It points towards Mecca (Flight 93 memorial)

Politicalities ^ | Sept 11,2005 | Jonathan Haas

[spycatcher]

It points towards Mecca

Today is September 11.

Michelle Malkin and other bloggers are buzzing about the proposed Flight 93 memorial, which bears a striking resemblance to an Islamic crescent. Zombie produces an animated image consisting of the memorial (rotated so the arms of the crescent point to the right) overlapped with the crescent of the Tunisian flag. The juxtaposition is nearly perfect.

Zombie also links to this image credited to "Etaoin Shrdlu". What you're seeing is an azimuthal equidistant projection of the globe centered on the Flight 93 crash site. On such a projection, the concentric circles represent a fixed distance from the center, and the angle of a straight line from the center to any point represents the azimuth between the two points. Etaoin's image shows that a line perpendicular to the endpoints of the crescent (that is, the direction the crescent faces) appears to pass very close to Mecca. Mecca sits near Saudi Arabia's western coast with the Red Sea, and as Etaoin's image shows, the crescent points right at it.

But I've always been one to go for cold calculations over pretty pictures, so I set to find out if indeed the crescent points towards Mecca. Here's what I came up with:

According to this site, the latitude/longitude coordinates of Mecca are 21.4234, 39.8262 and the coordinates of the Flight 93 crash site are 40.052, -78.8963. Using the calculator from this site, I determined that the azimuth between the two points is 124.80°.

Next I went to the Flight 93 National Memorial website and found the biggest overhead view of the memorial I could find with north oriented up. I measured the distance from tip-to-tip of the crescent and came up with 64px east-west and 90px north-south. The arctangent of 64/90 is the angle between north and a line drawn between the tips, which works out to 35.42°. Adding 90° to this angle gives the direction the crescent faces as 125.42°.

Conclusion: the crescent points towards Mecca with an error of 0.62°, or 0.17%. If you take a circle and divide its circumference into 580 equal arcs, the angle subtended by one of those arcs is the error. (Bear in mind that any error in my figures could change this value; the figure most open to interpretation is the distance in pixels between the tips of the crescent.)

I don't know if the architect deliberately made his design look like an Islamic crescent, or if it's coincidental. I don't know if the architect deliberately made his crescent point almost directly towards Mecca, or if it's coincidental. What I do know is that a memorial in the shape of a swastika would never be permitted, whether the resemblance was intentional or a coincidence. Nor would a memorial resembling a Confederate battle flag.

The strong resemblance of this memorial to an Islamic symbol, whether intentional or accidental, is grossly insensitive to those of us who find it offensive. The commission needs to go back to the drawing board.

[JoeSixPack1]

There is something you don't see everyday.

A guy named "Fresh Wind" posting a pic of an outhouse!

:-)

[backhoe]

Nice pic, good catch. Btw, you have the longest profile page I've ever seen here.

Not sure if it's the longest, but it certainly was entertaining.

Appreciate the research- it's helpful to have these things confirmed.

[D-fendr]

I'm afraid I've missed the significance of your work. I see that radii of the earth through the two locations subtend an arc of about 55.2° but I don't follow you from there. I'm assuming you, as you state, have confirmed the article's geometry. However...

The author also has the caveat "the figure most open to interpretation is the distance in pixels between the tips of the crescent."

This interpretation becomes even less reliable when one realizes there are no actual "tips" in the proposed monument at all.

And my point is there are a large number of other secondary points on the globe about which one could imbue with significance as well. If, for example, the interpolation of the points is off a tad, some could claim it points to Medina, Hebron, Qom, the Dome of the Rock...

But I greatly appreciate your work and effort and skill in doing this. Thank you.

[D-fendr]

Yes, bravo! that's it! The site's symbolism says: "We take a dump on Mecca."

Please pass this on to Al Jazeera as the offical monument motto.

[King Prout]

I do what I can ;)

here's a compilation of the whole shebang, free for use anywhere... the [img] and [i] stuff is to keep the post size down on this page, and will need to be replaced by "img src" and italics HTML coding for strict HTML posts:

http://politicalities.typepad.com/politicalities/

read the article

[img]http://home.mchsi.com/%7Eidkfa/crescentmecca.jpg[/img]

here are the facts concerning features of the memorial design proposal:

[img]http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/ap/20050907/capt.wx11809072212.flight_93_memorial_wx118.jpg?x=285&y=345&sig=qMCJe6lG2xKYAM8sOXk3vA--[/img]
[i]This illustration released by Paul Murdoch Architects shows a crescent of maple trees, one aspect of the winning design of the Flight 93 memorial. The 'Crescent of Embrace' memorial was chosen Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005, by the Flight 93 Advisory Commission. The aim of the one-year competition was to honor the 40 passengers and crew who died after their plane was hijacked and crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, in a field in rural Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Paul Murdoch Architects) [/i]

Now, some analysis:

1. the crescent is an islamic symbol - only the totally ignorant do not know this. the commission on this project was well aware of the religious connection.

2. the design is not simply a crescent, but a crescent with a cluster between its horns, in precisely the configuration used in Islam

3. the entrance building is a "tower of voices" analogous to an islamic minaret ("tower of calling" of a mosque) with a color scheme similar to those favored by mesopotamian and other mosques

4. that the memorial is geometrically aligned so as to face Mecca is mathematically demonstrable. Given the wide range of other directions the architect could have chosen, many with traditional Western symbolic values, this cannot be an accident.

It is always wise to independently verify what one can, so here is proof of the alignment:

using the ground at the crash site as my notional flat cardinal direction basis, and using independently researched cartesian coordinates for Mecca and the crash site, here is the spherical geometry derived independently in AutoCAD2000

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/kingprout/greatcircleangle_flt93-Mecca.jpg[/img]

this is the angle (from due north) of the Great Circle from the crash site to Mecca, as well as the chord of that arc.

the author of this article is correct in his calculations.

considering what a PITA it was to get this data, the odds against this alignment being "innocent/accidental" seem rather miniscule.

[mo]

IMHO this issue, regardless of Architect Murdoch's beleifs, conduct, patriotism......etc , proves there is a Satan and that he indeed is embodied in Allah.

[D-fendr]

the opening points to Mecca as well. It just points around the other side of the globe.

Yes, it's become obvious that there's always a way to get it to be an Islamic monument if you work at it long enough.

That's what I don't want us to be doing.

[King Prout]

I do what I can.

I suppose the next thing to do would be to harvest the biggest hi-rez plan view of the proposed design and double-check the author's derivation of angle, giving my own tolerance for angular accuracy.

[XpandTheEkonomy]

National Stockholm Syndrome

National Stockholm Syndrome = Dhimmitude

After the next attack, which they clearly intend to do at some time, this PC-nonsense will begin to fade

Yes, begin to fade is accurate. Which is a long way from immediate change.

Multiculturalism inculcated in the schools and media is so ingrained at this point that it will take the dying off of an entire generation to change the political landscape (the children of this nation were targeted and their minds were captured). This is the history of nations. Hearts and minds don't really change en masse. But people grow old and shuffle off stage. And the next generation rebels against the old politics.

[backhoe]

Many thanks, I saved your data for use with the skeptical.

Once again, enablers or apologists for TARP ( The Alleged Religion of Peace® ) try to pull a fast one, and get caught by the gimlet eye of cyberspace.

[Jim Noble]

Why the attempt to mark the memorial/crash site with Islamic symbols pointed toward Mecca?

It's for their heroes who died - in the cockpit.

[tomkat]

(this thread's got the old-timers comin' outta the woodwork)

 

[NetValue]

Years ago Hartford CT paid an ungodly price for a piece of art to be erected downtown. The taxpayers were outraged. In protest, people actually took a dump on it, night after night until it was removed, I believe.

We have to get somebody to question the design and the Commission's approval of the design. Why aren't the families speaking up on the matter?

[King Prout]

glad to have been of service.
use as you see fit.
good hunting!

[ovrtaxt]

This is more than coincidental. Archiecture has meaning. These guys knew what they were doing.

If you're ever in Miami, visit the Holocaust Memorial. Walking into it is a crushing experience. It's terrifying at night, with nobody else there, which is when we went.

This crescent and it's orientation is not coincidental.

[sheik yerbouty]

Allahu fubar!

[Earthdweller]

From the air it will look like a stinking Islamic cow branding on US soil.

Nice terrorist reminder to all those in flight over PA?

If this is allowed to be constructed it will be more like a rape than a memorial.

[Fresh Wind]

Back in the Old Days, there would be a Sears catalog in there to take care of business. I have a suggestion for a replacement...

[SW6906]

Ping!

[King Prout]

I wouldn't wipe my bung with pages from the Koran - I'd not want to defile my faeces.