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NWR: How prepared are you?

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Re: NWR: How prepared are you?

  • edited October 2014

    I'm prepared for power outages, but it's time to find all the flash lights that have wondered off and stock up on batteries. No one ever returns those things.

    After an October snow storm that left us without power for 10 days, we learned our lesson. We bought a generator, already own a gas grill, have a fireplace and lots of maple and apple wood ready to burn, battery operated lanterns and radios, kerosene lamp for back up, lots of blankets,  cords everywhere to recharge our cell phones. Let's see, we have cereal, canned goods, gallons of bottled water, instant coffee, cocoa and tea bags, dog food. We could survive a week or two without going to the store for food, if neccessary. When word comes that a storm is heading our way, we head to the gas station to fill our tanks and we eat all the ice cream in the freezer.

    No guns. I'm not worried about civil unrest and I'm not the type to fight off the hoards by mowing them down with a semi from the front porch. 

    I watched Doomsday Preppers once. A woman was filling her garage with canned goods and gloating that she and her family will be prepared for Armageddon or whatever, while her neighbors starve. All I've got to say is, have fun burying all those bodies, lady.


                       
  • Oh, and we live not too far from a nuclear power plant, so I do have potassium iodide pills, just in case there were a nuclear emergency. That's probably my craziest prep item.

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  • We're totally unprepared. But we have guns. So...

    Kidding.

    We have important documents and cash in a fireproof safe. We have medical supplies and tools and lots of cool camping gear and survival tools. We H is a pretty resourceful guy. I'm not too concerned.
  • amelisha said:
    jenna8984 said:

    Nope. We have one case of water in the basement and normal pantry foods. My street is somehow the first circuit to get fixed during every outage so when other parts are out for days, we've never lost power longer than 3 hours.

    When it comes to super hardcore, end of the world shit (like the Preppers show) my philosophy is why would you want to be alive? Honestly, if some "I am Legend"/ "Zombieland" shit is happening I don't want to be around for it.

    EXACTLY. I'd be the one trailing behind my fiance like "Ugh, my feet hurt. I'm hungry. Is there any coffee? I want a bubble bath. How many calories are in this can of chickpeas, do you think?" The first zombie we saw would eat me just to shut me up.

    Yup, me too.

    I've told SO to go on without me.  I tell him all the time, I'M NOT A SURVIVOR.

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  • Not prepared at all.  If something happened, ie. a fire, I'd grab my cats, purse, heirloom necklace, and some pictures and get the heck out of there.  
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  • Oh, and we live not too far from a nuclear power plant, so I do have potassium iodide pills, just in case there were a nuclear emergency. That's probably my craziest prep item.
    How did you get them? I've been curious how everyone within a certain range knows to get them.

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  • luckya23 said:
    Oh, and we live not too far from a nuclear power plant, so I do have potassium iodide pills, just in case there were a nuclear emergency. That's probably my craziest prep item.
    How did you get them? I've been curious how everyone within a certain range knows to get them.

    I bought it online. I know in Japan, they started giving them to people at risk and close to the release site after the leak there, but the people that needed it most were already exposed by then. And if you can take it right away, it greatly reduces your risk of radiation poisoning. So, if something were to happen, I don't trust the government to be efficient enough to supply it to me in a timely manner. 

    I don't think there is a set distance or risk factor that is recommended to have it and most people probably don't have any. And whether or not you would really need it would depend on extent of a leak, wind direction, and a lot of other factors.  I think only people who are somewhat paranoid of it happening would likely buy any.  I mean, with all the nuclear sources out there, there are very few disasters, so risk of contamination is probably very small. 

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  • jenna8984 said:

    Nope. We have one case of water in the basement and normal pantry foods. My street is somehow the first circuit to get fixed during every outage so when other parts are out for days, we've never lost power longer than 3 hours.

    When it comes to super hardcore, end of the world shit (like the Preppers show) my philosophy is why would you want to be alive? Honestly, if some "I am Legend"/ "Zombieland" shit is happening I don't want to be around for it.

    YES. I am not prepping for the end of the world with the few things we've stocked. I'm prepping for a two-week power outage. If world-ending shit goes down, I want to be with the first wave of croaking because I don't do survivalist chic very well.
    --

    I'm the fuck
    out.

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  • luckya23 said:
    Oh, and we live not too far from a nuclear power plant, so I do have potassium iodide pills, just in case there were a nuclear emergency. That's probably my craziest prep item.
    How did you get them? I've been curious how everyone within a certain range knows to get them.

    I bought it online. I know in Japan, they started giving them to people at risk and close to the release site after the leak there, but the people that needed it most were already exposed by then. And if you can take it right away, it greatly reduces your risk of radiation poisoning. So, if something were to happen, I don't trust the government to be efficient enough to supply it to me in a timely manner. 

    I don't think there is a set distance or risk factor that is recommended to have it and most people probably don't have any. And whether or not you would really need it would depend on extent of a leak, wind direction, and a lot of other factors.  I think only people who are somewhat paranoid of it happening would likely buy any.  I mean, with all the nuclear sources out there, there are very few disasters, so risk of contamination is probably very small. 

     

    ----------------------

    I only became aware of them because I heard on the radio somewhere I was traveling (I think somewhere outside of Boston...) that some town or county had issued them 10 years before, and they were now expiring, so people had to get new ones. 

    It made me wonder how on earth they kept track of who moved in and out of the target area over all those years!

    Taking responsibility for your own meds makes much more sense, but let's be real, most people would not bother.

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  • @beethery A world with no Doritos is not a world I want to be in.

                                                                     

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  • We were actually just having a sort of interesting convo about this topic at the school I work at the other day, and noticed a trend among our people at least- Southerners (the born and bred type, not necessarily as true for transplants) tended to be much more prepared in general than Yankees.  I can think of a lot of reasons this might be true, but the major consensus is just that in general down here we have more of a culture of "putting up" so that extends to disaster preparedness as well (by "putting up" I mean like, most of my friends would feel very weird not putting up foods on a yearly basis and having a pantry that is well-stocked with canned and jarred goods come winter).  Do you ladies think there's any truth to this observation in your own lives, or just a coincidence?  
  • We were actually just having a sort of interesting convo about this topic at the school I work at the other day, and noticed a trend among our people at least- Southerners (the born and bred type, not necessarily as true for transplants) tended to be much more prepared in general than Yankees.  I can think of a lot of reasons this might be true, but the major consensus is just that in general down here we have more of a culture of "putting up" so that extends to disaster preparedness as well (by "putting up" I mean like, most of my friends would feel very weird not putting up foods on a yearly basis and having a pantry that is well-stocked with canned and jarred goods come winter).  Do you ladies think there's any truth to this observation in your own lives, or just a coincidence?  
    As my mom is a born and bred southerner, she is fitting the mold of a preparer. My dad is a yankee, and he does his own part in the preparedness stuff.

    FI is a yankee and he likes to prepare, so it doesn't necessarily ring true on all counts.
    --

    I'm the fuck
    out.

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  • We had an extended power outage last year in december.  We were lucky: I insist on having half a tank of gas in my car in the winter at all times and we were able to get assembled and go to my in-laws for shelter once we found out it would be days before it would come back on.  it was -20C one night.  Not fun.  I was more worried about showering than anything though.  

    We bought a portable power source immediately after that to at least charge our phones on or run a basic heater/fan.  We've had to use it since then.

    I wouldnt say Im super prepared.  Im not in shape to fight zombies (or even looters) my pantry isn't ideal, and I'm hesitant to cut my hair (people can grab it and hurt you in a mass panic!).  I do have a high pain tolerance though, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
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  • steph861 said:
    I keep meaning to put together an actual emergency kit. I try to have one flashlight (most are mini ones) in each room of the house and I've got some large bottles of water, but nothing comprehensive. I really need to get on that, considering I live on the west coast...

    Fun fact: There was a province-wide earthquake drill today. In my office, somebody ran around the floor yelling "Earthquake! Earthquake!" Totally lifelike. 
    It was the midterm for the class I TA when the earthquake drill happened. We heard an alarm and just thought it was for the drill but it didn't stop. After almost 10 minutes one of the students realized he didn't turn his cell to silence and it was his phone alarm not the earthquake drill. We have almost no storage space in our condo. I'm good for medical stuff for an emergency but not food or water.

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  • Um, we normally have propane for the grill, and I think there's a flashlight in the camping bin. Generally I'm not even prepared for dinner, let alone a disaster.

    I do have a 3 month supply of birth control pills, does that count?
    You joke, but I've often thought about how shitty it would be to get stuck on a desert island with Fi and then end up getting pregnant. I mean, I could build myself a little shelter and eat mangoes and catch fish and fashion a shiv for various tool/warding away beasties tasks, but doing all of that pregnant? Or with a newborn? Oh fuck no. And if I were stuck on a desert island with Fi, you can bet I'd want to do SOMETHING to pass the time... So yeah. My list of 3 things I'd bring with me on a desert island: 1. multi-tool/knife thinger 2. a pot. You can build lotsa shit but a pot/bucket for water is a tough one 3. at LEAST 3 months of birth control pills. See you all later when a cruise ship picks my ass up. As for actual preparedness? Like zilch. There's a flashlight somewhere. There are some canned goods that are probably not expired. There are no guns, and there is no Rapture Room. If all hell breaks loose I am capable of swimming across the Hudson, though.
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  • beethery said:
    jenna8984 said:

    Nope. We have one case of water in the basement and normal pantry foods. My street is somehow the first circuit to get fixed during every outage so when other parts are out for days, we've never lost power longer than 3 hours.

    When it comes to super hardcore, end of the world shit (like the Preppers show) my philosophy is why would you want to be alive? Honestly, if some "I am Legend"/ "Zombieland" shit is happening I don't want to be around for it.

    YES. I am not prepping for the end of the world with the few things we've stocked. I'm prepping for a two-week power outage. If world-ending shit goes down, I want to be with the first wave of croaking because I don't do survivalist chic very well.
    Me too. I'd much rather kick the bucket earlier on. There's nothing I can bring to those who have that strong survival instinct. Unless zombies like cupcakes and perfectly manicured hands, then I could help. 
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  • I don't think it is a bad thing to be prepared or over-prepared. 

    FI and I have 3 vehicles and each one has a blanket, a change of clothes, water, canned food, a flashlight, a knife, and something to hit someone with. Just in case we break down and don't have cell phone service, which could happen out where I live.

    I live in NC so snow storms don't happen too often, but when they do, it is bad because the state is not as prepared. We are rather prone to hurricanes since we are in the southeast. We put up and can vegetables every summer so we are stocked up on vegetables and soups. We keep a few bottle of water but not too much. We mainly keep 5 gallon buckets empty so we can fill them up with water from the pond to flush the toilets and empty gallon jugs for purified water from the creek. We also have a propane grill to cook on and a camping stove to use as well. We have tons of blankets, flashlights, and candles. We also bought a small woodstove to use in case it is too cold. 

    We also have guns in case of political unrest, an uprising, or a zombie apocalypse...you never know!

  • A lot of guns.  A little food.  FI loves to say that we'll start eating squirrels and possum if the shit hits the fan. 

    I do keep an emergency kit in my car.  I got stuck in snowpocalypse last year with nothing but the clothes on my back and 3/4 tank of gas that was on E by the time I got home (by the time I got to a place where there were gas stations they were mostly out of gas).  It scared the shit out of me knowing that I might have to walk home in clothes that were not good for that weather, so I like knowing I'll be okay if that happens again.

    Oh, and I have a well-stocked medicine cabinet already, so I'd be good to go for minor stuff there.




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  •  

    steph861 said:
    I keep meaning to put together an actual emergency kit. I try to have one flashlight (most are mini ones) in each room of the house and I've got some large bottles of water, but nothing comprehensive. I really need to get on that, considering I live on the west coast...

    Fun fact: There was a province-wide earthquake drill today. In my office, somebody ran around the floor yelling "Earthquake! Earthquake!" Totally lifelike. 
    It was the midterm for the class I TA when the earthquake drill happened. We heard an alarm and just thought it was for the drill but it didn't stop. After almost 10 minutes one of the students realized he didn't turn his cell to silence and it was his phone alarm not the earthquake drill. We have almost no storage space in our condo. I'm good for medical stuff for an emergency but not food or water.

    You'd be surprised at what space you could find, if really needed. We also live in a fairly small apartment. Most of our water is stored under our bed... that's a lot of storage space.  And we installed additional shelves higher up in our closets that we use to store our camping gear out of the way. 

    The few times I've watched Doomsday Preppers, they had some pretty interesting storage solutions too.

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  • Kind of a thread jack....but for you girls who shoot, can you recommend a gun without a lot of kickback?  I'd like to learn but I have shoulder problems and I don't want to injure myself further.  


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  • Um, we normally have propane for the grill, and I think there's a flashlight in the camping bin. Generally I'm not even prepared for dinner, let alone a disaster.

    I do have a 3 month supply of birth control pills, does that count?
    You joke, but I've often thought about how shitty it would be to get stuck on a desert island with Fi and then end up getting pregnant. I mean, I could build myself a little shelter and eat mangoes and catch fish and fashion a shiv for various tool/warding away beasties tasks, but doing all of that pregnant? Or with a newborn? Oh fuck no. And if I were stuck on a desert island with Fi, you can bet I'd want to do SOMETHING to pass the time... So yeah. My list of 3 things I'd bring with me on a desert island: 1. multi-tool/knife thinger 2. a pot. You can build lotsa shit but a pot/bucket for water is a tough one 3. at LEAST 3 months of birth control pills. See you all later when a cruise ship picks my ass up. As for actual preparedness? Like zilch. There's a flashlight somewhere. There are some canned goods that are probably not expired. There are no guns, and there is no Rapture Room. If all hell breaks loose I am capable of swimming across the Hudson, though.
    I mean, Lori Grimes could have benefited from a stockpile of pills. Just sayin'.

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  • levioosa said:
    Kind of a thread jack....but for you girls who shoot, can you recommend a gun without a lot of kickback?  I'd like to learn but I have shoulder problems and I don't want to injure myself further.  
    Your real need is for a good recoil pad, and probably a padded shooting vest. I'll ask my dad about gun options for you. 

    My .22 rifles are pretty good, but they're also small caliber so the kickback is basically non-existent. I've had reasonably small kickback with my AR but my dad customized the stock for me and made it much more comfortable to work with. If you are into something like that, I could ask him about it when he's got some spare time.
    --

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    out.

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  • levioosa said:
    Kind of a thread jack....but for you girls who shoot, can you recommend a gun without a lot of kickback?  I'd like to learn but I have shoulder problems and I don't want to injure myself further.  
    I have a Ruger SR-40, .40 caliber. It does have a lot of recoil.

    A .22 of some sort really doesn't have any kick  back but it is a small caliber. Enough to injure and usually kill but not as much damage. A .38 might be a good option but there will still be some recoil.

  • edited October 2014
    levioosa said:
    Kind of a thread jack....but for you girls who shoot, can you recommend a gun without a lot of kickback?  I'd like to learn but I have shoulder problems and I don't want to injure myself further.  

    Are you looking for pistol or rifle?  Something you can conceal carry or doesn't that matter? 

    I prefer handguns over rifles. I leave the larger guns to DH.  We figure if zombies (or rioters) ever did attack, he'd take the long range and I'd handle the close range defense.

    Heavier/larger guns usually have less kick to them. Finding one with steel construction instead of plastic helps with adding weight, therefore reducing recoil. If you are looking for something to carry, it can be hard to find smaller guns without any recoil. I like 9mm since it's strong enough to have stopping some power, but still easy to shoot. Before buying our guns, we usually try to find them to rent at one of our local shooting ranges.  We had some we thought we would love, that weren't as fun on the range as we had thought and we found some we wouldn't have considered until we tried them.  So, if you have the option to rent some to try out, I definitely recommend it.

    I love shooting my 9mm Sig Sauer P226.  Very little recoil (steel construction) and fun to shoot, but it's a bit large for conceal carry, though. I bought mine used.  It used to be a police issue weapon.  I figure if the cops trust their lives with it, it's good enough for me.

    My smaller conceal carry piece is a 9mm Smith & Wesson M&P Shield.  It has more recoil than my Sig, but not too bad or unmanageable.  And it is a nice little gun that is easily concealable.

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  • Thank you @beethery and @emmaa

    @princessleia22 most likely a handgun, since I'm guessing that the majority of handguns probably have way less kickback than say a standard rifle (I could be totally wrong though).  I don't have the need to conceal, but I always like the option.  (Is that weird?)

    I was just thinking about this last night, and I really want to be comfortable and safe around/with guns.  I was thinking of going to the range next week with some friends to learn.  Most of my friends who shoot are males from the military, and kickback to them means something totally different.  


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  • levioosa said:
    Thank you @beethery and @emmaa

    @princessleia22 most likely a handgun, since I'm guessing that the majority of handguns probably have way less kickback than say a standard rifle (I could be totally wrong though).  I don't have the need to conceal, but I always like the option.  (Is that weird?)

    I was just thinking about this last night, and I really want to be comfortable and safe around/with guns.  I was thinking of going to the range next week with some friends to learn.  Most of my friends who shoot are males from the military, and kickback to them means something totally different.  


    I totally understand wanting the option to carry.  I have a gun that I bought for carry, I have a conceal carry permit, but I very rarely carry a gun.  I have taken it when I had work in not-so-safe areas of town or when walking the dogs at night sometimes. A few years ago there was a serial rapist/murderer in my area, so going out at night alone to walk the dogs seemed like a much better idea with a weapon (we also keep pepper spray attached to the leash).  But, I usually just use them for having fun at the shooting range and the confidence of knowing it's available, and that I know how to use it, if someone were to break into my home.

    DH carries more than I do, but most of the time he just keeps it in his truck.  He works in some pretty rough areas of town and wants it to be available at those times.

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  • levioosa said:
    Thank you @beethery and @emmaa

    @princessleia22 most likely a handgun, since I'm guessing that the majority of handguns probably have way less kickback than say a standard rifle (I could be totally wrong though).  I don't have the need to conceal, but I always like the option.  (Is that weird?)

    I was just thinking about this last night, and I really want to be comfortable and safe around/with guns.  I was thinking of going to the range next week with some friends to learn.  Most of my friends who shoot are males from the military, and kickback to them means something totally different.  


    I totally understand wanting the option to carry.  I have a gun that I bought for carry, I have a conceal carry permit, but I very rarely carry a gun.  I have taken it when I had work in not-so-safe areas of town or when walking the dogs at night sometimes. A few years ago there was a serial rapist/murderer in my area, so going out at night alone to walk the dogs seemed like a much better idea with a weapon (we also keep pepper spray attached to the leash).  But, I usually just use them for having fun at the shooting range and the confidence of knowing it's available, and that I know how to use it, if someone were to break into my home.

    DH carries more than I do, but most of the time he just keeps it in his truck.  He works in some pretty rough areas of town and wants it to be available at those times.

    I haven't looked up the laws for my state, but I have a feeling they're probably going to be very strict (as far as carrying without a permit, etc).


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  • levioosa said:
    levioosa said:
    Thank you @beethery and @emmaa

    @princessleia22 most likely a handgun, since I'm guessing that the majority of handguns probably have way less kickback than say a standard rifle (I could be totally wrong though).  I don't have the need to conceal, but I always like the option.  (Is that weird?)

    I was just thinking about this last night, and I really want to be comfortable and safe around/with guns.  I was thinking of going to the range next week with some friends to learn.  Most of my friends who shoot are males from the military, and kickback to them means something totally different.  


    I totally understand wanting the option to carry.  I have a gun that I bought for carry, I have a conceal carry permit, but I very rarely carry a gun.  I have taken it when I had work in not-so-safe areas of town or when walking the dogs at night sometimes. A few years ago there was a serial rapist/murderer in my area, so going out at night alone to walk the dogs seemed like a much better idea with a weapon (we also keep pepper spray attached to the leash).  But, I usually just use them for having fun at the shooting range and the confidence of knowing it's available, and that I know how to use it, if someone were to break into my home.

    DH carries more than I do, but most of the time he just keeps it in his truck.  He works in some pretty rough areas of town and wants it to be available at those times.

    I haven't looked up the laws for my state, but I have a feeling they're probably going to be very strict (as far as carrying without a permit, etc).

    Definitely check your locals laws.  And I would recommend a conceal carry course, even if you don't plan to actually carry.  It is a good way to learn the laws and gives you the option if you ever did want to carry. I live in AZ where you don't need any permit to carry... but DH and I got permits anyway just for the training and education. And it allows us to carry out of state (not all states though) if needed.  We actually did that before we bought our first guns because we wanted to make sure we knew the laws and knew how to be responsible with them before we had them in our home. There are too many irresponsible people out there carrying guns that don't know how to properly use them (especially in AZ with no required permits, so any idiot with an ego can be packing), so learning the laws or getting training is never a bad thing.  

    Also, if you are just starting to get into guns, I'll warn you that they can be very addictive.  We started out thinking it would be a good occasional hobby, but we got way more into it than we had expected and are at the range all the time. Which is great, but it can also be an expensive hobby. But, it is a great way to let off steam after a bad day.

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  • We live right next door to my stepdad who is a prepared-type. And he has a whole house generator. That's the extent of my preparedness. 

    H's boss is super active in his system of churches so they do all the electrical work on all the churches in like a 3 state radius. There's a super-secret end of the world food stockpile in the area that H only knows about because he worked on it. Boss says it's food for the poor. He's full of shit. We joke with the boss that we'd break into that.
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  • edited October 2014
    beethery said:
    jenna8984 said:

    Nope. We have one case of water in the basement and normal pantry foods. My street is somehow the first circuit to get fixed during every outage so when other parts are out for days, we've never lost power longer than 3 hours.

    When it comes to super hardcore, end of the world shit (like the Preppers show) my philosophy is why would you want to be alive? Honestly, if some "I am Legend"/ "Zombieland" shit is happening I don't want to be around for it.

    YES. I am not prepping for the end of the world with the few things we've stocked. I'm prepping for a two-week power outage. If world-ending shit goes down, I want to be with the first wave of croaking because I don't do survivalist chic very well.
    Exactly. I have an autoimmune disease that requires IV administered drugs, I go down hill pretty fast without them and it isn't pleasant.   I wouldn't last long anyway, maybe a couple of months. I would want to be in the first wave of croaking too.

    Good news? I have a pretty decent stash of some pretty awesome pills.
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