
I have less faith in Harrit's qualifications every time I read something about him.
Now I notice that he is listed as having been 28 years or so an associate professor. Now, I don't know that much about the heirarchy in a European university, but isn't an associate professor one of the less brilliant bulbs in the array, generally speaking?
Kind of like an Army officer retiring as an O-3, company grade, as opposed to field grade. I'm getting an impression of a lot of twoofers being sort of duds in their fileds, like Jeff King as an engineer (please God, make him a better physician than an engineer,) or Erik May, or Dylan Avery, the notorious film school reject, or Dick Gage, architectural hack.
Some people would have no life were it not for Da Twoof.
