Folks,
I made an egregious error in an earlier post. I believed something that Heiwa & Bill Smith told me without checking it. Yeah, yeah. Let the ridicule commence. I deserve it. I know better.
Specifically, I believed their statements that the antenna started to collapse before the peripheral walls of the building. It never occurred to me that someone could get something that obvious completely wrong. (OK, 2nd course of guffaws...)
As a consequence, I wrote:
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=4766255#post4766255
All of the above is clearly wrong.
Thank you, Ryan Mackey for your (smugly understated) comment above: "I thought we answered this question a year ago."
[BTW, "smug" is a compliment in this context. When you've fought the wars, and know you're stuff, you've earned the right to "smug". And that style is distinctive - and sets off alarms - to all of us who've dealt with folks who do know their business. Lest smug get out of hand, Ryan, there is a particular episode of South Park that is now readily available.]
Based on a quick scan of the info that Ryan pointed to:
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3469739&postcount=355
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=3484088#post3484088
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=3485838#post3485838
it seems evident that the early descent of the tower is simply an illusion of rotation & parallax.
Thanks to Mangoose, rwguinn and others for that fine work.
"Thank you. Now back you your regularly scheduled broadcast..."
tom