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8:26 AM
[Random crazy question] I wonder if there are any examples of a phenomenon that is real, but has been shown to be immune to the query of the scientific method. That is, a genuine phenomenon that cannot be reproduced

But then, we will need to define "what is real"
 
@Secret People who appear to be possessed by spirits :P
 
user228700
@Secret Telepathy, Telekinesis, etc.
 
Btw I had a doubt. Most of my physics questions get closed as homework-related. Maybe they are actually easy for you people, but not for me. And they are not always homework questions exactly, but some doubts related to such questions. Is there any chat room where such questions can be discussed instead?
 
But that's where "what is real?" is important. I found that there is almost no universally agreed definition of real

For example, in science, we conclude something is "real" when the phenonemon can be reproduced and thus the data can be checked by statistics (plus interpretations provided by a model)

In spiritual circles, "real" is something quite different. It can range from an anecdote of the religious people or sharmen or priest person, to just some kind of spiritual connection of "I know it is real"
hmm... I wonder how religious and spiritual people deduce something is "not real"
 
yes that was an example to illustrate what not to ask — Kenshin 12 mins ago
Hahahaha :'D @Kenshin
Kenshin can go to any extent to defend his stance :P
 
8:36 AM
@ghosts_in_the_code you can discuss them in here.
 
user228700
@JohnR: What up?
 
It seems quiet this morning.
 
After all, this is a chatroom @ghosts_in_the_code
 
Things gets even more complicated when essentially unreal things like whatever some nonexistent thing that people belief in will end up influencing people enough to have real impacts
 
I feel like nothing much is going on at the moment. Maybe I need to buy another laptop to liven things up :-)
 
8:42 AM
I mean, the influence of a belief on a community is really as extreme as it gets for something unreal to have real effects
 
user228700
Maybe you could "liven things up" by visiting a doctor :-)
 
I am a doctor :-)
 
All of these makes the question "what is real" harder to define
 
user228700
@JohnRennie Dangit.
 
You mean visit my GP? Why would I want to do that?
Oh, you mean visit my psychiatrist :-)
 
user228700
8:43 AM
Yes, a shrink :-)
 
I used to go to a psychiatrist but after a few visits he had a nervous breakdown :-)
 
user228700
:-P
 
Really?
 
It's an absolute bargain!
And I resisted temptation and didn't bid on it ...
 
185 is pretty cheap
 
user228700
8:45 AM
Good for you! :-P
 
user228700
In other, news, a candidate who had been running for post of Chief Minister of state was jailed today!
 
It was probably just bad luck.
 
£185 is amazingly cheap. That's a really, really powerful little laptop.
 
yea :D
 
@Kaumudi.H ah, humans eh?
Such incorrigable creatures
 
user228700
8:47 AM
I suppose. It's a bit weird. Her accomplice was jailed last year and it was absolutely clear that she was in the wrong. Still, the masses prayed for her well being and one person almost killed themself in plight.
 
user228700
She used to be (passed away) a big deal hereabouts. About 4-5 people killed themselves when she died.
 
That's serious politics.
 
user228700
@JohnRennie Lol, yep, that's the one.
 
A politician can be corrupt and still be good to their supporters. I'd guess that was the case here, and that's why she still enjoys support in spite of the conviction.
 
user228700
8:52 AM
Well, yes, that was the case with her accomplice, who passed away last year. But this person, well, it is common knowledge that she murdered the aforementioned accomplice so everyone has breathed a sigh of relief.
 
She murdered her accomplice!!!!
I assume that can't be proved or she'd have got more than four years.
 
user228700
^ She's given out exorbitant amounts of money to members of her party to shush their mouths.
 
politics=money
 
user228700
Plus, the maid (witness) who used to work for them (they used to live in the same house) was murdered.
 
user228700
Geez, why did I bring this up, my anxiety had reduced a bit before >.<
 
8:54 AM
@skullpetrol Theres some error in Mark Fischer's answer at physics.stackexchange.com/q/312087/45195 but I'm not able to rectify it.
If we take the general method of assuming a and b, I'm getting a=b=0 which is weird
 
@Kaumudi.H I don't think you should lie awake at night worrying about the (dis)honesty of politicians or you'll never get a wink of sleep!!
 
user228700
She murdered the former chief minister and was running for that post. Of course I was freaking out!
 
Does it affect you personally?
I'm not saying you shouldn't care, just that maybe you need some perspective.
 
user228700
@JohnRennie No, it doesn't really affect me, I suppose. It was just scary to know that the Chief Minister of my state could be a murderer who killed her best friend.
 
Most people who are murdered are murdered by someone they know.
This is a cheerful conversation for a Thursday morning :-)
 
user228700
9:04 AM
>.<
 
user228700
I wonder why I brought this up, I already feel like crap. Lunch and Invisibilia will hopefully help...
 
What's for lunch? Rice again?:-)
 
user228700
Yep, rice :-) Sambaar, rice and a cabbage side-dish.
 
I was contemplating a fish pasta bake for my next big meal (tomorrow)
 
user228700
> Next big meal
 
user228700
9:07 AM
What dyou mean?
 
Well during the week I eat healthy stuff, so the next big meal would normally be on Saturday.
 
user228700
Wait, today's not Friday!
 
But this Saturday I'm out all day, so I'm having the big meal tomorrow.
 
user228700
Oh, OK...
 
user228700
Ai ai ai, pasta sounds so delicious. Now I'm even sadder :-(
 
9:09 AM
One day you too will be responsible for preparing your own meals, so you can eat what you want.
 
user228700
U threw in the word "responsible" and suddenly, I feel grateful that I don't have to cook my own meals :-P
 
And when that day comes you too will think wistfully of the times when you didn't have to prepare your own meals :-)
 
user228700
^^ :-P
 
I eat healthily now, but as a student I used to eat the most appalling junk food.
 
user228700
Appalling?
 
9:11 AM
Mostly chips as I recall :-)
Or indeed anything fried in lots of grease
 
user228700
I see :-) Just as I was going to make some for myself damn...
 
Chips are good for you - a doctor says so (specifically this doctor says so :-)
2
 
user228700
I like this doctor very much, then x'D
 
I prescribe chips and chocolate as a sovereign remedy for all ills
 
user228700
All hail Doctor Rennie! x'D
 
9:14 AM
Actually, now I think about it I haven't had chips for weeks.
 
user228700
Neither have I. I go months without having any...
 
I haven't had junk food for years I guess
 
I could change my plans for this weekend I suppose, but I was quite lookign forward to my pasta bake.
 
@Kaumudi.H Trust me, there exists equally worse CM's
 
And on Sunday I am planning to have pizza with Polish sausage
 
9:18 AM
user image
3
Plz rate my idea
 
Is that you?
 
@Slereah don't you have anything better to do with your life
like reading nlab
 
I am reading nlab
Although not too much
I'm not that big on category theory
 
aren't aqfts all about categories
 
Well yes, but only in the sense that you can describe everything with category theory
You don't need category theory to talk about morphisms
 
9:21 AM
Is that actually useful in physics? I dunno, just curious. I thought nobody cared about Urs Schreiber's stuff
 
Frankly I dunno
I don't know enough about category theory to know if there's theorems that are specifically from it used here
 
Hmm, gotcha
 
I mean, I guess
But who knows
It could just be that when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail
 
Or vice versa.
 
I personally only know about the categorical formulation of TQFT's and I have no idea if that axiomatic formulation is useful in math exception as a conceptual thing. Although a lot of concrete theories satisfying the criteria for being a TQFT pop up in topology
 
9:26 AM
Well I haven't read a lot of TQFT
It seems to be an abstract version of path integrals in Euclidian space?
 
I don't really know what a path integral is. It's a vector valued functor on a category whose objects are n-manifolds and the morphisms are cobordisms between n-manifolds
More or less
 
I'll take your word for it!
I miss the old days in math where you could just say "It's just a lot of integrals" and it would pass
 
hahah. it's a scary world we live in nowadays (both mathematically and nonmathematically...)
 
Hell if you go back far enough you could just do a whole lot of numerology and call it math
There's a lot of that in medieval math
Please note how this sequence of numbers is really the name of god
 
:P
well, really, i think back in the days when poincare or hilbert didn't exist math would have really been easier
 
9:38 AM
Well you know
Math was easier because there was more easier things to do, but it was harder because less tools
 
I guess so. I think it was at least possible to learn a good fraction of the existing mathematics in a lifetime
 
true
I mean back then, "real" math was euclidian geometry
euclidian geometry was the model for all math
 
Didn't Gauss already discover hyperbolic geometry
Poincare is just after Gauss I think
also there definitely were a lot of analysis
 
When I say "back then" I mean before Descartes
 
9:41 AM
Descartes brought numbers back into being cool
 
Ya, that was pretty major
 
Example of medieval math
that was an acceptable math paper back then
 
lol
well they came up with a lot of numerical coincidences back then I suppose
 
Hell sometimes it was useful
The Kepler laws were nothing but a lot of numerology
 
How so? I thought he came upon the thing about elliptical orbit with some clever observation. Are you referring to the third law?
 
9:46 AM
Kepler was big into numerology so he just looked for relations between various numbers of orbits
hoping to find some sense
 
Ah, I see
 
user228700
@JohnRennie Why would u change them? (Sorry for the timeout, my internet died for a bit and I had to have lunch)
 
@Kaumudi.H to have chips!!
I suppose I could have pasta bake and chips ...
 
user228700
That sounds nice :-)
 
do you mean chips in the US or UK sense
 
user228700
9:49 AM
Difference being..?
 
Chips/fries not crisps/chips.
 
You dreaded albioner
 
user228700
@JohnRennie Ohh, OK...
 
@Slereah La Perfide Albion
 
user228700
I've had fries only about twice in my whole life :-P
 
9:50 AM
the very same
 
Perfidious shopkeepers :-)
 
@JohnRennie when will you apologize for the battle of Agincourt!
 
user228700
::Blinks and looks around in confusion::
 
Chips/fries are a much maligned food. They provide two out of the three essential foodstuffs i.e. carbohydrtaes and fats. Admittedly they aren't high in vitamins.
 
I think the problem is that those are two things many people have in abundance
 
user228700
9:53 AM
Don't forget them proteins!
 
I don't see anything wrong in eating chips, as long as you don't eat only chips :-)
@Kaumudi.H Fish and chips - there's your protein :-)
 
Have a glass of orange juice :P
 
you get the proteins from the hamburger
 
user228700
@JohnRennie Where there is a will, there is a way, I suppose :-)
 
drugs >>> foods
 
user228700
9:54 AM
@BalarkaSen I'm a bit concerned.
 
One of my local supermarkets has their posh cakes at half price. I'm contemplating getting a ginger and honey cake for dessert.
 
user228700
@JohnRennie SHUSH. I have nothing to eat and feel miserable.
 
user228700
Admittedly, I'm not hungry at the moment, seeing as I've just had a lousy lunch but still!
 
@Kaumudi.H You should read the introduction to Naked Lunch by Borroughs.
 
Ah, OK.
 
user228700
9:56 AM
@BalarkaSen Why?
 
It's the only bit of the book which can actually be read and understood anyway...
@Kaumudi It'll tell that drugs are not so bad
 
user228700
Why dyou recommend that I read it, I mean?
 
Drugs are bad.
 
user228700
Hmm, I see. I dunno what more there is to know about the impact of drugs on our bodies, but I see.
 
I'm not sure I'd choose William S. Burroughs as an example of healthy living ...
 
9:57 AM
JR gets what i'm saying
 
user228700
I haven't ever before heard of this Burroughs person so yeah, no, I don't get what u're saying.
 
Although a quick Google tells me he lived to be 83.
 
@JohnRennie He did this apomorphine treatment which got him out of his drug-based lifestyle
 
86 is a average
 
@Kaumudi.H the 60s generation venerates lots of dodgy authors who the more sensible children of the new millenium have never even heard of.
 
10:00 AM
What a shame
 
Hunter S Thompson, Kerouac, etc, etc
 
Ginsberg too
 
Their main claim to fame was being permanently stoned
 
user228700
@JohnRennie x'D
 
10:01 AM
they wrote their stuff on high.
 
on while
 
I'd stick with the Vlog brothers.
The beat generation seemed mostly interested in bitching about world suck and never doing anything to reduce it.
Eloquent bitching is still bitching.
 
user228700
@JohnRennie :-) Wasn't considering changing that.
 
@JohnRennie They still produced great art.
 
Example please.
 
10:05 AM
I think the art those days were an inevitable resultant of the trauma of the 2nd world war and the cold war afterwards. I don't think it was supposed to "reduce world suck"...
 
A generation took a vicarious pleasure in reading their books. Whether that qualifies them as great art depends on how you define art I suppose.
 
how do I add the similar triangles symbol in mathjax?
the ~= symbol
~ above the =
what is it even called?
 
Am I being mean here?
0
Q: Accelerated observer in Minkowski Space

MahiOn what grounds is an accelerated observer represented by a Hyperbola in Minkowski space ?

 
Nah. The OP might have had that question in his assignment sheet. If you had answered it, he might have copy pasted the answer.
He hasn't put appropriate tags too.
 
you didn't even use any of your charming british swears
 
10:10 AM
@JohnRennie I don't think that the fact that their works got a cult status qualified it as great art... I think the fact that they broke out of the usual style of writing literature and poetry and creating art and made their own style (eg, most of Naked Lunch is written in a stream-of-consciousness way) did
 
1718
Q: MathJax basic tutorial and quick reference

MJD To see how any formula was written in any question or answer, including this one, right-click on the expression it and choose "Show Math As > TeX Commands". (When you do this, the '$' will not display. Make sure you add these. See the next point.) For inline formulas, enclose the formula in $......

@YashasSamaga I keep that bookmarked as an essential Mathjax reference
 
Most importantly Burroughs et al applying the idea of collage art into writing was, to me, a massively creative idea.
 
user228700
@JohnRennie BTW, I've had to quit the scavenger hunt :-(
 
user228700
No more time to go on. Hopefully, I'll be able to resume it in June.
 
@Kaumudi.H that's a shame. Too little time too muchwork?
 
user228700
10:13 AM
Yeah :'-(
 
user228700
Too much.
 
Are you going to read the book when it's released?
 
user228700
John's new book?
 
Yes
 
user228700
Of course!
 
10:14 AM
JD?
 
Have you read anything by Sarah Pinborough?
 
user228700
In fact, I have a feeling that it's going to be better than anything else he's written before (Well, apart from TFiOS--that book was something else)
 
user228700
John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, vlogger, writer, producer, actor and editor. He won the 2006 Printz Award for his debut novel, Looking for Alaska, and his sixth novel, The Fault in Our Stars, debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list in January 2012. The 2014 film adaptation opened at number one on the box office. In 2014, Green was included in Time magazine's list of The 100 Most Influential People in the World. Another film based on a Green novel, Paper Towns, was released on July 24, 2015. Aside from being a novelist, Green is also well known...
 
user228700
@JohnRennie I think u've asked me this before...
 
Thanks.
 
user228700
10:15 AM
The art of something?
 
The language of dying?
 
user228700
Ah, yes, yep, u told me about that before.
 
That's a bit dark though. Even though the title sounds bleak I'd start with The Death House instead as it has a much nicer ending.
 
user228700
I don't care much for great endings, I find.
 
user228700
Except for Jane Eyre. I read that one 5 years ago and was too appalled by the ending to find the will to read the rest of the book--only about 25 pages.
 
10:18 AM
In The Death House the hero and heroine [spoiler incoming] ...
 
user228700
No need!!!
 
user228700
Why would u do that?!
 
oops
 
user228700
=____=
 
user228700
10:20 AM
@JohnR: I'm gonna spoil something for u someday, just u wait and watch.
 
To be fair that hasn't really spolied the book as the ending is obvious from about halfway through it.
 
user228700
Ah, OK.
 
It's like claiming that Romeo and Juliet is spoiled by knowing they die at the end.
 
user228700
Right, OK, then :-)
 
user228700
U've read Jane Eyre, of course?
 
10:23 AM
No, I haven't read anything by any of the Bronte's, or Jane Austen, or any of that style of author.
 
user228700
Ah, OK. Dyou plan on it?
 
I'm generally uninterested in books where the story is predicated on humans behaving in silly ways.
Being relentlessly logical myself ...
 
user228700
Right. Well, Jane Eyre is about a woman named, u guessed it, Jane Eyre, who grew up in her aunt's home and graduated from college (IIRC) which isn't something that girls used to do and all and ends up working as a governess in this house.
 
user228700
The man of the house, he proposes, she says yes and all.
 
Have you read any of Bertrand Russell's works?
 
user228700
10:26 AM
And then she finds out that he has a wife, who's mentally ill (among other illnesses) and is locked up in the attic. That too on the day before the wedding and all, IIRC.
 
user228700
When I got to that part, I was like "Nope. Nope. I am done with this book."
 
Spoiler: it ends happily
ish
 
user228700
@JohnRennie I never got to that part :-/
 
There's a standard device that author's use.
1. introduce a character and make you like the character and sympathise with them
2. torture the character in various innovative and nasty ways
3. make it all right in the end
 
user228700
...that's a lot of books :-P
 
10:30 AM
You're supposed to get an oxytocin rush from the happy (ish) ending, and that makes all the pain in the middle OK. I don't subscribe to that point of view.
When I see a book is progressing along those lines I tend to think good grief can't you come up with a new idea and throw the book away.
 
user228700
None of my favorite books follow those lines :-)
 
:O John Rennie reads novels :O
 
user228700
@YashasSamaga Lol, I had the same reaction at first.
 
@YashasSamaga I almost exclusively read scifi and fantasy
And science books of course
 
I don't read anything other than textbook.
Feynman's lectures on physics is a good enough novel for me lol
3
It actually is.
kinda a novel
 
user228700
@JohnRennie Wait, really?
 
I bought it thinking it was a recipe book :-)
 
user228700
:-) Haha, very funny.
 
user228700
I ought to go. Bye!
 
10:35 AM
Cya
 
Bye
 
can I repost one of my own answer in another question?
without modifications
 
Is the question a duplicate?
 
I think so
0
A: Is the Moon in a "Freefall" Around the Earth?

Yashas SamagaThe moon is free-falling towards the earth but fortunately, the rate at which it falls to the earth is nearly equal to the rate at which the earth curves. In this answer, I will derive the formula for orbital velocity at the surface using pure geometry and later smartly generalize it. This will c...

 
then mark it as such and link to the previous question
 
10:45 AM
of
50
Q: Why doesn't the Moon fall upon Earth?

Adir PeretzWhy doesn't the Moon fall upon Earth, or for that matter anything rotating another larger body, ever fall into the larger body ?

but I already answered that question
so can I repost it in the other question?
 
11:42 AM
How is thermodynamics tag same as calorimetry tag?
is this on-topic?
1
Q: How to properly define the physical dimension (unit) of a variable?

AlfLet's say we have an equation like $$v=s/t.$$ I've come across multiple ways to define the units belonging to each variable: $(v/(\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}) = (s/\mathrm{m})/(t/(\mathrm{s}))$ $v_\mathrm{m/s} = s_\mathrm{m} / t_\mathrm{s}$ $[v]=\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}, [s]=\mathrm{m}, [t]=\mathrm{s}$...

 
11:58 AM
93
Q: Is it acceptable to add a duplicate answer to several questions?

Won'tLet's say there is a user who has found a satisfactory answer to a common question asked on Stack Overflow (or other Stack Exchange website). This answer may be a snippet of code, or an addon, or a framework, or something else. Is it acceptable for this user to formulate an answer for one que...

@YashasSamaga Probably that tag was merged with thermo
 
Yes, it was.
I am wondering why because they are sufficiently different subjects imo.
how would calculating the rise in temperature of water when you supply 200J of heat be a thermodynamics question?
 
@YashasSamaga Calorimetry is considered to be a sub topic of thermo (by many people)....so
Not a thing to worry about
:)
@YashasSamaga Depends on how you define thermodynamics...
@JohnRennie Interesting book :P Was it a good read ?
 
@anonymous I haven't read it yet. It's next on the list. I saw it reviewed in New Scientist and they liked it so I'm hopeful it will be interesting to read.
 
Cannibalism is a very weird topic to write a history book on :)
 
What about a cookbook?
 
12:12 PM
@Slereah Yes. Nice idea. Chopping, cutting, grinding, mixing humans :'D
Yummy :P
 
@Slereah amazon.com/Serve-Man-Cookbook-People/dp/0913896055/… Damn. That's a satire. I will write a real human cookbook.
I need to cook some of my enemies :'D
 
12:59 PM
[Beginning of an essay]
Japan and USA may be not actually 3+1 dimensional, but (3+1)+(2(+0.5)+1) dimensional

This is because of their powerful culture of anime and superhero comics.

This culture, is so powerful that despite all the Verses in that 2D world never managed to fully break the 4th wall, they have real impacts to the culture and living of those countries in question, and their influences even extended beyond the confines of the countries.

Japan, in particular, can be viewed as these two relams intersecting each other, as anime is everywhere in Japan in many forms from cosplay to merchandise to theme c
 
Is this true? "0 V doesn't mean no charge; no charge doesn't mean 0 V"
 
@mod I've been seeing a few funky close vote reasons in the queue, all by one person
i have to go soon, but look at WillO's recent reasons.
 
1:30 PM
@heather HINT: $\int_0^1e^{-x^2}\,dx\approx 0.75$.
 
Second law of thermodynamics was made due to loop holes in first law of thermodynamics , why didn't scientist check loop holes in 1st law and expand it? @DHMO
 
what
 
I don't think trying to **** up perpetual motion machines of the 2nd kind is really the major motivation of the 2nd law
 
First law says about conversion of one form of energy to other but conservation of energy takes place…
 
1:43 PM
The 2nd law came from the the discovery of a nonconserved state variable when carnot investigate the heat engines and found there's an upper bound to the efficiency
Most energy can be expressed as either mass flow, heat or work. 1st law covers the conservation of that
 
A book kept on table should jump in air by absorbing energy from table making/decreasing temperature of table (cooling of table)
But second law contradicts it^
@Slereah ^
 
Yes, because there are simply gazillion more ways for the energy to move to elsewhere on the table then to all move into work done on the book to propel it up into the air
second law in a sense, is really a statement of probability
 
@Secret how statement of probability ? What I know is it is statement of entropy
 
@Fawad entropy is all about probability
and, you know, the law of large numbers
 
How,I don't know
 
1:48 PM
if you only have 2 particles of N2 and 2 particles of O2 in the room
you wouldn't expect them to mix
they mix because there are far more configurations for them to mix than to be separated
for examples, consider 200 particles in a line
100 N2 and 100 O2
what is the probability for them to be separated? @Fawad
 
$\small{probability=the quality or state of being probable; the extent to which something is likely to happen or be the case.}$ now I know :D
@DHMO I think 0
 
...
 
So explain me :(
 
did you learn probability?
 
@DHMO Only basics till now , $P=\dfrac{\text{no. Of favourable out come}}{\text{ total no. Of possible outcome}}$
 
1:54 PM
did you learn combinatorics?
 
@DHMO no :(
 
@Fawad Do you know measure theory?
 
@0celo7 no ,I don't know
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”-albert Einstein
 
@Fawad you want me to explain measure theory to you?
 
@DHMO ^ can't you explain simply? ;D
 
2:01 PM
I can, assuming you're good with set theory
 
@0celo7 no,what second law says without using measure theory,but if you are interested thenshure
@0celo7 somewhat
 
I dunno any physics
second law is not something I'll pretend to understand
 
@Fawad not really
 
@Fawad This page on entropy is really good (hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Therm/entrop.html)
 
2:18 PM
@Fawad Memorable Quote: "Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler"-Albert Einstein :)
There are some really good books which explain entropy well. If you wish I could give you the names.
It is a lengthy but an easy concept
 
No,thanks but I dodint even completed my physics textbook
@anonymous ^
 
@Fawad Which book do you use?
 
TeluguAkademy
 
2:32 PM
Hello... @JohnRennie
 
@Ramanujan hello :-) how are you?
 
I am fine. What about you? @Fawad
 
@Icandoahandstand99 Thank you. That was one excellent question. I had forgotten that after the KMnO4 oxidation, the products formed are beta keto acids which once again decompose on heating. :) I should have solved the question on paper rather than trying to do it mentally :P
 
Fine :)
 
What is the scientific reason behind anomalous expansion of water?
 
2:39 PM
@Ramanujan quora.com/…
 
Hydrogen bond
 
2:54 PM
^ the most explosive James Bond in the entire franchise.
 

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