Unbelievable. I’ve been watching tv for the last 4.5 hours, and I just had to step away for a while. It just seems so impossible, but both World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon have been hit with hijacked airplanes. Even more unbelievably, both towers have collapsed. Watching the images replay over and over on the screen, I was struck with the magnitude of this, and the realization that I was witnessing pictures happening now that would surely be in the history books of the next generation. I was watching as the second tower collapsed live on television, and it was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen. The image was so stunning and darkly powerful that I didn’t know what to think. I just hope that its finally over. I first found out at about 9:00 on Metafilter right after I woke up. At that point, just the one plane had hit a tower. Immediately, I went downstairs to check the television and heard about the second crash. As shocking as that was, it just kept getting worse and worse as the Pentagon was hit and the towers collapsed. I was just dumbstruck, and wondered what else could possibly happen. As of this point the FAA has shut down all air travel nationwide, so my trip to Alaska is at best on hold but most likely cancelled. Even if I could fly tomorrow instead, I really don’t know if I’d want to. This has all just been so insane.