Posted by ParaDiddle:

Paradiddle, what a riddle. Play the fiddle? Too damn little!

As a 'rudiment' of drumming, I found the paradiddle to be more or less useless. It is cool when you are bored, though. (Or playing some Neil Peart stuff.)

Using bar-napkin physics, I find that spraying a stream of water 1000 feet straight up requires an nozzle exit velocity of at least 254 feet per second.

If I knew more about the pumping system and pipes used, I could approximate friction and pressure drop, and say whether or not this seems reasonable.

As for the structure of the WTC, I disagree on its ruggedness. Given its height, it's a fairly light building. Unfortunately, strength doesn't matter much once a fire of that magnitude is spread completely over several floors.

The heavy facing material of the Empire State Building saved it from severe damage when hit by a B-25 in 1945, but I can't imagine any skyscraper built to make a fully loaded 767, flying at or above max allowable airspeed, bounce off it.

I think you mean the Citicorp Center. The problem there was due to a failure of engineering supervision. 

To save costs, those crossmembers were joined with bolts instead of welds, which were (allegedly) on the design plans. Bolted joints are weaker then welded ones, and the gravity of the mistake wasn't realized until after construction.

The surrounding area was never evacuated, but plans had been drawn up to do so. A hurricane that would likely have toppled the structure was about to hit NY, and had it not veered off course, an evacuation would have been imminent.

I don't see enough evidence to say the Citicorp tower is more likely to topple when hit directly by an airplane - there's still an incredible amount of mass it has to move. However, if the plane could get low enough to take out one of the four columns the building sits on, it might be possible.

Professional engineers have a pretty massive responsibility, and it's difficult to plan for every conceivable disaster. It's even harder to plan for the inconceivable. I'm very interested to see how new skyscrapers are designed now. Of course, given the demand nowadays, it might take a while for another skyscraper to be built.

Finally! Something interesting

I'm no expert on drumming. I know a little, and I like to share with like-minded folks. Below, is my opinion, no more, no less.

In general, the exercise of playing the paradiddle and making each stroke sound identical, is one of stick control. Once the drummer assimilates the skill, even s/he doesn't know how it has helped.

In a pop music setting, it has quite a few applications, especially after some accented strokes are used in conjuction with ghost notes. "Wipeout" actually works well when played as a paradiddle. Most drummers play it as a open sticking due to lack of stick discipline.

Here's an excercise for the drumset. If you do it correctly, you'll have a cool lilttle funk groove going. I play with arms crossed (w/ traditional grip) so if you play from the open position adjust my instrutions.

- Para "How about givin' the drummer some?" Diddle

Bringing this back up only for the article...

Air Rescues from ABC News