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Monday, February 26, 2007

The Michelle Kirsten Tai post

This is Michelle.

Eh, if you wanna see a full-sized photo of her, go to her website la... Dun click-click here!
This post came about because SHE ASKED FOR IT...

First of all, she is NOT related to me, even though we share the same uncommon (very rare, in fact) family name - TAI. Not that we know of, anyway... We never traced back anything further than our grandparents... :)

I first heard of her when I saw a missing person 'post' on another blog. Yup, she went missing for a few days, I believe. You can read all about it here. Since then, I like to kaypoh (means busy-body) and drop by her blog every now and then.

Errr... Nothing else to write, actually. She didn't pay me enough to write more about her...

Seriously, she's one interesting girl. She's not attached but she's not really single either. You go ask her about this... OK, she's a bit complicated (an understatement!). You can read more about her at her blog - http://michelle-kirsten.blogspot.com. Just tell her atai sent you...

Oh... Since this post is dedicated to her, here's something that I said I would share with her...

Michsue... Check out the animal... Not me la!!! The car!!!

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Friday, February 23, 2007

The Red Book

Reading Michael Yip's recent post reminded me of something that I had wanted to do for a very long time, but just kept pushing it back.

This is the RED Book. If I recall correctly, it was produced a group of dedicated lawyers shortly after the nude squat incident.

The RED Book basically tells us how to deal with the situation when we are stopped by the police. It tells us what to do when we're arrested or when called as witness, etc...

I personally think everyone should keep a copy of this RED Book in the car. When I say 'keep', I mean that you should also READ it... ;)

This book is available in English, BM, Chinese and Tamil. You can download it from http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/content/view/2841/2/

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Thursday, February 22, 2007

Bloggers United

My twothree regular visitors may have noticed I had recently put this up:

I have decided that it is time for me to also stand up and be counted. As responsible bloggers, we should not hide behind the anonymity of the net (if you think you can be really, really anonymous on the net, you must also believe it the tooth fairy). WriteBlog with facts. WriteBlog with a heart. WriteBlog responsibly.

Anyway, here is a copy-and-paste from the official Bloggers United blog:

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Calling one, calling all! Defend your right to free speech!

Blogger United Condemn Action Against Rocky Bru & Jeff Ooi & Demand Level Playing Field in All Action Against Bloggers

This is the official statement of Bloggers United. This statement is jointly drafted by Susan Loone and Sheih of Kickdefella. All those who believe in justice and right to free speech, please sign on and put this up in your blogs. Spread it around; let it grow far and wide. The fight is on! See also kickdefella.

We are a group of Malaysian bloggers who believe in justice and right to free speech. We, who endorse the Bloggers United movement , unanimously condemn the action taken by media conglomerate NST against bloggers Rocky Bru and Jeff Ooi.

The action by the newspaper against the duo is an action against all bloggers who believe in their right to free speech, freedom of expression and justice.

The recent event may seem like a grave development in the path of bloggers, but it can never and must never impede or stop us from defending our right to speak, to express, to write and to tell the truth, to be the watchdog, eyes and ears of the people, or simply to share our view, and give fair comment on any subject which involves and affects us as humans, as rightful citizens of this country.

The recent event may very well give the government owned media the opportunity to dictate the so-called ‘truth” but such actions only prove that bloggers must unite , continue to uphold the right to free speech and freedom of expression, fight for justice, even if it is not our own, be more alert, committed to the cause of free speech, relentless and persistence in the face of such persecution like the one which had befallen on the two of us.

What YOU do to any of US, is what YOU do to ALL.

As responsible bloggers, we demand and claim our space on the blogosphere for free and fair comment, where important national issues and prominent personalities are discussed.

Although it may seem as if the NSTP defamation suits will have a chilling effect on freedom of bloggers, as litigation can be expensive and may jeorpadise a blogger’s economic position, we will not be cowed or silenced by those who have no regard for free speech.

If you find our post offensive, you may refute us with correct facts and figures and fair comment, in the spirit of free speech.

The first two cases will have grave impact not only on the internet, but country as a whole as the country celebates VMY2007. The healthy, mature and democratic growth for free speech and expression in our midst is at stake.

The reputation of the nation as it strives to promote our multimedia supercorridor and love for IT will be a national joke for all the world to feast on.

We demand for a level playing field in all action meted out to bloggers and in particular in the defamation proceedings particularly in terms of financial resources and capabilities, and secondly, that the legal rights of bloggers et al are properly protected in keeping with the imperatives of an information society and knowledge economy which Malaysia aspires to become.

For further information, please contact me at susanloone@gmail.com and my partner in crime Sheih of kickdefella at kickdefella@yahoo.com

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And as Rocky puts it:
On Thursday the 22nd of February, at Wisma Denmark at 2.30pm, I go back to court to face NSTP and 4 Others. I don’t feel alone anymore. I’ve got Bloggers United behind me.

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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Sony Ericsson K618i review

After about two months of use, I think I’m ready to give a fair review on my new handphone, Sony Ericsson K618i (SEK618i). This is not a paid review and is mainly to share my personal experience and comments about the phone. But if you have any product you would like me to review, kindly drop me a comment. I believe I will be able to provide quite an fair report, unless you’re asking me to review a Nokia phone... heh heh... *kidding*

I had wanted to change to a new phone because:
1. my existing Siemens CX65 phone was dying on me (had dropped it like more than 20 times onto hard cold floor)
2. i wanted to pamper myself and my wife with something ‘nice’
3. have to finally tell myself that no matter how much I dislike technology, I have to stay on top of it if I wanna continue to be in the IT line.

My requirements were simple. I wanted a decent camera phone as I like to take photos and blog about them. Music is secondary as I don’t really have time to listen to music anyway... Only time is when I’m driving and my car has got CD player + casette player + radio. I wanted a decent organiser as well so I can keep track of my appointments, contacts, etc... And best if it has a drag-and-drop interface.

The SEK618i met all that... Or did it?

Sony Ericsson K618i - the front and the back
The phone comes in the candybar form. I am a sucker for this as I don’t think clamshell or even the slider suites me. Nokia was out because I have this love-hate reaction when it comes to Nokia. I just love to hate it. But if you really want me to review a Nokia phone, rest assured, it will be a ‘professional’ review. The SEK618i was also light enough for my wife and myself.

Software & Sync with PC
I installed the software on two similar DELL notebooks (D610) but somehow only one notebook was able to detect both phones. The other notebook could only detect my wife’s phone. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software and also the drivers, but somehow it did not work. I gave up after trying to get it detected on that notebook. I synchronised the phone with my Outlook contacts and it worked out quite well and quite fast too. The SEK618i is able to store the standard contact details such as home number, office number, birthdate, etc... But note that Contact Group is not synchronised. Yes, somehow the Group or Category is not really used effectively on the SEK618i. Software interface is quite simple and straight forward. When you plug in the phone, you have the option (on the phone) to connect as File Transfer mode or Phone mode. File transfer basically allows you to only transfer file. Phone mode allows you to do much more. For Sync, you have the usual Sync options, phone to PC, PC to phone or last update overides. You can also browse the phone when you’re connected in either mode. Everything is just a matter of drag and drop. What I like about connecting to the PC with the USB cable is that you can also charge your phone this way! Then again, I know many phones can do that these days.

Contacts
SEK618i uses tabs when storing or displaying information. For Contact details, you have the person’s details split into 4 tabs – general numbers, emails and website, photo and ringtone (for personalised call settings), home and office address and the last tab is for additonal notes and birthdate. Some may like it this way, but I personally prefer all of them displayed on one page – you can see all the information on one page rather than having to browse through the tabs and wondering what information in each tab. But the phone can store a lot. Up to 1000 contacts, I believe (It can store even more numbers – for those contacts with multiple numbers).

SMS
I got the phone at the ‘right’ time... Just before Christmas and New Year. So I used it to try and send out greetings to multiple recipients. I was quite disappointed to discover that SEK618i limits multiple recipients to only 20 at a time! Arrggghhh... Imagine having to forward the same text over and over again to 100+ recipients (I have more than 400 contacts on my phone). On my old phone, I could send to ALL my contacts! Maybe Sony Ericsson is worried their phones may be used for mobile spamming? The text message also does not actually display the word count. Only when you are about to go into the next message (each message is about 160 characters long, I believe) would the count appear. I prefer to know how many letters I have used so I can type accordingly, whether to use short forms or spell out the full word. I also noted that while in T9, I am unable to put place the (or next line). It is only available when T9 text is disabled.

Keypad
While many have told me the keypad is quite big, I still find it small for my liking. I had some problems typing my text messages and even playing the Tennis game that came with the phone. Many times I ended up pressing the adjacent buttons. But to be fair, maybe two weeks is still too little time to get adjusted to the keypads. But I find the location and design of the Internet and My Shortcut buttons to be un-friendly, especially the Internet button. Many times when I wanted to press Cancel or even Next (the left button), I find myself activating the browser instead. I think this is because the two buttons are ‘bigger’ and bulge out.

Ringtone
The ringtone can be set really loud and to my liking (what to do, getting old so sometimes can’t hear properly). The separate speaker located at the back can actually be very loud. Setting up the standard ringtones is quite simple. But when it came to the more ‘advanced’ options, I was quite disappointed. I cannot assign ringtones to a Group. I find this to be really useful as I like to assign different ringtones to different Groups – Office having one ringtone, Family having another, callers not in my phonebook having a different ringtone, etc. This way, I can tell who’s calling from just listening to the ringtones. I asked around other Sony Ericsson users (different models) and they said it is not possible to assign ringtones by the Group. You have to assign them manually. I have at least 100 office colleagues in my phone book. I am NOT going to assign a ringtone to each one of them individually. What more when I decide its time to use a new tone (maybe replace the file with a same named one instead?!?). So I gave up on that idea... You also cannot assign different ringtones for different profiles. Again, I think this would have been a nice feature. Sometimes we have certain ringtones that are suitable only outside of office... So it would have been great to be able to set a ringtone for Outdoor profile, one set of ringtone for Meeting profile and another for say... Home. After all, I don’t think this ringtone for text message would be suitable in office. For text message, I noticed there is not option to adjust the ring volume. Since the default volume is quite soft, I ended up setting a long ringtone for my text messages instead. Alarm for appointments was even worse. I wonder why bother to have alarm for appointments if the alarm is going to be so soft and so difficult to hear?

Sound
The separate speaker located at the back of the phone is quite decent. While the quality is not really as good as I has expected when it came to playing songs (on mp3, etc), I could hear the ringtones quite loudly. But when you use the stereo earphones that comes with the phone, I’m amazed by the change in quality. so if you really have to listen to songs, you definitely should use the earphones. They make a world of difference. For those who are wondering about the three speaker ‘holes’ at the back, only one speaker is directly behind it. The rest is just to make the phone look ‘nice’.

Photo
The SEK618i comes with a 2 megapixel camera. And having heard how ‘good’ Sony is when it comes to digital cameras, I was expecting decent photos from the phone. I was disappointed.

Think the photos above are good? Think again... The photos above were resized. At actual size, they would have looked like this:

Comparison photo (1MP vs 2MP) taken using normal mode


Comparison photo (1MP vs 2MP) taken using night mode

[The gun in the photos was given to me as a present by a colleague who had gone to Kunming, China for holidays. The gun 'shoots' rubber bands. I have been carrying it around with me - using it to shoot naughty kids.]

Aaarrrrgghhh!!! There goes the my main reason for getting a camera phone. I was not expecting super good photos. But this is really a disappointment. Hmmm... This means I will only get clear photos when I shrink them from 2MP to maybe 1MP or even less. This means printing the photos will not be really possible unless you want passport-size photos. On the computer, I guess it would still be ‘decent’, provided I shrink the photos first.

Photo taken at 1MP (MegaPixel)


Photo taken at 2MP(MegaPixel)
Video call
One other reason for me to get the phone is because of the Video Call. This is a 3G phone. My wife and I managed to test it out and it works great! If you don't move the phone too much, the video turns out to be quite alright. You can also alternate between the two cameras on the phone. One camera is for normal photo shooting located at the back of the phone. The other is meant for video calls and is located at the front.

Organiser
I find this good. It syncs well with Outlook and helps me to keep track of meetings and appointments. The only complain I have is the alarm for the meeting. Very short and very soft. Sometimes I can't even hear it! Would have been great if we could also customise the tone and volume.

Contact search
The contact search does not seem to work properly and I’m not too sure why. For some contacts, I am able to search by pressing the first few letters. For others, the search would only match the first letter. Example: I have Sam, Samantha, Sandy, Sly, Soo, Soon, Stanley, Szen in my address book. I may have pressed SZ but it would not display Szen. It could be displaying the match for only the first letter. I have a colleague using the same model SEK618i and he faces the same problem.

Misc.
What other little things that I don’t like about the phone...
1. The standard package comes with a 2-pin adaptor. Can’t they just give us the usual 3-pin ones? After all, the original units should have been customised for the local market. As it is, I have to carry a 2-pin adaptor each time I travel.
2. Manual does not tell you much about the phone functions and features. I would have preferred if they had two manuals – one for Quick Start and the other for Complete Manual. The manual didn’t really explain what the icons on the phone display mean. When I first got the phone, I was wondering how the 3G symbol looked like. Maxis customer service told me it looked like a globe, but I don’t think so. It looks like some round blue thing... OK, maybe that is a globe.
3. Sony Ericsson’s website FAQ (Frequesntly Asked Questions) has got nothing. I guess no one asked them any Questions. Or they just could not be bothered to populate the site with FAQs. They have got a list of FAQs now... This post took 2months to write. ;)
4. There is no way to have NO themes for the phone. I find the phone response to be a bit sluggish for my liking and wanted to disable the themes to see if performance would be better. No such luck.
5. No customisable keys. The 1-9 buttons are only meant as quick access for Contacts. I cannot assign them keys to do other things (like activate Bluetooth, open Calendar, etc). The only customisable buttons are the directional pad (up, down, left and right) and also the My Shortcut button. But placing shortcuts in the My Shortcut button still means pressing the button and then scrolling to to find the shortcut I want.
6. Code Memo can be easily deleted. Code Memo is an application that allows you to store personal information such as PIN number, etc... While it requires the correct password in order to view the contents, there is no protection against anyone deleting the contents (some sort of reset). I tested by entering some details and then trying to delete the file without entering the correct password. I was able to delete the file. So much for being safe and useful.

Click to view image at full size - comparison between 3 different photos

What I like
1. Free downloads from Sony Ericsson site
2. Complete package (charger, USB cable, 256MB external memory, stereo earphones)
3. All-in-one phone 3G phone
4. Can record conversation
5. Recurring alarms. The phone allows you to set up to 5 recurring alarms based on the days (good for wake-up alarms as you want them to only ring on weekdays)
6. Contacts management. The phone allows you to easily copy to/ from SIM. It also has got a feature to backup & restore your contacts from memory card. But I seriously wonder how many people do backups of their contacts. I won't be surprised if I am the only one who does this!
7. RSS reader. Need I say more?!
8. Voice command. You can use the voice command to activate features and make calls. But the interface was a bit messy and difficult to access (or maybe the instructions just seemed complicated). So I didn't really bother using this function.
9. The built-in Tennis game. I am never one who completes a game on the PC, PS2, etc... But the Tennis Multiplay is very addictive and I actually completed the game! Plus, as the name says it all, it is 'multiplay'. This means you can have a Tennis match via bluetooth.

Click to view image at full size - my Gerger, taken with my K618i

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Saturday, February 17, 2007

Birthday

I celebrated my birthday with my wife watching 2 movies - Ghost Rider and The Holiday. Being a GSC member does have its advantages (by the way, membership is FREE). For one, I get to redeem a free movie ticket during my birthday month. Used the coupon to redeem for a free ticket for The Holiday (can't use it for Ghost Rider since it is not on the free list).

I was quite disappointed with Ghost Rider. It was not as exciting as I had hoped. Among the recent comics-to-movie adaptation, I still like Constantine and Hellboy (both are from DC's Vertigo). Superman Returns is also quite good, I guess. Can't say the same about X-Men III. I would rank it together with Ghost Rider. Nothing really memorable.

What was interesting is the Malay title for Ghost Rider - Penunggang Motosikal Hantu. I don't know why, but Malay titles and subtitles can sometimes be really funny. I guess Penunggang Motosikal Hantu is correct since it is literally translated - word for word (OK, maybe it should be just penunggang hantu). But the 'feel' just gets lost during translation. If it was up to me, I think I might just follow the footsteps of Putera UMNO which seems to idolise Mat Rempits and name the movie as:

Don't you think my title captures the 'feel'?
Speaking of Mat Rempit, if you check out the wiki entry, I think they missed out something else. Mat Rempits also pimp their girlfriend for rm5 (USD1 = rm3.6) per bonk (read that somewhere in the newspapers recently).

The Holiday was quite entertaining... I just love feel good romance movies. We should have more movies like The Holiday, Sleepless in Seattle, etc...

Each time I see Jack Black, I think of wrestling... Eeew! But he's good here. Kate is still lovely.


The other couple in The Holiday

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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Front page disappointments

This was on the main page of yesterday's The Sun.

click to view article at actual size
In the first place, yes, I too find the lucky draw to be a stupid idea when it was first announced! First of all, it is the citizen's responsibility to apply for the new MyKad. The government had already given us all ample time to change to the new MyKad. If there are those who are not interested, then just deport them or give them a RED one! Simple, right? Maybe the idea came about because the politicians thought it would make them look better when election time comes?!

Secondly, I think this is illegal la... It is a game of chance or luck. I thought government have a ruling on these type of contests?!? I remember reading somewhere that contests should involve skills and cannot just rely on luck - which is why contests in Malaysia usually require you to answer some really simple questions and then write a slogan (which requires a bit of skills).

Third of all, silly as it may be, once you start it, you cannot just simply end it and nullify it. I think that is not right and perhaps even illegal?! After all, if this can happen, what guarantee do we have that whatever promises the government have made NOW would not be broken come the next election? We're not even talking about different political parties here... The one who came up with the 'silly' idea and the one ending it comes from the same party!

"It's not even a Mercedes Benz or a Rolls Royce, but Myvi."
Does that mean Perodua Myvi is a lousy car? If so, it's still selling way better than Proton Savvy. And Mr. Minister... I don't ask for a Benz or a RR, as long as it's a FREE Myvi, I'm very happy. You give me a FREE one and see if I'll complain or not!

I really wonder who's being silly here?

There was also the bit about Rela's objective to detain 40 000 illegal immigrants. That's all we're targeting? We're not planning to detain and deport (I hope they have that in mind cause our jails are over-crowded and costing us too much) ALL ILLEGAL immigrants?!? Oh, maybe they want to leave some as one of year 2008's objectives?

I think it is time our ministers learn to think before they open that big hole on their face... I've seen one too many ministers saying really ridiculous stuffs on TV. If you're anything like me, you will definitely enjoy watching Samy Vellu and Lim Keng Yaik (wow... they have an entry on Wikipedia?!) on TV. They are hilarious!

But seriously, I didn't vote them party to be clowns on TV. Can I request for better candidates (from any party)?!? I'm really desperate here!

This is another bit of news on the main page that also got me really worked up!

Hello?! That's rm200million! And from Tabung Haji!!! If they really cared about their children and the "serious mental stress" their children would be suffering from, then why commit the crime in the first place? Perhaps they thought they could get lucky and get away with it? Maybe then, all their kids could study medicine!

Yes, I'm very annoyed and equally disappointed...

Links to the two news articles:
Ministries suffer withdrawal symptoms!
Judge allows stays of execution on duo due to their children's education

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Valentine's Day...

B4rger... I just realised today's 13th Feb 2007. That means tomorrow is Valentine's Day...

*panic*

Aiyah, still in the first year and I've already forgotten about Valentine's Day? Hmmmmm... I think I just tell my wife everyday's Valentine's Day. It's true...!!! :)

I wonder what girls normally expect the guys to do on Valentine's Day. I mean, chocolates and bears are sooooooo dated, right? Would girls be happier if the guy cooked her a nice meal instead? I read somewhere that girls consider that as a no-no coz that a sign the guy is a cheapskate! Any thoughts on this?

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Friday, February 09, 2007

Chinese New Year is coming

Chinese New Year is just around the corner. And that means everything goes RED on this blog! :)


So bear with it la... ya?

Hmmm... I still can't get over the fact that this year, I will be giving out angpows (red packets) instead... But I guess it will be fun.

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Thursday, February 08, 2007

Let's describe the whole world!

A friend shared a very interesting website with me recently.

It is called Wikimapia. As the FAQ explains:
"WikiMapia is a Web 2.0 project to describe the whole planet Earth. It was created by Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev, inspired by Google maps and Wikipedia."

Based on Google Earth and Wiki concept, Wikimapia allows basically anyone to describe our planet. I personally think Wikimapia a great idea. Having used Google Earth before, I think this is the next step forward as we are able to share our labels (or description of our planet) with others. So I quickly checked out Malaysia...

Oh yes... Malaysia is very much bigger than Singapore. We just don't like to brag about it.
To my visitors from Singapore... Just kidding la, ya? :)
It seems there are many people who are already helping to describe this portion of our planet Earth called Malaysia.

I decided to check out what is available for Kuala Lumpur.
There are already lots of entries for Kuala Lumpur. At this zoom level, Wikimapia limits the entries to only the 100 biggest. If you want to see even more, you would need to zoom further.

Then I thought... Why not check out some places closer to my home?

Love shack?! Con workshops?
Like Wikipedia, I guess Wikimapia is also prone to vandalism and other not-so-useful information... Or maybe it's just us Malaysians?!

Anyway, someone should share this entry with US President George Bush...

Wikimapia can be found at http://www.wikimapia.org. Enjoy!

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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Prosperity hugs

This article is in today's The Star.

I have no issues with giving one's wife a hug (or more) each day. In fact, I think it is a good thing. But what I cannot agree on is the other stuffs that you will need to do to help improve your luck.

Place anything that has to do with wood...
So I got this kayu (slang for idiot) friend, does this friend constitute as 'has to do with wood'? Or what about I use a lighter because after all, a lighter has a lot to do with wood! It can start a fire that can BURN the WOOD.

...yellow colour items to be placed in the west direction
If the WEST happens to be your main gate, would you think twice about hanging your yellow underwear near the main entrance to your house? :)

I have always believed fengshui to be a belief or practice that focuses on being harmonious with your nature or surroundings. Planting trees to improve your health, I can agree. Avoid having a house facing a junction, I can agree. After all, logically, it can be dangerous and distracting. A car might not be able to stop in time at the junction and crash into your house! And those glare from the car lights at night can really annoy you when you are watching TV or trying to get some sleep. Let's not forget about the noise.

But I definitely cannot subscribe to the idea that you need to hang a jade ornament here and put a glass of water there in order to improve your luck or health.

But a hug... A hug is OK by my books. Oh well, that's only me... Maybe that explains why I've not made my rm1 million yet. On second thoughts...

Darling! Let's place more ceramic plates and bowls on the Southwest corner of the house.

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Friday, February 02, 2007

Google service erratic?

Is it just me, or is Google's services becoming more erratic these past few months?

I didn't really keep track, but for the past few months, I've had problems accessing their services every now and then. One good example was last night. I had wanted to login to blogger but the page just goes on loading and loading and loading. When I tried to view this blog, I also got an error message.

Tested with Google's search and it was OK for one or two searches. Same with the search for news. It just said service not available. Common Google, do something about this!

It could not have been my internet connection coz Yahoo and MSN worked fine!

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