Step away from the fags or we waste Roo

The 26th of January. Australia Day, a day of antipodean celebration, relaxation, community and ... pharmaceutical companies using cute animals to push nicotine replacement therapy (surely some mistake? Ed).

Australia Day. A great day to give up. While celebrating Australia Day, you may have slipped. Please, don’t give up on giving up. To stay on the right track go to nicabate.com.au

Remember. You may take the day off but the righteous never do. They are watching. Always.

This message is brought to you by SmithklineBeecham, a great British company.

Poll: Scotblogs awards

Hey, my fellow countrymen/women have an award system for the best Scottish blog? I've never heard of half of them but Subrosa and RantinRab stand out...so if you want to see what they are saying North of the Border then have a look see...

Poll: Scotblogs awards

None so blind

They just don't get it, do they?

Official figures show about a third of young Scots aged 16 to 24 smoke, a level not seen for a decade despite the introduction of the smoking ban.

Despite?

Try "as a result of".

It doesn't take a Brainfart…

…to realise that this blog champions the rights of smokers and the purity of Freedom2Choose, of which I am a proud paid up member. But it may take the biggest of brainfarts to realise that there are other bloggers (yes, they are real people) out there who have other things on their mind…like…well, take last weeks blogosphere’s rantings for instance:

Well, not quite a rant but a thought provoking joke from pavlovscat, that caught my eye…yes, I know, it’s an old joke but still it’s an oldie but goody.

Meanwhile Tory Bear sucks British blogosphere royal co.., whilst going on the attack at another party…UKIP.

Back to comedic tones…or is it? JuliaM, on her blog, sexes up her views on…er…fat people having sex. I jest so you need to read her blog in it’s entirety, she has something to say about UK’s silliest lawmaking daftness.

Meanwhile one of my kinsmen thinks it is about time for a makeover:

He might need it but his acerbic wit does not.

There are loads of blogs that I’d like to mention but it is Tuesday and I have been partaking of  that middle class phonon called ‘whine tasting.’ no, you didn’t read that wrong!

Before I get my knickers in a twist here’s the best of the rest!

Old Holborn went for a walk (again?) this time for the camera, (Again!) But I do love him, don't you?

Will Constantly Furious stop being Constantly Furious I wonder?  I doubt it.

 

Ok, it’s Tuesday and I am a bit late with this, and there are a helluva lot of bloggers out there who float my boat but I have not mentioned them…yet! You know who you are and I will get to you, not on a Tuesday but next Sunday…

Blogger Tags: Last weeks blog roundup.

Do smoking parents turn their children into psychopaths?

The brothers, now 11 and 12, were detained for a minimum of five years

Is there no depths the establishment will go to taint smokers who have children:

The judge was told about years of domestic violence and how one of the boys was exposed to horror videos, pornography, drinking, drugs and cigarettes.

Why bring the fact that the parents smoke? Did smoking turn them into psychopaths? Didn’t these children ever see their pals smoke?

The mind boggles.

H/T to Anna Raccoon

Blogger Tags: Psychopaths, Smokers, Parents, Feral kids, Who's to blame?

ASH thrive on DEATH

My attention was drawn to the ASH website by one of our members-a trawl through was required me-thought! I found several interesting headings, some of which I will draw your attention to'

AIR - Atmosphere Improves Results (External Web Page)
Tobacco industry initiative with advice to pubs and restaurants showing that smoke-free areas make financial sense. But emphasis is on expensive ventilation and making pub-owners spend to clean the air rather than ban smoking -
yet when we visit the page indicated we see pictures of happy, smiling smokers having no choice but to sit outside under massive umbrellas. T-shirts worn, so we can take it that it was mid summer then! Yet "choice" is mentioned and so is "ventilation"., but where are either? So as far as ASH are concerned smokers can die outside from hypothermia just so long as they don't smoke a cigarette in an empty, soulless pub that probably can't afford to put the heating on anymore!

European Commission Tobacco page (External Web Page)
Tobacco is the single largest cause of avoidable death in the European Union accounting for over half a million deaths each year and over a million deaths in Europe as a whole. It is estimated that 25% of all cancer deaths and 15% of all deaths in the Union could be attributed to smoking.
This link is the European Commission Public Health, Tobacco page with access to EU policy, legislation, FAQs and key EU documentation.
-half a million going up to over a million, fear factor figures yet again from the ASHITES! They then state 'It is extimated.....', yes ESTIMATED!....could be attributed to smoking. Again they deal in death tolls as if smoking were the biggest killer on the planet. What they don't mention is the simple fact that people die everyday to make way for new life being created. It's called the circle of life. This planet of ours could not cope with no deaths and only new life. When your time has come, it's come - whether you smoke or not!

02 Smoking and Disease (Purchase Hard Copy £0.20) [page 1]
Smoking causes almost 90% of deaths from lung cancer, around 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema, and around 17% of deaths from heart disease.
About one third of all cancer deaths can be attributed to smoking.
-90%...80%...nice big frightening figures yet again but the bottom line tells the truth! About one third of all cancer deaths can be attributed to smoking. To me, just a simple soul, that is one hell of a drop in percentages. Does this indicate that the other 67% of deaths that involve everything else except cancer don't matter to ASH? Road deaths, train crashes, aeroplane accidents, ships sinking, explosions - even old age expirations make up the other 67% yet they concentrate on the 33% to drumbeat with not a mention of some of our centenarians who have smoked all their lives! "Cherry picking" springs to mind here folks!

ASH News and Events Bulletin – 1-15 January 2007 (Internal Web Page)HEADLINES Tobacco News CONTENTS: Tobacco News Latest smokefree compliance data – Nov 2007 Turkey passes law to ban smoking in public place ...
-yes Turkey fell into line with the anti smoking diktat but what they didn't report in glaringly large letters was the fact that only 12 days into the Turkish smoke ban a bar owner wa shot dead by an angry smoker who was incensed that his custom was suddenly forced outside! Smoke bans are good for business owners then - if they live long enough to run them!

ASH News and Events Bulletin – 15-30 January 2009 (Internal Web Page)HEADLINES Tobacco News Government releases 2007 adult smoking prevalence figures Yorkshire lawyer tackles illegal tobacco trade Wales: 22m counterfei ...
Wales: 22m counterfeit cigarettes found
"The biggest ever single haul of counterfeit cigarettes in Wales has been discovered in Cardiff. The fake branded Classic Gold and Raquel cigarettes were hidden in three 40ft containers, within a cargo of bed linen and towels on a ship from Dubai. Customs officers found the consignment, worth £5m just before Christmas. It was the biggest haul in the UK last year."
- No surprise here then folks! What did governments expect when they try to clamp down on peoples pleasures? People enjoy smoking, it is a comfort to many but it is being demonised at every turn by the people in power and not just those in Westminster. The last line is laughable really, I quote, "Buying cheap, smuggled cigarettes isn't a bargain - it means trading with criminals," Aren't we being run by another set of criminals? Aren't ASH and other self styled quango's forcing their will on the people against the will of 25% of the people? Aren't they discriminating against a minority contrary to European Law which clearly states otherwise? Are our government not performing crimminal acts by closing businesses down on a daily business with bad laws like the smoking ban, forcing people into unemployment, causing bankruptcies left right & centre, homelessness and suicides? Smoking is a legal past-time, they have illegalised a legal pursuit in the very heart of its enjoyment sector! Criminality in excelsious!

Picture warnings to appear on cigarette packs from 1 October
-even a picture of a slabbed cadaver! Rotting teeth from a child over stuffed on Delrosa probably (the teeth are not those of an adult) and the coup de gras is the gruesome picture of an unfortunate gentleman with all sorts of growths purportedly caused by smoking-well he must smoke 10 billion pur tar cigarettes to achieve that 'portrait du excellance'! The picture actually reminds one of an impoverished 3rd world country that has never seen any form of medical services, hence the very high death rate in low age groups - still the picture fits the image ASG & others like to portray!
Bizarrely enough, several people have actually cut and pasted these images out and created their own cigarette card mini album for posterity! 90% of smokers spoken to have stated that the pictures leave them unmoved so the message of death & disease is failing yet ASH hailed the new picture gallery as a major step forward in the war against tobacco!

Fall in hospital admissions for heart attack since smoking ban
-we have seen the fantastic reports of heart attack reductions but all have been totally debunked by professional statisticians. The Helena Miracle, The Pueblo Study and the laughable Scottish Study by Dr Jill Pell have all been destroyed by people who know how to interpret figures correctly-but we have always said the the ban was partly brought in on the back of manipulated statistics! ASH don't care-they like big numbers OF DEATHS!

Smokefree law has saved 40,000 lives
-now we get to the glorifications, big numbers yet again, but can they be proven?
".....400,000 people quit the habit since the ban was introduced a year ago, which researchers say will prevent 40,000 deaths over the next 10 years." 400,000 people may have visited 'quit smoking' centres initially but there are no figures for continuance up to and including a twelve month period so these wondrous figures are merely another fabrication of self indulgent numerical acrobatics!
".....researchers say will prevent 40,000 deaths over the next 10 years." So we are now down to a figure of less comsequence as 4,000 deaths per annum in a population of 65 million is neither here nor there! We can remind ourselves that ASH even use death to their own advantage as evidenced by Ms Deborah Arnotts rapid praise for the departed non smoker and anti smoking activist MP, David Taylor, after suffering a heart attack whilst taking a RELAXING walk in his Nth leicestershire constituency on Boxing Day 2009. I remember david standing on the grass outside Parliament stating the above mantra and wondering what evidence this 'research was based upon?' What David's untimely demise did prove however, was that ASH use any death to promote their bigotted cause and maintain their government funding.
Further down the page we find this absolute gem:-
Majority of licensees support smokefree law
Despite the majority of licensees losing cash because of the smoking ban, a poll has found that more and more are supporting the measure.
The 1,500 licensees quizzed by CGA Strategy were asked if they still supported the smoking ban. Sixty four per cent answered yes - an increase of seven per cent from the 57 per cent who said they supported the ban from the start.
-well, that's that sorted then folks. All businesses are exceedingly happy to lose customers because because of the smoking ban. What an utter load of crap! I haven't found more than 2 licensees in the whole of Leicester who support that theory and 1 of those pubs is run by two old ladies who stare at a virtually empty pub day & night. They swear by the smoke ban yet earn nothing on a daily basis-yet I did see two 'old boys' supping half a lager each last week, wow, were those tills ringing. many city centre pubs now close early, many don't even open at dinner times to save needless expenditure. The f2c "Smoking Gun" survey (available soon) will show a completely different outlook on the above - but will ASH or Governments take the truth onboard?
It is interesting to note that a survey of the WMCIU revealed that 98% wanted CHOICE for they are losing £13.1m per annum in bar takings-not to mention the massive downturn in gaming machine revenues, staff lay-offs, Bingo sales slaughtered, the dearth of musicians now not performing. The list is endless but CHOICE would have solved that financial earthquake. ASH never mention the DEATH of social structures and the isolation of the elderly and infirm.

Smokers cough up £100,000 fines in Liverpool
-Amazingly there is a report about how much one city has gleefully raked in from the leperised smokers with Liverpool boasting a figure of £100,000 in penalties. yes, some people are lazy and see the drains and gutters as depositories but have Liverpool Council provided smokers with ASHtray topped bins to stub out their fag ends? Nope, they have employed an army of 'smoker watchers' in an attempt to target the much beleagured smokers now forced outside. The smoke ban has turned into a money factory for the judicial system and, worse still, the judicial system is now corrupted by the new smoke ban laws (as will be evidenced later).
Pricemarked packs of Roll Your Own
-Not surprisingly Golden Virginia have reported an 8% rise in sales as smokers shy away from the ever greedy government tax pressures on packs of 20. Thinking about the above situation it is even easier to see why as poorer folk cabn afford roll ups and can get considerably more from a 12.5gram pouch than from a 20 pack of tailormade! Also, roll ups are 'bio-degradable' which means that rain etc simply washes them away and reduces them to nothing whereas one report stated that a filter tip could take up to 20 years to decompose! No excuse for littering I accept but the logic is easy to spot. Also it is widely accepted that rolling tobacco is 'healthier' for you than tailormade cigarettes-much to ASH's chagrin!

So, from what can be gleaned on the website all ASH are interested in is the biggest anti smoking, social engineering programme the world has ever seen. By getting continuous funding from governments worldwide they are free to delve into peoples lives on a daily basis. They don't care about smokers feeling, smokers needs (for it is obvious that people are born to smoke or not-as the case maybe). They care not about the stress caused by failing businesses, the heart attacks caused by the threats of insolvency, bankruptcy & homelessness. They are in business to earn money through depriving others of what they enjoy.
Let's imagine tobacco is outlawed worldwide thus £billions in revenue are lost - who are going to be the first to scream like 'stuck pigs' when income tax has to rise by £0/30p to compensate? of course-the non smokers!
Let's imagine their are are no smokers on the planet. ASH will not be in business anymore for they will have no job to do, they will all be redundant courtesy of their own vilification of 25% of the population-wouldn't that be hilarious? They are on a self unemployment programme by virtue of their own actions and although it will never happen as people will always choose to smoke, ASH may one day die from their own non smoking programme!

Oh JOY!

Buried heads cannot speak for pubs

MIDDLETON brewer JW Lees has blamed another poor summer and the continuing impact of the smoking ban introduced in 2007 for a 34 per cent drop in profits in the year to March 31, 2009.

Once you get past the corporate appeasement policy of the UK pub industry, the crippling effects of the smoking ban are all too clear.

“Draught beer sales dropped by 10 per cent for the third year on a row in November,” [Managing director William Lees-Jones] said.

“However, one thing we’ve been able to do as a private business is to help our tenants much earlier when others were still burying their heads in the sand.”

Although he could be talking about many a pubco, Punch Taverns instantly spring to mind.

Yet still the beer industry spokespeople fail to address the issue of freedom of choice. The BBPA are still not interested, and as for CAMRA, well what can one say that hasn't been said before?

It's worth noting that in countries where bars are still, in the main, owned by people, and not huge organisations who trade more on property and rent income than beer sales, resistance to smoking bans is vehement.

The smoking ban kills ... pubs. It really is as simple as that.

Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: The politics of the playground

Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: The politics of the playground

Like many a political leader before him, the Mayor of Santa Cruz is learning that when it comes to tobacco, nothing you do is ever good enough to satisfy the prohibitionists.

As reported previously, Santa Cruz recently enforced an outdoor smoking ban to go along with its many other anti-smoking laws. Santa Cruz resident Ethan Epstein describes how 'comprehensive' these bans are:

When politicians had balls and ASH were, well, the same as now

How things change. Back in 1990, parliamentarians frowned sternly on corrupt practices by ASH. Here is a video which illustrates it perfectly.



So what has changed? Well, nowadays government pays ASH, and nowadays their claims are left unquestioned.

Oh yeah, and nowadays our politicians don't possess the same spine as they did in 1990.

What a stink-over pollution!

This a joy to behold folks, for the truth is finally starting to emerge - from the enironment people of all people!
We are used to being shunned as smokers, for we supposedly clog up the airways, turn people into 'walking stinkbombs', foul the air in pubs & clubs-oops, sorry, used to that should be!
We irritate by standing in doorways puffing away and of course the lone non smoker that invades the new clean air pub has to 'fight his way through' cumulous clouds of second hand smoke so that he can enjoy his nightly single pint - which of course saves the pub industry as a whole! (?)
We listen to all the garbage spouted by the oh so righteous 'it's a filthy habit' non smokers and think to ourselves "for God's sake when will you listen to US?"
Well now, courtesy of the Environment Agency (the tribe that watch smokers every move lest we 'pollute' the air) have delivered that which we have stated since day 1.

21 hotspots for air pollution, with traffic worst offender

What? Can this be true? The truth has been stated by those who have chosen to ignore the truth (from us) since the beginning of this anti smoking crusade.
Yes, traffic is the biggest pollutant we have, it was never any different and never will be unless all such transport is removed and we go back to the olden days of horse & cart. At least we could use the horse crap on our gardens whereas the anti smoking crap is utterly useless, baseless and needs to visit the crematorium pronto!

"Audit Scotland, in its report Protecting and Improving Scotland's Environment, has warned the country risks failing European targets for air quality, with the potential for hefty fines of millions of pounds each year."

Aha, so the EU have set air quality targets which cannot be met given the way we deploy ourselves & services in this day and age, and then we fear massive fines. For God's sake, here we go again, kow-towing to some idiotic Brussels initiative/directive which is going to remove our money (well, Scotlands actually-to which we heavily donate) to fill there ever wasteful coffers! Bloody marvellous.
However, more important here is the fact that vehicular pollution is far higher than that of smoking-so when do any governments ban cars, lorries, buses, motorbikes etc from our roads? After all, they are seriously polluting our lives ALL of the time!

The report added: "To improve air quality further, the amount of pollution that comes from road transport needs to be reduced."

Now just when do the orders come from the Scottish Government to remove all heavy transport from the roads-for surely our health is far more important than 62 ton of spuds going from Glasgow to Edinburgh?
When do those stinking great D/Decker buses go to the scrapyard for surely it is far healthier for everyone to walk everywhere than be intoxicated by diesel fumes?
Just think, you could enjoy a liesurely cigarette whilst ambling to one's destination!

"Air pollution from traffic is linked to serious health issues, including cancer, heart problems, allergies and respiratory disease."

So all the crap spouted by anti smoking groups, government sponsored quango's, Environmental Health groups etc pales into insignificance on the back of this most in depth of studies - from the Environment Agency!
Well, upon my soul!

"It is thought to reduce life expectancy by up to eight months, and cause health problems that cost as much as £20 billion across the UK. It has also been estimated to cause 2,000 deaths a year in Scotland."

Aha, get rid of transport as we know it, put another 5 million people out of work and save 'as much as £20bn' in health costs. Perfect answer to problem-excepting the fact that we then cannot afford the unemployment benefits and all that goes with them!
As for the estimated deaths in Scotland, does that include smokers as well as non smokers? And how are smokers polluting themselves and others around them when everyday life is now proven to be doing just that?
What would you rather do-stand next to a smoker for a few minutes or receive the full blast of that horrible, stinking, black effulgence belched out of a bus exhaust as it pulls away? And, don't forget, out pushchair inhabitants & toddlers are privy to that at exactly the right height! So what chance to they have of reaching puberty without already being infected/imploded/riddled with highly dangerous toxins?
This world of ours is getting crazier by the day and with all these daft rules & regulations government 'bodies', with all these contradictory findings/studies, are going to disappear up their own sphincters in time!
Long may they stay there in the stinking hole for all eternity!

Link:- http://news.scotsman.com/health/Revealed-21-hotspots-for-air.5980727.jp

HairyChestnuts, an occasional series (part 1.)

Blogger Tags: HairyChestnuts, Smoking ban UK, Phil Williams and friends, old soldiers, Truth.

It’s election year…wouldn’t you?

Blogger Tags: UK Elections 2010, Wouldn't you gas them all?

Respect for one's elders? Not under Labour

From BBC Wales.

A pub landlord getting ready to pull his last pint at the age of 87 claims changes to the trade in the last few years have left a bitter taste.

Frank Blake is calling time on his 30 years behind the bar at the Station Hotel in Gorseinon near Swansea.

"It's the elderly I feel sorry for," added Mr Blake who turns 88 next month.

"They used to come out and socialise, meet their friends and smoke their pipes. I miss all that."

Labour, you must be so proud. Let's hope you all rot in hell for ignorantly discarding those who made this country something to be proud of before you fucked it up.

That's all.

Global Warmists, are you sitting comfortably? So let us begin.

Once upon a time, in the land of the fear politicians...



No Global Warmist scientist was harmed in the making of this video.

You silly sods

Amusing smirker, Hairy Chestnuts, discusses an anti-smoking failure.

2nd TICAP International Conference

I blogged in December about TICAP (The International Coalition Against Prohibition) and their 1st world conference which took place on 27-28 Jan 2009 (the conference the EU tobacco control nutjobs barred from taking place inside the cabal’s lair for fear of the truth getting out) .  Now their back with their second world conference to take place on Monday 15th March 2010 under the heading: A Celebration of the Life and Work of Gian Turci*.
Details of the 2nd world conference of TICAP are as follows:

Conference Chair: Christopher Snowdon, journalist and historian, author of "Velvet Glove - Iron Fist. A history of anti-smoking.
09.00-09.30 Registration, Coffee
09.30-09.45 Welcome addresses: Wiel Maessen (Director TICAP), N.N. 
09.45-12.30h Part 1: Prohibition: Menace to the hospitality sector
09.45-11.00 Part 1.1: Speeches
09.45-10.10 Brian Monteith, former Member of the Scottish Parliament, author of "The Bully State: The End of Tolerance"
10.10-10.35 dr. Rein Vos, professor theory of health sciences  (University of Maastricht)
10.35-11.00 dr. Patrick Basham, director of the Democracy Institute (Washington/London) and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute (Washington)

11.00-11.15 Walking coffee break
11.15- 12.30 Part 1.2: Panel with speakers
Questions and input from the floor

12.30-14.00 Lunch break
14.00-14.15 Afternoon welcome address: N.N.

14.15-17.00 Part 2: Hospitality goes up in smoke
14.15-15.30 Part 2.1 Speeches
14.15-14.40 dr. Michael Marlow, professor of economics (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
14.40-15.05 dr. Kamal Chaouachi, tobacco researcher and consultant (University of Paris)
15.05-15.30 David Goerlitz, actor, former "Winston Man", former tobacco control frontman (USA)
15.30-15.45 Walking coffee break
15.45-17.00 Part. 2.2 Panel with speakers
15.45-17.00 Questions and input from the floor
17.00-17.15 Closing address: John Gray (Director TICAP)
17.15-17.45h Press Conference

If you would like to attend the TICAP conference in The Hague on March 15, 2010 please complete the following form.
*Gian Turci was a founder member of TICAP and FORCES.  Sadly Gian passed away on Tuesday the 10th of March 2009.  I put this video together in homage to that great man.

H/T to C.A.G.E. Canada (Citizens Against Government Encroachment)

Blogger Tags: TICAP and the 2nd World Conference on Prohibition.

Go tell it to the Puritans

Smokers are always denormalised for their pleasures by the healthist puritans and the mainstream media always take up their cause with puritanical fervour.  They use tainted statistics, flawed medical data and downright lies as given fact.  CNN are no different when it comes to sticking their blunt metaphorical scalpel into you and your lifestyle, whether it be smoking, eating or drinking.

Did you know, for example, that 49% of lung transplants in 2008 here in the UK were from smokers?

Chris Watson, vice-president of the British Transplantation Society (BTS), told CNN that 49 percent of last year's lung donors in the UK were smokers.

And, naturally, the medical profession have been forced into the intolerable position of using dead smokers lungs to prolong another human beings life.

"We're not in the luxurious position in transplantation to turn down organs because they're not absolutely perfect -- there are very few perfect organs,"

That is very telling Chris, “THERE ARE VERY FEW PERFECT ORGANS.”  So why pick on smokers lungs?

So how many lung transplants are done here in the UK and what are the survival rates for all transplants, regardless of whether the donor smoked or not?

Each year, around 150 lung transplants are carried out in the UK, mainly on people in the final stages of lung disease such as cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other conditions.

And one wonders what the survival rates are?

Today, more than 80% of lung transplant patients survive one year after surgery; at least 60% survive for five years, and nearly 50% survive for 10 years.

 

And, of course, CNN plucked out of their shadowy anti smoker drawer the one transplant recipient who died less than a year after receiving the transplant after finding a tumour, Corporal Matthew Millington.

Hmm, Cpl Millington dying just under one year of receiving his transplant seems good odds to me as 80% of all lung transplants survive up to one year, (they could go on to live longer, and most probably do, but this is never spoken of.)

Chris Watson, of whom I wrote earlier is more than happy to use smokers lungs for transplanting.

Watson is happy to use the organs that are available. He told CNN that data shows that transplants using smokers' lungs are just as effective in the long term as those using lungs from non-smokers.

And as for the unfortunate Cpl Millington Mr Watson says:

"In the case of Corporal Millington, the donor had a chest X-ray, bronchoscope and a careful inspection of the lungs once they were removed," Watson told CNN.

"When they found the tumour in Corporal Millington it was seven millimetres across and it was likely to have been two or three millimetres when it was transplanted. To find something that small you'd need to chop the lungs up into fine pieces, and then you can't transplant."

Don’t forget reader what Chris Watson said about all organs used for transplant:  “THERE ARE VERY FEW PERFECT ORGANS.”

Go tell that to the Puritans Chris!

H/T to the Pro-Choice Smoking Doctor

Blogger Tags: Lung Transplants, Smokers Lungs, Puritans, Smokers lungs used in transplants

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