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  1. 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!
  2. 3 points
    How often you gotta replace them regenerative 'break' pads?
  3. 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.
  4. 2 points
    There IS a valid fear that he could win again. I'm less and less worried about it as time goes by. The polls showing him leading Biden are somewhat suspect. There's a lot of reasons to question their validity. The biggest reason is how they've done for the primaries. While Trump won all the primaries but one, he didn't even come close to the margin of victory the polls predicted. Some polls had him winning by double what he actually won by. So polls that show him a few percent above Biden don't bother me much. The idea that the RNC is now being run by Trump's minions is fucking hilarious. It's abundantly clear that Trump is going to loot the bank accounts to pay for all his 'troubles'. As a result, the ability of the RNC to support any other candidates is going to be highly compromised. So Republicans everywhere are going to get shortchanged. And screwed over. And will lose. I'm sure there are some Rs that have enough on their own to win. And there are quite a few that are in districts so solid that the winner is going to be an "R". A lot of the big donors won't want the money they donate to go into Trump's pocket. So donations will drop. They already are. Trump is likely going to do more damage to the Republican party than anyone thought possible back in 2015. It's tempting to call this a 'nail in the coffin', or a 'death knell', and it may well be. But that's not certain.
  5. 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!
  6. 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
  7. 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.
  8. 2 points
    I don't think you meant "inferring".
  9. 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.
  10. 2 points
    We're talking about unchecked aggregation here, Dude!
  11. 2 points
  12. 2 points
    No apology necessary, that's a great update and thanks for sharing !!! I think it is an important part of the suspect profile puzzle !
  13. 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).
  14. 2 points
    I think more work needs to be done to validate the initial test. I agree. Samples matter. I would compare the Clara letters to Forman letters. If a positive match is found to one of the Formans ... then there is a potential problem. Likewise who were Dayton's associates independent of the Formans? Maybe the whole circle of people around Dayton must be examined in addition to Dayton only. .. Keep in mind we are dealing with syntactical structures vs phonology. Phonology has far more data points that can be quantified vs syntactical strictures. If we could compare a Dayton voice recording with a Clara call, the analysis would be on much firmer ground. I am assuming recordings of those voices dont exist? If Kaczynsk's voice could have been compared to a sample of the Unabomber voice a phonological match could have been made very quickly, vs syntactical comparison. Its an issue of data and quantifiable data points in one method vs another. But, I think Andrade has done a marvelous piece of work with this.
  15. 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.”
  16. 2 points
    Pence? HELL, YES!!! I would have been delighted to see the Orange Moron croak, and Pence take over.
  17. 1 point
    Now, Donald Trump is claiming that he can't make the 464 million dollar bond in his civil fraud case. Don't be fooled. It's not that Donald Trump doesn't have the money. He doesn't have enough OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY!
  18. 1 point
    Steve Miller Band is a good choice....
  19. 1 point
    That's pretty cool. There's a 928 part supplier who does online ordering, but the 'most fun' way to order is to call and talk to the owner. He's an ex-pat Brit, living in Texas, selling parts for German cars. He's super knowledgeable about the cars, owns like 8 or 9, including a couple super rare ones, and is just an all around fun guy. He's active on FB and the car boards, doesn't take himself too seriously, but is passionate about the 928. Phone calls for parts orders often take an extra 10 or 15 minutes, because he asks a fair amount of questions to make sure the part being ordered is correct for the specific car (there's a LOT of variance over the years) and just chatting about the cars in general. Best story: I was talking on the phone, placing an order, and I wanted a hat. The connection wasn't the best, so he couldn't understand what I was asking for. So I asked instead if he carried a cap. Still couldn't understand. Thought about it a second or two, then asked for a 'chapeau' (French for hat). He said something like "Oh, a hat. No, I don't carry those. Talking to an ex-pat Brit, purchasing parts for a German car and we use French to understand each other.
  20. 1 point
    Howlin’ Wolf. The Doors were copycat hijackers.
  21. 1 point
    And the first car tailpipes released a whole lot more particle pollution than horse tailpipes. But we hung in there and things got better.
  22. 1 point
    Both tyre wear particles and tailpipe emissions are bad, but if I had to choose between them, I'd choose tyre particles. Tailpipe emissions have more smaller particles - PM2.5 and below, while tyre wear causes larger particles. PM2.5 is linked more definitively to negative health impacts, and death. And you HAPPILY announce any increases in coal use - they're one of the biggest emitters of mercury in the air. It's also funny how you pretend you care about pollution when plastic bag waste increases, you're almost jumping for joy.
  23. 1 point
    "Good bye to people I've trusted I've got to go out and make my own way I might get rich, you know, I might get busted..."
  24. 1 point
    You do things like this... Every station is a different course of fire. And some people don't see the point in jumping out of an airplane... If you heard someone say, "I mean all you do is fall and open a parachute before you die" would you consider them knowledgeable about skydiving?
  25. 1 point
    A people that loves lies more than truths. A people that laughs at indecency, insults and the vulnerable. A people that worships Caligula more than Lincoln. Should the people not get what they deserve?
  26. 1 point
  27. 1 point
    He very much did. Being nonreligious, being a serial divorcer and and being a sort of a grope-y (and downright rape-y) guy, he was having trouble courting the evangelical vote. Pence absolutely helped with that.
  28. 1 point
    The answer has to be that it's not happening, that we really are in a software simulation of reality and the new coder is a truly sick individual.
  29. 1 point
    Chris Cunningham recently found these sunglasses on eBay. These appear to be the closest analog to Cooper's. They are called Solarama's and they were produced in the 60's. I believe he and I bought the only two pairs on eBay. The listing even said they have a green/brown tint to them, which is how several passengers described Cooper's shades as looking like. Bill called them a "honey brown" tint and said that the rims were "very dark." When you search for these types of glasses from that era you rarely see them. Most sunglasses for men back then were expensive Italian type sunglasses, aviators, or the ubiquitous "bluesman" sunglasses. So because there were so few of these "proto-Oakleys" around at the time, these may actually be Cooper's sunglasses.
  30. 1 point
    I desperately seek to never be the "I have access to something you don't" guy, but I've got Benzedrine 100% confirmed straight from Tina's mouth. There's no need to debate the veracity of whether Cooper did or didn't have it. He absolutely did. It'll be in my book. Again, I apologize for being like that as I always try to share my data, but I did think I could at least help save us all from having to speculate about the Bennies.
  31. 1 point
    I agree. The fact that she's not "caucasian" is just a lagniappe for those folks Wendy P.
  32. 1 point
    Well, she's not unpopular with people who don't hate women with brown skin. She's quite qualified. US Senator, State Attorney General, prosecutor, a solid background of being effective in all those positions. (Note: The overall misogyny and racism in the US mean that her qualifications are WELL ABOVE what any white man would need to obtain those positions) Far better qualified than Quayle or Gore, who both had the main qualification of being born to rich and powerful daddies.
  33. 1 point
    For those who listened to the Barb/Clara podcast. I’m curious to get your impression of what 97% match means. Marty has already explained, but I’d like to get other impressions. Do you compare it to something like a .970 batting average or 97% free throw percentage or 97% chance that a King high straight flush will win on the river Kind of in your own words. The DZ group for all its disagreement, does seem to have the most concentrated group of more experienced/educated etc. individuals. Higher ed is represented here, and even if not, there are mostly bright people here, even if we don’t all like eachother. And a good amount of you are not on the FB group.
  34. 1 point
    To quote Kallend: "The last people to recognize that they've been conned are the marks themselves. And even then they're reluctant to admit it."
  35. 1 point
    That's why it doesn't happen. Sometimes if they are very insistent they are allowed to begin. Allowing is not the same as encouraging.
  36. 1 point
    Kamala Harris is for sure one of the R party's favourite scare tactic boogeymen. (is boogeywoman a thing?) The reality is she would be far better than the recycled dotard they are offering up.
  37. 1 point
    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 ...
  38. 1 point
    Hi, I'm a newbie my name is Denise. :). I've done four tandems. I'm Planning on doing to be doing my AF1 at Cross Keys this season. I'm so excited to get that A license.
  39. 1 point
    "Alert to injustice in society" is toxic? Maybe, if the person using it has an issue with being aware of what's going on. (Which I know many people do; ignorance is a very comfortable place to live.) But I am less and less worried about the antis on this one. I was judging at a robotics competition this weekend at a local high school. They had a bunch of flags up - their team flags, the California flag, a pride flag, some flag that looked like it was from Germany. No one cared. The kids were about half and half male and female, with three or four nonbinary kids. Again no one cared. They have unisex bathrooms. And yet again, no one cared. (Other than some of the older judges, who were perplexed for a minute by the layout.) The next generation is simply not going to care if someone is trans or nonbinary, and they are going to be a lot more capable in terms of figuring out which bathroom to use than conservatives are.
  40. 1 point
  41. 1 point
    For the same reason that I never went along with Jesus Freaks when they invited me to join their discussion with their invisible friend. When one's core premise is immediately and verifiably false, the conclusion may be dismissed out of hand.
  42. 1 point
    While I don't think it represents the majority, there are a LOT of cops who are Trumpettes, and authoritarian bullies. Don't forget that Kyle Rittenhouse, after killing 2 people and severely wounding another, walked up to the cops while holding a loaded rifle. They told him to go home. OTOH, the guy who shot & killed a Trumpette at a protest, in what could well have been legitimate self defense, was shot and killed 'resisting arrest while armed', yet a weapon wan't found. And don't forget about the Biden bus that the Trumpanzee assholes tried to run off the road in Texas. The people on the bus called the cops, but they 'couldn't be bothered' to respond.
  43. 1 point
    “President Trump’s history of support for the men and women of Law Enforcement is unmatched,” IUPA President Sam Cabral said in a Feb. 6 statement. “His policies and actions were directed at improving safety in our communities and the men and women who provide that shield. He has earned and deserves our wholehearted support.” Obviously fomenting insurrections, riots, street brawls, committing rape, fraud, or simply encouraging your moronic followers to bash cop's in the head doesn't matter a twit when you stand to be rewarded with being on the sharp end of a Police State come 2025. Of course in the aftermath of the insurrection, there was nary a peep from Americas Finest, in particular the 375,000-member Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., and the Capitol Police. For reference, those are the two agencies whose officers were attacked on January 6, 2021. At this point I think it's time to wonder if we haven't simply leap frogged past banana republic and went directly to failed state.
  44. 1 point
    Indeed, I've had a hell of a good run, opened in 1988. Crazy. I'm lucky to have fantastic staff and awesome jumpers who know I want to be gone a lot but must have the same or better safety etc. so it's easy to keep it going. Also, I really thought we'd be part 135 a decade ago and set up for the possibility, although the op's manual is probably too out of date. I can tell you with certainty that some big operators are going to have a lot of engines to overhaul and a lot of SB's and SIL's to accomplish if we go 135. They might also have some 'splainin' to do about how many hours since flight school their pilots have.
  45. 1 point
  46. 1 point
    Hi folks, The Catholic Church continues to remain in the Stone Age: Pelosi will be denied Communion over her stance on abortion : NPR And, people sometimes wonder why I am an atheist. Jerry Baumchen
  47. 1 point
    Every school my girls have attended have required proof of vaccinations.
  48. 1 point
    Hi Jerry, An embryo can be frozen for a very long time, then used to create a living baby. The current record is 27 years, with the baby being born in Oct 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55164607 Can't do that with a baby. OTOH, as far as vaccines go, a pregnant woman won't make other women around her pregnant. I'm not sure if I agree with vax mandates or not (none exist at the moment). I AM in favor of not allowing unvaxxed people in certain places, to do certain activities and putting them at the 'back of the line' for medical care.
  49. 1 point
    I don't think anyone should be forced to get a vaccine. MOST (not all) people on the left agree there. I do think that if you don't get vaccinated, or you don't want to wear a mask, there are things you won't be able to do. Go into a NICU or a hospital room, for example.
  50. 1 point
    Your membership # will remain the same but your licence # will change as you progress to diff ones
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