Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

This fight is for everything.

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

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

So very ready.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tuesday Early Evening Open Thread

Tuesday Early Evening Open Thread

by | 147 Comments

This post is in: 

Yikes, looks like we could use an open thread.  I gardened most of the morning, have been working this afternoon.

Why can’t I get paid to read Balloon Juice all day?  Then I could stay on top of things for sure. :-)  As it is, I have to garden and take care of those pesky clients.  (Just joking on the clients, I love my clients.)

How are the closing arguments going?  What else is going on?

Open thread!

 

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: What the hell is wrong with Steve in the ATL?  He’s usually only here in the evenings.  Surely he’s not working all day?  If he is, he must be doing it wrong.

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    Can someone tell me how the heck to take a panorama photo on an iPhone?  I have tried a few times and I must be doing it wrong.

  5. 5.

    frosty

    Organized Labor won in the court of public opinion and in elections. Steve in the ATL has nothing better to do now than drink expensive French wine and play electric guitar (non-SG, poor guy).

  6. 6.

    frosty

    Why can’t I get paid to read Balloon Juice all day?

    Don’t bring the curse down on your head!!!! I’m trying to get over my 3-4-5 hour a day habit. Unsuccessfully.

  7. 7.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: Can someone tell me how the heck to take a panorama photo on an iPhone?  I have tried a few times and I must be doing it wrong.

    Apple Support

    Open Camera on your iPhone.
    Choose Pano mode.
    Tap the Shutter button.
    Pan slowly in the direction of the arrow, keeping it on the center line.
    To finish, tap the Shutter button again.

    Tap the arrow to pan in the opposite direction. To pan vertically, rotate iPhone to landscape orientation. You can reverse the direction of a vertical pan, too.

  9. 9.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    1. Open Camera  on your iPhone.
    2. Choose Pano mode.
    3. Tap the Shutter button.
    4. Pan slowly in the direction of the arrow, keeping it on the center line.
    5. To finish, tap the Shutter button again.

    Tap the arrow to pan in the opposite direction. To pan vertically, rotate iPhone to landscape orientation. You can reverse the direction of a vertical pan, too.

    (Apple Support)

  10. 10.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: There will be a significant event in your town tomorrow. Rep. Nikki Budzinki will meet with members of an interfaith coalition advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza, at her Champaign office

    Ed. There will be a protest outside.

  11. 11.

    Scout211

    How are the closing arguments going?

    The first 1/4 of the prosecution closing was great but the last 3/4 has been so detailed that I lost interest.

    And here’s a review of the prosecution from the defendant on his truth social:

    Boring!

     

    Filibuster!

  15. 15.

    Baud

    The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will officially nominate President Joe Biden as its candidate for the 2024 election earlier than planned, in order to ensure he appears on the Ohio ballot.
    The move comes after the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature failed to pass legislation to move back the state’s August 7 deadline for political parties to submit their official nominees. The Democratic convention is taking place August 19-22.
    “Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree,” DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement Tuesday. “But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own.”

  17. 17.

    SuzieC

    Gardened today too. Re-potted a 46 yr old jade plant that was destroyed by first kittens, then after we took it outside, ants.  My method for repotting: Save the two healthiest branches.  Dip stems in rooting powder.  Pot in terra cotta pot with bottom layer of perlite and top layer of cactus soil.  Leave alone, out of danger of rain, for 2 to 3 weeks.  Any suggestions?

  20. 20.

    Scout211

    @frosty:That doesn’t sound good for the jury.

    Yeah, but the judge didn’t seem to think so.

    (NBC) Judge Juan Merchan announced a short courtroom break and said the plan is to go until at least 7 p.m. and “finish this out if we can.”

    “I was watching the jurors, they look pretty alert to me. I don’t think we’re losing anyone. So I think right now we’re going to try to finish this out if we can,” he told the attorneys.

    “Let’s see what we can do,” Merchan continued, adding that they will revisit the timeline at 7 p.m.

  21. 21.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    Practice, practice, practice.

    I learned how to do it by accident. Meant to take a snapshot, wound up with a panoramic shot. Same way I accidentally learned how to take a video.

  24. 24.

    cain

    @Baud:

    Gosh, will the press cover this and tsk tsk on the lack of bipartisanship or is that only on Democrats?

    I mean, JFC – talking about being petty.

  25. 25.

    Steeplejack

    @Jay:

    Okay, I just learned how to get out of selfie mode on my Android phone camera (after five years!). I never take selfies, but occasionally I mistakenly press something and get into selfie mode, and then I can’t get back because I don’t know what I pressed.

    So I fired up my camera app and pushed a likely button that did put me in selfie mode, and then I was able to push that same button to return. Huzzah! I learned a new thing, and now my brain hurts.

    Thank you, iPhone panorama people!

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    Okay, so these are my PANO efforts.  Neither is very good, I think.  Trying to catch the new bed I added in front of the house last year.

    Landscape and portrait both suck.  And the bed doesn’t look the right shape at all.

    Tuesday Evening Open Thread 1

    I tried standing midway across the bed and then pointed the camera at the left side of the bed before I hit GO.

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Protesting Congress’s and the Biden administration’s postures on the war in Gaza.

    I think the coalition intends to stage protests at Rep. Budzinski’s other offices as well. The 13th CD runs from East St. Louis through Springfield to Champaign County.

  29. 29.

    Eyeroller

    @Jay: It does take a steady hand, and taking care to keep the phone level (not as easy as one might assume).

  35. 35.

    Quiltingfool

    I posted this on a dead thread (pet names), so I’m gonna try again (I’m always late to the conversations!

    One of our jackals asked for a quilt block featuring her heart kitty, Pablo.  She sent me a photo, and I went to work (my first IRL kitty).  She gave me permission to share.

    pin.it/1njgKDRvL

  36. 36.

    Salty Sam

    @WaterGirl:   It is important to pan side to side at an even rate of speed, and keeping the camera as stable as possible.  Jerky movement and wobbly camera will kill the panorama shot.

    OTOH, my boys learned how to manipulate all that into some very otherworldly shots- people’s faces stretched out sideways, etc.

  38. 38.

    Doc Sardonic

    @WaterGirl: Yes. BTW, flowerbed looks great, and panoramic mode on the iPhone camera works better at a distance I have found.

  39. 39.

    cain

    I’d like to vote on Nikki Haley to have the most braindead political instincts. What is up with her? Who the fuck greenlighted her to type in “Finish Them”? It’s disgusting. Has she no understanding of what’s happening? Is this some kind of “choose me! choose me for VP!” thing?

    No morals, no decency – it’s unfortunate that she and I are of similar race.

  43. 43.

    MisterForkbeard

    @WaterGirl: The DNC feels that there’s either going to be a poison pill, or that the other items Republicans are insisting on inserting into the special session (“campaign finance reform” that suspiciously only attacks democratic leaning groups) will tank the session.

    Better to not depend on it.

  46. 46.

    Geminid

    @cain: This war has been bad enough without all the politicians who are trying to take advantage of it.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    To take a panoramic shot, and I supposed to be moving along?  Or standing still and just rotating the camera?

    Here’s what happened when I was walking and taking the photo.  Can it only go on for so long and then it stops and starts again?

    Tuesday Evening Open Thread 3

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    @WaterGirl: It’s like I’m in some sort of nightmare where everything is like a ransom note cut out of a magazine and pasted together.

    sigh.

    This is why I periodically try the PANO thing and then give up.

  52. 52.

    Doc Sardonic

    @WaterGirl: No, just move your torso and the camera, if necessary maybe do baby steps in place to go more toward 180 to 360 degrees.

  53. 53.

    Another Scott

    @Steeplejack: I think it’s pretty common.

    My brother used to take selfies with the main camera on his phone.  Got pretty good at lining it up too!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @Salty Sam: So are my feet planted on the ground in the same place every time?  So I am only moving my arms, holding the camera?  Or am I supposed to be walking as I take the panorama?

    I suck. at directions, time zones, and photography.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Yeah, I skipped that thread.

    I’ll stop now – it’s a bad sign when someone has to say “well, it’s not as bad as the colonoscopy thread.”

    This photo is half the bed, taken from the side.

    Tuesday Evening Open Thread 4
    If you click the photo, you can see a bigger version for more detail.  (only gardeners would care about details)

  65. 65.

    Quadrillipede

    What is Selfie Mode? A curious alternative name for the camera select button, or something else entirely

    ETA: I ask because I might be stuck in it too, for all I know… 😅

  67. 67.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl: Per the WaPo:

    Democrats are not optimistic about the special session, given that DeWine has added an unrelated proposal on campaign finance to the agenda that Republicans want considered alongside legislation that would allow Biden on the ballot.”

    In other words, general GQP ratfuckery.

  68. 68.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jay:

    Same way I accidentally learned how to take a video.

    I wish I could accidentally learn how to deposit a few hundred thou in my bank account.

  69. 69.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    Pano works best from one focal point, (stay in one place).

    If you have good wrists, just rotate the phone with a steady hand.

    If you need to “see” the shot that you are taking, on the phone, as you are taking it, rotate your torso or do a slow foot turn.

    You can do a “sweep” pano by walking past in pano mode, but it is harder to do, because “walking” and the phone needs to be in the same position to your body from start to finish.

  72. 72.

    geg6

    Is it a good sign or a bad sign that the jury has told Merchan that they are willing to stay until 8 for Steinglass to wrap up his verrrrrry long closing?

  78. 78.

    Steeplejack

    @Quadrillipede:

    Selfie mode is when you’re holding your phone and the camera app shows you your own face (like looking in a mirror) rather than what is “out there” that you would see when taking a regular photo

    ETA: Illustrations here.

  80. 80.

    Jay

    @Quadrillipede:

    Most phones have two cameras, (or more).

    One camera on the screen side, the other, on the back side.

    If you are taking a photo of yourself or a group, you use the screen side camera, so that you can see on the screen the framing and backdrop.

    That’s a “selfie”.

    To get more distance, or a bigger group shot, they make telescoping “selfie” sticks so you can hold the phone further away or at different angles.

    It’s quite easy to accidentally take a “selfie”, ( I have taken lots of pocket photo’s and vids), but that is what delete is for.

  83. 83.

    Poe Larity

    Since we’re talking about juries and panoramic, would I be able to use a VisionPro during jury selection?

    Asking for a friend.

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid:  Thanks.  Dan B would probably shriek in horror.

    I designed the size and the curve of the border.  After that, I just buy plants I like and put them where I think they look good.

    He would probably be horrified by all the colors, too, but all the color makes me happy.

  87. 87.

    JaySinWA

    @Jay: To pan vertically, rotate iPhone to landscape orientation.

    They could have started with noting the phone needed to be in portrait mode for a horizontal panorama. I would have never gotten that right. It seems counter intuitive.

  88. 88.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    Nope.

    Easiest way I can explain it, sort of, Bill In Glendale can probably do better,

    My Bro always got a weird face when he was being photographed, half grimace, half serial killer smile.

    At his University Grad, I got the only really great photo of him ever.

    I was on the 3rd floor of the concourse, easily 500 feet away, with a telephoto lens He never knew he was being photographed, (I took about 20 shots) and so I got his natural smile.

    Being distanced give you a better focal point and less movement required for the span of the pano. The zoom allows you to compensate for distance.

  89. 89.

    Quadrillipede

    Reloaded the page mid-comment 😵 but to summarize:

    Selfie mode seems like it describes the intent of switching between the front and back cameras of a phone or tablet.

  91. 91.

    Doc Sardonic

    @WaterGirl: Distance is relative, for what you are trying to do right around 15 to 30 feet would probably be as close as I would try to get. The iPhone camera, as good as it is has a very sensitive autofocus algorithm, and it always tries to focus on the closest object. The closer you are to the flowerbed the more objects it is going to try to focus on, pulling back a bit helps lessen the camera’s internal ADD about ‘must focus on everything’.

  92. 92.

    Jackie

    “As the jurors filed into the Manhattan courtroom, day after day, almost none of them would look at Donald Trump. It’s one of those unsettling signs for defendants and their lawyers who worry about a guilty verdict,” The Bulwark reports.

    “Those worries have only grown in Trump’s orbit as allies have all but abandoned hope of acquittal. Even Trump, though he railed Monday on social media about the judge and the case, has privately sounded a note of resignation…”

    “But there is one clear hope MAGAville clings to: a hung jury that results in a mistrial.”

    “If that happens, Trump allies suspect that it will be chiefly due to the one juror who has made friendly eye contact with Trump from time to time as the jury enters the room and walks right past the defense table.”

    Don’t read the Bulwark article if you’re worried about a hung jury. I mistakenly did, now I’m stressing out. Sigh… It will be what it will be with or without MY stressing over it. I just want a quick decision for my BP’s sake.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    The United States will do absolutely nothing (other than providing all of the weapons) while this slaughter continues unabated.

    The Biden administration has decided Israel’s weekend strike in Rafah that reportedly killed nearly 50 displaced Palestinians did not cross the “red line” President Joe Biden set two months ago, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
    The administration made clear in public and in private on Tuesday that the incident, while devastating, would not trigger any serious reprimand from Washington. It’s the strongest indicator yet that Israel is conducting a military operation that the administration can accept, even if U.S. officials don’t like every aspect of it.

    Meanwhile, Nikki Haley is calling for the anniliation of the Palestinian people. All of them.
    Just sickening.

  94. 94.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: oh, your planting bed is gorgeous.

    I haven’t used pano on my iPhone very often because the photo always ends up distorted on the sides like some wide-angle lenses do.  I guess it takes practice but I think it works a little better if I don’t take the picture in a semi circle of sorts, just one side slowly to the other side in a straight line.  But even then, it rarely looks good.  I think pano works best for wide outdoor scenes like mountains, etc.

    Or maybe I’m just an amateur photo hack.  LOL

  96. 96.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @WaterGirl: It’s beautiful! Your local nursery must LOVE seeing you walk in…hey, here comes that spendy lady again….

  97. 97.

    Kay

    don’t like every aspect of it.

    Look at this insane language our media uses. I wonder which “aspect” of this the Biden Administration “doesn’t like”? The blatant war crimes? The gaslighting of the US public? The 40,000 dead civilians?
    Just sick, the utter disdain for the lives of these people.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    Honestly don’t know how this can get any worse but with this green light from the Biden Administration I expect it will, incredibly, get worse.

    Nikki Haley may get her wish after all.

  102. 102.

    Tony Jay

    @Kay:

    It is. It’s sickening. Disgusting. Disgraceful. Abhorrent. It’s legacy-fouling and long term very bad politics.

    Yes. Every single person with a vote in the USA should cast it in November for Joe Biden and every single Democratic candidate from Vice-President to deputy back-up dog catcher in the smallest town you can imagine. That’s non-negotiable.

    But continuing to support Israel’s descent into genocidal failed-state? Shrugging off the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocents because it’s easier than doing the right thing?

    That gets judged. How dare people judge it? Just watch them. The Republican Party’s alternative is so laughably awful that there’s a massive space between ‘voting for you’ and ‘this is disgraceful’ in which people with functional souls can hold two separate thoughts in their head at the same time and they’re both true.

    That shouldn’t be a hard concept to grasp.

  104. 104.

    Ken

    @Jackie: the one juror who has made friendly eye contact

    The smile and the twinkle in his eye were because he’s thinking “you are so screwed, asshole.”

  105. 105.

    Redshift

    @WaterGirl:

    So are my feet planted on the ground in the same place every time? So I am only moving my arms, holding the camera? Or am I supposed to be walking as I take the panorama?

    In case the previous answers weren’t clear enough, you’re supposed to be standing in one place. You can turn your body (to take a 360 degree panorama, for example) but a panorama is basically a really wide picture created by taking multiple images as you pan across and stitching them together (automatically.)

    So you should hold your phone/tablet vertically (a little counterintuitive) and move it slowly horizontally.

  106. 106.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Baud: you mean, like, a row of all the biggest dicks in Congress. Clothes shots only! But there’s a lot of them. Can include female from Georgia..

    .

  108. 108.

    Damien

    @Tony Jay: don’t bite my head off here, but it sure seems like the red line was a full military operation on ground in Rafa. Does that mean that it’s completely off limits to all military action?

    I think that this war is horrifying, but does every single action taken by Israel at this point just immediately qualify as crossing a red line? They’ve done such horrible shit across the board, but it seems counterproductive to count every military move as the same thing.

  111. 111.

    zhena gogolia

    @Jackie: Oh, come on. Nobody knows. I’m not going to read the article, but basing a prediction of a hung jury on someone looking at Trump is pretty ridiculous.

  113. 113.

    Kay

    @Tony Jay:

    One can see the language of media and politicians shift as it continues – less and less of an acknowlegment that these are human beings. More and more abstract. Now they’re now longer “civilians” but instead a “tragedy” – no agency at all or personification at all – just a tragic..event. They’re literally being dehumanized. I suppose it’s a necessary part of choosing to stand back and watch this. If they’re people one would have to do something.

  114. 114.

    VFX Lurker

    @Tony Jay: Yes. Every single person with a vote in the USA should cast it in November for Joe Biden and every single Democratic candidate from Vice-President to deputy back-up dog catcher in the smallest town you can imagine. That’s non-negotiable.

    You’d think that would be the case, but as far back as November 2023, I saw I/P getting weaponized into propaganda to get leftist white women to vote for Trump.

    I block it when I see it. I don’t signal-boost it. However, I didn’t speak up when I should have.

  119. 119.

    WaterGirl

    I just added the word “early” in the name of my post to avoid confusion with two posts in a row with identical names.

  120. 120.

    Litano

    @Damien:

    Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if it launches major invasion of Rafah:

    “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview on “Erin Burnett OutFront,” referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week.

    “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden said.

    During the brief window where the Biden administration inexplicably stuck to their guns on this position instead of folding and giving Israel everything as per usual, large munitions for aerial bombardment were specifically withheld and identified as especially dangerous for civilians in Gaza.

    Side note– Biden indicating that Israel sees Palestinian cities as a “problem” that they need to “deal with” really is an illustrative Freudian slip.

  122. 122.

    wjca

    @Kay: Honestly don’t know how this can get any worse but with this green light from the Biden Administration I expect it will, incredibly, get worse.

    The easiest way to get worse: TIFG gets elected, and explicitly green lights complete extermination in Gaza.  Which he might not get around to on Day One.  But (for an appropriate bribe, of course) would probably manage during Week One.

  131. 131.

    sab

    @Dan B: You should see mine. Short plants in the middle, completely overwhelmed by very tall shasta daisies everwhere. I can barely see anything because of wild strawberries blooming and fruiting in the middle muddle.

    The plants I actually bought last year didn’t make it, except for the ones grown at a local nursery that specializes in native plants.

    Next time I will plan, instead of ordering a plant then planting where it might fit.

    As my sister says about golf: amateurs just whack the ball while professionals actually aim at something.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @wjca:

    explicitly green lights complete extermination in Gaza.

    Your language is changing too like media and the Biden Administration. Your standards are lower.

    It might be better if we just give up on the “harm reduction” argument on Gaza. It seems to be dead in the water. Can they vote for Biden despite his Gaza position? Maybe just go that route. I don’t know that one wants to be spiltting hairs on “complete extermination”.

  134. 134.

    Kay

    @Litano:

    They added “major” to “invasion”. Also – “thousands” of troops is the new condition – just added today.

    Thousands. Could be 5000. Could be 100,000.  Probably a safe bet they’ll never have to find that red line with that much leeway. Fewer than a million troops is not a “major” invasion. Okey doke.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    @wjca:

    Just give them Gaza. Concede. Move on to courts or reproductive rights ot whatever else – all legitimate arguments. No legs left to stand on Gaza. Take that one off the list.

  136. 136.

    Jackie

    @Gloria DryGarden: The writer didn’t ID he/she at all. Which was the correct protocol. It could have been a smokescreen as mentioned above, but I didn’t get that impression from the writer. I’m just hoping that this juror is compelled to vote honestly based on the evidence – just as the right-leaning juror did in the E Jean Carroll defamation trial.

  137. 137.

    Dan B

    @sab: Shasta Daisies!  The horror!!!  I planted them along the tiny drive at my first house in the narrow beds.  It was great exercise*.

    *Digging them out…

  138. 138.

    sab

    @Dan B: Rain or shine, drought or flood, they always come back. Even when my sigificant other mows them weekly. I think they have even choked out the monarda beebalm.

    I probably should have asked you last year before I transplanted them. But excellent cut flowers for inside. They last for weeks with flower food in the vase.

  139. 139.

    wjca

    @Jackie:  It could have been a smokescreen as mentioned above, but I didn’t get that impression from the writer. I’m just hoping that this juror is compelled to vote honestly based on the evidence

    I’m hoping that it’s a juror who is so disgusted by TIFG’s actions in this case that (s)he’s getting some amusement by building up false hopes at the defense table.

  142. 142.

    sab

    @Dan B: What is your opinion on spiderwort. Neighbor offered me some. I like them. She says they are too resilient and she wants them gone.

  144. 144.

    sab

    @Jackie: In my opinion it isn’t a question of may you murder them. More can you murder them. Probably not.

    They messed up my garden “plan” (such as it was) but I still love them. Pretty, resilient, bloom all summer if you deadhead them. What’s not to like except tfor their weedy tendency to spread?

  147. 147.

    Tony Jay

    @Damien:

    I’m not going to snap your head off. I will just say that after-the-fact sophistry and appeals to “well now, technically…” are the language of medical insurance gougers and don’t typically get employed when the case is strong.

    Biden said don’t invade Rafah. The reasoning was that it would inevitably cause a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel invaded Rafah. There’s a rapidly worsening humanitarian catastrophe. No one on any side of the ‘debate’ is fooled by mealy-mouthed post-match justifications about Biden ‘really meaning’ don’t invade too hard.

    Bottom line. Israel flipped America the finger and did it anyway, and instead of following through with its warnings America is shrugging off the implications and instead using harsher language to condemn the vast majority who have frankly had enough of this particular lawless state’s callous brutality. That’s what I’m talking about, because that’s what’s happening.

    It would be a very good idea if it stopped.

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