Farflung

Hominid requested: “Cooper asked for an intermediate level off while trying to get the stairs open. Source?” Here ya go Hominid, At least it’s a start, extracted from the N476US.com website where the crew is leveling off at 7,000 feet after requesting a climb to altitude as fast as he can go. Even kept it in a graphic format. They leveled off at 7 because ‘he’ (assume Cooper) wants the stairs down. More to follow, you might want to check out what happens when the aft handle is placed in the ‘other’ position with the aft bulkhead (pressure vessel door) open. Of course the aft door would be open, otherwise you could not access the aft stair controls (sometimes I just don’t think). Not sure how that system would get to 20 atmospheres. Sounds robust. I was in a rapid-D and the pressurization system didn’t stand a chance with keeping up. You of course assumed that a person would have placed the aft stair handle in the ‘DOWN’ detent correct? Then (then that is) with the up-lock latch retracted the ‘potential’ pressure differential might overcome any aft stair keeping ‘em up-ness and break whatever seal (aerodynamic or otherwise). Hope this clarifies.

If you prefer nitrogen 'charge' better, then by all means use that. Where is the source indicating the nitrogen charge was used and the shear lags replaced on Flight 305?

Yep that would be the one.

RobertMBlevins penned: “….and then shoot his story full of more holes than a ten pound block of Swiss cheese.” An adjective too far perhaps?

OK pek771 let’s try with the Hydraulic ‘B’ system off. If Cooper was a Loadmaster (flight experienced) then he would have gone for the manual pump and/or the nitrogen tank without so much as a quick look over his shoulder. Cooper needed help with all four types of stair deployment. Gravity, Hydraulic, Manual Pump and Pneumatic deployment. That’s a lot of failure for someone familiar with the system. Cooper asked for an intermediate level off while trying to get the stairs open. Someone experienced with the 727’s system could (assuming here) have used the interphone properly and had the Flight Engineer bring on the pressurization as a way to produce a differential which may (may here) have opened the aft stairs. Running the pressurization like that is ‘wicked’ loud to use technical terms. The ‘B’ system hydraulics could be related to Cooper struggling with the stairs assuming (assuming again) that he had no flight or system experience. Once again, Cooper is not demonstrating behaviors consistent with a person who is dripping with flight experience. Yet, sweet, nubile, Tina who was with the airline a whopping 18 months opened them while under duress of imminent explosion and death. Yet she is not viewed as some sort of ‘Skygoddess’ (except by me). Lucky I’m sensitive like that.

The problem with the Cooper suspect matrix is that the logic chain is broken with the next link. Cooper acted stupid about the stair operation to mask his expertise. In the next sentence Cooper is acknowledged for his expertise by asking for 15 degrees of flaps because a WHUFFO? (I think 377 meant ‘Shoe Clerk’) would not know anything about flap settings. I’m a WHUFFO with thousands and thousands of hours in a parachute and know what flap settings are. There were about 35,000 guys just like me too. A Loadmaster falls into the same mental finger trap. He would know about stairs, ramps and hatches- True. He would have worn a parachute for thousands of hours and never jumped- True. He would have requested and attached a reserve to this aircrew rig- Bzzzt. He selected an aircrew chute indicating military experience- True. He put it on like he had done it before- True. He opened and cannibalized a chute for 30 feet of line- Bzzzt. Obviously we can at least conclude there was no rope in Cooper’s shopping bag and he didn’t know to check the harness pockets for line.

Much like smokin99, I feel the subject of Cooper having hairy arms is beneath intelligent or polite conversation; therefore I must comment. Where did this Cooper ‘not having hairy arms’ originate? No source, report or video of DB Cooper having smooth, subtle, almost pouting arms which were described as un-hairy by someone because this subject has now officially joined the Dan Cooper Comic in the pantheon of provenance-less lore. With constant skirmishes arising over who knew Tina’s address first, I would have expected multiple parents of this little gem would have long come forward by now. Hmmmm…….. Does anyone know if Cooper’s arms looked freshly shaved or was there a stubble field or shadow? Is there such a thing as a sort of arm toupee or merkin? There may be some living witnesses that remember how someone quit wearing their arm wig after the hijacking which would point at definitive guilt. I am by no means excluding anyone who is still wearing their arm toupees, just trying to show a little judgment here. Has there been any thought given to the fact that Gossett could have had transplants done to his arms in order to induce this level of discourse? Clearly would have been an effective tactic and I’m sure such procedures are available in the Philippines or Cleveland.

Even most songs about DB Cooper are mousy, pansy, butt helmet wearing experiences that belong to the Peter, Paul and Mary crowd or the Granola people. Here’s my 89 cents worth of a ‘worthy’ DB Cooper tune (go ahead, play the sample): http://www.amazon.com/Final-Flight-D-B-Cooper/dp/B002EWN4N2 Was that song too frightening? Perhaps Scarborough Fair is more fitting and aids with the digestion of couscous and hemp filtered tofu after yoga class. I start my day with an American breakfast of ham, bacon, sausage and pork because I love freedom. But if poetry is your thing by all means make that choice.

Is it a coincidence that Hunter Thompson’s book was also published in 1971? Yes, of course it is, don’t be stupid. Yet I found one passage to be prophetic and applicable 40 years later. Please read along: “About thirty minutes after our brush with the Okies we pulled into an all-night diner on the Tonopah highway, on the outskirts of a mean/scag ghetto called "North Las Vegas." Which is actually outside the city limits of Vegas proper. North Vegas is where you go when you've fucked up once too often on the Strip, and when you're not even welcome in the cut-rate downtown places around Casino Center. This is Nevada's answer to East St. Louis -- a slum and a graveyard, last stop before permanent exile to Ely or Winnemuca. North Vegas is where you go if you're a hooker turning forty and the syndicate men on the Strip decide you're no longer much good for business out there with the high rollers ... or if you're a pimp with bad credit at the Sands ... or what they still call, in Vegas, "a hophead." This can mean almost anything from a mean drunk to a junkie, but in terms of commercial acceptability, it means you're finished in all the right places.” Does North Las Vegas serve as allegory for other activities closely related to gambling, drug use and pimping, like umm…… skydiving? What other ‘hobbies’ are constantly invited to move to lesser and lesser desirable locations where the participants appear to be ignorant or oblivious to this dynamic? What is a ‘Hophead’ exactly? Sounds like a jumper to me. I noticed the same condition with General Aviation in the late 80’s where suburban airports were being closed under the auspices of environmental concerns and covered with tract homes. That was when I noticed the welcoming and happy-go-lucky profile of the average private pilot had been overshadowed by the new and self-important ‘Skygod’ persona. Since then the numbers involved in General Aviation have diminished to half of its former glory and continues to trend in that direction. Last year there were more CFIs (Certified Flight Instructors) than student pilots. I think the Shakers noticed the same trend when their numbers had dwindled to a group of less than 50 women. Guess that celibacy thing didn’t turn out as they had hoped. But It’s not too late for private pilots or skydivers if they just do a quick survey of where they are allowed to operate (North Las Vegas) and decide if it’s time to do the opposite of celibacy to themselves and wake up. Gosh, now I forgot what this had to do with Cooper. Never mind.

377 ponders: “Wonder how many Gs it took to break the engine pylons?” Good question 377, let’s count: 1. Gee, inspecting those attach points for the AD is a hassle. Looks like one; one ’Gee’ is all that’s required to have a power plant partially depart the original design location. I think I crafted that sentence in perfect ’Federalese’. Sort of a strange configuration with one reverser deployed. I wonder if there were hot brakes on the left gear. That would add to the expense of replacing two engines and a pair or more of seat cushions. Either way, after this flight I would be doing a serious bar exam with lots of tequila. After a few drinks I would start to regale any and all women in earshot with how brave and heroic I was. In all honesty I tend to do that every day and without the booze but this time, it would be righteous. Oh, except for leaving out that seat cushion thing.

The discussion about people’s identities and qualifications has shown a 100% efficacy in turning into an ego flaunting fest for the already thinly veiled narcissists on all web forums. What’s the point? I’m an advocate of the data and therefore what can be verified or cross sourced. Like if someone is nuttier than a squirrel turd laying claim to being the first person to invent mud. I don’t need their name or what institutions they may be associated with or committed to in order to arrive at a logical and accurate conclusion. How about one of the most decorated police officers from the NYPD? He served the public then retired to write a humbly named book called, “Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop Whose Family was the Mob.” You know this is a true story because it is written by not only a ‘cop’, but an ‘HONEST’ cop. I like honest and true books and I really like it when their titles tell me how honest and true they are. The author is Lou Eppolito who also had a bit part in the movie ‘Goodfellas’ (0:11-0:13). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD3y43cyddI You can search his book on Amazon and still purchase a copy. I place an extremely high premium on ‘qualifications’ and self proclaimed honesty as I need to read this since these traits are typically absent from their day to day communications. Strange paradox there. Hmmmm…. Oh well, whacha goin ta do?

RobertMBlevins clarified with: “'Pre-stored' - Packed up some of the gear into the Subie” and: “'Pre-constructed' - 'Constructed in advance' would be more accurate regarding the bomb.” If I understand this correctly then, Tina carried pre-assembled parachutes up the pre-manufactured stairs and down the fuselage of the pre-assembled 727 wearing a pre-sewn dress and a smart pair of pre-cobbled shoes before returning for a pre-woven canvas bag pre-filled with pre-printed money which satisfied the pre-written demand note? Does this appear to be a bit pre-preposterous?

I’ll admit that I’m stumped at the latest and continued use of prefixes. Perhaps some kind and knowing person could clarify this to an anxious person if not in fact, an entire nation. RobertMBlevins described on a stormy night: “…I had already pre-stored the vital gear.” He then goes on to opine about Cooper with” “…it wasn't a spur of the moment thing. (pre-constructed fake bomb…” What in the name of all things holy are pre-stored and pre-constructed items? Are these like ‘known facts’ or ‘water juice’? Things which could exist but simply aren’t used outside the confines of this thread? I don’t get!! it…. Oops… looks like I had a couple pre-mature exclamations.

I generously made a screen shot of the Ariel Tavern(288 Merwin Village Rd, Ariel, WA 98603 - for Google map types) and the environs for what should now be called ‘Mission In Hospital’ for purposes of security, secrecy and because chicks dig code names. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k55NuWQCh78 Notice (0:51), I did? Enough of this getting all sidetracked stuff because this has to do with Cooper for once. 377 offered a rig at the right price and several volunteers want to jump at sunset so this is great. The law is not a consideration so another major impediment is avoided. There may be more than glory to consider after making a successful landing at the tavern. News people will pack the roads with thousands and thousands of people (read - screaming bikini clad beauties) churning in the streets so there will be ample police presence which will trigger the next part of the plan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbsuAbTTsV8 It’s obvious that the jumper will make good an escape on a Triumph thumper which was secreted in an innocuous looking Airstream trailer just down the road. Fueled and ready to go the new Cooper can ride like a bandit into the night and bask in all the associated glory, real and imagined. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83bmsluWHZc&feature=related He will have to make it to the bridge on the River Lewis (aka - I-5) or for him; the jump is over.

There is a chasm between courage and stupidity that makes the Grand Canyon look like a crack in a sidewalk. My analytical brain says the odds of surviving a jump are good. Surviving can be defined as walking into a cheering crowd of bikini clad beauties holding a cold beer or eight months in therapy learning to squeeze a rubber ball. Gosh, I wonder which condition I would likely experience? That phrase ‘ignorance is bliss’ has retained traction from a long list of individuals which Darwin said would spring from the loins of the planet’s most advanced species. This is why I’m ambivalent about guard rails, expiration dates on dairy products and double insulated power tools. I just feel we are interfering with nature to a point that makes genetic engineering and organ harvesting appear completely ethical. If ‘Stinky’ Andersen wants to see what would happen if he put his finger in the spinning spokes of his Schwinn, I say let him enjoy the experience and the maximum of nine more to follow if he so desires.

Skydiving instructions are for losers. McNally did it without any problems at all. Motorcycle riding, running with the bulls and unprotected sex in Haiti are just a sampling of things which require little consideration or thought. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzVAx1n1QFw Bad cow! I SAID BAD COW!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY6i3WlmM2Q I think RobertMBlevins should jump since he has the desire and a free rig virtually placed at his feet by 377. Even if something does not ‘go as planned’ because the risks are so low and repeated risks are even lower. After all, what are the odds of catching herpes twice? Deep thoughts indeed.

I’m not an academic 377 because I still like girls. But I am a student of human behavior and have arrived at a few rough conclusions about the permanence and ubiquitous nature of insecurities and vanity. I’m only interested in Cooper, in the Cooper story and not any of the bat shit crazies who must weave themselves into the tale. It’s a shame and does nothing for accuracy and certainly does not make it more interesting. Take the battle of the Alamo which is 175 years old and just now historians (the brave ones) are able to suggest that Davy Crockett was not the last to die. Apparently the demand for myth is much more pressing and important than accuracy. The fact that a few hundred men faced several thousand is not legend enough and has to be inflated further. This may be harmless when researching the Alamo but it does lay the groundwork for other events being treated just as carelessly. You know the holocaust never happened right? The moon walks were staged. The Kennedys were killed through conspiracies and Lincoln was killed by a lone gunman which made the hangings which included a woman, afterward unjust. You know that the world is on the brink of nuclear warfare and the only safe place is in the jungles of Guyana where a paradise can be built called Farfy Town. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CImrIKNmBo How do I know all this? My mother was the first and only surviving woman to operate four Waring blenders on the setting of frappe abreast. That’s one honest person there and all the validation anyone needs for my awesome research skills and hunkyness. There are newspaper articles to back this up and you can see them by driving to Inuvik, Canada and asking for Dave, he is well known there. He may let you see these articles but you have to be polite. I don’t have time to post them myself because my time is valuable and I don’t have time to waste time proving what everyone already knows about my mother and why that makes me honest in the first place. I’m here to discuss Cooper and not any of these frivolous topics. Sometimes I feel like the token ‘white guy’ in a disco funk group and one hundred stories high. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_sY2rjxq6M&feature=related

Skyjack71 references reporter’s accuracy with: “Read the news articles of the time - DO you guys think ALL of those journalists got it wrong? Hell, some of them were at the airport when 307 came in for a landing. ARE you guys going to continue to talk to yourselves?” I’m not sure if all the reporters got it wrong but I think the ones in Reno who were eye witness to 307 landing would have written the best articles about Flight 307 and what it must have been like to be a crewmember on 307. There was nothing wrong with the reporting or any news articles on Flight 307 since editors and fact checkers would have made sure that what was going out to the public about 307 was accurate and righteous. Same is true for the last man alive who can tell the ‘truth’ about the aft stairs. Logic would infer that Rataczak and Anderson are two surviving men from Cooper’s flight but apparently something has happened to eliminate one of them from consideration. 1. One of them has since died. 2. One of them will not tell the truth about the aft stairs. 3. Both are still alive but neither will tell the truth. 4. Both are dead. 5. One living knows what the dead one said and that is the truth. 6. This is a new un-attributed source of information and will contain pure truth as all proceeding examples have with violent consistency and will not go ignored where the progenitor of this source realizes they have stepped in it yet again because the world is not filled with empty vessels who will swallow anything that is presented repeatedly and with faux authority and puffing. Some subjects are truly upsetting and should be avoided. Aft stairs and the complex mechanics which only one person can possibly understand should never be typed about again and one’s hands should be ceremoniously washed if the word aft or stair is accidentally typed then deleted. Another is the already sullied subject of dredging which has been talked about before and solved with the one person who holds all the knowledge on this as well. When will we learn that it is best to listen to the one source, one person, ONE LEADER?! BS Macht Frei

Skyjack71 advises: “Why don't one of you BRAVE souls who wants to REALLY know the truth - contact the only man alive who can tell you the truth about that aft stairway on that particular plane.” So far with absolute predictability when an un-attributed source is used, I’m gullible enough to peer down the bottomless pit of DZ information to see if there is something other than Satan’s ass releasing projectile diarrhea towards my face. Now the ‘only’ man alive who can tell the ‘truth’ about the aft stairs is introduced after the ‘first’ woman ever, in the history of Earth, to drive four Clydesdales abreast was added to the Cooper lexicon. Is there even the slightest chance that these two people could meet in the same room? What sort of energy vortex would be created and how many other problems could be solved with the combination of these two individuals with such unique standings on the planet? This would be big and I mean biblically big where Lake Tahoe turns to gasoline, telemarketers eat their own tongues and municipal water is replaced with beer. Cancer is no more, the blind can see and ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is finally cancelled. Please say yes. I anxiously await but with hydraulic fluid painted over my door.

Here you go pek771, I must have had another dumb attack by not posting a source (see attach). The ‘A’ and ‘B’ system is brilliantly separated by using two differing sources of drive for the hydraulic pump. That is engines and aircraft electric which takes advantage of the differing power sources thus separating a failure in one. Obviously an electric source would be needed for the most dire of civil jet failures which would be a ‘dead stick’ landing from some catastrophic failure or fuel starvation. The ‘B’ system is driven by electric motors and further upstream than the diagrams which 377 had posted. None the less, the hydraulics are a study in how the separated redundancy is designed into aircraft. The aft stairs had hydraulics which were powered by an electric motor but were likely used only to raise the stairs. Then is the manual pump (jack and Johnson bar). Last is energizing the nitro (easy ladies, easy) tank. As far as the handles (see 2nd attach) with my monkey X-Ray (but can’t see people on the aft stairs in flight) eyes, there appears to be an interlocking device that moves the handles together. That’s all I got.

Separated redundancy and ‘B’ hydraulics and/or stabilized 28 volt juice. The aft stairs are driven by an electric motor and hydraulic pump which moves the actuators in one of two possible directions. This is for ‘normal’, ‘vanilla’, ‘gee life is great’ days at work. The choice for the stair operator or hijacker is the mystic ‘UP’ or ‘DOWN’ and nothing more. Which way do you want the stairs to go? That is all. On a normal day the stairs would gently fall in the direction of gravity and stop when hitting the ground. Now for when you are not having a ‘gee life sure is great’ day: First you would move the handle to the position you want the stairs to go and that choice would be the one the handle is NOT in when you make that ‘decision’. You see there really isn’t two positions for the handle, rather just the one you must want since you are playing with the aft stairs. Move the handle to the other position and forget about all this reading which will confuse and frighten a hijacker. Nothing Happens. There is a handle you can rock fore and aft to assist the stairs ‘DOWN’ if there is an electrical failure and the ‘B’ hydraulics are not present. According to the manual you will need to give it approximately 68 pumps to raise the stairs. Anyone familiar with airframe systems knows about the manual jacks for stairs, cargo doors and landing gear. If Cooper was laden with flight experience he surely would have been giving the old Johnson a few strokes before resorting to any Emergency Procedures (force of habit). Still Nothing Happens. This typically occurs in downtown ‘Ahhshit’ when the final arrow in your stair lowering quiver is removed. This autonomous system has a tank of nitrogen (nitro if you want to impress the ladies) which is charged to a ton of pressure and will open the stairs in a similar way to the hydraulic system. It does not explode open but if it makes you happy, by all means imagine this to be the case. There are some ‘shear lugs’ which will be sacrificed during this operation but that assumes you have moved the handle back to ‘UP’ and you are in fact a moron. Gosh Wally, I’ve already got an emergency situation on my hands; should I move the handle from ‘DOWN’ back to ‘UP’? The analysis took some liberties with information like the lugs being sheared, the nitrogen tank being drained and the handle being in the ‘UP’ detent upon landing in Reno. This is all news to me and I anxiously await the sound of cricket chirps before NOT receiving any source attribution again.

The conclusion from naturehominid: “The only stair deployment method that fits what we've been told about the hijacking is the emergency extension method with the normal stair control handle left in the UP position.” Just a few gaps to fill in here, strictly administrative stuff and boring enough to put a Clydesdale to sleep. 1. Handel was left in ‘UP’ position? Source please. 2. Only stair deployment method (Emergency)? Why not electro-mechanical AND/OR pneumatics? Source please. 3. Emergency Extension was used? Mechanics logs should indicate recharging the bottle. Source please. 4. Emergency Extension ‘knocks off’ the up locks? Source please. I have not known that the aft bottle was blown and am either smarter, more confused or have another bowl of steaming ‘known facts’ about DB Cooper sitting in front of me. But would not want to add to the noise and will accept the above at face value. Everything is Hollywood, with Special Ops Cooper ‘Blowing the Hatch’ and the violent rush of air forcing Tina’s skirt up as she clings to a seatback while the turbulence shakes and jiggles her entire body until her childhood photo is knocked loose which floats, a la ‘Forest Gump’ into Cooper’s money bag upon which he lights a flare that hypnotizes Tina and makes her forget the toupee wearing employee she met at an Airstream dealership in Seattle and mistakes the brilliant light as a higher calling and quickly resigns from Northwest and never reports her missing photo which is proof that she fears for her life. Yep.

From 377’s post from another website is: “The interesting part is this. World Airways had only six 727-173Cs. Their manual says they kept them all the same. They flew some contract work in SE Asia during the Vietnam war. They likely bought the 727s for this, and likely even with the money they got from those contracts. Maybe they actually put the flow restrictors in their planes to keep the stairs from rebounding when something or someone went off the end of the stairs during flight?” After some plausible technical analysis, the ‘Special Ops of Vietnam’ (aka Frankenstein) was introduced again. Here’s a video of the ‘Black 727’s’ which was posted earlier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrqdmXxBZjI The salient parts are (1:20 – 2:12). Where are the stairs for cargo drops and personnel jumps? Where is there any photo or source of a non-hijacker or non-FBI/USAF (after Cooper) using the aft stairs to jump or do a cargo drop from a 727 or DC-9? Was this a leap in logic/faith? I could be wrong here (oh dear) but the valve schematic makes the ‘restrictor’ function appear to be more of a fluid shunt as a way to limit the force applied when the handle is in the ‘DOWN’ position. Don’t think the engineers would want to design an accidental tail jack or in Cooper’s case a down elevator in the aft fuselage. Source please.

Here is yet another example of how the ‘DBC monster’ is allowed to evolve, grow and get stronger. Be it a DC-7 flying out of Dutch Harbor or a woman with X-ray eyes that can see a person on the aft stairs of a jet at night. Let them talk, let’s see what they have to say is a constant chorus from those who appear to enjoy watching the monster stomp out of the lab and into the village. I’m going out on a limb and say false memories, delusions or used Clydesdale feed manufacture on an epic scale is the source of their tales. Why not drive hundreds of miles to interview a person that could not craft a factually correct statement? You may learn (or ignore) a great deal about them face to face and the very act of driving hundreds of miles to chase down garbage will actually convert it to gold in several people’s viewpoints. So that is probably the best explanation for this absurd and continued practice. In the faulty court system in the US, if a witness is impeached on one bit of testimony it can be used to weigh the balance of all their testimony. This appears a reasonable approach to me but others like to pick and choose what data a person provides is true due to their great BS detecting abilities. Therefore Bernie is a liar because his pure wife who stayed married to him into the 90’s for financial gain (according to their divorce appeal) is telling the truth because she was the first woman to drive four Clydesdales abreast AND raced in the Iditarod. Yep, if she holds both of those distinctions then she MUST me telling the truth. Otherwise one may consider both of them to be of marginal credibility (we don’t want that). Yep, Bernie is a liar, he lied about not hijacking Flight 305 with Kenny and that’s the end of that. Case solved and closed. Now everyone can get back to a more intelligent and polite discussion: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=3760930;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;guest=81182394

RobertMBlevins clarifies: “Katy Watson (real name for you researchers: Margaret Ann Miller [Geestman] presented news articles and pictures to back up her claim.” As usual the source attribution is absent. So the vetting process must have been quite rigorous indeed. I know that all crack investigators would use every type of verification available to establish the credibility of a person. If they were spinning tales about the honesty of one individual (Bernie), I would certainly use their claims (Clydesdale world record listing) to help establish their honesty. Otherwise you will end up with a Dan Cooper comic being verified on Shemya in 1951 (3 years before it was published) or Captain Scott talking to DB Cooper and looking at the bomb (Scott never left cockpit according to FBI and Co-pilot of Flt 305). Just because something is in news articles means little to me and even less to most others without knowing the paper’s name, date of publication and context. This is on par to knowing someone that had a Jeep shipped to them packed in grease. An old tale from the 60’s that many people believed because they wanted to believe it. No source was more refined than ‘a friend, of a friend’. This stupefying sort of activity continues today (Madoff) simply because people don’t change.