After several months of following this thread, it has been a delight to see that the perseverance of some posters has resulted in the thread evolving into a reasoned and interesting discussion of the facts as we know them.
So I say special thanks to those who worked so hard early on, and have been so patient in educating the rest of us. (Alice stands out of course in this regard, as does Ptkay and several others).
SadPole's recent contributions (especially, IMHO, his/her summary in post #514) are most perceptive and insightful.
Thanks,
grizz