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  1. 5 points
    New episode out now! DB Cooper: What Really Happened with our good friend Marty Andrade. https://thecoopervortex.podbean.com/e/db-cooper-what-really-happened-martin-andrade/ Enjoy!
  2. 4 points
    New episode out now! DB Cooper isn't Clara with Chris Cunningham. https://thecoopervortex.podbean.com/e/db-cooper-isnt-clara-chris-cunningham/ Enjoy!
  3. 4 points
    If they are green - virtue signaling. If they are black or unisex - woke.
  4. 4 points
  5. 4 points
    We know they wanted McCoy's DNA back in '04... but the FBI files seemed to express some doubt over if they could get his family to cooperate. Now we know that they actually refused DNA tests until after Karen's death in 2020 so I don't think they ever compared his DNA to the old partial profile. With McCoy's family now cooperating, I would assume the FBI is following up on that and the new information from Rick. They never did get to test his DNA (as far as I know) and considering how invested they were in McCoy as a suspect it makes sense for them to do so. I don't expect McCoy to be Cooper... but hopefully these whispers are the sign of them having something more. Maybe there's a new, better source of DNA and they want to compare it to some old suspects just to see if they get a match.
  6. 4 points
    Yeah, I am sure that dead woman is cheering for the freedom she preserved for her country...... I mean, the MOST important thing is that 2nd amendment rights were preserved.....
  7. 3 points
    How often you gotta replace them regenerative 'break' pads?
  8. 3 points
    Full disclosure, I have no background in the discipline of Stylometry. But my immediate take on this topic is that the sample size is too small. Could comparing one small letter be enough to draw the conclusions that were being made? Questions popping into my head like if you took 100 or 1000 other comparable sized control letters and compared them to the same group of Barb's letters, would you get any other similar results i.e. 97% certainty. Other questions I have are more generic to Stylometry and false positive statistics? How does it compare to a DNA match which is typically 99% accurate ? What are the odds of two people writing in a similar way both structurally and using a similar vocabulary catalog ? I think more work needs to be done to validate the initial test. One of the things I missed in the Youtube video, was how or why Barb Dayton became the target of the Stylometry exercise in the first place. I am going to go back and watch it again.
  9. 3 points
    I think some people get the government they were born into or had shoved down their throats.
  10. 3 points
    When was Jo ever in Seattle to spend time examining FBI 302s? Jo was a realtor. Her primary mission was to 'own' the Cooper story in its entirety including all rights. That is where Duane came in. One witness claims he has her on tape. In the beginning her claim was that Duane 'might be' DB Cooper. Within two years Duane 'was' Cooper. After the first several years her relationship with the FBI became contentious. Her relationships with Vortex people became contentious. She tried to groom Tom Kaye and Larry Carr while ignoring and even deprecating me behind the scene. I never saw the value others thought they saw in Jo. Jo avoided me. She got hostile with me several times. I still remember one exchange I had with Jo on this forum. Jo was explaining at length how it was Duane who brought DB Cooper up first which included Duane spontaneously taking Jo out on a sight seeing trip when they lived at Virginia Beach. During this random trip driving down a street Duane pointed to a house and slowed and explained: that is where Richard McCoy lived (and was killed). Jo said she didnt know what Duane was talking about. I let this pass without comment and a week or more later I spontaneously asked Jo: 'remember you said Duane showed you where McCoy was killed'?. I asked: 'Who knew McCoy's address?'. Jo quickly replied: 'Oh. I did.' ... which contradicted her prior version. This example was so typical of Jo. Just change the context and you get different even contradictory answers from Jo . . . On the other hand I continue to this day amazed about how many people didnt care about Jo's credibility! Jo enjoyed a kind of immunity which applies to this day . . . she had many people convinced she knew something!
  11. 3 points
    Unlike typical conservatives, who promote legislation telling women what they can and can't do with their own bodies, and want to interfere with what people do in their own bedrooms, all the while whining about government interference.
  12. 3 points
    good luck on the GOP ever backing down from the lies and deception. It worked for Hillary back in 2015-2016 - they made her a criminal demon and then not even an LEO investigation at any level once Trump got in office...... and their base is fucking stupid enough to believe anything they tell them.
  13. 3 points
    As much as Mitch McConnell damaged politics, pulled the levers of power to create policies and structure grossly at odd with the democratic will of the people, and fostered the unchecked growth of extremism in the GOP… he is at least a sane person who understands that government is important and at some point you have to be willing to compromise if the only alternative is a government that does not work at all. So while he is a better devil than the ‘burn it all down if we don’t get what we want because total victory is the only thing that matters’ crazy MAGA person who might succeed him, it is also largely his fault that his successor might be such a person.
  14. 3 points
  15. 3 points
    These two cases are very tangentially rated to Cooper. First, a young woman who went missing in 1969 has been identified using investigative genetic genealogy. This is the same technique that would need to be used to give Cooper a name. Moreover, her remains were found on Sauvie Island just a few miles north of Tena Bar: https://people.com/human-remains-identified-as-portland-teen-who-went-missing-in-1970-8599722 Second, the story of a young girl who went missing from Vancouver, WA just two weeks after the DB Cooper hijacking. Her clothing and other belongings were later found near Battle Ground, WA. She is believed to be a victim of serial killer Warren Forrest. Coincidentally, a body was found at the Cedar Creek Grist Mill which is just south of Lake Merwin in spring of 1972. At, the time it was thought that the remains could be that of DB Cooper. That body was later identified at Barbara Ann Derry, who was also a victim of Warren Forrest. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/cold-case-spotlight/sister-still-hoping-answers-jamie-grissim-s-disappearance-n691386# The Vortex swirls...
  16. 3 points
    Trump recently said something oddly coherent. He was at a Nevada rally of diehard Trump supporters and he told them about his cognitive test he took a while back. He said it was actually very, very difficult, and that "there’s only about 2% of this room that can do it." Almost sounds like he understands that his strongest supporters have serious cognitive deficits.
  17. 3 points
    Of course it’s not just stupidity. They both know that their entire line of attack on Biden is an exercise in political opportunism and revenge for the Trump impeachments. That’s why they’re doing what they’re doing, quality of evidence is irrelevant. Now Comer might just be dumb enough to have convinced himself that he really is the second coming of Jimmy Stewart, but with Jordan it’s cynicism all the way. He can’t have been taken in by a foreign agent because he never would have given a single thought to whether the information is true. He doesn’t care if it’s true. Similarly he’s not part of the Russian conspiracy because he doesn’t care where the information came from, what their goals are or even if another country is trying to benefit from it at the expense of the US. The only thing he will have considered at any point in time is ‘can I use this to benefit me right now.’
  18. 3 points
    Are you suggesting that Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Spain, France, and other nations with far lower rates of gun death than the USA are not free because they have more restrictive gun laws? Or was that satire?
  19. 3 points
    Watch my video to see the cavalcade of information that eliminates McCoy. Also, that McCoy rig has both capewells and D-rings, which Coop’s chute didn’t have
  20. 2 points
    Up next - Conservatives realize that EVs can go up to 100mph - and if you crash at 100mph you will DIE! EV's are DEATH TRAPS that can travel at UNSAFE SPEEDS and KILL YOUR KIDS!! Stick with gas cars!
  21. 2 points
    Here's what I have, data from about 30 years back when I was new to the sport and a bit obsessed with collecting data and understanding the sport. 1. Two pages from I guess the Italian skydiving magazine in 1992 listing the early tandem fatalities in order. (Apparently there was also one on a European Galaxy rig sometime in that era, that isn't in those stats.) First tandem fatality is shown as the one with one snap not done up, TI spent entire jump trying to hook it up, without deploying anything (even the drogue). 2. An html file from UPT listing tandem fatalities and causes in order (but with no dates). From 2008, back when they listed that on their web site. 3. Scribbled pencil notes of mine from the early 1990s, where I listed a bit of the evolution of tandems (eg the date when Strong & Booth got their FAA exemptions to allow tandems), plus all the early fatalities and dates. I think most of the data on dates comes from an article in Parachutist,July 1989. (Which I can't find at the moment.) That list puts that first tandem fatality -- with the snap not done up -- as Oct 19, 1986. Back in those days people were wondering what the heck was going on with Vector tandems, as in the first dozen fatal accidents, there were 10 on Vectors, and 1 on a Galaxy, before there was 1 was a Strong Dual Hawk. There sure were a lot of different causes of accidents -- Stupid stuff we're not allowed to do with tandems now, main bags that much more easily came out of the container early, plus a lot more casual training and attitudes towards tandems. Which brought in the idea that 'it isn't just another skydive'. It also took a while to come up with the first tandem CYPRES, and eventually the idea of making one mandatory for tandems. (Wish I had the dates for those.) RWS tandem fatality list as of Feb08.htm
  22. 2 points
    Well, I clicked on Brent's link and read the article. The FIRST thing was that there was a pop-up whining and crying that Google is 'attacking' them. Calling them liars for having articles full of... Lies. And trying to get them shut down... For lying. And I find the comparison rather disingenuous. The brake dust and tire particles are much higher than tailpipe emissions from ICE cars. But how do they compare to the ICE's brake dust and tire particles? A typical example of the Alt-right comparing apples to bunny rabbits. And they call the "Main Stream Media" fake. I also found the bitching about range estimates to be laughable. They claimed that EVs have about 60% of the promoted range, because it's 'best practice' to keep the battery between 20% and 80% state of charge (which is true). However, it's ALSO 'best practice' to keep your gas tank in an ICE car above 1/4 tank. Many modern cars have the fuel pump in the tank, the fuel surrounding the pump keeps it cool. Running the tank low on a regular basis will let the pump run hotter and it will fail sooner. While it's best for the battery of an EV to keep it in the 'safe area', there's no reason not to charge to 100%, or run it down close to zero, as long as you don't do it all the time. Edit to add: They also repeat the lie that the power generation for the electricity pollutes just as much as the tailpipe of an ICE car. While coal generated power isn't 'super clean', it still creates less pollutants than what comes out the back of an ICE car. By a huuuuuge margin. Also ignores the fact that coal makes up less than 20% of power generation. Personally, my local power utility generates from hydro. They have a natural gas 'peaker' that comes on when the demand is higher than the river can provide, but I charge off peak, so my car is damned near 'zero emissions'. For real.
  23. 2 points
    I don't anyone because of their worldview. I block people who are only here to troll. I don't block you, or RonD or Winsor.
  24. 2 points
    We're talking about unchecked aggregation here, Dude!
  25. 2 points
  26. 2 points
    A catalog of his recent lies. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/14/trump-crazy-new-claims-fact-checked/ How any person with a shred of decency or intelligence can support Trump is a total mystery to me. I'll take a forgetul old man over a lying, cheating, predatory and ignorant old man any day (or 4 years).
  27. 2 points
    Ryan, good discussion on Youtube the other day regarding whether or not Cooper was a pilot, Pat had some very insightful points in favor, Jersey girls brings it ! (couldn't really hear the lady from New Zealand very well). You guys touched on the fact that he seemed to not realize that flying dirty would limit the range of the air craft and make a non stop flight to Mexico impossible. This is what has always given me some pause as well, if he was a pilot with any substantial experience, you would think he should have known that. I am in the camp that he just wanted to get the plane flying south also, and may not have really cared about ever getting to Mexico. However, I am still not sure this dismisses him not anticipating that he might get called out on his request for a non stop flight to Mexico. Another less frequent item brought up by Pat I believe was the Benzedrine. I may have asked this before, but what is the origin of this ? Was it in the FBI files or did it come from Tosaw or Grey ? Unrelated to the pilot question, you guys also touched on one of his biggest blunders that could have done him in. That being where he seems to have allowed for an opportunity for everyone to bug out and leave him on the plane by himself at Seatac. As well as he seems to have planned out the "job", he wasn't perfect...but as they say, sometimes it's better to be lucky. When I think about this, I wonder would Braden have made that mistake ? BTW, here is the latest from Dr. Edwards in case folks haven't seen it yet: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/24580716-d-b-cooper-and-flight-305-lou-rucker He seems to be trying to get some of the names and details for the people that were jumping out of the 727s for Air America/Southern Air Transport. There was a blurb in the last FBI doc which indicates that the FBI was looking into a tip for someone who fit the hijacker's description and was part of these jumps: [Redacted] has close associate known to [redacted] (LNU) [Last Name Unknown] of Ft. Hood, Texas, [redacted] at same time in nineteen sixty-four. [Redacted] made numerous sport jumps from rear of military equivalent to Norjak plane [Boeing 727-51]. Jumps were made from rear door in exactly same manner as unsub [unidentified subject] in instant matter. Also made numerous night jumps. [Redacted] described [redacted, four letters] (LNU) as being white male, olive complexion, five feet eleven inches, one seventy-five lbs., well educated, chain smoker, age [redacted], excellent sky diver from mid west. ... [Redacted] Portland, Oregon at telephone number [redacted] was shown composite of unsub [unidentified subject] and feels it would bear remarkable likeness to [redacted, four letters] (LNU) after having aged six or seven years.”
  28. 2 points
    I am so long away from that I hesitate to say anything! Back in the sixties Bill Gibson, Robt Howren, and I (at Wendel Johnson Speech & Hearing) tried to devise a sorting program looking for syntax indicative of the language acquisition period - in children. We examined a large amount of text taken from recordings of children etc. We had a number of people looking over our shoulders as we tried to develop this 'algorithm' - people in linguistics, neurology, education, ed-psych measurement etc. My wife was doing her student teaching at the Area Development Center in Davenport, Ia at the time so I went went with her and began recording the speech patterns of handicapped children. I was interested in comparing that population with samples from 'normal' non-institutionalized children. The fit was good. I decided to compare that data with a large sample of data from Downes clients, ages 2-25, and was surprised by the results. Our program suggested that the Downes clients were engaging in 'acquisition like' speech patterns skewed to ages 18-25! I consulted with the director of the center and she smiled and said: 'yes. its a syndrome we've seen for years...it usually stops by age 25'. A colleague Bob Wachal noted that he thought he had seen similar linguistic 'experimentation' in patients trying to recover from brain injuries... obviously there must be a neurological basis for anything like this regardless of the age and condition of people entering such a phase ? The whole thing became an interesting academic exercise. Bill Gibson and I were using PL1 ... about 1968. Work of this kind has advanced light years beyond where we were in those early years using PL1 ... I think Bob Wachal went further with his work on Aphasia. Its a neurological issue of importance for anyone who has a brain injury affecting language skills ...
  29. 2 points
    I havent followed the evolution of linguistic computer programming but of course its been part of the whole computer revolution in data analysis since the 60s, in every area of science. My old colleague William P Gibson (a programmer) would be proud and very pleased. Bill was a mathematician by trade. One of Bill's concerns was 'when computers begin talking to each other the dialogue will move beyond human comprehension quickly! Then where do we go from there?' I miss Bill every day. He would have loved the dialogue that is happening here lately - - -
  30. 2 points
    I don't think the 20-year-old issue means anything in isolation, unless there have been significant changes in the science or knowledge-base in those years. Have there? I would expect newer programs to be more efficient in how they approach the data set, but I'm unclear how the underlying field has changed in that time. Does anyone know?
  31. 2 points
    It is complete insanity really that Biden and Trump are the best leaders the US has to offer.
  32. 2 points
    Couple of questions. What agenda do you think I have? I don’t have “a guy” I have always been in the dead camp. Anyone alive after 24/11/71 was a no from me and this has never changed. Why do I have no business talking about this? What more right do you have to be here than anyone else? When it comes to me being a self-proclaimed novelist il put this to you and as a military man I’m sure you will appreciate it, how about we compare resumes and il flip you for it?
  33. 2 points
    Some people can tell the difference between an oppressed population seeking self determination and an oppressive ruling class seeking to continue oppressing and subjugating. And some people are clueless.
  34. 2 points
    Yes, my question sucked in both form and content. I am not opposed to plastic bag bans because they are damaging trash and easily done without. Better to use trash that is less damaging even when picking up after your miserable dog that ran out into the landing area to crap. One of the most amazing places to scuba on the planet is the coral triangle in Indonesia. Converging nutrient flows deliver huge amounts of food and also tons of plastic crap. I've made several hundred dives there over several years with some breaks between trips. Towards the end I'd have my pouches filled with crap after an hour or so and was also often distracted by plastic junk in the current behind me. So I watched it getting worse and worse destroying something very much worth saving.
  35. 2 points
    What's ironic about these types of things is how many products are available in a grocery store with plastic packaging. I believe somewhere was a manufacturer of these heavy plastic bags that lobbied for this rule.
  36. 2 points
    Ironically, the deepest red states - which, in general, are the states that hate the Federal government, welfare spending and socialism the most - are generally also the states that would be bankrupt the fastest if they were cut off from federal money. West Virginia, Mississippi, Alaska and Kentucky are all in the top 5.
  37. 2 points
    Good grief, I hope to never feel especially serious. Especially here. Actually what I try to do is keep it light on top with a more serious undertone. It's not that I don't care, it's that I only have the questions not the answers.
  38. 2 points
    We’re not saving the planet. We’re trying to protect a future that’s an incremental change rather than a large shift. Because a large shift is likely to increase wars and (heaven help us) population migration. That whole prevention/cure thing. But as long as bad things only happen to someone else (generally poorer or far away), it’s human nature to think one’s own wish for comfort at every moment is more important. Wendy P.
  39. 2 points
    Not half of the country or even half of those who identify and Republican or conservative. More like a third of Republicans and 10-15% of America. It just seems more since they were given a social club and a uniform.
  40. 2 points
    OK, let's pump the brakes here. This is how misinformation enters the Vortex and takes on a life of its own. The origin of the "facial tic" notion was CONJECTURE by "Prospector" on the DB Cooper Forum several years ago. It is pure speculation on that person's part and is not based on any actual evidence. That doesn't mean it's not a valuable discussion, but to be clear, it is derived entirely by a supposition by someone, not any actual evidence.
  41. 2 points
    Obviously as a woman you do not understand the nature of a pissing contest and the need of a man to get the last squirt in.
  42. 2 points
    I'm going to take a hard pass on volunteering to be a rat in that maze.
  43. 2 points
    There's no such perfect spot. It's always a balance between snag hazard and the picture Full body view could be achieved by having camera far from the body i.e. selfie stick, but this is dangerous on many levels. I could give a full lecture about why this is a bad idea, but key points: * If you loose it, it might fail on someone's head or property * At terminal velocity it catches air like crazy and affects your flying a lot * Snag hazard * In case of accident/malfunction when you need both hands, what you gonna do with the camera? Just don't do that. Next on the list - helmet camera extensions - they've got their name "deathsticks" for a reason. Avoid that as well. Wrist mounts are widely used by tandem pilots, but those jumps are of completely different nature, shoot specific angles and thus wrist mounts work well only in that environment. Also those mounts have cutaway mechanism. I've seen some people with 360 camera chin mounts, which is comparably safe, but again, no full body view. You know, actually, there's one perfect spot that lets you see your whole body - when it's mounted on the helmet of your coach.
  44. 2 points
    That's Mistress Wendy to you!
  45. 2 points
    But I don't and said so. It's not that it's not real it's that not enough people worldwide give enough of a shit to fix the problem in real time. We take recycling to the curb while in Asia barge loads of toxic trash goes overboard; the list goes on and on and includes hypocritical liberal DZO's who burn huge amounts of Jet-A to support their sailing habit. For me, how near we are to the end is less important than how near to the end I am. Again, I think we're plain fucked so, if you like, I'll stand shoulder to shoulder with you and defend your right to be wrong but we're gonna be drinking, so you know.
  46. 2 points
    It would be great if the FBI tested the spindle or the lines. I can see them doing the spindle because of all the press, but the lines discussion was mainly within the Vortex, and I wonder if the FBI would have gotten word that DNA would be on the lines where Cooper held to make his cuts. It would be amazing if they did find that slide through OleMiss’s FOIA. It is odd that Rick McCoy gave his DNA. I hope that is due to new testing. Here is my issue. If the FBI has new DNA and they do the old STR testing, then we are reliant on sending in a suspect’s DNA or their family member’s. This is essentially a needle in a haystack approach. We basically have to find a suspect within the male population and right age range and hope they are the guy. Unless we are very lucky and actually have the guy, this just may never get us anywhere, unless by some stroke of luck he’s in CODIS. I bet Cooper is not in CODIS. It would be good if they do the SNP testing and then they can load it into the genealogy databases. I don’t know of any non murder or rape cases that have used SNP yet, but this was a violent crime and should qualify. The DNA is all great, but if it is not Cooper’s DNA then we have to hope the DNA is someone he knew and at least gives us a person and a location. I can see the tie not being his, but given there may have been a tie pin with a logo removed, that would indicate to me that maybe he felt the tie could identify him. I remain a little skeptical that Gryder’s YouTube or Eric’s lawsuit are the reason for this activity. I hope I’m wrong.
  47. 2 points
    But they only "found" a chute, not the chute. Surely to God they realize that. I'm not sure what to think about any of this. Something has moved the needle with the FBI and I can't imagine the Dan Gryder bullshit was enough to do that. I liked the first video he did, by the way. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't buy any of it, but I enjoyed it. The next one not so much. That chute discovery was a bit hokey. I find today's WWE to be more believable. If they have managed to acquire a better DNA sample than what they had used years ago, I don't see that coming from the tie. The cut parachute lines perhaps? A recently found hair slide perhaps? I suppose it's good news that the FBI is at least showing some level of renewed interest. Hopefully it doesn't start and end with McCoy.
  48. 2 points
    No, he's right. I looked at that program and it definitely says they're going to supply broadband that only connects to black websites.
  49. 2 points
    Strange development indeed. Didn't the FBI eliminate him long ago? Didn't the stews (eyewitnesses) reject him? Haven't you guys (the legit researchers) eliminated him? The parachute is all wrong?* At this point in time, I believe that the FBI has proven themselves to be agenda-driven, dishonest, and not to be believed. If they now decide to proclaim McCoy as Cooper... Well, I said this before somewhat in jest, but why is Larry Carr among you and why do they not want this case to be legitimately solved? *[The parachute - from what was left on the plane - I think Fly said that the cut-up front reserve had it's own packing card. The other (missing) front reserve, if it was indeed a training dummy, it would not have a packing card. There were two packing cards with the rig left on the plane, with different serial numbers, and neither of them completely full. So it wasn't like that rig was on it's second card because the first one was full. So the second card was presumably from the other rig, the one Cooper used. The McCoy rig is a main container, not a bailout rig. Main containers do not have packing cards. Now, that container would not on its own eliminate McCoy. If McCoy was jumper, it wouldn't be unusual for him to have an old rig in his closet. It just wouldn't be the one he used for a skyjacking. I can't imagine Cooper taking the rig with him as he hiked out of wherever he landed. Especially unpacked, it is bulky and cumbersome to carry. And it would stick out like a sore thumb to anyone who might happen to see him. I can't imagine that he wouldn't ditch it wherever it was he landed.]
  50. 2 points
    I saw Lindsey Graham on one of the political news shows this morning after CBS Sunday Morning (which had a good piece on aging and Biden was mentioned in regard to his awareness and how sharp he is). Lindsey repeatedly mentioned Trump when discussing border security and Ukraine aid bills - I kept thinking WTF does a rapist fraud former POTUS facing 91 felony charges and possibly going broke over his civil suits have to do with ANYTHING Congress does. Can we seriously imagine a rapist POTUS? Convicted felon?? Wages garnished and properties seized for repayment of debt? Can't enter foreign nations due to being a convicted criminal??? How in the world would someone have that status and get a top secret SCI clearance???? It's beyond insanity to see fellow Americans supporting him - more so at this point in Trump world.
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