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Las Vegas Shooting (Sunday night Oct. 1)

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Posts

  • SimBenSimBen Hodor? Hodor Hodor.Registered User regular
    Brolo wrote: »
    Drez wrote: »
    Where did that whole mental illness thing come from. Aside from propaganda? I mean, it’s propaganda, but people accept it because it they want to.

    Is it just playing on fears that a “rational” person could never be such a goddamn asshole as to premeditatively aim to and actually execute on mass murder? Unless they aren’t white?

    "anyone willing to open fire and murder dozens of their fellow citizens cannot be a mentally healthy person" is how a lot of people get there

    u6kOQ4S.jpg

    but blaming everything on mental illness is favorite diversionary tactic for gun lobbyists and their stooges

    You know, because of that time Obama and Hillary shot someone.

    sig.gif
  • JavenJaven Registered User regular
    At this point, I mostly view those who completely refuse to see the connection between gun ownership and gun violence in the US, the same way I view those who deny climate change.

  • Librarian's ghostLibrarian's ghost Librarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSpork Registered User regular
    I read that whole GQ article and at the end thought that doing that trace work is the kind of law enforcement I could see myself getting into. I am a librarian though and those two jobs seem really closely linked, WHICH THEY SHOULD NOT BE IN ANY WAY JESUS CHRIST.

    (Switch Friend Code) SW-4910-9735-6014(PSN) timspork (Steam) timspork (XBox) Timspork


  • Lindsay LohanLindsay Lohan Registered User regular
    edited October 2017
    Javen wrote: »
    At this point, I mostly view those who completely refuse to see the connection between gun ownership and gun violence in the US, the same way I view those who deny climate change.

    I really struggled with this one last night talking to my son about it. We have a strict no guns policy. Although my wife grew up in a hunting household, it's not a part of my lifestyle and will never be. However, we know he has friends who hunt and have their own guns (he's 13) and we certainly don't want to demonize them or their families. On the other hand, his best friend's older brother lost a friend to suicide with a gun in the past year or so - so he knows what even hunting weapons are capable of.

    Living in a state with hunting a part of the lifestyle - and honestly without hunting we'd probably hit a deer everytime we drive in some areas - it's really not as simple as we'd like and extremely hard to put into words.

    Personally, I think the bigger issue is that so many hunters and gun owners have fallen for the NRA. I think that if their influence was removed from the picture a much more sensible balance would happen.

    Lindsay Lohan on
  • Raijin QuickfootRaijin Quickfoot I'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    Fuck anyone that gives monkey like features to any minority.

  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    Brolo wrote: »
    Drez wrote: »
    Where did that whole mental illness thing come from. Aside from propaganda? I mean, it’s propaganda, but people accept it because it they want to.

    Is it just playing on fears that a “rational” person could never be such a goddamn asshole as to premeditatively aim to and actually execute on mass murder? Unless they aren’t white?

    "anyone willing to open fire and murder dozens of their fellow citizens cannot be a mentally healthy person" is how a lot of people get there

    u6kOQ4S.jpg

    but blaming everything on mental illness is favorite diversionary tactic for gun lobbyists and their stooges

    Honestly I'm kind of amazed that the "Criminal" is white.

    Since most of the conservative takes I've seen have been long-winded ways of saying "Sure some white dude just killed 60 people, but if you really get to the bottom of it, the problem lies with black people"

  • KnobKnob TURN THE BEAT BACK InternetModerator mod
    It is possible to be a gun owner and also think the NRA is a rotten cesspool of festering shit. Hell, its possible to be a gun owner and be pro regulation.

  • Librarian's ghostLibrarian's ghost Librarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSpork Registered User regular
    I wonder if I could pitch to the ATF to hire me at that trace center as an agent. Having someone with library degrees and experience might actually be helpful to them.

    (Switch Friend Code) SW-4910-9735-6014(PSN) timspork (Steam) timspork (XBox) Timspork


  • TossrockTossrock too weird to live too rare to dieRegistered User regular
    Knob wrote: »
    It is possible to be a gun owner and also think the NRA is a rotten cesspool of festering shit. Hell, its possible to be a gun owner and be pro regulation.

    It's part of the real tragic irony of the situation. I don't want to take guns away from law abiding gun owners! Guns are pretty neat, when treated with the respect they require! I just don't want a fucking murderer to have one! I feel like everyone should be able to agree that murderers having guns is bad, and yet here we are.

    sig.png
  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited October 2017
    Javen wrote: »
    At this point, I mostly view those who completely refuse to see the connection between gun ownership and gun violence in the US, the same way I view those who deny climate change.

    I really struggled with this one last night talking to my son about it. We have a strict no guns policy. Although my wife grew up in a hunting household, it's not a part of my lifestyle and will never be. However, we know he has friends who hunt and have their own guns (he's 13) and we certainly don't want to demonize them or their families. On the other hand, his best friend's older brother lost a friend to suicide with a gun in the past year or so - so he knows what even hunting weapons are capable of.

    Living in a state with hunting a part of the lifestyle - and honestly without hunting we'd probably hit a deer everytime we drive in some areas - it's really not as simple as we'd like and extremely hard to put into words.

    Personally, I think the bigger issue is that so many hunters and gun owners have fallen for the NRA. I think that if their influence was removed from the picture a much more sensible balance would happen.

    I think it's pretty straightforward to make a distinction between hunting tools and dick-inflators even at 13. Most countries with even very restrictive gun laws allow hunting licenses; it's frankly not a big deal. But they legislate the location and accessibility of ammo, how the gun is stored, registration of the firearms, etc, etc. But if the culture is sending mixed messages then yeah, that could get tough.

    Saying gun ownership == gun violence is exactly the reductive strawman the hard-core NRA types use to cover up the fact that the current US gun laws are fucking irresponsible. It's entirely deliberate, because it muddies the waters and means people who use guns as tools for hunting and farming feel they're on the same side as people who stockpile massive quantities of weaponry and leave loaded pistols in their bedside drawer. And they really shouldn't be.

    edit: that looks like I'm calling out Javen, which I'm really not, was just thinking about why people refuse to see the connection.

    tynic on
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    I wonder if I could pitch to the ATF to hire me at that trace center as an agent. Having someone with library degrees and experience might actually be helpful to them.

    Even if they had a good computer system, having someone who knows how to organize information and do research is useful.

    steam_sig.png
  • KnobKnob TURN THE BEAT BACK InternetModerator mod
    tynic wrote: »
    Javen wrote: »
    At this point, I mostly view those who completely refuse to see the connection between gun ownership and gun violence in the US, the same way I view those who deny climate change.

    I really struggled with this one last night talking to my son about it. We have a strict no guns policy. Although my wife grew up in a hunting household, it's not a part of my lifestyle and will never be. However, we know he has friends who hunt and have their own guns (he's 13) and we certainly don't want to demonize them or their families. On the other hand, his best friend's older brother lost a friend to suicide with a gun in the past year or so - so he knows what even hunting weapons are capable of.

    Living in a state with hunting a part of the lifestyle - and honestly without hunting we'd probably hit a deer everytime we drive in some areas - it's really not as simple as we'd like and extremely hard to put into words.

    Personally, I think the bigger issue is that so many hunters and gun owners have fallen for the NRA. I think that if their influence was removed from the picture a much more sensible balance would happen.

    I think it's pretty straightforward to make a distinction between hunting tools and dick-inflators even at 13. Most countries with even very restrictive gun laws allow hunting licenses; it's frankly not a big deal. But they legislate the location and accessibility of ammo, how the gun is stored, registration of the firearms, etc, etc. But if the culture is sending mixed messages then yeah, that could get tough.

    Saying gun ownership == gun violence is exactly the reductive strawman the hard-core NRA types use to cover up the fact that the current US gun laws are fucking irresponsible. It's entirely deliberate, because it muddies the waters and means people who use guns as tools for hunting and farming feel they're on the same side as people who stockpile massive quantities of weaponry and leave loaded pistols in their bedside drawer. And they really shouldn't be.

    This times one million percent

  • KnobKnob TURN THE BEAT BACK InternetModerator mod
    ASTERISKED WITH A BIG OL: as long as we're not pulling some shit where where wealthy white dudes can loophole themselves into basically anything they want while making in nearly inpossible for PoC and the poor to access.

    My faith in the benevolence of law is pretty shaky.

  • HawkstoneHawkstone Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things. Somewhere outside of BarstowRegistered User regular
    Knob wrote: »
    It is possible to be a gun owner and also think the NRA is a rotten cesspool of festering shit. Hell, its possible to be a gun owner and be pro regulation.

    Fuckin A right....I actually have refused membership to several gun clubs because they insist on NRA membership. They are a disease, and they have created the idea in the heads of so many that they are this vital entity that is the only way to keep your rights. All they do is make it worse and more dangerous for everyone. As to the regulation bit I think a lot of sane and let me be clear sane gun owners would support regulation if they have faith that they are sensible, I know I certainly do. In the states where regulations have been enacted a tiny few have a propensity towards just banning things that look mean but are no mechanical addition beyond ergonomics...this tends to really get a lot of my pro gun friends worked up that I think would normally be allies. The idea that people who don't know about firearms will start just banning things out of fear is really coached into them by the NRA types and it fires them up to no end based of the handful of cases where states enacted some stuff that made little sense. It is straw man at best but I see it so often, they think every state is going to turn into NY and California and they just dig their nails in and refuse to have any sensible conversation.

    Inside of a dog...it's too dark to read.
  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    I find it amazing that the NRA have gone with a woman who may as well be an actual fucking supervillain as their spokesperson. Like "who's the most evil looking person we can find?"

  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    Funny how the right-wing are really into mental health, but only when gun control is involved.

    Actually no, it's infuriating. \

  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    Zxerol wrote: »
    Funny how the right-wing are really into mental health, but only when gun control is involved.

    Actually no, it's infuriating. \

    http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/shooting-isnt-about-gun-control-we-refuse-pass-its-57095

  • PinfeldorfPinfeldorf Yeah ZestRegistered User regular
    SimBen wrote: »
    "A sane person would never kill all these people (unless they're another race but y'know)" -> "This killer must be insane" -> "All killers are insane" -> "Some mentally ill people are killers" -> "All mentally ill people are dangerous"

    To be fair, the bar for "mental illness" is extremely fuzzy. I would at least entertain the assumption that anyone willing to fire a gun into a crowd as a sociopath or psychopath, which is a mental illness. To lack the basic human empathy necessary to not want to extinguish a bunch of lives for no reason is pretty disturbed.

    Now, equating that to BPD or schizophrenia or something is obviously extremely fallacious. The education of and about mental illness in this country is fucking pathetic. People view seeing a psychiatrist as something to be ashamed of and it's fucking infuriating.

  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    Pinfeldorf wrote: »
    SimBen wrote: »
    "A sane person would never kill all these people (unless they're another race but y'know)" -> "This killer must be insane" -> "All killers are insane" -> "Some mentally ill people are killers" -> "All mentally ill people are dangerous"

    To be fair, the bar for "mental illness" is extremely fuzzy. I would at least entertain the assumption that anyone willing to fire a gun into a crowd as a sociopath or psychopath, which is a mental illness. To lack the basic human empathy necessary to not want to extinguish a bunch of lives for no reason is pretty disturbed.

    Now, equating that to BPD or schizophrenia or something is obviously extremely fallacious. The education of and about mental illness in this country is fucking pathetic. People view seeing a psychiatrist as something to be ashamed of and it's fucking infuriating.

    Psychopath and sociopath aren't really medical diagnoses anymore - they're terms used colloquially more than anything else.

    Are you saying that mental illness is something that can/should be established without a medical diagnosis?

  • ZonugalZonugal (He/Him) The Holiday Armadillo I'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered User regular
    Tube wrote: »
    I find it amazing that the NRA have gone with a woman who may as well be an actual fucking supervillain as their spokesperson. Like "who's the most evil looking person we can find?"

    She looks like the evil version of Idina Menzel.

    Ross-Geller-Prime-Sig-A.jpg
  • PinfeldorfPinfeldorf Yeah ZestRegistered User regular
    Straightzi wrote: »
    Pinfeldorf wrote: »
    SimBen wrote: »
    "A sane person would never kill all these people (unless they're another race but y'know)" -> "This killer must be insane" -> "All killers are insane" -> "Some mentally ill people are killers" -> "All mentally ill people are dangerous"

    To be fair, the bar for "mental illness" is extremely fuzzy. I would at least entertain the assumption that anyone willing to fire a gun into a crowd as a sociopath or psychopath, which is a mental illness. To lack the basic human empathy necessary to not want to extinguish a bunch of lives for no reason is pretty disturbed.

    Now, equating that to BPD or schizophrenia or something is obviously extremely fallacious. The education of and about mental illness in this country is fucking pathetic. People view seeing a psychiatrist as something to be ashamed of and it's fucking infuriating.

    Psychopath and sociopath aren't really medical diagnoses anymore - they're terms used colloquially more than anything else.

    Are you saying that mental illness is something that can/should be established without a medical diagnosis?

    Nonononono not at all. I'm saying the stigma behind getting the diagnoses is fucked. Whether the MDS10 accepts psychopathy/sociopathy as a mental illness or not, the colloquial understanding of them is the more important factor when people make claims like that, not the most technical sense(s). Again, stemming from poor education about mental health and the understanding of it.

    If mental health treatment and education were more ubiquitous and less stigmatized, there would certainly be a lot less of blaming gun violence on mental health issues, while at the same time alleviating a lot of other issues.

  • GundiGundi Serious Bismuth Registered User regular
    The NRA isn't influential so much for it's vast membership as it is it's massive funding from the firearms industry.

    I mean there are plenty of groups that have vast membership and nowhere near the clout of the NRA.

  • CelloCello Registered User regular
    Liiya wrote: »
    That article is depressing as fuck.

    If I were to visit the US again I don't know how I'd feel - I think I'd honestly hesitate about going having become more and more aware of these things the last few years. I don't know how safe I'd feel.*


    *When I moved back to Manchester I sometimes get the same hesitancy when in a big crowd after the recent terrorist attacks, or when in an airport. But its a little different.

    Honestly, it's alright so long as you know where you're going and can check in with a local about where to go and where not to, and make heavy use of cabs/cars if you're not sure about the area

    For the first month and a half or so that I lived in the US I was pretty afraid of going out on my own, knowing what I did about the statistics and increased chances of violence and all that, but eventually felt pretty safe with the suburban city I lived in since it was a particularly nice part of town

    But I never really went into DC itself alone, because I was never comfortable with how one block could be a totally safe part of the city and the next one over could be a Murder Zone. One early trip with friends where we were Stupid Canadian Tourists and thought the entirety of H Street would be safe to walk down, before realizing hey no not all of this is the Hip, Trendy neighbourhood we expected disabused me of the notion, and after that I only really went places after a local had brought me there and I felt comfortable about finding my way around

    Steam
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  • Carson VendettaCarson Vendetta Registered User regular
    I wonder if I could pitch to the ATF to hire me at that trace center as an agent. Having someone with library degrees and experience might actually be helpful to them.

    Even if they had a good computer system, having someone who knows how to organize information and do research is useful.


    Given the steps taken to make the agency weak it might be better to turn in two resumes one that shows your qualifications and experience and the second that says you're illiterate. Just to cover your bases.

  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    Zonugal wrote: »
    Tube wrote: »
    I find it amazing that the NRA have gone with a woman who may as well be an actual fucking supervillain as their spokesperson. Like "who's the most evil looking person we can find?"

    She looks like the evil version of Idina Menzel.

    That's ridiculous.

    She's not green or belting out an F# about flying.

  • LiiyaLiiya Registered User regular
    Cello wrote: »
    Liiya wrote: »
    That article is depressing as fuck.

    If I were to visit the US again I don't know how I'd feel - I think I'd honestly hesitate about going having become more and more aware of these things the last few years. I don't know how safe I'd feel.*


    *When I moved back to Manchester I sometimes get the same hesitancy when in a big crowd after the recent terrorist attacks, or when in an airport. But its a little different.

    Honestly, it's alright so long as you know where you're going and can check in with a local about where to go and where not to, and make heavy use of cabs/cars if you're not sure about the area

    For the first month and a half or so that I lived in the US I was pretty afraid of going out on my own, knowing what I did about the statistics and increased chances of violence and all that, but eventually felt pretty safe with the suburban city I lived in since it was a particularly nice part of town

    But I never really went into DC itself alone, because I was never comfortable with how one block could be a totally safe part of the city and the next one over could be a Murder Zone. One early trip with friends where we were Stupid Canadian Tourists and thought the entirety of H Street would be safe to walk down, before realizing hey no not all of this is the Hip, Trendy neighbourhood we expected disabused me of the notion, and after that I only really went places after a local had brought me there and I felt comfortable about finding my way around

    That totally makes sense - good rules to follow if I ever visited.

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    . Stick with me, kid. I've never been shot at once!

  • crwthcrwth THAT'S IT Registered User regular
    i am constantly never getting shot at which is surprising since i’m light brown with a beard in a very red county

    EzUAYcn.png
  • BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
  • EinzelEinzel Registered User regular
    crwth wrote: »
    i am constantly never getting shot at which is surprising since i’m light brown with a beard in a very red county

    The average country gun owner isn't like the Vegas asshole. They're like my family and some of my coworkers who own one or two firearms, likely both for hunting (shotgun and a repeater rifle). The weapons spend their lives in a cabinet/safe and usually only come out off season if they need to be sighted in.

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    So I follow a lot of indigenous folks on Twitter, and people keep calling this "the worst mass shooting in American history," and this has been sticking in the craw of many of those folks I follow. Because it erases indigenous massacres from history, or says they "don't count" as mass shootings, for no reason that carries water.

    And I see these tweets, and I find part of myself going, "Jeez, y'all, it isn't a competition." But then other parts of myself say, "Well, they weren't the ones turning it into one by describing this horrible event with superlatives like 'worst.'"

    So they're stuck in this position of like, "Do I stay silent about this, and let this narrative go on, and further (however slightly) the erasure of shit America did to my people? Or do I speak up, and look like I'm trying to diminish the severity of this attack?" They certainly aren't trying to do the latter - the issue is with the framing, not with the horror people are feeling, but good luck getting most folks to recognize the distinction.

    Which ends up becoming a synecdoche for a lot of conversations about America v. indigenous people. Any attempt to remind people, "Hey, this happened" is interpreted as an attack, as a minimization of the present. When not remembering is a minimization of the past.

    I don't have a concise concluding point, or anything. Just something that's been gnawing at me.

  • Mortal SkyMortal Sky queer punk hedge witchRegistered User regular
    Cello wrote: »
    Liiya wrote: »
    That article is depressing as fuck.

    If I were to visit the US again I don't know how I'd feel - I think I'd honestly hesitate about going having become more and more aware of these things the last few years. I don't know how safe I'd feel.*


    *When I moved back to Manchester I sometimes get the same hesitancy when in a big crowd after the recent terrorist attacks, or when in an airport. But its a little different.

    Honestly, it's alright so long as you know where you're going and can check in with a local about where to go and where not to, and make heavy use of cabs/cars if you're not sure about the area

    For the first month and a half or so that I lived in the US I was pretty afraid of going out on my own, knowing what I did about the statistics and increased chances of violence and all that, but eventually felt pretty safe with the suburban city I lived in since it was a particularly nice part of town

    But I never really went into DC itself alone, because I was never comfortable with how one block could be a totally safe part of the city and the next one over could be a Murder Zone. One early trip with friends where we were Stupid Canadian Tourists and thought the entirety of H Street would be safe to walk down, before realizing hey no not all of this is the Hip, Trendy neighbourhood we expected disabused me of the notion, and after that I only really went places after a local had brought me there and I felt comfortable about finding my way around

    I've walked the entirety of H St between GWU and its intersection with Florida Ave NE, chunk hy chunk on various occasions. One of my best friends is along the latter part of that and Trinidad was a neighborhood with literal police blockades a few years back. It's a pretty variable corridor, to be sure, but I rarely feel like it's *bad* per se. Most of DC, Arlington, and Alexandria are about as safe as it gets these days and I'm not sure if that's more a conversation about gentrification or not.

  • GundiGundi Serious Bismuth Registered User regular
    I have seen most news organizations reporting this as the "worst mass shooting in contemporary American history." So, you know, some awareness out there.

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Brolo wrote: »
    KrMDZMv.jpg

    Is this a sex thing?

  • balerbowerbalerbower Registered User regular
    Talking about how safe certain neighborhoods are to walk through leads to a hella messy conversation concerning issues of class, racism, misogyny and gentrification. It’s the leftist brain melter.

  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    So I follow a lot of indigenous folks on Twitter, and people keep calling this "the worst mass shooting in American history," and this has been sticking in the craw of many of those folks I follow. Because it erases indigenous massacres from history, or says they "don't count" as mass shootings, for no reason that carries water.

    And I see these tweets, and I find part of myself going, "Jeez, y'all, it isn't a competition." But then other parts of myself say, "Well, they weren't the ones turning it into one by describing this horrible event with superlatives like 'worst.'"

    So they're stuck in this position of like, "Do I stay silent about this, and let this narrative go on, and further (however slightly) the erasure of shit America did to my people? Or do I speak up, and look like I'm trying to diminish the severity of this attack?" They certainly aren't trying to do the latter - the issue is with the framing, not with the horror people are feeling, but good luck getting most folks to recognize the distinction.

    Which ends up becoming a synecdoche for a lot of conversations about America v. indigenous people. Any attempt to remind people, "Hey, this happened" is interpreted as an attack, as a minimization of the present. When not remembering is a minimization of the past.

    I don't have a concise concluding point, or anything. Just something that's been gnawing at me.

    I think it's absolutely worth pointing out, and I've been glad of the times it's come up on my Twitter feed. It might only take a few seconds of thought to realise that the "worst massacre" description has a very large asterisk attached, but for those of us not from the us it's even easier to forget or not even be aware of those incidents, and I don't think it diminishes the current tragedy to remind people that America has a lot of blood in it's past as well as present.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    "The worst mass shooting in modern times"

  • Mortal SkyMortal Sky queer punk hedge witchRegistered User regular
    balerbower wrote: »
    Talking about how safe certain neighborhoods are to walk through leads to a hella messy conversation concerning issues of class, racism, misogyny and gentrification. It’s the leftist brain melter.

    Ethical usage of urban spaces is a heck of a subject, especially with DC where the recession basically never happened so the city has (besides Anacostia) gentrified at lightspeed, and will continue to do so as long as we have a government

    Like, it's not wrong at all that DC has a horrific wealth divide and thus a high rate of crime per capita, and it's not wrong at all that that wealth divide is almost totally racial, but much of DC is also very walkable and marbled in a way some other cities (Baltimore, for example) aren't.

  • JusticeforPlutoJusticeforPluto Registered User regular
    edited October 2017
    Beat by Tube cause I left this is drafts for so long.

    JusticeforPluto on
  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Tube wrote: »
    "The worst mass shooting in modern times"

    While I by and large agree that this is better, this has the potential side effect of making the present day seem like an island, like some unconnected land mass, instead of contiguous with what got us here. A bloody (and, in the big scheme of things? Pretty recent) past makes for a bloody present, in a lot of ways

    But that's more of a, like, philosophical difference with the language, rather than a straight-up "This is an inaccurate statement" situation

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