So here's a question I have that doesn't fit anywhere:

 Actually it could go under "Clues, Documents And Evidence About The Case"

I believe the tie is a clue, and the tie is also evidence. they are in harmony together 

So here's a question I have that doesn't fit anywhere:

Today ties aren't universal. Most people who wear ties regularly, knot them properly. I know of nobody who wears ties and mixes knotted and clip-on ties. The only people I know who wear clip-on ties are kids working as bus boys in restaurants.

When ties were more universal, did people regularly buy both for convenience?

... and with that you have just nailed one of the reasons Himmelsbach thought/suggested... "he might be a food service worker". That along with Flo's comment he had olive skin and looked Latin to me.

I guess one of the questions is how much can you read into a clip on tie? Kids in highschool bands used to wear clip on ties. People in ROTC. Hell even FBI agents!    My grandma wore one once - after opening grandpa's Christmas present by mistake!
  

The tie has latent evidence like titanium, stuff from medication packing, match particles and other metals. So the tie didn't belong to a busboy who was milling pure titanium in the late 1960's. The tie's original owner wasn't a bartender. I don't think the tie picked up spiral titanium particles sitting in evidence. I guess it depends on how much faith you have in Tom Kaye, but his analysis is important. If he's right about the scarcity of pure titanium, then the tie has a big story to tell, not a small one.

To me, Kaye's evidence makes sense. If the guy was working in a shop machining parts from pure titanium, the owner would want a clip-on tie that wouldn't kill him if it got caught in a lathe.

If Cooper bought the tie at an estate sale, that still puts Cooper in one of a few regions where they had shops likes this.

 

Now I have to read the Citizen Sleuths website again before I can go to bed.

So here's a question I have that doesn't fit anywhere:

Today ties aren't universal. Most people who wear ties regularly, knot them properly. I know of nobody who wears ties and mixes knotted and clip-on ties. The only people I know who wear clip-on ties are kids working as bus boys in restaurants.

When ties were more universal, did people regularly buy both for convenience?

The answer to your last question is "no".  In the 1960s, clip-on ties could be bought in drug stores for two dollars or less.  Note:  I AM aware that Cooper's tie has been identified as a JC Penny product which is relatively upscale for such a thing.

For ever picture you can produce of someone in a machine shop wearing a clip-on tie, Tom Kaye can produce a picture of a machine shop employee wearing a fully knotted tie.  So the machine shop illustration is basically a wash.

Just a simple question that will hopefully inspire conversation with differing opinions: Were would the Cooper suspect have most likely built the briefcase bomb?  His workshop at his place of employment, or his apartment or motel room? 

I've worn a tie 3 times in the last month (job interviews, been out of work since September). Before that, I can count on one hand the number of times I have worn a tie in the ten years previous. I can't even tie one. Cooper may have been someone like me and the clip on, needed for him to blend in, was simply the easier choice.

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For ever picture you can produce of someone in a machine shop wearing a clip-on tie, Tom Kaye can produce a picture of a machine shop employee wearing a fully knotted tie.  So the machine shop illustration is basically a wash.

Just a simple question that will hopefully inspire conversation with differing opinions: Were would the Cooper suspect have most likely built the briefcase bomb?  His workshop at his place of employment, or his apartment or motel room?

If it can be done without getting this list placed on a terrorist watch list, just exactly what is involved in building a bomb such as Cooper claimed he had?  The only thing I remember being described by the people who actually saw it is that there was a battery, what was probably road flares, and a lot of wires with two of them having an exposed end.

By all accounts it was the illusion of a bomb - not a bomb. Road flares vs. dynamite. Of course it's all conjecture however flares can be seen in most weather conditions from a distance. Seems like a simple formula to me!

To someone with parachuting experience and a good grasp of where he is, based on eyes looking for lights, the only real hazard is the geography below. Once again it's a simple formula with the advantage to Cooper vs. those trying to find him somewhere wherever 'somewhere' is in the last five or fifteen minutes at 200 mph!

The advantage is definitely on Cooper's side.