A diagnostic error that apparently resulted in the birth of an infant with cystic fibrosis was concealed for more than a year from officials at the National Institutes of Health, who had repeatedly warned the geneticist who ordered the tests that they were barred by federal law.
The geneticist responsible for the flawed diagnosis, Dr. Mark R. Hughes, left the NIH in October after officials discovered he was violating federal laws by using NIH equipment and personnel to test DNA from human embryos created by in vitro fertilization.
At the time of Hughes' departure it was believed the tests, intended to ferret out the genes believed to cause cystic fibrosis and other birth defects before the embryos were implanted in their mothers' wombs, had been confined to a private hospital near the sprawling NIH campus in this suburb of Washington, D.C.
In recent weeks, however, investigators have learned that the genetic tests--including the one resulting in the apparent misdiagnosis--also were occurring in Hughes' NIH laboratory "on the average of once a month," despite warnings from Hughes' superiors that he not employ any government resources in his embryo research.
Concerned that the embryo testing may have violated a statutory prohibition against spending federal funds for purposes not authorized by Congress, NIH has referred the Hughes case to the inspector general's office of Health and Human Services Department.
According to NIH investigative memos and other documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the apparent misdiagnosis occurred in September 1995, but NIH officials learned of it only last October, when they questioned one of Hughes' assistants about her role in the unauthorized gene tests.
The failure of Hughes or his assistants to report either the misdiagnosis or the misuse of federal research funds prompted the NIH director, Dr. Harold Varmus, to remind all NIH researchers last month of their obligation to report suspected fraud and criminal offenses to the agency's internal investigators.
One of the documents produced by investigators terms the apparent misdiagnosis the "most troubling" of the revelations that have followed the NIH's discovery that one of its star researchers violated the directives of not only his NIH superiors, but Congress and the president.
Only weeks before the apparent misdiagnosis, the documents show, Hughes was reminded by officials at the NIH's National Center for Human Genome Research, where he headed the section on reproductive and prenatal genetics, that he was not to use NIH equipment or personnel in his research on human embryos.
That warning stemmed from an executive order, issued by President Clinton in late 1994, cautioning that human embryo research "raises profound ethical and moral questions" and forbidding the use of federal funds for such research.
Congress later buttressed the president's order with a legislative ban. Clinton last week extended his directive to also ban human cloning experiments of the type recently performed in Scotland with sheep.
The highly experimental technique employed by Hughes, known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, involves testing DNA, the biochemical blueprint for life, extracted from a single cell of a microscopic embryo created via in vitro fertilization.
The embryo that was misdiagnosed had been created in the laboratory of a private medical center from the sperm and egg taken from a prospective father and mother, both of whom carried a single copy of the tiny genetic anomaly scientists believe to be the cause of most cases of cystic fibrosis.
Cystic fibrosis is an incurable disease in which a thick mucus causes a chronic infection of the lungs that can lead to other fatal complications. About half of those afflicted with cystic fibrosis die before age 30.
According to NIH documents, that DNA test was performed in Hughes' NIH laboratory by one of his research assistants, who mistakenly concluded that the resulting child would be free of cystic fibrosis.
The remainder of the embryo was implanted in the uterus of the mother, who bore her baby sometime last summer.
As a routine precaution, the documents show, blood was drawn when the infant was several weeks old and sent to Hughes for confirmation that the cystic fibrosis gene was not present.
The gene apparently was present. "This work resulted in a misdiagnosis," states one of the documents prepared by NIH investigators. "The misdiagnosed embryo was implanted; and the resulting child is now being treated for cystic fibrosis."
There is no evidence in the documents that the misdiagnosis stemmed from the fact that the genetic testing was unauthorized. But the same document notes that Hughes' NIH laboratory, where the misdiagnosis occurred, did not hold the federal certificate of approval required of all labs that perform human diagnostic tests.
An NIH spokeswoman, Anne Thomas, said no certification had been obtained because pre-implantation diagnosis was not supposed to have been done in Hughes' laboratory.
Thomas said NIH is continuing to question Hughes' former assistants, but that the agency had not yet learned the source of the embryo used in the mistaken diagnosis or the identity of the couple who contributed it.
The PGD technique, developed by Hughes in collaboration with researchers at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London, has the potential to significantly reduce the number of babies born with such genetic diseases as cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease or Tay-Sachs disease.
According to current federal law, government funds cannot be used for research in which a human embryo may be "destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death." In Hughes' research, the remaining embryo is discarded when one of its cells is found to contain the gene for cystic fibrosis or another disease.
It is due in part to techniques like PGD that the subject of embryo research has become a highly emotional one, opposed by those who believe that discarding even a three-day-old embryo amounts to the termination of a human life, and by medical ethicists concerned about the potential misuse of human genetic engineering.
In addition to ferreting out birth defects, PGD could be used to select the gender of an unborn child--and, once the location of the genes that control other human characteristics is discovered, such things as hair color, eye color, height, perhaps even such traits as intelligence or sexual orientation.
At the time he helped develop the PGD technique Hughes, who holds both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees, was on the faculty of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In July 1994 he was recruited by NIH in Bethesda and obtained a joint appointment at Georgetown University, a Jesuit institution located in nearby Washington.
Although Hughes was provided with an NIH laboratory and research assistants, his salary was paid by Georgetown under a contractual arrangement in which NIH agreed to provide the university with some $3 million to support Hughes' research.
A few months after Hughes arrived in Bethesda, Clinton issued the federal ban on embryo research. According to NIH documents, Hughes was informed by NIH officials on at least two occasions that he was not permitted to use NIH resources for human embryo work.
Nor, say Georgetown officials, was Hughes able to do such work at the university, because the ethical and religious directives for Catholic Health Care Services forbid "non-therapeutic experiments on a living embryo or fetus."
One of the NIH documents quotes Hughes as assuring NIH officials in 1995 that Georgetown administrators had concluded in vitro fertilization research "was necessary at Georgetown," even though the university's leadership understood "that they will come under severe criticism from the cardinal and possibly even Rome."
A Georgetown spokeswoman, Clare Fiore, denied that any such conclusion had ever been reached by the university or conveyed to Hughes.
"The conclusion reached through these discussions was that IVF research including pre-implantation research could not be conducted with university resources or in university facilities," Fiore said. "Before he began working at Georgetown, Dr. Hughes was expressly advised of the university's position."
There is no bar to embryo research in clinics and institutes not supported by federal funds, and Hughes arranged to continue his PGD work at Bethesda's Suburban Hospital, a private institution adjacent to the NIH campus.
Although NIH officials acknowledged that research Hughes performed on his own time at Suburban was not governed by federal law, the documents show, they warned him not to move NIH equipment to Suburban or to permit his NIH research assistants to assist him at the hospital.
But when the hospital's medical ethics committee approved Hughes' plan to perform PGD research there, it noted that "NIH and Georgetown are sponsoring this protocol"--an assertion that NIH spokeswoman Thomas maintained was false.
"Mark was not authorized to present a protocol as a collaboration with NIH," Thomas said. "If he did represent this as an NIH collaboration, he did not do it with our assent. NIH had a policy that no such research would be conducted using NIH resources."
Hughes did not respond to two written requests and two telephone calls seeking comment on the assertions in the NIH documents. Dr. David Ledbetter, who recruited Hughes to NIH and now is at the University of Chicago, declined through a university spokesman to comment on the case.
When Hughes decided last July to move his base of operations from NIH to the Georgetown campus, NIH permitted him to take more than $1 million in government-owned laboratory equipment with him--but with the specific proviso that none of the equipment could be used there for work on embryos.
Just a few days before the move, Suburban had announced that Hughes, whom it described as a "world-renowned geneticist," would head its new in vitro fertilization clinic, dubbed the National Center for Reproductive Medicine and Genetics.
According to the documents produced by NIH, Hughes was "specifically instructed," that none of the NIH equipment destined for Georgetown should be diverted to Suburban Hospital.
But the documents state that the trucks that carried the equipment from the NIH to Georgetown did make an unauthorized stop at Suburban, and that some of the NIH equipment lent to Georgetown was delivered to Suburban instead.
At least $20,000 worth of equipment has not yet been accounted for, NIH officials said.
The first indications that Hughes was violating the Clinton directive and the congressional ban surfaced a few days later, when an inventory of the equipment delivered to Georgetown produced what one NIH document terms "major discrepancies" that "could not be reconciled."
Their suspicions aroused, two NIH administrative officers, under the guise of lunching at Suburban, wangled an invitation to tour Hughes' PGD facility there. Inside, they discovered pieces of NIH lab equipment and notebooks belonging to Hughes' NIH research assistants.
When one of the administrative officers later called the hospital to inquire about their fertility services, she was told the fertility clinic was "directly affiliated with the NIH and they do part of our diagnostics."
Astonished NIH officials confronted Hughes, who assured them, via e-mail, that it was "not my intention to have anybody supported by (NIH) at Suburban. Nor, is (NIH) equipment there." Hughes agreed that NIH "should not, in any way whatsoever, be associated with Suburban."
But when the head of the Human Genome Center, Dr. Francis Collins, summoned Hughes to a meeting, Hughes "admitted that he had moved equipment to Suburban, but that it had recently been moved" to Georgetown, according to a memo prepared by one of the participants.
Asked to explain why he had violated the congressional ban and directives from his superiors, the memo quoted Hughes as saying that "he felt that he had an understanding" from NIH officials that he could use their equipment for embryo research in spite of the ban.
"When Dr. Collins asked how he got this understanding," the memo states, "he said he had not been directly told this was OK, he just assumed it was." NIH spokeswoman Thomas maintained that "there was never any such understanding conveyed to Dr. Hughes. We said `no,' and he heard `yes.' "
Hughes assured Collins at the meeting that no NIH equipment remained at Suburban. But NIH investigators who visited the hospital the next day found an NIH refrigerator from which the NIH property decal had been removed and a laboratory notebook belonging to another of Hughes' NIH assistants, most of whom were postdoctoral researchers.
When the investigators questioned one of the assistants, according to one of the documents, they were told that Hughes "had moved everything we might look for (incubators, micromanipulators, etc.) into storage at Suburban and had locked up notebooks, etc. in the bathrooms."
The assistant told investigators that Hughes had "led us on a wild goose chase," and that another assistant who had been working at Suburban had been "told not to come to work yesterday because Mark didn't want her seen by us."
A third assistant told investigators that, following Hughes' meeting with Collins, "Mark had rented a truck on Friday night, asked some of the postdocs to help load it, and when (the truck) got to (Georgetown University) on Monday, the tissue culture room, which had just been cleaned up, was full of (NIH) equipment which the postdocs told her came from Suburban."
One assistant involved with the embryo gene tests told the investigators she had "felt coerced by Mark and frightened not to obey." Another said she also felt "quite intimidated" by Hughes.
According to one of the documents, the woman said she feared that "her career could be damaged by Mark if she doesn't do what she is told," and "that the foreign people in the lab feel even more confused and intimidated."
When one assistant asked Hughes whether a particular embryo test had the approval of Suburban Hospital's ethics committee, she said he replied that no such approval was needed. Another recalled that when she questioned Hughes about whether the work he was asking her to do violated the federal ban, she was told the ban "was just a matter of interpretation and that it was OK for her to do it."
In October the NIH, still unaware of the misdiagnosis or that other illegal testing had also taken place in its own labs, terminated its research relationship with Hughes, citing his violation of the federal ban by using NIH personnel and equipment to perform diagnostic tests on human embryo DNA at Suburban.
One senior NIH official concluded that "Dr. Hughes' veracity" regarding where and how his research had been done "is highly suspect."
The official also criticized Hughes for having failed to provide his young research assistants with "appropriate research guidance and direction," to inform them that the work they were doing was "explicitly prohibited" by law, or to advise them whether the research had been approved by the appropriate medical ethics committees.
Although NIH investigators learned in October that the NIH equipment moved to Georgetown had also been used for embryo research there, NIH's Thomas said last week her agency did not advise Georgetown of that fact until sometime in December.
Thomas said she could offer no explanation for the delay. But Georgetown spokeswoman Fiore said Georgetown had never been informed by NIH that its facilities had been used for embryo-related research, but had only learned about it in January after the university launched its own investigation of Hughes' research.
That investigation resulted in Hughes' resignation in late January as head of the university's Institute for Molecular and Human Genetics. In relinquishing his post, Hughes declared in a letter to the university that "recent events make clear that I cannot continue my pre-implantation genetic diagnosis work while serving as a Georgetown faculty member."
It was only after discovering in January that the embryo DNA testing had also taken place at NIH that agency officials referred the matter to the HHS inspector general, who has the authority to conduct criminal investigations.
The federal statute prohibiting the expenditure of funds for unauthorized purposes carries criminal as well as civil penalties.
A third inquiry is under way, by the staff of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. NIH officials are said to be concerned that Congress, on which they are counting to increase their $13 billion allocation in the current Clinton budget, will conclude that the ban on embryo research had not been taken seriously.


text:
Rajd Argentyny 2014 (34. XION Rally Argentina 2014) – rajd samochodowy rozgrywany w Argentynie od 8 do 11 maja 2014 roku. Była to piąta runda Rajdowych Mistrzostw Świata w roku 2014. Rajd został rozegrany na nawierzchni szutrowej.

Rajd ten wygrał fiński kierowca Jari-Matti Latvala, było to jego dziesiąte zwycięstwo w karierze rajdów WRC. Drugą pozycję ze stratą prawie półtorej minuty zajął francuz Sébastien Ogier, a trzeci ze stratą prawie sześciu minut dojechał Anglik Kris Meeke. Jedyny Polak startujący w tej imprezie, Robert Kubica, przyjechał do mety na szóstej pozycji, co było jego najlepszym wynikiem w tym sezonie.

Lista uczestników

Zwycięzcy odcinków specjalnych

Power Stage - OS14

Wyniki końcowe rajdu

Klasyfikacja generalna po 5 rundach

Punkty otrzymuje 10 pierwszych zawodników, którzy ukończą wyścig według klucza:

Przyznawane są także punkty za odcinek specjalny zwany Power Stage: za zwycięstwo 3, drugie miejsce 2 i trzecie 1 punkt.

Klasyfikacja zespołów po 5 rundach

Wynik WRC-2 po 5 rundach

Życiorys
Oficjalna strona Rajdu Argentyny 2014

Przypisy

2014
Argentyna
2014 w Argentynie

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text:
Budapest & Bucharest: totally same, but diffe …
Visa-free visits to Beijing?
In-flight calls to become the norm
› Travel News › In-flight calls to become the norm
As Virgin Atlantic becomes the first airline to offer in-flight mobile phone calls (using your own mobile!), more airlines are looking in the same direction. Aviation experts predict that it'll become the norm in no time, maybe even by the end of the year.
For now turning off your mobile phone is part of the flying routine. You find your seat, shove your bags up into the over-head compartment and turn your phone either off or to flight-safe mode. But this could become a thing of the past sooner than we think now that Virgin Atlantic allows passengers to make mobile phone calls in-flight.
Currently passengers aboard Virgin's Airbus A330 and Boeing 747 flights between London and New York can make calls on their own mobile phones and only be charged typical international roaming rates. Calls cannot be made during take-off or landing, only once the plane has reached the appropriate altitude.
Passengers are charged via their regular phone bill, not on a credit card like most airlines
New technology means no risk to interfering with aircraft navigation systems
Phones must be capable of international roaming
Virgin isn't the only airline planning to expand this feature though. More than 100 aircraft currently in use have the right technology to allow the same. AeroMobile is currently working with big airline names like Emirates, Malaysian Airlines and Virgin Atlantic to offer this service to passengers. More than 1000 aircraft are in AeroMobile's project pipeline from airlines like Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and Gulf Air to offer the same service.
The mobile technology is still in the baby stages right now though, allowing only six passengers at a time can make calls but allows unlimited texting and data use. Which means more tweeting in the air! Things have definitely picked up since 2010 when only a few airlines were thinking about it, and at extortionate rates. Just check this post out, Mobiles on a plane, who's got'em?
Img: Global X / Flickr cc.
US shutdown to hit tourism, big time
Tracking lost luggage… with your mobile!
Burn rubber at Top Gear's Test Track… now open!
Egypt: how safe is it?

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text:
Nigeria, Egypt set for heavyweight bout
The Pharaohs players celebrate including superstar, Mohamed Salah (far right)
The Super Eagles have quality and experience to challenge for the title in Cameroon
The Pharaohs are Afcon's most successful nation, with a record seven titles to their name
NIGERIA and Egypt will have a heavyweight bout in Group D at the Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations 2021 when they meet at the Roumde Adjia Stadium in Garoua on Tuesday.
Kick-off is at 6pm CAT (SA, GMT+2).
Nigeria are three-time Afcon champions (most recently in 2013) and finished third in the last tournament in 2019.
Another serious challenge for the title will be expected from the West African powerhouses, even though they come into the Afcon with an interim coach in the shape of Augustine Eguavoen (who replaced long-time manager Gernot Rohr at the back end of 2021).
Nonetheless, the Super Eagles have the quality and experience to challenge for the title in Cameroon, with Eguavoen determined to make the most of his time in charge (he will be replaced by new permanent appointment Jose Peseiro after the tournament).
"We have to face reality, nobody cares to hear excuses," said Eguavoen. "We have to tell the players where we are now and where we want to be at the end of Afcon. The federation has a goal, the country has a goal, as players and individuals we also have goals."
Egypt are the Afcon's most successful nation, with a record seven titles to their name (the most recent in 2010). They were runners-up as recently as 2017, while their run as hosts in the last tournament in 2019 ended in disappointment with a round of 16 exit.
This time around the Pharaohs are hopeful that Coach Carlos Queiroz can harness the undoubted quality at their disposal – including arguably the best player in the world this season in Mohamed Salah – as they chase an eighth continental crown.
"I believe that these 25 players will be able to build a strong and cohesive team that plays good football and is able to win and fight for it and has a strong mentality," said Egypt's Portuguese coach. "This tournament is very strong. We need players who are ready to perform whenever we need them."
In head-to-head stats, Nigeria and Egypt have met in 18 matches across all competitions since 1960, with the Super Eagles claiming eight wins compared to five for the Pharaohs, while five games have been drawn.
The teams last met in an international friendly in March 2019 in Asaba, with Nigeria claiming a 1-0 home win thanks to an early goal from Paul Onuachu. Afcon News
African champs Algeria open the defence of their title


text:
Keeping Your Career Fresh
By Jolene Peixoto-Wednesdays for Women- No Comments.
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A Career Perfect Fit
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Career Destiny
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text:
Trump adviser says wants U.S.-Russia strategic talks on Chinese threat
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton adjusts glasses during a news briefing following his meetings with Georgian officials in Tbilisi, Georgia October 26, 2018. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili
TBILISI (Reuters) - U.S.
National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Friday that the United States wanted to hold strategic talks with Russia about China's belligerent activity.
Bolton made the comments in an interview with Reuters in Tbilisi, the capital of ex-Soviet Georgia, where he was holding talks with senior government officials.
Bolton said that Chinese missile capabilities posed a threat to Russia as the "Russian heartland" was in striking distance of such missiles.
He also said that the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty which the U.S. is planning to quit was "a relic of the Cold War".
http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/PoliticsNews/~3/GjBNqHn978U/trump-adviser-says-wants-u-s-russia-strategic-talks-on-chinese-threat-idUSKCN1N01TI
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Advanced Warfighter Magazines (AWM) fill the gap between the current metal and polymer magazine designs. These lightweight molded polymer magazines stand up to rough handling and extreme conditions of tactical operations, including heat and impact of sustained full-auto fire. Permanently attached, wrap-around feed lips are made from a single piece of precision formed, hardened steel that is PTFE coated for corrosion resistance. They help promote smooth ammo movement and will not deform when the magazine is stored fully loaded over a long period of time. Tested to withstand temperature extremes of -50 degrees F to +180 degrees F and a 5 foot drop fully loaded, onto concrete without impairment of function. Non-reflective exterior has molded-in ridges and enhanced texturing that improve the structural strength and provide a solid grasping surface. Drops free from mil-spec magwells; load to full capacity and insert into weapons with bolt closed. 30-round model fits pouches designed for standard US-GI-spec magazines. Anti-tilt follower and constant-radius body curve helps ensure smooth, snag-free feeding. Hard polymer base plate provides a positive gripping surface for extracting mag from tight-fitting pouches and removes easily for disassembly and cleaning.
Bought 5 of the AWM to use in a SIG 556 SWAT. Loading the magazine was a breeze and the ability to see round count was a plus. All magazines functioned with out any problems and the last round locked the bolt to the rear. If you want an alternative to MAGPUL try this magazine I highly recommend it.
I still like Magpul Pmags, but these are even better. Sturdier feed lips, nice aggressive texture to grip, and the translucent plastic allow you to check your round count with a quick glance.
Being fully transparent from all around makes it easier to see the remaining ammunition.
We ran it over, dropped it on the feedlips numerous times, parked an H2 on it for 10 minutes and it still worked.
I don't say this lightly: the AWM is better than a PMAG in ever single way.
It's just as resilient, has stronger feed lips, can be left loaded indefinitely (read: years) with ZERO feed lip spread, slides in and out of magwells faster than PMAG (reloads are as quick as aluminum mags), and it has a true anti-tilt follower (almost as good as magpul enhanced follower and WAY better than the green milspec follower).
Mag spring is VERY strong; it feels like an XP spring...great for reliability in SBRs and over-gassed carbines like Bushmaster and DPMS.
I highly recommend the AWM's without reservation. I go on patrol with these.
Also, these are no longer affected by DEET like the old Lancer L5's.
These new lancer magazines are even smoother than the original L5's. They are so easily inserted into the mag well and there is absolutely no play in the follower. Permanent steel feedlips definitely give them an advantage over the Pmags, in my opinion.
I really wanted to like these magazine. I bought both the Translucent 30 rounder, and the black 30 rounder when they first came out. The manufacturing date on my mags are 02/11 and 03/11. The feed lips are great, they're easy to load, the follower and spring both work as they should. The issue I have is that neither one locks the bolt to the rear after the last round.
If I insert an empty magazine on a closed bolt, and pull the bolt back, 50% of the time it'll lock the bolt back, but once I press the bolt release and let the bolt ride home and try it again, it will not work.
Same with when shooting. I went through about 200 rounds in each mag, and every time, the bolt rode home after the last round.
I've heard other people haven't had this issue, but since it's happened to me in the translucent and black mag, I won't be buying anymore.
Great range toys, but I'll stick with my magazines that completely work, instead of mostly work.
The 20 and 30 AWM's survived the Noveske 3 gun class and Larue multigun 2012. They were used for every stage in the heat, rain, and dust of central Texas. Loved the fact that I could visually inspect the number of rounds without having to press check the mag. Monopodded off the base with no issues. Locked back consistently with my rifle. Like them better than PMAGs for overall design.
Bought 8 of these. Brilliant design, lives up to all the hype. Love the hardened steel feed lips. Love the the look of my shiny brass reloads peeking through the translucent smoke polymer. For just a couple bucks more than a Pmag - totally worth it.
I have been trying out a couple of these magazines for the past few years and recently bought 6 of the translucent mags for duty use. I just completed a week long LE shooting course and used these mags throughout. No malfunctions. Not one ever. This course included plenty of dirt and mud work and the magazines remained completely reliable, no matter how dirty they got. I have left one magazine loaded more or less continually for 4 years, always with the round on the right side, with no feed lip deformation or body swelling. These mags have proven to be as reliable as other polymer mags without the feedlip susceptibility/brittleness in the cold.
Being from both a Military as well as Law Enforcement background, I've seen the best, as well as worst equipment. I received two prototypes from Lancer when they first came out- they are yellow in color, and are the L5 version, however, they worked!!
They are still working several years later, and have been paired with my old, trusted, Bushy. The AWF Magazines have proven themselves time and again, and even though I have many mags of different types, and several ranging in capacity from 60-100 rds, if the stuff hits the rotating wind machine, it'll be my Lancer AWF mags in MY bug out bag. To the three star rater, I make an observation. As I've built, repaired, and upgraded many hundreds of these rifles, my suspicion is that it's your BCG causing the failure, not the magazine. Though some mags will work, many out of spec BCG units will act up with some mags. I also recommend checking your bolt catch, as not all are identical. In my builds are the best quality BCG's and bolt catches I can obtain within the budget. Try replacement of these critical components and you'll have the same results as everyone else. Good shooting, everyone!!
its so pretty... have not shot 1 shot without a jam.
Mfr Part: 999000232001 738435615000 Advanced Warfighter Magazines (AWM) fill the gap between the current metal and polymer magazine designs. These lightweight molded polymer magazines stand up to rough handling and extreme conditions of tactical operations, including heat and impact of sustained full-auto fire. Permanently attached, wrap-around feed lips are made from a single piece of precision formed, hardened steel that is PTFE coated for corrosion resistance. They help promote smooth ammo movement and will not deform when the magazine is stored fully loaded over a long period of time. Tested to withstand temperature extremes of -50 degrees F to +180 degrees F and a 5 foot drop fully loaded, onto concrete without impairment of function. Non-reflective exterior has molded-in ridges and enhanced texturing that improve the structural strength and provide a solid grasping surface. Drops free from mil-spec magwells; load to full capacity and insert into weapons with bolt closed. 30-round model fits pouches designed for standard US-GI-spec magazines. Anti-tilt follower and constant-radius body curve helps ensure smooth, snag-free feeding. Hard polymer base plate provides a positive gripping surface for extracting mag from tight-fitting pouches and removes easily for disassembly and cleaning.
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AR-15 L5AWM Magazine 223/5.56 30rd Polymer Smoke Gray 5/Pack Advanced Warfighter Magazines (AWM) fill the gap between the current metal and polymer magazine designs. These lightweight molded polymer magazines stand up to rough handling and extreme conditions of tactical operations, including heat and impact of sustained full-auto fire. Permanently attached, wrap-around feed lips are made from a single piece of precision formed, hardened steel that is PTFE coated for corrosion resistance. They help promote smooth ammo movement and will not deform when the magazine is stored fully loaded over a long period of time. Tested to withstand temperature extremes of -50 degrees F to +180 degrees F and a 5 foot drop fully loaded, onto concrete without impairment of function. Non-reflective exterior has molded-in ridges and enhanced texturing that improve the structural strength and provide a solid grasping surface. Drops free from mil-spec magwells; load to full capacity and insert into weapons with bolt closed. 30-round model fits pouches designed for standard US-GI-spec magazines. Anti-tilt follower and constant-radius body curve helps ensure smooth, snag-free feeding. Hard polymer base plate provides a positive gripping surface for extracting mag from tight-fitting pouches and removes easily for disassembly and cleaning.


text:
Canada / North & Central America
by admin · Published October 6, 2016 · Updated October 18, 2016
Oak Island is a 57-hectare (140-acre) privately owned island in Lunenburg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island is located 200 meters (660 feet) from shore and connected to the mainland by a causeway and gate.
The island is best known for various theories about possible buried treasure or historical artifacts, and the associated exploration.
For more than a century and a half, there have been investigations and excavations on Oak Island. There are a large number of theories about what might be buried or concealed on the Island. Areas of interest on the island include a location known as the Money Pit, a formation of boulders called "Nolan's Cross", the beach at "Smith's Cove", and a triangle-shaped "Swamp". The Money pit area has been repeatedly excavated. Critics argue that there is no treasure and that the Money Pit is a natural phenomenon.
There are many 19th-century accounts of Oak Island, but some are conflicting or biased. Further, physical evidence from the initial excavations is unavailable. A basic summary of the history of the pit is as follows:
In 1857, there appeared newspaper accounts of a group digging for the treasure of the pirate Captain Kidd on Oak Island. In 1862, treasure hunter J.B. McCully of Truro, Nova Scotia wrote that the early settlers of the Oak Island area had brought with them a story of a dying sailor of Captain Kidd's crew claiming that 2 million pounds value in treasure had been buried on an island. McCully further claimed that in the early days of settlement, a "Mr. McGinnis" while scouting a location for a farm had happened upon a depression in the earth which was consistent with the "Captain Kidd" story. With the assistance of a "Smith" and "Vaughn", McCully claimed that McGinnis excavated the depression and discovered a layer of flagstones two feet below. As they dug down they discovered layers of logs at about every 10 feet (3.0 m). They were said to have abandoned the excavation at 30 feet (9.1 m) due to the people of the area refusing to assist in the digging based on "superstitious dread". In 1863, an investor in the Oak Island diggings named Paul Phy claimed that "McGinnis" was the first settler on Oak Island and had discovered the "depression" around 1799.
Investigator Joe Nickell reviewed the original accounts and interviews with McGinnis descendants and other descendants of the original Oak Island land owners. While later sources asserted that the treasure had been discovered by three young boys, he asserted that the story was of three adult lot owners who discovered the depression on the island and began digging.
These excavations were first briefly mentioned in print in the Liverpool Transcript in October 1856. A more complete account followed, again in the Liverpool Transcript, by a Justice of the Peace in Chester, Nova Scotia, the Novascotian, British Colonist, and A History Of Lunenburg County (the last source based on the Liverpool Transcript articles).
Approximately eight years after the McGinnis dig, according to articles written in the 1850s, another group examined what was to become known as the Money Pit. The Onslow Company sailed 300 nautical miles (560 km) from central Nova Scotia near Truro to Oak Island with the goal of recovering what they believed to be secret treasure. They continued the excavation down to approximately 90 feet (27 m) and found layers of logs or "marks" about every ten feet (3 m) and layers of charcoal, putty and coconut fibre at 40, 50 and 60 feet (12, 15 and 18 m).
According to the earliest account written in 1862, at 80–90 feet (24–27 m), they recovered a large stone bearing an inscription of symbols. The pit subsequently flooded up to the 33-foot (10 m) level. Bailing did not reduce the water level, and the excavation was abandoned. Several researchers apparently attempted to decipher the symbols. One translated them as saying "Forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried." The symbols currently associated with the "Forty feet below" translation and seen in many books first appeared in True Tales of Buried Treasure, written by explorer and historian Edward Rowe Snow in 1951. In this book he states he was given this set of symbols by Reverend A.T. Kempton of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In 1849, investors formed the Truro Company, which reexcavated the shaft back down to the 86 feet (26 m) level, where it flooded again. They then drilled into the ground below the bottom of the shaft. According to the nineteenth-century account, the drill or "pod auger" passed through a spruce platform at 98 feet (30 m), a 12-inch (300 mm) head space, 22 inches (560 mm) of what was described as "metal in pieces", 8 inches (200 mm) of oak, another 22 inches (560 mm) of metal, 4 inches (100 mm) of oak, another spruce layer, and finally into clay for 7 feet (2.1 m) without striking anything else.
The next excavation attempt, made in 1861 by a new company called the Oak Island Association, resulted in the collapse of the bottom of the shaft into either a natural cavern or booby trap underneath. It was later theorized that the imagined chests had fallen into a deep void and that the pit may have been booby-trapped to protect the treasure. The first fatality during excavations occurred when the boiler of a pumping engine burst. (Six people were killed in accidents during various excavations.) The company gave up when their funds were exhausted in 1864.
Further excavations were made in 1866, 1893, 1909, 1931, 1935, 1936, and 1959, none of which were successful. Excavators did, however, pour red paint into the flooded pit that revealed three separate exit holes around the island. Another fatality occurred on 26 March 1897 when Maynard Kaiser, a worker, fell to his death. Franklin Roosevelt was part of the Old Gold Salvage group of 1909 and kept up with news and developments for most of his life.
In 1928, a New York newspaper printed a feature story about the strange history of the island. Gilbert Hedden of New Jersey, operator of a steel fabricating concern, saw the article and was fascinated by the engineering problems involved in recovering the putative treasure. Hedden collected books and articles on the island and made six trips there. He even ventured to England to converse with Harold T. Wilkins, the author of Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island, believing he had found a link between Oak Island and a map in Wilkins's book.
Hedden purchased the southeast end of the island. He began digging in the summer of 1935, following excavations by William Chappell in 1931. In 1939, he even informed King George VI about developments on Oak Island.
The 1931 excavations by William Chappell sank a 163-foot (50 m) shaft 12 × 14 feet to the southwest of what he believed was the site of the 1897 shaft, close to the original pit. At 127 feet (39 m), a number of artifacts, including an axe, an anchor fluke, and a pick, were found. The pick has been identified as a Cornish miner's poll pick. By this time, the entire area around the Money Pit was littered with the debris and refuse of numerous prior excavation attempts, so the owner of the pick cannot be identified.
In 1959, Robert Restall and his 18-year-old son came to Oak Island and signed a contract with one of the property owners. In 1965 they attempted to seal off what was thought to be a "flood tunnel" in Smith's Cove. After digging a shaft down to 27 feet at Smith's Cove, Restall was overcome on August 17, 1965 by carbon monoxide fumes from a gasoline engine operating at the top of the shaft. Restall's son then went down the shaft and also lost consciousness. Kal Graseser, Restall's partner, and workers Cyril Hiltz and Andy DeMont then went down as well. A visitor at the site named Edward White had himself lowered on a rope into the shaft and was able to bring out DeMont. The other four men died.
In 1965, Robert Dunfield leased portions of the island and, using a 70-ton digging crane with a clam bucket, dug out the pit area to a depth of 134 feet (41 m) and width of 100 feet (30 m). The soil removed was carefully inspected for artifacts. Transportation of the crane to the island required the construction of a causeway (which still exists) from the western end of the island to Crandall's Point on the mainland two hundred metres away. Dunfield's lease terminated in August 1966.
In January 1967, Daniel C. Blankenship, David Tobias, Robert Dunfield, and Fred Nolan formed a syndicate for exploration on Oak Island.
In April 1969, Daniel C. Blankenship and David Tobias formed Triton Alliance, Ltd. and purchased most of the island. Certain of the previous landholders, such as Mel Chappell, became shareholders in Triton.
In 1971, Triton workers excavated a 235-foot shaft, known as Borehole 10-X, supported by a steel caisson to bedrock. According to Blankenship and Tobias, cameras lowered down the shaft into a cave below recorded the possible presence of some chests, human remains, wooden cribbing and tools; however, the images were unclear, and none of these claims has been independently confirmed. The shaft subsequently collapsed, and the excavation was again abandoned. This shaft was later successfully redug to 181 feet (55 m), reaching bedrock; work was halted because of lack of funds and the collapse of the partnership.
An account of an excavation of the Money Pit appeared in the January 1965 issue of Reader's Digest magazine. More than a decade later, the Money Pit mystery was the subject of an episode of the television series In Search of… that first aired 18 January 1979, bringing the legend of Oak Island to a wider audience.
In 1983, Triton Alliance began a lawsuit against Frederick Nolan over the ownership of seven lots on the Island and causeway access to the island. Two years later, Nolan's ownership of the lots is confirmed but he is ordered to pay damages for interference with Triton's tourist business. The case is appealed and Triton loses again in 1989 but the damages owed by Nolan are reduced.
During the 1990s, further exploration was stalled because of legal battles between the Triton partners and a lack of financial resources. As of 2005, a portion of the island was for sale for an estimated US$7 million. A group called the Oak Island Tourism Society had hoped the Government of Canada would purchase the island, but a group of American businessmen in the drilling industry did so instead.
It was announced in April 2006 that brothers Rick and Marty Lagina from Michigan had purchased a 50% stake in Oak Island Tours Inc. for an undisclosed amount of money. The shares sold to the Michigan partners were previously owned by David Tobias; remaining shares are owned by Blankenship. Center Road Developments, in conjunction with Allan Kostrzewa and Brian Urbach, members of the Michigan group, had purchased Lot 25 from David Tobias for a reported $230,000 one year before Tobias sold the rest of his share. The Michigan group, working with Blankenship, said it would resume operations on Oak Island in the hope of discovering buried treasure and solving the mystery of Oak Island.
In July 2010, Blankenship and the other stakeholders in Oak Island Tours Inc. announced on their website that the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage had granted them a temporary Treasure Trove Licence allowing them to resume activities until 31 December 2010. After December 2010, the department repealed the former Treasure Trove Act and replaced it with a new "Oak Island Treasure Act". The new Oak Island Treasure Act came into effect on 1 January 2011 and allows for treasure hunting to continue on the island under the terms of a licence issued by the Minister of Natural Resources.
While later accounts say that oak platforms were discovered every 10 feet (3.0 m), but the earliest accounts simply say that "marks" of some type were found at these places. They also say there were "tool marks" or pick scrapes on the walls of the money pit and that the dirt was noticeably loose and not as hard packed as the surrounding soil.
In 1851, treasure hunters discovered coconut fibers beneath the surface of one beach called Smith's Cove. This led to the theory that the beach had been converted into a giant siphon, feeding water from the ocean into the pit via a manmade tunnel. A sample of this material is said to have been sent to the Smithsonian Institution in the early 20th century, where it was concluded that the material was coconut fibre. The origin of these fibres has been a source of heated debate among Oak Island researchers, since coconut trees do not occur naturally in Canada.
One expedition said they found the flood tunnel at 90 feet (27 m), and that it was lined with flat stones. However, Robert Dunfield (a trained geologist) wrote that he carefully examined the walls of the reexcavated pit and was unable to locate any evidence of this tunnel.
Upon the invitation of Boston-area businessman David Mugar, a two-week survey was conducted by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1995. This is the only known scientific study that has been conducted on the site. After running dye tests in the bore hole, they concluded that the flooding was caused by a natural interaction between the island's freshwater lens and tidal pressures in the underlying geology, refuting the idea of artificially constructed flood tunnels. The Woods Hole scientists who viewed the videos taken in 1971 reported that nothing conclusive could be determined from the murky images.
The five finger drains or box drains at Smith's Cove on Oak Island, which have traditionally been assumed to feed seawater into the alleged flood tunnel, have in recent times been argued to be the remains of an early salt works, and accordingly there is no connection between the five finger drains and any flooding of the Pit.
Oak Island lies on a glacial tumulus system and is underlaid by a series of water-filled anhydrite cavities, which may be responsible for the repeated flooding of the pit. This type of limestone easily dissolves when exposed to water, forming caves and natural voids. Bedrock lies at a depth of 38 to 45 metres (125 to 148 feet) in the Money Pit area.
The Oak Island 90 Foot Stone was cut with "mysterious markings" that no one could read or decipher. The first public announcement of the Oak Island 90 Foot Stone and its symbols was in the Halifax Sun and Advisor dated 2 July 1862, which mentioned a letter retelling the facts of the stone. The author was J.B. McCully, who had drafted the letter on 2 June 1862. While offering a secondhand description of the conditions of discovery during the 1805 excavation, McCully mentions the following: "Some [layers] were charcoal, some putty, and one at 80 feet was a stone cut square, two feet long and about a foot thick, with several characters cut on it".
In a newspaper article from 1863, the stone is said to have been built into the "chimney of an old house near the pit". Another article from a year later claimed that the stone had been preserved by the Smith Family. On 2 January 1864, John Hunter-Duvar, secretary of the Historical Society of Nova Scotia, contacted treasure hunter George Cooke. In a letter dated 27 January 1864 from George Cooke to John Hunter-Duvar replying to the letter of 2 January 1864, Cooke claims that Smith had built the stone into his chimney in 1824 and says that he was shown the stone by Smith in the chimney around 1850. Cooke further said that when he visited the house in 1864, he discovered that the chimney had been enclosed in wood and surrounded by a staircase making the stone no longer visible.
The next mention of the stone is in the Oak Island Treasure Company Prospectus of 1893. The prospectus claims that at some unknown point between 1864 and 1893, the stone was taken out of the chimney and moved to Halifax where an unnamed expert was said to have deciphered the stone as reading: "Ten feet below are two million pounds buried." An undated post-1893 letter by William Blair states the following: "Jefferson W. McDonald, who first mentioned Oak Island to me in 1893, worked under George Mitchell. Mr. McDonald, who was a carpenter by trade, also told of taking down a partition in Smith's house, in order that he with others might examine the characters cut on the stone used in the fireplace in the house. The characters were there all right, but no person present could decipher them." George Mitchell was the superintendent of works for the Oak Island Association, formed 3 April 1861 and ceasing operation by 29 March 1865.
James DeMille, in his 1872 fiction novel The Treasures of the Sea, details how he was a summer resident of Chester Basin during the later 1860s. He lived on Oak Island for a summer and possessed firsthand knowledge of the underground workings through his own observations. DeMille noted the stone had already been removed from the fireplace when he arrived on the island and that up until that point no person had been able to decode the mysterious symbols found upon the stone.
The Oak Island Syndicate was based on the original Truro Syndicate enlisted the help in securing funding for the treasure hunt through silent partner Warren Delano, Jr., who was an accomplished mariner, trader, business organizer, and grandfather to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Reginald Vanderbilt Harris (1881-1986) wrote in his 1958 book "The Oak Island Mystery" It was said, "About 1865-1866 the stone was removed and taken to Halifax. Among those who worked to remove the stone was Jefferson W. MacDonald.". While the letter of William Blair supports the idea that the MacDonald helped remove the stone, Harris provides no source for the claim that the stone was removed in 1865 or 1866.
On August 19, 1911, Collier's Magazine published a firsthand account by Captain H.L. Bowdoin of the stone which was at that time located at Creighton's bookbindery in Halifax. He described the rock as being "of a basalt type hard and fine-grained." The stone Bowdoin saw had no symbols on it. He was told that they had worn off, but was doubtful given the hardness of the stone that it would have been possible for such an inscription to wear off no matter how the stone might have been used in the bookbindery.
The book The Oak Island Treasure by Charles B. Driscoll states this: "The stone was shown to everyone who visited the Island in those days. Smith built this stone into his fireplace, with the strange characters outermost, so that visitors might see and admire it. Many years after his death, the stone was removed from the fireplace and taken to Halifax, where the local savants were unable to translate the inscription. It was then taken to the home of J.B. McCulley in Truro, where it was exhibited to hundreds of friends of the McCulleys who became interested in a later treasure company. Somehow the stone fell into the hands of a bookbinder, which used it as a base upon which to beat leather for many years. A generation later, with the inscription nearly worn away, the stone found its way to a bookstore in Halifax, and what happened to it after that I was unable to learn. But there are plenty of people living who have seen the stone. Nobody, however, ever seriously pretended to translate the inscription." The stone was supposedly brought by A.O. Creighton of the 1866 expedition from the Smith home to Creighton's bookbindery in Halifax. Harry W. Marshall, the son of one of the owners of the bookbindery, wrote in 1935 that he had seen the stone at the business until it closed in 1919. He believed that the stone was left behind in the building at that time.
The names of the original lot owners and their plots were mapped out for Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Crown Lands office on July 6, 1818, by William Nelson and David W. Crandall.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, stirred by family stories originating from his famous sailing and trading grandfather and Oak Island financier Warren Delano, Jr., began following the Oak Island Mystery from late 1909 to early 1910 and continued to follow and keep close tabs on progress until his death in 1945. Throughout his political years, he monitored Oak Island and kept close ties to recovery attempts and development. He privately devised a secret plan to visit Oak Island as President in 1939 while being in nearby Halifax, Nova Scotia. However, the fog delay and the international situation leading up to World War II made it impossible, as is seen in an archived signed letter.
Australian-American actor Errol Flynn was invested in an Oak Island treasure dig.
Actor John Wayne was an investor in the drilling equipment manufacture used on Oak Island and offered the use of his equipment to help solve the mystery.
William Vincent Astor, member of the prominent Astor family and heir to the fortune after his father died on the Titanic, took a passive investment in digging for Oak Island Treasure.
Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr. maintained a passive investment in, and monitored the status over time of, Oak Island exploration and treasure hunting. Admiral Byrd advised Franklin Roosevelt on Oak Island and formed a relationship over their work, forming the United States Antarctic Service (USAS), an arm of the federal government, with Byrd nominally in command.
There has been wide-ranging speculation among enthusiasts as to how the pit was formed and what it might contain.
The earliest theory was that the pit held a pirate treasure hoard buried by Captain Kidd. Some believe that Kidd conspired with Henry Every and Oak Island was used as a pseudo community bank between the two. Folklore has it that a man on his deathbed in the early 18th century confessed to having been a member of Kidd's crew, and stated that they had buried several chests of treasure on an island "east of Boston". Another pirate theory involved Edward Teach (Blackbeard), who claimed he buried his treasure "where none but Satan and myself can find it."
Critic Joe Nickell argues that there is no treasure and that the apparent pit is a natural phenomenon, likely a sinkhole connected to limestone passages or caverns. Suggestions that the pit is a natural phenomenon, specifically accumulated debris in a sinkhole or geological fault, date to at least 1911. There are numerous sinkholes on the mainland near the island, together with underground caves (to which the alleged booby traps are attributed).
The resemblance to a human-made pit has been suggested to be partly due to the texture of natural accumulated debris in sinkholes: "this filling would be softer than the surrounding ground, and give the impression that it had been dug up before". The appearance of "platforms" of rotten logs has been attributed to trees damaged by "blowdowns" (derechos) or wildfires, periodically falling or washing into the hollow.
Another pit similar to the early description of the Money Pit was discovered in the area in 1949, when workmen were digging a well on the shore of Mahone Bay. At a point where the earth was soft, they found a pit, described as follows: "At about two feet down a layer of fieldstone was struck. Then logs of spruce and oak were unearthed at irregular intervals, and some of the wood was charred. The immediate suspicion was that another Money Pit had been found."
Another explanation proposes the pit was dug to hold treasure, but that this was done by someone other than pirates, such as Spanish sailors from a wrecked galleon or British troops during the American Revolution. A recent theory proposes that the pit was constructed by British marines to store the loot acquired from the British invasion of Cuba, which at the time was valued at about 1,000,000 pounds (about $180,000,000 in 2015). The author John Godwin argued that, given the apparent size and complexity of the pit, it was likely dug by French army engineers hoping to hide the contents of the treasury of the Fortress of Louisbourg after it fell to the British during the Seven Years' War.
Joy Steele suggests that the Money Pit is actually a tar kiln that dates from the historical period when "Oak Island served as a tar-making location as part of the British naval stores industry".
There is a story that, like most others regarding the island, lacks archival sources, or any quoted sources at all, which places the jewels of Marie Antoinette (which are historically missing, save for some specimens in the collections of museums worldwide) on Oak Island. On 5 October 1789 during the French Revolution, an angry mob of Parisian working women was incited by revolutionaries and marched on the Palace of Versailles, where the royal family lived. According to the story, Marie Antoinette instructed her maid or a lady-in-waiting to take the jewels and flee. Supposedly, this maid fled to London with the jewels and perhaps other treasures, such as important artwork or documents, secreted away either on her person (one variation suggests sewn into her underskirts in the case of the jewels, though fails to mention artwork) or as her luggage; it is even said she was perhaps assisted by the remaining officers of the French navy during the uprising at the queen's behest.
The story then goes on to say that this woman fled further afield from London to Nova Scotia. Through the royal connections she would have had during her service to the queen at Versailles, she managed to contract the French navy to help construct the famed 'pit' on the island. This theory (as noted) lacks recognized documentation other than that which is folkloric in nature, involves the French navy, which (during the Revolution) had an uncertain level of authority, and would place the construction of the Oak Island structure very close to its alleged initial discovery by Daniel McGinnis in 1795. Whether such a complex engineering effort could have been completed in that small period of time is questionable, though no official date of its construction exists.
Still others have speculated that the Oak Island pit was dug to hold treasure much more exotic than gold or silver. In his 1953 book, The Oak Island Enigma: A History and Inquiry Into the Origin of the Money Pit, Penn Leary contended that the pit was used to hide manuscripts showing Francis Bacon to be the author of William Shakespeare's works and a leader of the Rosicrucians. Leary's "The Second Cryptographic Shakespeare", published in 1990, identified ciphers in Shakespeare's plays and poems pointing to Bacon's authorship. Author and researcher Mark Finnan elaborated upon Leary's Oak Island theory. The theory was also used in the Norwegian book Organisten (The Organ Player) by Erlend Loe and Petter Amundsen.
Some have speculated that the Rosicrucian secret society and its supposed leader Sir Francis Bacon organized a secret project on Oak Island as the home of its legendary vault with ingenious means to conceal ancient manuscripts and artifacts. Researchers and cryptographers such as Petter Amundsen and Daniel Ronnstam claim to have found codes hidden in Shakespeare, rock formations on the island, and clues hidden in other 16th and 17th century art and historical documents. Daniel Ronnstam claims the 90 foot stone is in fact a dual cypher created by the master cryptologist, Sir Francis Bacon.
It has been asserted that the pit could have been dug by exiled Knights Templar and that it might be the last resting place of the Holy Grail or possibly the Ark of the Covenant.
Mark Finnan in his book Oak Island Secrets noted that many Masonic markings were found on Oak Island and pointed out that the shaft or pit and its mysterious contents seemed to replicate aspects of a Masonic initiation rite involving a hidden vault containing a sacred treasure. Joe Nickell identifies parallels between the accounts of Oak Island and the allegory of the "Secret Vault" in York Rite Freemasonry, similar to the Chase Vault, identifies many prominent excavators as Freemasons, and suggests that the accounts explicitly include Masonic imagery. The most thorough and comprehensive treatment to date of the masonic aspects of the Oak Island Legend is given by Freemason Dennis King in his article "The Oak Island Legend: The Masonic Angle".
Some suggest what lies concealed in Oak Island can be more than 1,500 years old. Researcher and author J. Hutton Pulitzer's theory involves ancient mariner voyages of Minoan, Phoenician, Carthaginian and later Roman Empire origins visiting Oak Island because of its strategic navigational location. Pulitzer writes in his books that ancient mariners kept the New World a trade secret and were hired by the kings, pharaohs, and emperors of ancient Europe to collect valuable resources, such as gold, tobacco, and other exotic items. On the television series The Curse of Oak Island, he postulates the theory that one such secret voyage involved treasure and religious artifacts from King Solomon's temple or the Ark of the Covenant, being relocated and deposited on Oak Island for safekeeping.
Another explanation is that the Money Pit is actually a sunken Viking ship which has settled in a vertical position, making it a treasure only in the historical or archeological sense. Sukhwant Singh theorizes the regularly separated platforms are actually wooden backrests for rowers, and the coconut fibers are the remains of mattresses, pillows, or other cushions used by the Vikings for comfort.
Barry Fell attempted to have the symbols on the stone translated in the late 1970s. Mark Finnan Fell concluded that the symbols were similar to the Coptic alphabet and when translated reads as follows: "To escape contagion of plague and winter hardships, he is to pray for an end or mitigation the Arif: The people will perish in misery if they forget the Lord, alas." Fell proposed a theory where Coptic migrants sailed from North Africa to Oak Island and constructed the pit.
Lee Lamb claimed that human-made structures exist under Oak Island. She was unable to conclude if these structures were constructed by people hiding a treasure or were the remains of prior excavation attempts.


As some of you may recall, I made a bold claim awhile back that Aquaman would outsell Wonder Woman in the box office, to which many said I was insane. How would Aquaman, the longtime joke of DC possibly surpass Wonder Woman in sales? Well as reported by Screenrant it has done exactly that. Now I highly doubt it hits that coveted billion-dollar mark, but beating out WW to become the 2nd highest grossing film in the DCEU is impressive none the less. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.


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COUGAR CLUB
CofC Men's Tennis BIO
< Back to Roster page
Senior (2015-16): As a senior, Record played an important role for the Cougars. He won all four of his matches in singles play, and posted a record of 11-11 in doubles play between the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. Record's biggest win came on Jan. 31 when he and partner Vasily Kichigin defeated No. 72 Clemson's No. 3 doubles team, 6-4. Record also was a participant in the Cougars run for their first CAA Championship, and a berth in the NCAA tournament, where they faced No. 3 ranked North Carolina.
Junior (2014-15): Spent the majority of the season playing the No. 3 doubles spot, winning 10 of the 14 matches he participated in at that spot. Also won a match in both the No.1 and No.2 doubles spots with Charlie Ghriskey or Rodrigo Encinas. Record also won his only singles flight of the season against Spartanburg Methodist at the No. 3 spot.
Sophomore (2013-14): Opened his sophomore campaign with a strong fall campaign in which Record captured a flight championship with doubles partner Stephen Hardy at the UVA Fall Classic…Won the Southern Intercollegiate doubles championship with teammate Rodrigo Encinas…In regular season play, Record went 2-2 in singles play and 3-5 in doubles action…Picked up his first win of the season against Limestone, playing at the No. 5 position…Swept his court four opposition against Spartanburg Methodist, 6-0, 6-0…Earned his third victory of the year at Winthrop, downing the Eagles' Michael Chen in a three set thriller, 6-2, 5-6, 2-6…Playing alongside senior Stephen Hardy, Record helped the Cougars down cross-town rivals The Citadel with a court three dispatching of the Bulldogs pairing 8-3.
Freshman (2012-13): Posted a 2-1 record in No. 6 singles and a 2-3 mark in doubles…Picked up a key singles win in a close 4-3 victory over Appalachian State.
High School: Four-star recruit out of Leon High School in Tallahassee, Fla.…Three-Time City Champions...Four-Time District Champions...Four-Time Regional Runner-Up…Four-Time Tallahassee Democrat All-Big Bend Player of the Year…2012 Individual State Doubles Champion with Alberto Ayala…Leon High School Wendy's High School Heisman Nominee…Complied a 70-12 career singles record at the No. 1 position…An Honor Roll member all four years of high school…Member of the Interact Service Club and El Cid Spanish Club…Organized the inaugural Charity Flag Football Tournament at Leon with the proceeds going to Toys for Tots.
Personal: Son of Kim and Kevin Record…His father played tennis at Lynchburg College and his mother is the Director of Athletics at UNCG…Chose CofC because of its great tennis program, academics and location…His athletic goal at CofC is to make the most out of his tennis game and help the team in any way he can…Undecided major at College of Charleston…His career ambition is to do something that helps others and something he enjoys doing…During the summer months, he works tennis camps with his dad, plays golf and soccer and goes to the beach with friends…Lists his biggest influence as his mother, because she taught him that anything can be accomplished with perseverance.
Hometown: Tallahassee, Fla.
High School: Leon
Experience: 3 Letters
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Pan-fry ginger and onion for about 5 minutes without oil. Leave aside.
Put water in a medium pot, boil beef bones, sliced meat and beef brisket over high heat. Add pan-fried ginger and onion.
Add star anise, cinnamon and salt to the pot. Lower fire and simmer for about 1 hour until meat becomes tender.
Remove beef bones and meat from the broth. Slice meat thinly. Strain and put beef broth into another pot.
Add in fish sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes.
In another pot with clean boiled water, blanch taugeh and noodles of your choice and rinse through cold running water. Strain. Put noodles and taugeh in a serving bowl.
Put sliced meat on top of noodles, and sliced onions.
Pour hot beef soup to the bowl of noodles. Garnish with sliced chillies, coriander leaves, mint leaves and saw herb leaves. Add a dash of pepper to serve with calamansi aside.
It's totally different from the authentic Vietnamese beef noodles I tried in Vietnam.


Just a couple days after it appeared, the American Heritage Dictionary revised its definition of 'anchor baby'. The original definition simply listed the term as if it were an objective word, like defining any other word. The revised definition describes it as "a disparaging term for a child born to a noncitizen mother...". More from Southern California Public Radio.


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Cardi B Apologises To Martin Luther King's Family
Story from Entertainment
Cardi B Apologises To Martin Luther King Jr.'s Daughter For Offensive Skit
Kaitlin Reilly
Photo: Lester Cohen/Getty Images.
"Be Careful" rapper Cardi B rarely fails to delight fans, but not everyone was laughing when she participated in a sketch that parodied civil rights activists as Real Housewives-esque reality stars.
In a video acquired by TMZ, Cardi B portrays late social justice activist and wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Coretta Scott King. The video is set to air within comedian Rip Michaels' upcoming sketch show Off The Rip.
The controversial sketch — which included references to allegations of infidelity by MLK — made Dr. Bernice King, daughter of MLK and Coretta Scott, quite unhappy.
In since deleted tweets, per TMZ, Dr. King said that the sketch was "repulsive." However, it seems that Cardi has reached out to make amends with the reverend, as evidenced by a new tweet on Bernice's Twitter.
"Thank you, @iamcardib, for reaching out to me and apologising for the skit that aired on @TMZ. I look forward to talking with you soon."
Refinery29 has reached out to Cardi B and Michaels for comment.
Thank you, @iamcardib, for reaching out to me and apologizing for the skit that aired on @TMZ. I look forward to talking with you soon.
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) August 28, 2018
In an interview with HollywoodLife, Wild n' Out star Michaels promoted Cardi's Real Housewives parody.
"If you think her music is good, her comedy is ten times better. Like she plays Coretta Scott King in the Real Housewives of The Civil Rights Movement just to let you know how deep she can go."
However, following the release of the video, Michaels reached out to Bernice on Twitter to defend Cardi.
"The views expressed on 'Off The Rip' are of mine. & not @iamcardib," he wrote. "In no know way it was it 2 defame your family's legacy."
The views expressed on "Off The Rip"are of mine. & not @iamcardib In no know way it was it 2 defame your family's legacy.
— RIP MICHEALS!! (@ripmicheals) August 28, 2018
In an interview with Page Six, Wild N' Out star Michaels spoke a little bit about Cardi's other work on the new series.
"You're going to see Cardi B in a whole new light," Micheals told the outlet. "She's doing crazy sketches, like she has this thing called 'Ho Etiquette' where she does this character where she tells how do women to handle their inner ho and how to do a relationship."
That particular 'Ho Etiquette' sketch was also acquired by TMZ.
According to TMZ, Cardi reportedly filmed the video — which teaches women how to clean themselves sans shower — three years ago. Per a statement Cardi's reps made to TMZ, the rapper stands by the jokes within the sketch, though some may consider her references to things like "Puerto Rican bath," "a Haitian shower" and "a Mexican spa day" offensive.
Everyone may love Cardi B, but it remains to be seen whether they'll love everything about Off the Rip.
Cardi B Sorry For Offensive Martin Luther King Jr. Skit
Entertainment • Music • TV Shows
written by Kaitlin Reilly
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Stand out in class with unique embroidered bookmarks from the Vervaco Set Of 2 2.5'' x 8'' Counted Cross Stitch Kit-Cheerful Cats Bookmarks. The bookmarks feature stunning prints of cats along with accented edges. Ideal for starters as well as experts, this counted cross stitch kit includes all sewing essentials like 14-count 100% cotton fabric, cotton embroidery floss, a needle, designed chart for reference and guidelines. Kit can be used to make two 2.5 x 8-inch bookmarks.


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Home / News & events / November 2020 / Salary increases for workers in Singapore expected to be among the highest in the world in 2021
Salary increases for workers in Singapore expected to be among the highest in the world in 2021
Coronavirus, Salary management, Salary reviews, Salary Trends Survey, Surveys
Salaries in Singapore are forecast to rise to 3.0% in 2021 – up from 2.5% this year
After factoring in inflation, the average real salary increase in Singapore will be 2.7% – one of the highest in the world
The number of Singapore-based companies implementing pay freezes is also expected to drop in 2021, down to 22% from 36% this year
Most locations in Asia Pacific are forecasting higher rates of increase in 2021
Rates of real salary increases across Asia Pacific are forecast to be 1.7% in 2021
Salary increases for workers in Singapore are forecast to rise to 3.0% in 2021, up from 2.5% in 2020.
Upon factoring in the predicted inflation rate of 0.3% for next year, workers in Singapore will see an average salary increase of 2.7% in real terms. While down slightly from a 2.9% real salary increase they saw this year, it is one of the highest in the world.
"Singapore is expected to be the third highest in the global rankings for real salary increases on par with Thailand and Colombia, and second highest in the Asia Pacific on par with Thailand, despite the lower forecasted increase in 2021 compared to what workers saw this year," said Lee Quane, Regional Director – Asia at ECA International. "Singapore has experienced consistently low inflation in recent years, with the country seeing a deflation of -0.4% in 2019, and is expected to see an inflation level of just 0.3% in 2021. This will thus result in higher real salary increases for workers in Singapore, as compared to countries with higher inflation rates in Asia Pacific such as Hong Kong."
Quane continued, "The expected rise in salaries next year is largely due to fewer companies implementing salary freezes, with only 22% of those surveyed saying they will continue to freeze salaries into 2021, as compared with 36% this year."
ECA International is the world's leading provider of information, software and expertise for the management and assignment of employees around the world. The annual Salary Trends Report analyses current and projected salary increases for local employees in 68 countries across the world.
Asia Highlights
All locations in Asia Pacific saw lower rates of salary growth in 2020, with an average salary increase of 3.2%. However, companies anticipate a recovery in 2021, with the average salary increase in the region forecast to jump to 4.3%.
In terms of real salary increases, countries in the region once again dominate the top of the global rankings, with eight of the top ten highest real salary increases in the global rankings expected to be seen in Asia Pacific countries.
Quane said, "The average real salary increase across Asia Pacific is forecast to be 1.7%, which is significantly higher than the global average of 0.5%. However, the average level of inflation in the region is forecast at 2.4%, which is not far off the global average. The real driver for higher real salary increases in Asia Pacific can be attributed to the sustained increase in productivity in many Asian nations, thus resulting in higher salary increases for workers."
Indonesia leads the way in this year's Asia Pacific ranking for real salary increases with a forecast increase of 3.8% – significantly higher than the joint second-place nations of Singapore and Thailand, where the increase is expected to be 2.7% in comparison.
"Few countries are expected to see a significant rise in the level of real salary increases in 2021, but there are exceptions to this within the Asia Pacific region. One of these exceptions would be Indonesia, which stands out at the top of the list and sees the average real salary increase rise from 2.6% this year to 3.8% in 2021. While inflation in Indonesia is expected to continue falling, repeating the trend we have seen in recent years, fewer companies in the country intend to freeze salaries – implying that the nominal salary increases would have risen. In fact, our data shows that although 42% of the companies surveyed in Indonesia implemented a salary freeze this year, only 24% of these will do so in 2021 – contributing to the rise in average salary increases in the country," said Quane.
Workers in Hong Kong experienced a reduction in salary growth in 2020 as businesses were adversely impacted by an unfavourable economic situation – due to both the socio-political tensions in the city and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Hong Kong's expected rebound to 3% in 2021 shows that employers are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for recovery next year. However, the fact that these rates remain lower than 2019's reveals that any recovery is likely to be gradual."
Additionally, real salary increases, which reflect increases in employee incomes after taking into consideration inflation rates, will be relatively low in Hong Kong in 2021 – coming in at 0.6% after taking the forecast inflation of 2.4% for 2021 into consideration.
"Real salaries for Hong Kong residents will be amongst the lowest in the region. This compares unfavourably with expected rates of real salary increases across other parts of Asia Pacific, and may hinder the extent to which the Hong Kong economy may recover from the current recession," added Quane.
Workers in China will also see a recovery in the rates at which their salaries will grow in 2021. Workers can expect to receive a 5% salary increase on average next year – up from 3.8% in 2020.
Quane explained, "China's economy seems to have weathered the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic better than many other locations in the region, and this is reflected in the extent to which salaries are forecast to grow again in 2021. Real salary growth rates in China will only be surpassed by four other countries in the region. Indeed, once inflation is factored in, the real incomes of workers in China will grow by 2.3% in 2021."
Global Highlights
Outside of Asia Pacific, the outlook is presented very differently as many countries are expected to see decreases to real salaries. This includes major economies such as the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Quane said, "As the world struggles with the social and financial effects of the global pandemic, many countries continue to feel the impact on their economies, and therefore, their salaries. Although many Asia Pacific countries are already seeing signs of recovery, companies based in other parts of the world such as the United States and Middle Eastern countries are approaching salary rises more conservatively. As such, when inflation returns to normal levels next year as we expect, workers based in these countries are not expected to see above-inflation salary increases."
Argentina is once again at the bottom of the rankings, with a forecast real salary decrease of -28.6%. This is because inflation is expected to stay at an alarmingly high level in 2021, reaching a whopping 43.0%.
Top ten forecast real salary increases – Asia Pacific
2021 forecast real salary increase (%)
2020 real salary increase (%)
About ECA's Salary Trends Survey
The information above was taken from ECA's Salary Trends Survey 2020/2021. The survey reports current-year salary increases for local national employees and the anticipated increases for reviews in the forthcoming year. It is based on information collected from over 370 multinational companies for 68 countries. Reports are available free to all participants or for purchase either as a set or individually per country for non-participants from the ECA website.
The forecast average real salary increase in a country is calculated by looking at the predicted average nominal salary percentage increase (i.e. the salary increase given to employees by their employers) and subtracting the forecast inflation. E.g. if the average nominal salary increase in a country is 4% and inflation is at 2.1%, this would result in an average real salary increase of 1.9% (4%-2.1%=1.9%).
Data is based on increases including merit. Including merit is the total salary increase and represents general cost of living/inflationary increases plus performance/merit related increases. The data above was collected from August to September 2020.
The survey included data from all seniorities across the following industry groups which included Energy, mining & petrochemicals; Chemical & pharmaceutical; Transport & logistics; Manufacturing & consumer goods; Legal & professional services; Engineering & technology; Retail, leisure & other services; Financial services; Non-profit.
About ECA International
ECA International is the market-leading provider of knowledge, information and technology that enables businesses to manage their international reward programmes.
Partnering with thousands of clients on every continent, we provide a fully integrated suite of quality data, specialist software, consultancy and training. Our unparalleled insights guide clients as they mobilise their most valuable resource: people.
We make the complex world of international mobility simple, providing clients with the expertise and support they need to make the right decisions - every time.
ECA International: Mobility solutions for a world that's constantly moving.
Jack Firth
Email: Jack.Firth@eca-international.com


It is claimed that atheistic worldviews are held on faith, and that this makes them religions. As explained here, this is incorrect.
On May 31, 2014 Sye Ten Bruggencate and Matt Dillahunty debated whether it is reasonable to believe that God exists. Here I analyze in depth Sye Ten Bruggencate's opening argument.
Anti-natalism is the position that procreation is morally wrong, and I believe that some Christians and Muslims should be anti-natalists. Let me stress the word some here. I specifically have in mind those Christians and Muslims who believe in eternal damnation in Hell.
I recently finished reading Infidel , the autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She is a former Muslim who became an atheist. In reading this book, I found that she was someone I could relate to but also someone whose life was very different from my own.
A detailed examination of characteristics that distinguish a cult from other religious groups.
Neil deGrasse Tyson has identified himself as an agnostic instead of an atheist. What should we make of this? And what is the distinction?
Hell is understood here as a place of ceaseless torment, going on forever. Hell couldn't exist without a being as powerful as God to maintain it. But even if God did exist, Hell would be incompatible with God's goodness and justice. So, whether or not God exists, there is no Hell. Watch the video or read the article to learn why.
The Transcendental argument maintains that eternal conceptual truths require the existence of an eternal mind, which is understood to be God. I maintain that eternal truths, such as the laws of logic, are part of the fabric of reality, not conceptual truths in the sense Matt Slick intends. Read the article to learn in more detail why the Transcendental argument fails to prove God's existence.
The Atheist Nightmare asks, "If you want to claim that your brain was not intelligently designed, then shouldn't your entire belief system come into question? It would seem to me that you would have no reason to trust your own thoughts." So this is not just about creationism vs evolution. Here is my response.