Subject: acka-research-digest V3 #153
From: [email-masked] (acka-research-digest)
To: [email-masked]

acka-research-digest      Wednesday, July 8 1998      Volume 03 : Number 153

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Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 09:59:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: John Frederic Mc Coy <[email-masked]>
Subject: Acka: RFC: Land Draft (final)

Well, its been a long time in coming, but this is my final draft of the
land reform and geography RFC.  Most of this you have seen before (if you
were interested enough to read it).  This is the complete text of what I
plan to submit in the next few days (assuming no one has any good
suggestions).  The only changes from my previous submissions are a few
tweaks and renumberings to ensure that Rules not actually in the Locations
"section" of the ruleset don't come into serious conflict with the new
system.  I also have gone over to a map of a fixed size, although that
size can be changed by a Really Bad Earthquake (my euphemism for
circumstances that require more or less land than we have left).
Consequently, I had to rewrite the earthquakes rule to get them to do what
was needed, and I've included a Really Bad Earthquake going off after this
is all put into the rules, as a chance for the Map-harfer to get things
set-up properly.  So look it over, and vote for it when I propose it a few
days hence.

RFC: Geography

Amend Rule 1217 Buried treasure! by dding the following sentence as a
seperate paragraph at the end of the rule:  The word "map" as used in this
rule, refers only to Treasure Maps.

Renumber Rule 835 Locations to 810.  In section 7b) of this rule, change
the number 836 to 812.

Renumber Rule 836 Down the River to 812.

Create a new Rule 801, entitled Geography, with the following MCNALLY
delimited text.

MCNALLY

The geography of Ackanomic is, for the most part, a mystery to its
inhabitants.  Few maps have survived from the time of the Ancients.
Frequent earthquakes and the treacherous Wilds of Ackanomic make
exploration and cartography difficult.  What little is known is described
in this and other Rules.

Ackanomic consists of many regions.  A region is a collection of locations
which are close to each other in Ackanomic.  No single location can be
found in more than one region.  Locations are all assumed to be in the
City, unless specified otherwise.  If it is clear from context that a
location is not in the City, but its exact region is unclear, then it is
in The Outer Territories.

The center of Ackanomic is The Lonely Mountain, which is a location that
owns itself.  The Lonely Mountain can be found on a Kaa of land in the
City, which it also owns.  No player may visit, own, or otherwise alter
The Lonely Mountain and its Kaa unless explictly permited to by the Rules.

The City is a region of Ackanomic located the area surrounding The Lonely
Mountain. It is where all  Kaas of Land and all Buildings are located,
unless otherwise specified by the Rules.

The Wilds of Ackanomic (wilds) are a region which surrounds the City.

Beyond the Wilds of Ackanomic is the region known only as the Outer
Territories.

{{[The basic purpose of this rule would be to establish the locations of
Locations.  I think the three regions I've introduced cover everything we
know about Acka thus far, except perhaps Moons and space, which I'd rather
leave alone simply because this is probably too big of a proposal
already.  For similiar reasons, I've left the definitions of the regions
vague and thus avoided having to rewrite another half dozen rules.]}}

MCNALLY

Create a new Rule 820, entitled Land, with the following
BLAH delimited text.

BLAH
Kaas of Land are tradeable entities.  A Kaa of Land is one Kaa in size.
Kaas of Land are all seperate Locations, located in the City.  Kaas of
Land are Common Locations unless specified otherwise.  Unowned Kaas of
Land are also known as common land.  The exact number of Kaas in the City
varies, as earthquakes and other developments can create and destroy them.
There are never less than 144 Kaas, however.  Kaas are never in the
Treasury, even if unowned.

Kaas of Land have positions relative to each other.  They are sqaure
in shape, and arranged in a grid pattern, which is itself square.  Thus
every Kaa is bordered on all 4 sides by another Kaa of land, or by another
Location specified by the Rules.

Since ancient times, the peoples of Acka have used The Lonely Mountain, at
the center of Ackanomic, as their reference for describing the positions
of Kaas.  Each Kaa can be refered to through the use of a coordinate
system with The Lonely Mountain at the center.  The coordinates of a Kaa
of land are how many kaas to the North, or South, the Kaa is from The
Lonely Mountain, prefaced by an N if it is North or an S if it is South.
This is followed by a second number, the number of kaas to the East or
West the Kaa is from The Lonely Mountain, prefaced by an E for East or W
for West.  Thus a Kaa which is 4 kaas North and 3 kaas West of The Lonely
Mountain has the coordinates of (N4 W3).  If a kaa is directly East or
West of The Lonely Mountain, then the first number of its coordinates is a
zero, prefaced by an N.  If a Kaa of Land is directly North or South of
The Lonely Mountain, then the second number of its coordiantes is zero,
prefaced by a W.  The Lonely Mountain's coordinates are always (N0 W0).

BLAH

Create a new Rule numbered 821, with the title Real Estate, with the
following $$$ delimited text.

$$$
A player may purchase an empty, unowned Kaa of Land for A$50.  He must 
specify the position of this Kaa, in terms of its coordinates.

A player may purchase an unowned Kaa of land with a building on it only if
that building is not mentioned in the Rules.  The cost of this land is
A$50 plus half the cost of the building (including the cost of any towers)
on that land. If purchasing a Kaa of land would cause the building on it
to be destroyed, then the player must instead pay A$50 plus the cost of
the destruction of the building to purchase the Kaa.

Players may sell Kaas that they own to the Treasury for A$25 each. They
cannot sell a Kaa in this manner that has a building on it, unless they
are selling all of the Kaas on which that building is located.
$$$

{{[This essentially replaces the Land Baroncy rule.  It eliminates Senate
approval of purchases, something I never saw any reason for.  It does
include a number of restrictions, most importantly one preventing people
from buying things like the Senate or the Hall of Elders.  I've
included the ability to sell back unwanted Kaas.]}}

Amend Rule 839 Buildings by applying the following ARGH delimited changes.

ARGH
Renumber the Rule to 825.

Replace "A building is a class of entity in Ackanomic which can be of six
sizes:" with "Buildings are a class of entities, they are also locations.
When created, each building requires a number of Kaas which are not
occupied by another building (empty), and are contiguous, on which the
building is placed.  The number of Kaas depends on the size of the
building.  There are 6 possible sizes for buildings, listed below along
with the number of Kaas of space they take up:"

Insert a new paragraph between the paragraph ending with "extravagant (12
land units)" and the one begining with "A player may own" that reads:
Buildings are attached to the Kaas on which they have been built.  They
cannot be removed from them or otherwise altered except as specified in
the rules.

Delete the last sentence from the paragraph begining with: The Senate

{{[now part of a new rule]}}

Add the following text to the end of paragraph begining with "A player may
change the name":  A player may post a description of a building he owns
at any time.  This then becomes the description of that building, provided
that the description is in accordance with the Rules.  Giving a
description of a building which is not in accordance with the Rules is the
Crime of Acting Like a Realtor.

{{[This doesn't really change anything significant, but it does
consolidate to some extent the Rules on buildings.  The next set of
changes sets up a Rule dealing with building purchases.  I think the
prices should probably be changed, but I'll leave that for another
time.]}}

ARGH

Renumber Rule 846 Constructions and Architectual Aesthetic to 826, and
make the following GRANDE delimited changes to its text.

GRANDE
Delete the last three paragraphs and replace them with the following text:

When purchasing a new building, a player must unambiguously specify a Kaa
or Kaas of land on which the building will be placed.  He must also
specify the size of the building and pay the construction cost for a
building of said size.  Construction of a building is only successful if
the player purchasing the building specifies sufficient contiguous, empty
land, owned by himself, for the new building to fit. If he does not,
construction fails, and his A$ is returned.  If it succeeds, the building
is created in the specified location, owned by the purchasing player.

If a building is destroyed, it and any towers attached to it no longer
exist. If a building is damaged, it can be repaired by paying the
rebuilding cost.  For the cost of an upgrade, a player may increase the
size of a building he owns to the next largest size, provided that he
specifies a sufficient number of empty Kaas which he owns that are
contiguous to the current location of the building for the larger
building. Extravagant buildings cannot be upgraded.  No player may
destroy, rebuild, or upgrade a building he does not own, except as
described in the rules.

GRANDE

Amend Rule 841 Towers by replacing the string "An Ostentatious Tower is a
tower that a player adds to a building they own" in section 1) with: An
Ostentatious Tower is a tower that a player adds to a building they own,
or builds as a stand-alone tower not attached to any building

Amend Rule 841 Towers by deleting the last sentence of section 3) and
replacing it with the following REALTALL delimited text:

REALTALL
Towers that are added to buildings are considered to be attached to those
buildings.  A tower may only be attached to one building.  Towers are
always owned by the owner of the land on which they are built, or the
owner of the building to which they are attached.  Towers cannot be
removed from buildings to which they are attached, or be attached to a
building after they have been built as a stand-alone.  Towers cannot be
attached to other towers.
REALTALL

Amend Rule 841 by adding the following PARROT delimited text to the end
of section 6):

PARROT
A stand-alone tower's size is small if it is less than 70 meters in
height, cosy if it is 140 to 559 meters in height, classy if it is 560 or
more meters in height.  Regardless of their size, stand-alone towers
require only 1 Kaa of land.  Towers attached to buildings do not effect
the size of the building in any way.
PARROT

{{[these two changes give towers a little more connectedness with
buildings, and better defines free-standing towers.]}}

Repeal Rule 844 Land Baroncy {{[My original goal.]}}

Create a new Rule, numbered 843, with the title Maps, and the following
YIPPE delimted text:

YIPPE

Maps are a class of unownable named entities.  Maps are depictions of the
physical layout of places in the Game of Ackanomic.  The rules may call
for certain maps to be publicly displayed.  If this is the case, then the
officer responsible for that map must maintain a WWW page with an copy of
said map.  The recommended medium is HTML with clickable images/cgi, but
any clear representation, including a text description, is acceptable
so long as it is accurate.  If applicable, the map should include links to
other relevant material, such as its contents or other maps. 

YIPPE

Create a new Rule 844 Here There Be Dragons, with the following
XERXES delimited text:

XERXES

The Map of Ackanomic is a map of the earth as it is known [described in
the rules].  It is maintained by the Map-Harfer, who is permitted to
change it as necessary to reflect new discoveries.  The Map of Ackanomic
is not overly detailed, but at a minimum it must depict any regions found
on the surface of the earth.  The Map-Harfer is permitted to fill any
blank areas of the Map of Ackanomic with wild speculations about the
nature of said areas, but these speculations are almost certainly wrong.

XERXES

Rename Rule 845 Map to Map of the City.  Then amend this rule to read in
the following CROUTON delimited manner:

CROUTON

{{The Map of Ackanomia is renamed to The Map of the City.}}

The Map of the City is a map which represents the region of Ackanomic
known as the City.  It should display all locations found within the
City (that are not themselves within another location).  This includes,
but is not limited to, Kaas of land, Buildings, and Towers.  The Map of
the City should also represent in some way whatever lies immediately
outside the bounds of the City, if anything.  The City itself is always
square, and the Lonely Mountain is always as close to the center of the
City as possible, given other limitations.

The Map-harfer is the officer in charge of the Map of the City, and is
responsible for maintaining its accuracy.  If a location is known to be in
the City, but exactly where it is in the city is unknown, then it is
the duty of the Map-harfer to specify a place on the map for that
location.

CROUTON

Create a new Rule 847, entitled Earthquakes, with the following RICHTER
delimited text:

RICHTER

Ackanomic, especially in the region of the City, is distressingly prone to
earthquakes.  These earthquakes are constantly reshaping the land,
requiring constant updating of maps.  Whenever an earthquake occurs, all
hell will break loose, fire shall rain from the sky, and the earth will 
be rent with gigantic chasms.  All players shall scream in terror and run
around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Earthquakes can be triggered by any number of events.  When an
earthquake is triggered, it will occur when it is publicly announced that
an earthquake has hit Ackanomic.  Such announcements may only be made in
accordance with the Rules.  After an earthquake, it is the duty of the
Map-harfer to formulate a new map of the City and place it on display as
described in this rule. The new map must contain all the locations present
on the old map, but their positions may be changed in any way the
Map-harfer sees fit, so long as he obeys the following guidelines:

1) Buildings remain on the same Kaas on which they were built (although
the position of the Kaas may be changed).
2) A set of Kaas with a Building on them must remain contiguous.
3) Locations whose positions are specified in the Rules must remain in
those positions.

The Map-harfer has 7 days to prepare and publically display this new map.
It is permissible for the new map to be identical with the old map.  Once
the map is on public display, the Map-harfer must announce that Business
as Usual has resumed.  Until he does so, no player may purchase or sell
land or buildings.

There is a speical type of earthquake which is called a Really Bad
Earthquake. They are identical to regular earthquakes in most respects,
but they are triggered by slightly different cirumstances, and do have
slightly different effects.  Really Bad Earthquakes differ from regular
earthquakes in the following ways: After Really Bad Earthquakes
the Map-harfer has 10 days to prepare the new map rather than 7, but the
new map must not be the same as the old map. Nor may the new map be
such that another Really Bad Earthquake would immediately be triggered
by this Rule. The Map-Harfer may author a CSR within three days of
announcing that a Really Bad Earthquake has occured, he should restrict
this CSR to altering the Rules in regards to Locations.  Really Bad
Earthquakes have the ability to add or remove new unowned Kaas to the
outside edge of the City, so long as the City remains square.

A Really Bad Earthquake is triggered by any of the following events, this
list is not exclusive:

There are fewer then 10 unowned Kaas of land in the City.

There are fewer then 4 contiguous unowned Kaas of land in the City.

Less than half of the Kaas of land in the City are owned.

The Rules call for Kaas to be given to a player or other entity, but there
are insufficient Kaas available on the Map [Such as a new player joining
but there being no empty Kaas available]. If this triggers a Really Bad
Earthquake, then the player or entity will not be given his Kaas until
after Business as Usual has resumed.

The above provisions notwithstanding, a Really Bad Earthquake cannot
remove Kaas of land which have owned buildings on them, or buildings
mentioned in the Rules, or Kaas mentioned in the Rules.  Nor may they
remove so many Kaas of land that the City has fewer less than 144 Kaas of
land within it. Really Bad Earthquakes cannot alter locations in the City
other than Kaas (and the buildings found therein), except by changing
their position on the Map of the City (in the same manner as a normal
earthquake).

This Rule has precedence in matters concerning earthquakes, maps, and
land, over all other rules.

RICHTER

Amend Rule 423 Map-Harfer to have the following MOXIE delimited text:

MOXIE

The Office of Map-Harfer is a Functional Office.

The duties of the Map-Harfer include:

a) To maintain and make publically available a list of the locations of
all entities, including players, for which locations are known or
specified.

b) To maintain the Map of Ackanomic, and the Map of the City, as specified
in the Rules.

c) To maintain any other maps which do not have another Officer assigned
to maintain them.

d) To announce when an earthquake or Really Bad Earthquake has been
triggered, in accordance with the Rules, at which point that Earthquake
occurs, unless the Rules specify another Officer to announce the occurance
of a particular earthquake [In other words, the Map-harfer announces
earthquakes that no one else announces].

The priviliges of the Map-harfer include the following, they may also be
exercised by Acting Map-Harfers:

1) To appoint Assistant Map-Harfers to assist his in the execution of
duties b) and c) above.

2) The Map-Harfer may, by public announcement, cause an earthquake to
occur, provided he has not exercised this ability within the last 7 days.
This is in addition to announcing the occurance of earthquakes as per duty
d) above.

A Really Bad Earthquake is triggered when this sentence is added to a
Rule, this sentence then deletes itself.

MOXIE

Amend Rule 975 Yes Virginia by replacing the second paragraph with the
following:

The Voting Gnome has a home.  It is located on a plot of land at the
extreme northern end of Ackanomic called the North Stick.  The home itself
is a cozy building, with a 40 meter tower that looks suspiciously like a
chimney.  It is named The Voting Gnome's Workshop.  The North Stick and
The Voting Gnome's Workshop are both Locations, but they are not common
locations.  They are both owned by the Voting Gnome.  Whenever the Voting
Gnome's location is not otherwise specified, he is in his home.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 11:49:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC: Land Draft (final)

On Wed, 8 Jul 1998, John Frederic Mc Coy wrote:

[Land reform RFC snipped]

Vynd, I like it a lot, but think you missed just a couple things :)
You might want to modify the Wilds and the River rules so that they don't
end up being in the city :) (from your initial rule, all locations unless
specified otherwise would be in the City, thus I believe that both of
these would end up in the city, and that seems wierd :)

I think there might be some other locations with similar problems, but I
haven't checked them out yet.

- --JT

[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]
[ Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.                  ]
[ It's hard to seize the day when you must first grapple with the morning ]
[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 14:17:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: John Frederic Mc Coy <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Acka: RFC: Land Draft (final)

Oops.  JT is right, I bungled with the incorporation of THe Wilds into the
new system.  Perhaps not quite as badly as he thought, The Wilds are
defined as a region which surrounds the City in my new Rule 810, but there
would still be conflicting language in the old Locations rule, just to
make things messy.  So I've made some changes, and in the process
introduced another new concept, huzah!  The Wilds are now unambiguously a
region, regions are unambiguously not found inside of each other, and
regions now have default locations, to which people will go if they simply
declare that "I'm going to The Wilds of Ackanomic."  The relevent changes
are here for all to see:

Amend Rule 835 Locations in the following QUADRANGLE delimited manner.

QUADRANGLE

Renumber the Rule to 810.

Delete section 6), 6a) and 6b), replace them with the following: 6) If a
player leaves a Location without specifying a destination, or their
location is otherwise undefined, and they cannot go totheir Home, then
they go to The Wilds of Ackanomic.

In section 7), replace "deep in the wilds" with: deep in The Wilds of
Ackanomic.

In section 7b), replace 836 with 812.

QUADRANGLE

Renumber Rule 836 Down the River to 812.

Create a new Rule 801, entitled Geography, with the following MCNALLY
delimited text.

MCNALLY

The geography of Ackanomic is, for the most part, a mystery to its
inhabitants.  Few maps have survived from the time of the Ancients.
Frequent earthquakes and the treacherous Wilds of Ackanomic make
exploration and cartography difficult.  What little is known is described
in this and other Rules.

Ackanomic consists of many regions.  A region is a collection of locations
which are close to each other in Ackanomic.  No single location can be
found in more than one region.  Locations are all assumed to be in the
City, unless specified otherwise.  If it is clear from context that a
location is not in the City, but its exact region is unclear, then it is
in The Outer Territories. Regions are not themselves locations, no region
can be inside, or part of, another region.

The center of Ackanomic is The Lonely Mountain, which is a location that
owns itself.  The Lonely Mountain can be found on a Kaa of land in the
City, which it also owns.  No player may visit, own, or otherwise alter
The Lonely Mountain and its Kaa unless explictly permited to by the Rules.

If a player or other entity enters, voluntarily or otherwise, a region,
without having a location specified as their destination, then they go to
the default location for that region, or one of them, chosen at random,
if there is more than one. If the region has no default location, then
that attempt to enter it fails.

The City is a region of Ackanomic located the area surrounding The Lonely
Mountain. It is where all  Kaas of Land and all Buildings are located,
unless otherwise specified by the Rules. The default location for the City
is the Library.

The Wilds of Ackanomic are a region which surrounds the City. Full of
strange plants and animals, they can be quite dangerous to visit.
The default location for The Wilds of Ackanomic is the wilds, which is a
very large common location that consists of all the land in The Wilds of
Ackanomic that is not specified to be a location of its own.

Beyond the Wilds of Ackanomic is the region known only as the Outer
Territories.

{{[The basic purpose of this rule would be to establish the locations of
Locations.  I think the three regions I've introduced cover everything we
know about Acka thus far, except perhaps Moons and space, which I'd rather
leave alone simply because this is probably too big of a proposal
already.  For similiar reasons, I've left the definitions of the regions
vague and thus avoided having to rewrite another half dozen rules.]}}

MCNALLY

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 22:51:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: JT <[email-masked]>
Subject: RL Barbecue  (fwd)

While I realize most of you are outside of the state of Washington, I
figured I'd let you all know about this just in case any of you wanted to
show up.  There isn't any crash space available at my house (we have only
2 bedrooms, and have a guest that weekend which is the reason for the BBQ
:)  If from some strange quirk of fate you want to show up, please let me
know :)

- --JT

[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]
[ Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.                  ]
[ It's hard to seize the day when you must first grapple with the morning ]
[-------------------------------------------------------------------------]

- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 23:20:58 -0700
From: Melissa Tabbifli <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: RL Barbecue 

Hi folks!  Below, you'll find a barbecue invitiation.  Anyone's
welcome to show up - just be aware that we cannot provide crash space,
so if you're coming from further away, please make sure you have
someplace to sleep.

- -- Tabbi

                       You are invited to the

                  "Tabbi's Being Social" Barbecue

                     at Tabbi, JT and Alex's place!

Tabbi, in a fit of insanity, has agreed to host a social.  This year,
it's a barbecue.  If enough people like the idea and help out, it can
be an ice-cream social, too.

                Date: Saturday, July 18
                Time: Noon until 10 (we need our beauty sleep!)
                Where: Our House! Directions below
                Who's invited: You! Anyone we know! Anyone you think
                               we ought to know!

Feel free to send this around to anyone who might possibly want it and
who knows us.

RSVP's aren't necessary, but they'd be NICE.  We'd like to know
roughly how many people we'll be faced with. If you're bringing
children, however, please let us know in advance, so we can childproof
the library as a play room and set up Disney on the VCR.

Food that we'll provide: Hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, potato salad,
some chips, and soda.  If you want something else (such as
Gardenburgers for the health-concious), let us know so we can get
it. Also! Anyone who wants to is welcome to bring food - just call and
let Tabbi know what you're bringing if it's something other than
chips, so we don't have too much duplication.

We will not be providing (much) alcohol (we may have some).  If you
want something special, or want to show off your latest batch of home
brew, bring it with you. There'll be people sure to enjoy it with you.

Cats - We have them. They will be put in a room away from the
excitement, but there's still sure to be fur everyplace, so if you're
allergic, take your meds.

ADDRESS:  196th Street SW, Lynnwood

PHONE: (425) 673-1818

DIRECTIONS: 

1. FROM I-405: drive north until you reach I-5.  Take the SOUTH I-5 exit.
   You'll be in an exit only lane - you want this exit.  At the top of
   the off-ramp, take a right.  This will put you on to 196th.

   FROM I-5 Southbound: Take the first Lynnwood / Alderwood exit - #181,
   right where I-405 merges.  Take a right at the top of the off-ramp, and
   this will put you on to 196th.

   FROM I-5 northbound: Take the second Lynnwood / Alderwood exit, #181
   B.  At the end of the off-ramp, take a left.  You'll be on Poplar Way.
   At the next light, take a left.  You're now on 196th.

 Continue (west) down 196th until you pass Highway 99.

   FROM Highway 99 Northbound: When you pass the Jimbo's on the left,
   make sure you're in the left turn lane.  Turn left onto 196th.

   FROM Highway 99 Southbound: When you pass the Albertsons on the right,
   make sure you're in the right turn lane.  Turn right onto 196th and
   merge.

2. Continue through the 64th and 68th intersections (both will have
   stop lights).

3. After 68th street, start looking for the big pink and white swan
   board on the right. When you see the swan, slow down.

4. The complex is Edgewood North, the sign is white and
   greenish-blue. It's also slightly hard to read. Turn right into the
   complex.

   IF you reach 76th and see the QFC on your left, you've gone too
   far. Turn around, and go back about a block and a half, we're the
   complex across from the Hidden Path Cafe strip mall.

5. Park anyplace without a carport over it.  NOTE: You CAN park in
   the lot around the small office building that shares the driveway.
   Please park there first, there's very little free parking in the
   complex and the management gets irritable if residents can't park.

6. Walk around the garages to the townhouses behind.  We're in E-2,
   the second door facing the garages.

7. Knock or ring, then come in, take off your shoes, and have fun!

Hope to see you there. 

------------------------------

End of acka-research-digest V3 #153
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