nonsensical/pontification

Time to Switch?

2010-07-15T20:13:00.023-04:00

So yesterday, I got fed up with Blogger. I've spent a lot of time on this particular page, and that investment has held me to it. However, yesterday I got extremely frustrated uploading pictures. Blogger doesn't make it easy to upload pictures, or to organize them. So, this brought up something I had been considering a while back - a switch to another blogging platform. Wordpress? Tumblr maybe? I really don't think Tumblr is an option as far as my blog goes, as it is more of an image based site. But Wordpress intrigues me. Anyone have any preferences? Ideas? Random awesome blogging platforms? My computer has been running slow, so I need to do some housekeeping - might as well extend the housekeeping to my site too. I think I'm in need of a change.

And now a random comic from some guy named Ben. I don't know him. But I laughed.

Follow me on Twitter@andrewensminger.

Rutland Demolition Derby

2010-07-14T19:28:00.002-04:00

On the Fourth of July, Dayna, Frank, Jon and I headed up to Rutland to check out the Demolition Derby. Apparently, they still have those, and for good reason. It was a great time. Dayna and I went in a bit skeptical of such a "red neck" event, but this is Vermont after all, and it ended up being one of the greatest things I've seen. The only rule is you can't hit the driver side door. Other than that, people just ram into each other until only one car is left running. Check out the video, and some pictures I got from the stands (wooden bleachers. Did we learn nothing from the Baker Bowl a century ago?) The fireworks at the fairgrounds afterwards topped off a great Vermont Fourth.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

Youtubesday

2010-07-13T18:42:00.002-04:00

A sad day for baseball, as George Steinbrenner has died. As a Sox fan, I hated the man that would spend anything and everything to lure the best players there. But after today, beating the Yankees won't be the same. The man who orchestrated what the Yankees have become, who resurrected what the Yankees were, is no longer behind the scenes running things. It's hard to hate the Yankees today. And today, of all days, I cheer for the Yankees, and the rest of the American League, in the All Star Game. This video shows the kind of owner George was, and the type of owner every team needs.

RIP George Steinbrenner.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

Lame "Will Be Posting" Post

2010-07-12T19:31:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy couple weeks, and the posting has slacked, as have I when I can. I kinda miss writing on here though, so I'll be hopefully getting back into this with the next YouTubesDay tomorrow. For now, it's on to straightening up the apartment and getting things in order again.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

50 Cent in Atlantic City

2010-07-01T21:29:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, Dayna and I went to see 50 Cent at the House of Blues in Atlantic City. Yes, the tickets were free, she won them on the radio. I gotta say, he put on a hell of a show. Very high energy, and everyone was really into it. He also seemed much more approachable than I imagined him from listening to him. Yep that's right, 50 Cent seems like a nice guy. Now, no more reading, just pictures.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

Youtubesday

2010-06-29T20:10:00.001-04:00

Been pretty busy lately, but will hopefully be getting back on track soon. I know you've missed me. Anyway, this video is sick - I'd pop it out into YouTube for the full version, as it's a widescreen video, to get the full effect.

As for the World Cup, the US lost and I gotta say, it was devastating. The goalie for Ghana had a hell of a match though, and I'll do some housecleaning on the World Cup these next two off days. Some good games coming up though, in Netherlands v. Brazil and Germany vs. Argentina. Oranje!

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

The US Does It!

2010-06-23T19:02:00.000-04:00

The US had yet another dramatic game today (they don't make anything easy, do they?), yet were able to pull out the victory to win Group C in the World Cup, setting up a date with Ghana on Saturday. The US peppered the Algerian goal with quality chances all game long, but through 90 minutes hadn't put anything besides yet another disallowed-but-legitimate-goal in the back of the net. With England having already won their match, pushing the Americans down to third in the group, the US needed a miracle in stoppage time to advance to the knockout stage. Then, in the 91st minute, Landon Donovan cleaned up a rebound in front of the Algerian net, burying a shot to grab a dramatic 1 - 0 victory to move on the the final 16. It was indescribable - the biggest moment in recent, if not all time, US soccer history. Just an amazing game.

I'll be down in Jersey with the girl this weekend, heading to Atlantic City for a 50 Cent show (seriously) and Sea Isle City to just get some shore time in. It'll probably be my only chance to get to the beach this summer, and I'm really looking forward to the long weekend with Dayna. I most likely won't be posting until next week, but I'll be tweeting so follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

Game Summaries

USA 1:0 Algeria
Wow. Just wow. What an incredible game, and the country really seems to be getting behind this team.

Slovenia 0:1 England
England draws Germany in what should be a good first elimination game.

Ghana 0:1 Germany
Germany pulls out the victory to win the group, and, more importantly, the US avoids a round of 16 match with them.

Australia 2:1 Serbia
Australia goes home with a win, but finish third in Group D on goal differential.

Youtubesday

2010-06-22T20:06:00.007-04:00

Happy Birthday Mom!

Just a couple quick videos, and notes from the past couple days of World Cup play. Groups are being decided these next few days, and the US has a big game tomorrow. Win and we're into the knockout stage. Can't ask for more than controlling our own destiny. Also, I really like what the schedule does for the third game of group play. It has all 4 teams in a group with simultaneous kickoffs, so no team has the advantage of knowing what they need to do to advance. They have some thinkers over there.

An annoying emo kid gets LAID OUT by a Florida recruit. Skip towards the end if you just want to see the biggest hit of the video.

KG gives Craig Sager (you know him for his suits during NBA broadcasts) fashion advice. "Is there any part of this I can keep?" "No. None of it. So when you get done with this, you should be buttass naked. This should be burned."

World Cup Results

Monday, June 21

Portugal 7:0 North Korea
Portugal just absolutely throttled North Korea.

Chile 1:0 Switzerland
Chile downs a surprisingly strong Swiss team to take control of their group.

Spain 2:0 Honduras
Spain picks up their first win after a disappointing first game, however Chile's win sets up a potential Brazil vs. Spain round of 16 match.

Tuesday, June 22

France 1:2 South Africa
Bafana Bafana picks up a win for the home crowd, and further humiliates France. I think even the French are glad to see their team done at this point.

Mexico 0:1 Uruguay
Uruguay takes the group, with Mexico beating out South Africa on goal differential to take second and advance.

Greece 0:2 Argentina
Argentina runs through the group with 3 wins, securing first place and a match up with Mexico in the knockout round.

Nigeria 2:2 South Korea
South Korea picks up the point to take second in the group, locking them in for a match against red-hot Argentina. Nigeria avoided going home without picking up a point.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

World Cup Results for June 19 and 20

2010-06-20T17:49:00.000-04:00

No post yesterday, it was a lazy day, plus nothing really exciting happened in the World Cup. Netherlands held off Japan, the Socceroos managed a tie against Ghana with 10 men, and Denmark eliminated Cameroon with a victory.

Sunday, however, was another story. New Zealand managed to tie Italy, even holding a lead for awhile. This World Cup has been truly crazy. Italy, Germany, Spain and France have all had disappointing showings, with France's soccer federation now in shambles and Les Bleus all but elminated. North Korea scored on Brazil. It's been nuts. In the other two games, Brazil blew out Côte d'Ivoire, complete with yet another controversial call, and Paraguay downed Slovakia.

Game Summaries

Saturday, June 19

Netherlands 1:0 Japan

Ghana 1:1 Australia

Cameroon 1:2 Denmark

Sunday, June 20

Slovakia 0:2 Paraguay

Italy 1:1 New Zealand

Brazil 3:1 Côte d'Ivoire

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

World Cup Results for June 18

2010-06-18T18:44:00.000-04:00

The US played game two of their World Cup, and again pulled out a draw, this one of epic proportions. The US doesn't have many memories in soccer, but I think this game will live on in US soccer lore. Again, the US gave up early goals, but came back strong in the second half, and, honestly, should have won. After Landon Donovan and the coach's son Michael Bradley tied the game at 2, Maurice Edu scored what appeared to be the game winner, only to have it disallowed. The ref called a foul, but never said on who or what the foul was. I never thought I'd be this passionate about soccer, but watching the replay of that play made me sick. Alexi Lalas looked like he was near tears in the post game, and even the English announcers were saying it was a horrible call. The good thing, however, is that thanks to England's lifeless tie with Algeria, the US controls their destiny. A win against Algeria Wednesday puts them through to the elimination round.

The third game of the day saw Serbia upset a 10 man Germany. Klose was tossed with two yellows in the first half, and Serbia was able to upset the Germans.

Game Summaries

Germany 0:1 Serbia

Slovenia 2:2 United States

England 0:0 Algeria

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

World Cup Results for June 17

2010-06-17T17:23:00.002-04:00

For the first time, no games ended in a tie. After a slow scoring start to the World Cup, it picked up today. Argentina thrashed the host South Africa. Greece picked up their country's first World Cup win, beating a 10 man Nigeria. And Mexico did the world a favor and took out France in the third game today.

Game Summaries

Argentina 4:1 South Korea

Greece 2:1 Nigeria

France 0:2 Mexico

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

World Cup Results for June 16

2010-06-16T20:20:00.001-04:00

The story of the day was Switzerland pulling off the biggest upset thus far in the 2010 World Cup, taking a 1-0 victory and the 3 points that come with it in their match against Spain. It's simply unbelievable that the Swiss were able to pull the upset, and, personally, my social media network reflected it. Feeds full of just shock and a mix of joy and disappointment. I just watched the end of the game, and it could have been 2-0 if not for the post getting in the way. The Spaniards dominated in the stats, but the Swiss got the win. In the other two games, Chile got their country's first World Cup victory and Uruguay put up a big win against the host team of South Africa.

Game Summaries

Honduras 0:1 Chile

Spain 0:1 Switzerland

South Africa 0:3 Uruguay

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

Youtubesday

2010-06-15T22:26:00.001-04:00

A few quick videos this Youtubesday, since this is my second post today and all. First up, let's combine the last two weeks themes - legos and soccer - for a rather funny rendition of the goals scored in this weekend's US/England game.

What was Lady Gaga's plan for getting famous? Glad you asked!

And the most recent episode of the Philip DeFranco show. He's just a guy who got YouTube famous by posting himself talking about current events, some that matter, some that don't. It could be considered NSFW if that matters to you, so you've been warned. He's an entertaining fella, and worth a follow.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

World Cup Results for June 15

2010-06-15T17:29:00.001-04:00

The first two games this morning seemed to be pretty dull, although it was good to see that Drogba played, broken arm and all. New Zealand's stoppage time goal salvaged them a point, making that game slightly exciting. The Brazil/North Korea game was entertaining, and it seems as though the North Korean keeper put on quite a show to keep them in the game. Brazil pulled away with two second half goals after a scoreless first half, but it was good to see North Korea earn a goal at the end of the game. It didn't really help their cause, but scoring against Brazil is a huge accomplishment for them.

Game Summaries

New Zealand 1:1 Slovakia

Côte d'Ivoire 0:0 Portugal

Brazil 2:1 North Korea

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger

World Cup Results for June 14

2010-06-14T22:50:00.001-04:00

Oranje got their World Cup started today, and as expected they picked up 3 points. It didn't seem easy though, and an own goal by Denmark provided a better looking final. Paraguay almost pulled a huge shocker, but Italy managed to pull even and get the tie. Buffon was out in the second half, but his replacement was never challenged. Japan got a huge leg up in their group, picking up an unexpected 3 points today against Cameroon.

Game Summaries

Netherlands 2:0 Denmark

Japan 1:0 Cameroon

Italy 1:1 Paraguay

Outside of this weekend, I feel as though I haven't been very productive. I need to get out of my apartment and do stuff. It's getting depressing in here. Oh, and while I'm out doing stuff, follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

World Cup Results for June 13

2010-06-13T20:41:00.006-04:00

Australia pretty much eliminated themselves today, giving up 4 goals. Even if they end up tied for second in the group, I'm thinking this four goal differential will just be too much to overcome and they would slide to third. The fact that Slovenia picked won doesn't leave much room for error for the US and England. A tie might not be enough to ensure second place with Slovenia picking up 3 points today. We're going to need to beat both Algeria and Slovenia to be on the safe side. Ghana, a lot of people's sleeper pick, justified that today with a late penalty kick goal to get the win.

On a personal note, what a great weekend. I got a knock on the door around 11:30 on Friday night, and when I opened it, Dayna was there. She drove 6 hours to Vermont from New Jersey to surprise me with a weekend visit. She rules.

Game Summaries

Germany 4:0 Australia

Serbia 0:1 Ghana

Algeria 0:1 Slovenia

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

World Cup Results for June 12

2010-06-12T20:34:00.001-04:00

The US didn't beat England - but we didn't lose either! Seriously, how dumb does Green feel? He's gonna need a security patrol when he gets back to England. The US yet again gave up a very early goal, but at least we could salvage the draw. In other games, Greece looked absolutely awful, and Nigeria put up a good fight against Argentina.

South Korea 2:0 Greece

Nigeria 0:1 Argentina

US 1:1 England

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

World Cup Results for June 11

2010-06-11T18:55:00.000-04:00

Each day, I'll post the results of the matches with a link to the game summary. Here are the results for the first day. Both games were ties, so the US has a chance to be the first winner of a match in the 2010 World Cup. Also, France didn't win. That's a victory for the rest of the world in my book.

South Africa 1:1 Mexico

Uruguay 0:0 France

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Don't Tread On Me

2010-06-11T18:37:00.005-04:00

A major ingredient to showing support for your team is having the right apparel. In preparation for the United States' big game against England tomorrow, I needed some gear to show my support during the game. However, I didn't want to spend the money on overpriced gear from the team store that everyone else would have. So, I made my own. It started off a lot more ambitious, but as the failures mounted and game day drew closer, I needed a shirt, and quick. Since I'm just beginning in homemade screen printing, I still need to stick to relatively simple designs, so I stuck with the "Don't Tread On Me" design mentioned here. I'm very happy with the end result, and can't wait to wear it for the game Saturday. Here's the process of how I went about screen printing my own Shirt.

The Goal

Materials (That I used, this isn't standard)

T-shirt (really?)

Fabric Ink/Paint

Speedball Drawing Fluid

Speedball Screen Filler

Speedball 10"x14" Screen (but a quilting hoop and some screen will work fine)

A design/stencil

Squeegee type thing (a real one, a piece of cardboard, whatever works for you)

Cardboard

Matte Acrylic Sealer
Screen Cleaner

Step One

Place the screen over the design, and lightly paint over the design with the drawing fluid in the spots where you want ink to go through. I would say trace the design in pencil first, but I've found that the pencil doesn't exactly wash out, making it inconvenient when using the screen for a second design If you are using a stencil, place the stencil on the screen, and fill in where you want the ink to go though. Allow this to dry.
Step Two

After the drawing fluid has dried, apply a line of screen filler at the top of your screen. Take your squeegee and spread the screen filler over the screen, using as few strokes as possible so the drawing liquid will still wash out. Allow this to dry.

Step Three

After the screen filler has dried, you can wash the drawing liquid out by spraying cold water on it. This will keep the screen filler in tact, but remove the dried drawing liquid. Notice the difference in color from the picture in step two - now ink can go flow through the screen. Hold the screen up to the light and check for any pinholes in the screen filler and fill in any holes you may find. Allow this to dry.
Step Four

Place a piece of cardboard inside your t-shirt, so ink wont run through to the other side of your shirt. Put the design on the shirt where ever you would like to make the print. Place a line of fabric paint above your design, then take the squeegee and spread it over where the design is on the screen, much like you did with the screen filler. Make sure to get good coverage so your design comes through nicely. Remove the screen after you have put the amount of ink you want down by lifting up from the top of the screen. Allow this to dry.

Step Five

After the ink has dried, spray it in a well ventilated room with matte (or glossy, if you so desire) acrylic sealer to protect the ink in the wash. When you go to wash the shirt, wash it inside out just to be on the safe side. If you used a good fabric paint, you shouldn't have to worry about the ink wearing off, but it can't hurt to protect your hard work. Once you're done with that particular design, wash the screen with the screen cleaner and hot water to get it ready to make another design.

And there you have it - you're very own custom, home made shirt. Later on, I will post an alternative method using Mod Podge, eliminating the need for the drawing liquid and screen filler. Now wear your art with pride!

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

The Uninformed World Cup Preview Pt. 2

2010-06-10T21:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I posted part one of my ill-informed World Cup preview. Now, on to the elimination rounds. I've just listed the match ups, with the winners in bold.

Second Round

Mexico vs. Nigeria
Nigeria will essentially have home games throughout the tournament, but I think Mexico overcomes that and goes to the Quarters

Argentina vs. France
Good riddance France. I will never be convinced you belonged in the World Cup to begin with.

England vs. Australia
It's like the soccer version of The Longest Yard, but the guards will win this one.

Germany vs. United States
With Ballack, I think Germany wins. Without him? I think the US can pull this one out.

Netherlands vs. Paraguay
Those orange jerseys are just too much for Paraguay to look at, and the Dutch move on.

Italy vs. Cameroon
Italy is just too powerful for Cameroon.

Brazil vs. Honduras
Brazil could win this one by 3. No problem for them.

Spain vs. Portugal
A killer match up of 2 and 3 in the world in only the second round. Spain pulls it out and makes the quarters.

Quarterfinals

Mexico vs. England
England moves on to the semis, Beckham continues to be overrated in the US.

Argentina vs. United States
I really wish I could put the US through to the semis, but I just don't see another miracle run like the Confederations Cup.

Netherlands vs. Brazil
Oranje's run ends against the unfairly talented team from Brazil.

Italy vs. Spain
Even with that creep Buffon in goal, I think Spain moves on to the semis.

Semifinals

England vs. Brazil
After building their nation's hopes, England crushes the country's population again.

Argentina vs. Spain
Spain keeps their run going, setting up what should have also been the Confederation Cup final.

Finals

Brazil vs. Spain
Anything less than a championship would just be a disappointment for Brazil.

There you have it, along with 65,897,314 others, I have Brazil to win the World Cup. Not a shocking pick, but soccer seems pretty orderly to me. No major upsets once it comes time for elimination games. No Butleresque runs to the finals. Even so, I think it'll be a great tournament, and very exciting to watch. At the very least, it's an excuse to drink midday, and who isn't for that?

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

The Uninformed World Cup Preview Pt. 1

2010-06-09T21:50:00.009-04:00

Group play of the 2010 World Cup starts Friday morning, and to whoever scheduled the World Cup, thank you for making the US vs. England match on a Saturday. I've gone through each group and chosen the two I think will move on, using nothing but the world ranking (unavoidable on the ESPNsoccernet bracket) and what I've heard on SportsCenter or any other show. Other than that, this is completely ill-informed and unresearched, which probably gives me a better shot at getting it right. Teams in bold are moving on, place in group in parentheses.

Group A
South Africa
Mexico (1)
Uruguay
France (2)

South Africa is only in as the host; Mexico is apparently ranked lower than Uruguay, but would probably be killed back home if they got knocked out in group play; C'mon, who's heard anything from Uruguay recently?; France sucks. Ireland should be in (see Henry hand ball). They'll probably move on.

Group B
Argentina (1)
Nigeria (2)
South Korea
Greece

The Messi's go to the second round; I think Nigeria will feed off of all the support they will have; South Korea will be a punching bag; will Greece be able to afford airfare to get the team to South Africa?

Group C
England (1)
United States (2)
Algeria
Slovenia

England is England, they're moving on; let's see if the US can handle being a favorite after that Confederations Cup run; sorry Algeria, it's not happening; isn't this Slovenia's first World Cup? They won't move on.

Group D
Germany (1)
Australia (2)
Serbia
Ghana

Germany had a solid shot to make it far before Ballack went down, they'll still move on; Australia impressed me in the warm up match. If that long-haired-guy-who's-name-I-won't-research-to-keep-true-to-the-post can convert chances to goals, they could scare some teams; I don't trust Serbia enough to pick them even if they are ranked 15th; Ghana I think could score an upset, but won't move on though.

Group E
Netherlands (1)
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon (2)

The Dutch are fun to watch, at least in the last Euro Cup, and I'm part Dutch so do it Oranje!; Denmark can only practice like 3 months out of the year outdoors, they won't move on; Japan I can see doing something crazy, but they'll be eliminated; good draw for Cameroon, I think they take the second spot.

Group F
Italy (1)
Paraguay (2)
New Zealand
Slovakia

Ridiculously easy draw for Italy; I didn't go with Uruguay, so I'll go with their twin Paraguay; I can't pick Australia and their retarded brother New Zealand; Slovakia's a hockey country, they won't know what to do without skates.

Group G
Brazil (1)
North Korea
Ivory Coast
Portugal (2)

Brazil is so good they didn't have a spot for Ronaldinho on the team. That means they move on; North Korea is ranked 105th, but should somebody just let them get win to pacify Kim Jong Il?; the Ivory Coast was a sleeper until Drogba went down. This would have been a very entertaining group with him in it; Portugal is always a threat to go far. That's what she said.

Group H
Spain (1)
Switzerland
Honduras (2)
Chile

Spain wants to prove themselves in competition after the US beat them; Switzerland I just don't see as a soccer country, or moving on for that matter; Honduras is my underdog. They were feisty in qualifying, I think they can steal a spot in the elimination rounds; Chile I have no clue about, but I like Honduras to qualify for the second round which leaves Chile out in the cold. Which is good, since it's snowboarding season down there.

Did I manage to get a snowboarding reference into my World Cup preview? You bet I did. Tomorrow I'll post what the elimination round matches would be, based on ESPNsoccernet's Bracket Predictor and my predictions, right on through to the final.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensinger.

Youtubesday

2010-06-08T21:23:00.001-04:00

Finally, a Tuesday with internet! This week is all soccer videos. If you hate France, then just skip to the bottom two for a couple more reasons to hate the French.

Nike's "Write the Future" spot. Incredible:

From the BBC, the top 10 goals of the 2006 World Cup:

Ronaldo highlights:

The best of Pele:

Maradona's "Goal of the Century" and "Hand of God" goal (he punched it in the net but the goal stood), in the 1986 World Cup against England:

And on to the France hating. Here's the the Zidane headbutt from the 2006 final against Italy (forza azzurri!). Skip to 30 seconds to see it - there are better versions out there, but this is the best English one I could find:

The infamous "Hand of God Part II" handball by Thierry Henry that got France into the World Cup at Ireland's expense. Not only was France offsides, but Henry basically caught the ball before passing it off:

Tomorrow and Thursday, I'll be posting my completely uninformed, non-researched preview of the 2010 World Cup.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger

World Cup Week

2010-06-07T21:07:00.005-04:00

The 2010 World Cup starts this week, and I can't wait for the US/England match this week. All week, I'll be posting World Cup related stuff, so if you have no interest, then see ya next week. And here's a bird picture I took today, thanks for stopping by.

For my World Cup related post, I'm working on a t-shirt for the games. I'll print it in a few colors, and I plan to have it done by Saturday. I got sloppy on the first screen, so here's round two of the front, plus the design going on the back, up around the collar. Pics Friday of how it turns out, as well as soccer videos tomorrow, and my completely uninformed, research free World Cup preview - group play Wednesday and elimination play Thursday. Do it USA.

Follow me on Twitter @andrewensminger.

Purty

2010-06-06T20:17:00.000-04:00

Went fishing again today, and it went worse than yesterday. The weather definitely didn't help, at 55 degrees, windy and a bit rainy. It was still nice to get outside, and I saw this rainbow, that you can kinda see in the picture. It was much better in person, a full arch, ending on the beach across the lake.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

2010-06-05T22:57:00.002-04:00

I brought my fishing pole up with me the last time I came back from Jersey, and today I decided to head to a lake and try my luck. I prefer to use worms, and it seemed to work. I had a lot of nibbles, but no real bites. I think the hook I was using was too small for the fish that were biting. I did manage to catch a rock bass twice. I'm pretty sure it was the same one though. Fish aren't the brightest things.

My fishing spot

Stupid fish.

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