2001 UPDATES(this page is basically a diary)[bottom] 2001 |
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December 30, 2001 Alright, as I suspected, the newsweek has been disastrous (news-wise) due to the holidays. Anyway, there's not much I can do about it, but report the few things that did happen. You may have guessed that this is going to be the final update for 2001. Traditionally, I summarise the year that was in the first update of the year, so expect one next week. Maybe you noticed the small change in the 'Quick-links' table on the main page. I added a 'local weather' section and understandably, this will be of most interest to those who live in Gothenburg.. Okie then... another year comes to an end... I realize that not all people celebrate New Year at this date, but to all of you who do, I wish a very Happy New Year, and may 2002 be a bit more peaceful than 2001. December 29, 2001 For some reason, I decided to re-design the gallery page despite not having any new pics... It may not be esthetically pleasing, but from my perspective, it is a smarter layout, with the pics sorted after year of creation. In the process, I deleted some older pages that are no longer in use, but this may ruin some old links in the 'old updates archives'. Also, I added 5 links (DivX Digest, Sybex, Paladin Anticheat, Internet Archive, FreeDictionary) and changed/removed 3 (mobile section). Come back tomorrow for the weekend update, but don't expect tons of news... It's a slow week and not much has happened. December 27, 2001 I figured it was time to throw in another Godzilla WIP. So here it is... Also added 2 new links (HitSquad, TheFreeSite). You'll find both under [Software] links. December 24, 2001 Well, here we go then... It's X-Mas. I've been enjoying my first week of vacation, but to be honest, I haven't done anything in particular.. Although, 'doing nothing' was probably just what I needed.. :-) It's still Sunday/Monday though, which means the usual update. News-wise, it was a slow week. Lot's of sites are summarizing the year, so don't be surprised if you find some 'top 10 lists' in the news... (A couple of new links were added too.) For those of you who are familiar with my 'House Of Techno' list, Volume 15 is ready and you can se the play-list here. Finally, I also made some 'under the hood' restructuring changes which you hopefully will not notice. Now, have a Merry Christmas if you do celebrate it.. otherwise, just have a normal week and come back for next weeks updates! :-) December 21, 2001 Ah yes... Today I received (and installed) my Athlon Thunderbird 1200/266. My ABIT motherboard only supports up to 1200MHz, so first I was going to buy a 1200MHz Duron which has the newer Palomino/Morgan core, but I couldn't find one to buy. Then after some thought I realized that a 1200MHz Thunderbird is a better choice. The larger L2 cache and the faster FSB will make more difference than the 'Morgan' core would make... It was also the same price as the Duron... About the actual site update, I also removed a couple of links that weren't working anymore.. December 17, 2001 -= 5-year anniversary! =- Guess what.. Today is a special day. It may be a late weekend update, but there's a reason for that. 1996.12.17 is the date of the first 'log' entry on this site. That is exactly 5 years ago. Yup, 5 long years of constant updates..Phew.. (According to my calculations this is the 242:nd 'log entry'.) Also, my long vacation starts today. The starting day is purely coincidental, but it makes this day even more special :-) Alright. Now that you know why the update is a day late, I can tell you it's pretty much the usual stuff with the news and a bunch of new cool links. *Maybe* one or two hidden 'thingies'? :-) But now that I have my long vacation, you can be sure that the updates will be even more frequent with a lot more happening in my gallery. So, do as they say... 'Stay tuned..' December 9, 2001 Alright, as we move deeper into December, here comes another little update for you. After a very exhausting week at work, I finally see the light. It seems I'll have that vacation after all.. I'll have to wait and see, but it's at LEAST 1 week away... You got a small 'zilla' preview a couple of days ago, so nothing new on that today. So, basically, what we have here is the ordinary news/links update. Yup, I keep finding those useful links and recently I was told about a new renderer for 3Dsmax, called FinalRender which is probably what all Max users have been waiting for... That and a couple of others links were added this time.. December 7, 2001 Amazingly enough...I felt like doing something on my dusty Godzilla project.. I bought a WACOM tablet a couple of days ago, so I wanted to play around a bit.. This led to my first real test map on the, until now, 'bald' zilla model. Check it out here... December 2, 2001 Here we go then... The last month of 2001. And sooner than we realize, it will be 2002. Who would have thought this 15 years ago? :-) I'll probably have another vacation at the end of the year stretching well into January. No solid plans yet, just wishful thinking... :-) So let's check out this weeks update. The expected news of course, but also I updated the 'History Of Computer Graphics' doc. (2000 and beyond) Do check it out.. In the links section I had to split up the Developer page as it was growing out of proportion. I isolated the graphics links which can now be found on the new GFX links page. November 25, 2001 After weeks of stable operation I decided to re-fit the good(?), old(!) Soundblaster Live card. Amazingly, no additional problems were detected. So far, the computer is just as stable as it has been for the past weeks. Let's see how long it stays like that. We also have the expected weekend update. The news (with a bit more science that usual) & one or two new links. Interestingly, a friend sent me a link to a company that has a 'DOS sound emulator' for modern OS:es such as Win 2000. This means you can get old DOS games to run with the sound re-played correctly. Why this is relevant to me, is because the free (downloadable from my site) game 'Cosmic Ambush' had problems with sound playback under NT & Win 2k. But now you can get it to work... Weeeee... :-) November 18, 2001 Somewhat earlier Sunday update. This evening, weather permitting, will offer perhaps the nicest meteor shower in 33 years. (And after that of course, I have to go to work :-( No new 3D stuff, but I did spend a couple of hours learning (or trying to learn) MaxScript. The scripting language used in 3ds Max. I need to spend much more time on this though, before I can make anything useful. Needless to say, time is something I don't have right now. Anyway, apart from coming slightly earlier than usual, this update is pretty much what you'd expect. The big news of the week is of course the release of Microsoft's long awaited first game console, the Xbox. (I was there in SanJosé when Bill Gates first announced the Xbox) ...and the new links are of course related to Max Script :-) I actually also added a new page, called 'about this site'. There has been a 'info about me' page, but this one describes the www.danielsevo.com site itself. November 12, 2001 My computer continues to run smoothly (1 lock-up was the only incident in the last 10 days). This weekend I finally found a couple of hours to put together a couple of new records. This means that the HOT-list is updated. If you're interested in Techno Music, check it out here. The weekend update is pretty much 'the usual'. The news & one or two new links, but it was a pretty 'slow' week with not much happening in the biz... November 5, 2001 For the first time in a long time, my computer is running stable. I basically took it apart and removed all potential troublemakers (Soundcards, defective HDs, memory modules of different brand than the rest and so on). Then I re-installed the system for the zillionth time and only installed proven tech. No 'beta' drivers and stuff like that. Only software I know works fine.... and Voila... a stable system. Sure, no sound, less RAM, less HD space and no fancy 'latest drivers' but it's been running for 4 days without even the slightest problem... In the process I also exchanged my CD ROM for a new CD-RW unit... I felt it was about time :-) Anyway, for this weeks update I added a new (3D engines) category in the developer-links section and another category (Conversion & Translation) in the Services section... And of course, the usual tech news.. And oh, yes... I also updated the about me page. I changed some specs in the 'My computer setup' -table and also, for some reason I felt I wanted to tell you which my all-time favorite games are... :-) October 28, 2001 Ouch, according to my very accurate calculations, there's less than 2 months until X-mas! Ahem... A book release in 2001 now seems somewhat unlikely. There is another date that sounds like a cool release date, 2002-02-02. I'll really try to have a release at that date. Not much has happened/changed with my computer since last week. It works, but only just. I've actually been able to work on my 3D stuff a little, but not on Godzilla, but rather the never ending 'GAT' project. Todays update offers the usual stuff, no surprises there.. Actually, I did update the Frontier Fan Site with a few new words.. :-) October 22, 2001 I'm getting tired of telling how barely I picked up the pieces to bring you this update. At this point I'm pretty sure I have a place in the record books, for most system re-installations on the same computer within a week. At several occasions my computer was dangerously close to fly out through the window. I seems completely impossible to get this computer to run reliably. A week ago I was pretty sure the Seageate HD was to blame for all the crashes, but after installing the system on another HD and getting similar behaviour I was ready to blame the IDE bus controller on the motherboard. Then after a couple more re-installations, the HD problem seems to have disappeared - for now (Even though I installed the same VIA chip-set drivers). Instead ,explorer.exe started crashing all the time after I installed the drivers for my cheap SoundCard replacing my troublesome SBLive. I removed the drivers of course, but the problem did not disappear. I tried to install service packs, new IExplorer versions and so on to force a 'replacement' at system level. But it's not too easy to do that when explorer.exe keeps crashing during installation. And mind you, this is a fresh (2 days old) system installation. (Of course I also installed a (Trial) VirusChecker to check for viruses.) Anyway, even after a successful Service Pack installation, explorer.exe kept crashing like nothing happened... ;-( And of course it drags along stuff like iexplore.exe and lot's of other stuff just doesn't work. Does this sound like a fresh installation with all the latest drivers and service packs? Well, IT IS!!! At this point I'd be willing to buy a Compaq! ;-0 Now, enough about my computer troubles... This week's update is due to the Micro Processor forum held in San José (CA), heavily biased towards CPU related news. But also lot's of financial reports due to the closure of this financial quarter in the US. All in all, a record breaking 44 news items are displayed. Also there are some new links. It's surprising how I keep finding new links even though I have over 600 of them already.. :-) October 14, 2001 My computer is up and running decently now, but my newest HardDrive was indeed faulty. I isolated the corrupt area and reinstalled the system, loosing 2GB of HD space in the process. After updating all possible drivers, I also was bold enough to re-fit my Soundblaster Live card. And so far, so good. Still no work done on Godzilla though. (Due to software related issues :-) Speaking of software, I just installed Sun's StarOffice 6.0 beta. It does basically everything Microsoft's Office does, and you know what? It's free! Todays update is the usual one with the news and the links. I also received a request for including this link. It's a 'Technical computing' -portal (Mathtool.net) and well worth the visit if you're into this kind of stuff. (You can find this link under Developer.) As an additional bonus, you get next years calendar, now! October 8, 2001 Aaaargh! More trouble with my !*#$@! computer! I suspect my newest HD (4 month old Seagate) is corrupt in some way. I don't know how else to explain why the system (OS) installer crashed 3 times in a row, once trying to format the partition, then 2 times while trying to copy files to that new partition (which it formatted successfully the second time). (And the mysterious HD related system lock-ups I've experienced lately were one of the reasons I decided to re-install my system) After re-fitting an ancient 2GB Samsung drive, I could finally install the system properly. But the behaviour of the OS is strange to put it mildly. I threw out the sound-card, just-in-case.. :-/ Obviously, with my system in pieces, there have been no work done on anything.. I just barely scrambled it together so that I can provide you with the weekly update. September 30, 2001 Today is the last day of September and 3:rd quarter 2001. (3Q 2001) A clear reminder that summer is long gone and it's time to prepare for a long, boring winter again.. (I felt that very clearly when I got of the plane from Gran Canaria :-) And sure enough, before you know it, it will be 2002. My writing is still well underway and I still hope I can deliver my book or 'paper', before years end. Due to some unforeseen difficulties with my 3D software, I've been unable to work on any 3D stuff at home, so nothing new on Zilla. Now, todays update is a regular one, the weekly news and one or two changes on the 'links' pages. It was a slow week for tech news however... September 26, 2001 Last day of my vacation... I added a new Godzilla WIP picture... September 23, 2001 I'm back from my vacation on Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) which was just what I needed. My vacations lasts another couple of days, then it's 'back to business'. Obviously, since I was out of town, there was no update last weekend, but there is one today. Considering the September 11:th attacks no-one was interested in reading about tech-news anyway. While I was away i finally got the chance to write on my book which I intend to release for free right here on my site. It's not going to be the longest book you've read, but it may be the most important one. For now, I call the book 'General Theory Of Life', which might give you an idea what it is all about. (But that name is actually taken so I might need to come up with a different name, even though, that's what is essentially is) This 'book' is far more important to me than my 3D graphics project so my priorities are with the writing. I intend to release the book before the end of the year, and considering the tense political situation in the world, it's about time. Stand by for more info on that. Now, back to the more traditional 'news'. A fairly regular weekend update with the news from the tech-biz and some new links. (A mix of political , anti-virus & news -sites) There are no new WIP Godzilla pics today. I did some work on it, but nothing that is remarkably different from the last 'public' release. I'm pretty sure there will be new stuff to see next week, though. I'd also like to mention that today happens to be exactly 3 years since I started working at MindArk. Ouch, time flies! September 11, 2001 Today I just want to express my sympathy for the american people who were affected by the terrible terrorist acts committed in New York & Washington DC. I also want to inform you that there will be no site updates this coming weekend since I'll be out of town for a short while. September 10, 2001 I'm getting increasingly frustrated with my webhost, 'Passagen'. The problem is, if anything goes wrong during the weekend, you have to wait til monday before they even begin looking at it.. So this update will be up as soon as Passagen kindly lets me log on to my damn account.. I had a mid-week update with a bunch of links, so not too much of that today (4 new I thinnk), but otherwise, there is the usual selection of tech news AND as you might have come to expect lately... another WIP pic in the gallery/WIP. Oh, Almost forgot... I peeked thorugh my 'PC Buyers guide' and updated it to 'today's standards'. I even wrote some new stuff there.. September 7, 2001 A bunch of new links (mostly in the 'Developer' category), and if you're interested, another WIP pic of my Godzilla model in the Gallery/WIP section. September 3, 2001 Made some improvements to the new main-page design... Apparently, 'ya never get it right the first time'. The 'Quick' links don't look as chaotic, and the news are back to the legible font size 2. Otherwise, an update with the record breaking 41 news-items. This is due to the fact that the Intel developer forum was held this past week, so don't be surprised if there are many Intel related news... Also, some new links, and if you're interested in my 3D projects, there is another WIP pic of my Godzilla model in the Gallery/WIP section. August 27, 2001 First of all, my apologies for the late update...anyway.. This week marks the 1 year anniversary of my weekly news-service. To 'celebrate' this, I re-designed the 'main' page. Hopefully, it will work just as good or better than the old layout. Time will tell. I also added a WIP (Work In Progress) page to the dusty, old Gallery. Here you will find a 'WIP' pic of the Godzilla model I'm currently working on (on and off). The usual news are there of course, but no new links. August 19, 2001 Something weird was going on at my webhost 'Passagen' this week. I believe they had som kind of HD crash and then *almost* restored all the files. My counter also ceased working so now I've removed it temporarily until I know what's going on... Otherwise, the usual update with no less than 33 news items, but this time, no new links. August 13, 2001 The usual (late) update and one or two link additions/adjustments. The other day I started a new (personal) 3D project. Not that I need another unfinished project in my resume, but this one at least seems fun to do. It's about doing a good Godzilla model (3DS MAX, polygons only). If time allows, I look forward to work on this project and I hope it will not join my long list of unfinished stuff. Projects list: The mysterious 'GAT' project - (Half finished, I'll try to complete this one in September (when I'll have my vacation). This is the 'BIG' one...) 3D model of Angelina Jolie' head - (Half finished, don't know when I'll return to it. No real problems, just doesn't seem as fun as it did when I started...) Broadcast quality U.S.S. Enterprise - (Ran into some problems. I realized polygons don't cut it in this case. Will need to move to bezier curves or NURBS for parts of the model.. But I don't know when..) Accurate model of the russian 'Avtomat Kalashnikov' - I need more reference material. Not so easy to find as I expected. I have good side views, I need other angles... Detailed Godzilla model. - (Again I thought it would be easy to find reference material on the net, but I found it next to impossible to find decent pics of the 'modern Godzilla'. (From the 1998 Motion Picture) So my reference will be the top half of a rubber model... and of course, I could always watch the movie again... :-) August 6, 2001 About my computer troubles @ home.. I bought a cheap soundcard to replace my troublesome Sound Blaster Live, and now it all works just fine... Otherwise, the usual update and one or two link additions/adjustments. July 29, 2001 Updating from home again. After updating all drivers, re-flashing the BIOS and so on.. it turned out, the only way to get my computer to run reliably, was to remove the Sound Blaster Live soundcard. So now my system is stable but without sound. :-( The update offers the usual Tech-news and a couple of new links (mostly on the 'media' links -page..) July 23, 2001 For the last month or so I've been updating my HP from home since I got my CableModem. But Sunday night my computer at home, crashed completely. Here's what happened: After some mysterious system lock-ups while playing MP3's for the past few days, I decided to update the BIOS since the latest update supposedly fixes some SoundBlaster Live issues. Unfortunately, after the BIOS update Windoze completely froze about a minute after every re-boot. Also, after the update I could no longer boot from a floppy. Then after re-installing the ABIT drivers (since Windows thought I had installed new hardware) for the Mobo and re-booting, Windows refused to load altogether. So right now I have a computer that wont boot from floppy or load Windows. :-( Yeah, you gotta love these computers...Aaaargh!!! Otherwise, the weekend update offers few surprises.. The usual news & link modification/additions. Same old, same old... July 17, 2001 Removed & changed some broken links and added a couple of new ones... July 16, 2001 Late weekend update and actually a bunch of new links. (approx 10 (Software, Developer, Services...)) July 9, 2001 The usual weekend update and one or two new links. July 2, 2001 Whoa, July already... This means my birthday is not far away, so now I'm getting really old. Well, you may have noticed that this update was uploaded late, but it was time for one of those 'Passagen down due to maintenance' issues. Anyway.. The usual weekend update and I believe, no new links. Also updated the info about my computer setup, since I bought some more stuff. June 25, 2001 Here we go again. The usual weekend update and some new links. I'm guessing there must be over 600 active links on my site. June 18, 2001 'Sunday' update and some minor changes to the front page (some new FastLinks). And as I added some links to the media page, I took the opportunity to move over the 'media software' links to the software page. Makes more sense IMO. Also, you may remember that I mentioned another one of my e-mails, des@danielsevo.com it works just fine now, so feel free to use it. It should be easier to remember than the 'telia' one. But it's up to you. June 11, 2001 Whoa! After months of waiting I finally got my Cable Modem. I knew it wouldn't be very fast (512kbit/s) but it's working OK and faster than my old 33.6 modem anyway... :-) Now, along with this, it just so happens that PASSAGEN, my trusty old homepage & mail host will cancel their POP3 mail services. This means that my old e-mail which I've had for 5 years is going to be changed and transformed into webmail. Therefore, I hereby announce my new e-mail which you should use if you want to contact me personally. My work mail is unaffected by this of course... Please update your address lists, etc... des@danielsevo.com should also be a valid address but I have to fix the forwarding which right now points at the non-working des@hem.passagen.se. Apart from the usual Sunday update (32 news items), I added some info to the Info about me page and added some new links. June 04, 2001 A very 'The Register.com' influenced 'Sunday/Monday' update. May 28, 2001 'Sunday' update and not very surprisingly, some new links. Mostly in the 'Other' section. May 21, 2001 'Sunday' update with a whopping 33 news items, and some more links... May 19, 2001 6 new links (2 in 'developer', 1 'software' & 1 'games', 2 'science'). May 18, 2001 A bunch of new links (mostly in 'Games' & 'Mobile'). Also updated the DJ DES HOT-list. ('Media') You know what that means... May 14, 2001 Sunday/Monday update. This time with a bunch of new links. May 7, 2001 Sunday/Monday update. I may return for another update with some new links in a day or two. April 30, 2001 The usually late Sunday update. Frankly I'm not exactly sure why I call it 'Sunday update' :-) There might also be a new link or so somewhere inside... April 23, 2001 Late Sunday update. For once, no new links. Until I can take a (long) vacation there probably wont be any other cool new things, just the regular news updates. When I do have some time, I have a load of projects just waiting to be finished. (There are one or two 3D projects, then there's the Frontier site and some other stuff.) April 17, 2001 Due to work overload at my job, this weeks 'Sunday' update came up on Tuesday. (Yes I know 'Easter' was supposed to be a holiday... :-[ Some new links were added (Science)... No surprise there.. April 16, 2001 The weekly news update will be up later, tonight. April 09, 2001 Late Sunday update and, of course, some new links. April 05, 2001 Updated the HOT list. April 02, 2001 Same old Sunday stuff... March 27, 2001 Some new links. One really good one too. TopFile.com is an excellent site for finding drivers for your hardware. (Video cards, printers, network stuff, whatever...) (It's under Software/SOFTWARE, MISC SPECIALIZED) March 26, 2001 Same old, same old... But what was going to be an early Sunday update with a 'whopping' 36 news items, became a very late Sunday update. Something wrong with my ISPs FTP, so I could not upload the new stuff. Some new links were also part of this update.. March 20, 2001 New links. March 19, 2001 Late sunday update and some new links. Also updated the PC buyers Guide up to 2001 standards. March 12, 2001 Late sunday update and not much else. March 4, 2001 The usual Sunday update. There's a lot of stuff happening out there, so there's no shortage of news (30 news items), however I'm beginning to wonder if it's really worth the effort. I don't get as many 'hits' as I'd like to (only about 50/week), so one has to ask himself the question along these lines: 'What's the point in writing beautiful poetry if there's no one out there to read it.' This news service will continue at least for a while, but I'll think some more about wether it's all worth it or not. If you have anything to say (like 'how to increase traffic'). Send me an e-mail and tell me what you think. Also, there appears to be a problem with JAVA applets running on 'Passagen'-pages. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about it other than hoping they will fix the problem soon. February 26, 2001 Late sunday update and some new links in the 'games' section. February 24, 2001 Added 4 link to the software page. February 23, 2001 Added one link Gnutella (it's under 'media'). If and when Napster 'disappears' Gnutella will probably be there to take over. February 19, 2001 Late Sunday update, some new links (software & developer), also updated the Frontier fan site... February 11, 2001 Another Sunday update from the (in)convenience of my own home. February 5, 2001 Late Sunday update. For once, done from the (in)convenience of my own home. January 31, 2001 I've now actually payed for my danielsevo.com address. This means that I can get rid of the annoying banners & bars... So from now on, www.danielsevo.com is the address I recommend you bookmark. The mail-address des@danielsevo.com is also perfectly usable. It is forwarded to my good old des@hem.passagen.se so go ahead and mail to it if you like. January 29, 2001 Late Sunday update (I was 'out of town'). January 25, 2001 Some new links added (News, Media). This weeks sunday might be a bit late, but it will be there eventually... January 21, 2001 Another early sunday update with no less than 32 news items, and the usual link additions. Also made some minor stuff on the Frontier Fan Page... January 14, 2001 Early Sunday update with a whole bunch of news (27 news items). Last week, the otherwise reliable 'passagen' servers, went down on sunday evening. Safer to update early... :) Some minor changes in the links section as well... January 11, 2001 I enhanced my Calendar slightly by adding links to the holidays. Just click on that day and a window will pop up and tell you why it's a holiday :) (Thanx for the j-script, Casper) January 10, 2001 I added a new section called 'Daniel Sevo's Astronomy Pages', but if you're not interested in astronomy, this isn't for you. The pages are primarily for my own purposes and look, admittedly, a bit crude at this point. More is sure to come, but I can't say when. Since I also found some new links I added them to the 'science' category. January 8, 2001 The sunday update that was a monday update. The 'Passagen' servers where my HP is located were down all sunday, which caused this delay. Sorry for any inconvenience. January 6, 2001 This page just got cleaner. The 2000 updates are found on a separate page below. The Frontier fan site has been updated. January 2, 2001 Traditionally, on the first update of the year I review the happenings on my site during the year that was... I do not intend to change this tradition! :) Let's start with updates. During 2000, this site was updated a 'whopping' :) 62 times. That is roughly 1 update every 6 days. Lot's of stuff happened in 2000. In the beginning I secured the www.danielsevo.com domain name through 'NameZero services'. The design of the site changed drastically and lot's of new features were added. A zillion new links were added, a 'Free Downloads' page was added, The CLUT page was transformed into 'The Basics of Computer Graphics', the 'PC Buyers Guide' was added as was the DJ DES Hot-list.. The biggest change of the year, and one of the prime reasons for the frequent updates however, came at the end of August. That's when I introduced the weekly feature 'Tech week in review'. With this came a complete re-design of my site and that also meant the loss of my counter which had been recording hits since 1997. (I have a new one, but it's hidden) At the end of the year I also managed to produce 1 new image to maintain my 1 pic/ year average.. :) ...and at the very last day of the year, I introduced my latest addition to the site. A Frontier fan site. Once again, big thanx to Martin Caspersson for his work on the ASP database. Btw, the Frontier Fan Site (FFS) was updated today. Check the new 'Latest updates' section there.. To all my visitors I'd like to say: 'Thank you for visiting and welcome back'. Click here for older (2000) updates. Click here for older (1999) updates. Click here for older (1998) updates. Click here for older (1997) updates. Click here for older (1996) updates. |
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