Hanford Jamboree Photos

 Photography  No Responses »
Sep 072011
 

Hanford Jamboree Cross country season has started and once again Kamiakin’s first meet was the Hanford Jamboree. The 2 mile course is run at Leslie Groves park in Richland just south of Snyder Street. Five Tri-City high schools participated, Hanford, Richland, Kamiakin, Kennewick, and Southridge.

Kamiakin dominated the meet. In the Men’s 2 mile race, Kamiakin took 1st through 5th and 12 of the first 14 were from Kamiakin. In the Women’s race, Kamiakin took 1st, 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 12th. The men had 10 runners do the 2 mile course in under 11 minutes and another 10 come in under 12. Anthony Armstrong broke the meet record by running it under 10 minutes, at 9:36. The women had 5 runners under 14 minutes with Stephanie Rexus completing it in 12:01. The truly amazing statistic is that Kamiakin had more than 30 guys and 15 gals run the course.

I have placed my photos a total of 4 places.

Snapped4U is a new place for me to put pictures. The other 3 locations have lower resolution photos that look good on a computer screen but would not make decent 4×5 prints. Snapped4U has high resolution versions of the pictures that can be purchased for $4 each. The downloaded file can then be printed on your home printer or uploaded to your favorite print shop like Costco, Walmart, Walgreens, etc. More in a future post on my reasons for going with Snapped4U.

Atomic City RollerGirls at the Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo

 Roller Derby, Sports  1 Response »
Aug 282011
 

Roller Derby Tuesday night the Atomic City Rollergirls (ACRG) were at the 2011 Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo. The ACRG went up against two different teams, the Rodeo City Rollergirls from Ellensburg and the Femme Fianna from Tacoma. To play the two teams, the ACRG divided into two teams, the ACRG Freshmeat and the ACRG Vets. The Vets ended up with a win over the Femme Fiannas but the Freshmeat team lost to Rodeo City.

The announcers, who I believe were ACRG team members, gave a good introduction to the rules of the game as it started and some commentary and chit chat during the event. I think more play-by-play and color commentary would have helped the crowd’s interest.

As a sponsor of the Demolition Derby on Monday night, we had passes to the Sponsor/VIP. For the rodeo, these are great seats (if you get there early enough to get a front row seat at the rail) but for the roller derby they were quite distant from the action. Still it was interesting to watch and the ‘free’ food, catered by Florentina’s in the sponsor area, was good.

I did my best to get some good roller derby photos, but my poor telephoto lens was pushed to its limits in the low lights at such a distance. If you would like to see some great photos of the event, check out those of John Sokol and Kai-Huei Yau.

Quote: Violence Never Solves Anything?

 Books  5 Responses »
Aug 192011
 

Starship Troopers cover

Anyone who clings to the historically untrue — and thoroughly immoral — doctrine that “violence never solves anything” I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.


Source: Professor (Lt. Col. (Ret.)) Jean V. Dubois
Book: Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein – Page: 26

Book #59 – Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

 Books  2 Responses »
Aug 182011
 

Cover: Cat's Cradle

Not real sure what to make of this book, Cat’s Cradle. Through satire, the author mocks both science and religion yet, in his mocking he also shows their necessity.

To me it seems that:

  • Science is presented as truth but without limits it destroys.
  • Religion is presented as false but without it we are hopeless.

This is book #59 towards my goal of 100 books this year. Chosen because it is on a number of Top 100 Science Fiction book lists.

Would be interested in your take on this book if you have had a chance to read it.

Squirrel Sandwich at Bob’s Burger & Brew

 Places, Tri-Cities  4 Responses »
Jul 222011
 

Bobs Burger & Brew Went to Bob’s Burger & Brew for a business lunch and we both had the Squirrel Sandwich. Num! The meat was sliced thin and the cooked just right. Squirrel Sandwich I was amazed at the stack of onion rings that came with it too.

Service was great. We were served promptly, another glassful of pop was brought whenever we neared empty.

If you get a chance, I would highly recommend Bob’s Burger and Brew. I am hoping to get back sometime to check out the ‘Brew’ part of the name.

Cool Desert Nights 2011

 Chamber, Photography, Tri-Cities  1 Response »
Jun 292011
 

What fun this year at the 18th Annual Cool Desert Nights! The Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce puts on this event and I volunteered to take photos for the chamber. Over 900 cars registered for the 3-day family oriented event and the crowds were amazing.

Here are the photos I took over the 3 days.

Thursday night over a hundred cars gathered at the TRAC facility in Pasco. At 5:30 the cars started up and cruised through Pasco, Kennewick, Richland. After getting some photos at TRAC, I set up at the Cable Bridge to get some shots as the cars passed. The whole section of Jadwin Ave. along the Uptown Mall was blocked off and the cars that participated in the cruise were allowed to park on the street and a large number of other cars parked in the Uptown Mall parking lot.


Click on the arrow to start the slide show.

Friday was a busy day, starting with a small show & shine at Desert Wind Winery where the blue sky made a gorgeous background. I enjoyed a glass of 2009 Ora while shooting a couple of panorama shots of the parking lot full of cars as well as photos of various cars.

In the evening, the cars all gathered in the Uptown Mall parking lot for a ‘particpants only’ cruise that wrapped around downtown Richland where large crowds had gathered along the sidewalks to watch. I had fun hitching a ride in the back of an El Camino along the cruise route, getting a number of photos of the various cars and the crowd. The car that got the most attention was the 56 Chevy that could shoot flames out of the exhaust.

The evening finished with the bands Colorblind and Pastic Soul playing at Jack-sons. I stopped by to get some photos before heading home so I could get an early start the next morning.


Click on the arrow to start the slide show.

Saturday started with the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast at the Jefferson Park Gazebo, but actually cars started pulling into Jefferson Park and the Uptown Mall before 4 a.m. to get prime spots for the judging later in the day. After getting pictures of the cars and crowd I was able to get on top of the Octopus Garden and attempt some panorama shots from quite a vantage point. It was almost noon, and I decided to head home. For those who stayed, slow drags started at noon and at 3:30 p.m. over two dozen awards are given out in a number of categories. The evening is capped off again at Jack-sons with the band Eclectic Approach.


Click on the arrow to start the slide show.

Were you able to make it this year? It was a great event and I am already looking forward to next year!

Palouse Falls Spring Runoff

 Photography, Washington State  1 Response »
Jun 012011
 

Palouse Falls Panorama Palouse Falls is always an interesting place to visit and I have been wanting to do some more experimenting with panorama photos. All the nearby rivers are now overflowing their banks and the Palouse River is no different, the dark spring runoff was pouring over the falls in a deluge.

I figured that some panorama shots of the falls at sunset would be perfect and driving their with my sweetheart on Memorial Day after some yard work would be even better. The sun was to set shortly after 8:30 so if we left the Tri-Cities at 6:00, the hour and a half drive would put us at the falls at 7:30. Plenty of time to get some shots with the setting sun. Silly me. This is not a mountain scene but a river which falls 184 feet further. By the time we reached the falls at 7:30 the sun was well up the canyon walls.

Trying not to waste any time I quickly snapped a couple sets of photos that I could piece together as a panorama. I need more practice at creating the panoramas but am pleased with these early attempts. It was difficult getting the lower vertical shots at the base of the falls where the river runs out of the pool and I need to figure out how to get the best exposure for blending into the panorama. And I need to pay more attention to how the Sun really works.

Besides this photo, I have 3 others Palouse Falls Panoramas on Flickr.

Kamiakin Braves Track & Field now Big 9 3A District Champs!

 Family, Photography, Tri-Cities  No Responses »
May 142011
 

2011-3A-District-Champs.JPG

Varsity – Mens
1.Kamiakin165.5
2.Eastmont119.5
3.Hanford98
4.Southridge82
5.Pasco59
6.Sunnyside58
7.West Valley-Yakima49
8.Kennewick31

Varsity – Womens
1.Kamiakin182
2.Hanford119
3.Southridge103.5
4.Kennewick89
5.West Valley-Yakima84
6.Eastmont81.5
7.Sunnyside27
8.Pasco6

Congratulations to both the Kamiakin Braves Boys & Girls Track & Field team! Both teams went 7-0, undefeated in the league, and won the League Championship last week. Yesterday they dominated the Big 9 3A District meet and will be sending a number of atheletes on to the Eastern Washington Regionals next week in Spokane.

Full track results can be found on Athletic.net

PS. I took over a thousand photos of the meet and will be uploading them to my collection of 2011 Kamiakin Braves Track & Field photos on Flickr as soon as I cull out duplicates and out of focus photos.

Aermotor on SR-26 & Foulkes Road

 Photography  1 Response »
May 082011
 

Aermotor on SR-26 Have always wanted to stop and get some shots of this windmill on SR-26. I like the wooden structure but wish the blades were still attached. The other windmills along the road have plain metal legs that have no character.

Was hoping to get the picture closer to sunset but we were a little too late and the sun set for quite some time. A nice long exposure got the shot but would like a little more color.

I may have to come back later in the year when there is a crop in the field and a little earlier in the evening. May also look at some of the other windmills for close-ups of their blades.

Photo Shoot Favorites: 2011-04-28 CBBN @ West Valley

 Photography  5 Responses »
May 072011
 

Finally processed the photos from the Columbia Basin Big Nine league meet on April 28th, 2011. This time Kamiakin & Southridge traveled to Yakima to run against West Valley at their Chuck Millard Track.

Links to all the photos can be found below, but here are my favorites from the photos I took:

2011-04-28 18.46.56 D60 2011-04-28 18.31.23 D60 2011-04-28 17.51.52 D60 2011-04-28 17.47.54 D60

SVCHost.exe Stealing CPU Cycles – Slows Computer to Crawl

 Windows  3 Responses »
May 042011
 

SVCHost running at near 100%One of the office computers, an XP Pro system, started having problems last week locking up, usually right after starting internet explorer or bringing a running program to the foreground. We would pull up task manager and see that one of the svchost.exe processes was using nearly 100% of cpu cycles. If this process was killed then the computer would once again become usable except that killing svchost.exe has side effects. Many programs tuck their processes into svchost so killing it doesn’t just solve the problem, it will also cause other active programs to lock up when bring them to the foreground later.

I finally sat down to see if I could fix this problem. A preliminary Google search showed that Windows updater is a common cause of this problem. I tried a couple of the fixes with no luck, so started from scratch to examine the problem. The first thing I noticed is that somehow this computer is not running Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). We run MSE as our antivirus program on our XP machines. I must have missed installing it on this computer. The quick scan brings up 2 viruses right away, Rogue:Win32/FakeYak and Trojan:DOS/Alureon.A.

Rogue:Win32/FakeYak was easily removed by MSE but Trojan:DOS/Alureon.A was immune to it. A Google search had multiple sites suggesting TDSS Rootkit Removing Tool (TDSSKiller.exe) from Kaspersky Labs. Sure enough, TDSSKiller made quick work of the virus. Running MSE again found and removed a third virus, TrojanDownloader:Win32/Karagany.A.

The only remaining oddity is that internet explorer will not pull up any website, displaying the error message, “”. I ran ipconfig and noticed that there were no dns servers listed. I checked proxy servers, none. I then checked the network settings, sure enough, the box was selected to specify dns servers but none were listed. Quick fix.

Hopefully this is then end of it. And time to make sure MSE is running on all the machines.

2011-05-01 Bateman Island Sunset

 Photography  No Responses »
May 012011
 

Bateman Island Sunset

Saw the interesting striated clouds and parallel vapor trails and had to run down to the river for some sunset photos.

Info:
Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: -5/3 EV
Canon Exposure Mode: Aperture-priority AE
Lens Type: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Ribbon Cutting: Hamilton Cellars Tasting Room in Richland

 Business, Tri-Cities  No Responses »
Feb 162011
 

Hamilton Cellars - Grand Opening As expected, there was a large turnout for the Grand Opening & Ribbon Cutting for Hamilton Cellars in South Richland’s Queensgate Village off Keene Road. The tasting room is gorgeous! The Hamiltons have done themselves proud in making this a destination spot. The large bar in the front is exquisite and curves through the tasting room, leading to a door to Milton’s Lair, with a keypad lock that only wine club members can open. The lair is a large cozy space that has some comfy chairs, a fireplace, and it’s own bar where wine club members can relax and imbibe.

If you have been following their story in the Tri-City Herald, you know the Hamiltons have had quite an experience getting this tasting room open. Richland now has its first tasting room (other winery/tasting rooms with Richland addresses are actually in the county and not in the city) and I hope to return soon with friends and family.

Hamilton Cellars - Grand Opening I tried as many of their wines as I dared, starting with the 2009 Rose’ of Malbec then the 2007 Merlot, the 2007 Malbec, the 2008 Bona Vita blend, and finally the 2008 White (a Semillon and Viognier blend). All the wines were wonderful but surprisingly my favorite was the Rose’ of Malbec.

More Photos of the Hamilton Cellars Grand Opening on Flickr.

Hamilton Cellars - Grand Opening


Hamilton Cellars
1950 Keene Rd # I
Richland, WA 99352
Web: HamiltonCellars.com
Facebook: Hamilton Cellars

Juniper Dunes – A Geocache Expedition

 Geocaching, Tri-Cities  3 Responses »
Feb 162011
 

Hike to Juniper Dunes Geocache

What a fun day! My two oldest grandsons and I met up with more than 30 others to caravan out to Juniper Dunes to hunt down 4 geocaches, one of them hidden 10 years ago this April. The event was organized jointly by the Richland and Pasco Parks and Rec departments.

Our primary objective was ‘Juniper Dunes‘, the first geocache hidden in south-eastern Washington. On the first page of the cache log book, the cache owner wrote this:

We came from Utah for a visit and discovered before coming that there were no “caches” hidden in this part of Washington. We hope many of you will join in the fun game of “geocaching.”

This cache was hidden on April 11, 2001 but will not be posted on the internet until we return home to Utah sometime this weekend.

Juniper Dunes Geocache

The original items in this cache are

  • bottle of sunblock
  • neele nose pliers
  • 2 bungee cords
  • fluorescent bandaids
  • flashlight
  • nail brush

We have enjoyed our visit to Washington. It’s beautiful here. It hasn’t been the best of weather but that’s expected for this time of the year. We live in a small rural town in Utah named “Stockton”. The population is approximately 600 people. If you should find this “cache” we would very much enjoy hearing from you as I don’t foresee us ever returning to Washington.

The remoteness of this cache is evident in that after 10 years fewer than 130 people have logged the cache and half of those have been since May 2007 when the ‘Washington History Challenge Cache‘ was published, challenging people to find caches hidden before geocaching.com’s first birthday. When the challenge cache was published there was a flurry of folks from western Washington visiting the cache so they could claim bragging rights.

More photos of our Juniper Dunes Geocache Expedition are on Flickr.

Ribbon Cutting: Orion Network Solutions

 Business  No Responses »
Feb 162011
 

image

Orion Network Solutions had a good turn out for their ribbon cutting today at their new location in Kennewick. ONS is a web-technology company with offices in both Kennewick, WA and Williamsburg, VA.

Most interesting to many in attendance was the mobile phone app, Salesmob, that allows businesses to customize the mobile web experience for their customers with custom mobile websites and smartphone apps.

And of course there was food. Delectables from Hot Wingz hit the spot and a great piece of cake from Francisco’s topped it off.


Orion Network Solutions
8127 W Klamath Ct # B
Kennewick, WA 99336
Web: OrionNetworkSolutions.com

Feedom of Speech, Privacy, and Consequences

 Business, Internet  No Responses »
Feb 132011
 

Lynne Curry Lynne Curry gave a great response when a reader asked “Can my manager fire me for calling her ‘Dragon Lady’ and ‘snaggle-toothed’ on my MySpace page?” She finished her response with:

“freedom of expression doesn’t mean zero consequences and you can’t claim privacy when you broadcast your views on the internet.”

via Lynne Curry ‘On the Job’ column in the Tri-City Herald 02/13/2010

2011 UW Open Indoor Track Meet

 Blogging  No Responses »
Feb 122011
 

Kevin and Kyle Kevin and Kyle along with some of their friends are headed to Seattle for the University of Washington Open Indoor Track Meet. Kevin & Kyle along with Taylor Kraal will all be running the 800m and the 1-mile. Looks like Anthony Armstrong is signed up for the 3000m and Jerrod Johnston will run the 60m and the 200m dashes.

They will all be running ‘unattached’ since the high school track season has not started and this is actually a college event. Kevin & Kyle are primarily racing to get some experience and test how their 60-mile per week training is doing although their friend, Anthony Armstrong, has a great chance of placing in the 3000m.

Good Luck Boys!

Horse Heaven Hills Brewery – Live Long in Prosser

 Beer  No Responses »
Feb 112011
 

image

Nestled in an alley of downtown Prosser, the Horse Heaven Hills Brewery is a nice little brew pub offering 11 different brews from their light Honey Girl to a Dark Cherry Stout.

On this trip I ordered a pint of their Saison, a Belgium Ale, that I remembered from the tasting tray from last time I was here. The menu describes it as:

Pilsen, wheat, chocholate, and crystal malts brewed with Belgium candy and coriander.

BeerAdvocate describes the Saison style as:

Saisons are sturdy farmhouse ale that was traditionally brewed in the winter, to be consumed throughout the summer months. Not so long ago it was close to being an endangered style, but over recent years there’s been a massive revival; especially in the US.

This is a very complex style; many are very fruity in the aroma and flavor. Look for earthy yeast tones, mild to moderate tartness. Lots of spice and with a medium bitterness. They tend to be semi-dry with many only having touch of sweetness.

I am not familiar with this style to so cannot judge how it compares with others of this family but the description above fits this beer well. It would not be my first choice of brews but I definitely would not turn it down if you are buying.

Horse Heaven Hills Brewery
1118 Meade Ave
Prosser, Wa 99350
(509) 781-6400
horseheavenhillsbrewery.com

- Live Long in Prosser

Sunday Sermon Summary – 2011/02/06

 Faith  No Responses »
Feb 062011
 

Heidelberg Catechism

The gospel  delivers us from self-loathing & self-righteousness. Our comfort can come only from what Christ has done for us.

Heidelberg Catechism

Question 1: What is your only comfort in life and death?

Answer: That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me whole-heartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout

 Beer  No Responses »
Jan 172011
 

image

When travelling it is always fun to visit the local grocery store to see what kind of micro brews they carry. After checking into the hotel in Twin Falls, I headed over to Fred Meyers. Freddy’s always seems to have a better selection than any other grocery store. Sure enough, Looking through the selection I found one I had not noticed before, Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout. The 22 oz. bomber bottle was priced at $4.19 so into the cart it went (along with a Ninkasi Believer Double Red Ale, Ninkasi Oatis Oatmeal Stout, and a case of Session Black).

The Cappuccino Stout is Lagunitas’ December 2010 seasonal. Their list of Seasonal Ales describes it as:

Big, Dark and Scary Imperial-esque Stout Brewed With Plenty of Dark Malts and Roast Barley And Loads of Sebastopol’s Hardcore Coffee for Even Bigger Roasty Flavors and that Extra Krunk.
ABV: 9.2%

That list of Lagunitas seasonals has a couple of others I hope to check out sometime just because of their name, Hairy Eyeball Ale and Brown Shugga.

I looked forward to opening the bottle in the hotel room after a long day in the car but I was going to have to work for this. The hotel room did not have a bottle opener, a call to the desk was unfruitful and, since we were driving my wife’s car, my trusty opener was on the key ring I had left at home. Time to improvise. I worked the bottle cap open using a pair of tweezers, lol.

Pouring the dark beverage into the hotel glass, the coffee aroma was evident but not overpowering. The light tan head dissolved into nice lacing as I drank the first glass. The drink had a great taste, the beer and coffee working together yet the mouth feel was more of an ale than what I expect in a stout. Disappointed? How could I be disappointed with such a great tasting beer.  Will definitely keep an eye out for this to try again, with a bottle opener and a proper beer glass.

Lagunitas is located about 40 miles north of San Francisco in Petaluma, California and they seem to have a great sense of humor:

From our earliest days of striving to make consistently good beer, and instead making beer that ranged from vile, to barely drinkable, to wonderful, to elegant, to questionable-at-best. From being castigated by our West Marin neighbors to finally suffering an ‘eviction’ by our West Marin septic system. From landing in the welcoming arms of Petaluma, and actually getting our beer into bottles, onto the streets, and into the hands of sympathetic beer geeks, to steadily losing less money each month. From all this and more, Lagunitas Brewing Company is emerging as a battle-tested brewery capable of making great beer out of goat’s milk, brambles, and asphalt on the surface of the Moon, if need be.

As the poet once said, ‘Where, but for the grace of God and the kindness of strangers, go I’. Where go we indeed, whatever that means.

Bidding for Travel & Priceline

 Internet, Places  1 Response »
Jan 162011
 

image

How do you get a good price on a hotel room? Priceline allows you to “Name Your Own Price” but what price should you name? The best help I have found is the BiddingForTravel.com forums. I have only used it to price hotels, but I know you can use it for flights and car rentals as well.

The basic premise is that after you have made a successful bid at Priceline you post your ‘deal’ on the forum so the next guy knows where to start his bidding. They also have some advanced bidding techniques I have used to be able to bid 2 or 3 times per day instead of the usual once-per-day allowance. I have used that many times but that technique needs to be the subject of a different post.

Today was the first time I have used Priceline to bid on a room while we were on the road. Since we got a late start and were not sure how tired we would be, we were not sure how far we would want to drive and therefor did not know where we would be spending the night. At 5pm we were an hour outside Twin Falls and decided we had driven far enough for today. This would really put BiddingForTravel to the test because Twin Falls is a very small town and so there would probably only be a few postings about prices folks had received.  Sure enough. I found 3 prices over 3 years:

3* Twin Falls, ID, Red Lion Hotel Canyon Springs, $50. 09/18/2010

Started bidding at $42. Finally accepted at $50. Total with taxes and fees, $60.90. Hotel website lowest rate listed at $79. Used A-B link.

3* Canyon Springs/Twin Falls Red Lion Hotel 9/5/2010 $55

Thanks BFT…used A/B link…Sheryl COME BACK…it’s not the same place!!

3* Red Lion Hotel Canyon Springs/Twin Falls 9/14/09 $50

Bid $48 yesterday. Won today at $50. Cheapest price on their website was $67.

Congratulations, your price of $50 was accepted by Red Lion Hotel Canyon Springs/Twin Falls.

Interestingly they are all for the same 3-star hotel, the Red Lion Hotel Canyon Springs, and they show winning bids of $50 and $55. Because I would only get one chance at this, I decided to bid $50 for a 2.5-star hotel and then try $55 for a 3-star if needed. (I prefer 2.5-star hotels because they are usually newer building and always include a free continental breakfast, whereas the 3-star hotels expect you to pay for breakfast in their restaurant.) Well, after putting in my bid, Priceline informed me that my bid had been upgraded.I was going to get a 3-star hotel for my $50 bid. Dang! looks like I will be paying for breakfast.

Finally, after winning the bid I went back to BiddingForTravel and posted my success to help someone else down the road:

Twin Falls -3* Red Lion Hotel Canyon Springs $50 01/16/2011

Read the 1 bid per year listed here that Red Lion 3* for $50 in 2009 and $55 in 2010 Driving in to Twin at 6pm so couldn’t take too many chances. Bid $50 for a 2.5* (Hoping to get a free breakfast) was upgraded to 3* Wish I had more time to have started lower. Used the A/B link of course.

It is sure nice to be able to get a good deal on a hotel room, especially at the last minute!  Anyone else use Bidding For Travel or another similar service?

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