In my line of work, I've been on the site of structure fires multiple times.. Can't call myself an expert, but I've had the pleasure of meeting the resident investigators and engineers. In a long, drawn-out talk about 9/11 with one of the engineers, I had my eyes opened to the ordeal from their standpoint. It was kind of awkward, because he sorta cried when talking about the towers falling.. haha but anyway, for you people wearing tinfoil-hats:

• These iron beams are what held up what was once the tallest skyscraper in the U.S.. Considering iron will begin losing it's supporting strength at 30% of the actual melting point, I'm surprised it took so long for the towers to fall. Keep in mind how massive this building was. That's a whole lot of weight for less-than-perfect supporting strength.
  
• The floors that were struck by the plane were already weakened by the initial concussion and actual breaking of supports. Again, people forget how massive the plane was. This was just a skyscraper, not a mass of iron. Remember when the towers were falling? How much iron did you see? But anyway..
  
• It's the nature of structural engeering to have floors not only support themselves, but support the floors above them. When a floor stops supporting itself, the floor below it takes the weight. The key is keeping weight distribution vertical. Iron supports would sooner break at the seams than buckle, under circumstances that only involved weight.. which is why such long segments of metal are used, rather than piecing together many small ones. Once weakened, though, the supports will buckle, shifting the weight distribution away from vertical, into the point of weakness.
  
• Once a floor gives out, its weight is shifted down to the floor below it.. with inertia applied. The vertical weight distribution is flushed down the drain, and the floors fall ontop of each other. Each floor, the weight increases, obliterating anything in its path like falling dominos. This is plainly seen as the towers are falling - from the top down.

When we see skyscrapers, we're tempted to think that the monstrous things are completely stable hunks of iron.. they're not. They're a miracle of engeering, being held together with extremely delicate architecture. We want to cite buildings that have caught fire and not burned down? Sure. Have at it. Keep in mind some more things:

• Buildings that catch fire do burn down. If there are buildings that don't, woohoo! Isn't that nice. I suppose I should go smoke cigarettes because there are people that have lived with smoking for over 100 years. The whole lung cancer thing is just a conspiracy to run big tobacco out of business.
  
• Buildings made of stone and wood don't burn the same way as a building made of iron. Brick/stone houses will burn internally, along with their roofs.. They do come down a lot of the time, but have a better track record. Most small buildings, framed in wood, burn just like you'd imagine - through and through. Wooden supports burn, break, entire walls fall over. This is a given, though. Single-story buildings built with iron will burn, leaving an iron skeleton.. Though I've only seen that once. Why build a single-story home out of iron? Anyway, Buildings burn down. Especially those hit with jetfuel-filled passenger airplanes.

Lastly, if you honestly consider the government had anything to do with it, you've got some wires crossed. Could they orchestrate what would be considered the greatest hoax and conspiracy of all time, and not an exit strategy for Iraq? Oh.. Iraq is just another conspiracy. To.. umm.. make people lose faith in our administration? To lose the house and senate to the democrats? Makes sense.

[edit]Because my wall of text didn't make the post big enough:[/edit]

Does this look like a collapse or an explosion?

Interesting thought. If there is nothing for us to worry about, then why don't they release the tapes? What are they wanting to hide?

There are alot of interesting thoughts, and you don't need to wear a tinfoil hat to wonder about them, you only need to be a normal human being who ponders things and questions them. To label someone 'someone who wears a tinfoil hat' simply because they have questions about the truth of 9/11 is childish.

Like I said in an earlier post, I can't help to wonder why people get so tired of talking about 9/11 when so many questions, still to this day, remain unanswered - or hidden from us - like the Pentagon tapes.

What are they afraid of? Why do they hide?

In the following video (in clip 2), where are the fires that melted the steel, or bent the steel enough to make the building collapse upon itself?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_gdCrmbrIg