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[Chris Johnson]

What volunteer funding cycle?  I didn't know there was one.

I would hazard a guess that this is a "cycle" of giving and taking that a non profit organisation may or may not go through during its life time.  Simply said are funds from members up or down or just the same?

[Ric Gillespie]

What volunteer funding cycle?  I didn't know there was one.

I would hazard a guess that this is a "cycle" of giving and taking that a non profit organisation may or may not go through during its life time.  Simply said are funds from members up or down or just the same?

I can't speak for other nonprofits but TIGHAR's total membership and level of giving by the members has been steadily increasing over the past several years.  In our nearly 30 years of operation we have not experienced cycles of up and down. Growth has not been steady.  There have been plateaus, but growth has always resumed.  Over the course of ten expeditions, nothing has been more common than predictions of disaster "if you don't find it this time."

[Chris Johnson]

That's good to know!

[Doug Ledlie]

2-2-V-1 photos showing "D" posted on page 44 of this thread by Mark/Ric appear to show a smaller font "M" to the right of the D

Looks to be right where we see the "M" in the Reg. TM stamp on the Alclad in the Atka Island B-24D for example.

Does this tell us anything assuming I'm not seeing things?

[JNev]

I'm writing the report. When it's finished I'll send it to Jeff Glickman and Aris Scarla for comment and/or correction.  When they've both signed off on the report we'll publish it on the TIGHAR website.  What I can tell you right now is that, at the end of the day, all of us were in agreement that the artifact is the patch.

Heady stuff, can't wait to see it -

Can understand how difficult it is to convey to the public what you guys could discern in Wichita, not like dragging a soggy wreck up with "NR16020" emblazoned on the wings.

Hats off to Wichita Air Services for stepping in to provide this opportunity too - great timing!

[Ric Gillespie]

2-2-V-1 photos showing "D" posted on page 44 of this thread by Mark/Ric appear to show a smaller font "M" to the right of the D

The artifact is still on its way home from Kansas so I can't check it but I have to say I don't see the M that you see in the photos.  The font on the B-24D is definitely different from the font on the artifact.

[Doug Ledlie]

Thanks Ric, that's appreciated.

Boxed the possible "M" on attached photo, helps to be medicated to see it (just kidding)

Tried another computer and still see it but both are lcd screens if that makes any difference.

[Edited by J. Neville to remove objectionable content.]

p.s. I couldn't open the bmp file on the forum for some reason so added a jpg version of same photo

p.s. 2 added a zoomed version of jpg

[Monty Fowler]

*points to part of his tag line* Beware of apophenia.

But then, I have been told that I don't have a very good imagination, either. At least for stuff like that.

LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP

[Doug Ledlie]

I think Monty has a good point especially with photos of limited resolution...a few beers later and I'm seeing the entire works of Shakespeare in the photo.

But seriously there just seems to be an odd squiggle shape right where some examples of Alclad labelling have a trademark label ie "Reg. TM" so worth pointing out and Ric has agreed to check up close and personal so its all good.

[Monty Fowler]

I had a good point??? Cool ... And anytime you want to talk to my supervisor, I can pass along the number 

One thing about the pending announcement, whatever it may be, that has been bugging me all day. Whatever we do end up saying, the one thing I don't think we want to say is, "The mystery is solved."

I understand and embrace the scientific approach in this journey. I totally get the preponderance of evidence and trying to heap absurd coincidences into far too high a tottering heap of bull in an attempt to debunk whatever announcement is made.

I also know that anyone who says they have Found Amelia has a very high bar to cross with the general public, not to mention TIGHAR's legions of detractors. We've already been down that road once, and have the skinned noses to show it. Better to let the detractors make the case for us with their increasingly unlikely assertions. At the end of the day, the facts will win our case for us.

LTM, who will go back to thinking only good thoughts,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP

[Jennifer Hubbard]

Doug Ledlie:

I see the "M" you are talking about, in the photos where you have drawn arrows.
Doesn't look like there's a "T" or "REG," though. I can't even tell if there is room for a T there, or if the M is properly aligned with the bottom of the D.

It may or may not be there, but I wanted to let you know you're not alone in seeing that it might be there!

[Doug Ledlie]

Thanks for posting Jennifer, I'm glad its not just me...
(of course it might just mean were both a few sandwiches short of a picnic)

[Patrick Dickson]

I'm with you too, Doug......I think I see the same thing, with room for the "T" as well.
could it just be "the power of suggestion" ??
 
pd

[Ingo Prangenberg]

I vote to support a PR firm to take the data we have uncovered and turn it over to them to perpetuate an ongoing funding program to get to the bottom of this major historic mystery.  Ric, you know how much I have confidence in your ability to led the TIGHAR Team on this issue but you must also admit that you are a little hesitant in turning over control to others when it comes to the coup de  grace.
 It’s time to step back my friend and let people that do this for a living to step in and help us put the final touches on the search.  Remember the objective:  Get the funds necessary to go and find the plane!

Ted Campbell

Uh oh, sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard to me...

[JNev]

I had a good point??? Cool ... And anytime you want to talk to my supervisor, I can pass along the number 

One thing about the pending announcement, whatever it may be, that has been bugging me all day. Whatever we do end up saying, the one thing I don't think we want to say is, "The mystery is solved."

I understand and embrace the scientific approach in this journey. I totally get the preponderance of evidence and trying to heap absurd coincidences into far too high a tottering heap of bull in an attempt to debunk whatever announcement is made.

I also know that anyone who says they have Found Amelia has a very high bar to cross with the general public, not to mention TIGHAR's legions of detractors. We've already been down that road once, and have the skinned noses to show it. Better to let the detractors make the case for us with their increasingly unlikely assertions. At the end of the day, the facts will win our case for us.

LTM, who will go back to thinking only good thoughts,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP

Exactly right.

2-2-V-1 is an exciting possibility as the window covering installed in Miami, as I've seen it for some time.  I readily admit I would like to see it proven as such.  I recognize the perils to that possibility - and the tantalizing potential.

As we await the announcement of this next bulletin, I am full of anticipation.  Every one of us will have to make our own judgments.  The detractors will always be among us - for this, and so many other things in this world: it is simply their nature to debunk anything from shaving cream to King Tut's treasure; likewise we will always have alien abduction proponents among us...

But what you just said is the crux of the burden for anyone who would proclaim the end of a mystery like Earhart to the world.  It seems to me that Ric and TIGHAR learned something about that a long time ago, and I suspect what we'll see will fit within that very sane vein of thought: read it for what it is and make your own judgment.

Don't expect die-hard detractors to ever be happy that individual choice might be respected in that way, however: they will no doubt continue to feel that only their individual insight and wisdom can save this world full of fools from itself.