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[Diane James]

Fer cryin' out loud, I'm going to post something ridiculous just to get some responses on this forum!   

The only new evidence I've got is the continuing dearth of posts here. Marty called this period of quiet on the forum an "ebb tide" but it feels more like the outwash before a tsunami.  Where the heck is everybody?

So then, having decided to post some conversation-magnet ridiculous theory just for the devil of it, I couldn't think of any ridiculous theory about Fred and Amelia that hasn't already been posted by somebody somewhere.

So c'mon folks, the real mystery is still with us.  Fred and Amelia are still out there somewhere, and this forum draws together the tiny group of people on the planet who still care. We support and encourage one another. Please everybody, keep showing your faces verbally here on the forum!

Hugs,
Diane

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

Diane,

If you need a fix, you might start reading the old Forum files indexed here.

There are allegedly 35462 Posts in 1349 Topics by 1290 Members in this Forum.

I have read them all myself, some parts more than once.

I started contributing, for good or ill, around 2000.

This might help occupy your mind while you're waiting for the tide to come back in.

 

[Diane James]

You are a jewel, Marty.  Thank you.

Folks, when I first found this forum it was a beehive of activity.  All sorts of people with all sorts of backgrounds were posting all sorts of ideas.  Some people even dared write of their feelings. I enjoyed the sense of camaraderie with the people who cared as I did about this one tiny obscure moment in history. I felt comfortable here, I felt among peers to whom the truth of what happened to Fred and Amelia actually mattered. And all of this was swirling around those few hours and days so many years ago on the other side of the planet in which Fred and Amelia died tragically. That fascinates me, and I know fascinates all of you.

Forgive me, I'm just venting my frustration.  I miss all of you (or all y'all depending on your regional preference). Dangitall, somebody post something, even if it's granny's apple pie recipie. Anything that might get folks out of the holiday lethargy and back to sharing ideas and questions.  If nothing else, I hope everyone will at least check in so everyone knows you're still alive!

Is this a social neediness on my part? Well, yeah. Of all the other activities and interests in my week, only here do I have a feeling of being contact with "the quest" to find F&A. Only here do others share that interest with me. So yeah, OK, I'm needy that way.

Hugs,
Diane
(Now was that a sneaky way to get some great apple pie recipes? 

 

[Ric Gillespie]

I feel your pain Diane.  The beehive is still humming but it's not happening on the Forum at the moment.
• Jeff Glickman is processing the photos we took at NASM last Monday to get Earhart's forensically-determined height.  I've seen the overlay and I can tell you that he succeeded in precisely duplicating the angle of the historical photo.  Quite a feat considering that, due to the layout of the NASM exhibit, he had to mirror-image the shot.  Now it's a matter of correcting for the difference in elevation and tilt. We can't share the photo with you at this time due to NASM constraints but we're hoping to get permission to use it in the published report.
•  Once we have AE's height I'll be working with Dr. Richard Jantz to write a response to last year's challenge to his  conclusion that the castaway of Gardner Island was female. Unfortunately that''s not a process I can share with the Forum.  Once the paper is finished and published I'm sure there'll be lots of spirited Forum discussion.
•  Dr. Guthrie Ford is working on his psychological analysis of Earhart's in-flight radio messages. Fascinating stuff, but it has opened something of a Pandora's box of questions about what radio equipment was actually aboard NR16020 during the second world flight attempt.
• Bob Brandenburg and I, assisted by small group of antique aviation radio collectors, have been sorting out the impossibly arcane sequence of events surrounding the game of musical chairs in which radios and antennas came and went between February and June 1937.
•  TIGHAR researcher Art Rypinski will be spending a day at the NASM Archives next week making copies of research materials that had previously escaped our notice.
•  And, of course, Jeff Glickman is finishing up his explanation of how he was able to detect the rivet lines on the Miami Patch.

[Kurt Kummer]

Great post Diane.

I'm a sorta longtime lurker (although I hate that name) and I'll take this opportunity to throw in my two cents.

I come from Kansas, and I have a private ticket, so I've been interested in the AE story even before I read Fred Goerner's book back in the 60's.  It seems like Ric and TIGHAR are on the right track.  Betty's notebook and the tide tables matched against the radio logs convinced me.  But ever since then it seems like one big letdown after another:  the shoe maybe doesn't fit, the bone maybe doesn't match, the photo may not show a wheel, the ROV took a dump...  something.

So even though I know this is how the method works, I'm a child of TV and the movies and darnit I want a big, shining Any Idiot Artifact right now!  You know what I mean right?  It didn't take Indiana Jones 20 years to walk into that cave and find the golden idol. Well, maybe it did but that's not how it seemed on the silver screen.

So I guess what I'm saying is that last year it seemed like everything was in place and then it all kinda fell apart.  Maybe that's the reason for the lack of forum activity.

I sure enjoy your posts though, and maybe the next Niku trip will do it!  I sure hope so. 

Kurt

[Ric Gillespie]

So I guess what I'm saying is that last year it seemed like everything was in place and then it all kinda fell apart.  Maybe that's the reason for the lack of forum activity.

I'll have a word with the script writers.

Nothing fell apart.  We had equipment malfunctions and failures (which has always been the rule rather than the exception at Niku) and we searched places where we thought we might find something but didn't (standard procedure at Niku).  We look back and remember the many successes - the documents discovered, the artifacts found, the analyses completed - and we see a steady march toward final vindication, but that's an illusion. In truth, the march has always been halting and uncertain, punctuated with bitter disappointment and dashed hopes - but slowly the picture of what happened has emerged and continues to become clearer. The Indiana Jones style golden idol, Ark of the Covenant, Holy Grail, Any Idiot Artifact undoubtedly exists and may yet be found but whether it is findable within the constraints of the capabilities we can muster remains to be seen.  Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of real life historical research.

[Monty Fowler]

The beehive is still humming but it's not happening on the Forum at the moment.

•  Once we have AE's height I'll be working with Dr. Richard Jantz to write a response to last year's challenge to his  conclusion that the castaway of Gardner Island was female. Unfortunately that''s not a process I can share with the Forum.  Once the paper is finished and published I'm sure there'll be lots of spirited Forum discussion.

One of the ways to look at a beehive is that virtually all of the activity is out of sight - unless you want to strap itty-bitty cameras onto the bees for a real-time view of what's going on inside the hive. I'm sure we'll get there sometime soon, as fast as technology is changing. Until that time, though, I think timely and informative updates on where the various efforts are isn't too much to ask for.

As far as Dr. Jantz's research goes, we must keep in mind that the new research wasn't a personal attack on Jantz - or a deliberate attack directed at TIGHAR and the Nikumaroro process. Far from it. What is going on is a vivid example of the scientific method in action.

Scientists are different from most of is in one respect. If you present information to a scientist that is at odds with their belief about something, including what you used to get to your conclusion, how you go there, and why and what choices were made during your analysis, and others can use that same information/methods/etc. to arrive at the same outcome, than the scientist will change his mind, and say, "Yeah, that makes more sense."

And not go back to their previously-held belief - unlike most of the rest of us humans, who are far more likely to cling to a certain belief, opinion, whatever, no matter how ridiculous others may view it as. Scientists are better at being intellectually honest with themselves.

Or so it seems to me.

LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 EC

[Jennifer Hubbard]

Yes, my perception is that the forum has been quiet because we're waiting for the reports and information that Ric listed. When I first joined, there were newly discovered photos to be analyzed, a new report on the mercury jar, and an expedition in the planning stages. Then things started happening with the patch. Those things kept the forum buzzing. Now we're in a phase where much of that information has been hashed out, and we're waiting for the new analyses. Until then, searching for sextant boxes and reading through old posts are probably where the action is. 

People could also look through the "artifact analysis" and "join the search" threads and see if they can identify any of the objects there: the bead, blue foil, little clips, etc.

[Dan Swift]

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of real life historical research.

I am guilty of not posting much so I believe I am the rule not the exception.  However, I do monitor it regularly and, as in today, something spikes my interest, I will weigh in. 

I am sure there is a host of members and forum members who are 'staying tune' and still believe firmly in this effort.   

[Greg Daspit]

I’m in agreement with Dan. I monitor the Forum every day. I’m probably spending more time than ever just doing research and drawing the Bevington Object in 3D. Fun stuff.
If only I could prevent getting distracted by work.

[Diane James]

Ric said: "I feel your pain Diane.  The beehive is still humming but it's not happening on the Forum at the moment."

Thanks, Ric, for that long and detailed update on TIGHAR's projects.

And thanks everyone else, it's great to see people chiming in once more. Please keep it up.

Hugs,
Diane

[Kurt Kummer]

Thank you Ric, I'm staying tuned.  Can't wait to hear more.  You're sure the scriptwriters aren't hiding a golden idol or an Ark or an Any Idiot Artifact somewhere back there behind the curtain?  Alright, well I guess the scientific method plods on.  We're all eager to hear the next news, and I bet we all wish we could do more to help.

[Diane James]

How about revisiting old evidence as Monty Fowler suggests.  should keep you busy for a few months

My object isn't to keep me busy.  Lord knows I'm already working off an overflowing plate.  I'm just hoping my posts will help ramp-up forum activity.  There is certainly more to TIGHAR than just this forum, but the forum is the only place where I, and most of us, get to interface with the ongoing activities. It bothers me to see it just stagnate with no postings for days at a time.
Hugs,
Diane

[Ric Gillespie]

Diane,

I'm not suggesting you yourself but rather others who have the time, inclination and expertise.  They can post their findings which are then open to discussion.

Amen.  Monty has lots of great ideas.

[Bob Smith]

Is there a list of artifacts and /or pictures that were found during the last ground search by the Tighar crew as well as by the Fiji Princess people?