Posted on 09/09/2004 3:47:33 PM PDT by GOPcapitalist
(scroll down to the bottom of the article for the update section):
UPDATE: NEW PROOF OF FORGERY
Following the Little Green Footballs blog lead, CB decided to test the pantograph replication technique on another of the CBS documents to see if it held true. Using Microsoft Word on its factory default settings with 12 point Times New Roman font we copied the address line of CBS memo #1 and overlapped the two for comparison.
As you can see the test worked and, in doing so, inadvertantly uncovered more proof that the document is a forgery. The new evidence revolves around the fact that Microsoft Word auto-formats its text using the centering function. When the text alignment for “center” is selected each subsequent line will be precisely centered underneath the previous one with each word of the text readjusting to meet this alignment as new letters are entered into the line. Since typewriters mechanically stamp letters onto a sheet of paper one at a time, it is physically impossible to create a mechanical typewriter document that perfectly aligns two or more centered rows of text on top of each other. The address bar on CBS Memo #1 is perfectly centered and perfectly aligned, thus it had to have come from a computer word processor and not a typewriter. The replication experiment in Microsoft Word with an identical match further validates this origin.
IBM did have a special typesetting machine, the IBM Composer, which WOULD automatically center type if you typed it twice.
http://www.ibmcomposer.org/
I used to use one at work, but I was a professional printer from 1975-1983. It was a bear to use.
Was Killian a professional typesetter? Maybe he used such a machine at work for these memos.
Otherwise, I can't explain why he would have used it.
Nor can I explain why the type lines up exactly like 12 point Times New Roman using Word set to default formatting.
NewLand already took the bet, and I accepted, but OK.
That's the limit though. If I lose twice, FR gets a hundred bucks and I don't get no beer for the rest of the month.
Oh the Humanity.....
Don't know if its conclusive, but I'm convinced. I've been telling people all day that the document isn't justified and therefore wasn't difficult to produce on a typewriter. The centering function would be nearly impossible to replicate with a 1972 typewriter. My hat's off to you.
>>If you had a typist who could do centering using proportional-spaced fonts, I'd like to meet her/him!
Absolutely correct. You HAD to use mechanical typesetting devices like the Varityper or the IBM composer for this.
That's my point exactly - why would they trouble themselves over a military record. If pride of workmanship was it (and I don't mean to dismiss that), then there are more basic things they would do first.
I learned typesetting on an ancient Varityper in 1975. Then switched to an ancient IBM Composer.
Thank God for computers.
Notice the unusual space between the 111 and th. If the space is NOT there, MS Word automatically makes the th a superscript.
The smartass forger is a dumbass.
Try it with a proportional font. Try it as a military clerk typist. Try matching the precision of a word processor that can deal with a thousandth of an inch.
Using Varityper or a photo compositor would create the effect except there was one little problem.
It regards the font. TrueType Times New Roman is a variant of the font created in the 1980s. Slight, subtle differences, but noticable to someone really adept at specing type.
The document was processed using that particular font.
>>I earned the respect of the whole crew when I was able to make last minute corrections at 2:00 am when the typists had left, by using my Exacto knife, small light table, and some words pulled off error sheets that had been thrown away.
Very hard to do using Word due to the weird way it spaces - you have to drop in an entire line or it won't come out with correct kerning.
Good enough for 2:00 a.m., or maybe you used WordPerfect? ;^)
No hyphens. The doc centers the address lines perfectly, then the body of the copy is ragged right.
Mara is hacking away at home.
I don't have a good copy of all the available IBM fonts so am reluctant to opine on this.
One of the web experts said that the 4 with a closed top and no foot was used ONLY in Times New Roman and that Times New Roman was ONLY on computers.
Well, I went to the Linotype website and they used Times New Roman, with a four with a closed top and no foot, on Linotypes. Created 1932.
http://www.linotype.com/1540/timesnewroman-family.html
Admittedly Killian probably did not use a Linotype machine for his memos. Still, we want to kill this story, best to be cautious.
You're a good sport.
This is fun!
The first problem with the documents is the proportional spacing. There weren't many proportionally spaced typewriters in the early 70's so lets say the odds against Killian having one are 10,000 to 1.
The second problem we encounter is the superscript text. The probability of typewriters in the early 70's having a superscript key is even more remote. Let's suppose the odds against it are 100,000 to 1.
Next we move to centering. Let's say the odds against that are 1 million to 1.
Next we move to Times New Roman font. Let's say the odds against that are 10 million to 1.
While a remote chance theoretically exists that each individual problem is explanable by technology at the time, however obscure it may have been, when you take them all together it becomes geometrically more remote. Not only do you have to have a machine that does proportional spacing. You also need one with a "th" superscript key, times new roman font, and a centering device that is so precise it matches the exact capabilities of a modern word processor program. Simply put, the probability of that kind of a typewriter existing in Killian's possession in 1972 has got to be somewhere in the range of several billion, if not trillion, to one.
Good work!
Boy, don't I know that for a fact. I can still remember 42 years ago when I first took typing in highschool, we had to learn how to center things on the page before we typed it. We had to count the number of letters in the line, then divide it by two. Then we had to count back that amount with the backspace key, starting from the "0" margin in the middle, in order to find our beginning point. Talk about a pain in the rump!
Kitty has already been outed as a liar. Her book might be recalled. If NBC puts her on the air, FOX will Howl.
this is what I picked up from the article...
Gary Killian, who served in the Guard with his father and retired as a captain in 1991, said one of the memos, signed by his father, appeared legitimate. But he doubted his father would have written another, unsigned memo which said there was pressure to "sugar coat" Bush's performance review.
that was all it said...
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