Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2007 2:56:36 GMT -5
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Post by Jurrasic Jonje on Sept 3, 2007 8:36:40 GMT -5
Ok, I will give this a whirl. I am a construction worker. I specialize in caulking. I climb ladders all day. When I am not caulking I do manual labor. Just 2 weeks ago I spent 3 days digging a drainage trench 3 feet deep and 40 feet long. The other 2 days were spent filling the trench back in after the drain pipes were put in.
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firewalker45
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 929
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Post by firewalker45 on Sept 3, 2007 10:04:59 GMT -5
That cab is absolutely gorgeous! Your generosity is amazing. Mother Nature plus yourself, equals outstanding cabs. We may be low on the list in such things as health care, infant mortality, education, etc; however, I think the hard working American people are number one in my book. Thank you for recognizing the hard working people in this country( you included). In solidarity, Daniel
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2007 11:00:32 GMT -5
Jonge, I can relate. When I was younger I worked for a water utility. I was a ditch digger and repaired waters. I spent many hours on the jackhammer too. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.
Firewalker, Thanks for the kind words. You forgot to add what you do in life.
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Post by krazydiamond on Sept 3, 2007 11:12:16 GMT -5
i've had a lot of different jobs over the years, but the worst one i ever had was assessing building repairs and renovation for low income municipal housing projects. this entailed going into some of the seediest, disgusting, garbage laden, bug infested apartments, basements and crawlspaces and deciding what needed doing to make them habitable again. of course, these buildings were always in the "bad" part of town, too.
i could tell you some horror stories, for sure. i would go out into these buildings with flea collars wrapped tight around my ankles so i wouldn't accidentally bring any "guests" back into my home. i used to get home, go straight into the garage and remove my clothing and have it go straight into the washer and i'd head directly to the shower.
i learned after a while to do these inspections early in the day, as the "residents" would wake up in the afternoon and hang out on the porches drinking beer and smoking dope. i was chased by dogs, pelted with rocks by little kids and scared out of my wits more than a few times.
i realize this wasn't hard physical labor, but man, that was one nasty job.
KD
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Post by flintfish on Sept 3, 2007 11:51:53 GMT -5
That's an astonishing stone Neprite, truly delicious - the red framed against the background looks so stunning, it's almost like flames painted on a chopper tank. The polish is so deep I could drown, a real gem Sir, Fantastic! BIG THANKYOU to Nephrite, what a cracking sentiment and so brilliantly executed, well done! I love the idea of saluting the folks that make things happen, dragging my butt out of bed in the morning can be tough somtimes, but without folks like you, nothing would get done! Back Slaps all round. Jonje, that's a seriously physically demanding role Sir, my hat's off to you, (Keep yours on though! - hard hats on site right?! ) I did a bit of digging as an archaeologist, I aint built for it and it damn near broke me, and really - we were playing at it. And up ladders all the time?! Watch yourself buddy, safety is paramount, take care and keep safe - we all appreciate your contributions here, so be careful right! KD - Woah! Now that's a different kettle of fish hey. Jobs that grab your emotions are really heavy going sometimes, and I'm in awe of how you good people can do these important things. It's easy to sit back and say it must happen, but at the sharp end it's not so much fun. I hope your doing somthing far less intense and horrifying now, that sounds more like some form of punishment. The real rub is it don't even pay well?! Am I right? Cheers Maam, (pitty the little chits wern't chucking OJ! ) I don't do anything physical, or very nasty now - I survey schools and crunch the data for the Council so we build classrooms in the right places, and the buildings don't fall down. I get stressed and always under pressure but who doesn't?! But I have done variously, Retail Work, Archaelogy (in the Wet UK), Museum Curation, School Science Technician, Teaching Medical Lab Technician, University IT Technician, Office Filing Boy, Spreadsheet Guru, and a few other oddments. None of which were overly demanding, but some of which involved crossing a line of principal I am no longer willing to cross. However I work for the Council, and we provide loads of services. Some of my buddies do the heart wrenching difficult upsetting type of work, similar to what KD mentions, and this is often truly harrowing. My heart goes out to those who put others before themselves, we all work for a wage, but to some folks have a vocation, and they should be treasured. Cheers All, and thanks again, Harry.
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Post by beefjello on Sept 3, 2007 12:02:07 GMT -5
I test and certify weights in a laboratory setting. Anything from 1mg leaf weights to 5,000lb monster blocks. A lot of the smaller stuff is more taxing on the mind than the back as depending on the class you are factoring in different corrections to your final value (standard corrections, air buoyancy, etc) as well as your expanded uncertainties. Now the fifty pound field class weights are what'll break your back.. painted pipe handled cast iron weights that almost_always need adjustments. Sometimes I'll get hit with 200 of these at a time. In fact I have a huge job coming up soon.. way too soon I'm quite certain that having that phenomenal cabochon in my possession will not only make me forget about my poor aching back as I lug those ol' 50's around.. but will also easy my troubled and worried mind and help bring balance to the man that helps bring balance to the weighing industry.
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SteveHolmes
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2009
Posts: 1,900
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Post by SteveHolmes on Sept 3, 2007 12:36:22 GMT -5
Thanks for the Super Offering there Tony! I really love that Cab...those flaming reds are too killer. Well...it all began abvout the age of 12. I grew up in a small farming community, with a Father who taught Work Hard and Be Responsible. I started cutting lawns at that age...many of them as Free Services for the Elderly that were in our church. I didn't agree with the policy, but am thankful it was so. At 13 I volunteered for a summer job with a sheep farmer, docking sheep. Boy oh boy, I thought this should be fun. I had no idea what I was getting myself in for, but I guessed it was riding horses and rounding the sheep up. My dad, growing up on a farm, obviously knew what it was all about, but of course, never said a word. I was TOTALLY WRONG!! Docking Sheep is literally putting Lambs through their first minute of Hell on Earth!! We had to seperate the Lambs from the Ewes which was a job in itself. After that was complete, a real eye-opening, life growing experience happened. Grab the lambs, throw them up on a table, lock their front legs around their hind ones, and give the dockers a real wide open shot of what was about to happen. First, cut the ball sac open with, (I swear) the dullest pair of scissors that could be found. thumb the balls up through the slit in the sac, and grab them with pliers, or the TEETH(tools of the oldtimers) and yank them out....spitting them on the ground in a pre-dug hole. Next, cut the darn tail off. This is probably one of the biggest veins in the poor lambs body. They don't need it, and if it doesn't get cut off, it continues to grow. All this time, you could imagine how bloddy it was...and for a 13 year old....a real horrifying experience. Next, tar the tail to stop the bleeding, inject a 6 inch shot through the hind quarters with antibiotics, and to top it all off.....a nice brand would look good on them! Lastly, throw them off the table, and let them baaaaah and stumble their way back to Mommy! NEXT!!! You can imagine what a person would look like after a morning of doing this. The worst was looking at the old-timers, whose teeth were their tool of the trade, and looking at the red caked mess all around their mouths...YUMMY!!!! NOT!!! Needless to say, I never did that type of work another summer. That was the last Sheep Experience for me. I always had odd jobs until I turned 16 and could get a real job. I shook cherries, thinned and picked peaches, milked cows, sold nite-crawlers...anything a non-16 year old could do for a little $$. At 20 I took a Summer job doing sheet metal. Another life-altering change. I have been doing Sheet Metal ever since. I install Metal Roofing, Coping, Gutters...anything that is outside. I work year round in the weather. Hot in the Summers...Cold in the Winters. I work on pitched roofs, anywhere from 1/12 pitch to 12/12 pitch. All the time with tools strapped on, hard hat, harness and tie-off gear. It has gotten really bad in the past few years, with OSHA cracking down. You used to be able to get away with wearing shorts and actually having Fun on a jopb...No mOre is the case! Oh well....Work Hard and Play Hard...my motto. If I'm not working, I'm out hiking and rockhounding....which in itself, can be hot, tiring, hard-work, but the rewards and people you meet along the way; are one the most Satisfying Feelings I have expereinced...besides being a Dad! Sorry for the long read...but I really want that CAb! Steve
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Post by Jurrasic Jonje on Sept 3, 2007 13:17:34 GMT -5
Steve Man oh man I thought I had it rough. I can feel ya on the working outside year round.
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Post by larrywyland3 on Sept 3, 2007 13:27:01 GMT -5
That is one awesome cab. Lets see; At night I feed hungry orphans. I start at 4pm in the kitchen and cook till 5:30pm and then serve and clean up. By the time I finish it is 10pm. I sleep for 4 hours and then get up for my 2nd job. This job starts at 4am and goes till 11am it is piece work and depending on fast I can put them together determines how much I make. I put rat poison in small sample size bags. I break for lunch and then with some of the money I made earlier in the day I buy food to bring to three local animal shelters and help feed the animals. On the weekends I clean atomic energy waste sites. Man do I want that cab . Really I work for a non for profit that provides services to adults with developmental disabilities. I have been there for 18 years and have done every job except the Executive Director job. Currently, I solve problems, 110 people getting service and 300+ employees; when something out of the routine happens and the manager can't solve it; my phone rings. Highlights from last week, storage unit too full for more boxes, Combined three storage units into one saved 1,200 dollars a year in off site storage fees; recovered 128 3 ring binders for a savings of about 1,000 dollars, one of the teenagers we hired to help didn't show so I spent a day an a half filling a 26 foot truck with storage boxes and metal racks. The state called and did not have a home for someone we had a vacancy they wanted to move the person in; so meetings and directing team members to write plans for their part or the care plan. Drove 150 miles to meet the union organizer to resolve three grievances. One was a loose loose for me which is always fun. Had a bunch of meetings in-between and the usual phone calls; washing machine at group home broken; capital improvement for new septic is lost somewhere in the approval process (this involves two state departments the building owner and town sanitarian). The new manager we hired quit before starting; computer server still won't allow remote email access; refrigerator at new group should relocated before we open it; bathroom shower not completely installed and interior painting not done; phone tag with the developer; its going to start costing about 35,000 dollars a month October 1st and if it not licensed we can not have anyone move in so no revenue coming in to cover the cost. It is more about dealing with and managing stress; mine and other peoples'. I always wanted to be some type of artist. I've tried lots of different things. My idea of retirement is having enough money to cab stones and travel around looking for rocks and selling jewelry. It's a bit like the farmer who won the lottery. When asked what he was gonna do with the money; he replied, keep farming till its gone. A farmer told me that one.
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Post by cpdad on Sept 3, 2007 13:33:53 GMT -5
i want it more than them ;D.....i have had the same job since i was 17....24 years in the same little hell hole of a machine shop...i have worked 130 to 140 hours in a week more than once...never leaving the shop in that week.
i broke my foot in 9 diff places 1 day...a peice fell off of the press...they took me to the hospital...docs fixed me up...and i was back at work the next...never missed a day.
while working by myself 1 night swinging the sledge hammer with 1 hand...and a big punch in the other...i missed and hit my hand...broke it...and smashed it real good....but i had to labor on and finish the job...finished the job...then called the owner and asked for a ride to the hospital...it was swollen to much and hurting to bad by then for me to drive a stick shift....back at work the next morning also
my job isnt a bad job...but the things i have missed trying to make it in this world because of having to labor in it.... there are things i regret.....missing birthday parties...anniversaries...graduations...field trips....all because of having to labor in this world.
and just to tell you how much of a good guy i am and deserving of that cab ;D.....i dont let any of my guys miss any of those occasions if i can take care of the job myself....i tell them go...i got you covered....i dont want them to miss what i have missed because of some stupid laboring job.
oh ya....pager went off this morning....i went in and did the job myself....instead of calling 1 of the others....so they could enjoy there holiday off.
since you said brief...i wont get into the 24 summers spent laboring in a 135 degree sardine can of a shop....or the winters with the doors wide open and its 17 degrees outside....hows that for laboring...if it aint enough i gots more ;D...kev
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Post by flintfish on Sept 3, 2007 13:56:19 GMT -5
Eeeek!!! Steve!!!! That's scary work! Glad I had it easy I reckon. You watch yourself up on those roof tops, glad to hear your life is slightly less harrowing now than it was then though Spirit - For the top half - I cracked somthing laughing I think, could be a rib And for the bottow half, WTG!!!! Stick with the good works and good Kama you way man, I don't envy you, but I do apreciate what you do. If I were there - I'd help fix that computer though!!!! Beef - That's hard and exacting work Squire, very skilled, and most interesting in some ways. Good stuff Sir! Kev - That sounds like seriously grevious graft, are there really that many hours in a week? ;D lol - I couldn't hack that rate of work - I'm a lightweight Now - the reason I logged on to re-post - I remembered a minute ago I ment to mention. I am not in this for the Awesome cab so generously offered by our gracious host Nephrite, As you know I don't do anything arduous or overly worthy (they pay me after all!) and I'm the other side of the water, so to my mind it would be grossly unfair to compete for what is really intended for the Hard Working American! But I couldn't resist commenting how stunning that rock is! What a stone Cheers All, H
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SteveHolmes
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2009
Posts: 1,900
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Post by SteveHolmes on Sept 3, 2007 14:55:52 GMT -5
Kev...I think it sounds like you need to take a break my friend! All these years; and not once thinking about yourself...not worth it! Come on out to Utah and let me take you on a weekend trip. You definitley deserve and it sounds like, could use a BREAK! (not a foot or hand either) Good stuff Spirit. May good Karma come your way!
too the rest of YOU hard-working Folks...keep up the Good Work! Don't know when it pays off; but hopefully one of these years it does. Thanks Harry for the kind words to all of us. Steve
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firewalker45
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 929
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Post by firewalker45 on Sept 3, 2007 16:09:41 GMT -5
Hi Nephrite, I am retired. I put in 38.5 years at General Motors. The first 28 years working production/ machine operator; and the last ten as a toolmaker. I, like Harry, have excluded myself from your contest. I knew right off I could not compete with even the first entry. Using a jack hammer doesn't sound appealing either. lol I also would like to offer my appology, to non US workers. Hard work is hard work no matter where you live. Thanks again Nephite for the idea, and execution of this contest in honoring the working stiffs of this world! In solidarity, Daniel
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Redhead
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2007
Posts: 16
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Post by Redhead on Sept 3, 2007 17:11:34 GMT -5
Ha Ha, figures most of the answers to this post would come from MEN! They "think" they work sooooo hard!!! LOL I'm just kidding ROTFLMAO
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Post by cpdad on Sept 3, 2007 17:37:55 GMT -5
hey yaw....i dont do that many hours anymore.....good lord knows i need to right now....im in worse shape now than i have been in my whole life ;D. but heres another little story how i had to labor and make it...100 percent true....i still get ragged about it. when donna was pregnant with cp...she was 9 1/2 months along....doc said we have to take this stubborn baby....have her at the hospital at 5 in the morning....have to start contractions...so we got her there...when her mom and dad showed up....i left and went to work....had no choice....needed the money.....of course she didnt think of it that way . i got off work that day...went to hospital....medicine didnt work....doc said you having c section in the morning...i stayed there that night of course.....next morning they took her for her c section.....but contractions started and she gave birth naturally....junk happened quick and at weird times....no epidoral or nothing.....when finished doc said no visitors for at least 4 hours...maybe more....heck it happened so fast they didnt have time to get me. after i held cp....and he went to the nursery...i seen the oppurtunity for a few more hours at work....i went to work...and when i got the call all was well...i actually stripped to my boxers and bathed with the water hose outside the shop....just so i didnt have to guess...and take time off to go home and shower...throwed my clean clothes on....and got some hours in ;D....those 2 weeks made cp a 10 lb baby ;D....hows that for both of us laboring ;D...kev.
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Post by LCARS on Sept 4, 2007 0:32:23 GMT -5
Wow Tony, i'm always in awe of your amazing BO cabs! The fact that you're going to give one away is even more awesome! Well here's my story, i've been drywalling the last two years so what more do I really need to say? OK, well basically I hump gyproc, mud and dust around all day every day in a never ending overlapping cycle, going from site to site and never getting paid enough for all the blood, sweat and tears, and the crap I have to put up with all day. I get up at six in the morning, always still tired from the previous day's work and sleep defecit, just to bust my hump all day again getting covered in mud and dust in the process. I come home so caked in it sometimes that I have to take TWO showers before I feel clean again. I'll admit that it's probably not as bad as being a sewer inspector or "portable lavatory maintenance technician" ...BUT, I do have to put up with the smell when the "portable lavatory maintenance technician" comes to my work site and I SWEAR they purposely take way longer than they have to just to piss eveyone else off. Not only that but we also have to deal with every other pissed of trade person and foreman who is either being held back by us or getting in our way, all the while walking around these tripping hazzard ridden worksites on 30" high-jacker stilts, on rickety triggers and platforms just to reach all the fancy architechture in these newfangled homes and condos they're making these days. There's calcium hydroxide (a desicant) in drywall mud and it wreaks never ending havok on skin, hair and clothes. My hands are always cracking from the dryness whenever they are not already bleeding from the minor stab and slice wounds I get on a daily basis from all the many sharp and pointy things everywhere just waiting for opportunities to have at me. My work clothes end up falling apart after a month or two of constantly washing out caked on mud every couple days. I don't even remember what color my work boots were when I bought them because the white mud cake is the only thing holding them together now and i'm afraid if I try to clean them they may just disappear. Everything precious and sacred in my life has now been infiltraded in some way by drywall mud and dust. My cell phone, my wallet, my pocket knife, my sunglasses, all written off at some point due to it. A few times I took a mud glob to the eye and let me tell you, that is no happy place to be. It's like having sticky sand in your eye and the more you blink or try to get it out, the more it burns and scratches. Oh-ya, did I mention I was on stilts when this happened? Now it's getting to the point where nobody wants me in their nice cars or houses anymore. People stopped inviting me to parties, friends stop coming over, girls I want to date don't return my calls, it's a freaking NIGHTMARE! I mean, who's going to want to date a guy who comes home every day covered in caked on white crap? I'm even beginning to wonder if that had something to do with me & my last girlfriend breaking up after two years together? Oh God won't SOMEONE please take pity on this poor hard working, underappreciated and underpaid working Joe by sending me that awesome BO cab?!?! Thanks for your consideration, Rob
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nightop
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2007
Posts: 132
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Post by nightop on Sept 4, 2007 11:59:44 GMT -5
For a wonderfull BO I will tell the story of the worst job I have had.
After I got out of the service I went back to work at the semi-conductor manufaturer that I had been working for prior to going in. Well if you have been in the semi-conductor business you know that it goes through ups and downs. A couple of months after I go to work there it goes through a down cycle and I got laid off. My foster brother says come to work with me, I needed money so I said OK. The job was on what is called a workover rig. I am sure everyone has seen pump jacks. These are the things that you see in oil fields that are semi rounded on one end and go up and down via an offset wheel on the other end. Well the part you see going up and down is attached to a VERY long rod that goes all the way down to the bottom of the well where it is attached to a pump. These pumps wear out and break and when they do they have to be replaced. This is what the people on a workover rig do.
I know that we have a bunch of people who live in Utah that are on this board, so I am sure they all know where Evingston, WY is at. The workover rig that I worked on was based out of there. The hours were from the time the sun came up until the time the sun went down. All of the crew that worked on this rig all lived in and around Salt Lake. So we had a good long drive at each end of the work day.
It gets VERY cold in them thar hills in the middle of winter, and you have two places that you can normally be on a workover rig. One is way up in the air at the top of the rig hanging rod and casing and the other is down at the base of the rig. Neither of which is a very desirable position. Up top you have the wind to deal with and down the bottom you have the oil. I don't remeber how tall these things are but I would think in the 60-80 foot range would be accurate. As you remember I said down the bottom of these wells is a pump that can break.
Better pause here and explain. First there is the well hole that is drilled. Inside this there is a metal tube called the casing. The rod and the pump fit inside the casing. Well occasionally when one of these pumps break they get stuck in the bottom of the casing. So, you have a pump stuck in the bottom it is like a cork holding all the fluid in, so you pull a stand (60-80 feet) of casing up and unscrew it...well when you unscrew it guess where all that oil and goo goes...all over you.
So now you are out in below 0 temps. Wind howling around and you are getting covered in oil every couple of minutes. Not a dream job.
Greg
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onewomanarmy
has rocks in the head
Carpe Silicis!
Member since January 2007
Posts: 645
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Post by onewomanarmy on Sept 4, 2007 12:25:37 GMT -5
No entry for me - I've had some dirty jobs, some hard jobs - but nothing to beat this stuff! Good luck to all - that's a great cab Nephrite has put up!
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Sept 4, 2007 12:53:01 GMT -5
My worst JOB- Fire Restoration- we would go into houses after a fire and attempt to clean up- we did a lot of low income housing and would have to not only clean the fire damaged areas- but also clean up pet and human waste- kill cockroaches (them little F-ers don't die because of a simple fire- they just climb into the woodwork and come crawling out when your cleaning)- clean up other nasties (think femine hygene products, used birth control devices, and any other concievable human excretion)- and dirthy clothes- filthy rooms full of food waste, smoke and water damaged possessions- smelly stinky stuff- oh and nicotine stained rooms- where the walls were actually GREEN from the nicotine (I used to get a nicotine buzz from having my hands in rinse water all day) and PORN- My god I can't believe the number of places we cleaned that had PORN- TONS of it plus drugs (never really liked that one- but we had to clean everything- usually we would just toss the stuff out- but once in a while the owner would demand that we clean it!) But the worse job we ever did involved an explosion- seems a kid got hold of one of those fireworks launcher caps- lit the thing and blew half his damn arm off- YUP We got to clean up blood and little bits of arm and bone- Yummy- I hade trouble eating and sleeping for a couple weeks after that one!
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