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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
In the garden, and RAIN!!!!
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 4:57 AM
1KIKI
Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 9:24 AM
6IXSTRINGJACK
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 1:36 PM
BRENDA
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 5:21 PM
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 10:48 PM
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 11:14 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Well.... Today didn't exactly go as planned. Seems I underbought on materials and the job is going to be a lot bigger than I thought it would. The trowel stuff only did 1/3 of the stuff I needed it to do, and only went about 1/6th of what it was rated to do on the pail. To be fair though, it wasn't only filling a crack, but the surrounding ground on both sides that sloped down into it. The bottled stuff that does the smaller cracks didn't fare much better, although it went a bit further than I expected after the performance of the other stuff. The pothole filler is just that... pothole filler. It's not going to do what I wanted it to do at the base of the driveway. I was kind of exhausted by 2:00PM after a few long days and a little bummed about the situation, so I just wrapped it up early for the day to get my mind right. Going to go to the store first thing and buy about $80 more worth of stuff. I was tempted to just cut some corners at the curb, but I know I won't forgive myself for not seeing this through. Just going to have to resign myself to the fact that this won't go nearly as quickly as I had hoped, it's going to cost about 50% more than I thought it would, and I'll probably be power washing again before I can get the topcoat(s) on. Oh well. It will still look great when I get it done. :) Feeling better, Brenda? Do Right, Be Right. :)
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 11:32 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: About two months of a lower dose of meds and I had to deal with a side effect today. Felt slightly dizzy while I was out for my walk. Not fun.
Thursday, August 20, 2020 1:31 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: About two months of a lower dose of meds and I had to deal with a side effect today. Felt slightly dizzy while I was out for my walk. Not fun.
Thursday, August 20, 2020 1:32 PM
Thursday, August 20, 2020 4:50 PM
Thursday, August 20, 2020 9:29 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Things not going to plan happens Jack.
Quote:I am. The dizziness left before dinner time. Hope it doesn't happen tomorrow. Very annoying.
Thursday, August 20, 2020 11:30 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Things not going to plan happens Jack. Don't I know it. My middle name is Murphy's Law. ;) I decided not to do anything again today. Needed another day off I guess. Not going to beat myself up over it. Went out by sundown and saw the fruits of my labor yesterday. Pothole fixes look good. Everything I trowled in is still pretty filled in and didn't suffer much shrinkage. The bottled stuff shrinks quite a bit more though. I'll probably end up putting a 2nd coat on everything. Oh well. I'll have to end up power washing again before the final coat, but it's probably not the worst thing in the world to do so. Shouldn't take half as long next time and I'll only be cleaning up whatever sludge makes its way onto the drive after some rain. Who knows? Maybe the rain will miss us this weekend and I'll luck out. To the store tomorrow and back to work. I'm going to eventually have to wrap up the facia on the house and get those gutters up. Gotta have that done by the end of September for sure. On a side note, I really do like the way the bottled stuff dries after I troweled it in. It conforms to the driveway around it much better than the troweled stuff does, and I don't think it will be very apparent under the topcoat like the troweled stuff will. Quote:I am. The dizziness left before dinner time. Hope it doesn't happen tomorrow. Very annoying.
Friday, August 21, 2020 1:49 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Had another run in with some dizziness today. Had to modify some of my plans today because of it. Luckily I could. Wonder what tomorrow will bring on that front. Think when I go to see my doctor next Tuesday, she'll be getting an earful about this side effect and the slim possibility that I had a small seizure when I was in a store on Wednesday.
Friday, August 21, 2020 2:23 AM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Had another run in with some dizziness today. Had to modify some of my plans today because of it. Luckily I could. Wonder what tomorrow will bring on that front. Think when I go to see my doctor next Tuesday, she'll be getting an earful about this side effect and the slim possibility that I had a small seizure when I was in a store on Wednesday.
Friday, August 21, 2020 3:38 AM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Had another run in with some dizziness today. Had to modify some of my plans today because of it. Luckily I could. Wonder what tomorrow will bring on that front. Think when I go to see my doctor next Tuesday, she'll be getting an earful about this side effect and the slim possibility that I had a small seizure when I was in a store on Wednesday. KIKI: I sure hope not. Good luck! BRENDA: Well with lowering the dose and if they have actually stopped working then it was possible. But if it was it was so small I was the only one who noticed it. I seemed as I remember to have stopped walking, my vision went black but it only lasted I'm not sure how long and I had to figure out what I was doing after it. That's what happens with my seizures. I just stop for however long and when I come back, I have to figure things out because I am a little disorientated. Thanks. I'll see what she has to say when I go back.
Friday, August 21, 2020 5:43 PM
Friday, August 21, 2020 6:06 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Had another run in with some dizziness today. Had to modify some of my plans today because of it. Luckily I could. Wonder what tomorrow will bring on that front. Think when I go to see my doctor next Tuesday, she'll be getting an earful about this side effect and the slim possibility that I had a small seizure when I was in a store on Wednesday. KIKI: I sure hope not. Good luck! BRENDA: Well with lowering the dose and if they have actually stopped working then it was possible. But if it was it was so small I was the only one who noticed it. I seemed as I remember to have stopped walking, my vision went black but it only lasted I'm not sure how long and I had to figure out what I was doing after it. That's what happens with my seizures. I just stop for however long and when I come back, I have to figure things out because I am a little disorientated. Thanks. I'll see what she has to say when I go back. our dear daughter had intractable seizures as a result brain injury at birth, and then developed a rare seizure syndrome that I had to dx myself, so I think I've been thru a lot of that. Just OOC, how many seizure meds have you been trialed on, and -more importantly- what sort of testing are they willing to do to see if your seizures have returned? The problem is that you aren't the most reliable witness to what's happening to you, since you go offline when a seizure starts, so you aren't able to tell the doctor how long it lasted or what symptoms you might have demonstrated at the start. For example, dd's eyes would always strongly deviate to the left, indicating a right-hand focus. If you're having seizures in your sleep ... how would you know? (Seizures often occur when falling asleep, waking up, or transitioning between sleep stages.) If you had a tumor removed, you probably have focal seizures, not true "absence" seizures. The medications for focal seizures and absence seizures are different, so it's important to know which ones you're having. There are a couple of ways to differentiate- one of them is an in-office EEG. If the EEG shows abnormalities in a specific location, you can be pretty sure that what's happening are focal seizures. But if the in-office EEG shows nothing, sometimes the only way to tell what's happening is an in-hospital video EEG monitoring to capture an EEG and video evidence right at the start. But just to be on th safe side, if I were your doctor I'd order an MRI with contrast, just to be sure that nothing physical was going on. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck. It's no fun hunting around for the right treatment. DD was trialed on a dozen anti-convulsants, the ketogenic diet, steroids, IVIG, and a bunch of other things before a researcher-clinician took an interest in her case and tried something very different. But persistence paid off; eventually we found the answer for her, and I believe there is one for you, too. ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK
Friday, August 21, 2020 6:31 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: The dizziness seems to have gone. Thank goodness.
Friday, August 21, 2020 9:10 PM
Friday, August 21, 2020 9:27 PM
Friday, August 21, 2020 11:29 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: The dizziness seems to have gone. Thank goodness. Oh, thank goodness! indeed! ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK
Friday, August 21, 2020 11:32 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: The dizziness seems to have gone. Thank goodness.
Friday, August 21, 2020 11:36 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Glad you're feeling better, Brenda. Take it nice and slow until you see your doctor, kay? So another $110 in supplies and working until the sun went down and I still didn't get the cracks in the driveway sealed. I'm going to need 3 more bottles. Those alligator cracks are the worst. (In case somebody doesn't know what I mean by that, here's a good image): I decided to do the stuff by the curb that was severely alligatored too. The bottles don't go very far on that, I'm afraid, and down by the curb the asphalt that remains is pretty rough so rather than just filling in the cracks I'm also giving the surface a good base coat before the 1st topcoat goes on as well. So far, I've put 15 gallons of product on the driveway with a trowel. I've even taken the gallon bottles when I'm done and cut them open and scraped up the good amount that most people probably just throw away. I haven't made up my mind if I'm going to do a 2nd coat on the crack sealer or not. It certainly could use it if I want a uniform finish. I just don't know if I want to keep pouring money into this and working all week next week on it in between rain too. Unless we get really lucky, there's going to be about 1/2" of rain and thunderstorms on Monday, which is going to suck since I won't be done by then either way and I will have to power wash again before the topcoat goes down. At this point, if I do 2 coats of the topcoat, I'm about $400 into it. I could probably easily turn that into $500 if I hit the cracks a 2nd time. Not going to make my mind up tonight. Time for a shower and chow and a little bit of relaxation in the A/C. Do Right, Be Right. :)
Saturday, August 22, 2020 3:29 AM
Saturday, August 22, 2020 3:31 AM
Saturday, August 22, 2020 3:38 AM
Saturday, August 22, 2020 7:53 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Glad you're feeling better, Brenda. Take it nice and slow until you see your doctor, kay? So another $110 in supplies and working until the sun went down and I still didn't get the cracks in the driveway sealed. I'm going to need 3 more bottles. Those alligator cracks are the worst. (In case somebody doesn't know what I mean by that, here's a good image): I decided to do the stuff by the curb that was severely alligatored too. The bottles don't go very far on that, I'm afraid, and down by the curb the asphalt that remains is pretty rough so rather than just filling in the cracks I'm also giving the surface a good base coat before the 1st topcoat goes on as well. So far, I've put 15 gallons of product on the driveway with a trowel. I've even taken the gallon bottles when I'm done and cut them open and scraped up the good amount that most people probably just throw away. I haven't made up my mind if I'm going to do a 2nd coat on the crack sealer or not. It certainly could use it if I want a uniform finish. I just don't know if I want to keep pouring money into this and working all week next week on it in between rain too. Unless we get really lucky, there's going to be about 1/2" of rain and thunderstorms on Monday, which is going to suck since I won't be done by then either way and I will have to power wash again before the topcoat goes down. At this point, if I do 2 coats of the topcoat, I'm about $400 into it. I could probably easily turn that into $500 if I hit the cracks a 2nd time. Not going to make my mind up tonight. Time for a shower and chow and a little bit of relaxation in the A/C. Do Right, Be Right. :) I appreciate your conundrum. Let me ask you a question: Are you trying to get your driveway to look uniformly "new", or are you trying to stick the pieces together so it doesn't get worse?
Quote:I think maybe "sticking the pieces together" is a good goal, more doable and less money than trying to make the driveway look new. As long as you can keep the pieces together and prevent deterioration, I think you're well ahead of the game! OTOH if all you're trying to do IS stick the pieces together and seal the cracks, and it's till proving to be a lot more expensive and difficult than you anticipated... well, you have my sympathy! But I agree with BRENDA, it will be better in the long run.
Saturday, August 22, 2020 2:06 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: I'm glad you're taking it easy this weekend BRENDA. I would sure hate for you to get hurt, and I'm sure you would too! ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK
Saturday, August 22, 2020 2:11 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Well, I finally FINALLY finished reviewing the two major legal documents that I've been sort of stalling on for a while. It's important, it's difficult, and it's full of concepts I don't understand. Precatory? Memo of intent? But I think I found all of the bugs and have written down all of the questions that I need to. I just wish hubby had participated. I get so wrapped up in details I sometimes miss a big picture. After that, three smaller documents (well, six, but three are duplicates of the other three) and I get to finalize the dispute that we had with hubby's retirement board. Then after that, I need to nail MY retirement board down IN WRITING on another important matter. God, I hate paperwork. It sucks. And the funny thing is, that was the majority of my job before I retired from being final QA of our group. I thought I was supposed to be retiring, but it seems like I'm still working. Doing the task that I dislike, but am far less qualified for than my real job. ***** Just as an aside, I walk out with the dog into the backyard for her before-bed pee break. Tonight, I spotted the skunk before she did, so I called her back rather harshly and stuffed her back into the house while I chased the skunk out of our yard. But I DID get to see how it's getting in and out: it is really squeezing under the gate. But if it eats too many more fallen avocados, I don't think it will fit! This animal has a HANDSOME ginormous fluffy tail. And I don't mind skunks, really, I just don't want the dog to get sprayed. So skunks are welcome into the yard- just not when the dog is there! ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK
Saturday, August 22, 2020 2:42 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Well, I finally FINALLY finished reviewing the two major legal documents that I've been sort of stalling on for a while. It's important, it's difficult, and it's full of concepts I don't understand. Precatory? Memo of intent? But I think I found all of the bugs and have written down all of the questions that I need to. I just wish hubby had participated. I get so wrapped up in details I sometimes miss a big picture. After that, three smaller documents (well, six, but three are duplicates of the other three) and I get to finalize the dispute that we had with hubby's retirement board. Then after that, I need to nail MY retirement board down IN WRITING on another important matter. God, I hate paperwork. It sucks. And the funny thing is, that was the majority of my job before I retired from being final QA of our group. I thought I was supposed to be retiring, but it seems like I'm still working. Doing the task that I dislike, but am far less qualified for than my real job. ***** Just as an aside, I walk out with the dog into the backyard for her before-bed pee break. Tonight, I spotted the skunk before she did, so I called her back rather harshly and stuffed her back into the house while I chased the skunk out of our yard. But I DID get to see how it's getting in and out: it is really squeezing under the gate. But if it eats too many more fallen avocados, I don't think it will fit! This animal has a HANDSOME ginormous fluffy tail. And I don't mind skunks, really, I just don't want the dog to get sprayed. So skunks are welcome into the yard- just not when the dog is there! ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK I've been there with paperwork and I hate it too. At least you found out how the skunk is getting into your yard. Can you lower the gate anymore? That might stop it from squeezing under it and eating anymore of your avocados. Agreed on the dog, but if YOU get too close to the critter, you to could end up on the receiving end of eau de skunk. Don't think you or anyone in the house wants that any more than the dog. Please be careful when dealing with this critter.
Saturday, August 22, 2020 5:42 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Well, I finally FINALLY finished reviewing the two major legal documents that I've been sort of stalling on for a while. It's important, it's difficult, and it's full of concepts I don't understand. Precatory? Memo of intent? But I think I found all of the bugs and have written down all of the questions that I need to. I just wish hubby had participated. I get so wrapped up in details I sometimes miss a big picture. After that, three smaller documents (well, six, but three are duplicates of the other three) and I get to finalize the dispute that we had with hubby's retirement board. Then after that, I need to nail MY retirement board down IN WRITING on another important matter. God, I hate paperwork. It sucks. And the funny thing is, that was the majority of my job before I retired from being final QA of our group. I thought I was supposed to be retiring, but it seems like I'm still working. Doing the task that I dislike, but am far less qualified for than my real job. ***** Just as an aside, I walk out with the dog into the backyard for her before-bed pee break. Tonight, I spotted the skunk before she did, so I called her back rather harshly and stuffed her back into the house while I chased the skunk out of our yard. But I DID get to see how it's getting in and out: it is really squeezing under the gate. But if it eats too many more fallen avocados, I don't think it will fit! This animal has a HANDSOME ginormous fluffy tail. And I don't mind skunks, really, I just don't want the dog to get sprayed. So skunks are welcome into the yard- just not when the dog is there! ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK I've been there with paperwork and I hate it too. At least you found out how the skunk is getting into your yard. Can you lower the gate anymore? That might stop it from squeezing under it and eating anymore of your avocados. Agreed on the dog, but if YOU get too close to the critter, you to could end up on the receiving end of eau de skunk. Don't think you or anyone in the house wants that any more than the dog. Please be careful when dealing with this critter. HAHAHAH! I chased it away by shining a bright flashlight on it, throwing rotten avocados and making noise. It didn't want to move at first but by the third avocado landing in its direction it finally decided to leave. I do't think I ever got closer than 12 feet. Can skunks spray that far? I hope not!!! ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK
Saturday, August 22, 2020 8:38 PM
Saturday, August 22, 2020 11:58 PM
Sunday, August 23, 2020 2:39 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: I've been there with paperwork and I hate it too. At least you found out how the skunk is getting into your yard. Can you lower the gate anymore? That might stop it from squeezing under it and eating anymore of your avocados. Agreed on the dog, but if YOU get too close to the critter, you to could end up on the receiving end of eau de skunk. Don't think you or anyone in the house wants that any more than the dog. Please be careful when dealing with this critter.
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: HAHAHAH! I chased it away by shining a bright flashlight on it, throwing rotten avocados and making noise. It didn't want to move at first but by the third avocado landing in its direction it finally decided to leave. I don't think I ever got closer than 12 feet. Can skunks spray that far? I hope not!!! ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK
Sunday, August 23, 2020 3:14 AM
Sunday, August 23, 2020 11:30 AM
Sunday, August 23, 2020 2:24 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 1KIKI: Nearly 1 million acres are burning due to wildfires across California, official says At least the Ranch 2 Fire which is the closest to me is getting contained.
Sunday, August 23, 2020 9:37 PM
Sunday, August 23, 2020 10:42 PM
Monday, August 24, 2020 2:41 AM
Monday, August 24, 2020 11:10 AM
Monday, August 24, 2020 11:25 PM
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 12:23 AM
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 5:30 PM
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 5:34 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK: Lucky you. I think you're getting the nice weather we had last week, Brenda. Well... two days in a row where it was more than a coin flip chance of rain and as far as I know there hasn't been a single drop. One site says no rain all night, the other one shows at least a 10% chance every hour overnight. But if it holds until around 7 or 8AM tomorrow, I should be able to blow off the driveway and put the first topcoat down safely without having to worry that much about any rain in the next 36+ hours after it's done. It would be too much to hope that it would be dry for another week looking at the forecast though, so I will end up having to figure out how to wash and clean it again before I can make the final patches and put the 2nd coat on. It should probably be alright. It's not like people all over the country don't do this all the time, and as far as I know nobody has figured out how to control the rain yet. Do Right, Be Right. :)
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 5:35 PM
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 6:48 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Back at my doc's today to get the results of the second bit of blood work she wanted done. She was pretty happy. My liver function is now back to normal. It was my seizure meds causing the problem. The level I should be at is 2,700mg but I am actually under that at 2,540mg. So all is rosy. She wants to do a recheck in three months.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 7:02 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SIGNYM: Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Back at my doc's today to get the results of the second bit of blood work she wanted done. She was pretty happy. My liver function is now back to normal. It was my seizure meds causing the problem. The level I should be at is 2,700mg but I am actually under that at 2,540mg. So all is rosy. She wants to do a recheck in three months. IS she planning on testing for the possible breakthrought seizures that you may be having? Did she even address them? Or is she content to stick her head in the sand? Sorry if I sound a little pissed, but I am. This sounds like the half-assed treatment my other Canadian friend (in Ontario) is getting, and like the half-assed treatment WE used to get from our half-assed HMO. (He has prostate cancer but they refuse to operate.) Yeah, I know... properly diagnosing and treating people sometimes takes more than the average amount of money. About 30% of the time the first drug that a doctor tries DOESN'T WORK. (That is the sad reality of pharmacology!) Sometimes it requires ... what is that word ... thinking ... on the part of the doctor. They need to have a very well-grounded understanding of what is happening, not just a lookup table of possible diagnoses and treatments, with one eye on the lookup table and one eye on the bottom line. Anyway. I hope that what you had was just your body's temporary adjustment to lower seizure meds, not the beginning of a trend. (But in my experience once you lose control of seizures it's hard to get it back again, and things tend to go from bad to worse until you find something that really works.) IF the breakthrough seizures ... or whatever they are ... continue, does the doctor ... OR YOU ... have a threshold beyond which something will be done? It's important that your doctor, and you, have established a "line in the sand" that -once crossed- will precipitate further action. ----------- Pity would be no more, If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake #WEARAMASK
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 8:53 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Right now I would say anything is possible with the wacky weather this year. But for right now I will take dry over wet. Maybe we'll get a nice, dry and sunny September this year. That would be welcome. I hope you can get all that work done on your drive Jack.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 9:40 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Brenda: Back at my doc's today to get the results of the second bit of blood work she wanted done. She was pretty happy. My liver function is now back to normal. It was my seizure meds causing the problem. The level I should be at is 2,700mg but I am actually under that at 2,540mg. So all is rosy. She wants to do a recheck in three months. SIGNYM: IS she planning on testing for the possible breakthrought seizures that you may be having? Did she even address them? Or is she content to stick her head in the sand? Sorry if I sound a little pissed, but I am. This sounds like the half-assed treatment my other Canadian friend (in Ontario) is getting, and like the half-assed treatment WE used to get from our half-assed HMO. (He has prostate cancer but they refuse to operate.) Yeah, I know... properly diagnosing and treating people sometimes takes more than the average amount of money. About 30% of the time the first drug that a doctor tries DOESN'T WORK. (That is the sad reality of pharmacology!) Sometimes it requires ... what is that word ... thinking ... on the part of the doctor. They need to have a very well-grounded understanding of what is happening, not just a lookup table of possible diagnoses and treatments, with one eye on the lookup table and one eye on the bottom line. Anyway. I hope that what you had was just your body's temporary adjustment to lower seizure meds, not the beginning of a trend. (But in my experience once you lose control of seizures it's hard to get it back again, and things tend to go from bad to worse until you find something that really works.) IF the breakthrough seizures ... or whatever they are ... continue, does the doctor ... OR YOU ... have a threshold beyond which something will be done? It's important that your doctor, and you, have established a "line in the sand" that -once crossed- will precipitate further action BRENDA: Truthfully, I didn't mention what happened in the store because looking back I am now not sure. I know I was heading for a yawn at that time and that could have been another reason that I stopped, and my eyes may have just closed. I did mention the dizzy spells and she thought I had had a seizure, so if I had said yes then the route would have been the neurologist. I will keep a close eye on things and if I have any more episodes like that, I will go back in before November and tell her as well as keep a list of what happened and where. If anything else does happen most likely I will be sent back to a neurologist at the office I was going to and they will run an EEG. Then there will be the discussion about most likely a different medication. So for right now it is just wait and see.
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