Owner: Atheista URL:http://atheista.net Join Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 12:26:28 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Atheista was created to inform and remind people on the existence of Atheism in society and to also expose other individuals to the principles, beliefs and practices of one person who doesn't believe in the existence of a supreme being. Site statistics:Click here
The Ten Blogs I’m Voting For 2007-06-05 16:09:59 For lazy the people who may not the patience to read this long entry, I crystallized all that mishmash of information and justifications into a bare list of ten emerging influential blogs. If you still haven’t joined, exercise your right to vote now by visiting this site to learn how you can join. If democracy is not a strong enough incentive for you to vote, maybe hearing that there’s 100 USD waiting for 10 lucky participants is enough to sway you to join and list down your picks for this top ten.
I’m officially endorsing these ten blogs for Janette Toral’s writing project. I encourage you to consider these blogs when making your own lists. Visit them and see if they deserve a spot on your list! Chances are, they do.
Froodee
Happy Slip
Cokskiblue
Fire Eyed Boy
The Dork Factor
Kubiertos
The D Spot
Utakgago
The Construct
Gibbs Cadiz
Viewed 188 times by 117 viewers Read more:Blogs
, Voting
Atheista Fans’ Day Part II 2007-06-14 05:27:56 Some people just don’t see the idea behind moderation. Yup, there’s another Fans’ Day slated for tomorrow. Yeah, I know. I’m shocked. Kevin’s term as fan club president is winding down and Joe is trying to position himself as the viable replacement. Coincidentally, Joe’s celebrating his birthday this coming Monday.
—
If you would check Janette Toral’s on-going project, it takes a small amount of votes to create a shake-up in the top 10. The top vote getter only has 20 votes. To put that into perspective, there were 18 attendees to the Atheist Fans’ Day last Saturday. A few votes could change the game - and possibly rectify a few mistakes. :p
You can also win a hundred US dollars for merely participating and listing your choices for the ten emerging influential blogs for 2007. Here’s my list.
Viewed 13 times by 9 viewers
Lakbayan: Take A Bow, Eugene! 2007-06-12 12:17:15 Eugene
deserves major commendation for this project. With his new Lakbayan website, you can now plot out just how much of the Philippines you’ve covered throughout your travels. The system marks me as a C- traveler. The places in dark blue correspond to the places one has lived in or is currently residing in. The lighter the shade, the less times one has been to that particular area. I’m sure I have misgivings about not declaring certain places that I’ve been to in Mindanao (it was a road trip from Cagayan de Oro to Iligan), so I’m quite sure I passed through the provinces in between those two cities.
I’ve lived in four areas:
National Capital Region
Batangas
Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental
Davao City
My Mindanao map is probably more colorful than most people’s from Luzon but I haven’t been there since 1989. If I could get a fair amount of information from my Dad, I’m sure I’ll be able to put blue on at least half the islan
The First Atheista Fans’ Day: An Overwhelming Success! 2007-06-11 12:03:33 Before anything else, sorry for not blogging for almost a week.
Thank you to everyone who went to the Atheista Fans’ Day. Thank you to Kevin for organizing the event!
It was very nice to see Kevin and Jhed again.
I saw…. sorry, no mojo.
Last Saturday, the first ever Atheista Fans day was successfully held at two satellite locations at De Lasalle University and SM Mall of Asia. Benj was late as usual for the cross-training between UP Manila, De Lasalle and College of Saint Benilde. I missed the start of the first round (one about euthanasia) and I was forced to watch half the debate from the sidelines. For round two though, I was finally allowed to come out of my two-year retirement as a debater and be in the Closing Government in defending the “ban for ideological redundancy in political parties”. Everybody expected it to be a party-list debate set in the Philippines, but Opening Government decided to link the debate to the ongoing Turkish gridlock concerning Read more:First
, Overwhelming
, Success
Want More Hits? Don’t Do This. 2007-06-16 09:32:39 Almost all bloggers started as little voices stepping on their soapboxes as they try to amplify their worldview and personal sentiments to a grand stage. It’s a step up from writing in a physical diary because your thoughts, ideas and emotions are vulnerable to appraisal to anyone who chooses to read your work. For the fraction of bloggers who seek greater readership and more hits, they may resort to unconventional means to promote their blog. Sometimes, joining a online community like Peyups or Pinoyexchange could be enough in bolstering one’s popularity. After all, thousands of people routinely make the rounds in the various forums on the look out for good things to read.
I made the mistake of joining a dastardly network for the sake of increased hits and readership. This summer last year, I signed up for the Pinoy Big Brother Fantasy Game. Why? I found the site via PinoyTopBlogs and since my site got major hits during the summer, I wanted to milk the apparent popularity
Corrupted Buddhism? 2007-06-15 03:50:46 I find the developments in Thailand barely believable. The nation that connects the land mass of Malaysia to the rest of Indochina has long been predominantly Buddhist. According to estimates, 95% of Thais consider themselves as follower of the teachings of Siddharta Gautama - the founder of the religion we know today as Buddhism
. The religion focuses on the changes that one can personally do to decrease bad karma and ensure a better reincarnation. For those who have fulfilled lifetimes (!) of meditation and worthwhile endeavors, the only steps to be seen are nirvana and ultimately, enlightenment. The tenets of the religion obviously focuses on the measures that one can do to ensure his spiritual future and welfare instead of picking on other people and telling them which is which. There is much emphasis on the prerogative of people choose what they want to do as long as they believe that every act whether good or bad will have a corresponding reward or punishment in the next l Read more:Corrupted
The Answer To Annoying Commenters? 2007-06-15 03:28:58 There’s nothing more annoying than people who say “nice theme”, “nice post” and “asteeg!” to just about any post for the sake of leaving a comment and asking for a links exchange afterwards. Aside from deleting those irritating comments and making sure those people’s comments get redirected to the spam bin every time they try to leave another dastardly comment, you can give ‘em a middle finger by using Click Comments.
Each icon corresponds to a phrase that your readers can send more quickly compared to traditional commenting, e.g., “Cool Stuff”, “Inspired Me”, “Entertaining”, “Write More”, “Creative”, “Insightful”, “Touched My Heart”, “Great Find”.
Ok, the plugin was not meant to be a snarky retort to those mindless fools who leave two-word comments that do nothing in enhancing the discussion. If you incorporate this option with your template, it’s a nice way of saying to your lazy commenters Read more:Annoying
Why Are My Browsers Crashing?! 2007-06-20 16:52:38 Whether its Opera, Firefox or IE, it makes no difference. It crashes every time I go to Sexy Mom and Yna’s blogs. What the hell is going on?
Viewed 2 times by 1 viewer
Patient #1: Every Guy’s Worst Nightmare [edited] 2007-06-19 11:02:44 I just had my first patient [for this school year] today! *I toned down the jargons and made the text a bit lighter*
Ward 3 Bed 39
O.G. is a 56-year old male, married, right-handed, Roman Catholic from Samar. He was diagnosed with diabetes melitus in 2002. He used to plant abaca for a living! OG has a chief complaint of an enlarged scrotum (hydrocoele) with associated tenderness and swelling in the proximal areas of the inguinal and inferior gluteal area.
The swelling began early this month as a marble-sized mass in the inguinal area. The patient was also febrile at that time - the exact temperature was not recorded. It brought significant pain as it it eventually grew larger. A few days later, swelling was observed in the patient’s scrotum and his wife decided to bring him to a hospital. The growing mass popped and out came blood, pus and foul-smelling stuff!
Jackpot. One of the most straight-forward diagnoses known to man (and woman). Primary impression aft Read more:Nightmare
Some Of The Things We Do In Med School 2007-06-18 12:14:57
Yesterday afternoon, my class of 160 students was subdivided to 6 groups. Each group was tasked to tackle a specific issue concerning the topic at hand - rational antibiotic use. Antibiotics are among the most abused and misused drugs in the world and the consequences of such lapses in judgment contribute to a growing global problem. Not only does it increase costs on the patient’s part, it also makes more disease-causing organisms more resistant and harder to treat.
Here are five second-rate recordings of the group presentations. I was in group 2 and we were assigned to think of ways to promote rational antibiotic prescription from the perspective of a physician. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to record the first group’s presentation. They had to do it from the position of a patient and they did a very nifty Starwars-inspired skit. Sorry guys.
The rest of the assignments were as follows:
Group 2 - Physician
Group 3 - NGO/ Community Leader
Group 4 - Media Persona Read more:School
The Tag That Half The World Has Heeded 2007-06-18 09:23:30 I’ve seen this tag on over half the blogs that I visit. The responders have covered the A to Z of the blogosphere and finally after 1682 years of waiting, I’ve finally been tagged to answer the Six Weird Things About You tag.
1. I’m a scuba diver now and I used to swim for my class back in high school (about 1/40000 as good as this batchmate of mine), but I nearly drowned as an eight year old. After taking the water slide in the 6-foot deep part of the pool, I suddenly panicked and lost all treading instincts. Luckily (and fortunately), my Dad jumped in to save me. A perfectly nice belt and a state-of-the-art beeper were destroyed as a result of this heroism.
2. I would return the favor to someone at age 12. I went David Hasselhoff on a classmate (and then-close friend) as he struggled to keep himself afloat. Ironically, we’re no longer friends. It’s a long story and somebody ended up getting punched on the face.
3. I am a geography ge Read more:World
The June Crunch 2007-06-24 00:10:16 It always happens.
Every June, almost all student-bloggers end up bogging down to just blogging twice or event once(!) a week. The work load for the month of June is hardly heavy for any degree program, but due to the relative rise in school requirements and cortisol level (d-oh with summer vacation as the point of comparison), this change in environment is often felt in an exagerrated degree. I’ve struggled to make updates the past few weeks and now, I find myself blogging about the things that I do in school. Come to think of it, I think it would be better if I blog about medical concepts more as long as I communicate it in a more accessible mannet - hopefully less jargons and more pictures! My first two articles of filariasis and Fournier’s Gangrene seemed to have worked just fine so I might actually end up writing similar articles in the future.
As far as my other blogs are concerned, it’s so far so good. I’ve submitted ten articles out of the required sixt Read more:Crunch
Flustered By Fournier’s 2007-06-23 08:43:50 Public Service Advisory: This post contains graphic images that may disturb some people. Reader discretion is advised.
Last week, I almost made somewhat of a bad call by being too biased towards a diagnosis of filariasis over one of Fournier’s gangrene. Thanks to research and a little of analysis, I came to the conclusion that the latter was the more likely disease entity. If you’re a med student (or somebody who has access to a medical book), a quick skim of the index wouldn’t yield much if you’re checking Harrisson’s Internal Medicine. The book only “discusses” the topic briefly. How brief? Try 2 sentences.
In 1883, the French venereologist Jean Alfred Fournier described a series in which 5 previously healthy young men suffered from a rapidly progressive gangrene of the penis and scrotum without apparent cause. This condition, now known as Fournier gangrene, is defined as a polymicrobial necrotizing fasciitis of the perineal, periana
Being On The Team (again) 2007-06-23 04:24:43 Last year, my role and commitment to the team was somewhat deficient. It’s very likely that my head wasn’t screwed on the right way. I guess not a lot of people go through what I’m going through with the team now. My first team was a winless team that could barely field in enough players to escape the possibility of losing by default. Being on a losing team for a number of seasons had its “perks” though. I played the entire game and I had the license to do just about everything on the court. At times, I played point guard on offense and center on defense. I got into foul trouble a lot. I got hammered numerous times through out the course of the game. I often drew the ire of other players for playing too physical. ME?! Of all people. I’m so lanky, I dunno why people twice my size often whine on how I push them around. Jeez.
But it was all good. Despite not tasting a win for a good number of seasons, it was fun to be “the man” for a while.
Don’t Use Amoxicillin!!! 2007-06-26 11:35:42 … unless it was prescribed! If you are a healthy individual, the cause of your disease is likely to be viral. Garden variety viral infections usually resolve by themselves without the help of drugs. Anti-virals may be used, but given their price and supposed benefit (you’ll get better a day earlier), it can be considered as something non-cost-effective. Obviously, an antibiotic will not work against a virus. Not only are you wasting your money, you could also be diminishing the effect of that drug in future. Let’s say you won the lottery and you do in fact have a bacterial infection that may be relieved by that antibiotic. Chances are, you will not be taking the drug for its intended full course and you’ll just end up building up the bug’s resistance to medicine after you abruptly discontinue taking the pills.
Just like what was repeatedly emphasized in the five class presentations that I’ve posted earlier, it’s in our best interest to
I’m So Smart 2007-06-26 10:23:56 Today was such a boring day. Half of class hours was devoted to one of the most boring subjects ever (microbiology) and it literally felt like we were caught in a time space warp. Due to the way the seconds dragged after lunch, everybody was pretty much relieved by the time the time the afternoon lectures came to end. All that was left to be done was to meet in groups to discuss the case presentation for the following day. And then it happened.
I stretched out from my chair and my thumb got caught in a huge (5 foot high) industrial fan. My groupmates freaked out ! Run to the sink Benj! Run! I froze as I watched blood seeped out of my cut thumb. Ironically, this was the second time it has happened this year. I cleaned my still bleeding finger with tap water (!) and squirted it with a good amount of alcohol. Needless to say, it’s one of the best things that ever happened that day. I found out that my groupmates had genuine concern for me. They even asked me about my immunization Read more:Smart
More on Amox! 2007-06-28 12:41:45
Amoxicillin is easily one of the world’s most popular and recognizable anti-biotics. It still is the first line of defense against the most common infection known to man. Unfortunately, through the years, it has grown to have a reputation as a cure-all. As a result, the drug has been misused tremendously. The misuse has led to the unfortunate rise in drug-resistant strains of pathogens.
Amoxicillin is a moderate-spectrum antibiotic active against a wide range of Gram-positive, and a limited range of Gram-negative organisms. It is usually the drug of choice within the class because it is better absorbed, following oral administration, than other beta-lactam antibiotics. Amoxicillin is susceptible to degradation by β-lactamase-producing bacteria, and so may be given with clavulanic acid to increase its susceptability. The incidence of β-lactamase-producing resistant organisms, including E. coli, appears to be increasing. Amoxicillin is sometimes combined with clav
From The Grave 2007-07-04 10:18:10 Dear Loyal Readers:
I couldn’t begin on how sorry I am for not blogging for the past week. I hope all of you would accept my sincere apology. Despite the fact that hits were almost halved throughout this entire hiatus period, 150+ hits is still something considering the considerable down time.
School has took much of my time (what a surprise!) and finding time to go online has been a constant challenge. I’ve been able to keep track and approve some of my comments via my mobile phone, but as far as real blogging goes, it’s been really a struggle.
Aside from the rigors of medical school, I’ve also unretired from the UP Manila Debate Circle. That means I’m training for the National Debate Championships this October to be hosted by the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City. I’ve only joined this tournament once - and that was way back in 2004!
I’m also slated to adjudicate two of the rounds for the ABS-CBN’s Read more:Grave
The Reason Why You Get Cancer 2007-07-07 12:24:10 Cancer is easily the most feared medical condition known to man. Almost all malignancies have the capacity to lead to life-altering morbidities and in some really bad cases, even death. Unfortunately, the process by which cancer potentiates itself is still not elucidated well to most people. The disease continues to be an abstract concept that is simply viewed as a killer.
What is cancer?
Carcinoma is primarily a disease entity that has features of having inappropriate types of cells in the wrong places in the body. As we all know, all the body’s surfaces (whether external or internal, solid or fluid-based) contain cells. These cells act as a lining and function specific roles in helping the body move through the daily grind we call life. When these cells change to some type of cell that is different from what it originally was, the disease process commences.
Cancers main feature is its ability to metastasize or spread through different parts of the body through direct, hematogen Read more:Cancer
, Reason
No To Mental Masturbation! 2007-07-07 11:23:18 YES TO INTELLECTUAL ORGY!
And just like that, I’m officially hooked addicted to debating again. Two years after calling it quits, this guy’s back to taking the floor with well-substantiated arguments, meaty points of information and the signature snark that has made his notorious endeared him to many in the debate community. The De Lasalle Debate Society hosted its second weekend cross-training session today and unlike last month’s event where in debaters from UP Manila, DLSU and CSB took part in three rounds of intense mental calisthenics, schools like the University of Asia and the Pacific and Lyceum of the Philippines were also in attendance.
UP Manila’s executive committee decided to make the lineup flexible throughout the entire day and make the members debate with different teammates from round to round. I debated for two rounds (1 and 3) and elected to adjudicate in round 2 to allow other members of the contingent to debate and maximize their potentia Read more:Masturbation
Mad Twitter! 2007-07-11 23:14:45 Undoubtedly, Twitter
has become one of the most inescapable web-based applications of 2007. For the benefit of the Luddites who refuse to go with the flow of technological advancement, Twitter is basically a site that lets you send out 140-character long messages (or twits) to your Twitter friends and the other people (and sometimes, strangers, stalkers and fans) who would like to know about your current state of mind and whereabouts.
The blogging community has embraced the Twitter phenomenon whole-heartedly. Almost every blogger I know has subscribed - everyone who matters has. Some bloggers use it to broadcast new posts (bloggers like Alex and Jhed come to mind), late-breaking news (like Ederic and sometimes, even Shari and Manolo) and funny rants and quips (e.g. Ade, The Mike Villar et. al.). During its early stages, people (myself included) were a bit hesitant to abuse and exploit the system fully, but once it apparent that support for mobile phones was also included as Twit
The 500 Peso National Bookstore Shopping Spree! 2007-07-11 12:54:43 Free staple wire, paper clips and thumb tacks for everyone! Seriously though, if the picture below still rings a bell, that means two very important things - 1) you’ve been reading this blog since October 14 last year (or even earlier than that! Thanks a lot!) and 2) you have vague recollections of me winning a raffle organized by NationalBookstore
.
Before you extort money from me, let me remind you on what exactly happened. Here’s an excerpt of the letter National Bookstore (dated August 14) sent me.
You are one of the lucky winners of P500.00 worth of National Book Store Gift Certificate from the recently-concluded 2006 Textciting Matuto! Textciting Manalo! electronic raffle draw of the National Book Store. The draw was heldlast July 14, 2006 at the head office of National Book Store Inc. as witnessed by the Department of Trade and Industry representative.
To claim your prize, kindly present this letter together with this letter together with the following Read more:Shopping
, Spree
Understanding Atheism 2007-07-11 04:21:45 I haven’t written anything about atheism so I’ll address the situation right now.
I personally believe that atheism is one of the simplest concepts in the world. Atheism
is the school of thought that denies the existence of a supreme being (most commonly referred to as a god). It’s fairly straight-forward and is devoid of the esoteric hoopla that usually comes with other systems of belief hinged on the existence of god. The dearth of atheists don’t really shock me though. I concede to the relative ease of believing in a god. I agree on the cliche that religion truly is an opiate for masses. It does answer a lot of questions for a lot of people and if it helps them lead better lives, then good for them.
Understanding
the concept of Atheism has proved to be a challenge for a lot of people. Fortunately, signs are definitely promising. More open-minded people are definitely more knowledgeable about the tenets of autonomy and self-determination and these people ar
Twitter Potential 2007-07-11 01:33:03 Twitter
has certainly gotten a good share of the cyber denizens and with its spiffy option that lets one receive messages via mobile phone (still free!) , it’s bound to catch up to a lot more internet users. To this day though, the service is still limited to those who spend a considerable amount of time online. It has yet to reveal its potential to be useful for other people who just happen to check their email every once in a while.
If you’re in a class of over 160 students (like I am) and urgent last-minute announcements are as normal as water turning into vapor in a summer day, it’s easy to grasp the potential of the service in helping people in large groups. Huge groups like student organizations and classes usually employ setups like text pass (other terms: text brigade and text tree) wherein one person is assigned to send SMS to two or more persons to make sure that everyone gets the message. Of course, the speed of this information transfer is contingent on Read more:Potential
Green Chalk Boards 2007-07-09 10:51:06
Yup, green chalk boards. You probably know what that means - this shot was taken at Lasalle! As you all know, school chalk board color is consistent with the actual school color. If you’ve been around campuses you’ve probably seen the fabled maroon chalk boards of UP and the blue boards of Ateneo.
This picture was taken during Saturday’s cross training and being the ever unassuming owner and author of this blog, I didn’t quite expect anyone to know about my blog - at least no one who’s not from UP Manila. But by some twist of fate, someone in attendance knew Atheista and even asked me about Ade and Helga. That’s just crazy, eh? Come to think of it, there are a lot of debaters who also blog - just none with a blog as popular this one. WAPAK! haha. I’ll run a feature on debater-bloggers in the future. I’m sure they’ll be shocked with the deluge of hits that they’ll get from strangers.
On another interesting note, almost all th Read more:Chalk
, Green
The Case of the 22 Year Old Male With Flu-Like Symptoms 2007-07-15 17:12:00 General Data
BE is a 22 year-old, right-handed, atheist, single male, currently living in Manila but originally from Batangas who has refused formal medical treatment for his condition. He was never admitted to PGH.
Chief Complaint
cough, colds and nausea
History of Present Illness
10 days ago - The patient experienced sore throat. No consult was made and no medications were taken.
9 days ago - The patient developed cough and colds accompanied with low grade fever (37.7 C). The patient also reported nausea. Paracetamol (q6) was taken to alleviate symptoms. Slight relief was noted. No consult was done.
7 days ago - The patient progressed to having cough productive of green sputum (yay!). Nightly exacerbations was noted. Tachypnea was noted by one of his companions. No consult was done.
6 days ago - Despite experiencing nausea, the patient played basketball for his class. No consult was done.
5 days ago - Rales (gurgling sounds on auscultation - using the stethoscope to listen to
The Speeches From The De La Salle Cross Training 2007-07-13 13:58:44
I didn’t just make it up! What I talked about here really happened! This picture was taken after three fun-filled rounds at the De Lasalle University. It’s hard to think of a better way to spend one’s weekend. I debated for two rounds and adjudicated for the middle round. Since this comeback of sorts, I’ve been recording my speeches to review and rethink future strategies. I record them not to brandish them around as great performances (I know they’re not quite at the level that I would want them to be), but mainly to 1) zero in regarding points for improvement and 2) hopefully encourage other people to develop their ability in public speaking.
For round 1, I was paired up with Robert T. (the main character in the Hundred Islands Podcast). We were opening government for the motion This House would build casinos to rejuvenate depressed areas. Robert went first and this was his speech. Can you match the voice with one of the faces in the picture above? h Read more:Cross
, Salle
, Training
Atheista Goes Vlogging 2007-07-22 07:06:34 I guess this just proves how influential Coy is. I hope this makes up for my extended periods of silence of the past few weeks.
Vlog1Uploaded by AtheistaNET
Erratta: Agent Grey’s blog can be found at http://milkplanner.wordpress.com . Sorry Agent Grey!
To vote, go to Janette Toral’s blog. I highly recommend these people for your consideration:
Cokskiblue
Froodee
Happy Slip
Jhed
UtakGago
Alex
Kubiertos
Sexy Mom
Viewed 2 times by 1 viewer
Vlog 2: Gushing About Debate And More Campaigning! 2007-07-23 22:10:15 First and foremost, thank you to all those who watched the video.
I can really get used to this video blogging thing. Haha. Unlike writing a real blog that would require at least 15-30 minutes, making a video (i.e. talking into a camera and microphone) takes half the time. I don’t really have a script and I just tend to think of a general topic - that explains the number of short pauses that came with the first video. I plan to always go with the first take no matter what. Hopefully, I’ll get to stick to that.
For this episode, I talk about the upcoming August 1 event, more shameless campaigning and my passion for competitive with debating. A lot of people find this intimidating and often use this as a sticking point whenever I drive home a point too strongly - and that just shows how hopelessly incapable they are of understanding well-argued, and well-substantiated arguments. For instance, would you believe one particular blogger still continues to be in the dark as far Read more:Debate
I Thought You Were A Dream Theater Snob! 2007-07-27 11:08:52 That was what an orgmate told me after she read my ultra-challenging pop culture (read: jologs) exam for the applicants of the UP Manila Debate Circle. Despite my penchant for listening to progressive rock, European power metal and other genres that could be considered left of center types music, I’m very much familiar with other music. I may not listen to them as much, but one listen will be enough to make an impression. The same goes for obscure TV shows and sappy movies.
The second Deliberation Day (my org’s fancy term for FINALS) will be tomorrow so I’m technically leaking my part of the exam. So if you’re an applicant, congratulations! You have been rewarded for visiting my blog!
Our applicants were born from 1989-1991, so most questions are based on shows, music and movies that were around in the 90s. Go ahead, prove to me that you’re just a big a JOLOG as I am.
Pop Culture Quiz
TV
1. Name the ABC 5 sitcom that featured Vandolph and Richard Gome Read more:Dream
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