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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/28/2024 in all areas

  1. 2 points
    Little known fact, 95% of EVs are still on the road…the other 5% made it home
  2. 2 points
    Eric is involved, but not just Eric. Tom will give the sample to whomever can get a lab willing to do the testing he wants. I think his hope however, is that Eric could bring some publicity to the lab and therefore the lab may be willing to eat the cost of the testing, which isn't cheap. Tom's post on the FB group: THE DNA SAMPLE EXPLAINED So there is a lot of confusion and speculation about what is going on with the DNA. First off, I am not doing this exclusively with Eric, I also offered the same deal to Pat if they could come up with a lab that would provide at least 5 DNA sequences. I have MULTIPLE samples that could include Cooper's DNA. I have all the stubs that you already know about, I have 11 sterile filter canisters that were used with the vacuum. One of these was used in the Peterson documentary that ended up with my DNA. There is also the paper bag from the vac when we forgot to initially put the filter in a canister. I also have some scotch tape that lifted stuff off the tie. All the "forensics labs" you are aware of are in my opinion a huge waste of time. By their own admission they can only reliably get one MAYBE two sequences off a sample. This is useless in our situation. What you are not aware of is that forensics labs are not state-of-the-art in DNA analysis. That status belongs to Ancient DNA Labs where the only DNA they have has been deteriorating for thousands of years and is completely contaminated with every other living thing in the area. Ancient DNA Labs use a process called Metagenomics. --Metagenomics is the study of the structure and function of entire nucleotide sequences isolated and analyzed from all the organisms (typically microbes) in a bulk sample-- Now let's think about that for a second... this means that you can throw dirt in this machine, it will replicate ALL the DNA in the dirt and then reconstruct ALL the different organisms DNA from that sample. How does it achieve this miracle when forensic labs can't? Think of a book full of words and sentences. Except instead of pages, all the sentences in this "book" are in a single long paper tape one sentence tall. Now imagine you have hundreds of these tapes of the same book and you chew them up into chunks of tape maybe 5-20 words long. If you have the TIME AND MONEY you could have someone sit down and sort through all the chunks and find ones that match like this: brown fox jumped over (DNA frag 1) The quick brown fox (DNA frag 2) jumped over the lazy dogs (DNA frag 3) dogs back. (DNA frag 4) The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs back. (fully reconstructed DNA) So you can see how this is possible but it is VERY hard and VERY COSTLY. Every mastodon bone ever recovered is a poster child for contamination and completely degraded DNA. Yet these labs have been able to sequence DNA to the level they can tell different mastodon species apart. I have asked one of the best labs in the USA about doing Cooper's DNA and they said they only do human stuff if law enforcement asks for it AND it costs about 50k per run. What is new as of this week is that there are dozens of DNA labs around the world that would also probably be able to do this. They might not have the same stigma about not doing humans (hopefully). Then there is the problem of the cost. Que Eric Ulis, if he can generate enough publicity and make Cooper's DNA sizzle in the eyes of the public, then one of these labs may just do it for the public accolades!! So you see there is method in the madness. Finally how do I know so much about this? Because I was involved in a huge controversy over preservation of proteins (not DNA but similar) in dinosaur bones. This was the type of finding that would set science on its ear since those types of molecules were not supposed to last 65 million years. My team was on the side of modern contamination, the other side claimed that the dino bone locked out any contamination so the proteins had to be original dinosaur. Long story short, a student biologist on THEIR team contacted me not understanding the politics and was ousted unceremoniously when his findings hinted my team was correct. That student came into my team and suggested we take a chunk of dino bone (from the middle away from any surface) from the same geographic area and do a Metagenomics run on it. The resulting DNA pie chart showed that the middle of the dino bone was contaminated with DNA from every animal that lived on the surface of the ground in that area! This was supposed to put the protein thing to bed but politics has made it linger on. That “student” remains my good friend and is now the lead scientist for a group bringing back the passenger pigeon as well as other animals. He has been advising me on this for years. So if we want to get real Cooper DNA with the samples we have, Metagenomics is the only hope as far as I am concerned. If we get 100 profiles it will be easier to find him than if we get 10. Think about it, Cooper’s tie will have his DNA, his wife’s, his kids etc. I can do a family tree like I did with the particles (the software I used was actually for DNA family trees) and if a cluster shows up all closely related, we have our man! Your friendly neighborhood scientist, Tom Kaye
  3. 1 point
    If Tom and EU can make the testing happen, why not ? Cast as many nets as possible...maybe the testing will yield a common or reoccurring sequence which could point to the hijacker. Now if they could then test the shroud lines as Olemiss mentioned and match to that, we could have something. But the FBI just doesn't seem interested in having this solved, they closed it in 2016 and that's it as far as they are concerned. So getting access to any evidence (the shroud lines or hair sample or their DNA results) died in 2016 or when Larry Carr retired. Tom's team did have access to the shroud lines, I believe they measured the length etc. I wonder if they had the foresight to take swabs or sticky tape samples from where Cooper would have held the lines to make the cut ? Not sure if anyone has ever asked him, I am guessing if they did he would have already said so. But let's say the metagenomic results yield something like this, i.e. a heavy reoccurring sequence. It won't actually say "my name is John Doe". They would still somehow have to run it through one of the ancestry type databases right ?
  4. 1 point
    Hey, not everyone swooping a pond is a professional. (Pond availability varies a lot. Can be quite rare, but not always just at the 'super big DZ's full of pro swoopers'). Always good to know what the latest tech is and that includes waterproof status.
  5. 1 point
    I would hope by the time people are trying to swoop ponds they are not seeking altimeter advice from an Internet forum
  6. 1 point
    I’m also old and started when there were no digital options. Much prefer digital now and I believe they are a mandatory tool if you want to learn to swoop down the track with any level of safety (a relative term in swooping). You’re 30 years in so I’m not teaching you to suck eggs, more a reference for newbie jumpers looking to make this decision. I go swimming a fair bit and have destroyed a few L&B products that way. I switched to 3 x Atlas (1 on wrist and 2 audibles) and have had no such issues since. I’ve come to really appreciate the USB charging and the guide tones on every canopy alarm on the Atlas rather than just on the last alarm as it was on my old Optimas. If you go nowhere near a swoop pond then they’re all good products so pick your favourite but here is what I think personally and whyI recommend the Alti-2 route. Possible advantages of the Optima over Atlas for audible use with my rebuttals: Smaller size. Some helmet pockets may not accommodate an Atlas as easily. For example, I use a Cookie fuel and the Atlas broke the supplied rubber retainers which I think are shit anyway. I replaced with a bungee which I now prefer. Tonfly helmets only have adapters for L&B to be visible/adjustable without removing from the helmet. Most people seem to use full face helmets that don’t have this ability anyway. Some people who are less organised than me may prefer to be able to swap batteries if they get to the DZ and forgot to recharge. Only takes a short while to get enough juice into the Atlas though and you still have to remember Optima batteries, which aren’t easily available here, so I think this advantage is tenuous at best. Atlas has a 1000ft climb to altitude alarm but Optima is adjustable. We take seatbelts off at 2k which is where I set my Optima alarm and I forgot to take my seatbelt off when I first got the Atlas resulting in a beer fine. You soon get used to not having a 2k alarm so no biggie. More people know how to use them, also lots of the cool people are sponsored by them so you can look cool too :) Haven’t checked but I believe they are cheaper(?) Not so cheap when you destroy the, in the swoop pond though, believe me. Real advantages of the Optima over Atlas for audible use (IMO): Smaller size. Some helmet pockets may not accommodate an Atlas as easily. Tonfly helmets only have adapters for L&B to be visible/adjustable without removing from the helmet. More people know how to use them. Price if not taking them near the water. Advantages of Atlas over Optima: Water resistance Guide tones on every canopy alarm Easier to configure (in my opinion but YMMV) USB charging - easier, cheaper and better for the environment Advantages of Viso / Ares for wrist over Atlas: None IMO Advantages of Atlas for wrist over Viso: Improved water resistance USB charging - easier, cheaper and better for the environment Advantages of Atlas for wrist over Ares: USB charging - easier, cheaper and better for the environment TLDR: Just get an Atlas (or a few like me)
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