Masons Freemason Society The Secret Society of Masons George Washington was a Mason along with 13 other presidents and numerous Supreme Court Justices Benjamin Franklin published a book about Freemasonry on his own printing press Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons including the man with the biggest signature Jon Hancock MSNBC article on the Freemasons society aka Masons secret society titled Secrets of The Lost Symbol 102709 Dear friends Few understand the degree to which secret societies like the Masons aka Freemasons society wield power and control behind the scenes in our world 14 out of the 44 US presidents were Masons Thats nearly one out of three presidents Yet most people know very little about this secretive organization Key major media articles have given a glimpse of the inordinate power of top secret societies yet the media in general seem reluctant to investigate deeply and to inform us whats happening behind closed doors with the Freemasons and other powerful secret societies In Europe of the middle ages and beyond the Catholic Church ruled with an iron fist Galileo was placed under house arrest till the day he died for claiming the Earth revolved around the sun In those oppressive times secret societies served a vital function as they were one of the very few ways to preserve and foster knowledge suppressed by the church Yet whenever there is secrecy the potential for corruption and manipulation increases dramatically In this modern era of the Internet and easy access to knowledge does the secrecy of the Masons and other secret societies play a useful role in our world Is there a good purpose today for the most rich and powerful people in the world to meet behind closed doors without any public scrutiny The engaging MSNBC article below discusses key littleknown facts about the Masons and Freemasonry based on Dan Browns blockbuster The Lost Symbol Browns novel paints the Masons in a very positive light yet it also reveals their immense power Why is it that so few people know about the Masonic origins of the US and the incredible number of members of the global elite who belong to the Freemasons society and other secretive groups even now Key statements are highlighted in bold for those who prefer to skim And as I have extensively researched secret societies for years Ive added my own comments in italics at various places in this article to present another viewpoint based on reliable verifiable information I have obtained Take the time educate yourself on these important groups and help to educate others so that we can shine light into these shadows Please help to spread the word on this powerful yet littleknown aspect of our world With best wishes for a transformed world Fred Burks for PEERS and WantToKnowinfo Former White House interpreter and whistleblower Secrets Of The Lost Symbol Inside Dan Browns latest thriller and the untold tales of our nations capital By Matt Lauer Today anchor Dateline NBC This report aired on Dateline NBC on Friday Oct 15 2009 Imagine the scene a mysterious temple its entrance guarded by massive stone columns and sphinxes Inside strange symbols ancient inscriptions and mystical numbers lead to a room shaped like a pyramid with an eye that points toward the heavens and in the center of the floor a massive altar Some of the most powerful men in the country gather here to enact an ancient secret ritual drinking wine meant to represent blood from a human skull and all of it happening just a mile from the US Capitol It sounds like a work of fiction and it does come from one the opening scene of Dan Browns bestselling novel The Lost Symbol But Brown makes a remarkable claim that the ritual is real part of the history of the secretive brotherhood called the Freemasons Skull and Bones the infamous Yale secret society uses similar secret symbols operating out of a foreboding building called the Tomb George W Bush his father his grandfather and John Kerry are just a few of their prominent members For a short CNN video clip showing the Tomb a peek at their rituals and more click here Matt Lauer And when they found out that Dan Brown was going to be dealing with Freemasonry in this book what was their reaction Dan Brown Well I think they were nervous that I might focus on what some would call the macabre sides of Freemasonry Perhaps with good reason Brown has a history of prying open doors revealing dark secrets or at least seeming to The central premise of his 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code was an earthshaking secret that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had children whose descendants live among us The book infuriated some Christians It also sold 80 million copies worldwide became a blockbuster film and made Dan Brown a household name Now The Lost Symbol brings the same kind of highprofile scrutiny to the Freemasons the Founding Fathers and our nations Capitol The Da Vinci Code comes to Washington Will it have the same impact Dan Brown Theres some very potent philosophical material and absolutely astonishing science that on some level Im hoping will spark just as much debate How much debate Consider this Dan Brown America wasnt founded a Christian country It became a Christian country Or this Dan Brown The human mind really does have the ability to affect matter The Lost Symbol raises provocative questions about the beliefs of the man on the dollar bill about the power of the human mind about whether people can become gods Government intelligence services have been exploring the powers of the mind and psychic abilities for many decades They have quietly achieved a remarkable degree of success Yet they have often spread disinformation to debunk the very things which they have achieved to keep them secret For lots more on this click here and here Dan Brown It doesnt matter to me if someone agrees or disagrees with what I say But Id like them to at least think about it The book is a thriller a headlong chase through some of Washingtons most famous landmarks and also through puzzles secret codes and dark corners of history starting with the secretive group at the center of The Lost Symbol the Freemasons a worldwide brotherhood thats centuries old and still active George Washington was a Mason along with 13 other presidents and numerous Supreme Court Justices Benjamin Franklin published a book about Freemasonry on his own printing press Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons including the man with the biggest signature John Hancock The secrecy of the Masons is what allowed prominent disgruntled colonists to gather to conspire against British tyranny and eventually to establish the new and independent country of the United States Yet few history books touch on this important piece of American history At the time of independence in 1776 Masons were highly respected Yet as they became more powerful after the revolution they also became more corrupt By the late 1820s an antimasonic movement swept the nation and decimated Masonic membership though interest returned by the 1850s For more click here and here Freemasonry still has millions of members worldwide and they still conduct rituals like this one performed for our cameras Grim Reaper enacting Masonic ritual If curiosity spurred you towards us go away Do not proceed If you are capable of deception tremble Because you will be found out Freemasons have been accused of everything from murder to devil worship to secretly controlling the US government Take a dollar bill turn it over look at the great seal of the United States on the back Now draw a star of David One point will match up with the allseeing eye a common Masonic symbol Now look at the letters at the other points of the star M A S O N Coincidence Video MASON on the dollar bill Dont miss this intriguing video Could it be just a coincidence Matt Lauer Freemasons have been accused of being involved in some rather strange conspiracies A lot of that the result of the fact that you had powerful men in this case meeting behind closed doors and not discussing what they were doing Dan Brown Of course I mean any time you have powerful people who arent telling you what theyre doing youre going to assume the worst In times of great oppression like that of medieval Europe and the prerevolutionary American colonies secrecy was a vital means of sharing banned information and planning to bring positive change to the world Yet particularly in more peaceful times that same secrecy can and has been used to forward agendas which support the privileged few Very few people know about the Bilderberg Group Davos and other secretive gatherings of the global elite Why is there so little media coverage of these powerful conclaves when their influential members are daily fodder for the tabloids In Browns book the Freemasons are infiltrated by a man who believes they hold a great secret to mystical power Hes a larger than life villain named Malakh whose entire body is covered with tattoos of occult symbols Dan Brown And there is an animal quality about him He has feather tattoos on his legs Hes got giant doubleheaded phoenix on his chest Matt Lauer He saves one square inch of his flesh for something that he is coveting What is that Dan Brown That is the lost word The last piece of the puzzle This word that at least in his twisted mind will be the the coup detat The cherry on top of the sundae that will be his transformation That will give him power Malakh thinks the Masons secret word will make him an allpowerful agent of evil and he thinks that he can bring down the government with proof that some of its highest ranking officials are Freemasons The man who must prevent all that from happening is of course Harvard professor Robert Langdon the hero of The Da Vinci Code played by Tom Hanks in the movies Langdon must find the lost symbol before Malakh does in order to save an old friend and possibly the world from Malakhs evil scheme Well hear from Dan Brown about the mysteries of freemasonry and Well take a tour of Washington DC unlike any youve taken before uncovering secret places with Dan Brown as our guide And well go to the fringes of science and the depths of prehistory in search of what Brown calls the true meaning of his latest book and why he says it actually changed his beliefs Dan Brown I spent a lot of time researching and really had to get to the point where I realized You know what The worlds a stranger place then we thought Brown does his research well in both The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol In both books I checked many of the facts he stated especially the most surprising and controversial claims Invariably I was able to find reliable sources supporting his claims The Lost Symbol starts with a gruesome discovery Dan Browns hero Robert Langdon is lured to Washington DC to the US Capitol where at the center of the rotunda he finds a severed hand tattooed to resemble an ancient mystical symbol the hand of the mysteries It beckons him on a dangerous journey The hand belongs to an old friend of Langdons whos been kidnapped by the villain Malakh a man named Peter Solomon Solomon runs the Smithsonian Institution But hes also a thirtythird degree Freemason of the Scottish rite This is the headquarters of the Scottish Rite Freemasons in Washington DC They call it the house of the temple and its where we talked with Dan Brown who wove the secrets of the Masons into the taut rope of his story Matt Lauer One character is being elevated to the 33rd degree of the Scottish Rite Its a rather intense ritual He drinks wine which is to represent blood out of a skull How much of that is fact and how much of that is fiction Dan Brown Well this is a real ceremony The ceremony is described accurately The fiction comes in as to whether or not it still happens at this moment in history in this room Browns villain Malakh is the man drinking the wine Hes journeyed deep into Freemasonry to find out its secrets and so will we Malakh is fiction but how much of the ritual is real Arturo de Hoyos Dan Browns book is very exciting And like any good work of fiction it has to involve both truth and error to make it believable Arturo de Hoyos is the grand archivist and grand historian of the supreme council of the Scottish rite and himself a 33 rd degree Mason Arturo de Hoyos One of the things thats wrong is on the very first page We dont perform the 33rd Degree in this building We dont confer it at night The candidates to the members are dressed wrong And the ceremonys wrong Maybe they dont do the ceremony in this building but theres evidence Freemasons have done it Brown can quote multiple historical sources What is the truth To find out we have to delve into the distant past Mitch Horowitz Masonry in many respects is a historic mystery Mitch Horowitz is the author of the new book Occult America Hes a scholar of esoteric religions and secret societies Mitch Horowitz Masons themselves can not agree on the nature of their own origins and background Masonry may be the only modern organization for which thats true The origins of the Freemasons are shrouded in mystery Art de Hoyos outlines the simplest theory Arturo de Hoyos Freemasonry developed primarily in medieval Scotland and England with the Stonemasons guilds and societies In other words the first Masons were literally that stonecutters the men who built the great cathedrals of Europe and who wanted to guard their trade secrets Arturo de Hoyos So they developed a system of secret signs and secret passwords De Hoyos says the tradesmen started another system associated with Freemasonry the socalled three degrees apprentice fellow of the craft and master mason still used in Freemasonry today So is the symbol of a square and compass masons tools with the letter g signifying both geometry and God At meetings masons wear elaborately decorated aprons symbolic representations of the ones worn by working stonemasons But some say theres much more to Freemasonry a deeper older more mystical side Mitch Horowitz Freemasonry has been a vessel a channel for some very ancient ideas In fact some masons say the group originated in the holy land in biblical times with the builders of Solomons temple Many Masonic symbols are even older than that Mitch Horowitz The all seeing eye the pyramid the obelisk It drew very deeply upon the symbols of preChristian religion because it believed that it was part of a chain of a spiritual search for truth that was older than any modern or contemporary religion The Masons are often linked to other secret societies claiming ancient heritage like the Knights Templar and the Rosicrucians The Knights Templar reputed to be some of the fiercest warriors of the time were officially endorsed by the Catholic Church in the early 12th century Yet they became so powerful and among the worlds first bankers that by the early 14th century the church was largely successful in destroying the order Some believe the superstition around Friday the 13th came from a secret edict issued by the King of France on Friday the 13th of October in 1307 to arrest all members of the order In the novel Malakh believes the masons know mystical secrets that will make him an all powerful demon He infiltrates the group kidnaps its leader and uses blackmail to try to get what he wants Thats fiction But in fact their freethinking about religion once caused the Vatican to denounce the masons as Satanic And in the 1800s Masons in upstate New York were accused of murdering a man named William Morgan who threatened to expose their secret rituals Today the web is full of antiMasonic material Arturo de Hoyos I frequently run into people who have heard of a couple of things about Freemasonry and no more We killed William Morgan and we worship the devil and thats about all theyve heard of us Those people might be surprised to hear this Arturo de Hoyos The father of our country was a Freemason Theres no question of this And historians agree that some principles of Freemasonry became cherished principles of the United States Arturo de Hoyos Freemasonry was one of the earliest societies to advocate selfrule We elected our own leaders We had a secret ballot We had a separation of powers We were governed by a constitution All these elements were very familiar to the founding fathers But remember Freemasons also had some radical ideas about religion And as Dan Browns hero Robert Langdon races Malakh through Washington DC to find the secrets of Freemasonry he reveals littleknown facts about the founding fathers that might shock some readers Dan Brown There was a statue that sat in the Capitol It was George Washington as a god Hidden away on the lower level of the Masonic house of the temple in Washington DC theres a remarkable painting not many people have seen George Washington the first president of the United States wears the decorated apron of Freemasonry Nearby are the square and the compass traditional symbols of Freemasonry The painting is described in Dan Browns bestselling novel The Lost Symbol Dan Brown Its a cornerstone laying ritual And essentially a date is chosen that is auspicious from an astrological standpoint And there will be certain blessings that are given when this cornerstone is laid And the idea is that whatever is to take place in that building will have a solid and auspicious beginning And what building is George Washington Freemason laying the cornerstone for The United States Capitol Matt Lauer And its not just the Capitol Those ceremonies those rituals were used in the building of the Washington Monument and the White House Dan Brown They were As well as many many other buildings Masonic symbolism is rife in the great monuments and buildings of Washington DC Yet not only is this kept hidden from the public many history books even fail to mention anything about the powerful influence of the Masons throughout the early years of the republic Brown does a very good job of exposing all of this in his book For a revealing History Channel documentary which give rare excellent coverage of this click here The lore of Freemasonry marks Washington in other hidden ways as well Consider for example the number 33 cherished by the Masons Dan Brown Thirtythree is a very important number in ancient mysticism Theres a reason that Jesus Christ was said to be 33 There is a reason that there are 33 vertebrae in our spine and that much of Freemasonry has to do with the concept of the body as a temple Thirtythree repeats throughout the Masonic house of the temple Matt Lauer There are 33 columns or pillars each one 33 feet tall Dan Brown Yes sir And the same number is built into one of DCs most famous sights Matt Lauer Is it coincidence that the cap on the Washington Monument Dan Brown There is no such thing as coincidence Matt Lauer weighs Dan Brown when youre dealing with the number 33 Matt Lauer weighs exactly 300 3300 pounds Dan Brown Yeah 3300 pounds Thats right The capstone matches that mystical number Brown says the Freemasons influenced the founding of America in profound ways and what he has to say may change what you think about how this country came to be Dan Brown If you have a group of men who are Masons and simultaneously founding fathers and part of their Masonic ideal is that all men are equal of course that will be an underlying theme in the founding of a country Another important aspect of Freemasonry is this idea of freedom of religion We talked about these books on the altar Matt Lauer Its inclusive Its not exclusive Dan Brown Exactly That couldnt have said it better Here Brown reveals his proMasonic bias The Masons are far from inclusive Like the vast majority of secret societies the Masons do no accept women And though a few AfricanAmericans were granted membership at the time of the revolution widespread racism and segregation made it nearly impossible for them to join many mainstream lodges As recently as 2009 the admission of an AfricanAmerican to a Masonic lodge in Georgia generated much controversy as reveal in this New York Times article Freemasons assumed members believed in a supreme being But thats as far as it went Masons could worship Yahweh Jesus Allah or another god of their own choosing Religious freedom was built into freemasonry And many scholars say the Freemasons built it into the US Constitution Onethird of the signers were known to be Freemasons Brown says his research led him to a conclusion that might shock some people Dan Brown America wasnt founded a Christian country It became a Christian country Important thing to remember with the masons and the founding fathers is that many of the founding fathers were deists Deists believe that a supreme being created the universe but that being is impersonal It wont answer your prayers or even hear them Dan Brown The concepts behind deism where man is powerful and man is responsible are the underlying core beliefs of Freemasonry Matt Lauer So when you talk about the founding fathers who believed in deism as opposed to theism Dan Brown Almost all of them Matt Lauer Give me names Dan Brown George Washington Thomas Jefferson John Adams Matt Lauer There are a lot of people who say there is no proof for example that Thomas Jefferson was a Freemason Dan Brown That is true Matt Lauer Okay Dan Brown But certainly a deist Thomas Jefferson went so far as to take the Holy Bible and remove all of the all of the references to anything miraculous to the resurrection to the virgin birth Jefferson himself said that the idea of the virgin birth Christ springing from a virgin would one day seem as much like myth as the idea of Minerva springing from the head of Jupiter The Founding Fathers Brown says didnt just read The Bible They also read Roman and Egyptian mythology And they read the stars Its important to distinguish between the Masons involved in founding the US and those who came later The founding fathers were not traditional Christians but rather deists as even many history texts acknowledge They were highly focused on morals and values Yet as the Masons power grew in the decades after independence morals took a back seat as power and corruption moved to the fore Considering that literally 13 of US presidents were Masons shouldnt this be getting more attention And then find out how many were members of Skull and Bones the CFR and other secretive groups Matt Lauer This reliance on astrology what does it tell you What does it suggest about our founding fathers Dan Brown I think that they had a respect for what they did not understand a respect for the heavens The foundations of astrology really have a deep mystical and spiritual underpinning that that the Masons were very in tune with Matt Lauer it would be hard to imagine Barack Obama taking a trip or or doing the groundbreaking on a major monument or something and using astrology as a basis for the time and the place hed be ridiculed Dan Brown And rightly so I believe Matt Lauer But why was it okay then and is it not okay now Dan Brown Well for the same reason it was okay to believe that if you threw a virgin into the ocean a storm wouldnt hit you Matt Lauer Thats not okay now laughter Dan Brown So thats not okay either laughter You know science progresses In The Lost Symbol Malakh thinks that by learning the secrets of the Freemasons he can become something like a god You might be surprised to learn the founders had a similar idea Matt Lauer There is a painting in the Capitol Dan Brown Yes Matt Lauer Tell me about it Dan Brown Well its a painting that I was shocked to find was there I said There is a painting called the Apotheosis of Washington apotheosis meaning The godmaking of Washington Matt Lauer George Washington becoming a god Dan Brown It seemed almost irreverential It was like How can a man become a god And you start looking at this painting and you realize just how strange it is But it really to my eye and to other historians eye catches this concept of the power of man The Apotheosis of Washington is actually the huge fresco painted on the inside of the main dome of the US Capitol Building You can view it at this link The tendency to make the first president into a god shows how easily people can get twisted by power Matt Lauer Again can you imagine anyone putting forth that notion of politicians as gods Dan Brown Right Matt Lauer Here we are in the 21st century youd be run out of town Dan Brown Youd be run out of town There was a statue of George Washington that sat in the Capitol He was unclothed he had a model of a statue of Zeus It was George Washington as a god Matt Lauer Right Dan Brown And that did get run out of the Capitol building When they thought of becoming godlike the founders were probably thinking about perfecting their minds through science and learning In Browns novel however the villain Malakh believes something much more profound and potentially sinister that the Freemasons from ancient times through the time of George Washington to the present day guarded secrets that could transform matter transform a person unleash incredible psychic and spiritual power Most modernday Masons say the brotherhood is not nearly so mysterious Arturo de Hoyos There is no deep dark intimate and ultimate secret of Freemasonry which will transform the world in the way that The Lost Symbol portrays It would be exciting if it were true but such is not the case Thats what most Freemasons say but not all Cliff Porter Sometimes it is said we have no secrets Nothing could be further from the truth Well learn some of their secrets next In Dan Browns The Lost Symbol the hero Robert Langdon races through Washington DC trying to unravel a secret Masonic message Hes forced to do it by Malakh He threatens to kill a man whos both a dear friend of Langdons and a thirtythird degree Freemason Malakh also uses blackmail with evidence that some of Washingtons most powerful men engage in Masonic rituals so bizarre revealing them would bring down the government Could the rituals of freemasonry be that shocking You decide Cliff Porter Masonry is a transformative art It can be extraordinary in a mans life Its speculative and alchemical and all those things Cliff Porter is senior warden of enlightenment lodge 198 in Colorado Brothers here say they are seeking eternal truths learning ancient mysteries Cliff Porter What I take offense to is the fact that sometimes it is said we have no secrets or that what can be known about us can be Googled Nothing could be further from the truth Somewhat reluctantly they opened a few of their doors to our cameras They practice alchemy here the ancient art that sought to turn lead into gold You might think of alchemy as pseudoscience But its also been used through the centuries as a metaphor of personal transformation Tim This process of removing impurities to elevate it something greater and more special and more potent is very much what we also do within Freemasonry Take good men and make them grow into something more special Initiates go through a ritual thats meant to be intense and startling First the subjects vision is taken away with a hoodwink placed over his head Then a master Mason dressed as the grim reaper issues a warning If you persevere you will be purified you will overcome darkness you will be enlightened But if your soul is fearful do not proceed The disturbing part of this that gets little mention is that initiates swear to never reveal any of the secrets of the Masons on penalty of death The ABC News article at this link states the penalty for revealing Freemason secrets is supposed to be gory death Early antiMasonic fervor was initially sparked by the presumed murder of William Morgan when he was about to publish a book revealing Masonic secrets Shawn Beyer Freemason If youre not comfortable with whats going on if youre nervous if you think maybe you have approached the craft for the wrong reasons youre given a chance to say Im no longer okay with this Shawn Beyer joined the Freemasons recently and went through the initiation Those who elect to continue are led into a place the masons would not let us show you a chamber of reflection Shawn Beyer You go into the chamber of reflection and you remove the hoodwink And youre presented with what is a very interesting image And Dan Brown described it pretty well in his book As Brown describes it the chamber includes a human skull and bones elements used in alchemy and a pen and paper where the initiate can write a last will and testament Shawn Beyer The symbols are meant to help you think about the fact that your life isnt gonna go on forever And frankly it causes a very profound experience In one of the most striking scenes in The Lost Symbol Robert Langdon discovers a Masonic chamber of reflection at the center of American power Matt Lauer You described it as being located in the bowels of the Capitol Did it exist Dan Brown No these chambers of reflection can exist anywhere Matt Lauer Right Dan Brown Many Masonic lodges have them There are Masons who have them in their homes This kind of macabre symbolism has driven conspiracy theorists through the centuries to think the Freemasons practice some kind of black magic Brown says Masonic rituals are no stranger than some other more familiar ones Dan Brown If a Catholic church for example pulled the shades and you heard through the grapevine that people were kneeling under a crucifix an instrument of torture and consuming blood and flesh ritualistically you might say What a terrible organization Yes the major difference here being that the Masons and other secret societies shroud their rituals in secrecy while the Catholic church does them in the open The Masons in Colorado say they embrace their symbolism and mysticism But in many lodges across the country the scene is a little different Mitch Horowitz I often tell people that if you like bake sales join Freemasonry because thats what youre going to be doing Mitch Horowitz author of the book Occult America says most Freemasons are far from mystical Mitch Horowitz They run a wonderful network of free childrens hospitals around the nation They raise money for charity locally and nationally They do continue to use occult and esoteric symbols But to a very great extent these things are museum pieces in Freemasonry today Youve probably seen the Shriners an offshoot of the Masons riding gokarts and raising money for charity Freemasons even had the honor of being satirized on The Simpsons Grand Master to Homer Welcome to the club number 908 Now lets all get drunk and play pingpong The Masons have also lost some clout since George Washingtons day The last master Mason to serve as president was Gerald Ford But Brown says whether they know it or not the Freemasons secret rituals still connect them to a rich powerful mystical tradition Dan Brown I intended this book as a reverential look at their philosophy Matt Lauer And isnt there possibly another side of the coin here in this day where its become a little more humdrum with the bake sales and the charitable drives youve created a little more mystery Youve given some of their mystery back to them And they might like that Dan Brown I hope so As with any organization there are some who understand the core and some who are on the periphery Im hoping it starts to pull people in the direction of the ancient mysteries The ancient mysteries Theyre the key to the plot of The Lost Symbol But are they the key to much more Dan Brown All of these texts from all of these different authors tend in a same direction This idea of the power of the human mind and the ability of thought to actually transform the world in which we live The villain of the lost symbol Malakh is a giant who has covered himself with tattoos he thinks will give him mystical powers a doubleheaded phoenix the pillars from the temple of Solomon a snake consuming itself You might think the symbols came from from Malakhs twisted mind They came instead from a mysterious book called The Secret Teachings Of All Ages a favorite of Malakhs creator Dan Brown Dan Brown And that really is a core book for a lot of what I research and a lot of what I believe The Secret Teachings was written in the 1920s by a CanadianAmerican named Manly P Hall who founded the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles It carries on his work studying the wisdom of the ancients Its director is Obadiah Harris Obadiah Harris The ancient mysteries are about the divination of man how it is that you can become more fully human and achieve a level of consciousness beyond the reasoning mind Malakh believes the Freemasons have guarded the ancient mysteries for centuries He forces Robert Langdon to race through Washington trying to decode messages the masons engraved on a stone pyramid messages Malakh is convinced will lead him to the lost symbol of the ancient mysteries and to unspeakable power Matt Lauer And you draw a pretty straight line from the ancient mysteries to the Freemasons and to another subject that we havent quite discussed yet Is it an imaginary line or is it a real line Dan Brown No its absolutely a real line The ancient mysteries deal in the concept of the power of the human mind The Masons celebrate mankind and the power of the human mind In fact in the second degree ritual theres actually a line where they say Here you will learn the mysteries of human science Theres a form of human science that Malakh wants to hijack for his own ends It sounds like fiction But its not Dan Brown Noetic science really is the reason this book took me so long to write Ive said before Im a skeptic And I hear about these experiments that are being done that categorically and scientifically prove that the human mind has power over matter Matt Lauer The physical world Dan Brown Power over the physical world The term Noetic derives from the Greek word for mind Noetic scientists study whether age old ideas like faith healing ESP mind over matter actually have a scientific basis In Dan Browns novel theres a secret lab at the Smithsonian doing cuttingedge research to prove the human mind has such power Malakh breaks in murders one scientist and tries to kidnap another The secret lab is fiction But theres a real one similar to it in Petaluma Californias Institute Of Noetic Sciences Its director is Marilyn Schlitz Marilyn Schlitz I would say Noetic is equivalent to intuition that sense of feeling that isnt rational I just had a gut feeling about something The science part of it is really bringing that lens of discernment of rigor of critical thinking to what is a nonrational process Schlitz showed us an experiment in which one subject using her thoughts alone tries to alter the vital signs of a second subject in a sealed room Another experiment seeks to determine if people again through thought alone can affect the formation of ice crystals A third experiment involves machines called random event generators which Noetics researchers have placed on almost every continent Marilyn Schlitz They are essentially electronic coin flippers So if you imagine flipping a coin 100 times you would expect based on a normal probability distribution that youd get an equal number of heads and tails In some experiments she says human thought alone has affected these machines changing the ratio of heads to tails The Institute of Noetic Sciences IONS is a cuttingedge research institute exploring the intersection between science and consciousness Founded by astronaut Edgar Mitchell the sixth man to walk on the moon in the Apollo moon landings this group is helping people around the world to develop more fluidity in their intelligence For more on this click here Matt Lauer And its the power of the human mind The power of group thought The power of group focus Dan Brown I dont know Thats the Matt Lauer But how can you this be so central to the book if we dont know I mean thats a very difficult concept to get your arms around Dan Brown Well Matt Lauer And there are some lets be honest who think its a hoax Dan Brown Sure You dont have to look far to find them Ray Hyman a former professor of psychology at the University Of Oregon has made a mission of exposing what he considers scientific fraud and Noetic science is on his hit list Ray Hyman Noetic science is not the science that we know of as physics and chemistry and even psychology Theres very little science there as far as Im concerned Nevertheless the Institute of Noetic Sciences has received a grant from the federal government to study distance healing what you might call prayer Dan Brown I spent a lot of time researching Noetic science and really had to get to the point where I realized You know what The worlds a stranger place then we thought And the human mind really does have the ability to affect matter A secret US government program was designed to develop the ability to directly perceive at a remote distance Called remote viewing the government initially denied the existence of this program calling those who talked about it conspiracy theorists Yet in 1995 declassified documents were released revealing that the government had indeed spent many millions on this top secret program To learn more click here He says his new belief led to an old fear Dan Brown Every single scientific breakthrough in human development whether it was fire or nuclear power has been turned into a weapon My fear is that we start to learn how to use our minds and that our innate dark sides will use it for evil Which of course is exactly Malakhs goal one hes willing to kidnap torture and kill for Matt Lauer And what youve set up in the book is the people who think about Boy we can change the world in a positive way Your villain in this book Malakh says Wait a minute I dont want that renaissance Dan Brown Right Matt Lauer I want this to be a source of evil Dan Brown Malakh is the reminder that with knowledge comes responsibility It may sound heavy for a beach read But Brown doesnt seem worried Dan Brown I think my books contain a lot of meat but it tastes like dessert somehow He manages that by folding the big ideas into a booklength highspeed chase all the while revealing the secrets of a city that seems familiar What other secrets does Washington hold Brown himself will show us next The Lost Symbol takes you on a highspeed journey to uncover secrets in Washington DC Dan Brown helped us retrace the steps of his fictional hero Robert Langdon Dan Brown One thing I love to do is to get people to see things through a slightly different lens Brown showed us the nations capital through his eyes and it does look different Dan Brown This city has all the intrigue of Rome or Paris when it comes to architecture The Capitol Rotunda where the fictional Langdon makes a gruesome discovery has a reallife secret stumps of iron in the floor that used to be part of a railing In the 1820s there was a hole in the floor leading down to a lower level the Capitol Crypt Matt Lauer You also found this labyrinth of rooms in the basement areas and subbasement of the capital Dan Brown Right The under stories of the US Capitol are filled with these tiny rooms The blueprint of the Capitol building is an astonishing document It it looks like it looks like a right out of a labyrinth of ancient Greece Langdon flees through that labyrinth and emerges across the street in the Library Of Congress which has its own treasures hidden in plain sight Dan Brown Youve got this astonishing staircase with an anachronistic sort of feature one of these little cherubs these putti Youve got one up here Its holding a telephone Matt Lauer Its right yeah right there Dan Brown I mean youve got and youve got one down here Over here youve got an entomologist Hes catching butterflies With this bizarre fusion of these little religious figures with with scientific concepts And of course we had to check out the main reading room where Browns hero narrowly escapes his pursuers by riding a conveyor belt meant for books Dan Brown Its my favorite room in all of DC Matt Lauer Is it really Dan Brown Without a doubt Its been called the most beautiful room in the world Its an octagon lit in eight different directions so there are no shadows no shadows anywhere The room room really seems to to radiate Langdon needs a place to hide out a sanctuary but to get there he has to solve a riddle A refuge containing ten stones from Mount Sinai one from heaven itself and one with the visage of Lukes dark father The answer really does reside at the National Cathedral With stones from Mount Sinai in the altar steps A moon rock set in a stained glass window and a gargoyle in the form of Darth Vader As for the Smithsonian laboratory where Malakh commits a terrible murder it really exists Video Secrets of the National Cathedral Matt Lauer Almost everyone thats come to Washington knows of the Smithsonian Dan Brown Sure Matt Lauer Very few people know of a facility located just outside of Washington that is the support center for the Smithsonian Why did it fascinate you Dan Brown Whats not to be fascinated This place has got a giant squid Theres an enormous series of labs that will study everything from fleas to the baleen from whales One of The Lost Symbols greatest puzzles is also the last stop on Dan Browns mystery tour Matt Lauer At the CIA there is a sculpture that I dont think a lot of people know Dan Brown There is a an American sculptor James Sanborn and he has created a sculpture that fascinates me and and a lot of cryptologists that has an enormous series of letters on them that appear random but are actually a code Matt Lauer And and who knows the meaning of that code Dan Brown Only WW Matt Lauer Thats it Dan Brown Thats it WW is William Webster the director of the CIA in 1990 when Kryptos was installed Brown says Webster was given the key to the sculptures secret messages but hes never revealed it And not one of the CIAs army of cryptologists has cracked the entire code Matt Lauer It its obvious to anybody whos read your books that you love puzzles You Dan Brown I do Matt Lauer loved codes You know a Rubiks Cube must have been your best friend at some point Dan Brown It was Matt Lauer I mean it what laughter what is is in your opinion the most fascinating code puzzle symbol in this book Dan Brown The most fascinating code I left out of this book Matt Lauer Why Dan Brown Be it was too complicated It was just too tough to use Matt Lauer Well you cant tell me that and now not tell me about it Dan Brown Well Im not gonna tell you about it Its in the next book Speaking of the next book Matt Lauer Just between us whats it about Dan Brown Just between us laugh Matt Lauer And the Freemasons in this room Dan Brown And the Freemasons That that will be laid bare at some point in the future Matt Lauer Yeah And and is it similar subject matter Dan Brown No Matt Lauer Complete departure Dan Brown Not complete Nothings complete Everything builds on something else Just as Brown says his current book builds on his previous ones And asks the reader for something more as well Matt Lauer Theres a call to action in this book where you basically challenge the reader to take what youve just told them over the course of the previous 500 pages and decide what he or she wants to do with it And did you set out to write that ending or did that just happen Dan Brown In some ways it just happened This amount of research and intellectual growth that went into writing this novel really led to that rather hopeful ending And thank you for seeing that it is a call to action You see the whole headlong chase through Washington the secrets of the Freemasons the ancient mysteries Noetic science For Dan Brown it all adds up to a series of important questions How well do we know our history How well do we understand our beliefs How well do we grasp the powers of our own minds Matt Lauer Last word of the book is one that will surprise people Dan Brown Yes Matt Lauer It is Dan Brown Hope Matt Lauer Hope And it means what Dan Brown In the context of this book the last word means that we can do better and that we will do better And as Browns millions of fans know we can also spend hours or years puzzling over the secret codes and mystical messages of The Lost Symbol Dan Brown has done a great service by shining so much light into the shadows of Freemasonry with his popular and engaging book Yet in the end Brown paints a rather simplistic picture of the Masons He portrays them as spiritual seekers in search of higher truths and greater achievements for all humanity In his novel one evil man attempts to ruin all of the lofty secret achievements of this noble group Yet other evidence suggests a much less blackandwhite interpretation of the Masons Though the ideals of Freemasonry may be lofty and designed for the betterment of all in Note You can find the original of this article about Masons on the MSNBC website at this link For an MSNBC video on the Masons click here What you can do Inform your media and political representatives of this important information on the Masons secret society and Freemason secrets Insist that they shine light on this taboo topic and admit any personal connections to secret societies To contact those close to you click here For summaries of key mainstream media articles revealing major corruption and manipulation within many powerful yet littleknown secret societies click here For excellent verifiable information on mind control techniques use by some Masons and other secret societies see the Mind Control Information Center available here To understand the big picture behind these secret societies and their use of governmentsponsored mind control programs see powerful verifiable information available here For an inspiring essay on how we can work together to build a brighter future click here For an excellent essay on secret societies and their powerful role in shaping global politics and many aspects of our lives see the eyeopening lesson from the free Insight Course at this link Spread this news on the Masons secret society and Freemason secrets to your friends and colleagues and bookmark this article on key news websites using the Share icon on this page so that we can fill the role at which the major media is sadly failing Together we can make a difference Finding Balance WantToKnowinfo Inspiration Center WantToKnowinfo believes it is important to balance disturbing coverup information with inspirational writings which call us to be all that we can be and to work together for positive change For an abundance of uplifting material please visit our Inspiration Center See our exceptional archive of revealing news articles Please support this important work Donate here Explore the mind and heart expanding websites managed by the nonprofit 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O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 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O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B 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O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

george washington
jon hancock
the lost symbol


Modoc Tribe This article contains interesting facts pictures and information about the life of the Modoc Native American Indian Tribe The Modoc Tribe Summary and Definition The seminomadic Modoc tribe were fishers huntergatherers and traders of the Plateau cultural group The Modoc lived around Lower Klamath Lake southwestern Oregon extending across the California border including the Lost River Country and the famous Lavabed region The Modoc fought against white encroachment of their lands which resulted in the Modoc War 1872 1873 led by Captain Jack Kintpuash Native American Indian Tribes Site Index Facts about the Modoc Native Indian Tribe This article contains fast fun facts and interesting information about the Modoc Native American Indian tribe Find answers to questions like where did the Modoc tribe live what clothes did they wear what did they eat and who were the names of their most famous leaders Discover what happened to the Modoc tribe with facts about their wars and history What language did the Modoc tribe speak The Modoc tribe spoke in the Plateau Penutian language and shared many cultural traits with their neighbors the Klamath tribe and also the California Native American Indians The name Modoc meant southerners and were known as a warlike fiercely independent people who were often in conflict with neighboring tribes including the Klamath Both the Klamath and the Modoc tribes were important in the trade networks linking California to the Pacific Northwest What was the lifestyle and culture of the Modoc tribe The Modoc tribe lived in autonomous villages each with its own chiefs leaders shamans and medicine men They lived a seminomadic lifestyle and spent the cold snowy winters in semisubterranean pit houses and in the summer used temporary tulemat shelters made from the reeds and bulrushes found along the rivers The Modoc lifestyle was based on the seasons In the summer they fished around Lost River and the Tule and Clear Lakes and collected berries seeds and roots from these areas together with regions south of the lava beds They used tule reeds bulrushes to make a vast range of Where did the Modoc tribe live The Modoc are people of the Plateau Native American cultural group The location of their tribal homelands are shown on the map The geography of the region in which they lived dictated the lifestyle and culture of the Modoc tribe The Modoc tribe lived in the sagebrushcovered lava plateaus and wooded mountains of northern California and in southern Oregon Land Marshes lakes rivers and streams Climate Warm summers and cold snowy winters Animals The animals included pronghorn antelope deer groundhog coyote raccoon fox bobcat porcupine weasel hare and water fowl Fish Salmon trout Natural Resources Berries bulbs roots seeds acorn nuts water lily wocas and bird eggs Sagebrush bark Map showing location of the Plateau Native Indian Tribes Hide Covered Tepee Tule Mat lodge What did the Modoc tribe live in The Modoc tribe were seminomadic and needed shelters that were easy to set up and take down The Modoc lived in one of two types of shelters depending on the season The types of shelters were a semisubterranean pit house or a domed shaped tulemat lodge on a frame of willow poles was covered with several layers of tule mats Pit houses were shelters were about 22 feet across and up to 15 feet deep and built with logs and sealed for insulation with dirt and grasses Pit houses were built below ground with an entrance and ladder at the top and were generally used during the cold snowy winter months The summer shelter the domed tulemat lodge was above ground The tulemat lodge was covered with mats of strong durable tule reeds bulrushes What food did the Modoc tribe eat The food that the Modoc tribe ate included fish small game and waterfowl Their diet was supplemented by berries bulbs roots seeds and acorn nuts The seeds of the water lily called wocas provided a staple food The seeds were ground into meal or flour in rock mortars The Modoc utilized a distinctive twohorned milling stone to hull wocas seeds What weapons did the Modoc use The weapons and hunting tools used by the ancient Modoc included bolas and Atlatls before the introduction of the bow and arrow Other weapons included spears clubs knives and harpoons What transportation did the Modoc use Dugout Canoes The Modoc tribe built dugout canoes made from the hollowedout logs of large trees The Modoc hollowed logs using controlled fire that softened the timber so they could carve and shape their canoe to have a flat bottom with straight sides The Modoc constructed two types of dugout canoe A large canoe they called a vunsh was suitable for open water navigation which was paddled and could hold four or five people A smaller canoe called a vunshaga held two people and was propelled by poling and primarily used to gather wocas seeds and duck eggs What clothes did the Modoc people wear The clothes worn by the men of the Modoc tribe wore shirts kilts and leggings made of buckskin The wealthy Modoc wore robes made of deer elk or bobcat whilst the commoners cloaks were made from rabbit or bird skins Moccasins were made from either tule or buckskin They wore few clothes during the summer just a breechcloth or kilt The men also wore undecorated basket or fur hats according to the season The women of the tribe wore a full length dress also made from twisted tule and buckskin often decorated with beads and shells In the summer they wore grass skirts The women also wore highly distinctive woven basket skull caps

B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B I O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


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O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I B I I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

danielle fesler
parks and recreation director


By BETTY PERRY February 23 1983 I was just full of the desire to be an artist and I dont think anything could have stopped me Lois Mailou Jones PierreNoel Lois Mailou Jones could easily be the subject of one of her own canvases with her creambrown skin and shortcropped tawny hair that frames her forehead Her deepset eyes look straight at you and sparkle with laughter when she smiles Jones whose watercolors are on exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Librarys Anne Hathaway Gallery through March 4 has exhibited in many countries and has been highly praised for the diversity of her style Her Northwest Washington home filled with watercolors oils and collages representing her nearly 50 years as an amazingly prolific painter resembles a small museum Jones achievement in art is as much a tribute to her energy and talent as to her refusal to let herself or her work to be diminished by the racial discrimination and adversity she has encountered Her paintings are in the permanent collections of more than 16 museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art Brooklyn Museum Hirshhorn Museum Corcoran Gallery Phillips Collection and Boston Museum of Fine Arts Cited for outstanding contributions as both artist and teacher she was elected a fellow of Londons Royal Society of Arts in 1962 Yet she found it difficult to gain artistic recognition as a black woman in America because women artists white or black have had it hard and it was doubly hard for the black woman I know I have had to work twice as hard to make it because of that barrier From Washington Jones sought to avoid the obstacle by sending her paintings to outoftown galleries in Philadelphia and New York where she hoped they would be judged on their merit if her race was not known Jones said she submitted a watercolor to a competition at the Smithsonian in the early 1940s She said a gentleman of color an art restoration expert who arranged the contest exhibits later told her the jury had chosen her painting Menemsha for first prize but rejected it when someone said you know shes that colored artist These are the stings and hardships a black artist suffers Jones said without bitterness In another competition Jones having been told the Corcoran Gallery refused to display black artists works had a white artist submit her entry to the gallerys biennial show in 1941 Even after her Indian Shops Gay Head won first prize Jones said she did not dare go to receive the award Not until 1955 when she became the first black elected to membership in the Society of Washington Artists did she feel it was safe to openly acknowledge her race Art started with me at a very early age I was always drawing and my mother and father encouraged me Jones recalled She got her first set of watercolors at age seven Seventy years later watercolors which she completes in a fast four hours each are still her forte Born in Boston Jones warmly remembers growing up there in the early part of the century the daughter of a beautician and a building superintendent The schools were not segregated and I had the good fortune to have my teachers interested in my talent and I received much encouragement she said My happiness was to go to Marthas Vineyard as soon as school was out It was a great joy to live with nature Environment is so important to any artist In 1923 at age 18 Jones won a scholarship to the school of the Boston Museum for Fine Arts Although she won awards there and was a top student when she graduated Jones said she was denied a teaching position at the school the director suggesting Why dont you go south and teach your people The Washington she came to in 1930 to teach art at Howard University was very much a segregated provincial Southern city she could not go to the theater or even try on clothes at a department store Jones said the frustration and indignity of prejudice only reinforced her desire to help others Jones who has lived at least a part of every year in Washington since she began teaching watercolor and design at Howard University was an illustrator for the Negro History Bulletin historian Carter G Woodsons publication from 1931 to 1940 In 1937 she was awarded a General Education Rockefeller Fellowship for a year of study at the Academie Julian in Paris The artist said she had dreamed of studying in France since she spent summers in the 1920s at Marthas Vineyard where she met Harry T Burleigh composer of Negro spirituals and Meta Warrick Fuller the AfroAmerican sculptor who had studied in Paris with Rodin They told me With your talent Lois if you want to have a success with your career youre going to have to go abroad Her time in Paris was one of the happiest of her life because I was so shackle free she said Her paintings were accepted and acclaimed by the prestigious Societ e des Artists Francais and the Societ e des Artists Independent In Paris where she returned each summer between school years Jones said she was influenced by the work of black painter Henry O Tanner who had fled to France because the US art establishment refused to give black artists the opportunity to exhibit although she never met him At Howard she tried to strengthen an already impressive art department and to make it an important center for training young artists She offered her students the benefit of her own excellent preparation and tried to educate them according to a dual tradition utilizing both black experience and western European directions in art I always felt we must not carry students in a vacuum focusing only on black art but that exposure to white artists was essential to make them well rounded Jones said One of her first students was noted artist Elizabeth Catlett Jones said pointing to a study of two heads on her wall She did that in my class way back in 1930 David Driskell head of the art department at the University of Maryland was another student At the height of the black student movement of the 1960s Jones who was sympathetic to their efforts said Howard was not an easy place for scholars of her generation She found herself defending artists against charges they had neglected their African heritage Her own interest in social themes Jones said had been awakened by writerscholar Alain Locke a philosophy professor at Howard in the 1920s and 1930s who told her All of you black artists have got to make use of your heritage Her prizewinning painting Mob Victim was a product of Lockes influence Jones said The model was an older man she approached on U Street NW and asked to pose for the painting now in her private collection She said he told her that during his youth on a Southern plantation he had witnessed a lynching and watched the victim fasten his eyes on the heavens Another in the Hirshhorns permanent collection Challenge America is a collage based on sketches she did at the 1963 March on Washington showing a fusion of AfroAmerican history African tribal roots at the bottom and civil rights leaders in the center Jones now spends much of her time in Haiti where she and her late husband respected Haitian artist Vergniaud PierreNoel usually lived half the year They married in 1953 after meeting years earlier as design students at Columbia University I was greatly inspired by the beauty of Haitian peasants and scenery said Jones who painted both in bursts of color and cubistic designs using voodoo symbols In 1954 the Haitian government awarded her the Diploma and Decoration de lOrdre National Reflecting on the slights she has suffered Jones said they have become for her a motivating force It gave me the drive and the strength that I had to overcome she said One of the great blowsshe recalled was the 1927 rejection for the teaching position by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts She was vindicated 46 years later when in 1973 she became the first black artist to have a one person show there a major retrospective of her 40 years of painting Another retrospective of her work was held at the Phillips Collection in 1979

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By Joann Weiner August 22 2014 Many students question whether college has a net benefit to them Photo Washington Post Its late August and thousands of teenagers are moving out of home to begin their college careers While these freshmen are undoubtedly excited about starting this new adventure as time passes many of them might wonder whether the benefits of their college education will be worth the cost to obtain that education Their parents who are footing a bill that may exceed a quarter of a million dollars by the time their child earns the prized college degree may also wonder whether those funds could have been better invested elsewhere This kind of thinking may be particularly true for students who will borrow tens of thousands of dollars to pay for their bachelors degree and yet may find themselves four years later working at a Starbucks or driving a car for Uber Its also this kind of thinking thats reflected in surveys like the one the Pew Research Center conducted a few years ago that reported a majority of Americans said that college wasnt worth it because it didnt provide students with good value for the money they and their families spend and in the recent household survey by the Federal Reserve Board where 37 percent of respondents said that the net financial benefit of their education was negative Those are pretty sobering figures for a country where two out of three recent high school graduates are enrolled in college up from just one in two graduates 30 years ago Why are they going to college if its not worth it This is a difficult question to ask especially considering that President Obama has said that Higher education is not a luxury Earning a postsecondary degree or credential is a prerequisite for 21st century jobs and one that everyone should be able to afford So the question becomes would students be more satisfied with their college education if it didnt cost so much Before answering that question its worth looking in depth at how much it costs to attend college Thats a hard question to answer because there are wide differences between the sticker price of a year in college it averages about 40000 a year at a fouryear private institution and 17000 at a fouryear public institution and what a student actually pays out of pocket after taking into account financial aid scholarships and other tuition assistance programs The comparable figures covering just tuition and fees are about 29000 at a private college and 8000 at a public college according to the National Center for Education Statistics Thus answering the question about whether college is worth it from a financial point of view depends on knowing how much financial help a student receives from the college By way of comparison consider two private and two public fouryear degree granting universities The first is George Washington University where I teach economics and the second is the University of California at Berkeley where I earned my undergraduate degree Ive added Harvard University because that school is often used as a standard for many comparisons and California State University at Los Angeles because its a lowcost public institution The data come from the federal governments College Affordability and Transparency Center which shows the average net price a student pays per year at the particular college or university The net price subtracts grants and scholarships which are amounts that a student doesnt have to pay back from the total cost of attendance to obtain a figure that reflects a students actual costs The total cost includes room and board books and supplies and personal expenses The student will have to pay back any loans taken out to pay for the remaining expenses According to the CATC a typical GWU student will pay a net price of 31443 a year after scholarships and grants That student will borrow a total of 24050 and make 27677 payments each month for 10 years to repay the loan A typical student at UCBerkeley will pay 16178 a year after scholarships and grants and have 16028 in federal loans for a monthly payment of 18445 over 10 years For Harvard a student will pay 14445 a year after scholarships and grants and take out 11000 in federal loans for a monthly payment of 12659 over 10 years Finally a student at California State UniversityLos Angeles will pay 3713 a year after scholarships and grants That student will have the same amount of federal student loans as the Harvard student and therefore have the same monthly 12659 payment Four colleges four net prices 31443 16178 14445 and 3713 Which college provides the greatest net benefit Its hard to tell But what these figures do show is that looking at the sticker price doesnt reflect the value of a college education Moreover even the net price doesnt tell the whole story since scholarships and grants arent the only things that reduce the cost of college Students or their parents may also qualify for a host of educationbased tax breaks such as the American Opportunity and the Lifetime Learning Credit and may set aside money in taxfavored education savings accounts known as Section 529 plans and Coverdell Education Saving Accounts that reduce the cost of saving for college In many cases interest paid on qualified student loans is tax deductible Finally the federal government offers several incomedriven student loan repayment plans that limit the monthly payments to a certain amount of income in exchange for extending the loan repayment period and forgive any loan amount unpaid after that period One plan recently cut the monthly payments from 15 percent to 10 percent of disposable income and reduced the repayment period to 20 years from 25 years Most federal student loans qualify for one of these loan repayment plans Despite these figures some argue that these loan repayment programs represent government bailouts of college graduates as Lindsey Burke wrote in The Signal Others note that a college degree is no longer required to get a good job especially since almost four of every ten college graduates are working at jobs that dont require a college degree Fruzsina Eordogh is one of those students who dropped out of college to work as a fulltime writer for the Daily Dot Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg Microsofts Bill Gates and Apples Steve Jobs are three of Americas most famous college dropouts But just because the job doesnt require a college degree doesnt mean that a college degree isnt a good investment People with college degrees tend to keep their jobs during recessions and have a lower unemployment rate over time than those with just a high school degree Most of the new postrecession jobs require a college degree As the Pew Research Center found the big payoff to a college degree isnt so much in earnings but the ability to have and to keep a job Finally its important to look beyond financial compensation to measure the benefits of a college education Studies show that people with more education are in better health their children are in better health and their marriages are more stable relative to people with less education The point of these studies isnt whether college provides a net financial benefit to the student but whether college provides a net benefit overall Here the bottom line is positive The Pew survey showed that the vast majority of graduates from a fouryear institution say their college education helped them grow intellectually and to mature as a person In other words college may teach students as much about getting along with people as it does about analyzing Shakespeares sonnets

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O B I O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


By Mark Berman July 9 2014 Ray Nagin who served as the mayor of New Orleans during the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison following his conviction on a host of corruption charges The sentencing caps off a stunning fall for Nagin who was elected as a reformminded mayor and became the face of the city during Katrina before eventually leaving office with low approval ratings and big ideas still unrealized Im not in it for the money Nagin said after he was elected to the first of two terms in 2002 After leaving office in 2010 Nagin moved to Texas largely vanishing from the public eye until he was indicted last year on 21 federal corruption counts Prosecutors said that Nagin knowingly defrauded the city seeking bribes and kickbacks in exchange for favorable treatment He was convicted of 20 charges in February and found guilty of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes committing wire fraud and filing false tax returns Nagin could have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison but the judge said she sentenced him to 10 years in part due to his age and the fact that hes not a danger He has been ordered to report to prison in September Former Nola Mayor Ray Nagin arrives at federal court for sentencing NaginSentencing pictwittercomHTBCYjeaac Carolyn Scofield NewsCarolyn July 9 2014 Before he was sentenced Wednesday Nagin spoke briefly and did not offer an apology I trust that Gods going to work all this out he said according to the Associated Press Even after his conviction Nagin proclaimed his innocence His wife and children recently wrote letters to the judge defending him and again saying that they believe he is innocent This post has been updated Last update 1225 pm Mark Berman Mark Berman covers national news for The Washington Post He has been at The Post since 2007 and previously covered transportation and local news

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