Mendenhall is what is known as a 9/11 ‘truther’. This is someone who thinks 911 was an orchestrated attempt by the govt to curtail civil liberties. There was a Purdue University study that proved that the fire produced by the jet fuel did not have to reach the melting point of steel to cause the steel in the structure to fail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKAe4n5hGIo Here’s another article by the University of Sydney Engineering Dept. http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/civil/wtc.shtml
Thanks for posting the videos. I believe Popular Science had a long article on this issue as well. When I was young, I met the architect, Minoru Yamasaki; his explanation for the design of WTC was to maximize rentable floor space and increase efficiency of design while withstanding the impact of a 727 or 707, the most common planes at the time.
I was the guest of a friend who worked at Chemical Bank at the Windows On The World restaurant - what an amazing view! The food and service were great and of course the prices reflected that. When the mention of September 11 comes around, I often think of the restaurant staff setting up the tables for the day’s lunch.