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Microsoft At HOME
8 tips for better holiday photos
What's the problem with holiday photos? All too often, they fail to capture the feeling of the season. Most holiday pictures look interchangeable. Your photos of family members lined up and smiling look the same as those of every other family.
So why not turn routine holiday photos into unique works of art with just a few simple techniques?
1. Plan ahead
The classic problem with holiday photos is that they have to be taken weeks in advance so you can send out cards and mailings beforehand. Some decorations like live trees aren't available, and you might not want to take the menorah or other holiday items out of storage so far in advance.
If you're like me, you're surprised by the sight of holiday decorations at the mall when most people are still wearing shorts and flip-flops. It seems too early to drag out once-a-year decorations just so you can take a holiday photo before the snow flies. But it's never too early to think about the perfect image to accompany the annual "year in review" letter that describes your nearly perfect family.
The solution: Go generic. How is such a thing possible? Find an object that says "holiday."
For ideas, check out the images available from Microsoft Office. Do a search for "holidays" or "Christmas" and browse through the results. Find subjects that are festive and non-denominational: for example, an ornament, a sprig of holly, a poinsettia plant. Then you can use these festive clip art pieces in your holiday photos rather than having to get out your actual decorations so far in advance of the holidays.
2. Less is more
If you are taking photos for a card or other holiday mailing, you might want to get personal. Often, you need to connect with diverse sets of people—business clients, neighbors, community members, and family.
Keep it simple. Save family photos for your family. For a non-family card or mailing, consider a straightforward, evocative image. For example, freshly fallen snow on ornate stone buildings and oak trees suggests the beauty of the season. If you don't have fresh snow on hand, gargoyles on buildings and other architectural ornaments are compelling, too.
And don't be afraid to get up close. Most people see a beautiful nature scene, say "Wow!" and snap a shot of the whole landscape. Don't settle for this canned shot; zoom in on the details. Almost every camera has a magnify or macro button that lets you get close and create a much more interesting photo.
This cardinal offers a pretty way to evoke the holiday season for non-family cards or mailings, and by using your camera's magnify feature you get something beyond the typical nature landscape.
3. Get candid
There's nothing wrong with pictures that are posed, but create some variety by including candid shots at family gatherings. Get people in conversation or reacting to opening a gift. Keep your camera batteries charged up and your camera nearby so you can catch spontaneous moments.
4. Light the way
In ideal situations, use available light to eliminate problems like flares and the dreaded "red eye." Also, don't take photos in front of windows or other back lights; the foreground will come out too dark unless you use fill flash. Light the scene from several different directions. Don't point bright lights right at people's eyes. Light the space around them and diffuse the light if possible.
Keep mirrors, glass, or other reflective surfaces that can cause distracting light flares away. And ask your subjects not to look directly at the camera to prevent red eye. There are also several helpful tips for lighting and well as tips on printing, editing, and organizing digital images in numerous articles on the Windows 7 and the Windows Vista Help & How-to websites.
5. Find a new angle
This is something I learned from my days as a reporter: looking at rows of people staring at the camera and smiling at you head-on is a bit boring. If you do want to take a photo of your family, simply changing the angle and looking at a familiar scene from a new perspective can liven it up considerably. For example, get up on a ladder and look down; get down on the floor and look up.
Another option is to fill the frame for dramatic effect. By tilting the camera down about a third of a frame, you can create a much different effect. Look carefully at the picture you're framing before you click the button. Experiment by moving the camera up and down, side to side. Tilt the camera to various angles and see what it shows you. Fill the frame with the object that interests you most. If your digital camera has an LCD screen, you can use it to improve your sensitivity to the entire scene.
6. Edit your images
Even the pros don't get it right the first time. Professional photographers know that the best way to get the perfect image is to take several hundred that are imperfect. Some of the best photos only emerge after careful editing.
Windows Live Photo Gallery, a part of Windows Live Essentials, is a convenient and powerful tool for editing images. And you can download Photo Gallery and Essentials for free.
Perfect your photos by editing them using tools like Windows Live Photo Gallery.
You can also use Microsoft Photosynth, which transforms regular digital photos into three-dimensional, 360-degree experiences. This new service changed the way you experience and share photos. Please note that a download is required to use and/or view photos within the Photosynth experience.
Photo editing programs allow you to combine black and white and color in one image, as well as apply other cool effects. With many of today's digital imaging software packages, like the ones on the Microsoft Professional Photography site or Adobe Photoshop Elements, you can apply amazing effects to your photos that used to be available only to professional photographers.
Hint: Before you start, make a working copy of your original image by saving it with a new file name. You can do this by opening the image and typing a "bw" at the end of the filename when you save it to differentiate the working image from the original. For example, if the image file name is "Leaf," save the image as "Leafbw." By doing all your work on your working copy of the image, you can always start over with a fresh copy of the original if you don't like the results.
You can easily convert color photos to black and white by using your favorite image-editing program. With some camera models you can even do this in the camera before downloading the image to your computer. Once the image is on your computer, you can use your image-editing program to adjust contrast and brightness to create a photograph that's reminiscent of an Ansel Adams composition.
Hint: Silhouettes look terrific in black and white, as do old buildings. The effect adds drama. But be sure to reserve this technique for landscapes or buildings. Photos of family members in black and white may not be as warm as you want them to be.
7. Don't forget presentation
Anyone who's ever wrapped (or unwrapped) a present knows how important presentation is. Imagine this: Your holiday greeting arrives in email featuring a multimedia summary of your activities and special occasions from the year.
You can use Microsoft PowerPoint, to present a holiday greeting that includes festive images and sound clips of your family singing their favorite holiday songs. And if you have Windows 7 and PowerPoint 2010, you can even embed video of the great trip to the beach from July or clips of the kids’ birthday parties. Or for the ultimate holiday card, save your file as a video. That's a presentation your friends and family won't soon forget.
8. Share holiday moments
You've collected your best picks of cookie decorating, ice skating, carol singing, and present opening. Now what do you do with them all? Our article, " Share your vacation in real time" will help you learn the basics about setting up your own online blog.
Photo collages celebrate important events and themes in our lives. Pick a folder, press a button, and in a few minutes Microsoft AutoCollage presents you with a unique memento to print or email to your family and friends. You can learn about even more innovative ways to make the most out of your photographs on the Microsoft Professional Photography site.
You can also use your photos to tell a story. Check out Tell vacation stories with photos for an example of creating a story with your pictures. The concepts in the vacation article can easily be applied to your holiday events to create and share an experience your family and friends will cherish for years to come.
Greg Holden
Greg Holden has been taking photos professionally since his days as a reporter for his hometown paper in suburban Chicago. Many of his more than 30 books on computers and the Internet deal with editing or taking photos, such as Complete Idiot's Guide to Photoshop Elements. His books on eBay, including How to Do Everything with Your eBay Business, discuss taking digital images to accompany auction descriptions. He lives in Chicago with his two teenage daughters.
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Find information faster: Organize your computer
If you've been using your computer for more than 6 months, it's probably safe to say that you don't need all the files and email messages stored there. When left untreated too long, an unorganized computer will perform slower and make it more difficult for you to find the information you need. If that's the case, it's a great time to make sure your computer is cleaned up and ready to roll for your next upcoming project or assignment. This article can help you get started.
Clear out your old, unnecessary files
So how long should you keep old files on your hard drive? It's kind of like cleaning out a closet?if you haven't used a particular file (or sweater) in a year, you're pretty safe storing it somewhere else.
How can you tell how old a file is? Rest your mouse cursor over the file to see when it was last modified. For more information right-click the file, and choose Properties. You can see when the file was created, last modified it, and most recently accessed. If a file is old, not important, and hasn't been accessed in more than 6 months, it might be time to clear it out.
You're the best judge to determine which files to keep, but here is a list of items you might want to consider saving:
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Tax and legal information
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Project-related files
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Favorite digital images from the year
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Plans you could leverage for future projects
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Important email messages
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Customer information
By looking at the properties of a file you can see when the file was created, last modified it, and most recently accessed.
Once you've gotten rid of your files, learn 7 ways to manage your files better. 
Tip To view your files in a folder by the date they were last modified, open a folder and on the View menu click Details. On the top of the column, click Date Modified.
Quickly find old files by organizing them by the date they were modified.
Back up important files
The next step is to copy selected files to another storage medium, such as a writeable CD or DVD or an external hard drive. For your most important files, such as project files, key presentations, or large emails, you'll rest a lot easier if you have a backup copy stored safely away from your computer. Backing up your files to CD or DVD will allow you to safely store these disks should you happen to lose your computer or if it should fail.
To back up your files it's ideal to have a CD or DVD burner or a hard drive you can connect to your computer through a USB or FireWire port. Learn more about how to back up your files with Windows XP. Also, learn more about how to back up your Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 email messages.
Tip If you're backing up your information to a CD or DVD, be sure to create labels for your CDs that in some way describe their contents. For example, you might title the CD "2005 Archive" or be more specific with something like "2005 Presentations."
Clean out your email
Do you have a system for weeding out and organizing your old email messages? Here are a few quick ideas for taming your Inbox and getting ready to handle those messages in the months to come:
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Create folders to store messages according to sender, topic, or date.
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Create email rules to file and manage your messages automatically. For example, you can create a rule to send all messages from your manager to a special folder. Learn more about managing email messages with rules.
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Go through your Sent folder in Outlook in and delete items you no longer need (especially those with large file attachments).
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If you're sure you no longer need email you've deleted, empty the folder that contains it.
For more help keeping your email in check, learn 4 ways to take control of your email Inbox. Or watch a demo about how to manage the size your Inbox.
Organize and clear out your Internet files
If you're like the average person, you've been doing a lot of Web searching and your Internet Explorer Favorites folder may be bursting at the seams. It could probably use some weeding out and organizing. To organize your Favorites in Internet Explorer, on the Favorites menu, click Organize Favorites.
While your tending to your Favorites folder there's some additional clean up that's easy to do. Start Internet Explorer and on the Tools menu click Internet Options. In the General tab of the Internet Options dialog box, you have two cleanup choices. These steps can help reduce some unnecessary files on your computer.
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In the Temporary Internet files section, click Delete Files to remove all temporary files. (You can also elect to remove all offline content downloaded from sites you've visited.)
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In the History section, click Clear History to remove the list of sites you've previously visited. Also make sure that you have the Days to keep pages in history: set to where you would like it.
Clear out Internet Explorer using some of the options on the Internet Options dialog box.
This article was written by Katherine Murray.
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01010101 Information mIsManagement 10101010
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2010: The Year Of Compulsive Lying
By Jeff Siegel | Monday, December 20th, 2010
If there's one thing you can always count on during an election year, it's an avalanche of lies and misinformation.
Here are some of my favorites from this year:
We've excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs. — President Barack Obama. (The truth can be found here.)
The president of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. — Congresswoman Michele Bachman. ( The truth can be found here.)
Louisiana gets “not one single penny” from Gulf Coast offshore oil revenues. — Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu. (The truth can be found here.)
This next one's actually from 2009, but it's so outrageously ridiculous (and sadly, believed by so many), that it deserves an honorable mention in this list:
Seniors and the disabled “will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productive in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. — Former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin. (The truth can be found here.)
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Genting Berhad
¨ Casino JV in Vietnam?
¨ A joint venture between Genting group VinaCapital, has obtained approval from the central government for a US$4bn (RM12.5bn) casino resort project in Hoi An city.
¨ The group is also said to be exploring a setting up of a casino in Sri Lanka, as the government recently passed the Gambling Bill to legalise gambling.
¨ No change to forecasts until we obtain clarification from management.
¨ Maintain fair value at RM12.80.
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Genting Berhad
¨ Casino JV in Vietnam?
¨ A joint venture between Genting group VinaCapital, has obtained approval from the central government for a US$4bn (RM12.5bn) casino resort project in Hoi An city.
¨ The group is also said to be exploring a setting up of a casino in Sri Lanka, as the government recently passed the Gambling Bill to legalise gambling.
¨ No change to forecasts until we obtain clarification from management.
¨ Maintain fair value at RM12.80.
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Genting Berhad
¨ Casino JV in Vietnam?
¨ A joint venture between Genting group VinaCapital, has obtained approval from the central government for a US$4bn (RM12.5bn) casino resort project in Hoi An city.
¨ The group is also said to be exploring a setting up of a casino in Sri Lanka, as the government recently passed the Gambling Bill to legalise gambling.
¨ No change to forecasts until we obtain clarification from management.
¨ Maintain fair value at RM12.80.
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 Text size:
Last Update: December 18, 2010 02:54 ET
Strong Buy on Genting Hong Kong Limited 0678
Shayne Heffernan has issued a strong buy on Genting Hong Kong Limited HKG:0678.
Shayne Heffernan has put a price target of $6HKD in 2011 on the stock currently trading at $3.30.
This month the company announced that it has signed an agreement on a seven-year floating rate term loan and revolving credit of US$600 million.
The company said in a statement that the proceeds of the facility will be used to pay down existing indebtedness and for general corporate purposes.
Arrangers, underwriters and bookrunners for this loan include Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DnB NOR Bank ASA, HSBC, Maybank Investment Bank Berhad and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.
Separately, the company announced earlier this year that it purchased 18 million shares of Union Bank of Colombo Ltd for around RMB 15.44 million to own a 5.92% stake in the target firm, which is engaged in banking businesses in Sri Lanka, sources reported.
Genting Hong Kong Limited, formerly Star Cruises Limited, is an investment holding company principally engaged in the operation of passenger cruise ships in Asia Pacific.
The Company, together with its jointly controlled entities, NCL Corporation Ltd. (NCLC) and its subsidiaries (the NCLC Group), has a combined fleet of 17 ships cruising to over 200 destinations in the world, offering approximately 30,000 lower berths. The Group operates under the principal brand name of Star Cruises while the NCLC Group operates under Norwegian Cruise Line brand.
Star Cruises operates seven ships offering various cruise itineraries and calls destinations primarily in the Asia Pacific region. Norwegian Cruise Line operates 10 cruise ships offering cruises in North and South America, Hawaii, Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, Mediterranean and Bermuda.
The Company’s subsidiaries are principally engaged in the business of cruise and cruise related operations and leisure, entertainment and hospitality activities.
  Posted by Shayne Heffernan on Dec 17th, 2010 and filed under BRIC, Emerging Markets, Equities, Latest News, Limelight, Markets, News & Events, Shayne Heffernan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site
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Last Update: December 18, 2010 02:54 ET
Strong Buy on Genting Hong Kong Limited 0678
Shayne Heffernan has issued a strong buy on Genting Hong Kong Limited HKG:0678.
Shayne Heffernan has put a price target of $6HKD in 2011 on the stock currently trading at $3.30.
This month the company announced that it has signed an agreement on a seven-year floating rate term loan and revolving credit of US$600 million.
The company said in a statement that the proceeds of the facility will be used to pay down existing indebtedness and for general corporate purposes.
Arrangers, underwriters and bookrunners for this loan include Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DnB NOR Bank ASA, HSBC, Maybank Investment Bank Berhad and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.
Separately, the company announced earlier this year that it purchased 18 million shares of Union Bank of Colombo Ltd for around RMB 15.44 million to own a 5.92% stake in the target firm, which is engaged in banking businesses in Sri Lanka, sources reported.
Genting Hong Kong Limited, formerly Star Cruises Limited, is an investment holding company principally engaged in the operation of passenger cruise ships in Asia Pacific.
The Company, together with its jointly controlled entities, NCL Corporation Ltd. (NCLC) and its subsidiaries (the NCLC Group), has a combined fleet of 17 ships cruising to over 200 destinations in the world, offering approximately 30,000 lower berths. The Group operates under the principal brand name of Star Cruises while the NCLC Group operates under Norwegian Cruise Line brand.
Star Cruises operates seven ships offering various cruise itineraries and calls destinations primarily in the Asia Pacific region. Norwegian Cruise Line operates 10 cruise ships offering cruises in North and South America, Hawaii, Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, Mediterranean and Bermuda.
The Company’s subsidiaries are principally engaged in the business of cruise and cruise related operations and leisure, entertainment and hospitality activities.
Posted by Shayne Heffernan on Dec 17th, 2010 and filed under BRIC, Emerging Markets, Equities, Latest News, Limelight, Markets, News & Events, Shayne Heffernan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site
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Text size:
Last Update: December 18, 2010 02:54 ET
Strong Buy on Genting Hong Kong Limited 0678
Shayne Heffernan has issued a strong buy on Genting Hong Kong Limited HKG:0678.
Shayne Heffernan has put a price target of $6HKD in 2011 on the stock currently trading at $3.30.
This month the company announced that it has signed an agreement on a seven-year floating rate term loan and revolving credit of US$600 million.
The company said in a statement that the proceeds of the facility will be used to pay down existing indebtedness and for general corporate purposes.
Arrangers, underwriters and bookrunners for this loan include Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DnB NOR Bank ASA, HSBC, Maybank Investment Bank Berhad and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.
Separately, the company announced earlier this year that it purchased 18 million shares of Union Bank of Colombo Ltd for around RMB 15.44 million to own a 5.92% stake in the target firm, which is engaged in banking businesses in Sri Lanka, sources reported.
Genting Hong Kong Limited, formerly Star Cruises Limited, is an investment holding company principally engaged in the operation of passenger cruise ships in Asia Pacific.
The Company, together with its jointly controlled entities, NCL Corporation Ltd. (NCLC) and its subsidiaries (the NCLC Group), has a combined fleet of 17 ships cruising to over 200 destinations in the world, offering approximately 30,000 lower berths. The Group operates under the principal brand name of Star Cruises while the NCLC Group operates under Norwegian Cruise Line brand.
Star Cruises operates seven ships offering various cruise itineraries and calls destinations primarily in the Asia Pacific region. Norwegian Cruise Line operates 10 cruise ships offering cruises in North and South America, Hawaii, Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, Mediterranean and Bermuda.
The Company’s subsidiaries are principally engaged in the business of cruise and cruise related operations and leisure, entertainment and hospitality activities.
Posted by Shayne Heffernan on Dec 17th, 2010 and filed under BRIC, Emerging Markets, Equities, Latest News, Limelight, Markets, News & Events, Shayne Heffernan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site
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Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:32:46 GMT
Top Facebook games of 2010
We preview some of the best Facebook games currently available
xinmsn file photo
Facebook gave rise to the social gaming phenomenon, and there's no sign of the juggernaut stopping. Hundreds of millions of players are now hooked on social games, and millions more are joining in each month.
We've taken the time to try a few of them, and have come up with five that we recommend.
- ZUMA BLITZ
- City Ville
- Farm Ville
- City Of Wonders
- Vegas City
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AFP-Relaxnews, Thu, 16 Dec 2010 01:09:34 GMT
Weekly global tech product releases 2010 Dec 15
Weekly global tech product releases 2010 Dec 15
Relaxnews file photo
High-tech product releases announced the week ending December 15 include the fastest notebook on the planet for mobile gamers, designer-inspired notebooks for the cold weather, a 3D Blu-ray home theatre system, high performance SD memory cards, and LG's slimmest computer monitor.
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Top 20 gadgets of 2010:
Apple iPad
Apple iPhone 4
HTC Google Nexus One
Microsoft Xbox 360
Sony PlayStation 3 Slim
Boxee Box by D-Link
Apple iPhone 3GS
HTC EVO 4G
Sonos ZonePlayer S5
Apple TV 2nd-gen
Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch unibody
HP Envy 17 3D
Motorola DROID
Microsoft Kinect
Amazon Kindle 3
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Fitbit
HTC DROID Incredible
Samsung Galaxy Tab
Apple iMac Intel 3rd-gen 27-inch
http://gdgt.com/
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CONSUMERISM 2010
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AFP-Relaxnews, Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:17:28 GMT
Pocket-sized ultrasound device
Pocket-sized ultrasound deviceThis pocket-sized ultrasound device, the GE Vscan, allows paramedics to assess internal injuries on the spot, or doctors to read medical imaging in real time right in their offices. Price: $7,900 (€5,800).
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AFP-Relaxnews, Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:17:28 GMT
EverOn smart hospital bed sensor
EverOn smart hospital bed sensorThe Earlysense EverOn sensor, placed under a patient's mattress, detects every heartbeat and breath, then transmits the data to a nurse's central computer, allowing around-the-clock monitoring of a patient's vital signs. Price: $7,000 (€5,150).
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AFP-Relaxnews, Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:17:28 GMT
Mobilegs' comfy crutch
Mobilegs' comfy crutchThis high-tech lightweight crutch, designed by Mobilegs, provides better stability and reduces nerve damage and wrist strain. Prices range from $60-$90 (€44-66).
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AFP-Relaxnews, Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:17:28 GMT
Touch Bionics's robotic hands
Touch Bionics's robotic handsA technological breakthrough for partial hand amputees, this robotic prosthetic features electrodes in the socket that read muscle impulses to control the fingers. Adaptive programming even allows typing. Price: $50,000-$80,000 (€37,000-59,000).
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