Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The lights are all blinking red.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

We won’t go back.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

When we show up, we win.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Hot air and ill-informed banter

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Everybody saw this coming.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Consistently wrong since 2002

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

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137Comments

  4. 4.

    superking

    They have to be consistent in their attire. Jamie always wears a white shirt and black beret while Adam wears black t-shirts (most of the time). They obviously did this early on in order to make it easier for viewers to distinguish between the two. If Jamie was going to dress up and follow the rules, they would have needed to put him in a white suit. I think that would have been cool, but . . .

    In any case, I’m watching tonight. Would probably be watching in any case, but it’s cool to see the president on such a nerdy show.

  5. 5.

    mistermix

    @superking: Check out the link – Jamie wore a sportcoat when pictured with the science fair winners at the White House. He ditched it for the Obama episode.

  7. 7.

    licensed to kill time

    Dang. When I saw ‘programming note’ I thought it might be an explanation about why this site is loading sooooooooo slooooooooow today (yesterday afternoon it was awful, too).

    I thought all the work on the new design/overhaul was going on offsite? Maybe it’s just the servers are all stressed out what with all the whining going on lately.

    Suicidal servers might be a good name for a rock band.

  8. 8.

    ...now I try to be amused

    Adam’s a bigger dork than Jamie, yet he’s the one wearing a jacket and time. I’m impressed.

  9. 9.

    The Dangerman

    I reject your reality tax compromise and insert my own (if you don’t watch Mythbusters – and why aren’t you? – this may not make sense).

    The sad thing is all of this – taxes, DADT, START, etc. – is only the preview of coming attractions. DeMint is highlighting that preview for us today (he’s threatening to filibuster the tax plan); next year, with DeMint and Rand Paul, there will be the stare down of all stare downs when we come to raising the debt ceiling.

  10. 10.

    Brachiator

    President Obama is on Mythbusters tonight.

    Is he busting the myth about his birth certificate? Because, Lord knows, this bullshit is still going on.

    Baltimore Orioles slugger Luke Scott stopped by baseball’s winter meetings Tuesday and, after some harmless chatter about his team’s offseason dealings, stated with conviction that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

  11. 11.

    Dreggas

    @BGinCHI:

    This is such a good, sane, right-on post by Benen I almost can’t stand it:

    quick go over to DKos and get your fix of screams and lamentations before sanity takes hold.

  12. 12.

    Sue

    What myth will they be busting?
    Birth certificate?
    Muslim terrorist?
    Socialist?
    Fascist?
    It’s only an hour show, right?

  13. 13.

    mr. whipple

    Did Greek scientist and polymath Archimedes set fire to an invading Roman fleet using only mirrors and the reflected rays of the sun?

    No.

  14. 14.

    Elisabeth

    @Brachiator:

    Aww hell, I was trying to figure out why I knew that name. Guess I’ll have to take him off my “pity cheering” for the Os list.

  15. 15.

    Mike Goetz

    The photo looks like they are trying to figure out how to blow up the Obama statue at Madame Tussauds.

  18. 18.

    Napoleon

    @Dave:

    I would pay to see them blow up a Blue Dog.

    Actually I heard them on Talk of the Nation yesterday and they are going to test the ancient tale (from Sparta?) of using polished shields of your soldiers to focus the sun on the attacking ships of your enemies to set them on fire.

  19. 19.

    Comrade Mary

    @Zifnab: Yeah, I know it happens to all of them, thus the wide-eyed, innocent “eh?” at the end.

    @licensed to kill time: I think the place has been swarming with indignant visitors and regulars lately. We’re kicking the server’s ass independently of the re-dev.

  22. 22.

    superking

    @mistermix:

    That’s interesting. I wonder if the science fair stuff was filmed for the episode. I’ve seen promos for the show tonight, and so I know the shot with Obama is from the meeting that airs.

    Anyways, here’s my contribution to the open thread: In today’s entry in the horrible Gail Collins/David Brooks wankfest, David Brooks finally admits what we’ve always known:

    David Brooks: I was a very shallow thinker my sophomore year and I realized then that it was working for me, so I never stopped.

    http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/a-deal-without-a-compromise/?hp

  23. 23.

    Comrade Luke

    Another tidbit from Kevin Drum:

    Obama’s advisers insist he didn’t go out of his way to pick a fight with fellow Democrats when he cut his highly controversial deal with Republicans to temporarily extend all Bush-era tax cuts earlier this week. But if the deal served to distance Obama not only from them, but the entire partisan culture of Washington, all the better, they say. Differentiating Obama from congressional Democrats “was a positive byproduct” of the tax cut deal, a person close to Obama told Politico.
    ___
    ….One administration official told Politico that Obama was so dispirited after his Nov. 18th meeting with the Democratic leadership that he decided, then and there, to place his faith in direct talks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “The point is the House and Senate [leadership] has proven they are incapable of getting things done,” the official said.

    Good times.

  25. 25.

    Tom Hilton

    @Zifnab: It happens to all the Democrats, certainly. I remember wondering at how little Reagan seemed not to age in office.

    And then, after thinking about it a bit, not wondering.

  26. 26.

    TooManyJens

    @Comrade Luke:

    “The point is the House and Senate [leadership] has proven they are incapable of getting things done,” the official said.

    I call shenanigans. The Senate leadership, sure, but the House? “Unnamed Official” is trolling.

  28. 28.

    JGabriel

    @Mike Goetz:

    The photo looks like they are trying to figure out how to blow up the Obama statue at Madame Tussauds.

    Shit, dude, I was just gonna post that. Good thing I checked for a Tussaud’s joke first.

    .

  30. 30.

    Comrade Luke

    @TooManyJens:

    I can’t believe he’d actually blame Pelosi for all of this, and I also find it hard to believe that he’d then turn to the guy who said his mission is to make Obama a one-term president.

    Something doesn’t wash.

  33. 33.

    Napoleon

    @TooManyJens:

    They mentioned that on the radio and they said that they where going to approach it somewhat different this time since they had something like 500 people to act as the soldiers which they had not had in the past, or something like that.

  36. 36.

    geg6

    @Comrade Luke:

    Seriously? Seriously? This is the shit this White House is putting out there? That NancySMASH sucks and Mitch McConnell is the shiznit? Seriously?

    Just fuck them. Really. Fuck.them.with.a.rusty.pitchfork.up.the.ass.

    Since I would never watch Mythbusters, I guess I will skip watching Obama on it. Hell, at this point, if I did watch Mythbusters, I’d skip it simply because Obama is on it.

    I’m really trying to not hate the guy and I will still vote for him in 2012, but damn. That Politico article pretty much tells me everything I need to know about him. He’s actually worse than Clinton. Damn. Sure hope he can keep it in his pants because I certainly won’t be defending him when he gets caught like I, sadly, did Clinton. He can’t even recognize his own side’s best player.

  38. 38.

    JGabriel

    Zifnab: My favorite part of that AOL link is where they ask this question:

    How old do you look compared to people your age?
    __
    67% Younger
    21% The same age
    12% Older

    AOL: Where 67% of the people look younger than people their age.

    .

  39. 39.

    Napoleon

    @TooManyJens:

    but the House

    Yes, remember they punted voting on it prior to the election as well. At least on this issue they were as bad as the Senate (although overall they are light years better).

  42. 42.

    Tim

    Am I the only one who thinks it’s bizarre that any American president takes time out of a schedule from what should be the busiest and most demanding job in the world to do shit like this?

    I mean, what?, he doesn’t have enough to do? He has extra time because everything is going so well?

    WTF? Bizarre.

    Equally bizarre is that the public generally accepts these stupid time wasting appearances as normal.

  43. 43.

    Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill

    @geg6:

    That Politico article pretty much tells me everything I need to know about him.

    Dude. DUDE.

    How many times do Cole and the rest of the front-pagers here (among many others) have to tell folks not to trust ANY anonymously-sourced POLITICO column before people pay some damned attention? Hell, even Drum says “this piece probably overstates things”.

    It’s almost like you’re looking for reasons to be pissy.

  47. 47.

    Comrade Sock Puppet of the Great Satan

    “Holy shit, Obama has gone really grey. How did that ever happen, eh?”

    Demands of the job, plus he’s getting briefs about all the bad shit going down and which might go down. Would turn anyone’s hair grey.

    “Am I the only one who thinks it’s bizarre that any American president takes time out of a schedule from what should be the busiest and most demanding job in the world to do shit like this?”

    It’s a side-show from the Science Olympiad. But in any case, he may be frickin’ welcoming it as a break from worrying about which hand is carrying the handbasket we’re going to hell in.

    We’re not talking “My Pet Goat” here.

  48. 48.

    Mike Kay (Team America)

    @geg6: since when do we believe politico? What next, Drudge and Fixxed news.

    even if it’s true, all it says is, that he couldn’t depend on reid and hoyer to negotiate on his behalf, and that he, obama, would have to do the direct negotiations, which, ironically, is what so many bloggers have called for, that is, for the president to directly negotiate, and not use reid and hoyer as agents of the WH.

  49. 49.

    The Bobs

    @Seanly:

    I learned long ago not to expect too much science from the Mythbusters. They must think that much math will turn off the viewers. So just watch them blow shit up.

  50. 50.

    Alwhite

    <blockquote cite=""The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

    H.P. Lovecraft "The Call of Cthuhu"

    The man foresaw the 21st Century.

  51. 51.

    Comrade Sock Puppet of the Great Satan

    “I love the Mythbusters, but they never do their model scaling correctly. Scaling Laws (extremely basic explanation).”

    They don’t fuck up the science (or history) as much as Deadliest Warrior though.

  53. 53.

    Seebach

    @beltane: Then Anonymous should just DDoS facebook. The productivity of the American economy should improve by 64.7% as a result.

  56. 56.

    Mike Kay (Team America)

    @Tim: geez, even FDR used to go for a swim at warm springs Georgia during WWII, that is, when he wasn’t banging lucy mercer.

    chill out.

  57. 57.

    Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill

    @Tim: No, it’s not weird. This keys directly into one of Obama’s goals, to support education. Mythbusters, for all the bluster about if it’s science or not, is by leaps and bounds the highest-rated science show on the air today. One of Obama’s clearly-stated goals is to grow and encourage education — in fact, someone today in a comment got grumpy that Obama’s been pushing education as a long-term solution to our present set of issues.

    So it makes 100% sense for him to bring some more light onto a show that already has, and will hopefully continue to, encourage people to go into scientific careers. What you see there is maybe a hour, tops, of his time in one day? Maybe another 15 min. if he scribbled on the script, as he’s wont to do. The system for this is well-designed, and the White House is packed with people who know exactly how to do this with minimal impact on his schedule.

    For that, he gets TV time — you know, that bully pulpit everyone screams he doesn’t use — for free, and helps to push ahead a goal he sees as a key point for his Administration.

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    @Tim:

    I’d much rather this than pushing talking points whilst standing in front of “AEI” or “Heritage” -imprinted drapery.

    Besides, “It’s for the kids.”

  62. 62.

    Suck It Up!

    @BGinCHI:

    a lot of people imagine what could have been done if Obama had done this or that but I imagine what could have been done if Democrats (and liberals) always stuck together and spent all their time on TV giving it to Republicans. Not that I’m trying to diminishing what they’ve accomplished so far of course.

  65. 65.

    trollhattan

    @PurpleGirl:

    Not only is it the best part, it’s something for my 8 YO and me to bond over! That and the spectacular failures (noting the two aren’t mutually exclusive).

  67. 67.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    @The Bobs: I learned long ago not to expect too much science from the Mythbusters. They must think that much math will turn off the viewers. So just watch them blow shit up.

    True, it’s not professional-grade hard science, but they’re following the scientific method of hypothesize, construct experiment, test, etc. and that’s more science education than a lot of people get exposed to. I work in the sciences myself and know it’s not everyone’s thing – and it sure as hell ain’t a spectator sport.

  69. 69.

    Brian S (formerly Incertus)

    @Seebach:

    Then Anonymous should just DDoS facebook. The productivity of the American economy should improve by 64.7% as a result.

    Are you kidding? It’ll crater productivity, what with everyone constantly pushing refresh wondering what happened to their farms.

  72. 72.

    Brachiator

    @Tim:

    Am I the only one who thinks it’s bizarre that any American president takes time out of a schedule from what should be the busiest and most demanding job in the world to do shit like this?

    Yes, you’re probably the only one.

  76. 76.

    Seebach

    The oil giant Shell claimed it has inserted its staff into all key ministries of the Nigerian government, giving it access to politicians’ every move in the oil-rich Niger Delta, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

    The company’s top executive in Nigeria told US diplomats that Shell had seconded employees to every relevant department and so knew “everything that was being done in those ministries”. She boasted that the Nigerian government had “forgotten” about the extent of Shell’s infiltration and were unaware of how much the company knew about its deliberations.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/08/wikileaks-cables-shell-nigeria-spying

    Still nothing to see here, huh?

  77. 77.

    mr. whipple

    Am I the only one who thinks it’s bizarre that any American president takes time out of a schedule from what should be the busiest and most demanding job in the world to do shit like this?

    Yes. He should be bully pulpiting while cutting brush.

  78. 78.

    Martin

    Heh, Jaime and Adam are both pretty uncomfortable. Hands crossed in front of them, secure stance, shoulders down.

    No problem blowing shit up and clinging to the roof of a car, but Obama has them cowed. Can’t say I’d be any different.

  79. 79.

    Seebach

    Oops. Sorry. You weren’t meant to know Shell Oil infiltrated the Nigerian government. My mistake.

    Vital to US national security and people will be killed.

    Please forget anything you read.

  80. 80.

    beltane

    @Seebach: I’m waiting for the Bank of America stuff. We will find that the US government is to the big banks what the Nigerian government is to Shell Oil.

  81. 81.

    KDP

    Senate Republicans just blocked a one-time $250 payment to seniors and disabled veterans. Also blocked was bargaining rights for police and firefighters.

    Sherrod Brown is now talking tax cuts for wealthy $700b versus $13b for elderly. Good for Sherrod Brown. Why, oh why, can’t the Dems articulate this message to the public effectively?

  82. 82.

    beltane

    @KDP: The old people sure voted for their own death panels last month. I hope someone has the heart to let them know what they did to themselves.

  83. 83.

    Martin

    @KDP: Probably because the public doesn’t really care that much about a one-time $250 payment to seniors and disabled veterans unless they are one.

    You can’t fight something the public doesn’t want with something else the public doesn’t want.

  84. 84.

    Martin

    @Brachiator: Agreed. My kids are uncontainable about Obama being on Mythbusters.

    Heaven forbid the president take half an hour out of his year to get kids more excited about science – particularly in a forum that will actually achieve that unlike some stupid PSA that they’d fast forward through.

  88. 88.

    Jager

    @JGabriel:

    Must be tilted with college students:

    67% always get carded at the liqour store
    21% get carded when they are with their friends
    12% have been buying booze since they were Juniors in High School

  89. 89.

    Libby's Person

    Thank you guys for being (mostly) an oasis of sanity. Elsewhere, the consensus seems to be that complexity is a pain; simplistic is much more comfortable; and giddy highs and hysterical lows are more entertaining than focusing on the long run. I think I’ll sit here a spell and decompress before getting back to doing whatever useful stuff I can find to do.

  90. 90.

    Lavocat

    I’ve seen this episode before. This is the one where they confirm the “myth” that Obama is going to be primaried in 2012 for being a spineless coward who runs from fights with Republicans.

    Good show (and episode) BTW. I love the part where Obama actually cries.

  91. 91.

    bago

    I present to you the stupidest thing ever.

    “No wonder others are keeping silent about Assange’s antics,” Palin emailed. “This is what happens when you exercise the First Amendment and speak against his sick, un-American espionage efforts.”

  95. 95.

    New Yorker

    http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Answer-Man-Luke-Scott-talks-Nugent-hunting-and;_ylt=AlJVNGQmk3hnjuCXmWPttuwRvLYF?urn=mlb-292970

    I know, the wingnut views of a jock are irrelevant and I wouldn’t boycott the Mets if they traded for the guy (it’s not like I want to watch the Mets anyway), but I just thought I’d throw that out there. For every Hollywood entertainer who praises Fidel Castro, there’s an athlete who thinks Obama is a Kenyan.

  99. 99.

    Brachiator

    @Martin:

    My kids are uncontainable about Obama being on Mythbusters.

    Very cool that they are excited about it. I hope that they enjoy the show.

  100. 100.

    Martin

    I gotta say, the guardian’s daily wikileaks roundup is about the most interesting news reading I’ve run into in a LONG time.

    The thought of ManU being bought by Burma’s military junta will make me chuckle for some time.

  103. 103.

    Seebach

    The website and personal credit card information of former Gov. Sarah Palin were cyber-attacked today by Wikileaks supporters, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate tells ABC News in an email.

    Hackers in London apparently affiliated with “Operation Payback” – a group of supporters of Julian Assange and Wikileaks – have tried to shut down SarahPac and have disrupted Sarah and Todd Palin’s personal credit card accounts.

    “No wonder others are keeping silent about Assange’s antics,” Palin emailed. “This is what happens when you exercise the First Amendment and speak against his sick, un-American espionage efforts.”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/dec/08/wikileaks-us-embassy-cables-live-updates

  104. 104.

    BGinCHI

    @Seebach: Even in context that’s completely full of stupid.

    At least they couldn’t hack into the files where she keeps her memoirs. She’s writing those in crayon.

  106. 106.

    EthylEster

    @JGabriel:

    AOL: Where 67% of the people look younger than people their age.

    Compare that with Match.com where 67% of the guys identify their body type as “athletic and toned”.

  108. 108.

    Sko Hayes

    @Seebach: Hackers probably got into her website (SarahPAC) and when Visa.com got shut down, she thought her credit card account also got hacked. Not the brightest bulb in the box, you know.
    By the way, these claims are being made by “SarahPAC.com technical aides”. Take that for what it’s worth.

  113. 113.

    shortstop

    @Seebach: She keeps talking about how “un-American” Assange is and how he should be tried as a “traitor.” It has never occurred to the screechy fool that not everyone on the planet is an inhabitant of the U.S.

  115. 115.

    Calouste

    @Sko Hayes:

    Palin doesn’t look like the type who will knowingly hire people smarter than herself, so the technical aides’ competence is probably that they know where the on switch on the computer is.

  116. 116.

    Calouste

    @shortstop:

    __

    It has never occurred to the screechy fool that not everyone on the planet is an inhabitant of the U.S.

    Well, she knows those darkies are not citizens of the US, but a guy as white as Assange not being a Merikun is outside of her world view.

  120. 120.

    alwhite

    @Alwhite:

    not sure what happened to the actual quote – I saw it there
    “The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”

  123. 123.

    Bob Loblaw

    @Comrade Luke:

    Why would anybody have trouble believing that? Just because it’s from politico?

    We know the congressional route broke down, that’s why the White House directly negotiated with McConnell in the first place.

    I’m confused, Obama supporters. It’s ok to bash lefty purists, but not Democratic leadership in Congress? Because partisanship is a higher virtue or something?

    If anything, I think the White House is secretly excited by the new opportunities a more Republican congress provides. While I’m sure they’re disappointed to have to give up on remaining key governmental priorities, it offers a more natural playing field for Obama’s default bipartisan preference for politicking and legislating, regardless of its negative future cost.

  124. 124.

    Keith G

    @geg6:

    That Politico article pretty much tells me everything I need to know about him. He’s actually worse than Clinton

    I see others have beaten me to this but just for emphasis…Chill!

    On a good day Politico may produce better journalism that the Daily Caller…maybe.

    Unnamed source + Politico = Letter from Nigerian prince

  127. 127.

    Mnemosyne

    @Bob Loblaw:

    Why would anybody have trouble believing that? Just because it’s from politico?

    Um, yeah. Getting your news from Politico is like getting it from the Globe — it’ll be a little bit truthy with a giant measure of bullshit stirred in.

    I think what people are disbelieving is that Obama would diss Pelosi. She’s really been his only solid Congressional ally, so it seems like a very strange 180 to suddenly be attacking her anonymously. I have absolutely no difficulty believing that he has had some extremely bitter words about the Senate, which has screwed him and his agenda over and over again.

    If your coworker keeps fucking up, do you just let him keep making you look bad, or do you do some work behind his back for insurance against his next fuckup?

  129. 129.

    Elie

    @Zifnab:

    After only two years?

    How long did it take Bush to get this grey? or Bill Clinton?

    Duly noted, they all left office grey, but the rate of greyness…

  130. 130.

    Elie

    @gogol’s wife:

    LOL!!!

    Not to speak of the 4 lbs of mantan pancake he put on his face each time he was in front of the camera!!!

    Anyone who saw that color on his hair, knew it was shinola shoe polish brown!!!

    (now I chuckle, but do not make fun of people making various attempts to deal with their appearance constructively. Lord knows, if we actually saw his true hair color, a whole lot of folks would have freaked out for weeks knowing how truly old he was in the brain under that hair)

  131. 131.

    Bob Loblaw

    @Mnemosyne:

    I have absolutely no difficulty believing that he has had some extremely bitter words about the Senate, which has screwed him and his agenda over and over again.

    So, in other words…you concede the anonymous sniping is entirely plausible. Mazel tov. It’s not a stunning political about face that shines light on the administration’s new coalition strategy, it’s politicians back biting one another through a willing stenographer. They’re all a bunch of primadonna assholes who like seeing their words in print, they do this all the time…

    @Elie:

    If your emotional security is so fragile that you must now compare the rate at which different Presidents’ hair went grey to prove…something, seek help.

    Oh, and that mythbusters episode sucked. Also too.

  132. 132.

    Origuy

    The Mythbusters used to have more science, but I think the network thought that held down ratings. Kari Byron is hosting a show for kids on the Science Channel that replays old Mythbusters episodes with footage that didn’t air, plus some new stuff for the kids. They have some Q&A, a segment on science jobs, and some other stuff. Even though it’s for kids, it’s still worth watching for adults. It’s called Head Rush.
    No commercials and Kari? I’m there!.

  133. 133.

    handy

    @Tim:

    Am I the only one who thinks it’s bizarre that any American president takes time out of a schedule from what should be the busiest and most demanding job in the world to do shit like this?

    I’m about as Pony-lusting PUMAdroid Firebagger Rahm raped me in the shower as the next Hamsher of the Left is with Obama, but this comment was–not very bright.

  135. 135.

    Xenos

    @shortstop: re: FDR/Lucy Mercer –

    Is there any doubt about this? There is not much really prurient there in any case, just another fairly banal affair — pretty much normal human behavior, even if one does not approve of it.

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