vi | Reading

Today is Anaheim Ducks Day at DCA and I specifically made a reservation for today rather than Saturday (our usual), not because either of us care anything about hockey or the Ducks, but because last year we just happened to be there on that day and had an amazing burrito that they only serve on Ducks Day lol.

( Read more... )

kaberett

Reading. Finished The Rose Field (Pullman)!!! I am Making Arrangements for it to Leave My House. ( Read more... )

ANYWAY. I finished it. It Is Done.

Then read the first few pages of Dead Hand Rule (Gladstone; latest in the Craft Wars) before deciding that actually I need to reread at least the end of Wicked Problems in order to remember what's going on...

Writing. Progress continues both glacial and extant.

Listening. My relisten-while-actually-awake of the first chunk of The Hidden Almanac continues, slowly.

Playing. We have finished an Exploders run on Hard in Inkulinati. I am contemplating, given how smoothly that went, whether I want to have a try at Very Hard...

Cooking. It's not quite "this week's breakfast dal, and a loaf of bread", but it does sort of feel like it was. Partly because for reasons we did not get our usual box of veg on Monday last week, which meant that we were scrabbling around using up Shelf Things and the occasional Supermarket Discount Item...

NO WAIT, I also DID make buckwheat pancakes, and inspired by lnr combined Tinned Pear and Stem Ginger with Vanilla Essence and also Ground Cardamom to go in same. V good. Will repeat.

Eating. My mother acquired for us, as A Special Treat, a variety of Baked Goods from The Fancy Bakery In Eddington: my favourite is still the fig-and-?ricotta, but the blueberry-and-?ricotta is also very good, as is the fougasse. A was extremely pleased with the pain aux raisins. AND my mother made some excellent baba ganoush, eaten with said fougasse.

This week also feat. rainbow bagels (which we got to watch some of the manufacturing process for!) as well as misc other foodstuffs from Shalom Hot Beigels.

A has some coffee and butterscotch cake (leftovers from a test bake!) from Flour Arrangements; alas by the time I got my act together to actually collect Excess Test Cake the apple pie and lemon had both all gone...

Exploring. I got to spend a little time in the City of London Cemetery, which is currently ablaze with (among other things) purple crocuses; we also (on our second attempt) managed to go on A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey (with thanks to aldabra for reminding me that it is That Time Of Year still!). Snowdrops excellent. May or may not get around to sharing some photos. (Our first attempt at A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey Abbey wound up mutating into a poke around the back of Churchill and Astronomy to peer at bulbs and other plants misc, which was also very enjoyable even if I did once again fail to take A to see the Barbara Hepworth.)

Growing. ... I bought a bag of snowdrops In The Green at Anglesey, to go into the ground around the cherry tree at the allotment? The lemongrass seedlings haven't all died?

nanila

Last weekend, we stayed in a Landmark Trust property a mere half-hour journey to Bletchley Park. We were surprised by nice weather on the Saturday, so we made the trip. Below is an assortment of photos from the selection of buildings we managed to visit over the course of five hours. I don’t think we saw more than a third of it, so we’ll definitely take advantage of the year-long entry that the steep admission price gets you to see the rest.

The dingy basement has had a lick of paint and yet somehow doggedly retains its character.

Listening stations.

Keiki does some Morse code-breaking.

Humuhumu does some Enigma encoding.

A surprisingly dry and sunny day after all the rain we’ve been having.

Daffodils were not quite ready.

The Mansion seemed like it was a bit of all right.

Not so sure the Intelligence Factory needs this.

Humuhumu and I spent quite a while on this interactive exhibit, plotting the locations of various maritime assets and enemies.

Many of the personal testimonials in the exhibition mention how boring and repetitive some of the intelligence work was.

You can see why they resorted to putting frogs in the pneumatic tube system to liven up the day.

The Park is beautifully maintained and the interactive exhibits are well designed and engaging - I’d say from the age of about 10 on up - so well worth a visit. I restrained myself to one book in the gift shop (The Walls Have Ears by Helen Fry) but could easily have brought home a stack.

torachan

1. So nice to get back to my routine at home. I tried my best to stick to the things I could while away but it's not the same and it's definitely a source of stress.

2. Carla got some frozen char siu fried rice from Trader Joe's and it's really good. Making fried rice from scratch is an easy meal, but I wouldn't mind keeping a bag of this in the freezer for times we feel like something even easier.

3. A moth got in the house the other day and Carla was able to get some really great pics of Ollie when he was laser focused on the moth.

conuly posting in

agonyaunt

My daughter “Melody” is in the midst of the terrible twos. Five or more meltdowns per day over normal frustrations/limits are typical. Recently, my mother-in-law, “Darlene” took Melody and my 6-year-old son out to run errands, and true to form, Melody had a blow-up. It was how Darlene handled it that has me seeing red. She told Melody that she was leaving her in the store and that she could find her own way home, and left her screaming on the floor! She then moved off with my son, out of my daughter’s view, and waited for several minutes before coming back for her. I only learned of this later when my son told me what happened.

When I confronted my mother-in-law, she claimed her method was helpful because Melody behaved afterward. And she said Melody was “never in any danger” because she kept her in sight at all times. After this, I no longer feel safe with Darlene going places with the kids without my husband present or me. Sadly, my husband is no help. He agrees that this was a good “lesson” in behaving for our daughter and that his mother used to do it to him and his sister when they were kids! Please tell me I’m right in telling Darlene her days of taking the kids solo are over.
—Pissed

( Read more... )

torachan

Recently Finished
The Reyes Incident
I think I got this on some sort of ebook sale. It feels like the sort of thing where I'd be like "well, it's free or just a dollar, so I'll take a chance". It wasn't great, though. Interesting premise about a woman who comes to the police station with a story of killer mermaids who ate her friends. The writing just wasn't great, though.

Another Appalachia
Memoir about a queer Indian woman who grew up in West Virginia, where her dad had taken a job as a company doctor for one of the chemical companies there in the 70s. I liked this.

A Skinful of Shadows
Set in the 1600s during the English civil war, the MC is the bastard of a powerful family who all have the ability to see ghosts and host them inside themselves. When her mother dies, she is taken in by the family, who it turns out, like to keep bastards close in the event that they need a ghost host, becaue the currently living members of the family are all host to multiple ghosts each, of dead family members. In some cases the host is too weak and becomes completely taken over by the ghosts. This was a neat premise and an enjoyable read. I have never not liked anything by Francis Hardine that I've read, and this was no exception.

Paying the Land
Non-fiction graphic novel about First Nations people in the Northwest Territories. The author is white, but he spent a lot of time interviewing people and it's basically like an illustrated interview. Very interesting.

Hen na E vol. 4

Ojisama to Neko vol. 16

nanila

When did you last…

Scrounge for change (couch, ashtray, etc.) to make a purchase?

I honestly can't remember. So many places are cashless now that I often don't carry any. It must have been pre-Covid.
Visit a dentist?

Five months ago. My next clean is in March.
Make a needed change to your life?

The most significant recent change was changing to a gym I actually want to use, at the start of the year. I really needed that. I feel so much healthier.
Decide on a complete menu well in advance of the evening meal?

Most nights, tonight included. We have to plan because of the kids. Most days we eat breakfast and supper at home as a family because we have the luxury of schedules that allow us to do so.
Spend part of the day (other than daily hygiene) totally/mostly naked?

No idea. I hardly ever do this. It's flippin’ cold here most of the time. For those who say the UK temperatures are mild, okay, maybe to you, but I spent most of my life in the tropics before I moved here and I wasn't wandering around naked there either.

conuly posting in

agonyaunt

Dear Carolyn: I know you love dogs, but in a reasonable way, so I figure you’re a good person to ask. Is there a “normal” amount of pets for someone to have? I never had dogs or cats growing up and didn’t want them in our home when our children were young.

All my children at times asked for a pet but grew to accept my aversion, except for my youngest daughter. When she used to insist she couldn’t wait to move out and get a pet, I took it with a grain of salt. She did get a dog in the house she shared with friends in college, and her obsession has only grown since then. The last time I saw her, she excitedly told me she’s a foster parent to a litter of puppies now. I’m not sure how that works, but it brings the number of dogs in her house from two to six, and she also has two cats.

I asked if she was going to get kicked out of her house, since her township can’t possibly allow that number of animals in a small home and yard, and she just laughed at me. She apparently doesn’t understand the law or care how this all must affect her neighbors.

Could this possibly be the start of some sort of mental illness? Should I try to intervene further?

( Read more... )

conuly posting in

agonyaunt

Dear Care and Feeding,

My wife, “Lourdes” and I have a 2-year-old daughter, “Mackenzie.” Mackenzie was a difficult baby (long crying spells, difficult to soothe, hypersensitive to sound, fussy about solid food, etc.), and my wife has a low threshold for frustration. So most of Mackenzie’s care fell to me since Lourdes said she “couldn’t deal with it.” The result has been that our daughter is closer to me than she is to her mother. Well, Lourdes said something disturbing regarding our daughter recently.

Mackenzie had a meltdown when my wife tried to get her dressed for daycare, so Lourdes told me I needed to do it because of her theory that our daughter “hates her” and “the feeling is mutual.” Mackenzie has a routine of putting her clothes on in a specific order. Lourdes is aware of it, but wanted to do it her way, which set her off. Mackenzie has her quirks, and if you work with her (her daycare providers follow them and have reported no issues), everything is fine. The trouble is that my wife is accustomed to people doing things her way, and she does not react well when her expectations are not met. I’m seriously concerned about her relationship with Mackenzie, especially because right after her mother tasked me with dressing her that day, she said, “Mommy is mean.” Lourdes balked when I suggested counseling. How am I supposed to resolve this?

—Daughter Division

( Read more... )

rydra_wong

can, to some small degree, be simulated by a blindfolded person trying to push buttons while someone else shouts confused and panicked instructions at them:

Watch on YouTube

(Except that these guys mastered jumping WAY faster than I did.)

It's hilarious and delightful to me to watch people having an experience of Dark Souls which is not wholly unlike mine. In a weird way I feel kind of #represented.

In later vids, they have (like me) discovered the joys of the halberd as adaptive technology for people who are bad at spacing and aiming.

torachan

1. I am back home! The flight was delayed by about an hour (I first got a notification just after I'd left the store and was waiting for my uber that it would be delayed by about half an hour, but at that point I was not about to change my plans so I figured that would just give me extra time at the airport to eat dinner, but then after I got to the airport it was delayed again), so from the time of leaving the store to arriving at home, I actually could have driven in about the same time. :p Oh well. I like that the flight itself is so short, but the associated airport rigamarole, not to mention having to get an uber each way, is kind of a pain.

2. It looks like there's no more rain forecast for down here. I saw they're supposed to get a few days of rain next week up north, and originally it was saying down here, too, but now we're not going to be getting it, I guess. I am tired of rain, so glad to hear it.

3. Tuxie is probably glad there's no more rain coming, too.

kaberett

Breakfast dal. This experiment continues to work extremely well.
I have definitely reached the point with the Incomplete White Puzzle where it's speeding up significantly on account of enough pieces are in place to significantly reduce the number of possible combinations that need checking. Today's decision was to start filling in from the bottom edge, where I still had a chunk that was just edge and no middles, because I think that up in the top left (interior) corner I've identified The Missing Piece, and will get annoyed if I wind up with non-contiguous gaps...
Today alternating Locate One Puzzle Piece with Do One Useful Job has been nice and smooth and easy. I have got Several things done. Is pleased.
Really really enjoying my ridiculous washi tape collection. Today I self-indulgently Added More Week Dividers, including replacing some pre-existing ones that I was Not Enjoying, Actually.
( Exercise & embodiment. )

angry_asian_man_feed

Posted by Unknown

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/alysa-lius-comeback-ends-in-gold.html

And Other Items of Note From Angry Asian America.

U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu said she didn't care if she medaled. She won gold

With a fearless, show-stopping performance, Alysa Liu won Olympic gold in the women’s single figure skating event, becoming the first American woman to medal in over two decades. What makes Liu’s win extra rewarding is not simply that she finished on the top of the podium, but that she did it on her own terms after having taken control of her career when she returned to the sport two years ago. The medal was almost an afterthought. And as she skated off the ice, the cameras caught her own triumphant assessment of her performance: "That's what I'm fucking talking about!" Because that's what she was indeed fucking talking about.

Cambodian national dies in ICE custody in Indiana

A detainee died in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Indiana on Monday, with the cause of death under investigation, marking at least the seventh death in 2026 in federal immigration custody. Lorth Sim, a 59-year-old Cambodian national, was being held at the Miami Correctional Facility. According to ICE, staff found him unresponsive in his cell.

Why the History of Japanese American Incarceration Matters Today

"On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized what became the mass incarceration of my ancestors and over 100,000 Japanese Americans. With the current administrations shredding the constitution and rule of law to detain citizens and non-citizens based on racial profiling, the lessons from that shameful moment in U.S. history could not be more vital or timely."

The Conflicting Joy of 'Here Lies Love'

"While sitting there watching this boldly and aggressively talented group of performers pour their heart and soul into a story rooted in their culture, there was a cloud of skepticism looming over me that I couldn’t avoid. It’s been there since the inception of this musical. This musical wasn’t made for the Filipino community."

Netflix Orders 'Dang!' Adult Animated Series

Netflix has given a series order to Dang!, an adult animated comedy starring Stephanie Hsu, Poppy Liu and Andrew Law. The series follows a brother (Law) and sister (Liu) whose fun, messy lives in New York City are interrupted when their worst nightmare comes true: Their high-achieving older sister (Hsu) shows up and wants to hang out with them.

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/alysa-lius-comeback-ends-in-gold.html

torachan

1. It sprinkled a little this morning but otherwise did not rain. Very windy, though, and cold! My clothes were not made for the piercing wind. Also even though there’s been rain, I’m in air conditioned buildings too much and feeling really dried out. Definitely will be glad to get home tomorrow.

2. I don’t like having to eat out for every meal, but I’ve been able to try a lot of new places. I’ve been trying to stick to places we don’t have at home (with the exception of Shake Shack yesterday). This morning I went to Philz Coffee for breakfast and got a breakfast burrito (decent) and an amazing cashew latte. Lunch was at a pizza place called Arthur Mac’s, which had good pizza and super delicious sweet potato tater tots. For dinner I went back to the same food hall as yesterday and at at Super Duper Burgers, where I had a burger with a fried egg on top (tasty but messy), jalapeño cheese fries, and a strawberry chocolate shake.

3. I have trouble sleeping a lot of the time so I’m always worried about sleeping somewhere other than my own bed, but I slept all right last night. I’m exhausted again today so hopefully won’t have much trouble again.

kaberett

I have introduced my mother to this, I have introduced the Child's household to this, I am writing it down because clearly It Is Time for me to do so.

( Read more... )

angry_asian_man_feed

Posted by Unknown

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/slanted-think-mean-girls-meets-substance.html

And Other Items of Note From Angry Asian America.

Slanted

The award-winning feature film Slanted, written and directed by Amy Wang, is a genre-bending sci-fi horror satire that interrogates beauty standards, assimilation, and the cost of belonging. The film follows Joan Huang, a high school outsider who idolizes the popular girls and dreams of becoming prom queen, but fears the only way to win is to look like every past queen whose portraits line the school halls. Enter Ethnos, a mysterious cosmetic surgery clinic that makes people of color appear white. Joan undergoes the procedure and wakes up as a blonde girl destined for the crown... but at what cost? Slanted hits theaters on March 13.

Watch on YouTube

Why Rev. Jackson's Appearance at the Vincent Chin Rally Matters

We mourn the passing of civil rights pioneer Jesse Jackson by remembering a moment of solidarity with the Asian American community. In May 1984, Jackson appeared in San Francisco Chinatown with Vincent Chin's mother, Lily Chin. As he took the stage, he said, "Our hearts are made heavy by a mother who sits here with us, whose son was brutally killed, just because he was. What can we do in the aftermath?" In his speech, he drew parallels between Emmett Till's lynching and Vincent Chin's murder, showing just how similar the struggles of both communities were and the need to "redefine America."

'Here Lies Love' finally lands in L.A. — with its musical take on corruption as relevant as ever

Here Lies Love, which opens this week at the Mark Taper Forum, three years after its Broadway debut, is arriving in downtown L.A. at a prescient moment right here in the United States. The musical, which follows former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos and her family's rise to power and subsequent fall from grace, considers how corrupt leaders often appear charming at first.

Postal Service Celebrates Bruce Lee

The U.S. Postal Service honors and celebrates the life of Chinese American martial artist, actor and filmmaker Bruce Lee with a new stamp featuring an eye-popping image of his iconic flying kick. The stamp was dedicated at a ceremony Wednesday at the Nippon Kan Theater in Seattle. I ordered mine!

Kpop Demon Hunters Collectibles

I am obsessed with these Kpop Demon Hunters sixth scale figures from Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles. These are highly-detailed, meticulously designed action figures that come with a variety of interchangeable face sculpts, hands and accessories to enable a wide range of gestures and poses. I must have them! But they cost close to $300 each. So... I am contemplating donating plasma in order to fund my action figure budget.

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/slanted-think-mean-girls-meets-substance.html

angry_asian_man_feed

Posted by Unknown

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/the-women-of-kpop-demon-hunters.html

And Other Items of Note From Angry Asian America.

The Women of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ on Overcoming Rejection, 'Golden's' Success and Breaking Boundaries for Korean Culture

Variety's stunning cover story features the women of Kpop Demon Hunters -- EJAE (the singing voice of Rumi), rapper and singer Rei Ami (the singing voice of Zoey), singer Audrey Nuna (the singing voice of Mira), and actors Arden Cho (the speaking voice of Rumi), Ji-young Yoo (the speaking voice of Zoey) and May Hong (the speaking voice of Mira), who talk about how the success of the movie has changed their lives.

Watch on YouTube

The Second Most Famous Shirtless Asian Man in Cinema History

Check out this fun clip from the documentary Beam Me Up, Sulu, in which I declare that George Takei as Sulu in the Star Trek original series episode "The Naked Time" is the Second Most Famous Shirtless Asian Man in Cinema History. The movie is now available digitally for rent/purchase.

Watch on YouTube

On Healing Land, Birds Perch

Behind one of the Vietnam War's most iconic Pulitzer Prize–winning photographs lies a story resonant with today’s global crises. Woven through voices of survivors, Naja Lockwood's documentary short On Healing Land, Birds Perch meditates on memory, loss, and renewal confronting the enduring scars of war and the resilience of refugees rebuilding their lives.

Chinese American restaurants question why Chinese cuisine can’t get the chef’s table treatment

In an industry where diners rarely question high prices of French haute cuisine or Japanese omakase, Chinese restaurateurs often contend with resistance in getting customers to pay fine-dining tabs. But upscale Chinese American restaurants are redefining perceptions of Chinese cuisine and insist their food, labor and cooking techniques are just as worthy.

Everything Everywhere All at Once Mahjong Set

A24 Shop just dropped this amazing-looking Everything Everywhere All at Once Mahjong Set featuring original art by Manshen Lo. It includes a wooden carrying case with gold-foil stamped googly eye logo, 160 black tiles with hand-painted engraved icons, four racks, and a set of dice. Alas, it'll cost you $320.

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/the-women-of-kpop-demon-hunters.html

torachan

1. Despite a mixup at the airport, I arrived safely in NoCal for my first ever business trip. After I got through security this morning, an airport staff person asked me what airline I was flying on and when I said Southwest, she told me I had to go downstairs and take a shuttle to my gate. This seemed odd to me since I entered at the place at that said Southwest but there’s a lot of construction going on, so I figured maybe it had something to do with that. But when I arrived at the other terminal, it was clear I was in the wrong place, so I had to take the shuttle back. Thankfully I was at the airport with plenty of time to spare so there was still like an hour before boarding and I was able to get breakfast and get to my actual gate in plenty of time. The flight itself is short, only like an hour in the air, though we did have to circle around the airport once before landing because it was so windy they had to come in from the other direction. Amusingly there was a guy from work on my same flight, though we hadn’t realized until boarding that we were traveling together.

2. I have mostly avoided the rain today. It was raining a little traveling from the airport to the store, but I wasn’t the one driving, and it had stopped by the time I arrived. Dry throughout the day, I was able to take a walk after lunch. And my hotel is just across the street. But tonight I had to go out to buy toothpaste and toothbrush because the hotel doesn’t provide them (cheapskates) and I didn’t take my umbrella because it wasn’t supposed to rain for hours, but when I was leaving the store it was pouring, so I had to go back in and buy an umbrella. I actually have one in my suitcase! D: But now I have another one. I did get pretty soaked even with it, but I think I can manage to dry my shoes out with the hairdryer the hotel provided. Tomorrow is supposed to be no rain all day so fingers crossed.

3. There are loads of nice restaurants around and tonight I walked to a sort of food court area where I ended up getting some very tasty yuzu ramen.

Sorry, no cat pics today or tomorrow as posting is fiddle enough from my iPad. I did post on bluesky, though. I’m torachan on bluesky if you want to see cats. Otherwise I will be back to cat posting on Friday.

kaberett

Specifically: I find myself in possession of both a superking duvet cover and a deep fitted double sheet that are mostly Genuinely Nice Cotton... and have both got holes worn through them in one specific place.

I have accepted about myself that I am not a person who will tolerate sleeping on patched bedsheets (because Textures). I am loathe to just hand them over to rag recycling. I am scared of trying to sew anything out of them, but might manage it with some encouragement.

I would greatly appreciate people Being Opinionated on this topic.

angry_asian_man_feed

Posted by Unknown

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/why-adidas-chinese-new-year-jacket-has.html

And Other Items of Note From Angry Asian America

Why the Adidas 'Chinese New Year' jacket has gone viral

Every Lunar New Year, brands release zodiac animal-themed merchandise and items in the lucky color red. This year, there's one product that has cut through all the noise: the Adidas Chinese Track Top.

How the Visa Debate for Foreign Workers Fuels Racism Against South Asians

The H-1B program allows up to 85,000 foreign workers to fill specialized roles in the United States every year. But important policy debates about H-1B visas have been increasingly overshadowed by what Asian American advocacy groups say is a surge in hate speech directed at South Asians.

Alysa Liu Comes of Age

U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu retired in 2022, at sixteen years old. Now she’s back at the 2026 Winter Olympics with a newfound confidence and sense of control -- in her skating and in her life.

Watch on YouTube

A Day With the Last Dim Sum Cart Servers of NYC

Dim sum cart service is a dying tradition. But at Golden Palace in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood, Pik Chan and Cheong Yin Ho -- who have worked together for nearly two decades -- are keeping it alive.

Watch on YouTube

'Take Me Home' Filmmaker Liz Sargent On Making Movie About Her Sister

Filmmaker Liz Sargent talks about this scene from her drama Take Me Home, which follows Anna, a 38-year-old Korean adoptee with a cognitive disability. "This movie is all about Anna, my sister, who plays a version of herself, filmed in the home she lived in with our aging parents. Sisters are complicated and annoying and best friends. I love this scene because Emily (Ali Ahn) and Anna (Anna Sargent) capture all that love. Keeping Anna exactly as she is, we see her take back her power, ignore the system, and show Emily who’s boss. Her awesomeness is the heart of this film and these lives."

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2026/02/why-adidas-chinese-new-year-jacket-has.html

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swagger like us

Reading

Daily Happiness

vital functions

Bletchley Park

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The Friday Five on a Saturday

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My motor cortex learning to play Dark Souls

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some good things

Gold. That's What Alysa Liu is Fucking Talking About.

Daily Happiness

[food] the kale thing

Slanted: Think Mean Girls Meets The Substance

The Women of Kpop Demon Hunters

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what does one do with Sad Bedsheets?

Why the Adidas 'Chinese New Year' Jacket Has Gone Viral

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September 2016

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