D. B. Cooper is the name commonly used to refer to a hijacker who, on November 24 1971, after receiving a ransom payout of US$200,000, jumped from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest of the United States possibly over Woodland, Washington. Despite hundreds of suspects through the years, no conclusive evidence has surfaced regarding Cooper's identity or whereabouts. The FBI believes he did not survive the jump. Several theories offer competing explanations of what happened after his famed jump. The nature of Cooper's escape and the uncertainty of his fate continue to intrigue people. The Cooper case remains an unsolved mystery. It has baffled both government and private investigators for decades, with countless leads turning into dead ends. In March 2008, the FBI thought it might have had one of the biggest breakthroughs in the case when children unearthed a parachute within the bounds of Cooper's probable jump site near the town of Amboy, Washington. Experts later revealed that it did not belong to the hijacker. Still, despite the case's infamy for its enduring lack of evidence, a few significant clues have arisen.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1431: Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France after being convicted of heresy in a politically motivated trial. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc)
1536: Henry VIII of England married Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two queens consort. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Seymour)
1913: The Treaty of London was signed to deal with territorial adjustments arising out of the conclusion of the First Balkan War, declaring, among other things, an independent Albania. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_London_%281913%29)
1972: Members of the Japanese Red Army carried out the Lod Airport massacre in Tel Aviv, Israel on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, killing over 20 people and injuring almost 80 others. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lod_Airport_massacre)
1989: Goddess of Democracy, a ten meter (33 ft) high statue made mostly of polystyrene foam and papier-mâché, was erected by student protestors in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_of_Democracy)
_____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day:
obsequious: Fawning or subservient. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/obsequious)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible. -- Mikhail Bakunin (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin)