CORWIN HAECK WRITES:

“Not quite a morbid aside, but this occurred to me early in the unfolding of the story: Some buildings are just too damn tall.

“I always felt that way about the World Trade Center. Not only were they too tall, but they visually unbalanced the entire island of Manhattan. The towers, by virtue of being featureless, untapered rectangles, looked top-heavy and ungainly.

I admire some tall buildings. The Empire State Bldg. is a brilliant classic. The Patronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur are too tall but at least look cool. Overall, though, most really tall buildings are excessive and ugly.

“Now we see again that they can be targets, too.

“The loss of life in this attack is terrible. The loss of the buildings is no tragedy.”