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If I were to pick a single failure in the design/construction part of the refurbishment, the fire compartmentalisation being compromised by the windows is it. As-built, the tower's original windows formed part of the compartmentalisation, but moving them from the plane of the original concrete...

In the first video, at about 1:22, you can see the structure looks like it has moved a bit prior to collapse. Possibly scour underneath the further away pier, especially given the way the entire pier seems to dip down at one end once the collapse gets going. You can also see some sort of fence...

I don't know if it applies in this case, but a common cause of condo owners being hit by these huge assessments is failing to build up a proper reserve fund over the life of the complex. In the past, the condo boards were able to vote on how much of the reserves they would fund, and sometimes...

Purely speculative, but I wonder if those dormers in the roof were original or a modification to the structure? If they were a modification, that could be indicative of significant structural changes and additional weight up at the attic level. In particular, the 5 bays facing us in the photo...

Empirically, they seem to have worked for 50+ years, despite the general neglect.

Just like so many other grand social housing projects from the 60s and 70s. It's clearly been left to slowly decay and deteriorate for decades. I bet it looked amazing, modern, probably even futuristic when built, and for a little while afterwards. It could probably have even remained that...

Here we go again. 90 year old earthen dam, with what looks to be a quite small and vulnerable spillway, that is overtopping and warnings of imminent failure. USA Today Google Maps

I think the firefighters did go in, on a purely off-duty volunteer basis. I saw a news report on YouTube of someone showing some cherished stuff that had been retrieved from their apartment. Just checked, here's a video showing some of it: Firefighters Rescue Memories from Realty Tower as...

It was converted from offices to apartments in 2009, so there shouldn't have been any historic rent control on it.

https://businessjournaldaily.com/sen-brown-looks-to-help-after-realty-tower-explosion/ Now I'm not a demolition expert, but a wrecking ball seems like possibly the worst choice of tool for an unstable building where sudden total collapse is to be avoided. And again, we have the contradiction...

I expect all of the standard free mapping/navigation services (and any paid ones that are consumer grade) will have something like the following from the Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service.

The bundled map/navigation software on phones is essentially "caveat emptor", and not fit for purpose for usage in large/heavy/commercial/professional vehicles. If you need something suitable for a vehicle larger than a standard car/SUV, you need a product which explicitly advertises...

Reportedly 35,000 cells stored in the area where the fire broke out. Roughly equivalent to 5 Tesla EV battery packs (the numbers vary, but around 7,000 cells in each of their cars), if they were 18650s; or 10 Tesla Model 3s with their 21700s.

The original, as-built dam would possibly have performed better. See section 2.2.2 "Spillways" in the November 2021 repair feasibility study that you linked above. In addition to the current five 33' x 10' tainter gates, there were an additional two gate bays to the east of them with "timber...

Facts about the Rapidan Dam from the county, who seem to be the current owner/operator of the dam (based on some of the news reports).

Based on the Google Maps measuring tool, the 5 flood control sluices are 54m wide in total (including the piers separating them). I'd guesstimate the height when fully open at around 3m (the door on the hut leading out onto the platform for the 4 power plant intakes seems like the best...

Well, I could be wrong, but it looks to me from the way the water is flowing through the dam and the debris is trapped behind it, that the sluice gates were closed before it overtopped. It might not be ideal for those downstream of the dam, but it seems to me that the gates should have been...

Google Maps This looks to me like a failure in water level management. The dam seems to have a significant width of openable sluice gates which can maintain the level well below overtopping. For it to get to the point where it's high enough to start flowing around the western end of the dam...

If the US has jurisdiction, either through the flag of the mothership or the company operating the sub (or while they are still within 12/24 miles of shore), I believe it falls under the USCG. I believe the sub itself was registered in the Bahamas, to further escape regulation. In the case of...

Yeah, the elevator shaft and stairwells took a big hit from overpressure. Presumably any other risers/ducts could have suffered similarly.