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I think more work needs to be done to validate the initial test. I agree. Samples matter. I would compare the Clara letters to Forman letters. If a positive match is found to one of the Formans ... then there is a potential problem. Likewise who were Dayton's associates independent of the Formans? Maybe the whole circle of people around Dayton must be examined in addition to Dayton only. .. Keep in mind we are dealing with syntactical structures vs phonology. Phonology has far more data points that can be quantified vs syntactical strictures. If we could compare a Dayton voice recording with a Clara call, the analysis would be on much firmer ground. I am assuming recordings of those voices dont exist? If Kaczynsk's voice could have been compared to a sample of the Unabomber voice a phonological match could have been made very quickly, vs syntactical comparison. Its an issue of data and quantifiable data points in one method vs another. But, I think Andrade has done a marvelous piece of work with this.

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.

Ryan, good discussion on Youtube the other day regarding whether or not Cooper was a pilot, Pat had some very insightful points in favor, Jersey girls brings it ! (couldn't really hear the lady from New Zealand very well). You guys touched on the fact that he seemed to not realize that flying dirty would limit the range of the air craft and make a non stop flight to Mexico impossible. This is what has always given me some pause as well, if he was a pilot with any substantial experience, you would think he should have known that. I am in the camp that he just wanted to get the plane flying south also, and may not have really cared about ever getting to Mexico. However, I am still not sure this dismisses him not anticipating that he might get called out on his request for a non stop flight to Mexico. Another less frequent item brought up by Pat I believe was the Benzedrine. I may have asked this before, but what is the origin of this ? Was it in the FBI files or did it come from Tosaw or Grey ? Unrelated to the pilot question, you guys also touched on one of his biggest blunders that could have done him in. That being where he seems to have allowed for an opportunity for everyone to bug out and leave him on the plane by himself at Seatac. As well as he seems to have planned out the "job", he wasn't perfect...but as they say, sometimes it's better to be lucky. When I think about this, I wonder would Braden have made that mistake ? BTW, here is the latest from Dr. Edwards in case folks haven't seen it yet: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/24580716-d-b-cooper-and-flight-305-lou-rucker He seems to be trying to get some of the names and details for the people that were jumping out of the 727s for Air America/Southern Air Transport. There was a blurb in the last FBI doc which indicates that the FBI was looking into a tip for someone who fit the hijacker's description and was part of these jumps: [Redacted] has close associate known to [redacted] (LNU) [Last Name Unknown] of Ft. Hood, Texas, [redacted] at same time in nineteen sixty-four. [Redacted] made numerous sport jumps from rear of military equivalent to Norjak plane [Boeing 727-51]. Jumps were made from rear door in exactly same manner as unsub [unidentified subject] in instant matter. Also made numerous night jumps. [Redacted] described [redacted, four letters] (LNU) as being white male, olive complexion, five feet eleven inches, one seventy-five lbs., well educated, chain smoker, age [redacted], excellent sky diver from mid west. ... [Redacted] Portland, Oregon at telephone number [redacted] was shown composite of unsub [unidentified subject] and feels it would bear remarkable likeness to [redacted, four letters] (LNU) after having aged six or seven years.”

Pence? HELL, YES!!! I would have been delighted to see the Orange Moron croak, and Pence take over.

In all of the 302's a reference to Benzedrine only occurs one time in the records from a Newspaper article in the Oregonian on November 30th - 71 quoting Rataczak. Rataczak is quoted making reference to a conversation Tina held with Cooper, where Coops made the request for food and indicated he had stimulants / Benzedrine for the crew. The Portland office clipped the article, but there no indication that the article was shared with other field offices. There is nothing in the 302's indicating that this detail was followed up on and if Tina, Rataczak or the Author were contacted to verity Coops indeed offered pills, stimulants or Benzedrine to the crew. Although, it is always a possibility that any sharing of the article was pulled from the 302's being a duplicate copy and that within the 302's a record indicating this was followed up on or verified has yet to be released. Maybe it was just jotted down in agent notes and not added to the interviews. Who knows. Rataczak does make mention of Cooper having "some pills" in his NWO historical interview but he is prompted by the audience on this detail and affirms without ident. of Benzedrine specifically. I try only to read 302's so I can't speak to this being referenced in either Tosaw's or Grey's book. Maybe someone else that has read these would care to chime in. My doubt on this is that, had Coops offered pills to Tina, you woudl think she would have relayed this to Bill or a crew member directly. Bill's Oregonian quote comes off as second hand as if he had not heard this directly from Tina during the event but that it had been relayed to him after the fact. Further doubt on this is that the flight transcripts, handwritten notes and none of the witness interviews make mention of pills - stimulants or Benzedrine being offered to the crew. part 54 pg. 23008

The law of averages says that someone who had made it to 81 and is still in good health will most likely live another 5 years. But of course nothing is guaranteed in life.

It's hard to see how authoritarianism would not be the default in any large and well organized human society. We all live under some degree of it. The only thing that keeps it in some check in the western world is the thing we call democracy in all its various forms. It is the power to force a change of rulers on a regular basis every 4 years or so. No one or no group who holds power ever gives it up willingly. And we can all see that democracy is incredibly fragile.

Hi, I'm a newbie my name is Denise. :). I've done four tandems. I'm Planning on doing to be doing my AF1 at Cross Keys this season. I'm so excited to get that A license.

For the same reason that I never went along with Jesus Freaks when they invited me to join their discussion with their invisible friend. When one's core premise is immediately and verifiably false, the conclusion may be dismissed out of hand.