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I see you've learned your lesson on prematurely gloating about political wins.

Well, she probably won’t break into the Capitol Wendy P.

I believe we've already explained this, but I'll explain it again. Eric indeed found the 3 possible alloys. He gets credit for that. They do stick out like a sore thumb on the spreadsheets. He came up with Rem-Cru on his own somehow. He'd have to tell you how he did that. I'm not even sure how he did because he's a guy who works alone. However, for our part, we took those particles to metallurgists who led us to several places, one of which eventually was Rem-Cru. We did not begin at Rem-Cru though. We learned that the places that were experimenting with TiSb alloys in the 1950's were originally Bureau of Mines and Battelle Memorial Institute. We built a spreadsheet for each of these places of as many of their R&D guys as we could find and then attempted to vet those people, looking for military experience and ties to the PNW. We weren't able to find any. But that seemed like a dead end anyways because the tie wouldn't have been around these 1950's raw TiSb alloys since it came from the 60's. We then decided to look for patents that might reference TiSb alloys. We located 1,400 patents 1950 through 1959 that mention both titanium and antimony somewhere in the patent (usually in a long list of elements but almost never adjacent), and around 3,500 in the 1960's. Virtually 100% of these are for pigments and chemicals, never alloys. In fact, the only two places that actually have patents for TiSb alloys are Rem-Cru/Crucible and Sprague. You can search the US Patents yourself and for titanium antimony alloy it's literally just those two. FWIW, Vordahl is the only Crucible employee who is listed on those patents (there are 13 of them in total, but only one in the "tie era"). He apparently learned the skill from a collaboration with Battelle. TiSb is apparently an extremely difficult and also inefficient thing to alloy, which is why it never caught on and was purely experimental. TiSn alloys essentially give you the same advantages as TiSb but it is much, much more efficient and easy to do, which is why the industry used it instead of TiSb. You can see below a query on the metallurgy reddit from Chaucer and the befuddled response he received. So we then narrowed our focus on seeing if anyone stood out in the R&D labs for Rem-Cru/Crucible and Sprague. We built spreadsheets for those as well. You can see below a sample of the first page of our Rem-Cru sheet that we built. FWIW, John L. Sprague from Sprague Electronics would have made a damn good Cooper if you were holding a Cooper lookalike contest. But he of course was just the CEO of Sprague and wasn't a grunt metallurgist working in a lab. So we kept vetting all these names we could find at Rem-Cru and Sprague, looking for military experience and/or ties to the PNW. We used an expensive software that I have access to in order to check for these things and also looked up their obituaries and military records for height/eye color/hair color/build, etc. on Fold3. Not surprisingly, very few of these nerds had real military experience. They were used in wartime industries or recruited to work on various things for the war effort, like Vordahl on the Manhattan Project. To our surprise, Vordahl was the only one who was from the PNW, but he would have been 58 during NORJAK, so we sorta skipped over him. We kept digging and digging and came up with nothing that would make any of these individuals stand out as unique. So we eventually decide, what the hell, lets look at Vordahl anyways. The 1965 patent is, after all, his sole invention. So reluctantly, due to age, we decided to do a deeper dive into Vordahl and saw that not only was he from Washington, but he was actually living there at the time. Well, that's neat, but doesn't mean too much. What about his size? Measured in barefeet for the draft at age 26 he was 5'10 1/2. Good size for anyone wanting to be Cooper IMO. Yeah, well, that's all fine and good, but what kind of person was he? Were he and the Mrs. akin to Ward and June Clever? Oh no, hell no they were not. I'm not sure how many couples in the 1960's and 1970's caused people in their town to make public complaints against them accusing them of Paganism. He seemed to have a narcissistic and often angry personality. He seems like the sort that would have perhaps been upset that he received no public recognition for some of his notable contributions to aerospace since all of his marvelous inventions were assigned and he received no royalties (93% of the alloy coating the SR-71 is one of his). He appeared to be such a miser about certain things that instead of buying his children contacts in the 1960's, he literally made them contacts in his spare time. He had some fascination with optics and would build his own telescopes, many of which are still on the family property. There are other troubling aspects of his personality that, out of respect for the family, we are not publicly discussing as of now. He ended up dying of a rare neurological disease that, among other things, effects the part of the brain that controls impulsivity. Could he have been already suffering from this? Something for us to consider at least. Was he an arthritic broken down old timer? Quite the contrary. He appeared to be a very good athlete. When doing deep dives on him, many of the references you'll come across are about him competing (and sometimes winning) amateur tennis and golf tournaments. According to one of his grandchildren, he was an obsessive golfer and played tennis or golf everyday that he could. We have him still playing in senior tennis tournaments into his 70's. He also wrote about jogging and running during the 1960's. I think we all know that wasn't exactly a common practice in those days. So he would have been in good shape for a man his age. Drinker and smoker? We literally have a video of the man drinking and in the same video there appears to be a lit cigarette set in an ashtray in front of him. He also made his own wine, fwiw. Well what else? Any ties to Boeing? Sure, he consulted with Boeing many, many times over the previous 15 years before NORJAK. Our source with access to Boeing records has him many times consulting for Crucible and TIMET with Boeing. We have him on the floor of Boeing as late as 1970 consulting on the SST. What was he doing in 1971? He appeared to still be a consultant for Crucible and also for TIMET, which was located in Henderson, NV. He maintained a home in Henderson from 1965 until his death. He appeared to snowbird in the winter time and relocate to his home in NV during the rough winters in northern Washington. His exact job title is unclear, but we have him working at the TIMET lab in Henderson in the 1960's and also again in the 1970's as a consultant. The last patent of his life, incidentally, was published in 1971. His "home laboratory", so to speak, was at the TIMET plant in Henderson, which was only 2 miles from his home. This plant closed in August 71 due to the aerospace bust and laid off all of its workers. The research manager there, as we all know, was a guy named Don Cooper. They opened back up in mid 72. It should be noted that one of the very last things we knew about Vordahl was what he looked like. We were well over a month into researching him that we finally saw what he looked like as an adult. He was Mr. "not appearing in this photo" guy throughout much of his life. It wasn't until we had already contacted the family and held discussions with them that we received an actual clear photo of his face. It should also be noted that we've never encountered a single word of objection from his family. Literally none of them have said "no way" or anything like that. They're merely intrigued. They knew he was a unique individual and just want to learn more. Does any of this make him Cooper? Absolutely f**king not. Odds are astronomically overwhelming that he ISN'T D.B. Cooper. I recognize that. I'm not a fool (even though many of the people on this site may think that about me) nor am I some gullible idiot. However, for an outside-the-box Cooper suspect, I think it's worth looking at an anti-social, often hostile, narcissistic, genius inventor, with ties to aviation, with ties to the SST bust, who was living in one of the most isolated communities in Washington in 1971, and who looks so similar to the sketches. Our team spent months and months seeking the opinions of metallurgists, authors on metallurgy, other scientists, and making contacts with individuals at Boeing, etc. We didn't just pull Vordahl out of a hat. We had already vetted like 200 different individuals at various companies before we dug deeper into him because, as previously stated, we had previously set him aside as we figured his age put him out of contention (and perhaps it still does). Again, we didn't even know what the guy looked like until well into our investigation of him. He could have looked like Chris Farley for all we knew and that would have been the end of it. Three of us busted our asses on this every day for four or five months. That's well over a year of combined time researching this to try and get to Vordahl. Eric will openly admit that the way he found Petersen was he contacted an older guy who used to be a supervisor there. He was actually one of only two guys that we vetted who was still alive and we actually gave the contact info to Eric. He called and asked the guy "who was someone you worked with who was about 6'1 and was around 45-50 in 1971. The old guy said "that sounds like Petersen". That's how Eric found Petersen, and hey, maybe he got super lucky. However, as you can see, our research methods to find our suspects were obviously night and day, so please, as fellow Cooper researchers, do not disrespect our efforts by claiming that we half assed this. We've spoken with numerous experts. We've collectively spent hundreds of hours and financial resources looking into this lead on the off-chance that maybe, just maybe, it might produce something. And yes, of course this is based on a hypothesis. It's no different than finding a suspect based on what is arguably a fictional novel or making an assumption that this individual came from this or that particular commando unit. 51 years later we are all kind of grasping at straws here. It's just a theory based on something that may or may not turn out to be true, but we chased a lead and so far this is what we've come up with after doing months of due diligence. So please chill it with the aspersions claiming that we half-assed this TiSb theory. We absolutely did not. If you want to attack EU for being given a random name and running with it, then sure, that's a very valid criticism. But that criticism should not be leveled against us. We understand the flaws of Vordahl. He's arguably outside the age range. We haven't found any parachuting experience as of yet. Why would he commit aircraft piracy? Etc.

Ron, that's a shameful thing to say, and based only on her size and athleticism, with a touch of partisan mean-spiritidness. She has never, ever, been a boy or man. Her father is a (probably by now retired) sheriff's deputy who's a two-time Vietnam veteran (they're known for being comfortable with gender fluidity, right?). Her father said that she's been confused with being a boy for much of her life, so I guess if you go by looks alone... But I'd imagine that her father would know better. Here is an article from 14 years ago, while she was still in high school. Her family, friends, and school have all been consistent all along. She's no more male than my uncle Carl (5'3" and very slight) was female. He was a tank commander in WW2. Wendy P.

The SEM photos are like 64 pixels or something like that. Tom is missing a part of his scope at the moment. It's on backorder from China, so we're obviously waiting for that to confirm if they are or aren't alloys. The family has one of Vordahl's name badges from TIMET from what we believe to be mid-1970's and another from Crucible dating to late 50's or early 60's. Tom has requested that we try and get the family to send him those so he can have them scanned for particles as well.

Yep. You have to feel at least a little bit bad for him. No red wave, a stalemate-proof blue majority in the senate, Trump going down under dozens of lawsuits and criminal investigations, an American released from a Russian jail, Jan 6th rioters going to jail for sedition, a Supreme Court case that may make gerrymandering a lot harder, success for American companies making batteries, EVs, wind turbines and solar power systems, Biden's approval ratings going up - it's a hard time to be a conservative extremist.

I don’t think anyone is saying that box was filled with all the particles. My observation is in line with many others, and that is we don’t know where the tie was before or after. When there are stories of FBI agents wearing it at parties as well as 14 DNA profiles and Tom’s DNA, then one has to wonder. My stance as been the same for years. The tie probably came from some industrial setting. Tracing that to one location is impossible, regardless of how much we’d like to do that. For a large group of people who disagree with Eric on things, it’s unusual to now see them agreeing with his research on the particles. One final note. There is this push to go upstream on the particles, as in where were they manufactured? Why not go further upstream and find where they were mined or refined? But better yet, why not go downstream to where these elements were used? You guys say “metals”. Do you realize how many metals related companies were in the US in 1971? We helped win WWII. The US went to the Moon in 1969. This discussion is fun, but the lectures are getting tiring. None of the elements on the tie are uncommon. None. Some are just more common than others. Find some uranium or plutonium and then we have a lead. When will we have scientists with documented degrees in science at the Masters or PhD levels giving us credible information? Has McCrone weighed in? I’ll say this to both teams about both suspects. If the tie theory fell apart, is your guy still a good suspect? Age? Description? Background? If you found someone at RemCru who fit the profile better, would you consider him? How do you know you found everyone that worked at those companies in 1965? I can’t even find out who worked at an office a year ago.

Probably relieved he doesn't need to hang out with Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham anymore.

Yeah-yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes ♪ Hoo, they send you down to war, Lord ♪ And when you ask 'em, "How much should we give?" ♪ Hoo, they only answer, "More, more, more, more"♪

Neither is deliberate cluelessness. Wendy P.

Yep. When I heard that he only was likely to serve another 2-3 years because he'd be on parole after that, it started to sound like a better trade. As far as the prioritization, I just don't know enough about that. But I'm really glad it's not me choosing. Wendy P.

How very Christian of you

Hi Robert, He can just follow the bread crumbs left by the members of the Third Reich. Jerry Baumchen

While I don't agree with your proposal, I have to agree that it's been an interesting discussion. In part because, on this internet forum, there's been a Regional Director and the President of the BOD participating. Not sure what other sport/activity would see that happen. Oops. Should have been 'how many would NOT have met the qualifications. Too late to edit the post.

I understand and appreciate all the responses you and everyone else have given. It has been enlightening. Like I said, this was a way for me to understand if this had already been voted on, why other, similar, rules had been established and if I believed it could get implemented. Based on the information I’ve gathered in this and other threads, I do not believe my recommendation would ever be seriously considered by my Regional Director or the Safety & Training Committee.

VP is due an apology. That man should have been allowed to rest in peace and his family should have been allowed to have his memory be whatever it was for them. I hate for them that their father/grandfather etc is now forever internet-associated with something he so comically obviously had not a thing do with. MV can at least have a case built for him if you start with the tie evidence as gospel and the presumptions made from it as sound. I think the water leaks from the case on the tie particles, the presumptions made from them, and getting him on the plane for a suicidal/murderous terrorist mission after which he went back to a life of bored op-ed writing. Those are some pretty big leaks and I've relayed my thoughts about them privately. But if you go with certain assumptions, I can see how they might lead you to MV as a box to check, and the fact that he looks like the pictures certainly doesn't hurt once you get there. He's fun to consider, and if his family doesn't care, there is at least some justification as to why he's being (temporarily) looked at.

Made some adjustments to Doc Edwards' Frankenstein's monster mashup of KK5-1 and the lower face of the Newsweek scammer.

Reminds me of the right wing argument against gay marriage. "They have exactly the same rights I have! I can marry women. They can marry women. Same-same!" Similar to the arguments against interracial marriage.

Why, is she not free now? Could you have made it more clear that to you "freedom" means that people are free to do exactly what you want them to do, but nothing else.

For Brent a Black, woman and lesbian, grates at his very republican manhood. The FOX article starts off stating the right of Americans to protest. Then goes on to suggest that she should give up that right now that she is free. Instead of suggesting that she should continue to not stand. To show the world, Iran, N. Korea and Russia that protest in America is a constitutional right. A protected right. A necessary right when display of political ideals is necessary. Black, lesbian, woman and famous. All factors that grate on the very souls of FOX viewers.

The cause of death in the Gunther book, "natural causes", but it is here in an article,, "heart attack"

My wife works part time at a winery. Last night we went to a winery industry event for local winery owners and staff. I was talking with a banker at a small local bank that had loaned start up money for a couple small local wineries. I got to thinking it takes a lot of money to start a winery. You have to buy a lot of acres of land, put in trellises, plant grape vines that won't produce for 3 to 5 years. Then build a facility and equipment harvest, process and ferment the grapes then bottle the wine plus hire staff for the business. I thought there must be a cheaper way and it came to me how to reduce the start up cost, overhead and staff expenses. All I would need is bottling equipment. It is important to hire the right wine maker and I thought of the right person. I would hire Jesus as my wine maker because he can turn water into wine.

All the old Soviet tanks in western countries are being sent to Ukraine. Many are being upgraded with reactive armor and new thermal sights. Poland aims to eventually have 1,000 K2 tanks and 672 K9 howitzers, including “polonised” versions produced in Poland, reports Business Insider Polska. In total, Poland’s arms purchases from South Korea this year have reached $12.3 billion. If the US and NATO were smart they would find a western buyer for U.S. Navy officials explained that “USS Nimitz (CVN 68) is planned to be removed from the battle force in fiscal year (FY) 2025, when the ship's Terminal Off-load Program begins, with inactivation scheduled to begin in 2027.” Japan would be the ideal candidate, or possibly Australia. Australia is in the process of developing a nuclear submarine fleet.

In replying to BMAC615, I don’t agree with you on this subject and data indicates you are incorrect. Many, in fact most times, a new rule is not implemented at first suggestion. Most of the time a new rule, especially something restrictive, must be presented several times to be passed. The Board members must be convinced to change their minds. Many times, to change someone’s mind, you keep introducing data to support your position. To quote a past Board member, “If it’s a good idea today, it will still be a good idea in 6 months or a year”. On one particular BSR I helped push through, it took a year of Board meetings to finally get a simple safety BSR implemented. If you are convinced, and think you can persuade the USPA Board to see it your way, that is the way to do it. Your Regional Director is the best conduit to get a new rule implemented, convince him, and he can help you convince the Board.

So will the PT6 you sit behind when jumping but service life is seriously degraded and maintenance costs, including time down, increases a lot.

Nope, that sentence doesn't parse.

Considering you predicted a red wave and it was the most successful midterms for an incumbent president in decades, you should probably sit this one out before you embarrass yourself.

Any conclusions that rely on the investigative and analytical skills of Eric Ulis should be considered to be somewhere between Wrong and Comically Wrong.

Contamination to some degree would be inevitable, but look at the prevalence of elements like chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, and vanadium, which are all almost exclusively used in the creation of metal alloys and aren't encountered in the wild very often by civilians. To have all of them one after the other popping up on a tie that also has that much pure titanium really seems to indicate that the those particles didn't arrive there by contamination. It's quite possible that Cooper picked the tie up randomly or he snatched it from somewhere, but I think it's hard to argue that the tie, at some point in its life, was worn by someone in the metals industry. It would be nice if a control had been done with some sticky stubs being applied to other items shoved in that box.

Truth. https://globalnews.ca/news/3552281/snipers-canadian-military/ We do. Just as Canada sends theirs down to Benning for training also. Our two countries probably train together more than most. Most American Airborne cherish their Canadian Jump wings and vice versa. When Canada comes down to Bragg to train - there's gonna be some inter-rivalry shenanigans. Digging the history lesson of both your ancestors. Wonder if Kallend fought along side of them. Course, he mighta been busy on the Manhattan Project. :)

You're both being incredibly boring...

Someone who is very, very vain.

I cleaned up Dr. Edwards' new high res copy of KK5-1 that was mixed with the lower half of the Newsweek scammer (the one Bill and Flo said was closest to Cooper they had ever seen).

Meh, when I am wrong I like to learn. Harder to do when you have already decided you are smarter than the other person I guess. We are indeed a weak defence partner on spending and total capability. We have some strengths. I would be all in favour for Canada spending much more, much much more. I also don't think we should see the US as a defence partner and more as a threat. Your democracy is seriously in decline. As a side note there is a Ukrainian made rifle in the top 6.

I hope Meathead is right!

Davey Jones and Michael Nesmith .

I finally got around to watching Gryder's recent McCoy video. Dan does a good job with these, and he comes across as a decent dude. But, he did act like a spoiled little kid when the reaction to his first McCoy video wasn't what he wanted. It's too bad about the parachute. It's one thing to have a suspect and be wrong about it. But it's something else completely to knowingly put out false (or manufactured) evidence to try and prove your argument. Dan certainly isn't the first to do this when it comes to Cooper, nor will he be the last. There is no question - planted or not - that he knew that wasn't Cooper's chute. He's not going to be able to walk that one back. Credibility is a fragile thing. Once it's gone, it seldom returns. Also, who the hell walks around in the woods with a damn guitar?

In this case chicks are more equal than others and Hallelujah! Neal Katyal was a star, absolutely. But Elizabeth Prelogar, our solicitor general, was a rock star. Ketanji Jackson Brown sorted out how to ask the same obvious question differently three times (if a state constitution gives a the legislature an authority does it make sense to conclude that authority could negate the authority granted them by the constitution) Even Amy Coney Barrett grasped the discontinuity. Thanks to the women, again, democracy may not be over.

There have been attempts to rein in the drug industry on more than one occasion. Whenever it comes to a vote it is the R party who has been able to stop all or most of them. The exception being the Inflation Control Act which they tried hard to stop. I'm sure that the lobbyists do indeed spread the cash around to both parties but the proof of who is influenced is in the votes.

You say 'moving to the US'. Are you planning a permanent (or long term) move? That would be different than a short term stay (vacation). As a visitor, you can use your home country's license, and get a temporary USPA membership. As noted above, it's primarily so you have insurance for any damage you may do (3rd party liability). You can jump your own rig, provided it follows the rules of your home country (equipment certification and inspection/repack). If you plan on being a US resident, it changes some. Your rig needs to have a US FAA TSO certification, and needs an I&R by a FAA rigger in the past 180 days. You'll need a USPA membership and license. Converting the license is usually a paperwork thing. You sit down with an instructor and go over your log book. If you can show you meet the requirements and pass the written, you can apply for the license. Somehow not too surprisingly, I found the info about the licenses at... USPA. https://uspa.org/Discover/News/foreign-or-military-license-and-rating-conversions

Lennon or McCartney?

Yeah, that has like never happened.

There is one case of a canopy that had a nasty disposition when not loaded on the heavy side for the performance of the day. The Nova. I had a Nova 135. At 220 pounds in street clothes, it had two speeds - fast, and f*ckn fast. It was blamed for several low altitude, light loading canopy collapses and at least one death if memory serves. When people called me out for jumping it, I would tell them that "I got a good one".

I thought it was the British. If Russia wanted to cut supply to Europe, they could just turn off the spigot at their end. The destruction of the pipeline had the effect of weakening Russia’s bargaining power and helped to keep Germany from getting wobbly.

I disagree. Russia is facing a shortage of young men. Russia is facing a demographic crisis. Starting during World War 1, Russia has suffered a series of cycles of low birth rates. The most recent dip occurred in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the USSR circa 1990, which means that Russia is suffering a shortage of young men under 30 years old. Russia can only maintain its labour force by importing many tens of thousands of young men from its former "stans." Mind you, right wing Russian thugs have an annoying habit of mugging "guest workers" in Moscow. What if a prolonged war in Ukraine so depletes Russian Army ranks that they become vulnerable to invasions from the various "stans?" Those sorts of invasions have ONLY happened a dozen or so time in the past.: Sythians, Mongols, Huns, Turkmen, Tatars, etc.

Attacking the biggest contributor to a problem is often a good start. Do you have any ideas that might actually get passed and enforced? The Colorado shooting was possibly a result of a red-flag law that was willingly not enforced by the local law enforcement personnel. They are not unique. And how do we pay for the increased mental health care? Part of the high rate of gun suicide is the high rate of gun ownership. Rerference to Stanford Medical School study. That study, conducted over 12 years on 26 million California residents, says that male gun owners are 8 times more likly to die by suicide, and female gun owners are 35 times more likely. What would be your first recommendation for reducing suicide risk? Many other suicide means leave more time for one to re-think; they're either messier (and therefore require more thought), or less certain to end it quickly (likewise). Wendy P.

Putin spreads his love to them too. Putin has "special" a holiday program on now. He sends the poorly informed off to an exotic country where they can kill. He said it was a limited time offer of 300,000. But its looking like the "special" has been extended. Or more likely, be killed.

I had a local artist in my town paint this one of mine last year.