Large explosion, buildings damaged in downtown Nashville

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: EnhancedInterrogator

CO's generally aren't Data Centers, for obvious reasons.

Data Centers are rarely more than 1 story tall (even MicroSHAFT and Google, and 3 letter agencies). DC's don't have to go vertical because they perform a different function than major wire centers like CO's. DC's are processing points, CO's are aggregation points. Two completely different philosophies, both of which want to protect themselves from the other.

Telco ones and if new construction, yeah they are generally single-story "tilt-up" concrete with lots of seperation from surrounding structures.

But, for example, downtown Los Angles has at least half-a-dozen older mid-rise (4-7 story) and at least one high-rise (One Wilshire) that have been converted into data-centers (or in One Wilshire's case a carrier hotel also). One 6/7-story building I can think of used to be the HQ for an old retail giant out here (later consumed by Macy's). The building was sold-off, and converted into data-centers. Each floor run by a different data-center company (Equinix as one example). In the basement, are generators, and fibre-optic link to One Wilshire and various other similar buildings that were converted into data-centers.

In any event, I'm sure there are lots of older or not-purpose-built buildings being still being used in ways that perhaps are not ideal, or should be secured better (i.e. more efforts to keep trucks back further from the buildings with barriers, etc.).

On the up-side, taking-out most of these individual buildings will only result in relatively local outages. You have to hit something big (like a carrier-hotel) to get a broader outage. Even then, there are back-up longer connections to alternative inter-connects. But, taking down a carrier-hotel could really effect internet bandwidth for a wider regional area.

originally posted by: ward8
Why would someone want to disrupt phone and internet to that large of an area? Perhaps switching out the right vaccine for one that might be tampered with?

Well, Occam's Razor here...to see what would happen.

Which is concerning because it might mean there are other plans in the works.

If someone knew enough to take down a major central wire center, but weren't sure how tough they were...well, then they learned a lot from this event! They're a lot tougher than they look!

The "next" event, if there is one, could be bigger.

a reply to: RMFX1

Laser guided missile, or energy weapon. Idk

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

OKAY...now from that picture...that almost certainly IS a Central Office! And, the explosion was right NEXT to it! So clearly someone was targeting the building. BUT...as I was saying earlier...notice how much damage there is to the other buildings and not the CO building. This is EXACTLY what I was talking about a few posts back!

i'm thinking that someone knew where to place the RV. why you ask?
if you watch some of the aerial videos you'll notice what i i'm calling blown out service tunnel hatches. reason i say that there's a old bell south switching station now AT&T's in the town i use to livein, that has these same type doors next to it on the outside and you could drive by time to time and see the techs going in and out of them. and this was just a large building covering about a half a block maybe more and 3 stories.

you know kinda like in new york and other cities where business have doors out on the sidewalks to get to their basements.



first one popped up, there are better videos that show them.

a reply to: Mandroid7

Yeah I posted it a few hours ago.

It's interesting. Could be a cylinder used to start the explosion. The line looks like a smoke trail drifting right.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: ketsuko

Okay...but back to the question of...why Nashville, TN?

It makes no sense.

If a person has the means to get a throwaway late model RV, and make a remote controlled bomb, complete with a warning system for civilians....Why Nashville, next to the bar district???

Even if it was a CO which was targeted, why Nashville? There's not critical national infrastructure there. There's no big military bases there, no significant political people or infrastructure...it's just Nashville, TN. Why?

If this is terrorism, it makes perfect sense to me. Terrorism is used strategically in what one group would consider an asymmetric conflict. The purpose of acts of terrorism is to incite fear and confusion in the target group. Without creating (yet) ciphers of mass casualties, the threat hangs in the air. Whoever did this provided a warning this time, hit an area that was not heavily inhabited, and did damage to what seems to be a semi-critical piece of the information and communications infrastructure.

This looks to me like a warning or - perhaps more accurately - a threat. Next time they may not plan to be so "merciful."

Maybe they are saying, "Look what we did this time; realize what we can do next time?"

That said, I will trust what I hear from the "official sources" about as much as I believe what we've been told about the World Trade Center attack on September 11.
:

originally posted by: RMFX1
a reply to: Mandroid7

Why would you want a laser beam? What purpose would it serve? It's probably just an initial projection of material at the start of the explosion.

No. Not something projecting.
Watch the angle change/align, then explode 3 sec later.
Sketchy
If you notice the pivot point isn't on the ground it's in the air.
That's even weirder.

originally posted by: hounddoghowlie
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

OKAY...now from that picture...that almost certainly IS a Central Office! And, the explosion was right NEXT to it! So clearly someone was targeting the building. BUT...as I was saying earlier...notice how much damage there is to the other buildings and not the CO building. This is EXACTLY what I was talking about a few posts back!

i'm thinking that someone knew where to place the RV. [...]

Yep, more making me think that the perp is possibly a current or former employee of some related telecom - be that modern AT&T or its various predecessors (SBC, etc.). There have been so many acquisitions and mergers over the yeas in different lines of business (local land-line, long-distance, cellular/mobile, Internet/DSL, data-center space rental, etc.).

originally posted by: Bigburgh
a reply to: Observationalist

That was a police officer and a K-9

That makes sense.

originally posted by: EnhancedInterrogator
Yep, more making me think that the perp is possibly a current or former employee of some related telecom - be that modern AT&T or its various predecessors (SBC, etc.). There have been so many acquisitions and mergers over the yeas in different lines of business (local land-line, long-distance, cellular/mobile, Internet/DSL, data-center space rental, etc.).

The placement could just as well be chosen by anyone who wanted to do damage to the communications infrastructure, or who wanted to make a threat or send a warning to those responsible for it.

originally posted by: Identified
a reply to: Mandroid7

Yeah I posted it a few hours ago.

It's interesting. Could be a cylinder used to start the explosion. The line looks like a smoke trail drifting right.

Watch it on a big screen and loop it.
It looks like a laser etc being aimed from above.
Follow the movement of it.
It goes to the explosion location then explodes.
Weird dude...weird

from a post by: hounddoghowlie

I'm no explosives expert, but it seems to my ignorant and uneducated self that those studs or whatever they are that are lying in the street would have come from inside the building; and that if the blast was from outside, they would have ended up scattered in the direction of the initial blast, which would be inside the building. But then, the negative pressure wave could have sucked them all back out. I guess that's possible, so maybe I'm just talking out my butt.

Heres a better pic. What is the significance of this?



ETA - Just saw what incoserv posted.

Two bombs or no bomb in the RV?

Maybe the RV was just the warning system.

originally posted by: Mandroid7

originally posted by: Identified
a reply to: Mandroid7

Yeah I posted it a few hours ago.

It's interesting. Could be a cylinder used to start the explosion. The line looks like a smoke trail drifting right.

Watch it on a big screen and loop it.
It looks like a laser etc being aimed from above.
Follow the movement of it.
It goes to the explosion location then explodes.
Weird dude...weird

Definitely looks too straight and well defined to e a "smoke trail."

Curious.

a reply to: incoserv
Looks to me like above that lower window level, there were some kind of awnings. They are completely removed from where the scorch-marks are on the building, and mostly removed from the surrounding area. So, some of that debris might be from those awnings. Also, keep in mind, everything that goes up doesn't come down right where it came from. So, could be a mix of stuff from all the damage on all the nearby buildings.

a reply to: incoserv

There's no wooden studs in a CO! None.

They're all steel studs or concrete columns.

Trust me, no wood got 'sucked' out of that building!! Seriously!

a reply to: incoserv

most RV's that i've seen have some sort of framing be it metal or wood to attach interior components to.
could be a mixture of that and some of the building and exterior of the RV.

a reply to: incoserv

Lol..someone call skylink and get us a damn warrant. Ats will figure this out on xmas.

a reply to: Mandroid7

I don't see that. The flash along the line is the explosion reflecting off the smoke trail from whatever it was that ejected upwards. The ejection came first, it ignited the bomb and then the bomb flashed the ejected items smoke trail.

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
Heres a better pic. What is the significance of this?

Assume that is an older building (appears to be), those look like the old type of pop-up-in-the-street access shafts.

This is kind of why it makes me think is is repurposed building (rather that one built from the ground-up to be a "CO").

It reminds me of the old retail building in downtown Los Angeles that got converted into a data-center.
There are several stories of basement under it, extended out under the side-walks.
And there used to be "lifts" (think really privative unsafe-for-passengers elevators) from the early 1900's that came-up THROUGH the side walk, to allow trucks to come-up adjacent to the building and deliver goods right to the stock area's in the basement.

Another possibility for the openings would be "electrical vaults". But, based on the photo, I don't see transformer remains, and they appear to be open to a larger space underneath (presumably a basement space).