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New episode out now! DB Cooper isn't Clara with Chris Cunningham. https://thecoopervortex.podbean.com/e/db-cooper-isnt-clara-chris-cunningham/ Enjoy!

How often you gotta replace them regenerative 'break' pads?

No apology necessary, that's a great update and thanks for sharing !!! I think it is an important part of the suspect profile puzzle !

But Cooper wasn't wearing "aviators" and those glasses I posted aren't aviators. I wear aviators myself. They're the only sunglasses I've worn as an adult. These aren't aviators nor was Cooper wearing aviators. Aviators do not have thick plastic frames (Tina, Alice) nor do they have any hint of a horn rim (Alice, Gregory) I defy you to find a photograph from WWII of anyone wearing sunglasses like those I posted.

That would be Leona Helmsley!

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.

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.

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).

Thanks for the response Cola. The reason the Benzedrine anecdote is interesting to me: 1) I think it is part of the pilot/military/aviation discussion. Military personnel, particularly pilots were issued Benzedrine for long missions. By 1971 I understand that amphetamines were common knowledge and in use among the public, but I still think if he did indeed offer them that it has it's root in mission based preparedness from prior military/aviation experience. 2) From a strategic aspect, Cooper brought it up for one of two reasons: - To really be used as an aid to the long flight to Mexico. Or - As a way to make everyone think they were in it for the long haul while he planned to exit the plane as quickly as possible and give himself a better chance at getting away. I did a little bit of digging, just to kind of close the loop, found this article from Bruce back in 2013 where he says: " According to Tosaw and Gray, Cooper also brought several tablets of Benzedrine to keep the crew alert." https://themountainnewswa.net/2013/02/06/the-hunt-for-db-cooper-who-was-cooper-what-is-known/ In the Vortex, Gray has been a somewhat well respected source. I believe he had cooperation from the FBI for his book and access to the FBI files and evidence. So he must have got it from this access. Tosaw was FBI, so he had access to everything. But as you mentioned, other than a news article, it is nowhere in the FBI files that have been released yet. To your point, how could it not be ? If it was part of any of the stewardess testimony, it should be all over that portion of FBI files.

I agree. The fact that she's not "caucasian" is just a lagniappe for those folks Wendy P.

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.

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.

Motor sports? Aviation?