Mad Science

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DinkyInky
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Re: Mad Science

Post by DinkyInky »

Sgt. Howard wrote:
GlytchMeister wrote:Nah, I don't have any Heterodynes, Clays, Mongfishes, Wulfenbachs, or Sturmvorous...es... In my family.

Well, so far as I know. My family tree is pretty expansive and far-reaching. But as far as I know, I'm the spark equivalent of a mudblood. Nobody else in my family has it.
It can be cured...
Absolutely not Puddin'.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

Aphyon chu kissa whol l'jaed.
--Safyr Drathmir
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Just Old Al
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Re: Mad Science

Post by Just Old Al »

GlytchMeister wrote:Nah, I don't have any Heterodynes, Clays, Mongfishes, Wulfenbachs, or Sturmvorous...es... In my family.

Well, so far as I know. My family tree is pretty expansive and far-reaching. But as far as I know, I'm the spark equivalent of a mudblood. Nobody else in my family has it.
Not unusual but very, very rare....that makes you one in a million, especially at your spark level.

Mine is the opposite - however we tended to stay under the radar. Lots o' sparks...not lots of conflict. We're nuts - but not THAT kind of nuts.

Welcome to the arc! The more sparks the hotter the burn.
"The Empire was founded on cups of tea, mate, and if you think I am going to war without one you are sadly mistaken."
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DinkyInky
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Re: Mad Science

Post by DinkyInky »

Just Old Al wrote:
GlytchMeister wrote:Nah, I don't have any Heterodynes, Clays, Mongfishes, Wulfenbachs, or Sturmvorous...es... In my family.

Well, so far as I know. My family tree is pretty expansive and far-reaching. But as far as I know, I'm the spark equivalent of a mudblood. Nobody else in my family has it.
Not unusual but very, very rare....that makes you one in a million, especially at your spark level.

Mine is the opposite - however we tended to stay under the radar. Lots o' sparks...not lots of conflict. We're nuts - but not THAT kind of nuts.

Welcome to the arc! The more sparks the hotter the burn.
*The Dave Vault is making noises.* Please pay up, as the world isn't ready for the Dave phenomenon. Please Al?

*******************************

I was denied tech for as long as possible after an...incident.

Built a few hundred AM radios out of junk, took apart Daddy's calculators(Texas Instruments scientific calculators during the 70's were horribly expensive, considering the prof always demanded the newest version, and actually rewrote his lesson plans around the impossibility of it until the Dean of I think the math department threatened his tenure.), cleaned the keys, put it back together almost completely. I would have gotten away with it had I not put in a button sideways. Hint: the one below mean.

It's interesting to note that this particular calculator is considered rare these days.

It is also interesting to note later in my education timeline that teachers that demanded special shiny new calculators and had kids with these powerhouses like the one I listed had a 95% fail rate from the shiny crowd...aka only the nerds had Texas Instruments calculators. Those Shiny Casio's meant nothing to the nerds who already could do these calculations in their heads. We only had a calculator to smile and nod and placate the teacher...while we wrote lines of proof without ever needing to power them on until near the end when we checked our work.

Back home the fifth graders were required to have such trinkets. My one nephew could not do anything higher than basic math without one. I showed him how to break it down one day while watching his kid sisters... his teacher failed him for not using the calculator steps. Cue one angry nerd momma and one "seeing red" nerd Aunt storming into the school.

Cue a mildly well-known engineering College in Indiana's then Dean of Math coming in to grade his papers, and telling every student there that without the written proofs, college math will be impossible to pass, and flat out said gov't standard requirements are full of horse-s#!t.

Yeah, most nerds that are now parents hate new math.

Sadly, professors get these poor souls that did not have nerd parents and have to teach them basic stuff that they should already know.

I'm finding myself in the unenviable position of having a gifted talented child who is told it is more important to know math theory(what I consider new math) than you know, actual math.

Four steps to do a two step word problem without ever touching the actual work and solution...placing numbers in boxes to represent how many times a certain list of numbers can divide into a number...and get the wrong answer because decimals are not allowed, nor rounding to nearest whole. It's not stated that you can't either, they just magically expect us to know. And i bloody refuse to use the parent portal. Those teachers need to write a note on said assignments stating that the kids need to use methods learned in class, or I'll fight their fails. Not every parent has the luxury of a home PC, even in this day and age, so I will stubbornly fight on their behalf, whether or not they know it.

I spend 98% of my time begging, pleading, bribing and threatening my child, because he can do this math easily into decimal points...in his head, mind you, and is told to use these inane methods..that frankly, don't work.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

Aphyon chu kissa whol l'jaed.
--Safyr Drathmir
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Sgt. Howard
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Re: Mad Science

Post by Sgt. Howard »

The whole purpose of this regimen is to obliterate the child's ability to reason on his/her own. It is rather easy to get a good grade in math without learning math these days- just do what the teacher tells you and don't think. History is also watered down- My boy's WWII history book spends a LOT of time debating the morality of Hiroshima and Nagasaki- not one word about Pearl Harbor. Or the Rape of Nanking. Or the Biological experiments in Manchuria. It tells that the Civil War was all about slavery, when in fact there were multiple issues and slavery didn't come to the fore until after the fiasco at Fredericksburg and Lincoln penned the emancipation proclamation- which, BTW, didn't free a single slave. It was international political maneuvering- very masterfully done, but nothing more. There was no mention of how the Democrats of the South followed up on the reconstruction with the Jim Crow laws, which the Republicans fought tooth and nail. Finally the southern states won, quoting the 10th amendment... none of that's there. It was in my history books when I went to school, but got removed during the late sixties.
English seems to be changing the rules as well- certain words are not allowed, for one thing. Typically, words that assess quality of an idea, thing or person relative to various standards- ie, judgmental words. Even 'better' or 'worse' is discouraged, as somebody's feelings might get hurt.
The result of this intellectual pabulum is an individual perfectly primed to think what he/she is told to think and not question authority.
In the Antebellum South, teaching a slave to read and write was a hanging offence. Often, no trial was required. Nothing enslaves more efficiently than ignorance, and slaveowners of that day were well aware of it.
We now have several generations of voting age that have been subjected to this marginal level of education- our current bevy of elected officials... of both parties, I might add... reflect the resulting mediocracy that now governs us.

Parents, take time to teach your children what the schools refuse to mention. Remember our heritage- and our history. Every July 4th, we celebrate the signing of a document- when was the last time you read it? Take time, read it, understand what it says and compare it's concerns to the current day-

It will scare you.
Rule 17 of the Bombay Golf Course- "You shall play the ball where the monkey drops it,"
I speak fluent Limrick-
the Old Sgt.
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Just Old Al
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Re: Mad Science

Post by Just Old Al »

What they said.

My daughter is a scientist - a damn good one I might add - in the human sciences of behavior.

She would not have gotten there if I had not yanked her out of the public school system and sent her to a school that forced her to learn for real and not parrot stupidity.

She is about to have her first in the next 6 weeks or so - and I am by-damn going to stay on this rock until I make damned sure that he has the skills he needs.

To quote Robert Heinlein:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
"The Empire was founded on cups of tea, mate, and if you think I am going to war without one you are sadly mistaken."
ShneekeyTheLost
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Re: Mad Science

Post by ShneekeyTheLost »

Sgt. Howard wrote:We now have several generations of voting age that have been subjected to this marginal level of education- our current bevy of elected officials... of both parties, I might add... reflect the resulting mediocracy that now governs us.

Parents, take time to teach your children what the schools refuse to mention. Remember our heritage- and our history. Every July 4th, we celebrate the signing of a document- when was the last time you read it? Take time, read it, understand what it says and compare it's concerns to the current day-

It will scare you.
Take, for example, the Separation of Powers...

Quiz for you folks: What are the primary responsibilities of the President?

If you answered with anything to do with 'economy' or 'health care' or anything to do with 'budget'... WRONG!

The ONLY responsibilities the President has are as follows:

* First and foremost, the Chief Diplomat. Yes, this is the President's primary job, to be America's face to the world. Foreign Policy is literally this man's job.

*Secondarily, should diplomacy fail, he shall also be the Commander In Chief for the military. Talk softly, but carry a big stick. Also responsible for DEPLOYING the military where necessary (See also: Tripoli, cira 1803)

* Third, and finally, as the head of the Executive branch, it is his responsibility to enforce the laws which Congress enacts and the Supreme Court judges is legit.

That's it.

No, seriously. Everything else is just part of the checks and balances that the Executive Branch has upon the other two branches of government. Don't believe me? Look it up yourself! In fact, the *original* President had even LESS power, but that eventually got scrapped because they discovered that diplomacy without a big stick to reach for doesn't typically end well when dealing with bullies.

Sadly, when you only have two political parties to cover three branches of government... you inevitably end up with a situation in which one or the other political party has control of at least two branches of government which bypasses many of the checks and balances which were initially created by our Founding Fathers. Personally, I think it was an enormous oversight to not include a caveat that no single political party may control more than one branch of government at any given time, but that's just me.
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jwhouk
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Re: Mad Science

Post by jwhouk »

Forgot one word on that third power, Shneek: approval. The President has the power of signing bills - or not. Vetos need supermajority to override, and it is rare that they do get that.

Sarge: you KNOW how I feel about that topic. The Civil War started over states' rights, but slavery was ALWAYS the underlying issue. And yes, I know the Emancipation Proclamation didn't truly "free" any slaves, but it turned the war into a fight for cause.

We agree completely about Pearl Harbor and Japanese atrocities- but the "internment camps" for American Japanese was shameful. That doesn't mean we were wrong to use the A-bomb. If we hadn't, the death toll for taking the Japanese mainland would have been staggering.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
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ShneekeyTheLost
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Re: Mad Science

Post by ShneekeyTheLost »

jwhouk wrote:Forgot one word on that third power, Shneek: approval. The President has the power of signing bills - or not. Vetos need supermajority to override, and it is rare that they do get that.
That's part of the checks and balances I mentioned previously, otherwise you could trump up a kangaroo court and pass any damn law you wanted. Now you have to have a president from your political party in the white house to do that. Which is where we get the laughably ironically named 'affordable care act' from.
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Sgt. Howard
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Re: Mad Science

Post by Sgt. Howard »

jwhouk wrote:Forgot one word on that third power, Shneek: approval. The President has the power of signing bills - or not. Vetos need supermajority to override, and it is rare that they do get that.

Sarge: you KNOW how I feel about that topic. The Civil War started over states' rights, but slavery was ALWAYS the underlying issue. And yes, I know the Emancipation Proclamation didn't truly "free" any slaves, but it turned the war into a fight for cause.

We agree completely about Pearl Harbor and Japanese atrocities- but the "internment camps" for American Japanese was shameful. That doesn't mean we were wrong to use the A-bomb. If we hadn't, the death toll for taking the Japanese mainland would have been staggering.
Oh, they dwell on the internment camps- and I agree, that needs to be addressed. My country's faults as well as my country's triumphs ALL need to be examined and remembered- the triumphs that we can celebrate and the faults that we can correct and learn from. And you are right- every issue that split the states emanated from the South's dependency on slave powered one crop agriculture- had the South diversified and freed the slaves, the war would never have happened. The way it is currently taught, the North was motivated by abolitionism more than anything else- the North had no trouble with slavery, they just didn't want it in their back yard.
R.E Lee freed his slaves when he took his Confederate commission in 1860- Julia Grant (U.S. Grant's wife) lost her house slaves when they skipped out in 1863 to seek their freedom- show me THAT in any school history book!
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DinkyInky
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Re: Mad Science

Post by DinkyInky »

Where's the smegging like button?

That's it exactly. As a Veteran Sarge, how about this gem?

Calling Korea and Vietnam Wars(which no declaration of such means it's a conflict). Yeah, both had horrific body counts, but no formal declaration during means they were not, in fact war. That's why so many vets got swept under the carpets.

They spit on the details of the draft, the extreme poisons used, the smegging brutal PTSD they have, and no compensation. PTSD must be undeniably proven for help, and only if said issue occurred during wartime. That's the story I'd been handed while arguing with the VA.

My dad was seventeen. Nerdy, math, art...barely out of high school, and they sent him to be a medic.

Whenever someone calls it a war, he has a fit.

My Mother lost a father during the Korean Conflict.

My father, who was drafted, served in a M*A*S*H unit in Seoul during the Vietnam Conflict. My dad's older brother went to the jungle, as did my stepdad. Don't gloss over the details, nor whitewash fact if you want to discuss it with either of them.

Because he wasn't enlisted, but drafted during a military action, he's been denied benefits owed, and treatment for issues stemming from said loyal, honourable service. That we've been fighting for for decades.

Since ACA went live, they've given him minor access to VA medical facilities. Far distances to travel, horrible long wait times...

But on a pittance from SS, he cannot pay the premiums plus deductible for basic ACA compliant service. So he waits hours just to have a doctor hand him a refill for his medicines. That way he's exempt from the stiff penalties.


Rant hidden.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

Aphyon chu kissa whol l'jaed.
--Safyr Drathmir
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Re: Mad Science

Post by FreeFlier »

There's also no mention that the antebellum south wanted to diversify into industry . . . and the north, especially the New England states, blocked that with punitive tariffs and similar means.

That wasn't mentioned even in my day . . .but my teacher didn't like the standard texts because of the things they omitted.

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GlytchMeister
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Re: Mad Science

Post by GlytchMeister »

History is hearsay.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
Warrl
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Re: Mad Science

Post by Warrl »

In the Civil War, the South was using a very good principle in defense of a horrible practice, while the political leadership of the North was actively seeking to undermine that principle and seized upon ending the horrible practice as a tool to do so.

I don't see a "good" side.

I suspect that - absent a war - slavery would have succumbed to economic pressures and been nearly nonexistent by 1900, and there would not have been a "Jim Crow" era.

Unfortunately, there is a major error in the history books - and the truth is a major cause of the war.

We are taught that the Civil War was between the free states and the slave states (which wasn't completely accurate in its own terms - slavery was explicitly legal in West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and the New Mexico Territory, none of which seceded). However, as a matter of federal law there were no states or US territories where slavery was or could be strictly banned after March 6 1857.

That date being the date of the Dred Scott decision, probably the worst decision in the history of the US Supreme Court.

And it wasn't even the conclusion regarding the petitioners that was the problem. That was reasonably justifiable in law, on any of several grounds. (Morally justifiable is an entirely different matter... and be thankful that our courts are not, and rarely try to be, courts of morality.)

But Chief Justice Taney disregarded the grounds used by lower courts, essentially ruling that it is impossible for a black to be a citizen of the United States (and therefore to have standing to bring a case in federal courts) or of any state, solely on the basis that blacks had not been considered citizens anywhere in the US in 1784 (by the way, he was incorrect).

It was that, and a bunch of IRRELEVANCIES that Taney threw in for good measure, that obligated ALL states to enforce ownership of blacks so long as ANY state considered slavery legal.

Anyone who believed in "states' rights" should have been appalled at this assault on a state's ability to regulate its internal affairs.

With that decision sitting on the books, it would have been nearly impossible for slavery to end peacefully. An ending to slavery that did not repudiate the Dred Scott decision, and grant full citizenship to blacks, would have little to no legal effect, as no black would have standing to bring a complaint against a slaveowner - and in 1860 even the abolitionists mostly did not support granting full citizenship to blacks. ("Ship 'em all back to Africa" - ignoring the fact that very few of them had ever even met a person who had seen Africa - was a popular sentiment.)
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GlytchMeister
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Re: Mad Science

Post by GlytchMeister »

DinkyInky wrote:
Sgt. Howard wrote:
GlytchMeister wrote:Nah, I don't have any Heterodynes, Clays, Mongfishes, Wulfenbachs, or Sturmvorous...es... In my family.

Well, so far as I know. My family tree is pretty expansive and far-reaching. But as far as I know, I'm the spark equivalent of a mudblood. Nobody else in my family has it.
It can be cured...
Absolutely not Puddin'.
Thanks. I wouldn't want his so-called "cure" anyway. Things would be so boring.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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DinkyInky
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Re: Mad Science

Post by DinkyInky »

GlytchMeister wrote:
DinkyInky wrote:
Sgt. Howard wrote: It can be cured...
Absolutely not Puddin'.
Thanks. I wouldn't want his so-called "cure" anyway. Things would be so boring.
Berwyn!

Pay up Glytchie.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

Aphyon chu kissa whol l'jaed.
--Safyr Drathmir
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GlytchMeister
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Re: Mad Science

Post by GlytchMeister »

DinkyInky wrote: Berwyn!

Pay up Glytchie.
...for what? How could that possibly have been a pun?!?
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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Dave
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Re: Mad Science

Post by Dave »

GlytchMeister wrote:
DinkyInky wrote: Berwyn!

Pay up Glytchie.
...for what? How could that possibly have been a pun?!?
I think it would only be a pun, if Sarge's "cure" involves trepanning.

I'm not sure whether a cranial modification in what I imagine would be Sarge's recommended style (a .45 fired from combat range?) would qualify. The thought does make me nervous, though. Trepidation about the implication of trepanation is only natural for one of my station in this nation.

(Deposits several cranial cells in the Pun Jar... I obviously am not using them for anything serious this morning).

So, I aver that you can invoke the "no pun intended, really!" rule if you wish... or take credit for the subtlety and pay the Jar.
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GlytchMeister
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Re: Mad Science

Post by GlytchMeister »

Dave wrote:
GlytchMeister wrote:
DinkyInky wrote: Berwyn!

Pay up Glytchie.
...for what? How could that possibly have been a pun?!?
I think it would only be a pun, if Sarge's "cure" involves trepanning.

I'm not sure whether a cranial modification in what I imagine would be Sarge's recommended style (a .45 fired from combat range?) would qualify. The thought does make me nervous, though. Trepidation about the implication of trepanation is only natural for one of my station in this nation.

(Deposits several cranial cells in the Pun Jar... I obviously am not using them for anything serious this morning).

So, I aver that you can invoke the "no pun intended, really!" rule if you wish... or take credit for the subtlety and pay the Jar.
Ooooh. Now I geddit.

Well, I didn't mean for that pun, but I'll pay the Pun Jar just in case:

*deposits a DEAD Agrilus planipennis*
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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Sgt. Howard
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Re: Mad Science

Post by Sgt. Howard »

.50 BMG at this writing is $1.57 a pop- a pre-frontal lobotomy can be done with an ice pick.
Rule 17 of the Bombay Golf Course- "You shall play the ball where the monkey drops it,"
I speak fluent Limrick-
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GlytchMeister
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Re: Mad Science

Post by GlytchMeister »

Sgt. Howard wrote:The Old Sgt. was busily cleaning Miss Annie's Ruger Blackhawk- the little darlin' was getting it's first full quartermaster- when an old sensation ran down his neck and spine- Somewhere, something absolutely disastrous was in the makings. Looking around, he saw nothing amiss- running into the house, he looked on at Annie as she sat knitting a gun cozy. Annie looked up, wondering at her husband's concern.
"Not to worry dear- just felt like I needed to check on you," he commented rather absentmindedly.
"Howard, what's wrong?" she asked, not being put off that easily.
"I," he tried to figure out how to explain it, "I just had... a feeling of impending doom... I dunno- like, something's about to happen that ... well, I just wanted to check on you, is all... probably something I ate... not to worry," and with that he returned to his task.

But he did keep looking out over the valley and occasionally glancing at the house.
Glytch hasn't even built a death ray yet! Just you wait! :lol: :twisted:
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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