BGill

Unfortunately, I think Ckret and a bunch of the other main "sleuths" have retired from using this forum due to the events of the past week. I received a PM from someone about joining a yahoogroup listserv for future DB discussions, but I personally would much rather have a site that I can log in to such as this instead of getting constant emails. I wish they would come back and post here, but I sense that they felt they were not wanted.

Amazon Antigua baseknut BGill (most likely) Bolas It's practically in my backyard... Chaoskitty -disorganizing CSpenceFLY organizing Delfina Rodriguez Fmmobley Freefalle and others from Team Dirty Sanchez I'm sure gonzalesna -DD: Designated Drinker Katiebear21 Lauraliscious mnealtx (in spirit) mouth namgrunt nannerbanner NWFlyer Pepe Rodriguez Popsjumper PsychoBob (whoremonger) Rkymtnhigh(if I'm still in the SE in June) Sunshine - keeping upndownshop in line Thanatos340 - Organizing Poker Tournament, Bringing Jello Shots, Chasing Women and ACTUALLY Jumping upndownshop

Very cool. Those kids are amazing from the videos I've seen. Can someone tape this and post it to skydivingmovies.com? I'll be out tonight and won't be able to watch. Thanks. Rock on TeamFuture.

FYI, the "Campground" of rockclimbing.com is near the bottom of the forums list and same with the "Hangout" of basejumper.com. I too would like to see the non-skydiving related Community stuff further down on the list, with the skydiving disciplines and stuff further up.

Whatever floats your boat, Sluggo. But since Ckret is the head fed here, he probably has to give confirmation on that for it to be official. [getting this thread back on track] So anyone found Cooper yet? [/back on track]

I whole-heartedly disagree. I think it is extremely fascinating and I hope these individuals, even without skydiving experience, stay and continue with their research on this case.

even at my skill level (albeit not that good for my jump #s) i don't regularly get close enough to my subjects to need something as wide as the royal 0.3. i have a kenko 0.43, and for the most part it is probably as wide as i would want to go... and it's cheap as hell too ($25-35). i would suggest this lens for your use. if you don't like it and still want the royal, you haven't spent that much to come to that conclusion.

I don't know about this one. I'm not a pilot and I interpret what Cooper says differently. "It doesn't matter, they can file it in the air" to me just sounds like an impatient individual who is trying to take command of the situation and tell people what to do. To me it sounds more like "Their procedures don't matter to me. I have a bomb. You do what I say. Stop wasting time and get in the air. You can do your paperwork later." Does this make sense to anyone else? Or am I the only one who read it that way? This wouldn't rule out the first interpretation (that he was familiar with procedures), it just throws another possibility in the mix.

I guess "the government" can be substituted for "a company", right? Well that's how I voted at least. I'm a biomedical engineer for the FDA during the week. (W-2 earner) I'm a tandem instructor on the weekends, so I "own" my own company, aka myself. (1099'er)

Life expectancy of paper currency: http://www.frbservices.org/help/coin_and_currency.html#a5 So it is 2 years for a $20 bill. That life expectancy will be based on the frequency of circulation (how many times they get passed from hand to hand) - which is why the lifespan is much shorter for the smaller denominations than the bigger ones. If the bills were new or newish when Cooper got them (Ckret - can you shed any light on this?) and kept somewhere for a while where they would not degrade (i.e. not in water/buried in wet soil!) their life would be much longer. Even if Cooper waited a period of time (5 or 10 years for example) before spending any of the bills and kept them in pristine condition, the moment he spends them they are re-introduced into circulation, thus starting the clock on whatever life expectancy they will have.

have you considered adding a cutaway system and cutting down the post on your ringsight? the post sticking out is one hell of a snag hazard.

Looking through fda.gov, the only relevant reference to absinthe, wormwood or thujone is found here. According to this regulation, wormwood (artemisia) is allowed as a food additive as long as it is thujone free. Signs point to real absinthe still being illegal.

Agreed.

In post #708 of this thread Ckret states "In Cossey's statement to the FBI on 11/26/1971, 4th paragraph "...he described the missing back pack parachute as having a sage green nylon container, model NB6 with sage green nylon harness, which harness has no "D" rings to mount a chest pack." " and in #710 he states " 26' canopy, made by Steinthal, model 60-9707. " I don't know these types of canopies, so I can't distinguish the differences, if any.

True, it wouldn't be dependable, but if you were going to make a jump, just out of force of habit wouldn't you want one, just in case? I would, but that is just my gut reaction, and it could have been Cooper's as well.

28'. SafecrackingPLF mistakenly said 26' on a few occasions but then corrected himself after rereading Ckret's post about canopy size.

Jo, From an outsiders perspective, might I add a few thoughts? We do want the truth. Everyone who is reading this thread wants to know what happened. However, we also have reasonable expectations about what can and should be done. Duane's story definitely has some merit that points towards him being Cooper, however, what is needed for Ckret to come to a conclusion has not yet been presented. Stories are excellent and all, but they are not definitive evidence - just speculation. He needs something concrete, something physical that can be traced back to the crime scene. Until that can be provided, there will be doubt from every one of us. Ckret works for the government. The government is slow, and sometimes ineffective. I should know, I work for the government too (not FBI, but FDA). I am sure he has protocol to follow and he only has a certain amount of time to work on this case each day. Because of this, he is not going to respond to every question/request/demand you have for him. I don't necessarily think everything you are asking from him is unreasonable, but I think the way you are presenting your requests is very demanding, and he's not going to work with you if you are always badgering him on here. You will see that SafecrackingPLF has been getting his questions answered by Ckret. This isn't because Ckret favors him, it's because he's presenting his arguments in a logical manner. He presents a scenario with an unbiased opinion, he analyzes every possible outcome, then uses facts to rule things out, thus coming to a conclusion. When he has any questions about these facts, Ckret is able to go into the file and present details about what has already been collected. He is also willing to say "ok, my previous hypothesis is incorrect, so let's go back and see where these new facts point us." This is extremely important for credibility. As for the bolding, underlining and italicizing of almost every sentence... it hurts our eyes to read what you have to say when it's presented like that. I know these are tools used to add emphasis, and I know you believe everything you have to say is important, but it really is too much. That might be why some people have come on here and claimed that you are "crazy". Also, keep in mind that this is the internet, and there are people who read these forums for the pure sake of entertainment, so they will add fuel to the fire for their own amusement. Ignore them. I look forward to the facts unfolding in this case. If these happen to include Duane, the more the better since we have your stories from way back when that can paint a better picture. But, if you want people to listen to you on here, please be reasonable and understand that all of us are looking for logical, unbiased conclusions that can be backed up by concrete evidence.

Don't have any constructive feedback on the medical stuff (man, what a lousy biomedical engineer I am), but I just wanted to wish you good luck on the surgery! Heal fast, my friend.

I use iGoogle as my homepage and ever since Google launched the "themes" back in early '07, I've thought that they were... well... boring/childish/girly/etc., so I've never used one, just had the plain ol' Classic look. The other day Google announced that users can now develop their own themes. Now, if I had the experience and know-how, I'd develop a simple, clean-looking, skydiving theme for my homepage. However, I don't, so I'm putting it out there that someone here with experience could, if they wanted to, create a skydiving theme for those of us less unfortunate souls who lack the ability to do so. Any takers? I'm sure it would get used/appreciated by plenty of people on here. Then again, maybe I'm the only person that uses iGoogle as a homepage. Gracias.

I agree, 100%.

I have made a suggestion over in the Suggestions and Feedback forum that Sangiro create a new Groundlaunching/Speedflying forum. I had originally suggested this in here, but it was at the end of some other thread that I don't think got read by many. Well, no one said anything at least. I know little to nothing about this sport, but I am very interested in learning more about it, as I'm sure others are. However, I think it is difficult to navigate through the mixture of swooping/GL/SF stuff here in this one forum. If anyone else would like to see a new GL/SF forum under "Related Sports", please let Sangiro know in this thread. Thanks. And sorry for the redundancy for those who have already read the thread(s).

The first one would be nice in B&W since there isn't much color to it. The lens flair in the second one is a problem. I like them both, though.

being able to make quick and critical decisions under pressure (taken from my resume)

I don't have all the facts written down, and honestly I'm too lazy to go digging through this thread for answers, but what would be important to figure this out would be: 1. Winds aloft for that area that night (speed and direction) 2. Cooper's weight (170ish lbs, right?) 3. Weight of Cooper's gear (money and rig) 4. Size of the parachute 5. Exit altitude (if Cooper pulled right away that would give the max drift) And from there you can figure out his wingloading, under a specific type of canopy, from a certain altitude, in certain wind conditions. I am not familiar with round canopies in the least bit so someone with more experience could probably chime in to guess what type of drift you could have expected, and in what direction.

Harold, Do you know where Duane Weber was on the night of the hijacking? If you do, do you have any hard proof of this, or just memory? Thanks in advance.