phoenixswords | Network

This poll covers the ideas proposed in the recent call for themes. Everyone is eligible to vote in this poll. I will keep it open until at least Friday night. If there are clear answers then, I'll close it. Otherwise I may leave it open a little longer. If you don't have a Dreamwidth account, you can vote in an anonymous comment or email to me, but include some kind of handle to distinguish yourself.

For this poll, you can vote for as many themes as you find appealing. I recommend that you don't vote for all of them, since that makes it harder to whittle down the list. The themes are arranged in alphabetical order.

Here are your options ...

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Current Mood: curious

ysabetwordsmith

Monkeys With Smaller Testicles Scream Louder to Compensate

It's a "calls vs balls" tradeoff.

It’s a long-held belief that loudmouths overcompensate for something, but in the case of howler monkeys, science has confirmed it’s a biological fact. A landmark study by Dr. Jacob Dunn at Cambridge University, along with 2026 follow-up research, has established that monkeys who scream the loudest effectively “pay” for that volume with significantly smaller testes and lower sperm counts.

You gotta wonder if this applies to humans and some of their absurd behavior.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

sef1029 shared a picture of a tiny bulletin board for neighborhood poetry. This is the kind of thing that anyone could put up, a riff on the Little Free (whatever) concept. It would work just as well for any kind of creative writing that fits on one page, like nature writing or drabbles, as well as things like copies of a journal page with a sketch and description of local flora or fauna.

No poem? No problem! Sponsors of my work get nonexclusive reprint rights. I'd be happy to write one-page poems for neighborhood use. See something of mine that you already like? Chip in, you're a cosponsor, you can pass around free copies.

Also keep an eye out for local poets in your area who might like to participate. Watch for bookstores, libraries, coffeehouses, etc. to host an open mike night, poetry reading, author signing, etc. where you can meet poets from your area. These also make good places to put up a poetry post, indoors or outdoors.

Of course, you could also look up classic poems in the public domain and use those.

Current Mood: busy

fauxklore

I had chosen the Homewood Suites in downtown Providence primarily for its convenient location. It proved to be a very good choice. I had a large suite with a kitchen and comfortable living room area. It was very quiet. And they had an excellent hot breakfast buffet.

Unfortunately, the weather was not particularly cooperative. Monday was mostly “wintry mix,” which is my least favorite type of weather. I did walk around the downtown area some, particularly because I needed a couple of things at CVS. But it was decidedly unpleasant out and I was happy to return to the hotel and read and relax.

Tuesday was better and I went to the RISD Museum, where I spent a few hours. They have a wide ranging collection, including pieces from the ancient world and European paintings and so on. For example, here is a mixed media piece from their new acquisitions that focuses on Puerto Rico, with toys and photos.

But I focused primarily on textiles. This piece by Alexandra Posen is called Resistance by Design: Herwave Scarf and depicts over 200 women who ran for Congress in 2020 on the Democratic ticket.

I particularly liked the Liz Collins: Motherlode exhibit. It was closing in a few days, but maybe it will be on exhibit somewhere else. Here are a couple of items from it.

Non-textile items I liked included this 16th century German writing desk.

I also thought this glass chandelier was interesting.

I stopped in their cafe before leaving the museum. I would like to have walked around a bit more, especially since Benefit Street is one of my favorite urban walks in the U.S., but it was cold and windy out. So I opted for spending the rest of the afternoon curled up my hotel room reading.

On Wednesday, it was time to head to Boston. There are both Amtrak trains and MBTA trains from Providence to South Station. I was a bit surprised to find that the Amtrak trains were actually slightly cheaper. They also have a senior discount. And, of course, I get Amtrak Guest Rewards points. It was a short walk to the Providence train station, much of which is under construction right now. My train was about a half hour late, but I still got to South Station in the early afternoon and took the T to Kendall Square. I’d booked a room at the Residence Inn, which was a short walk from the T station. The room was a bit oddly designed, with a counter and two stools, instead of a kitchen table, and no luggage stand. It was still functional enough. It also had a white noise machine, which I experimented with a bit. I’m not entirely sure whether or not it did improve my sleep, but it didn’t hurt it any. I’m thinking about getting one to use at home.

It was cold and a bit sleety out, but I still walked over to Mamaleh’s Delicatessen for a late lunch / early supper. Their matzo ball soup was fairly good, though it had more stuff in it than I prefer (carrots, celery, chicken pieces). I also got a chopped liver sandwich, which was disappointing as the red onions and lettuce dominated the flavor. Oh, well, I’ll just have to go to NYC to get my fix of Jewish deli food.

I’d vaguely intended to go to the Harvard Art Museums on Thursday. But my phone rang and I ended up having a lovely and long conversation with my friend and travel mentor, Marc. I did eventually go up to Harvard Square and spent some time browsing in a couple of bookstores before going over to Club Passim to meet up with my friend, Ron, to see Honest 2 Betsy. She’s a performer who specializes in old novelty songs, including a lot of Tom Lehrer songs. The show was very entertaining and well worth going to.

I flew home on Friday with no drama. Overall, I had a good start to the year, but, oy, do I have a lot to catch up on at home.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a flock of sparrows and a starling.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/15/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Snowflake Challenge 8: Creative Process

Talk about your creative process.

This challenge looks at what goes on behind the scenes to produce all the wonderful fannish contents that come to be in the world. By ‘create’ we don’t just mean fic or art or videos -- there’s a process behind every blog post, comment or any other kind of fannish engagement. We’re all creators -- and every creator loves to know about other peoples'.

Snowflake Challenge: A flatlay of a snowflake shaped shortbread cake, a mug with coffee, and a string of holiday lights on top of a rustic napkin.

I write fanfic "derive in, extrapolate out." This means I look for something in the canon that could use more explanation, think about how it could have gotten that way, then consider how that could influence further stories.

My biggest fanseries is Love Is For children (The Avengers). Several of these entries dig into the backstory of the characters, starting with a scene in canon that shows something already developed which must have had a way to get started but that part is never mentioned. So I used the character as known, and the context, to build something that would logically fit into that gap.

In the first Iron Man movie, we see Tony Stark build the Mark I suit in a cave, with a box of scraps. Specifically, we see him swinging a hammer, like Hephaestus at his forge. Now blacksmithing is one of those things that cannot be learned entirely from a book. It requires muscles and muscle memory; you actually have to do the work, a lot, over a long time. If you want to learn efficiently and also not set yourself on fire too much, it also requires a master blacksmith to teach you the tools and techniques. But the movie says nothing about how or where or when Tony learned any of that; it shows the end result of a mastersmith building a supergizmo out of junk.

I wrote "What Little Boys Are Made Of" to fill in that part of Tony's backstory. The earliest sections describe, also inspired by canon, examples of Tony's relationship with his father and Howard Stark's A+ parenting. Then it covers college, Tony's boredom because it's too easy, and his continuing efforts to get Howard's attention. The real key comes when Tony revisits Museum Village in Monroe, New York. There he meets a blacksmith and hits on the idea of working as an apprentice for the summer. And the rest is history.

Consider the Six Layers from Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. With fanwriting, a creator necessarily starts at the surface of the canon element, in this case a movie. "Derive in" means picking a point on the surface, then delving underneath into the structure which supports it, and often consulting the idiom. To create something new requires an idea, which is the first or core layer. From there, "extrapolate out" simply works back up to the surface again.

There in a nutshell is the process for most of my fanwriting. It works equally well with all sizes and media. I use some other methods, but I usually pair them with this one.

Current Mood: busy

susandennis

From the time I clicked on This Will Destroy All Your Data OK until the time I started this entry. 6 minutes. Everything back in place and operational. This time, it gave me the option of setting up the Chromebook via my phone which saved me some typing. I have loved Chromebooks forever and still do today.

The headline is that my Wegovy will be here next Wednesday. I'm all paid for and confirmed. So, to recap, doctor sent prescription in Monday morning - she said it would take a few hours to get set up to order. I got response Tuesday afternoon. Account set up/ordering Thursday morning. But, could the the January rush.

I met with Harriet and got the agenda for next week all noodled out. Now I just need to do it. I think I'll just go ahead and do it now and get it done.

susandennis

I had planned to track a bunch of stuff every day. But, when my brother was here, I fell off the wagon. And now that it looks like I'll be tracking shots, body and meals, maybe I won't do the rest OR maybe I'll do it differently.

And... speaking of shots. Crickets from NovoCare. Well, not totally. I did get a request to opt into texts. Which I did. Then crickets. Because I asked my doctor to try Amazon, the request went to my insurer who declined BUT they did recommend I try NovoCare! haha So I wait.

I pulled out my Kindle Scribe for note taking at the meeting yesterday and then I volunteered to take the minutes and prepare the agenda. I scribbled in the scribe which was perfect. But I spent some time with it last night and figured out how to write with the pen quickly in a manner that I can then easily turn into text when I get home. Harriet, the committee chair, has Apple and Word so I can use Google docs, save it as Word and she'll be able to tweak it. She wants to meet this morning at 9. So there goes my day of nothing BUT I need to pick up our floor's Timber Ridge Times anyway so no biggie.

After that, I'll take the day off.

The cats finally got together in their dog bed, but they slept in their closet beds. I guess I'll move those to under the bed, too. We'll have bunk beds! Dibs on top.

I think I need to power wash this Chromebook which in chromebook-ese means take it back to factory settings. It's an easy and fast enough thing to do. It's just getting slow-ish and it's been a long time.

But, first I need to get dressed. My pajamas are nice but not Meet Harriet nice.

ysabetwordsmith

This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...

* Replied to a post by

fox_in_me on

addme.

* Posted "How to use habit science to help you keep your New Year’s resolution" in

goals_on_dw.

* Commented under the January 14 Just One Thing post in

awesomeers.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are the content notes for "The Most Dangerous Animal in the Zoo."

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

The Call for Themes is still open if you want to suggest topics for early 2026. Now's the time, because I hope to post the poll on Thursday.

Current Mood: busy

days_unfolding

I had a hard time getting up this morning. Called Carle and rescheduled my doctor's appointment from today. Told work that I feel better but need a nap. The dogs aren’t letting me sleep. Gracie is going to get evicted from my bedroom in three-two-one. I didn’t evict her, but she wound up snoozing with her head on my leg.

Slept until a little after 11:30 AM. Fed the critters. Ate lunch.

Bella the glove-stealer is busy stealing gloves. Sigh.

The forecasters are predicting light snow.

Work is a zoo right now. Well, I got through my email :) I might have to work a little this weekend. Well, no, a colleague kindly took some work off of me. I work with nice people.

I want to put in a coneflower garden this Spring. Also, I’ll need to order roses for the side of the garage. Hmm. I stopped ordering bare roots plants because Bella dug them up. I wonder if she’ll stop now that we have Gracie? I could put a fence up too. She can knock down the little garden fences that I put in, but she respects them. I ordered some beautiful roses. I’m excited!

Here's the flashiest of the roses:

My dad was telling me to walk to get exercise, and it’s important because I’ll be walking in Europe this fall. (Do I need a cane? I bought an “all-terrain” folding one in purple.) I decided that I would trade off taking Bella and Gracie for walks because the two of them can almost knock me over. And I’ll be walking with a cane.

I wanted to make some frozen burritos for dinner, but they require an air fryer. I need to get it set up this weekend. I also need to find a good recipe to make some from scratch. Found one.

I might need to change my car appointment on Friday to another time because I need to renew the car’s registration. I’ll see if I’m up to getting the registration renewed tomorrow, but I doubt it. I’m planning on going to bed soon though.

susandennis

I practicing Wegovy. I went to the store after exercise class and got foods that I don't hate but don't get often and some that I never get. Yogurt. I have a thing lately about strawberry yogurt. I found some with zero sugar and 20G protein in a brand I like so I bought some assuming I would hate it. (Spoiler alert, it's delicious.)

Before I got home, I got a ping that the cats' dog bed was here. I picked it up and was nearly to my apartment when Ngon in the Bistro called to say my special order was ready. This was an order for a dozen cookies and 8 cheese scones. Not part of the Wegovy prep but I'm going to eat them anyway.

I got an app. My brother uses one that is too much for me but I found one that is perfect - pep. It tracks everything - shots, weight (with photos) and food via input and also AI photos. And it does a good job. I got a poke bowl for lunch. It had all of the numbers listed on the label. I scooped it all into a bowl did the AI camera thing and it landed the same number of calories, protein, and fiber as the label. Impressive.

Then it was time for my food and beverage meeting which was fine then I had to come home and type up the minutes and the agenda for next week. Which I did and sent it off to the chairman.

Then I set up the cats' dog bed. It's the perfect size for both of them. I set it up under the bed where you cannot see it without getting down there. I moved the cat cam so that I don't have to get down there. Looks like I need to tidy up that one cable. And Biggie needs to learn how to share.

Tomorrow I have no plans and I plan to do nothing.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy, windy, and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/14/26 -- We saw a flock of geese flying mostly north.

Current Mood: busy

susandennis

Here's a tip for getting a new scale after not having one for a really long time... Yesterday, when the scale arrived, it was mid day and I was fully clothed - I tried it out. I did take off my shoes. Today I weighed myself right after I got up and peed. Nearly no clothes. I lost a kilometer!! And my scale draws a little graph line so mine went way down. VERY satisfying. Fictional but satisfying. (And, yeah, my doctor's office tracks weight in kilograms so I decided to follow suit.)

I had a text from NovoCare this morning wanting me opt in to texts. So I know they have my number in their system for sure and it's just a wait.

When the new closet gets installed, the cat beds will have to move. They are heated but one of them doesn't even heat any more. So I ordered them a big, heated dog bed with bolsters. Since under the bed is now empty and I do NOT want to use it for any storage, I'm planning on putting the dog bed there. They like it under there anyway.

This afternoon is my first Food and Beverage Committee Meeting. They meet in private on the 2nd Wednesday and then hold a public meeting on the 3rd. Should be interesting. Before that - this morning - is exercise class at 10. In between, I might make a quick trip to the grocery store. I want some yogurt and cheese and maybe other stuff.

That's rather a busy day for me. Better get going with it.

ysabetwordsmith

Here are the location notes for "The Most Dangerous Animal in the Zoo."

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are the character notes for "The Most Dangerous Animal in the Zoo."

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Current Mood: busy

taz_39

**Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer. DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.

This post covers Monday and Tuesday.

--- --- --- --- --- ---

MONDAY

I was awake early, tired but excited because I am Treating Myself today! YAY Golden Day!!
(A "golden day" is slang for a true day off on tour. No shows + remaining in the same city.)

The plan: Houston's Galleria mall (possibly, no pressure), a noon showing of Zootopia at a fancy theater, and Central Market!

Breakfast and admiring my "clown lips" in the mirror. My lips are swollen, chapped, and kinda burn-y. This is because A) it's the first week back on tour after a layoff where I played less than half as much as usual; B) we had a temperature drop of 30 degrees a few days ago; and C) the streets between Houston's skyscrapers create wind tunnels, i.e. skin gets windburnt and dried out faster. It may not LOOK that chapped, but it FEELS chap-tastic.

But don't worry fam. This is nothing new.
Ringling Bros Circus, circa 2014.
"Clown lips" at the end of a 6-show weekend (12 hours of playing.)
I was sitting on the ringmaster float backstage, waiting for the bus.

I slather on chapstick or Vaseline, wear a mask or scarf, and take every possible precaution, but this happens at least once each winter no matter what I do. It makes playing a bit harder for a while, but ultimately resolves itself. Just thought I'd share one of the joys of brass musicianship!

Right as I was finishing breakfast, housekeeping came by to do my room. Yay! I ran away and goofed off in the lobby for 15-20 minutes and that was enough for them. How nice to start a new week with clean sheets and towels :) Then an Uber to The Galleria to look around!

The Galleria is a big fancy mall with lots of high-end stores selling stuff I can't afford like Hermes watches and designer clothing and "real" jewelry. But they also have some shops for Us Poors, like Macys and Hot Topic. I went to the former to rifle through their clearance rack, and the latter to see if there was any new Hazbin Hotel merch. Nothing found for me, but I did get Jameson a Hellfire Club shirt.

From there I walked to the movie theater which was in an even snootier, even MORE posh shopping plaza, with people in rare $,$$$,$$$ sports cars cruising up and down and security posted at the entrances to most shops. I didn't even recognize the names of most stores...it was true designer stuff, premium leather goods, platinum jewelry, and even an upscale tobacco shop. The movie theater had a fine dining restaurant and bar in the lobby, no cheapo popcorn or candy to be seen (though it's on their menu.) The theaters are small and intimate with maybe 30-40 seats, all of which are plush recliners complete with fluffy blankets and little tables for your food. I had the entire theater to myself today!

I had arrived early on purpose so that wait staff could serve me before the movie started and not have to grope around in the dark. I got a sauvignon blanc and a bison burger with white cheddar, blueberry aioli, sunflower seed pesto, arugula, and fire-roasted tomatoes on brioche. It came with sweet potato fries. Oh and there's bacon on there (I took some of it off tbh)

Now THIS is luxury! Having that whole theater to myself, it was essentially a private showing. The burger was delicious and the wine hit the spot. Zootopia 2 is almost as good as the first movie! I only wished they'd fleshed out the primary reptile character a bit more so that the emotional connection to them might have been stronger at the end (it was still a very touching ending.)

A chill movie and some comfort food were just what I needed today. Afterward I walked to a nearby Central Market for my groceries for next week. Central Market is H-E-B's upscale answer to Whole Paycheck, and it is AWESOME! They have normal groceries, but also so much interesting food that I'll spend an hour or more just staring at everything.

They grow many of their own herbs and mushrooms in house.

There are always delicious-looking fresh fish in the seafood area, and the cuts of meat look amazing too. There were a lot of people at the butcher counter today so I didn't get a picture there.

The bakery section is massive and mostly features their own house-made loaves. There are so many flavors that I want to try!!

In addition to the huge bulk section with grains and dried fruits and nuts and candies, they've got a whole bulk chocolate section with every kind of chocolate you can think of including rare ones like ruby chocolate or couverture chocolate.

Some other interesting things that I saw, not pictured, included floral-infused salts, black cherry brie potato chips, ube potato spread, herbal sparkling water from France, basil hawthorn berry tea, camel milk yogurt, and so much more! I only needed a few things and am trying hard not to overbuy, so just looked for the most part. But I can never resist picking up at least a few intriguing things to try!

Here's my Small Haul.

As in the past, I will do a review once I've tried one of everything. The two little orange fruits are "mandarinquats." I expect them to be like a larger and slightly sweeter kumquat. I was SUPER intrigued by the two shelf-stable milks in banana cream and cookie flavors...they are whole milk so I'm gonna have to take Lactaid with them, but could not pass them up. Those little tuna tins are relatively low in fat and sodium, I wonder if they can still manage to taste good? As usual, can't wait to try everything!

Back at the hotel, put everything away and had a nice hot shower and tried a new face wash (it seems fine?) A very light dinner and lots of hydrating, starting on the 3rd season of Vox Machina, chatting with Jameson and my sisters via text. This was a very nice Golden Day :)

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TUESDAY

Woke up "late" for me, 8:30. Breakfast and kind of wondering what to do with myself...the whole day was free until the evening show. As it turned out, it was rainy wet and cold for the entire day so my motivation to do anything at all went directly down the toilet.

Ate lunch, read my book, watched anime, had a nap, and the only productive thing I did all day was to work on building a powerpoint presentation for future masterclasses that I might do. This is one instance where I will allow AI to interfere, because formatting the slides myself is both tedious and doesn't look good. I only got through the introductory slides and the first portion of the "gig info" slides, but did learn how to effectively insert pictures and video. From here on most of the slides should be fairly copy-paste as far as layout.

Dinner, and I tried eating a saffron gummy for mood/anxiety about 2 hours before showtime. The dosage is 2 gummies but I'm paranoid about medications that could impact my work, so I'm doing half for a week and then adding the other half next week. The reason for this, by the way, is that I am a tense and anxious person. Up until now I've handled it with square breathing and Saint John's Wort, but was recently informed by my birth control provider that I need to stop taking that as it interferes with the birth control. I'm trying to find a substitute, so it's saffron first and if that doesn't work I'll try L-theanine.

Anyway, I walked to the theater a bit early to put my horns together and warm up. As band buddies filtered in we asked each other about our days off; some people had gone to see local bands perform, or had gone out of town with loved ones in the area, or eaten at nice places. I had a new sticker to add to my case as well: it's 1930s Mickey Mouse (who is public domain) riding an alligator, holding a six-shooter and smoking.

I didn't share this on my socials because while Mickey HAS had guns (Minnie too for that matter), he's never smoked. Maybe we can pretend he picked up the habit from Walt? There's a corresponding Minnie Mouse sticker where she's riding a flamingo, has a python around her neck like a scarf, and is equally six-shooting and smoking. As a Florida Person I thought it was funny and cute.

The show was nice, there seemed to be some high school-aged school groups here and they were energetic, cheering for just about everything and REALLY cheering during bows :) And at intermission lots of young little kids and their parents came to the pit edge. I answered lots of the usual questions ("How many people are down there?" "How do you GET down there?" "What's this net for?" "Why are the drums in a box?") and when the questions ran out I made slidey noises and race car noises for the kids. There was lots of giggling over it! Gotta teach 'em young why the trombone is THE COOLEST :p

On the walk back to the hotel I saw two interesting things.
The first was a Waymo sitting at the light across from me. Apparently they are edging into Houston now too. But they've got drivers here.

The other was a juvenile raccoon (at least I assume because it didn't look full grown) sitting directly in the middle of the sidewalk. It got up as I approached but didn't run away, just moved to the side. I spoke gentle words as I passed, and weirdly, it moved as though it wanted to follow me then. But I kept walking and saw it hesitate, then turn and trot into the bushes. Perhaps someone has fed it or been kind to it...which is nice in the moment but ultimately puts these animals in danger.

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Wednesday: One evening show and a trip to the fine art museum!

Thursday: One evening show. Possibly a Foodie Find? Haven't decided yet.

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the September 6, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by

chanter1944 and

dividedbyblue. It also fills the "She had to learn it for herself." square in my 9-1-22 card for the Land of Oz Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

fuzzyred. It belongs to the Iron Horses thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes the aftermath of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, a survivor of mad science experiments, race-based rivalry, paperwork war, rude language, Dr. Bernhardt is always a warning, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

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