'Superman' saves the day and foils cash machine robbery https://t.co/Xo6P8zZ1oi https://t.co/IW0d7gFkQA— BBC West Live (@BBC West Live) 1453981561.0
Identity
Celebrate International Women's Day with these stunning photos of female leaders changing the world
The portraits, taken by acclaimed photographer Nigel Barker, are part of CARE's "She Leads the World" campaign.
03.07.24
Images provided by CARE
True
Women are breaking down barriers every day. They are transforming the world into a more equitable place with every scientific discovery, athletic feat, social justice reform, artistic endeavor, leadership role, and community outreach project.
And while these breakthroughs are happening all the time, International Women’s Day (Mar 8) is when we can all take time to acknowledge the collective progress, and celebrate how “She Leads the World.”
This year, CARE, a leading global humanitarian organization dedicated to empowering women and girls, is celebrating International Women’s Day through the power of portraiture. CARE partnered with high-profile photographer Nigel Barker, best known for his work on “America’s Next Top Model,” to capture breathtaking images of seven remarkable women who have prevailed over countless obstacles to become leaders within their communities.
“Mabinty, Isatu, Adama, and Kadiatu represent so many women around the world overcoming incredible obstacles to lead their communities,” said Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE USA.
Barker’s bold portraits, as part of CARE’s “She Leads The World” campaign, not only elevate each woman’s story, but also shine a spotlight on how CARE programs helped them get to where they are today.
About the women:
Mabinty
Mabinty is a businesswoman and a member of a CARE savings circle along with a group of other women. She buys and sells groundnuts, rice, and fuel. She and her husband have created such a successful enterprise that Mabinty volunteers her time as a teacher in the local school. She was the first woman to teach there, prompting a second woman to do so. Her fellow teachers and students look up to Mabinty as the leader and educator she is.
Kadiatu
Kadiatu supports herself through a small business selling food. She also volunteers at a health clinic in the neighboring village where she is a nursing student. She tests for malaria, works with infants, and joins her fellow staff in dancing and singing with the women who visit the clinic. She aspires to become a full-time nurse so she can treat and cure people. Today, she leads by example and with ambition.
Isatu
When Isatu was three months pregnant, her husband left her, seeking his fortune in the gold mines. Now Isatu makes her own way, buying and selling food to support her four children. It is a struggle, but Isatu is determined to be a part of her community and a provider for her kids. A single mother of four is nothing if not a leader.
Zainab
Zainab is the Nurse in Charge at the Maternal Child Health Outpost in her community. She is the only nurse in the surrounding area, and so she is responsible for the pre-natal health of the community’s mothers-to-be and for the safe delivery of their babies. In a country with one of the world’s worst maternal death rates, Zainab has not lost a single mother. The community rallies around Zainab and the work she does. She describes the women who visit the clinic as sisters. That feeling is clearly mutual.
Adama
Adama is something few women are - a kehkeh driver. A kehkeh is a three-wheeled motorcycle taxi, known elsewhere as a tuktuk. Working in the Kissy neighborhood of Freetown, Adama is the primary breadwinner for her family, including her son. She keeps her riders safe in other ways, too, by selling condoms. With HIV threatening to increase its spread, this is a vital service to the community.
Ya Yaebo
“Ya” is a term of respect for older, accomplished women. Ya Yaebo has earned that title as head of her local farmers group. But there is much more than that. She started as a Village Savings and Loan Association member and began putting money into her business. There is the groundnut farm, her team buys and sells rice, and own their own oil processing machine. They even supply seeds to the Ministry of Agriculture. She has used her success to the benefit of people in need in her community and is a vocal advocate for educating girls, not having gone beyond grade seven herself.
On Monday, March 4, CARE will host an exhibition of photography in New York City featuring these portraits, kicking off the multi-day “She Leads the World Campaign.
Learn more, view the portraits, and join CARE’s International Women's Day "She Leads the World" celebration at CARE.org/sheleads.
From Your Site Articles
Health
Over or under? Surprisingly, there actually is a 'correct' way to hang a toilet paper roll.
Let's settle this silly-but-surprisingly-heated debate once and for all.
03.13.24
Elya/Wikimedia Commons
Humans have debated things large and small over the millennia, from the democracy to breastfeeding in public to how often people ought to wash their sheets.
But perhaps the most silly-yet-surprisingly-heated household debate is the one in which we argue over which way to hang the toilet paper roll.
The "over or under" question has plagued marriages and casual acquaintances alike for over 100 years, with both sides convinced they have the soundest reasoning for putting their toilet paper loose end out or loose end under. Some people feel so strongly about right vs. wrong TP hanging that they will even flip the roll over when they go to the bathroom in the homes of strangers.
Contrary to popular belief, it's not merely an inconsequential preference. There is actually a "correct" way to hang toilet paper, according to health experts as well as the man who invented the toilet paper roll in the first place.
First, let's be clear about what we're even talking about here with a visual. In the image below, left is "over" and right is "under."
Toilet paper hung "over" (left) and "under" (right)
Elya/Wikimedia Commons
So which one is the right way? According to health experts, "over" is the way to go.
"One key to maintaining a hygienic washroom is minimising contact between people and surfaces," Dr. Christian Moro, associate professor of health sciences and medicine at Bond University on Australia's Gold Coast, told Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "Depending on the type of roll holder, [hanging the toilet paper "over"] often lowers the chance that a user will touch the wall behind when fishing for paper, leaving germs behind on that surface which can be spread to the next user."
Picture it: Grabbing the end of the toilet paper when it's hung "over" means you only touch the part of the toilet paper you're going to use. When it's "under," you sometimes have to fish for it or scrape your fingers on the wall in order to grab the loose end. In addition to whatever might be on people's hands already, think about all the people who wipe twice, potentially transferring fresh fecal matter or other bacteria to the wall on the second pass, which then get picked up by other people who inadvertently touch that wall when trying to grab their TP.
Theoretically, we all should have become better hand washers during the pandemic, scrubbing with soap for the full 20 seconds it takes to remove bacteria. But I wouldn't be willing to bet on it.
And touching any surface in a bathroom is pretty nasty, according to a study from the University of Colorado. As Inc. reported: "Using a high-tech genetic sequencing tool, researchers identified 19 groups of bacteria on the doors, floors, faucet handles, soap dispensers, and toilets of 12 public restrooms in Colorado — six men’s restrooms and six women’s restrooms. Many of the bacteria strains identified could be transmitted by touching contaminated surfaces."
Bacteria means things like e.coli, which is a common source of food poisoning and one of the most common bacteria found on bathroom surfaces in the study. If you've ever had a bout of food poisoning, I'm sure you'll agree that a toilet paper roll hanging preference isn't worth risking it.
But sanitary health concerns aren't the only argument for the "over" camp. After all, the original patent for the toilet paper roll, issued in 1891, clearly shows the TP in the "over" position. Thank you for the clarity right from the get go, Mr. Wheeler.
The toilet paper roll was patented by Seth Wheeler in 1891.
Now, before the "under" folks come running with their pitchforks, there are some understandable exceptions to the "over" rule. Namely: cats and kids.
If you have a furry friend or a tiny toddler who likes to unroll the toilet paper roll, "over" makes it super fun for them, while "under" stops them in their tracks. For many people, cats and kids are the primary motivator of their TP hanging habits.
That doesn't change the fact that "over" is actually the "correct" way to hang toilet paper according to health science and the inventor's intention, of course, but "under" is certainly preferable to having a pile of TP on the floor.
Now go forth, do that with information as you will, and try to make peace with your over vs. under rivals.
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Joy
Why eggplants are called eggplants and 9 other fun food facts
Did you know that Doritos can help start a campfire? Our food is full of yummy surprises.
03.16.24
Representative Image From Canva
It’s funny how food is something that, presumably, every person on Earth has encountered each and every day of their life—probably three times a day, for most of us. And yet, food never ceases to surprise us. There are endless new flavor mash-ups, hidden histories and health benefits to discover.
So, in honor of this…as we are more likely to celebrate Pi day, Mar 14, with a deep dish pizza or merengue-filled pastry than we are to do anything remotely mathematical, let’s sink our teeth into some fun food facts, shall we?
Enjoy 10 savory, sweet, and even surprising morsels of food-based tidbits below.
1. There’s actually a good reason we call them eggplants
Totally see how they got the name eggplant now
Though across the pond these nightshades are called aubergine, they are called eggplants in the U.S. Which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, given that the eggplants we buy at the store are oblong and purple. I don’t know about you, but I’d be concerned for whatever bird laid an egg like that.
But when eggplants were first discovered in the mid-18th century (well, discovered by the British occupiers of India, anyway) they grew small an white out of the vine, much more akin to a chicken egg. These types of white eggplants still exist, but just aren’t as marketable as their purple counterparts.
Oh, and eggplants are technically more of a berry. Remember that next time you’re at Olive Garden.
While we’re on the subject of berries….
2. Order a bouquet of…raspberries?
Raspberries, as well as strawberries and blackberries, aren’t actually berries, but are instead part of the rose family. Thorns and all.
However, botanically speaking, bananas, pumpkins and lemons totally are berries. Cause why not.
3. Going camping? Don’t forget the Doritos!
A nice campfire at only 150 calories per serving.
Representative Image From Canva
According to Mashed.com, Doritos have the perfect combination of cornstarch, vegetable oil, and salt to make them “flammable enough to maintain strong flames.” This goes for any corn based chip, really. So if you’re more of a Fritos or Cheetos person, fear not!
4. Julius Caesar did not create the Caesar salad. A guy in Tijuana did.
So basically these should be served in both Mexican and Italian restaurants.
Representative Image From Canva
Back in 1927 hotel owner Caesar Cardini made the salad for some guests using the limited ingredients he had on hand at the time: lettuce stalks, olive oil, raw egg, croutons, parmesan cheese and Worcestershire sauce.The concoction became one of the most popular salads of all time.
Granted, Caesar had moved from Italy to Tijuana to avoid Prohibition, so you could still say Caesar salad is an Italian food.
5. Spam stands for 'spiced ham'
Considering Spam is made with just six ingredients—pork, salt, water, potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrate—seems a bit misleading. But definitely catchy.6. Croissants aren't as French as they seem
No matter where they come from, croissants are delightful
Representative Image From Canva
What with cookie dough croissants going viral right now, this history lesson seemed the most appropo.
While these fluffy, flaky, buttery pastries seem about as Parisian as it gets, it is widely agreed that this style of baked bread first came from Austria, with the kipferl.
As the popular legend goes, the kipferl celebrated Vienna’s defeat of the Ottoman Empire, its shape representing the moon on the Ottoman flag.
Essentially, Vienna was eating its enemies.
7. Peanuts are the bomb. Literally.
The oil in peanuts makes glycerol, which is sometimes used to make nitro-glycerine—a key ingredient of dynamite. Of course, peanuts are not an essential dynamite ingredient.
8. Don’t let Froot Loops’ rainbow colors fool you
Red=froot, blue=froot, yellow=froot…you get it.
Representative Image From Canva
There is only one flavor. "Froot flavor.” That’s it. That’s all there ever was, and likely all there ever will be.
9. German chocolate cake was brought to you by a Texan
The first-ever published recipe for German chocolate cake can be traced back to a Texas homemaker in the '50s. “German” was used as a credit to Sam German (also not German) whose brand of baking chocolate was used to bake the cake. In fact, it was originally called “German’s Chocolate Cake. But eventually the “‘s” was dropped.
10. One single spaghetti noodle is called a spaghetto.
Welp, SpaghettiOs make even less sense now.
Of course, these fun facts are only appetizers in the never-ending courses of interesting stories our foods provide. But still, something to chew on.
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Family
Lesbian couple answers the most common questions they get from strangers
Yes, they are both the "real" mom.
03.15.24
@allieandsam/Instagram, used with permission
Despite society having made a lot of progress when it comes to same-sex relationships and alternative families, it’s not so commonplace that many queer parents are still presented with questions about their lifestyle from straight people.
And while queer parents probably (rightfully) grow tired of answering certain questions day in and day out, having open conversation helps break through the lack of understanding which causes stigma and misconceptions in the first place.
In a now-viral video shared to their Instagram, lesbian moms Allie and Sam Conway answer commonly asked questions they get as a queer married couple with twins.Of course, they started with the age-old question:
“Who’s the real mom?”
Though people by and large are able to differentiate biological connection from emotional connection (like with adoptive parents or step-parents to take on an active role in their step children’s lives), this is still a question that same-sex parents face regularly. And it’s a fairly harmful one at that, as it implicitly undermines the non-biological parent’s role in the family.
So, to Sam’s point: “We’re both the mom.”
Allie also told Upworthy that the usual response to this answer is "oh my gosh! That’s amazing!" Which makes her—and us—"smile so much."
Next up:
“Who’s the dad?”
To which they replied: “there isn’t a dad.”
This is also a question fused with negative connotation, as it suggests a father figure is necessary for raising well-adjusted kids. But research shows that kids born to same-sex parents fare just as well as the children of straight couples, indicating that what’s really necessary for a child’s development is two healthy, loving parents. That’s it.
Okay, this next one actually had an answer that surprised some folks:
“Who carried them?”
Though Sam wanted to be the one to get pregnant, Allie agreed to try after Sam’s “long fertility journey” of three IUI’s, three embryo transfers and multiple chemical pregnancies with one miscarriage.
However, the couple used Sam’s eggs, and Sam did the breastfeeding.
How the heck did that happen, you might wonder. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. So did lots of viewers. Sam underwent induced lactation, which tricks the body into thinking it’s pregnant and producing breast milk—it’s something often utilized by adoptive mothers.Lastly, a fun one:
“What do the kids call you?”
“Mummy and other mummy,” Sam quipped. “We’re rotating all day,” Allie added.
Without proper understanding, stigma persists. That’s how myths like “queer parents turn their children gay” or “children of two-mother families are more likely to be bullied” continue. And while it’s certainly not the responsibility of parents like Allie and Sam to educate folks on the realities of queer parenting, it’s great that they do offer genuine insight.
And thankfully, they are usually met with positive reactions from people, Allie tells Upworthy. Which only further encourages them to answer more question and offer glimpses into "different types of families."
At the end of the day, families are made up of people who love and support one another. Everything else is just window dressing.
Check out even more heartwarming family content from Allie and Sam on Instagram.
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Joy
Woman leaves bachelorette trip after trusting her gut about sketchy men partying with friends
Woman's intuition is right again.
03.16.24
A recent story posted on Reddit shows how sometimes trusting your gut can be the best thing you can do, even if following it will seriously impact your friendships. It all started when a 24-year-old woman with the username Yslbabycat went to a bachelorette party with 5 other friends in Italy.
For brevity’s sake, we’ll call our main character YBC.
One night, the six girls went bar and club hopping and met some new friends. “We met some young people, and they invited us to a party. We went and danced and met more people. The night kept going on longer, and we were very far from our lodgings. These young men with 2 women in their group told us to stay with them for the night,” she wrote.
That’s when she had the first strong gut feeling.
“I wasn’t feeling this situation. It felt unsafe, but the group voted and I was in the minority,” she continued.”I didn’t trust these men. Something seemed wrong. But I was at a loss as I could not split from my group and didn’t feel safe separating from them in the middle of the night.”
Even though the girls locked their doors that night, the men could enter their rooms. But the girls, besides YBC, all wanted to stay another day because the men promised to show them around Italy.
“I didn’t want to get into a car with them because I found them creepy. There were women in their group but it didn’t matter. They seemed even more suspicious to me, being overly friendly,” She continued. “The whole morning, I found the men staring at me a lot and also making some comments about my ethnicity—I am Korean and they could tell and it seemed that they were interested in me because of my ethnicity, asking me strange questions …including if I’m a virgin or not.. so in my head I could only think of perverted reasons for these questions because I thought these guys were sketchy and sizing us all up for some reason I couldn’t figure out yet.”
YBC's friends tried to tell her that it was just cultural differences and that the men weren’t being creepy, but she decided that she wanted to leave. So, she called her boyfriend in France, a few hours’ drive away, to come get her. She met him at a local store, where YBC called the bride-to-be and informed her she was leaving.
The bride-to-be screamed at her on the phone and chastised her for spoiling the “mood of the trip” and told YBC to essentially “f*** off.”
After YBC left, the other 5 girls went on a boat with the men who all tried to get them “extremely” intoxicated. They then began to aggressively pressure the girls into having sex. At the night's end, the girls got away from the men and found another hotel.
Even though YBC’s suspicions were confirmed, the bride-to-be was still upset with her, and YBC did not attend her friend’s wedding.
In the end, Reddit commenters overwhelmingly thought that YBC did the right thing by trusting her gut.
“So all the other girls but the bachelorette confirmed that you were right and the guys were super creepy and yet the bachelorette is still pissed at you for getting yourself out of there?” YouSayWotNow wrote. “All of them are very lucky nothing really bad happened, and frankly, they should be embarrassed they didn't take you seriously at the time.”
“You may have saved the entire group by leaving early, as the men realized that you knew where they lived and could ID them,” RobinC1967 added. “Please don't ever feel bad for getting yourself out of a sketchy situation. Stay Smart!”
Most would agree that YBC did the right thing by trusting her gut and trying to lead her friends out of a potentially dangerous situation. Psychology Today supports her decision to trust her feelings. In an article entitled, “3 Reasons Why You Have to Trust Your Gut,” Susanna Newsonen says that your intuition is encoded in your brain like “a web of fact and feeling” and is helpful because it’s “shaped by your past experiences and the existing knowledge that you gained from them.”
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Community
Escaped cows and their ringleader now live at sanctuary where people visit for cow snuggles
Chico crashed through three fences and ran through the streets escaping the slaughterhouse.
03.16.24
Humans don't often think about where their food comes from. Most people head to the grocery store with their biggest concern being, "does it really matter if I get organic and free-range?" Unfortunately meat doesn't originate from the refrigerated aisle at your local grocery store. It comes from animals that are raised to eventually land on someone's dinner plate.
A group of cows in St. Louis, Missouri had been prepped to meet their final destination at the slaughterhouse when Chico, the apparent ringleader had bigger dreams than being a cheeseburger. The determined cow busted through three fences to leave the slaughterhouse, freeing five other cows.
Once the cows were outside of the fenced in area, they decided to play a game of "try to catch the cows" with the humans. The small group of cows ran through traffic, determined not to get caught while simultaneously catching the attention of the community.
Imagine commuting to work and being stopped by runaway cows. Chico and his buddies even made it to the evening news with their unbelievably daring adventure. Unfortunately, the group eventually were rounded up and taken back to whence they came to be slaughtered and processed. But the community was having none of it. They fell in love with those thousand pound mooing puppies and decided to save them from becoming food.
A group of people started a GoFundMe to raise money for Chico and his band of merry mooers to be spared from. slaughter. After raising the money and convincing the owner to not kill the cows, it became a race against time to find them a cow sanctuary. Sadly, none came forward and they were all about to get back in line with the others when The Gentle Barn decided to step in.
The owners of The Gentle Barn live in California but were determined to save the cows, so they opened a Gentle Barn cow sanctuary in Missouri. After a brief stay at a foster home while they got things worked out, Chico and friends went to their forever home.
Ellie Laks, The Gentle Barn Founder explained to Almost 30 Podcast that she knew they needed to open the Missouri location after meeting Chico for the first time.
"I went to St. Louis. Went to the foster home, got out of the car, walked over to the pasture fence and about 150 feet away the cows were in a line looking at me. The leader, Chico, he crossed the 150 feet until he was standing in front of me and I dropped to my knees and I started weeping," Laks says.
That was the moment she knew that The Gentle Barn would be expanding, "they’ve come with a message that we have to share with the world and we have to help them." Chico and his pals are now living their best lives playing at their sanctuary and giving "cow hug therapy." That's right, members of the public can take a ride to St. Louis to snuggle with the cows, which sounds a lot more uncomfortable than it is.
These gentle giant cows knew they had another purpose. When people come to see them, they come and lay their heads in the laps of humans and snuggle up like they're going to start purring. So a cow loving person can come get all of the cow hugs and kisses they'd like.
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Family
37 years after being thrown out of his house as a teen, his family wants to apologize
He did nothing wrong but took the blame.
03.16.24
Does time really heal all wounds? That’s the big question in a harrowing story posted to Reddit by a 53-year-old man who has had a very challenging life but now just wants to know love.
The story was shared by a user named Fancy-Anywhere-4733, who we’ll refer to in the story as FA for short.
FA’s mother died when he was 12 years old and 2 years later, his father married a woman named Ashley who had two kids, Mark (14) and Emily (12). “I got along with Ashley and Emily really well, but Mark, not so much so. He and I were always getting into arguments and fights,” FA recalls. This rivalry came to a head the next year when both boys fell for the same girl, Lisa, that FA began to date, much to Mark’s annoyance.
Then, there came the lie that would change his life forever.
“One day after my 16th birthday, my stepmom was putting away my laundry and started yelling,” FA recalled. “This was awkward because my girlfriend Lisa was there. We all ran, thinking the worst. When we got to my room, my stepmom was holding several pairs of my sister's underwear and yelling at me why they were in my drawer.”
“I had no answer as I'd never seen them before,” he continued. “Of course, no one believed me. No matter how much protesting I did."
Then Mark piped up, saying he always caught me staring at his sister, thought it was creepy and caught me once saying I wish I could marry her. Obviously lying, but that was all it took. Lisa slapped me and called me a perv and told me we were done and walked out.”
A teen boy is ashamed sitting on a couch.
FA’s dad grabbed him by the arm and threw him out of the house, screaming that he wouldn't “put his daughter at risk from a perv.” FA cried and screamed that it was all a lie, but no one believed him. “I told him I had nowhere to go and he said that wasn't his problem, then closed the door,” FA wrote.
FA lived on the streets for two years doing “what I had to do” to survive. He admits that therapy later helped him get over the experiences he had to endure to get by. He eventually found a job at a boxing gym a few states away and began training in the sport, which helped him channel his rage.
Eventually, at 35, he met a 20-year-old girl, married her and became a master’s electrician. They have 4 kids and have been happily married for 15 years. With the help of a therapist, he was able to put his old life behind him and embrace his new family with all his heart.
But then, 37 years after being kicked out of the house, he received an email from Emily, his stepsister. Evidently, Mark got drunk one night at the bar and bragged about how he set FA up by planting the underwear in his drawer. Lisa, who is now married to Mark, heard the story and reached out to Emily so she could know the truth.
A woman writing an email.
via Glenn Carstens-Peters/Unsplash
Emily found Mark’s email address and reached out stating that the family wanted to meet up face to face, apologize to him and make up for the lost time. “I'm, however indifferent to the idea,” FA admitted. “Like, I have no ill feelings towards her. She obviously was young and had no real say in the matter. But with lots and lots of therapy, I learned to let go of that hate and anger and to let go of them. As well with all the love I receive from my wife, kids and in-laws, it's all I really need.”
Even though FA wasn’t asking for advice, he got a lot of it in the comments and really appreciated the outside opinions.
A day after posting his story, FA has yet to respond to his family, but he found a suggestion he liked. DaughterofLilith wrote a response for him that reads:
"Thank you for finally believing in me, it only took 30 long years. Because of Mark's and my Father's despicable actions on that day, I lived on the streets for 2 years doing all sorts of desperate things to survive. But now I have a wonderful life, with an amazing family. My wife is my biggest supporter and friend. We have 4 beautiful daughters that no one from my family, especially my Father, will ever know. As a parent, I would never expose my precious children to such vile, hateful and terrible human beings like Mark or my Father. I have learned to move on with my life and heal the wounds that they caused me. I have forgiven them for their reprehensible actions that day but forgiveness does not require me to allow them back into my life. Thank you for informing me of Mark's confession but do not ever reach out to me again. I no longer consider my family of origin as any kind of family at all. I created a new and better one."
“Wow... you've nailed it right on the head,” FA responded. “Outside of indifference to them, this would make a great response. Thanks for taking the time to read and post this well-thought-out comment.”
In the end, posting about his experience on Reddit helped FA better understand a complicated situation. “Didn't really come here for advice, but to share my story, but I think it was wise that you all have,” he wrote. “It has given me an outside perspective.” But, whether he reaches out to his former family or not, seems like a footnote in the story. The great part of FA’s journey is that he learned not only to forgive but to move on from his trauma with an open heart and create a new life with the family of his choice.
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