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Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Sunday, Aug. 3

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Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings diary series gives the Moose, new and old, a place to visit and share our words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

In lieu of daily check-ins, which have gone on hiatus, Welcomings diaries will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning) and then, if necessary due to a large number of comments, on Wednesday or Thursday to end the week. To find the diaries, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).

The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.

So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?

…


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 131 Comments

131 comments

  1. JanF

    Here in Madison WI, it is 65 degrees on its way up to 83. Scattered thunderstorms are in the forecast

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  3. DeniseVelez

    Had fun reading POTUS’ astrology charts this morning 🙂

    after being reminded by Jan it’s his b’day tomorrow.

  4. anotherdemocrat

    low 90s, which is cool for Austin in August

    Eating breakfast, watching Up. My feet are swelling up again, so I’m hooked up to the squisher again. Makes typing awkward. Today: church, mix lunch together, wash dishes, visit my friend.

  5. Portlaw

    make a list of things to do. Sigh. It’s going to be long. Hope it’s a good day for everyone in the Pond.  

  6. princesspat

    RonK is leaving soon for Kennewick ( 102°) so he’s muttering about the heat and the drive. And I’m blinking tears because my brother is dying in Florida and I can’t be with him. My sister is there, hospice is taking good care of him, but it’s very hard for his family. My photo search yesterday was to find photos for the memorial service, and for his sake I hope that will be soon.

    I also hope the local Fed Ex store will help me scan the photos to a memory stick so it will be easy to send and simple for my family to use. The photos are old black and whites of varying sizes and I’m not sure how to do all the steps myself.

    It was hard to open the trunk and begin the search, but after a while the flood of memories was very comforting. I felt a strong family connection, and memories of happy times together helped balance the sadness.

  7. JanF

    66 degrees in Madison with an expected high of 82, scattered thunderstorms in the forecast (cut and paste weather … the same as the last 4 or 5 days). A front will move through today to cool us back into the low to mid 70s. 82 is too hot!

    I dared to peek at the news and: Liz Cheney!!! OMFSM, the logic gene completely bypassed her:

    “This president is an utter disgrace. He’s got a situation where, as your last two reports showed, you’ve got crises erupting around the world. And he is expending more time, more energy, more passion, more aggressive activity in targeting and going after patriots, heroes, CIA officers and others who kept is safe after 9/11,” Cheney said on Fox News’ Hannity.

    “He’s lying about what they did, he’s slandering them, he went to Cairo and did it in 2009. Today he did it from the podium of the Oval Office. It’s a disgrace. It’s despicable,” Cheney continued.

    I will not watch it (just seeing her face gave me the willies) but I cannot imagine she was able to say that without spittle.

    I guess I missed the president expending a lot of public time, energy and passion on bringing to justice those who broke our laws and international laws (he had a global economic meltdown to worry about and a national health care plan to craft). Perhaps being held accountable for lawlessness had been a cause of concern at the Cheney household? 😉

    See all y’alls later!!

  8. DeniseVelez

    As I filled my dogs water dispenser this morning was thinking about the residents of Toledo Ohio, who currently have no potable water.

    Toledo’s water crisis continues

    Water still not safe to drink in Toledo


    Toledo officials issued the water warning in Ohio’s fourth-largest city early Saturday after tests revealed the presence of a toxin likely from algae on Lake Erie.

    The Ohio National Guard and other state agencies have been delivering pallets of bottled water to city and operating water purification systems to make more drinkable water.

    Worried residents told not to drink, brush their teeth or wash dishes with the water descended on truckloads of bottled water delivered from across the state yesterday as the governor declared a state of emergency for Ohio’s fourth-largest city and surrounding counties.

    After dealing with Detroit and the water cut-offs – again we have news about a community with water problems – though not for the same reasons.

    Add in the drought situation in the west:

    California drought: ‘May have to migrate people’

    and it makes you much more aware of how fragile our existence is – related to water, and air and things we often take for granted.

  9. Portlaw

    a friend who saw somewhere that the Repub candidates are asking Romney to help them and Dems are not asking Obama. Is that possible?

    Hoping for a better week for the world.

  10. Diana in NoVa

    Love me some Leos! Daughter’s birthday fell on Lammas, today is the birthday of the friend who stayed with us this weekend, late father, with whom  I got on splendidly, was a Leo, and so forth.

    A bit foggy in the D.C. area this morning, appropriately enough–look at all the foggy minds on the Hill.

    Just finished breakfast of fresh fruit and toasted cinnamon-raisin Engllish muffin witth marmalade. About to get dressed and head out to pick up Miss Pink Cheeks, who mercifully has no morning camp this week, and Mr. Baby. The porta-crib and diaper pail are set up in Granda’s first-floor office, and Grandma is getting the CDs ready: Chinese lullabyes, Humpty-Dumpty, Baby’s first words in Mandarin, and Baby’s first words in French. (I have a thing about languages.)

    Princesspat, sorry to hear about your brother but glad to hear you were able to get the electronic duplicates of the pictures done so quickly.

    Will contemplate the appalling weather-related news during my daily round. How much worse can it get? Every, every day some fresh disaster occurs. Oddly enough D.C., which is usually a humid hellhole in the summer, has been cooler and drier than normal. Weird.

    Hope everyone in Moosylvania will have a good day!

  11. anotherdemocrat

    Eating breakfast – quinoa with melon, cherries, mint & a vinaigrette dressing. Drinking strong tea – I woke up, fully awake, at least 3 times last night. Sigh. Meant to leave early enough to walk before work, but I forgot the one casualty of Friday’s fall — my book bag. One strap is broken & there’s a rip in the bottom. So I had to dig around & find a substitute & transfer stuff… I’ll try to mend it tonight. And since our highs are only going to be in the mid-90s, maybe walk after work. I really was going to walk – even wore my sneakers, and wow my feet are really swollen. So I switched to my clogs so they aren’t squished all day.

    If it isn’t insanely busy, I’ll leave early so I can visit my friend. She posted on Facebook that she’s feeling better, other than no use of her left side….. My neck is about 75% better — which is good. Maybe a miracle will occur & we’ll have a dead quiet Monday & I can leave really early & get in a visit,a massage & a walk… Yeah, because no one calls call centers on Mondays.

  12. bfitzinAR

    (meaning enough humidity to make it hazy – yuk!) but still cooler by 5 to 10 degrees over the “new normal”.  Dem Party working on petition signatures to get raising the minimum wage on the ballot – I notarized about 150 petition-gatherer signatures (petition gatherers have to swear that to the best of their knowledge the person signing the petition 1) read the petition and 2) is a registered voter in the county noted at the top of the petition signature sheet).  I’ll be wearing my notary hat at Dem HQ for the next few weekends.  Got QC committee meeting tonight.  At least it’s not Budget.  Hope everyone is doing well in Moosylvania.  {{{HUGS}}} bf

  13. princesspat

    It’s been unusually sunny this year….time for a rainy day!

    Today’s focus will be on organizing fabric for Emma’s garage sale. She’s excited about earning money for her Wa DC trip next spring, and I’m pleased to contribute. Yesterday I measured and labeled a large tote full of yardage size remnants. Today I’ll make fat quarters for quilters and see if I can fill another tote. We’ll price things and sew some more baby blankets when she is here this week.

  14. DeniseVelez

    My computer has been crashing, freezing  and acting up all day and evening.  Spent hours and hours online with the Geek Squad trying to get it fixed. It seems to be a hardware issue.

    Have to take it in to the store today, and am probably going to send it off for repairs. Will more than likely break down and buy a new desktop today…if the old one (this one) can be fixed, I’ll give it to the hubby.

    That means I’ll be spending the next few days loading software, transferring files and getting up to speed with Windows 8. Sigh.

    Am going to post Tuesday’s Chile segment-now-with no link to Black Kos- will add it later if I can get back online in time.  

     

  15. JanF

    It is 63 degrees here in Madison on its way up to 78. It is foggy right now but the forecast calls for partly sunny. No thunderstorms in the forecast today. Yesterday we had storms rolling through all afternoon.

    Busy day here. The news will have to wait until I have time to read it. See you all later!

  17. anotherdemocrat

    Eating breakfast, drinking tea. I am deeply bummed that I exploded my heating pad last night. Boo. Neck is stiff & twitchy. And I woke up twice last night – even though I ate dinner early & stopped liquids by 8. Grrr. Tonight – finished with dinner even earlier & I’ll get all my 2 liters of water drunk before I leave work.

    My friend is being moved to rehab today. She can’t use her left side. Like – she has to move her left arm with her right hand. But she’ll do every little thing the PTs tell her to. At least twice. She wants her daughter to go to school & she’s determined to be able to take her there & celebrate her 18th birthday & starting college.

    Today: tolerate the quarterly all-employee meeting, drink lots of water during the day, maybe walk at lunch, go buy a new heating thing after work.

  18. bfitzinAR

    QC was longer – and to a certain extent worse – than usual for a non-Budget committee meeting.  Seems the Rs are all up in arms about EPA “overreach” on the new definitions needed for the Clean Water Act to actually protect our water since a Bush judge in 2006 decreed that coal companies could dump slurry in headwaters because U.S. waters only included navigable waterways.  Since everything they were upset about is covered in the exceptions section – and they were reading from the exceptions section as if it were the specifications and paid no attention to me when I pointed that out to them – we Dems on the committee voted against the meaningless protest resolution.  Not that it matters because they’ll bring it up at the Full QC on the 21st and it will pass because even the more-or-less sane ones are ideologically bound to protest the EPA.  So.  Tummyache, a couple of cookies and a peach when I finally got home, and lousy sleep.  Fortunately that’s the only meeting this week.  Hope the rest of the week is better – for all of us.  (Better is always good!)  {{{HUGS}}} bf

  19. DeniseVelez

    65 now but going up to 81 in the Catskills.

    In the news – Shelby County TN

    Department of Justice to oversee Shelby County election

    http://wreg.com/2014/08/05/dep…

    This county made news in 2012 when the Justice Dept found that the Juvenile court system discriminated against AA defendants

    http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/…

    I have never lived there but follow events in Memphis and the county since it’s where my grandfather’s family is from.  

    I’m glad to see that DOJ efforts are having an effect.  Even though the R’s in Congress would like to cripple them and dump Eric Holder.

  20. JanF

    It is 59 degrees here on its way up to 79.

    My plan to get some critical projects done yesterday got derailed by some unexpected client crises and some getting-ready-for-back-to-school paperwork that needed tending. I will be glad when school is back in session; it allows for a more predictable work schedule.

    A teaparty Congressman in Michigan got defeated in his primary and a few others had some close calls. I think that may bode well for us … maybe people are getting tired of the crazy and will look at the Democrats in some of these races. We need a semi-wave to get the 17 seats we need to regain the House and the naysayers are saying that a wave in favor of the party in power in the White House has never happened. But so much that has happened since 2000 had never happened before and I think that the Smart People™ could be overlooking the possibility that the American People™ may just be getting fed up with this Congress. Hey, it could happen!!

    And THIS!!! YES!!!

    We don’t want the GOP to pursue a ‘socialism-lite’ agenda. We want them to go on the warpath and do whatever it takes to stop the destruction of our constitutional Republic,” [former California State assemblyman Steve] Baldwin wrote in Barbwire, a conservative Christian site run by Liberty Counsel Action’s VP Matt Barber. “It has become increasingly clear that the GOP leadership will do everything in its power to prevent the party from being influenced in any way by the Tea Party. I have given up on the GOP and am simply not sure it can ever be reformed.”

    He said that the new Third Party “will do to the GOP what the GOP did to the Whig Party 150 years ago: it will replace the GOP as the main party contesting the Democrat Party.”

    Baldwin acknowledges that successfully pulling a third party from the GOP is a long shot, but he offers some remedies. One thing the party would need, he argues, is Sarah Palin, who has actually considered a third party herself.

    “We would also need a stable of respected national conservative leaders such as Sarah Palin and others to lead the charge on such an effort,” he wrote.

    🙂 🙂 🙂

    See all y’alls later!

  21. Diana in NoVa

    Thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon–hope we get some rain. But I always hope for that.

    Monday with Mr. Baby went better than expected; yesterday was difficult. Mr. B., unlike most babies, does not like being rocked, nor does he like being carried on the shoulder. He likes to be cradled in one’s arms all the time while the person holding him walks and walks and walks. Have been very tired in the evenings!

    However, this stage is supposed to last for only three months, so it’s just getting through August. Otherwise, he’s quite happy.  

    Managed to work on a blog for a little last night; haven’t been able to do much reading or looking at sites during the day. Perhaps today he’ll take a nap.

    Hope everyone in Moosylvania will have a good, productive day that is not too awful with regard to weather. If time permits, would like to come back later and read some of the rec list and other diaries.

  22. anotherdemocrat

    not quite there yet (well, the heat index is above 100, but the actual temp isn’t)

    I think I slept the night through last night. I could still go back to sleep this minute, but I don’t remember getting up, so that’s nice. Eating breakfast, drinking tea.

    Very few thoughts in my head. Wondering why my internet radio station (iHeart Radio’s U2 Radio) plays so little U2. Lots of Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds, Depeche Mode, Snow Patrol & Coldplay (someone has a sense of humor). That’s about the depth of my thoughts right now.

  23. bfitzinAR

    This week we are having summer again – but maybe some rain by the weekend and cooler next week.  I have so many bits and pieces of projects sitting on my desk, it’s maddening.  In years prior I’d have them done but now each step has to go through an approval chain.  With some of these by the time they are actually finished and implemented, they will have gone through the chain (of anywhere from 1 to 11 people) 9 or 10 times.  And taken at least a week longer than it used to.  Sigh.  Oh well, we’ll get there, right?  Now for moar coffee!  {{{HUGS}}} bf

  24. princesspat

    My brother’s struggle with liver cancer ended yesterday so my thoughts are full of family. I am very relieved his suffering is over, but very sad his life ended in this way. He was 66 yrs old.

    I am so grateful for the Hospice care and support he and his family received, and that my sister was with him.  

  25. DeniseVelez

    if you don’t hear from me in a while it’s cause I can’t get back online with a puter with windows 8.1 and am gonna need HELP!

  27. JanF

    58 degrees here in Madison WI on its way up to 79. Partly sunny.

    Yikes! Lots happened while I was off earning a living. 🙂

    Another busy day again … I hope to be able to check back later.

  28. Portlaw

    coffee and see if the news is bearable. Hope it’s a good day for all. Will check back when I am a bit more organized!

  29. Diana in NoVa

    morning, supposedly on its way to a high of 86 F. and lower humidity. We did not get any rain last night. Bummer.

    Princesspat, so sorry to hear of your loss. I hope your brother’s passing was free of pain and that he will walk in peace in the Otherworld.

    Denise, sorry to hear about your computer troubles. How disappointing to find that the computer was a lemon! That’s so frustrating.

    All is well here although I do get tired because of walking around the house all day with the baby attached to my front in a sling. The Code Orange air quality has probably disappeared so I can take Mr. Baby out for an airing this morning. Mommy and Grandpa went out to pick up a free changing table yesterday and that helps. Also, I found the “Baby’s First Words in Chinese” CD that I’d been looking for, buried in a box of children’s DVDs. Now he can listen to Chinese and French and become thoroughly confused. I played both to Miss Pink Cheeks when she was an infant. She started talking later than most because of hearing three languages but once she started she never stopped.

    Hope it’s a good day for all in Mooseland!

  30. anotherdemocrat

    so it doesn’t really matter

    Blech. I was awake enough at 1am to take a 2nd muscle relaxer in hopes that would put me to sleep. It wasn’t that I was in pain, I was just freaking awake. But I still wince when I have to move my head too much. I tried to schedule a massage yesterday but the place near me didn’t have any openings when I want to go. Might feel bad enough today to check their other location.

    So I’m eating my breakfast & drinking tea. Sigh. Yesterday’s incident at the Capitol wasn’t even on the news this morning. Sad how things like that have become routine.

    Happy Friday Eve! (that’s what the woman who does the traffic on the tv station I watch in the morning calls Thursday)

  31. DeniseVelez

    yesterday we had a few torrential downpours – wish I could send all this wet to those who need it.

    I hope folks in Hawaii stay safe from the hurricanes.

  32. bfitzinAR

    and should work its way through by 9 at which point the rising temps will make it a steam bath out there.  Good rain though and I’m grateful for it (even though I got a bit damp coming in – water resistant does not mean water repellent).  Nice not to have to water the nursery stock (which is all I water).  {{{HUGS}}}

  33. princesspat

    Thank you all for your kind words and condolences. I “know” death is part of life, and for my brother a blessed relief from intense suffering, but raw grief still seems to be part of the experience. I’m still crying this morning but acceptance is growing.

    It helps to be surrounded with a busy and loving family. Emma will be here soon to finish our fabric projects, Ron is home now, and my kids are all in close contact. I’m going to putter around in my garden and ignore the rest of the world for a few more days though.

  34. JanF

    60 degrees here in Madison with an expected high of 79 … partly sunny.

    The news is troubling. On the one hand, international humanitarian crises should be addressed by the international community, which we are a part of. On the other hand, Iraq! I am wondering if I would have such a reaction if it were another country, one we did not have such a bloody history with. I am sure we will hear soon, if we haven’t already, WWJMD (What Would John McCain Do)?

    War sucks. I am confident that President Obama meant what he said about no boots on the ground. He is not likely to ignore that Americans do not want any more war.

    Back later.  

  35. Diana in NoVa

    going for a high of 85 F. Wondering whether I should rethink my decision to have Miss Pink Cheeks live here next week. Yes, it would be easier to get her off to morning camp, but that would mean no “collapsible” evenings for me, and evenings are when I get a little writing done.

    Not sure how I’m going to diary-tend at the other place today while wearing Mr. Baby in a sling across my chest, but will do my best.

    The goings-on in Gaza torment my heart, and now the suffering of those people at the top of a mountain in Iraq is adding to it. What in the name of Goddess can we do to help Gaza? Can’t believe what they’ve gone through. At least the people on the mountain can be helped somewhat by air drops of food and water.

    Going to try to concentrate on the here and now today. Bfitz, please send us some of your rain! It rains all around us but not actually on us. However, it will be cloudy this weekend so once again, I won’t get to see the full moon. Celebrating esbats is hopeless in this area.

    Everyone have a good day and remember–tomorrow is Saturday!

  36. Portlaw

    news story. It’s about my Congresswoman

    Representative Carolyn Maloney, a veteran New York Democrat, is in China on an expedition financed by the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs. While she’s there, she’ll be making the usual round of meetings and tours. Also, she’ll be visiting a national panda research base – from which, Maloney has suggested a time or 12, she would like to get a couple of bears for New York City. “The greatest city in the world deserves two pandas,” she told The Daily News.

    Her opponent, needless to say, is furious. As Gail Collins writes

    Nick Di Iorio, complained that the congresswoman should be thinking about serious problems like jobs and Israel, where he is going on his trip. “It’s not a time we have a luxury of bringing back animals for a zoo,” he declared in a phone interview.

    I’m not sure this is true. We all know that we’re not going to be getting a thing out of Congress next year, no matter who wins the elections. In that case, wouldn’t it be cool to have a panda?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08…

  37. anotherdemocrat

    sigh

    Lousy night’s sleep last night – woke up twice & was awake when the alarm went off. Boo. And I don’t know why – I’m not worried about anything in particular, wasn’t thinking about anything when I woke… just awake.

    Taking off in the middle of the day to get a massage. Desperate enough to drive back up to my neighborhood then back downtown after. I’ve come to the conclusion that muscle relaxers have no effect on me. I took one with dinner last night, then another at bedtime. When I woke at 1, I thought “should I take another pill?”, but I realized the 2 I had taken hadn’t done a thing. So, not gonna bother taking any more.

    Good report from my friend:

    I have (limited) foot motion in my left side!!!!! ( ok so who is up at 4 am doing foot exercises?)

  38. DeniseVelez

    I overslept – was up till 2:30 trying to get software installed and wrestling with writing deadline while navigating Windows 8.1.  

    Totally missed Black Jesus – will now have to find it on video.

    Gave up looking for good news.

     

  39. bfitzinAR

    and a half later when I’m hopefully finishing it.  Interruptions, interruptions…  didn’t sleep long, but sleep hard and am still groggy, so having trouble finding my way back to anything when I’m interrupted.  Sigh.  Maybe moar coffee will help.  Worth a try, right?  Have as good a weekend as possible wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.  {{{HUGS}}}

  40. princesspat

    And very quiet as the power is off but I remembered my old MiFi device and it seems to be working so I have an internet connection for as long as the batteries last.

    I need to spend the morning at my desk paying bills and sorting mail so that means I need to charge my metal battery as best I can. Moar tea, thanks to the gas stove.

  41. JanF

    It is 62 degrees in Madison WI with an expected high of 80. Partly sunny, the weather widget says. Dark right now!

    Sad news from North Carolina as a federal judge there refused to stay the shortened early voting provision of the voter suppression laws there. This ruling is the demon spawn of Chief Justice John Roberts’ “post-racial America”:

    [The judge] concludes that the plaintiffs cannot demonstrate “irreparable harm during the November 2014 general election” if the new limits on early voting go into effect, something they are required to demonstrate in order to obtain a preliminary injunction. Though the plaintiffs did argue that “historically[,] black voters disproportionately used the first week of early voting” before the voter suppression law took those days away, Schroeder dismisses this argument, claiming that it is “speculative” to assume that black voters will not simply shift their voting patterns to “the first seven days of the new ten-day period.”

    Ultimately, however, this final conclusion can be laid as much at the feet of the Roberts Court as it can be laid at Judge Schroeder’s. Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and especially at the preliminary injunction stage of this lawsuit, the plaintiffs had a heavy burden to carry before a judge would suspend the law. Schroeder’s opinion concludes that they did not carry this burden.

    By contrast, under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the provision that was neutered by the five conservative justices in 2013, any new voting law could not have gone into effect in much of North Carolina until it was “precleared” by the Justice Department or a federal court in the nation’s capital.

    Of course it is “speculative” to suggest that fewer minorities will vote if you eliminate a week from the time they traditionally voted. It is also “speculative” to suggest that if someone drives down the streets in the inner city with a loudspeaker blaring that you will be shot if you dare to go to the polls there might be fewer people of color voting. But it is the duty of the courts to speculate a bit about the outcomes and protect the most sacred right of our democracy by erring on the side of “pro-vote”.

    When we get Congress back, the first order of business should be to establish national standards for voting. The states showed that they could not be trusted to run honest elections and the courts have shown that they can’t be trusted to read and understand history.

    Catchup day again here. The president’s address will go up when I get a break. Have a great day all y’alls!

  42. Diana in NoVa

    today. There is a chance of rain–again. It just doesn’t happen. Will be trying to see the Supermoon tomorrow night through the clouds.

    Feeling pleased that we made it through our first week of baby care in about five years.  Mr. Baby is a very jolly little chap who coos right back when I coo at him. He’s usually smiling unless something is not quite right. Taking care of a baby is very wearing, though. Thank goodness Dearly Beloved is here to “spell” me when I need a break.

    Wish greatly that the trad. med. wouldn’t refer to the Islamic extremist group in Iraq as “ISIS”–that sets every Pagan’s teeth on edge. “ISIL” is much better. Why do men never grow tired of fighting? And what’s the deal with making everyone else conform to their particular view of religion? Fundamentalists everywhere have one creed:  No one is ever to have any fun or live a normal life that includes walking the dog, laughing, singing, and dancing.

    Hope to get lots of writing done today, as I have several projects to work on. Might even have a chance to catch up with the blogs here on the Moose! Everyone have a good day!

  43. Portlaw

    almost afraid to read the news. So many nightmares around the world and we are part of them, Am worried and depressed about them all.

    Hope it’s a good and peaceful day for all in Moosylvania and the world.

  44. princesspat

    I can hear the seagulls calling and the breeze from my window has a cool end of summer feel. This is the time of year we were often on the boat…..nice to be in my own cozy spot with boat memories!

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