December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

_PI_ was crap, but...
by Walter Burton 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

It did inspire me to consider an interesting line of thought: Maybe pi is the cyphertext and the 216-digit "Holy Unspeakable Name of God" is the Vegenere-ish key. I'll get to work and see if I can crack the message by lunchtime. \\/alter

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RE: Two Jims, Werner and Matt redefine socialism for their own ends
by Matthew James Gering 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

> The two largest employers round where I live are a > multinational bank and local government. I can vote > for my councillors. Some of them I my neighbours. So why can't your neighbors run a bank? > something like Belloc and Chesterton's "distributivism". Distribute what and created by whom? Need I point out the obvious fallacy that wealth is a static sum. It is not, wealth must be *created* before it exists to plunder and share. Abstract wealth and divorce it from the creator and you eliminate the motive to create. You can only live from plundered wealth so long before you slip into oblivion (see the Soviet Union). > How many of you have a mortgate or pay rent? Capitalism > means that someone else owns your house. No, capitalism allows you to leverage your future productive capacity to acquire capital assets you wouldn't otherwise have. That is your choice, and your benefit. > How many of you work for a corporation? Capitalism means > that someone else owns your job. No, capitalism allows you to trade your labor instead of your product. That is your choice, and your benefit. > And then Matt Gering replied to Ken Brown: > > >> A monopolisitic supplier of some good has a measure > >> of political power. > > > Political power comes at the mean end of a gun, what > > political power do monopolies have and how? > And I was almost knocked over by the innocence, ignorance and > naievety of such a statement. The question was not rhetorical. Do you care to answer? > What political power do monopolies have? The power > to deny you things you need to live. How? By denying the ability of others to supply them. By denying your right to create them. By (legitimately) denying your ability to steal them. > The power to deny you the means to earn a living. How? By denying your ability to create and dispose of your own wealth. By denying you the right to freely trade your labor or the right of others to purchase that labor. By denying your ability to accumulate capital. > If there is only one employer in a town then anyone born > there must either leave or knuckle under. Staying is a restraint that is self-imposed (provided government does not restrict freedom of movement). Why is there only one employer? > Unlike what Matt Gering said monopoly power *does* "come > out of the barrel of a gun" On the contrary I clearly stated it did. But if the monopoly does not have guns itself, whose guns are they? > - it is preserved by military and police authority. Exactly. So eliminate those guns. > Like money itself it exists because folk choose to believe > that it exists. If we all stopped behaving as if great > property existed, it would cease to exist. "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." -- Philip K. Dick Fine, stop believing in money, no one is forcing you to. Did it work? Oh, you mean *everyone* has to stop believing in it? Sounds like mass delusion to me, and metaphysical subjectivism. The fact that something exists or not is clearly independent of whether anyone believes in it or not. Money is a symbol. The valuation of any given monetary system is entirely irrelevant to the existence of that which money represents, and the failure of Fiat currencies does not abolish the existence of what they had represented. What is the root of money? http://www.ecosystems.net/mgering/money.html > That respect for money is buttressed by the state. Manipulation of the money supply by the state is tool for theft by the state and denial of economic reality. It had consequences in 1929, and it will again. Matt

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What Really Happened
by Paul H. Merrill 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

What Really Happened Some time ago Mr. Clinton was hosting a state dinner when at the last minute his regular cook took ill and they had to get a replacement at short notice. The fellow arrived and turned out to be a very grubby looking man named Jon. The President voiced his concerns to his chief of staff but was told that this was the best they could do at such short notice. Just before the meal, the President noticed the cook sticking his fingers in the soup to taste it and again he complained to the chief of staff about the cook, but he was told that this man was supposed to be a very good chef. The meal went okay but the President was sure that the soup tasted a little off, and by the time dessert came, he was starting to have stomach cramps and nausea. It was getting worse and worse till finally he had to excuse himself from the state dinner to look for the bathroom. Passing through the kitchen, he caught sight of the cook, Jon, scratching his rear end and this made him feel even worse. By now he was desperately ill with violent cramps and was so disorientated that he couldn't remember which door led to the bathroom. He was on the verge of passing out from the pain when he finally found a door that opened and as he undid his trousers and ran in, he realised to his horror that he had stumbled into Monica Lewinsky's office with his trousers around his knees. As he was just about to pass out, she bent over him and heard her president whisper in a barely audible voice, "sack my cook". And that is how the whole misunderstanding occurred.

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IP: Tracking: Machines to Check Airline Bags Mostly Idle, Report Says
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Tracking: Machines to Check Airline Bags Mostly Idle, Report Says Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 08:03:44 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/unused-bomb-detectors.html October 11, 1998 Machines to Check Airline Bags Mostly Idle, Report Says By MATTHEW L. WALD WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration has spent more than $122 million on machines to detect bombs in checked baggage, but those machines that have been installed sit idle for most of the day, according to investigators from the Department of Transportation. The machines, which cost $1.3 million each to buy and install, are supposed to be capable of handling 225 bags an hour, but of 13 that were audited by investigators, nine handled fewer than 200 bags a day, according to a report released on Friday. Some got so little use that the operators could not maintain proficiency in running them, investigators said. "At some airports, they're sitting relatively unused," Lawrence Weintrob, an assistant inspector general of the Transportation Department, said in a telephone interview. "Some airports that are using them are using them rarely, or process relatively few bags through them." But Cathal Flynn, assistant administrator of the FAA for civil aviation security, said the average number of bags processed through each machine was rising sharply as airlines gained experience. Flynn and airline representatives said that part of the problem was that the computerized system for choosing which passengers' bags get scanned was still developing, and would not be fully implemented until the end of the year. "We haven't ironed out all the kinks in the process," said Susan Rork, managing director of security at the Air Transport Association, the trade group of the major airlines. The computerized system singles out individuals about whom there is too little information to conclude that they are not a threat, officials say. It also draws a sample from the group judged not to be a threat, to increase the chance that a terrorist would be caught, and to make the system fairer, Flynn said. One problem, he said, is that if the system were changed to require that a larger number of passengers have their bags scrutinized, then at peak periods people would be delayed so long they would miss their flights. "If you get people fuming at a line, that's not good either," Flynn said. That, he said, would probably discourage machine operators from doing their jobs right. And delays, he said, would damage public acceptance of security measures. In written comments responding to the report, the FAA said that the agency would "pursue a more coherent strategy with air carriers to ramp-up to a higher level of use." However, the agency said, it would be "many years" before technology allowed screening of all bags. Auditors also said that the machines in use could handle only about half as many bags as they did in lab tests, partly because they sound false alarms far more when in use at airports. Each false alarm requires time to resolve. (All alarms so far have been false, officials said, because no bombs have been detected.) The machines' higher false alarm rate is "probably a reason why they don't use it as often as they should," Weintrob said. Fifty-nine of the machines have been installed so far; plans are to have 74 in place by the end of the year, he said. Officials of airports where the machines are installed declined to comment and asked not to be identified. Under FAA rules, airport operators are responsible for various aspects of security, but not for screening bags. That responsibility falls to the airlines. Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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_PI_ was crap, but...
by Walter Burton 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 It did inspire me to consider an interesting line of thought: Maybe pi is the cyphertext and the 216-digit "Holy Unspeakable Name of God" is the Vegenere-ish key. I'll get to work and see if I can crack the message by lunchtime. \\/alter -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 6.0 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> Comment: For my public key, send a msg with "public key" in the subj. iQA/AwUBNiNatI0Llo1Bf1gWEQLIfACguQpfpZLC3cT0Iw/vj/ncDlHWcPIAn3W5 ZoMzjfYNl4sD+J2sqhtZ6fwU =GZcu -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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IP: ISPI Clips 5.30: U.S. lawmakers approve major wiretap law change
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

From: "ama-gi ISPI" <offshore(a)email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 5.30: U.S. lawmakers approve major wiretap law change Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 00:08:52 -0700 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients(a)majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 5.30: U.S. lawmakers approve major wiretap law change News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Monday October 12, 1998 ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: Reuters News Service, (via Yahoo) October 8, 1998 http://biz.yahoo.com/ U.S. lawmakers approve major wiretap law change (adds Senate approval, FBI comment) http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/981008/b16.html By Aaron Pressman WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Without debate or notice, U.S. lawmakers on Thursday approved a proposal long sought by the FBI that would dramatically expand wiretapping authority -- an idea Congress openly rejected three years ago. The provision, allowing law enforcement agencies more easily to tap any telephone used by or near a target individual instead of getting authorization to tap specific phones, was added to the Intelligence Authorization Conference report during a closed door meeting and filed with the House and Senate on Monday. The conference report was easily adopted by the House on Wednesday, despite an objection to the wiretapping provision from Georgia Republican Bob Barr, and by the Senate on Thursday. Neither the House nor the Senate had included the provision, known as roving wiretap authority, in their versions of the intelligence bill. But lawmakers drafting the conference report, essentially a reconciliation of the two versions, decided to include it. Civil liberties groups were outraged by the expanded wiretapping authority and the process of adding the provision in secret. ``Roving wiretaps are a major expansion of current government surveillance power,'' said Alan Davidson, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington. ``To take a controversial provision that affects the fundamental constitutional liberties of the people and pass it behind closed doors shows a shocking disregard for our democratic process.'' FBI officials said they needed to be able to get roving wiretap authority more easily to catch criminals taking advantage of new telecommunications technologies. ``This provision is just a refinement of the existing wiretap statute,'' said Barry Smith, supervisory special agent in the FBI's congressional affairs office. ``It's just a matter of ensuring we have the means to effectively pursue these violent criminals and terrorists.'' Under current rules, law enforcement agencies seeking roving wiretap authority from a judge must prove that an individual is switching telephones specifically for the purpose of evading a surveillance. The standard has been difficult to meet and kept the number of roving wiretaps approved to a minimum, a telephone industry official said. Without roving authority, police must get permission from a judge for each telephone line to be tapped. Under the change approved this week, the police would need show only that an individual's ``actions could have the effect of thwarting interception from a specific facility.'' The change removed the need to consider the target's motive in using different telephones. Copyright © 1998 Reuters Limited. --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. In compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed free without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISPI Clips is a FREE e-mail service from the "Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues" (ISPI). To receive "ISPI Clips" on a regular bases (up to 3 - 8 clips per day) send the following message "Please enter [Your Name] into the ISPI Clips list: [Your e-mail address]" to: ISPIClips(a)ama-gi.com . The Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) is a small contributor-funded organization based in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). ISPI operates on a not-for-profit basis, accepts no government funding and takes a global perspective. ISPI's mandate is to conduct & promote interdisciplinary research into electronic, personal and financial privacy with a view toward helping ordinary people understand the degree of privacy they have with respect to government, industry and each other and to likewise inform them about techniques to enhance their privacy. But, none of this can be accomplished without your kind and generous financial support. If you value in the ISPI Clips service or if you are concerned about the erosion of your privacy in general, won't you please help us continue this important work by becoming an "ISPI Clips Supporter" or by taking out an institute Membership? 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It will not be sold, lent or given away to any third party. ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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IP: Secret Marine training mission startles residents
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Secret Marine training mission startles residents Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 11:12:42 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: Greensboro News & Record (N.Carolina) http://www.greensboro.com/nronline/news/helicopters9.htm Secret Marine training mission startles residents 10-9-98 By ANDREA BALL, Staff Writer Fisher Park resident Helen Ullrich was resting in bed when she heard the roar of the helicopters. The house shook. The windows rattled. Her first thought: A plane is going to crash. Her second: Where's it going to land? "For the first minute or two, that's what it was like," she said. "Just fear." Greensboro residents shuddered and gawked at the skies Wednesday night while nine military helicopters unexpectedly swarmed above their houses. The aircraft were involved in a two-hour training mission by the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, said Capt. Bill Darrenkamp, public affairs officer for Camp Lejeune. The helicopters -- a Huey, two Cobras, two Super Stallions and four Sea Knights -- flew from Onslow Bay to practice long-range raids, Darrenkamp said. The local training session stretched from about 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. The Greensboro Police Department agreed to the mission about a month ago, Darrenkamp said. Nearly 200 families in the Huffine Mill Road area were told of the training a few hours before it began. The rest of the city was clueless. And that's the way the Marines wanted it, said Capt. Sammy Bell of the Greensboro Police Department. "We couldn't have notified the public on it because if we had, everyone and their brother would be out there trying to watch it," Bell said. Darrenkamp said the mission was kept quiet because Marines wanted the training to be as realistic as possible. They also wanted to keep crowds away from the planes when they landed because they can kick up dirt and debris, he said. The nine helicopters flew from outside Jacksonville to Piedmont Triad International Airport to refuel. Then they landed at the old Mt. Zion School on Huffine Mill Road, where 50 to 60 Marines enacted an invasion of enemy headquarters. They set off smoke grenades, shot blanks with their M-16s and blew off a door specially installed for the military activity. But the covert training alarmed people throughout the city. Although the helicopters were often 400 feet from the ground, Darrenkamp said they dipped much lower while landing. Some residents complained that the helicopters barely missed their houses. "That (height) was cleared, according to the military, by the FAA," said Capt. David Wray of the Greensboro Police Department. "We were assured that every safety measure would be taken." Residents in neighborhoods throughout the city -- including downtown, Lindley Park, Old Starmount, Forest Oaks and Lake Daniel -- heard or saw the deafening craft. And then the guessing began. Was it a crashing plane? An air search for an escaped convict? One of those medical helicopters? Brien Deutermanand her husband Bill were watching television in their Old Starmount home when they heard the helicopters. The couple, seated on their couch, whipped around to peer out their picture window. A plane was in trouble, they guessed. They thought of the recent accident in which a small plane crashed into a home in Winston-Salem. "It really startled us," Brien Deuterman said. "After what happened in Winston-Salem a few months ago, that was the first thing that ran through our minds." Helen Ullrich rushed outside her home on Isabel Street to find her pajama-clad neighbors standing in the street, squinting into the sky at the passing helicopters. Scared children clung to their parents, while adults slowly relaxed. Then came the jokes. The government is scaring us out of our houses to get an accurate census. If we're in danger, why are we all standing in the middle of the road? "Once we realized we were out of danger, we were just laughing about it," Ullrich said. Copyright © Greensboro News & Record, Inc. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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RE: Two Jims, Werner and Matt redefine socialism for their own en (fwd)
by Jim Choate 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: Matthew James Gering <mgering(a)ecosystems.net> > Subject: RE: Two Jims, Werner and Matt redefine socialism for their own en > ds > Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 14:24:16 -0700 > > multinational bank and local government. I can vote > > for my councillors. Some of them I my neighbours. > > So why can't your neighbors run a bank? The same reason most people can't. Funny thing is, it's the same reason a lot of bankers can't run banks. > Distribute what and created by whom? Need I point out the obvious > fallacy that wealth is a static sum. Interesting. I don't see that particular axiom in my notes....what I see is the assumption that markets and their growth are unlimited. Pesky things like ecological impacts, social impacts, waste processing, etc. are no big percentage (as in completely ignored). > Abstract wealth and divorce it > from the creator and you eliminate the motive to create. An interesting but obtuse means of stating that economics are a result of human action and not a fundamental force in nature. > > And then Matt Gering replied to Ken Brown: > > > > >> A monopolisitic supplier of some good has a measure > > >> of political power. > > > > > Political power comes at the mean end of a gun, what > > > political power do monopolies have and how? > > > And I was almost knocked over by the innocence, ignorance and > > naievety of such a statement. > > The question was not rhetorical. Do you care to answer? Political power is actualy a much broader sword than Marx (and yourself apparently) would paint. It's invovled in such basic actions as saying thank you and holding a door open for somebody. The political aspect is a fundamental belief that what goes around comes around. If I, and enough other people walk around opening doors for each other, do this then when I can't open the door somebody likely will. It's a gamble in the basic nature of humans, to do the same basic things within the same social environment the same basic way. Things like economies of scale have fundamental bases in these sorts of psychological insights. Those comparable behaviours very seldom involve violence as a motive, let alone a method. People, all people, behave badly when violence is involved. Usualy violence is involved in creating a behaviour of compliance that runs contrary to some fundamental behaviour of the individual(s) or on the overt attempt to steal or kill (murder is incorrect because it implies a social structure that doesn't actualy exist at this fundamental level). > > What political power do monopolies have? The power > > to deny you things you need to live. > > How? By denying the ability of others to supply them. By denying your > right to create them. By (legitimately) denying your ability to steal > them. Monopolies have the power to decide *YOUR* tomorrow. It isn't theirs at the cost of a simple profit. > > - it is preserved by military and police authority. And social institutions. > Exactly. So eliminate those guns. Beeeep. We're so SORRY (not)!!!! That's absolutely the WRONG answer EVER. > "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't > go away." -- Philip K. Dick > > Fine, stop believing in money, no one is forcing you to. Did it work? > Oh, you mean *everyone* has to stop believing in it? Sounds like mass > delusion to me, That is EXACTLY what I've been trying to say all along! Economics is a social institution that has fundamental roots in the base behaviours of the animals involved. > What is the root of money? > http://www.ecosystems.net/mgering/money.html Hunger. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Your New Adobe Customer Number
by Adobe Systems 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

Thank you for registering with Adobe Systems, Inc. Your new Online Customer ID is: 9062604113320310 The PIN you entered and confirmed has been encrypted and stored with your registration information. Please remember your Customer ID and PIN for the next time you login as an Adobe Customer on www.adobe.com.

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No Subject
by news＠quake.connectfree.net 18 Dec '03

18 Dec '03

Connect FREE Newsletter October 98 Welcome to Connect Free, and thank you for joining our service. We hope you find our Second Newsletter informative. September's Newsletter can be viewed on our web site at the bottom of the FREE Internet page. FreeServe & Dixons Now we all know that Free Internet access is going to be the norm very shortly and users of the Internet like yourselves would like to have several connections to the Internet from different ISP's and of course you will choose the service that offers the best performance. With the launch of Dixons Freeserve service some of our users have taken the decision to have a second account - great idea. If you decide to use this service alongside your Connect FREE account please do not use the CD install that Dixons provide - if you do, then you may just find that your Connect FREE account will no longer work. It is possible to configure the Freeserve system manually and then you will be able to use any account on your system without problem. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Future Developments In November, Connect FREE will be able to offer an even better service because we will have 1Gig of Internet bandwidth for fast access to the Internet and thousands of modems and lines ensuring that you get a guaranteed first time connection every time. We will be spending one million pounds on new equipment, for example new modem racks, routers and servers. This new equipment will be housed at Telehouse, London, the main exchange for all UK Internet traffic. Connect FREE is aiming to be not only the first Internet Service Provider to offer FREE Internet access in the UK but also to be the Best. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- POP3 & SMTP Mail During November Connect FREE is going to be offering all it's customers FREE unlimited POP3 e-mail addresses and unlimited aliases to each e-mail account. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Web Space During December we plan to offer all our Connect FREE customers, FREE web space. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proxy Server Connect FREE does not have a Proxy Server. If you find that you can connect to the Connect FREE service but you cannot view any web pages the likelihood is that you have the Proxy Server setting *Ticked* in your browser configuration. This can happen if you put another Internet Service Providers software onto your PC and the automatic configuration will enable this setting. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- News Server The automatic news configuration routine on our website does not work for everybody. If you have problems using this facility then we suggest you set-up News manually using something like Outlook Express. Our News Server address is: news.connectfree.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Change of Details If you need to change your personal details i.e. email address etc, then you will soon be able to do this via a web page on the Connect FREE website. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Information Line If you do need to contact Connect FREE by phone or email please ensure that you provide your LoginID & Password with every communication. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Improvements Connect FREE would like to hear from you, if there is any way in which you think we could improve our service to you, or add more content to the Connect FREE website. It is Connect FREE policy not to send unwanted rubbish by e-mail or junk advertising by any other means. All we ask is that you receive our monthly newsletter informing you of any changes to the service and any new service that may come available which you may benefit from. Contact us at info(a)connectfree.net or Telephone 0702 115 2525 No Catches, No Gimmicks, Just Connect FREE

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