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Could LP’s Drilon help Grace Poe’s citizenship case?

(UPDATED) Contrary to what he said in 2002, Liberal Party Senator Franklin Drilon now says the RA 9225 or the Dual Citizenship law only grants citizenship and not natural-born status

Camille Elemia
@CamilleElemia
Published 8:00 AM, February 04, 2016
Updated 10:34 PM, February 10, 2016

NATURAL-BORN. Liberal Party Vice Chairman and Senate President Franklin Drilon, the main author of the Dual Citizenship law, argued in 2002 that those who reacquired Philippine citizenship via Republic Act 9225 reverts to their natural-born status.

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Could Liberal Party stalwart Franklin Drilon help push the arguments of presidential bet Senator Grace Poe on her natural-born status?

Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Tuesday, February 2, revealed parts of the interpellation in 2002 between Senate President Franklin Drilon and former Senator Noli de Castro on the provisions of Senate Bill 2130.

The measure, authored by Drilon, eventually became Republic Act 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003. This is the same law that Poe uses now to defend her citizenship before the High Court.

In her interpellation of Elections Commissioner Arthur Lim, Sereno said the law treats those who reacquired Philippine citizenship via RA 9225 as natural-born Filipinos.

To further prove her point, the chief magistrate cited the Senate debates in 2002 between De Castro and Drilon.

Here is an excerpt of the interpellation:

Records of the Senate, Vol. 1 No. 24; October 14, 2002 [p. 831]

Senator (Noli) De Castro: All right. Paano po natin iko-consider these former Filipinos? Sila po ba ay natural-born or naturalized citizens, Mr. President?

Senator Drilon: Natural-born citizens dahil automatic po. Ibinabalik natin sila sa kanilang dating status. Iyong dating status nila ay natural-born citizens of the Philippines. And that is also a question raised earlier in the previous interpellation wherein we said we needed time to review it. After reviewing the proposed law, it is our submission that they are reverted to their status as natural-born citizens of the Philippines.

But contrary to his arguments in 2002, the LP senator now said the law only restores citizenship and not the natural-born status of the person.

Poe’s citizenship is being questioned on 2 grounds – that she is not a natural-born Filipino as a foundling and after reacquiring Philippine citizenship through RA 9225.

"Yes, she was a beneficiary, because she became a citizen under a law that we enacted. But the issue remains as to whether she is a natural born citizen, and the matter of being a natural-born citizen is governed by the Constitution. [RA 9225] only enabled Senator Poe to regain her citizenship. Now whether she is a natural born Filipino is a matter governed by the Constitution," Drilon said in a press conference on Wednesday, February 10.

The Commission on Elections, aside from ruling that Poe cannot be a natural-born Filipino as a foundling, said she is already a naturalized Filipino after reacquiring Philippine citizenship in 2006. (READ: TIMELINE: Grace Poe’s citizenship, residency)

Under the 1987 Constitution, natural-born Filipinos are those “who are citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship.”

Poe maintained she is a natural-born Filipino as a foundling and that she reverted to that status after becoming a dual citizen of both the Philippines and the United States in 2006 through the Drilon law.

Drilon is a party mate and supporter of administration standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II, who, Poe alleges, is one of those behind the disqualification cases against her. – Rappler.com

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For live updates on the aftermath of the May 9 elections, check out our extensive 2016 Philippine elections coverage!



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Grace Poe: I’m a natural born Filipino citizen

The senator used to be a dual citizen. ‘To revert back to Filipino citizenship, you only have to renounce your US citizenship,’ says Poe.

Rappler.com
Published 6:03 PM, May 18, 2015
Updated 6:21 PM, May 18, 2015


PRESIDENCY? Senator Grace Poe enjoys high survey ratings

MANILA, Philippines – "Ako ay isang natural born citizen," Senator Grace Poe said on Monday, May 18.

One of the survey frontrunners in the 2016 presidential race, Poe responded to reports that supporters of both the administration and opposition parties are preparing cases to raise the possibility that she is not a natural-born Filipino, a constitutional requirement for running for president.

Poe admitted that she used to hold dual citizenship but stressed she renounced her US citizenship before she joined government. This reverts her citizenship to a natural born Filipino, she said.

"Ang dual citizenship law na sinulat mismo nina Senator Franklin Drilon at ng iba pa nating kasama dito – kung ano man ang iyong citizenship prior to your dual citizenship status, kapag na-renounce mo iyon, you will revert back to your original status – which is natural born," she said.

(The dual citizenship law which was co-authored by Senator Franklin Drilon and my other colleagues here says: Whatever your citizenship prior to your dual citizenship – once you renounce it…you will revert back to your original status, which is natural born.)

Poe, as widely known, is a foundling in Iloilo, later adopted by actors Fernando Poe Jr and Susan Roces. This narrative turned into a TV drama episode at the height of the 2013 senatorial elections, which Poe topped.

“The definition of a natural born citizen presumes that at least one natural parent is a Filipino. We cannot presume that in her case,” a lawyer told Rappler said in pointing out possible grounds for questioning her citizenship. “A foundling just adopts the citizenship of the parents. The real parents are not known, especially in her case, where her looks can have a different racial origin.”

The citizenship issue was also raised against her father when he ran for president in 2004. According to complainants, Fernando Poe Jr was an illegitimate child (he was born before his parents were married), and therefore took the citizenship of his American mother.

The Supreme Court ruled in FPJ’s favor, saying that when his father acknowledged paternity, Fernando Poe automatically assumed the citizenship of his father, a Filipino. – Rappler.com

Who won in the 2016 Philippine elections?

Check out the 2016 official election results through the link below:

2016 official election results for Presidential, Vice Presidential, Senatorial, and Party list elections
Check out the 2016 unofficial election results for the national and local races through the links below

2016 Philippine Presidential Elections
2016 Philippine Vice Presidential Elections
2016 Philippine Senatorial Elections
2016 Philippine Congressional Elections
2016 Party List Elections
2016 Philippine Local Elections
For live updates on the aftermath of the May 9 elections, check out our extensive 2016 Philippine elections coverage!



We are agents of change! Join us in our mission to make our country truly wonderful. Learn more about Sustainability with Globe through #WonderfulPH.

7-Election is the fun way to vote. Show your support and go to any 7-Eleven stores and cast your GULP. Visit our website and be updated on the latest tally of the presidential Gulp.

#HalagaNgBotoMo is a campaign that encourages Filipinos to vote wisely during the 2016 National Elections. This emphasizes that the power to affect change and progress comes with being an informed voter, not a paid one.
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Ra 9225 dual citizenship law of Philippines

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Total state government expenditures

United States budget and finances
State finances in the U.S.
State tax policy in the U.S.
State finances on the ballot
Taxes on the ballot
Glossary of state budget terms

The tables below summarize total state expenditures by fiscal year. The National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) compiles this information and publishes it in the group’s annual "State Expenditures Report."[1]
HIGHLIGHTS
Between fiscal years 2014 and 2015, total state spending (including both state and federal funds and excluding bonds) was estimated to have increased by about 7.65 percent, from $1.7 trillion in fiscal year 2014 to an estimated $1.83 trillion in fiscal year 2015.[2]
The state that spent the most in total funds was California, while South Dakota spent the least.
The state that spent the most per capita, however, was Alabama; the state with the lowest per capita spending was Florida.
During that same period, federal funding to states budgets increased from roughly $522 billion in 2014 to an estimated $585.7 billion in 2015. This represented a 7.64 percent increase.[2]
Fiscal year 2015
Note: Figures for fiscal year 2015 are estimated by NASBO because the actual figures had not yet been reported as of April 2016. Those figures will be updated here when available.

In the table below, figures for all columns except "Population" and "Per capita spending" are rendered in millions of dollars (for example, $2,448 translates to $2,448,000,000). Figures in the columns labeled "Population" and "Per capita spending" have not been abbreviated. Click on the arrows to sort the data.

[hide]Total estimated state spending, FY 2015 ($ in millions)
State State funds Federal funds Total spending Population Per capita spending
Alabama $14,990 $9,556 $24,546 4,858,979 $5,052
Alaska $10,633 $3,134 $13,767 738,432 $18,644
Arizona $18,030 $13,152 $31,182 6,828,065 $4,567
Arkansas $16,502 $7,131 $23,633 2,978,204 $7,935
California $158,996 $93,554 $252,550 39,144,818 $6,452
Colorado $24,285 $8,716 $33,001 5,456,574 $6,048
Connecticut $21,741 $5,980 $27,721 3,590,886 $7,720
Delaware $7,355 $2,063 $9,418 945,934 $9,956
Florida $50,003 $25,492 $75,495 20,271,272 $3,724
Georgia $30,593 $12,901 $43,494 10,214,860 $4,258
Hawaii $9,850 $2,250 $12,100 1,431,603 $8,452
Idaho $4,776 $2,837 $7,613 1,654,930 $4,600
Illinois $51,506 $17,904 $69,410 12,859,995 $5,397
Indiana $19,037 $10,305 $29,342 6,619,680 $4,433
Iowa $15,429 $6,335 $21,764 3,123,899 $6,967
Kansas $11,161 $3,882 $15,043 2,911,641 $5,167
Kentucky $19,512 $11,830 $31,342 4,425,092 $7,083
Louisiana $19,580 $10,149 $29,729 4,670,724 $6,365
Maine $5,189 $2,422 $7,611 1,329,328 $5,725
Maryland $28,283 $12,053 $40,336 6,006,401 $6,716
Massachusetts $45,535 $9,435 $54,970 6,794,422 $8,090
Michigan $31,232 $22,633 $53,865 9,922,576 $5,429
Minnesota $24,613 $10,601 $35,214 5,489,594 $6,415
Mississippi $11,481 $8,953 $20,434 2,992,333 $6,829
Missouri $16,626 $7,495 $24,121 6,083,672 $3,965
Montana $4,194 $2,189 $6,383 1,032,949 $6,179
Nebraska $8,074 $2,908 $10,982 1,896,190 $5,792
Nevada $6,929 $3,897 $10,826 2,890,845 $3,745
New Hampshire $3,444 $1,944 $5,388 1,330,608 $4,049
New Jersey $39,460 $15,142 $54,602 8,958,013 $6,095
New Mexico $10,510 $6,581 $17,091 2,085,109 $8,197
New York $94,624 $45,743 $140,367 19,795,791 $7,091
North Carolina $30,426 $13,930 $44,356 10,042,802 $4,417
North Dakota $6,074 $1,674 $7,748 756,927 $10,236
Ohio $48,593 $13,994 $62,587 11,613,423 $5,389
Oklahoma $14,782 $7,268 $22,050 3,911,338 $5,637
Oregon $22,091 $11,302 $33,393 4,028,977 $8,288
Pennsylvania $46,900 $25,921 $72,821 12,802,503 $5,688
Rhode Island $5,997 $2,820 $8,817 1,056,298 $8,347
South Carolina $14,926 $7,631 $22,557 4,896,146 $4,607
South Dakota $2,542 $1,347 $3,889 858,469 $4,530
Tennessee $18,806 $13,156 $31,962 6,600,299 $4,843
Texas $69,152 $43,430 $112,582 27,469,114 $4,098
Utah $9,310 $3,642 $12,952 2,995,919 $4,323
Vermont $3,412 $1,919 $5,331 626,042 $8,515
Virginia $36,257 $9,706 $45,963 8,382,993 $5,483
Washington $26,670 $10,975 $37,645 7,170,351 $5,250
West Virginia $19,044 $4,372 $23,416 1,844,128 $12,698
Wisconsin $34,275 $11,122 $45,397 5,771,337 $7,866
Wyoming $6,539 $2,298 $8,837 586,107 $15,077
United States $1,249,969 $585,674 $1,835,643 321,418,820 $5,711
Sources: National Association of State Budget Officers, "State Expenditure Report: 2013-2015," accessed March 21, 2016
United States Census Bureau, "State and County QuickFacts," accessed March 21, 2016
Fiscal year 2014
In the table below, figures for all columns except "Population" and "Per capita spending" are rendered in millions of dollars (for example, $2,448 translates to $2,448,000,000). Figures in the columns labeled "Population" and "Per capita spending" have not been abbreviated.

[hide]Total state spending, FY 2014 ($ in millions)
State State funds Federal funds Total spending Population Per capita spending
Alabama $15,217 $9,360 $24,577 4,846,411 $5,071
Alaska $8,692 $2,705 $11,397 737,046 $15,463
Arizona $16,068 $12,837 $28,905 6,728,783 $4,296
Arkansas $16,105 $6,504 $22,609 2,966,835 $7,621
California $138,316 $72,583 $210,899 38,792,291 $5,437
Colorado $23,487 $7,859 $31,346 5,355,588 $5,853
Connecticut $20,884 $5,409 $26,293 3,594,762 $7,314
Delaware $7,253 $1,903 $9,156 935,968 $9,782
Florida $42,116 $24,354 $66,470 19,905,569 $3,339
Georgia $29,410 $13,184 $42,594 10,097,132 $4,218
Hawaii $9,612 $2,166 $11,778 1,420,257 $8,293
Idaho $4,223 $2,614 $6,837 1,634,806 $4,182
Illinois $45,079 $13,562 $58,641 12,882,189 $4,552
Indiana $17,282 $9,978 $27,260 6,597,880 $4,132
Iowa $14,311 $5,928 $20,239 3,109,481 $6,509
Kansas $10,457 $3,900 $14,357 2,902,507 $4,946
Kentucky $19,344 $9,597 $28,941 4,412,617 $6,559
Louisiana $17,785 $8,993 $26,778 4,648,990 $5,760
Maine $5,329 $2,696 $8,025 1,330,256 $6,033
Maryland $26,376 $10,514 $36,890 5,975,346 $6,174
Massachusetts $45,034 $8,681 $53,715 6,755,124 $7,952
Michigan $31,174 $18,152 $49,326 9,916,306 $4,974
Minnesota $22,994 $8,900 $31,894 5,457,125 $5,844
Mississippi $10,746 $7,562 $18,308 2,993,443 $6,116
Missouri $15,971 $7,201 $23,172 6,063,827 $3,821
Montana $4,039 $2,149 $6,188 1,023,252 $6,047
Nebraska $7,631 $2,911 $10,542 1,882,980 $5,599
Nevada $6,530 $2,859 $9,389 2,838,281 $3,308
New Hampshire $3,380 $1,701 $5,081 1,327,996 $3,826
New Jersey $38,358 $13,372 $51,730 8,938,844 $5,787
New Mexico $10,090 $6,108 $16,198 2,085,567 $7,767
New York $92,915 $41,171 $134,086 19,748,858 $6,790
North Carolina $30,094 $13,512 $43,606 9,940,387 $4,387
North Dakota $5,053 $1,523 $6,576 740,040 $8,886
Ohio $46,043 $13,046 $59,089 11,596,998 $5,095
Oklahoma $14,710 $7,404 $22,114 3,879,610 $5,700
Oregon $24,121 $8,102 $32,223 3,971,202 $8,114
Pennsylvania $44,120 $23,894 $68,014 12,793,767 $5,316
Rhode Island $6,126 $2,676 $8,802 1,054,907 $8,344
South Carolina $14,445 $7,542 $21,987 4,829,160 $4,553
South Dakota $2,675 $1,403 $4,078 853,304 $4,779
Tennessee $18,317 $12,200 $30,517 6,547,779 $4,661
Texas $67,176 $41,348 $108,524 26,979,078 $4,023
Utah $8,687 $3,497 $12,184 2,944,498 $4,138
Vermont $3,395 $1,760 $5,155 626,767 $8,225
Virginia $35,123 $9,568 $44,691 8,328,098 $5,366
Washington $25,557 $9,631 $35,188 7,063,166 $4,982
West Virginia $19,398 $4,412 $23,810 1,848,751 $12,879
Wisconsin $33,887 $11,006 $44,893 5,759,432 $7,795
Wyoming $5,543 $2,082 $7,625 584,304 $13,050
United States $1,180,678 $522,019 $1,702,697 318,907,401 $5,339
Sources: National Association of State Budget Officers, "State Expenditure Report: 2013-2015," accessed March 21, 2016
United States Census Bureau, "State and County QuickFacts," accessed March 21, 2016
Fiscal year 2013
[show]Total state spending, FY 2013 ($ in millions)
Fiscal year 2012
[show]Total state spending, FY 2012 ($ in millions)
See also
State budget and finance pages
Glossary of state budget terms
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
State spending by function as a percent of total expenditures
External links
National Association of State Budget Officers
Footnotes
↑ National Association of State Budget Officers, "State Expenditure Report: 2011-2013," accessed September 12, 2014
↑ 2.0 2.1 National Association of State Budget Officers, "State Expenditure Report: 2013-2015," accessed March 21, 2016










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Build Online And Offline Chat Bots With AIML For Firemonkey In Delphi 10 Berlin On Android And IOS
May 29, 2016


All of the big tech companies like Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft seem to be building bots these days with Alexa (Amazon Echo), Cortana (Windows 10), Siri, Viv, Facebook Messenger bots, and Google Home. You can get in on the chat bot building frenzy with Firemonkey in Delphi Berlin using an upgraded version of PascAlice. Kim Sullivan created PascAlice as a free AIML interpreter for Delphi awhile ago. AIML stands for Artificial Intelligence Markup Language and it is an XML representation of a chat bot dialog tree. The AIML parser works offline so you can embed it on a device and it will work just fine without internet access. One reason for the rise of bots is the market saturation of apps in the various app stores. A recent VentureBeat article lists 10 ways bots are being integrated into business:

1. Improve customer service
2. Facilitate ecommerce
3. Provide better, more personal engagement
4. Enhance customers’ experience
5. Address customers’ needs in real-time
6. Integrate utility into the brand experience
7. Have conversation at scale
8. Talk openly and honestly, even about sensitive topics
9. Create opportunities for services integration
10. Improve customer loyalty programs

A number of AIML files like Knowledge.aiml have been embedded into the bot already from the AliceBot.org site to give it a little bit of brains (try asking it “how far is alpha centauri”). The parser takes in chat input and then runs it through the various AIML file it loads. I worked with a developer in Belarus via UpWork to upgrade PascAlice to that it supports Firemonkey in Delphi Berlin on Android, IOS, OSX, and Windows. We brought in the source code from this demo for the chat interface and upgraded it a bit with new virtual keyboard handling code. We replaced LibXmlParser with the cross platform OXml library. I wanted to implement some text to speech functionality so on Windows, IOS, and OSX it utilizes an unofficial Google Translate API but also supports a Voice RSS API for text to speech(TTS). The API based TTS works by just passing a translation URL to the TMediaPlayer component. On Android it utilizes the built in text to speech functionality using a component built by Delphi developers Jim McKeeth and Jeff Overcash.

Two other pieces of functionality that have been added to the bot are the ability to say “google delphi” or “google firemonkey” and it will open in an in app TWebBrowser. The bot for example could have functionality that opens the web browser based on various chat responses. The second piece of functionality that was added is a dynamic form response very similar to how the Facebook Messenger Bot works where it embeds a piece of content in the chat response. The dynamic form is built via JSON and you can test out the functionality by pressing the Inline Form button to see it in action. It will create a TFrame on the fly and then populate it with buttons from the JSON that is passed to it. In this case there are two lines with a Yes and No button. If the Yes button is pressed it will send a navigation to the TWebBrowser as well. The dynamic form functionality is pretty powerful and only a small amount of functionality is built into the demo. The dynamic from can also be saved and loaded from JSON using the Duck Duck Delphi library. Keep in mind this is a quick prototype with limited testing.

You can also connect the chat bot to a variety of REST APIs like Motion.ai, Api.AI, PandoraBots, or even Amazon Echo using TRESTClient if needed. Alternately, you can run your own AIML server with Program O for PHP. Or you could pull out the AIML parser and deploy it in your own Delphi server implementation. Who’s going to be the first developer to turn the Delphi documentation into a chat bot? Let us know in the comments how you use it!

Update: Fixed a small cross platform issue.

Download the PascAlice FMX AIML Parsing Chat Bot For Firemonkey In Delphi Berlin On Android, IOS, OSX, and Windows!



Have Delphi Firemonkey questions? Ask and get answers on StackOverflow.
Build Online And Offline Chat Bots With AIML For Firemonkey In Delphi 10 Berlin On Android And IOS by Delphi XE5 XE6 XE7 XE8 10 Seattle Berlin Firemonkey, Delphi Android, Delphi IOS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

One Response to Build Online And Offline Chat Bots With AIML For Firemonkey In Delphi 10 Berlin On Android And IOS

karabağlar çilingir says:
August 16, 2016 at 5:50 am
thankyou
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14 famous people who mysteriously disappeared
Though many of them are presumed dead, exactly what happened to these high-profile personalities still remains unknown.


MATT HICKMAN
January 17, 2017, 11:22 a.m.



Have you seen these people? (Probably not.)
The Lost Roanoke Colony. The Dyatlov Pass Incident. The death of Natalie Wood. The Black Dahlia. The Bermuda Triangle. Bigfoot. Did Tony Soprano die at the end of "The Sopranos"?

We love a good unsolved mystery, and unexplained disappearances that have managed to baffle historians have also intrigued the general public. Unlike the FBI’s decades-old search for the remains of a certain convict/labor organizer from Detroit, we’ve successfully managed to track down 14 missing people of note, including six particularly intriguing head-scratchers followed by a few more names that you may recognize.

In a majority of these cases, the unaccounted-for person was legally declared dead at some point, although their body has never been recovered and their whereabouts are still unknown. Some of these vanishings have been subject to massive search parties, wild speculation, media sensationalism, false accusations, dead ends, wrong turns and the occasional TV miniseries. Some are rather tragic. And in one famous instance, the identity of the AWOL individual was unknown even before he vanished into thin air (by jumping from a plane no less).

So cue up the appropriate music and join us as we delve into the realm of the mostly unknown.

Who: D.B. Cooper


Missing since: 1971

Where: Southwestern Washington state

D.B. who? Exactly.

Although the saga of a brazen air pirate known to the media as D.B. Cooper (he purchased his ticket under the alias of "Dan Cooper") may not be familiar to most young’ns, the aviation industry, the residents of Ariel, Washington and — last but not least — the FBI, will never forget Thanksgiving Eve 1971 when a nattily attired gentleman skyjacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 bound for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Shortly after the 30-minute flight departed from Portland, Oregon, Cooper disclosed to a flight attendant that he was in possession of explosives and demanded $200,000, four parachutes and a refueling truck upon landing at Sea-Tac.

Once the plane landed at Sea-Tac after circling for two hours while authorities made preparations, the ransom payout and parachutes were handed over and Cooper released Flight 305’s passengers. The refueling process began, at which point Cooper revealed to the plane’s pilot and a handful of other crew members his desired destination: Mexico City. About 30 minutes after the flight departed at 7:40 p.m., Cooper, wearing a parachute and in possession of the ransom money, leapt from the plane’s aft airstair at 10,000 feet and into the night over southwestern Washington, near Mount St. Helens.

To this day, the identity of D.B. Cooper remains a mystery, and it’s unclear if he even survived the jump. Still, in an ongoing effort to retire the nation’s only unsolved skyjacking, the FBI has processed thousands of possible suspects, including copycat hijacker Richard McCoy Jr., Seattle-based flight attendant Kenneth Christiansen and a deceased engineering surveyor from Oregon named Lynn Doyle Cooper.

Recently, a group of citizen investigators analyzed the $3 clip-on necktie from JC Penney that Cooper left behind on airplane seat 18E. They claim to have found thousands of microscopic particles, including cerium, strontium sulfide and pure titanium, which indicate he was likely an employee of an aerospace engineering firm. “These are what they call rare earth elements. They’re used in very narrow fields, for very specific things,” Tom Kaye, lead researcher for the group Citizen Sleuths, told a Washington news station. "Of all the possible things for him to leave on the plane, the tie was incredibly fortunate for this investigation" because neckties are washed so infrequently, the group wrote on their website.

Numerous books, films, songs and TV show plotlines have been inspired by the legend of D.B. Cooper. Heck, he’s been name-checked on everything from "30 Rock" to "Breaking Bad." And as you may have guessed, David Lynch named cherry pie-loving, black coffee-swilling FBI agent Dale Bartholomew Cooper from "Twin Peaks" after him. In August 2013, the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma opened an exhibit dedicated to the 1971 skyjacking. It’s unclear if the man of the hour attended.

In July 2016, the History Channel aired a two-part special about the case, with retired investigators poring over evidence and pointing the finger at Robert Rackstraw, a 72-year-old man who lives on a boat in the San Diego Bay. Rackstraw has said he’s considering filing a civil suit against History Channel over the accusation. In that same month, the FBI declared it would no longer actively investigate the Cooper case and would direct resources to other investigations.

Who: Amelia Earhart



Missing since: 1937

Where: The Pacific Ocean

Pioneering aviatrix, author, teacher, magazine editor, celebrity fashion designer, cigarette spokesperson. In her short 39 years on this planet, Amelia Earhart managed to amass an impressive CV, but it was her mysterious disappearance while attempting a round-the-world flight that continues to intrigue to this day.

Although there are numerous theories, no one can be certain what really happened when Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, while en route to Howland Island in a Lockheed Electra 10E, a disappearance that resulted in the most intensive — and expensive — search effort in American history up to that time. It’s commonly believed that the Electra ran out of fuel and Earhart, who was declared dead in absentia in 1939, ditched the plane into the Pacific near Howland Island – the "crash and sink theory" — although there’s been no shortage of wild myths and legends surrounding Earhart’s disappearance. In 2012, researchers embarked on a $2.2 million expedition to prove that Earhart crashed her plane on the tiny island of Nikumaoro.

Our favorite Earhart disappearance legend, other than the one where she’s employed to spy on the Japanese by F.D.R., has to be the one involving the iconic pilot pulling an Abbie Hoffman — a ludicrous scenario in which Earhart secretly completed the round-the-world flight but, tired of all the fame and fortune, decided to move to Monroe Township, New Jersey, and change her name to Irene Craigmile Bolam. Author Joe Klaas ran with this theory in his 1970 book, "Amelia Earhart Lives," and, as a result, the real Irene Craigmile Bolam was none too pleased. Bolam, a banker and amateur pilot, filed a $1.5 lawsuit and publisher McGraw-Hill quickly pulled Klaas’ book after it was published.

Who: Harold Holt


Missing since: 1967

Where: Point Nepean, Victoria, Australia

It’s not every day that a prime minister vanishes into the sea. However, just that happened on Dec. 17, 1967, when the 17th prime minister of Australia, Harold Holt, decided to go for a swim at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria. Following two days of exhaustive search efforts, the authorities declared that 59-year-old Holt, a skilled swimmer and longtime member of Parliament who had served as prime minister for less than two years, was presumed dead. His body was never recovered and it wasn’t until 2005 that a coroner ruled the cause of death to be accidental drowning — he was either swept out to sea or eaten by shark — in a risky location known for strong rip currents. At the time of his disappearance, Holt was taking pain meds for a shoulder injury.

Not long after Holt went missing, the rumor mill started working overtime and speculation as to what exactly happened that fateful morning at Cheviot Beach continues to this day. Among the more wild myths, many fueled by the fact that Holt’s disappearance was not followed by a formal inquiry and that his body was not found: he was abducted by a UFO; he faked his own death so that he could decamp with his mistress, Marjorie Gillespie; and, most famously, he deliberately swam out to sea where he was plucked from the water by a waiting Chinese submarine and whisked off to China. This ridiculous theory, in which Holt was revealed to be a communist and longtime secret agent for the People’s Republic of China, surfaced in British journalist Anthony Grey’s controversial 1983 book, "The Prime Minister Was a Spy." To this, Holt’s wife Zara responded: "Harry? Chinese submarine? He didn’t even like Chinese cooking."

Suicide is another theory tied to Holt’s disappearance and was suggested in the 2007 documentary "Who Killed Harold Holt?" Several sources close to the late prime minister have adamantly denied that he suffered from bouts of depression or a mental illness.

Whatever the case, Holt will forever be remembered by a wickedly ironic recreation complex in the suburbs of Melbourne, the Harold Holt Swim Centre, and by the slang expression "do a Harry Holt." Translation: to bolt — to disappear abruptly.

Who: Jimmy Hoffa


Missing since: 1975

Where: Bloomfield Township, Michigan

By now, it’s been well established that Teamsters kingpin Jimmy Hoffa was offed by the mob after vanishing from the parking lot of a restaurant in suburban Detroit on July 30, 1975. But for decades, even after the super-corrupt union leader was declared dead in absentia a full eight years later, the question remains: what in the hell did they do with his body?

Hoffa’s disappearance has yielded a delightfully sordid assortment of lore, lies and potential leads. Some have been pursed by the FBI, some have not, while most pertain to the whereabouts of his remains. Just a taste: entombed under Section 107 at the now-demolished Giants Stadium in New Jersey; hidden in the concrete foundation of Detroit’s Renaissance Center; stashed under a horse barn; interred beneath the driveway of a suburban home; tossed into a swamp in Florida; buried under a backyard swimming pool in Bloomfield Hills. Other scenarios have seen Hoffa’s body sent through a meat grinder, weighted down in a river, disintegrated at a fat-rendering plant, crushed in a car compactor, buried in a gravel pit, and, last but not least, stuffed into an oil drum and deposited at a toxic waste dump in New Jersey.

The latest entrant in the always-riveting game of Where in the World Is Jimmy Hoffa’s Body? According to one source, he’s interred in a shallow grave on a vacant lot in Oakland County, Michigan, about 20 miles north of the restaurant where he was last seen alive. Apparently, this location was intended as a temporary dumping ground before Hoffa’s body was transferred to a more relocation. That plan, however, fell through.

This revelation comes from Tony Zerilli, a reputed Detroit mob boss who was incarcerated at the time of Hoffa’s disappearance. Zerilli told New York’s NBC 4 News during a January 2013 interview: "I’m as certain as I could possibly be. If I had money, I’d like to bet a big sum of money that he’s buried (there)." He adds: "I’d like to just prove to everybody that I’m not crazy." And on the topic of money and crazy, Zerilli is promoting his new, self-published book titled "Hoffa Found." As of publication, Hoffa’s remains remain at large.

Who: Henry Hudson


Missing since: 1611

Where: James Bay, Canada

Henry Hudson (a.k.a. the famed British navigator who has a river, bay, strait, town, bridge, etc. named after him) must have been a rather pushy fellow to work for. His own crew — homesick, starving, half-frozen and unwilling to keep exploring after becoming trapped in ice for several months — set a determined Hudson, his teenage son and seven infirm and/or loyal-to-Hudson sailors adrift on a small, open boat in the middle of present-day Hudson Bay. Hudson and the other cast-offs were never seen or heard from again. (So much for talking things out with the HR department, eh?)

Not a whole lot of particulars are known about the mutiny that ended Hudson’s fourth expedition as only a handful of the Discovery’s crew survived the voyage back to England to stand trial. Arrested and charged with the murder of their captain, the mutinous crewmembers ended up escaping any kind of punishment and, to this day, it’s generally believed that a marooned Hudson met his maker while aboard the tiny lifeboat. This scenario has been immortalized in a famous John Collier painting (pictured). (A fur-clad, ZZ Top-ish Hudson doesn’t appear too thrilled in it.)

In his book, "Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson," esteemed history professor Peter Mancall highlights evidence that suggests Hudson could have been violently murdered by his crew and not forced into a small boat with a few others and left to die. The possibility that Hudson managed to survive the mutiny, changed his hair color and relocated to Rio de Janeiro where he lived out the rest of his life as a popular yet enigmatic lounge singer named "Bob Simpson" has been ruled out. And as for Hudson’s doomed crew, you never know, they could have very well reemerged nearly 200 years later alongside a few other former disgruntled Hudson sailors — the crew of the Half Moon — as hirsute bowling enthusiasts living in New York’s Catskill Mountains.

Who: Azaria Chamberlain


Missing since: 1980

Where: Northern Territory, Australia

"G’day Mate."

"Let’s throw another a shrimp on the barbie."

"That’s not a knife. This is a knife."

"A dingo ate my baby!"

This is just a small sampling of (mostly unfortunate) phrases associated with the great country of Australia that have been embedded into the pop culture lexicon. And as for that last one, it really did happen — and Paul Hogan had nothing to do with it.

The 1980 disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain remains one of the most infamous, if not the most infamous, murder cases in Aussie history. And it wasn’t until 2012 — 32 years, a super-sensational trial, several dramatic coronial inquests, demoralizing public scrutiny and a "Seinfeld" punchline later — that Azaria’s beleaguered parents found closure when a coroner ruled that their 9-week-old daughter had indeed been snatched from an outback campsite near Uluru by a marauding wild dog.

Following Azaria’s disappearance, her mother, Lindy Chamberlain, was tried and convicted for the murder of her infant daughter and sentenced to life in prison. She served three years before being released after a piece of Azaria’s clothing was found, totally by chance, in a dingo’s lair near the campsite. Two years later, the convictions against Lindy and her husband Michael were overturned and all charges were dropped. However, it wasn’t until a fourth inquest in 2012 that an amended death certificate — a death certificate that legally backed the Chamberlains’ initial claim that their daughter was taken from her tent by a dingo during the night and carried off into the wilderness and killed — for Azaria was finally issued.

And as for that famous phrase, it’s actually a misquote from the 1988 Meryl Streep film, "A Cry in the Dark" in which Streep, playing Lindy Chamberlain, cries: "The dingo took my baby!"

Other notable people who disappeared:

Dorothy Arnold: Manhattan socialite and heiress. Disappeared December 1910 in New York City at the age of 25.

Jean Spangler: Actress and dancer. Disappeared October 1949, in Los Angeles at the age of 26.



Frank Morris (pictured): Criminal. Disappeared June 1962, from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary along with John and Clarence Anglin at the age of 36.

Jim Thompson: American businessman. Disappeared March 1967 from the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, at the age of 61.

Sean Flynn: Freelance photojournalist and son of actor Errol Flynn. Disappeared April 1970 in Cambodia at the age of 28.

Oscar Zeta Acosta: Attorney, activist and traveling companion of Hunter S. Thompson. Disappeared 1974 in Mexico at the age of 39.

Richey Edwards: Guitarist, Manic Street Preachers. Disappeared February 1995 in London at the age of 27.

Bison Dele: Retired professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons. Disappeared July 2002 in Tahiti at the age of 32.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with new information since its original publication date in February 2013.

Photo credits

"The Last Days of Henry Hudson": Wikimedia Commons
Amelia Earhart: Wikimedia Commons
Harold Holt: Department of Defense
Jimmy Hoffa: AFP/Getty Images
D.B Cooper: Wikimedia Commons
Azaria Chamberlain: Getty Images
Frank Morris: Wikimedia Commons
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Matt Hickman ( @mattyhick ) writes about design, architecture and the intersection between the natural world and the built environment.

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