Farflung

Gosh oh golly, georger went from saying ‘great job’ and ‘coo coo key choo’ to everyone, to being mean and un-joyful for some reason. Why goerger ….. (sob, sniff)… wha… wha….. why? Here’s my guess. There is some ‘common sense’ data that had disrupted georger’s theory of winds gone wild over Portland. What else could it be? And why go mental over the stuff? Can’t blame PMS, or can you? He keeps doing CPR on this maggot riddled corpse, which is Bohan’s single report of crazy winds. The FAA and NOAA reports mean nothing along with the dozens of other aircraft in the area at the time. But if anyone (I mean anyone) ever claims that the weather was bad on 24 Nov 1971, georger has found a new best friend forever, until they are outed as rouges in an assisted living facility, who escaped Tuesday night tapioca long enough to create a DropZone account and make a posting. True story. Will georger ever admit this or come clean? He has not done this once in all of his fumbles and deceptions in which there was direct and damning evidence which proves just what nefarious depths he is willing to sink in order to advance some corroded agenda. Sad really. Oh well. Bohan existed georger, don’t be silly. It’s parts of his story (like so many of yours) which may not or did not exist outside that self important hat holder. Hope this supplies a moment of clarity for you and others.

Hominid inexplicably opined: “I don't know about the speed. Seems he'd barely get up to some altitude before starting back down. I think the speed-altitude-time relationship would be about the same as 305 had on the way up to Seattle. They took about 28 minutes to get up to Lofall a bit N. of Seattle….” You realize that LOFALL is….. 29 nautical miles NW of SEATAC? That is a 28% greater distance than the 105 miles from Seattle VORTAC (Seattle Airport Rwy 16L) south to Battle Mountain VORTAC where Bohan’s and Flight 305’s similarities end? It appears to be a great mystery for some odd reason. I get the sense (code for it is totally obvious) some folks don’t know a SID from an Approach Plate. How could a route which is 29 miles longer over a denominator of 105 possibly approach the same time? Landing on Runway 16 versus taking off from Runway 16 (which they did) where you are pointed within 20 degrees of desired departure heading at brake release? These profiles are the same??? Bzzzzztttt…. Next contestant, sign in please.

As a proud graduate of the Bernie Madoff Correspondence School of Accounting, I realized I ‘double counted’ 2 minutes in the above tome. If Bohan was delayed 2 minutes and was flying at more than double the velocity of Flight 305, then he could have ‘made up’ that portion of the flight profile. So the window has widened to 17 minutes versus my clumsy previous solution of 15 minutes. I hope the revisionists can understand my revision and accept this mea culpa.

So the story begins to weave and weave and weave. If it was me, I would say my flight was delayed hours until launch at XX hours. That’s using an un-fortified version based upon my actions and nothing more. The window for Bohan’s flight has become very narrow indeed as any person who can use an E6B and read a map can tell you. Other individuals are taking bites out of their seat cushions right about now. The old time and distance equation rules the roost here. First is the distance between Seattle and Portland which is 105 or 102 nautical miles to Battle Ground VORTAC (nee Portland) depending on which Victor airway was utilized. Flight 305 was hanging around 170 to 185 knots indicated or 2.5 to 3 miles per minute. This is confirmed by the transcripts but if adding or subtracting 10 knots makes you feel better, go ahead. Either way you are looking at 35 minutes (plus or minus 2) for Flight 305 to arrive overhead Battle Ground VORTAC. With a launch of 7:36 you would (on average) be over Battle Ground at 8:11 PM (local). Any later and the Bohan experience becomes moot since he landed in Portland. So the absolute window of opportunity is 35 minutes. Absolute that is. The cruise speed for a 727 with the gear and flaps retracted is somewhat more than 180 knots. Somewhat more than double that speed which cuts the total time to cover the same distance by some percentage less than 35 minutes. The takeoff and climb out for both aircraft should have been similar but cruise would have compressed time for Bohan’s flight. Narrowed more by the fact that Bohan states he was 4 minutes in trail of Flight 305. Now for ground ops and other boring crap. Planes are in fact spaced for takeoff and landing lest airports appear like the entrance to a WalMart having a sale on those singing rubber bass or NASCAR mou-mous. The skies could fill with aircraft every 2 minutes and at various altitudes with the ability to overtake Flight 305 and experience the same weather phenomenon. There must be ample information on this subject as well. So where, oh where is this heading? Let’s break it down. The climb out performance would be the same for these aircraft so that is cancelled out of the equation. The cruise speed for Bohan would be over double, so that would cut in half the time in that configuration (7 min climb leaves 28 for cruise or a delta of at least 14 minutes). Bohan stated he was 4 minutes in trail and would have been held at least 2 minutes after 305’s launch for a total of 6 minutes. Adding the enhanced performance in cruise of 14 minutes totals 20 minutes which are relatively fixed (Bohan would have to take off at least 20 minutes after 305 for his story to jibe). For a journey with a total of 35 minutes, this leaves a 15 minute window of opportunity for Bohan’s plane to takeoff with the most liberal of assumptions. Have I missed anything?

Of course Intelligent Design is the answer to any Darwinian theory where observable data sets are replaced with blind faith fueled by raw ego. The answer is X, and X is correct, because I say so. Oh sure there are those moments of false collaboration but they will only survive as long as everyone follows the same hymnal at the same time. Could there be a Darwinian profile associated with Intelligent Design? The irony would be exquisite and tragic.

I’m already seeing some ‘knee jerk’ answers which don’t appear attributed or thought through. Flight 305 had a designator…. what was Bohan’s Continental, nom de sky? 307, 782, 783? If one knows the airfield was closed they must know this long discussed flight number, come on. This paradox of knowing some things to such painful (thing prostate check) detail then brushing off others is amazing. Hey, maybe someone can claim to be a college professor….. cuz that makes what they say true, so that would fix these inconsistencies which are so hated, reviled and un-liked. Plus ‘Flight Whatchamacallit’ was four minutes behind Flight 305. Four minutes. Hmmm….. how could they know that a Continental flight was four minutes behind Flight 305 when there is such ambiguity about the very location of 305? Four minutes at 305’s velocity is 12 miles of separation and there have been claims of 305 being off centerline a greater distance than 12 miles. Gosh, could people be data mining or…. Gasp!.... making things up as they go? Nawww…….. not on this thread. I gotta believe if a person who has a pet theory and spent time searching the woods and is a ‘Cooper fan’ would supply nothing but unfiltered, dry data. Especially if their data matched a pre-plotted curve they have in a death grip. I’ll just keep fishing, steering and manipulating while being virtuous and stuff. Another recap…… a Continental pilot was on a flight with no name and exactly four minutes behind Flight 305 which has an unknown location and flying through an unreported wind anomaly in terrible weather according to his wife who recalls this on a cold call, because her husband was a ‘Cooper fan’ so this single data point can be used to trump all existing data. Sounds like par for the thread.

I know how despised and hated this sort of crap remains on this quest for ‘the Truth’ but I just couldn’t help myself. Yes, I stayed in my chair and researched the banal for several minutes. I managed to find a flight schedule (aka timetable) for Continental Airlines around the time of the Cooper caper (31 Oct 1971). Here, you can look at it too: http://www.departedflights.com/CO103171intro.html I mean what’s the harm in finding the flight number for this Continental flight, in a 727, which left Seattle for Portland, which was four minutes behind Flight 305, in terrible and undocumented weather? Right? But I’m sure some will be found. All I could find were departures FROM Seattle at 6:10 and 11:05 PM (local) arriving at PDX at roughly 6:46 and 11:41 PM (local). I’m sure there is much better information out there; I’m just too dorky to find it and stuff. Won’t someone help me?

At least this ‘latest’ refinement may (just may here) exclude the use of INS or an NCS in determining winds. The fact that Bohan needed the FO to do the calculation only adds to the disbelief, but that’s OK with me. Here’s another recap of what the Capn’ meant: He was four thousand feet higher and four minutes behind Flight 305 and presumably had the aircraft configured for cruise (gear up, flaps up, straight and level, one G, blah, blah boring blah). Then Bohan notices something that just isn’t quite right…. hmmm…. he thinks to himself as he watches the DME count down and the seconds pass by….. that’s peculiar…. then he orders the FO to calculate winds. The FO does a time hack while fishing for his Whiz Wheel and completes the task slower than Bohan, because he is just a Co-pilot and a little scared too. He nervously announces winds of 80 knots which are well above the highest forecast by a factor of two, then swallows hard waiting for Bohan’s response. Jesus on a half shell, Bohan announces that’s more than double forecasted. Let’s do absolutely nothing and go land on a wet, storm whipped runway in Portland, then go watch a gladiator movie together, OK? The FO nervously agrees to everything and upon retirement goes into hiding never speaking of ‘that night’. Meanwhile…….. Flight 305 has the gear dropped, flaps at 15 degrees and holding an airspeed of 170 to 180 knots, indicated. While flying through the same wind pattern which is approaching 45 percent of Flight 305’s airspeed (80 knot wind, 180 airspeed) the crew manages to detect nothing, absolutely nothing in that configuration. Umm…. yeah, just keeps gettin’ better and better with every re-write. I think that Bohan’s flight had some of those Continental Stewardesses, you know, the ones who really move their tail for you (to make your every wish come true)….. yeah… this is getting good now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGSaE2QOd00

Well Robert99, I think this serves as an exemplar of just how deep the dysfunction runs on this very thread. I intentionally selected a single point from the lore of raging winds to deconstruct, as anything more comprehensive would have been nothing more than a foil for another poorly veiled agenda. Certain things trigger my Farf-senses when pseudo technical prose is being spewed across my computer screen. Not because I’m looking for it but because it is ‘self evident’. I asked a series of questions about the veracity of data claimed by a source referenced as ‘another researcher’. I suspected the migration from the original data point would be immediate or a crib death with no middle ground. My suspicions became realized…….. again. Winds. Just the stupid, ignorant, silly, seen it every day for years format which is burned so deep into my subconscious that it will take advanced Alzheimer’s to erase, is painfully obvious in a Clockwork Orange way. Wind direction, like runways have always been rounded to the nearest 10 degrees…… always. Have you ever seen differently? Ahhh…… roger Bugsmasher niner charlie tuna, cleared for takeoff from 323, winds 289…. Ahhhh….. make that 288….. nope…. 289 again with winds…. dang…. now winds are 284, 283, 287…. winds are 6 knots gusting 7, 7 and a quarter. Are you kidding me? Seriously, are you kidding… me? Winds measured to a fidelity of one degree and velocity UNKNOWN?? So the format sucks, the speed too high for final and no one thinks it is worthy of telling the tower or center about this WX that is so freaking unusual. Nope, they just land and tell everyone later. Puhhhhhllllllleaseeeee. Now is a good time for those telling fibs to regroup and try again or those looking for the truth to ask a probative question (like that has ever happened). As a recap of how it now stands….. the winds were from 160 to 166 degrees with a velocity of 80 knots (adding a secondary source) from an unknown or assumed location, measured by an unknown device with a high azimuth accuracy of one degree. Yep, anyone with flight experience would get behind this in a second. My bad.

Previous page or you can use 80 knots and this page. Dealer’s choice.

Let’s keep the cats in one herd if that’s possible. The quote about Bohan most certainly referenced glide slope and landing directions towards Runway 100 (presume 10) as part of the wind data validation. Otherwise, why pollute the explanation with such flotsam? That was the original reference was it not? So the cross wind WOULD be a factor with regards to the latest incarnation of this story. Can it stand under its own weight? A 66 knot wind 60 degrees off the nose is routine? Secondly, IF he was on some other part of this track (location be damned) he or the FO certainly would have filed a PIREP for those airframes less fortunate than theirs (like Convairs) so they can be forewarned about an 80 knot gust (or whatever). Did he/they? The only thing more porous than the research appears to be the airmanship. Doesn’t it?

He may have 377, he may have indeed.

Previously this ‘sandwich of undetermined contents’ was eaten with boundless relish: "Bohan's fellow pilots were interviewed. He was thorough and he knew the PDX glide-slope like the back of his hand. It was his regular run. And he flew the 727 for Continental. If he was landing at PDX with strong winds from 160-66, he would have been using runway 100 coming in from the west... (another researcher)” Just a couple, silly, stupid, ‘only I don’t know this’ questions: A. What instrument did Bohan use to divine the measurement of 160-66? (INS, NCS, E6-B) B. What is the max crosswind component (wet runway?) for a 727? (Runway 10 with winds at 160) C. What happened to the FO and or FE who could better confirm this story than some of Bohan’s friends? I’m thinking a Sasquatch attack and a Roswellian Alien abduction will enter the fray. I’m fully prepared for the ‘Cricket’s Tabernacle Choir’ as a response.

This has been fascinating in how the fly shit is being picked out of the pepper regarding the forecasts on Thanksgiving eve 1971 and the utter ignorance displayed with this latest love tap from Mother Nature in the Cascades. What amazes me more are the many cures suggested for an ailment that is completely preventable. Anyone spending more than sixty seconds on the weather charts from Cooper’s flight has never worked with the things as they indicate nothing remotely surprising. No one would look at those winds aloft charts and say….. ya know, I’ll just bet there’s an imbedded, secret storm in that sucker. I should plan accordingly with a canx, new route or delay…… nawww…. I’ll just fly the muther. After all, nothing has happened before and I hold a Doctorate from the ‘University of Borrowed Time’. Flash to 2012 where every dork can get an up to the minute weather forecast, report or advisory right off their iPhone. Therein lies the problem, since dorks can use this technology; by definition dorks will avoid this practice and lament how ‘Nobody told us’ from a hospital bed, should they be so lucky to lament in the first place. This storm was predicted with accuracy, timeliness and full thousand dots per inch color and was ignored by several parties lost on a mountainside. I truly hope they survive as much as I truly hope people will know the difference between lucking out and decision making.

Go ahead and admit it, you have never heard of this hijacking or you thought I mistyped 305. OK, then don’t. I just wanted to launch a pre-emptive, anti Knossian attack on history in the genuine world of coincidence where there are no dark forces at work. Or are they? This takes place on a TWA Boeing 727 (naturally) where five Croatians or wannabes hijack the plane with a bomb. Actually it was a pressure cooker but how many have seen one of those things in the last 50 years? I thought so. Anyway, they hijack the plane with a minor kitchen appliance while demanding that the plight of Croatia be published in half a dozen newspapers. The press was agreeable to the demands and would publish just as soon as anyone could explain the rough location of this mythical country. No dice, since the British would not allow them to land and they were out of fuel in France where they were arrested. One of the hijackers was a chick from Oregon (aren’t they all?) named Julienne Busic who was sentenced to chick’s prison in the imposingly named town of Pleasanton, California. Everything was going just fine with Julienne until she crossed paths with another inmatetress who had her thunder stolen by the hijacking Croat. Yep, 355 was hijacked 5 days after a failed assassination attempt on President Ford and wouldn’t ya just know that Julienne and Squeaky would be Best Foes Forever (BFFs)? The Squeakster took a carpenter’s hammer (commonly available in chick’s prisons) and attacked Miss Flight 355 with the claw end of it (cat fight!) which resulted in an extension of Fromme’s jail term and a transfer to Alderson Chick Prison in West Virginia. Squeaky was jailed with another failed Ford assassin named Sara Jane Moore and both of them managed to escape for several hours as opposed to fellow inmate Martha Stewart, who opted to make a crochet cozy for the escape hole. Equally disturbing is that fact that all three of these convicts now walk the streets of America, where children can buy ice cream and must live in a world where assassinations are possible and unmade beds are a crime. Oh well. Strange but true history needing absolutely no additional CIA, Special Ops or conspiracy theories to make it any weirder or freakier. But someone will.

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. I was foolish enough to make a post with sources thrice referenced where Squeaky pulled a gun containing four cartridges in the magazine. BobKnoss then referenced one source that stated Squeaky pointed an ‘empty gun’ at the president: http://www.mizozo.com/world/08/2009/14/squeaky-fromme-released-from-prison.html Yep there it is for all to behold and read. Well crap, that’s the end of that I guess. Then I did something even stupiderest and kept reading the article quoted by BobKnoss. Wouldn’t ya know it; this same wonderful source says the gun was loaded a little further down the page. I’d say check and mate and well played, well played indeed. How can anyone possibly contend with a source that says Squeaky’s gun was empty and loaded? You simply can’t. I can see why BobKnoss selected (no confirmation bias here) such an article which is a virtual allspice of investigation into the ‘truth’. There’s only one superior source to this article and that’s the rarely used, ‘I know tings’ statement thrown down by those from the cyber Star Chamber or simply huffing paint fumes. I am once again, humbled by the inhabitants of the DB Cooper thread. To imagine that BobKnoss also knows Squeaky personally only adds to his impenetrable mystique and lore.

I know this thread is about quality, accuracy and most often declared…. The truth (I got goose bumps just typing that). I feel there may have been an erroneous statement regarding Ms Squeaky Fromme’s weapon being unloaded during a presidential assassination attempt. Once again, I have included some mind numbing sources which are so despised and scorned here. After NOT being implicated in any of the ten or so murders in Southern California, Squeaky moved north to Stockton, CA where she lived until two of her roommates were coincidentally murdered where she was NOT implicated yet again. Funny story though, but that’s for another time. Squeaky keeps migrating north with the next stop being Sacramento. After the run of ‘bad luck’ with the last housing arrangement she wisely moves in with Sandra Good; a former Manson minion. What could possibly go wrong here? Now these two decide to start some sort of religion and become nuns (not what you’re thinking). Squeaky chose the name ‘Red’ because of her blazing red hair and her love of redwood trees, while Sandra chose the name ‘Blue’ because that’s what she did for Manson. The next logical thing would include socializing. Squeaky…. Excuse me Red, did that with Mr Harold Boro, a sixty something, retiree who lived in a converted garage apartment. Boro did what all men in their sixties appear to do around young girls and anxiously showed Red his gun. Why some infirm, grandfather felt the need to display some powerful, hand held tool that was capable of taking life and was nothing but hard and created a noticeable bulge when worn is a mystery to me. Several sources go into great detail how Boro was always showing Red his weapon and how to use it. In fact, Red was so fascinated by the thing she took it home with her one day. Actually Boro claimed she ‘stole’ it while he protested. Yeah right, one of those handgun thefts without a police report because nothing can go wrong with stolen weapons. Next thing you know President Ford is in Sacramento and Red decides to save the redwoods by putting on a, you guessed it, red habit and robe then shoot Ford. She strapped the holster to her leg with all the skill of a mummy mortician and fumbled with the cartridges loading the gun. She dropped several rounds on the floor while pressing four successfully into the magazine of the Colt 45 automatic. She then walked several blocks to the park across the hotel from where Ford was staying. Ford notices the pixie-esque figure decked out in flame red attire and reaches out to shake her hand. Red responds by producing Harold Boro’s prosthetic device and giving it one last good squeeze resulting in….. nothing. Exactly as it had performed every time with Harold, Squeaky should have seen that coming. Now she is swarmed by Secret Service agents and carried off to jail. This would remain a practice of Squeaky’s as she was carried to and from her trial as well. She acted as her own attorney and managed to get sentenced to a life term in prison. But not till after Squeaky fired an apple at the prosecutor, nailing him squarely in the face once again proving that justice is blind. I mean, he got hit by five foot, two inch Squeaky who throws like a girl. Poser. Squeaky was paroled and now resides in New York with another paroled man who was convicted of murder. I’m sure she is a ‘different person’ now and would never sink to the depths of depravity which she had known before. But then, I’ve been wrong many, many times before. Anyway, I just wanted to point out that Squeaky’s gun was in fact loaded and McCoy paid $5 for the ride home. That’s all.

Way to go Amazon. Smart, safe and ultimately sane. I can’t imagine people not having a secondary heat source if not a cheap genset to get through this predictable stuff. I have a Thelin Gnome in the bedroom and it can last days on two bags of pellets and an SLA battery. Wood burning is even better since you only need the wood and a match. Tele-commute or just stay home as there is nothing but ‘adventure’ over the rise. I keep several cases of beer and beef jerky for just such an event. OK that was a lie, I have that stuff pretty much all the time. But in such a situation, I become prepared and resourceful instead of a drunk with a poor cuisine choice. So here’s your itinerary: 1. Go to Italy where the GPS system on ships will be programmed to steer clear of any charted obstacles unless; at least three individuals accept a deviation by inserting a key and entering a code while having a thumb biometrically validated allowing the change. Don’t worry all other countries WILL follow this example. 2. Iowa. Teach them base ten counting techniques and the statistics behind an eight vote victory with a denominator of 30,000. They will understand and comply if you threaten them with something unimaginably horrible; like moving to Iowa. 3. Washington. Home of Microsoft and Boeing where the companies didn’t issue a ‘Snow Day’ for a city unequipped for such an event. Two CEOs and several hundred thousand employees clawing their way to a multi thousand dollar car accident, so they don’t get yelled at. Teach them how not to be pussies. That should get you started. Use the ‘Lead by Example’ thing, you do it well and it may work. That’s all I got. Keep the home fires burning and NO walking or driving under any trees.

This takes the cake today. Apparently with all the ‘real time’, speed of light, social networking and system crosschecks available, the planet has found comfort in the arms of stupidity. Look at any Zombieish suburbanite holding an Android or iPhone while madly texting and ask yourself; where did it all go so tragically wrong? Technology is supposed to increase efficiency, productivity, wealth and the quality of life. Instead…… The week starts with some stumble bum Captain with a ship off Italy, equipped with a GPS system that actually allowed the crew to approach and strike an obstacle. An obstacle that blemished a salute the ship was offering the maitre d’s family. That according to a Facebook announcement minutes before the collision. Hey everyone, my brother’s ship is about to pass – be sure to ‘like’ this! Next comes Iowa or as it is called, ‘The Italian Cruise Ship Captain of the Midwest’ (really it’s called that). Armed with similar technologies and the knowledge that a close election was just announced to an anxious nation, they discovered eight missing precinct counts which changed the winner. When asked how this information was lost, the chairperson used the brilliant ‘I dunno’ defense. You know every one of those butt holes were Twittering and Texting how many Precious Moments Figurines they acquired that week, but couldn’t find the strength to count the hundred or so votes in their respective precincts, write that down, send in the ‘official’ forms and Tweet or Text the results to HQ as a redundant fail safe. Nope. Now with weather viewed with space satellites in…… space, tomorrow’s forecast is rarely the surprise that Klag and Ogg struggled with while tending their cave fires as primitive, stupid, knuckle dragging, Neanderthals, who were strangers to iPhones and toilet paper. Thanks to that technology, people were able to avoid the ice slicked streets, thus the inevitable collisions, which strain emergency services resulting in higher taxes and insurance premiums. Stupid cave men didn’t even have car insurance. Instead modern man (hunter gatherer) used his technological advantage to remain in his home (cave) until the very weight of the ice disrupted the power grid leaving approximately 200,000 of them squatting in the dark. So what’s next? This is the worst thing to hit the Pacific Northwest since the famous ‘unknown storm’ on Thanksgiving eve 1971. Whatever materializes, I know that technology will be used to assuage absolutely nothing; while those who claim mastery will be advancing their carpel tunnel syndrome in the very phalanges that theoretically separate us from the rest of the zoo citizens. OBE TTFN AFM

Reading what these Pacific Northwesters consider a savage and howling snow storm sure shed some light on their parlance. Even the news headlines say the area is taking a merciless ‘pounding’ from Mother Nature. Snow storms in Seattle must be like a woman in Fairbanks, Alaska, in that it doesn’t take much of either to get both of them excited. Hmmmm….. now all those PNW native, eye witness reports about the weather they experienced on 24 Nov 1971 has been put in perspective. I guess by driving winds with pelting rains they mean a mouse fart and an overturned demitasse cup to the rest of the world or those who have actually experienced some bad weather. Yet another reason why a standardized report is such a great value, I can imagine some Palm Springs native calling 64 degrees freezing conditions and being sincere since their personal experience reflects that as a low temp. My experience with vehicles in snow storms has proven four wheel drives have inferior traction. Time after time I have walked up to one stuck in a roadside ditch and given the driver a ride home while they tell me they should not have slid on that ice because they have four wheel drive. Yeah, that’s why I have to drive real cautiously with my RWD vehicle which had no ABS or a posi-traction differential. I guess without those ‘magic’ devices I was doomed to drive carefully while obeying the laws of physics and avoiding a similar demise. This may (just may here) have been some over marketing by the 4WD industry just like the Cirrus airplane parachute and lack of rudder pedals in an Ercoupe are marketed as safety features. More than one person has gone on to test those theories. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrwO8b9iq34

It’s funny to think back to when I was young and the BS that I would fall victim to. You know stuff where the ‘villain’ knew of some insecurity, desire or affinity which I thoroughly possessed. Hey if you drive this type of car chicks will dig you. Yes I used to actually think that the type of car I drove would render women powerless in the Wal Mart parking lot. You know the old saying; “Fool me once, shame on you – fool me indefinitely, welcome to the thread.” I think the average person may (just may here) learn from mistakes and modify their behaviors in pseudo-social, situations in order to reduce the frequency, severity or existence of less than satisfying experiences. Nope, that can’t be right….. ummm…. lemme think here. I don’t think I would entertain the thought of sending PMs, emails or even credit card numbers to anyone incapable of completing a thought, sentence or fragment without exposing some pus filled, caustic and whacko insecurities. I don’t think I would, but many here have and continue to be shocked when these people haunt them in some capacity. And what are these subtle written ‘bread crumbs’ left behind? How about the ‘expert investigators’ that can’t complete any sort of internet search? Electronics experts who are baffled by Ohm’s law? VHF communications experts that can’t complete a Line Of Sight calculation? Self proclaimed computer geeks that aren’t aware of the ‘calculator’ accessory on every computer since 1993? Veterans who don’t know what a DD 214 is? Pilots who fly DC-7s out of Dutch Harbor, AK? Crack investigators who can’t find a dead person’s DOB and Social Security number? People who know secrets? These are just a few of the WTF moments from my memory on this thread where I was deep into the 99th percentile of certainty, that someone was full of it, and someone else was about to become a victim…. again…… and again….. and again….. and again. I just watched a program called ‘American Greed’ about the ‘Enzyte scam’ where a male enhancement drug (I know this shocks some here, but that is a fancy phrase for penis grower) was ordered by a whole bunch of men who oddly want to remain anonymous. Apparently they would send the victims (code for Little Richards) a free supply of drugs and would only have to pay for handling and shipping via credit card. Wow, who wouldn’t go for that? I mean free and it makes a friend I know happy because he’s all un-cool and a little short. Sign me…. umm… him up. After the first free month the male enhancement pills would be shipped every month with the usual charge. I guess there weren’t a lot of people who cancelled the first month (hope conquers all ya know) so Enzyte would start charging the normal fee to these men religiously taking one orally every day. So far there is no crime and everyone is getting what they want. Enzyte has a bunch of customers electronically fill the bank account (millions and millions) and the country was scattered with expectant sausage farmers all hoping for a bumper crop to show at the fair. After about a year with the aforementioned harvest making the Oklahoma Dust Bowl look like the land of plenty, some customers called to cancel their monthly delivery of fertilizer. Now is where is got weird and freaky. I guess by agreeing to their terms and conditions the customer acknowledged that they were using Enzyte under a doctor’s supervision (I know I would never lie when it comes to terms and conditions on penis pills) and would have to provide proof that it was not working. Yep, now in order to stop receiving this wonder drug the man would have to go to his doctor and confess that he was taking schlong-genzes and had to prove it didn’t grow any in the last year. Talk about the ultimate ‘Man Trap’. Oh well, watching that program reminded me of some activities here. All the more poignant considering the company representative was named ‘Smilin’ Bob (sans Knoss)’. I guess there isn’t a parable or parallels associated with the Enzyte story and people plagued by certain whackos. Never mind.

I’m a fierce believer in the wearable VOR receiver 377; I simply wanted the credit to go where it is deserved. I even created a schematic of the device as a way to showcase my awesome knowledge of electronics, fashion and as a first step to patent this before Bill Gates steals it. You may have an EE degree and an Advanced or Extra HAM ticket 377 but you lack the imagination required to craft such a device. I may not be ‘book readin’ smart’ or have one of those fancy, licenses from a university to hang in the garage but I’ve got what it takes. The willingness to go with an electrode, where no man has gone before.

Here’s a little help with ‘schwing’, RobertMBlevins. But by all means, keep pumping that Schwinn around the mountain if that makes you happy. There’s nothing wrong with that.

I can understand why there is so much angst about who discovered what first regarding DB Cooper. Just discovered is a meat eating plant: http://www.hindustantimes.com/HTNext/LifeAndUniverse/Worm-eating-carnivorous-plant-discovered/Article1-794212.aspx That’s scary indeed. Ya know someone wants to be the first to discover a ‘man eating plant’, but by definition they would be the ‘second’ person to make such a discovery. Seeing how the video from three years ago (727 air drops) is still being treated like a new discovery, perhaps some record keeping is in order. We should make this a group activity since group think always leads to quality. Skyjack71, First to suggest the use of radios, the 727 being jumpable and the metal ribs from a man’s girdle as vibrating VOR receivers (at least three times). RobertMBlevins, First to theorize Cooper backed down the stairs, Paradise Point Park as upstream from Tena Bar and Dan Cooper Comics being available on Shemya in 1951. Marla, First to add some ‘schwing’ to the Cooper thread, the first to make me realize the Cooper case could even have ‘schwing’ and the third thing doesn’t matter thanks to the first two.

Decide for yourself. I can’t.