The Nest

[John Iacoletti]

This is great work, Charles, and fascinating.  Try to imagine Brennan identifying you in this position.

[Charles Collins]

This is great work, Charles, and fascinating.  Try to imagine Brennan identifying you in this position.

Thanks. Brennan had a much different angle than that though. I took these photos a little while ago from the angle that I estimate Brennan had.










I don’t think Brennan would have had any difficulty from his angle. The last photo is to demonstrate that all the assassin had to do to “disappear” from Brennan’s view of the window was to sit up straight on box D (my hand with the remote shutter button can be seen to the camera right of the model).

[John Iacoletti]

Thanks. Keeping in mind that Brennan was a lot farther away and at a steeper angle.

[Charles Collins]

Thanks. Keeping in mind that Brennan was a lot farther away and at a steeper angle.

The distance from Brennan’s position to the sniper’s window was about 120-feet, close to the distance from second base to home plate on a baseball diamond. Not too far for someone with good distance vision to identify someone. Ask someone who plays baseball if need be. And as far as the vertical angle goes, I have calculated it at approximately 26.98-degrees using a triangle calculator and the altitude differences and distances from Roberdeau’s map (accounting for Brennan’s elevated position on the top of the wall). I placed the target, and subsequently the camera, at that 26.98-degree angle using a laser level. If you look at the photo that you included in your first post, the target that has the blue masking tape holding it onto a 2X2, and is laying down backwards represents Brennan’s position (when the paper is standing upright, not laying down). All of that description is meant to indicate that the vertical angle (aka: steepness) is close to the correct angle. Is it exact? Probably not, but it should be close enough to give us a feel for the steepness.

[John Iacoletti]

One study by Loftus and Harley found that after 25 feet, face perception diminishes. At about 150 feet, accurate face identification for people with normal vision drops to zero. And these were recognizable celebrities.

http://faculty.washington.edu/gloftus/Downloads/LoftusHarleyDistance.pdf

Also somebody on home plate doesn’t have half his face and his chin obscured from the perspective of somebody at second base, nor are boxes or a wall partly in the way.

[Charles Collins]

One study by Loftus and Harley found that after 25 feet, face perception diminishes. At about 150 feet, accurate face identification for people with normal vision drops to zero. And these were recognizable celebrities.


http://faculty.washington.edu/gloftus/Downloads/LoftusHarleyDistance.pdf

Also somebody on home plate doesn’t have half his face and his chin obscured from the perspective of somebody at second base, nor are boxes or a wall partly in the way.

There are way too many variables involved to be able to judge from a study of that nature. Here’s a link to a study that I think is much better:



https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-014-0641-2

After only a quick scan of it, I won’t pretend to understand everything about that study. But if I do understand one thing correctly, the hits decreased by only .55% per yard of distance between the distances of 5-yards and 40-yards (aka: 120-feet). And the false alarms only increased by .44% for the same distances. That’s less than a 20% decrease in hits for the 35-yards between 5 and 40 yards.

Heck, I didn’t recognize my dentist when we saw him at a restaurant recently. And we were only about 20-feet away. My wife didn’t either until he recognized her. So distance isn’t the only factor. Some people recognize other people easier than others. My wife is usually very good at it. It’s mostly mental, I believe.

That said, I asked my nephew, who played a lot of baseball (first base) in his younger years about this subject. He said he would read the lips of the opposing team’s third base coach, from first base, and tell his team what he said. The distance from first base to third base is over 127-feet. He said that he would have no problem recognizing a face at home plate from second base. He said that he has always aced vision tests. Howard Brennan said he had excellent distance vision.

Edit: added image of graph from the report

[John Iacoletti]

Surely you realize that anecdotal self-reporting isn’t particularly reliable.