February 2023 - cypherpunks@lists.ogf.org

Goldman Turns to ‘Make-or-Break’ Unit as Solomon Put to Test
by Gunnar Larson 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

Goldman Turns to ‘Make-or-Break’ Unit as Solomon Put to Test https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-26/goldman-turns-to-make-or… Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)’s leaders take the stage this week hoping to turn the page on a forgettable 2022, lay out new reasons for investors to rally around the stock and quell dissatisfaction within the firm’s ranks.

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Goldman Sachs Kicks Off Investor Day With Report Card on CEO Solomon
by Gunnar Larson 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

Goldman Sachs Kicks Off Investor Day With Report Card on CEO Solomon https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-28/goldman-kicks-off-invest…

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Goldman Sachs Is Being Sued for 27 Separate Stock Offerings It Underwrote
by Gunnar Larson 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/02/goldman-sachs-is-being-sued-for-27-s… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 28, 2023 ~ David Solomon, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs David Solomon, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs As we reported on February 7, there are some very strange things going on at Goldman Sachs. After reading the Wall Street investment bank’s annual report, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday, the word “strange” doesn’t seem to do justice to the situation. Goldman Sachs is looking more like a litigation warehouse these days than an investment bank. According to Goldman’s annual report, it is being investigated for pretty much everything it does to make money: derivatives, currencies, mortgages, financial advisory, securities lending, dark pools, investment management, commodities, U.S. Treasuries, corporate bonds, credit cards, hiring and compensation practices, research practices, compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, transactions involving government-related financings – and on and on. Things are so bad that it concedes in this annual report that it may have under-reserved for its legal costs by $2.3 billion. That’s a pretty big number to fail to anticipate – especially when your Chairman and CEO, David Solomon, has a side hustle as a DJ at tiki bars. Particularly unnerving is the revelation that Goldman Sachs is being sued for its work as one of the underwriters of 27 separate share offerings, many of which have declined dramatically in share price. (The lawsuits actually total 28 but we have not included the lawsuit involving Waterdrop Inc. as Goldman Sachs reports it was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 3.) The lawsuits involve the following stocks, listed in the order that they appear in the Goldman Sachs annual report. We have added ticker symbols in parenthesis following the company name. Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER); GoHealth, Inc. (GOCO); Array Technologies, Inc. (ARRY); ContextLogic Inc. (WISH); DiDi Global Inc. (DIDIY); Vroom Inc. (VRM); Zymergen Inc. (acquired by Ginkgo Bioworks); Sea Limited (SE); Rivian Automotive Inc. (RIVN); Natera Inc. (NTRA); Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD); ON24, Inc. (ONTF); Riskified Ltd. (RSKD); Oscar Health, Inc. (OSCR); Oak Street Health, Inc. (OSH); Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (RETA); Bright Health Group, Inc. (BHG); 17 Education & Technology Group, Inc. (YQ); LifeStance Health Group, Inc. (LFST); MINISO Group Holding Limited (MNSO); Coupang, Inc. (CPNG); Yatsen Holding Ltd. (YSG); Rent the Runway, Inc. (RENT); Opendoor Technologies Inc. (OPEN); FIGS, Inc. (FIGS); Silvergate Capital Corporation (SI); Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (CNTA). Five of these companies’ share prices have declined from 75 percent to 90 percent over the past year. (See chart below.) All of this negative news comes a little more than two years after Goldman Sachs and a subsidiary were criminally charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in the looting and bribery scandal known as 1MDB – the largest scandal in the firm’s history. Goldman Sachs admitted to the charges and had to pay over $2.9 billion. There have been plenty of other warning signs over the past decade that Goldman Sachs was on the wrong track with its reputation. In 2018 former New York Fed bank examiner, Carmen Segarra, released her book, Noncompliant: A Lone Whistleblower Exposes the Giants of Wall Street. The main giant Segarra was exposing was Goldman Sachs and its enshrined conflicts of interest. When Segarra wanted to write a negative examination of what she found at Goldman Sachs, she was fired by her crony bosses at the New York Fed. An earlier book was penned in 2012 by a former Vice President at Goldman Sachs. In Why I Left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story, Greg Smith exposes a culture of ripping off clients. In tandem with the book launch, Smith explained this culture to the approximate 13 million viewers of 60 Minutes. Greg Smith is the Goldman Sachs VP who tendered his resignation after 12 years with the firm on March 14, 2012 via the OpEd page of the New York Times, famously lamenting “how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as ‘muppets.’ ” On April 16, 2010, two years before Greg Smith made his charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission made the identical charge: Goldman was ripping off its clients. Here’s the actual wording of the complaint: “Undisclosed in the marketing materials and unbeknownst to investors, a large hedge fund, Paulson & Co. Inc…played a significant role in the portfolio selection process. After participating in the selection of the reference portfolio, Paulson effectively shorted the RMBS [Residential Mortgage Backed Securities] portfolio it helped select by entering into credit default swaps (‘CDS’) with GS&Co [Goldman Sachs & Company] to buy protection on specific layers of the ABACUS 2007-AC1 capital structure. Given its financial short interest, Paulson had an economic incentive to choose RMBS that it expected to experience credit events in the near future. GS&Co did not disclose Paulson’s adverse economic interests or its role in the portfolio selection process in the term sheet, flip book, offering memorandum or other marketing materials provided to investors.” To put all that in plain English, the SEC charged Goldman Sachs with knowingly creating an investment product designed to fail so that a hedge fund manager could benefit by shorting it and then sold it to its clients as a good investment. Goldman settled that complaint for $550 million, at that time the largest penalty ever imposed by the SEC on a Wall Street firm.

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Gensler and DeSantis have earned killing ( My 2k sats )
by professor rat 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

And don't just take my word for it >> Pinned Tweet Giacomo Repulsive 13% Dying Breed Zucco @giacomozucco · 2h I despise shitcoin scams, but I'd defend Ethereum over Gary Gensler. I despise woke bullshit, but I'd defend Disney over Ron DeSantis. Virtue/truth is important, but is meaningless without freedom. Freedom is what makes virtue/truth significant, sustainable, durable, important. << Hear hear!

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Bing’s reported behavior (e.g. threatening to kill users if they don’t commit crimes on its behalf)
by professor rat 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

The current shock revolving around Bing’s behavior (e.g. threatening to kill users if they don’t commit crimes on its behalf), demonstrates the need for some basic incentive for responsible AI deployment along well established cypherpunk lines. https://stiffs.com/celebrity/billgates Reposts not machines sent back from the future to cancel humanities last, best dope

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Cryptocurrency: Craig Wright is a Liar, Fraud, and Royal Asshole
by grarpamp 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2020/05/25/craig-wright-called-fraud-in-mes… Craig Wright Called 'Fraud' in Message Signed With Bitcoin Addresses He Claims to Own "Back in 2016, White Ops Chief Scientist Dan Kaminsky went so far as to call him the "world’s first cryptographically provable con artist." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfOlE-mmYBo Faketoshi RageQuit https://github.com/albacorelabs/FakeToshi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29TX4GJyCCY Asshole Faketoshi on stage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm7-eZvfl5o Faketoshi cast https://faketoshi.cypherpunks.xyz/ "What #cryptocurrency learned in 2018. Craig Wright aka #Faketoshi (Not #Bitcoin's founder) is against decentralization, is pro-censorship, threatens legal action, is anti free-market, anti open-source & is a pro-government authoritarian centralizing power to 1 man rule! #NoThanks" https://craigwrightisnotsatoshi.com/pdfs/Faketoshi,%20The%20Early%20Years%2… https://github.com/faketoshi/site

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Cryptocurrency: #BYPASS Authority With GNURadio RF Decentral Dance Party
by grarpamp 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eaj7UHWoS6c Speech1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKK6PfDMuqg Crypto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ytFxdUTS2E News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnYZVTLhJHQ Speech2 #BYPASS https://web.archive.org/web/20181026181735/http://thebypassmovement.com/man… https://web.archive.org/web/20180818201559/http://thebypassmovement.com/how… https://web.archive.org/web/20181026181735/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/… BypassMovement(a)gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/BYPASSmovement https://www.twitter.com/BYPASSmovement https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBYPASSMovement The Decentralization Manifesto The #BYPASS Movement is premised on the belief that Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Therefore, allowing power to become concentrated in the hands of the few (Centralized) can only lead to tyranny and destruction. In recent times, our societies have become dominated by increasingly powerful Centralized governments and the provision of goods and services monopolized by increasingly powerful Centralized business interests. These entities frequently collude in order to further consolidate their power; a modern phenomenon known as “Corporatism” or “Fascism”. This historically unprecedented Centralization of power is directly responsible for the historically unprecedented tyranny and destruction of the past century. However! With the advent of the modern internet, a new revolutionary movement has emerged; one with the power to render all Centralized institutions obsolete and eliminate the threat of tyranny forevermore. It is a revolution which enjoys the distinction of being cooperative, rather than divisive. And one which is fundamentally nonviolent. >>>>> Given that Government Is Centralized Power. And given that All Centralized Power Structures Are Corrupt By Design. It is proposed that There Are No Political Solutions To Any Of Our Problems. And that the only way to achieve and maintain peace, prosperity and freedom is to Decentralize Every Single Power Structure In The World To The Greatest Degree Possible. This can be accomplished by using modern technology to creatively apply the principles of Open-Source and Decentralization to all aspects of our lives; effecting the creation of new, non-hierarchical societies which are sustainable, equitable, and enjoyable for all. We must join together, and Become the change we want to see. Not beg those in power to create it for us. This is the #BYPASS Movement. And this website is intended to serve as an ever-evolving portal that will promote this philosophy, link to resources, and connect those who wish to bring about a peaceful and prosperous future for all humanity. Sincerely, Gary Lachance How To Participate Below is a growing collection of pioneering Decentralists who are actively working to upgrade our societies. This is the #BYPASS Movement in action. Please support them, share them, and suggest more! Education / Knowledge: The Khan Academy + Udacity (Decentralized Education) VIDEO The Wikipedia (An Open+Decentralized Encyclopedia) Decentralized Education (Article) Environmental Protection / Sustainability: Craigslist + Kijiji (Decentralized Marketplaces) Real-Time Ridesharing (Decentralized Car-Sharing Services) ARTICLE CouchSurfing + AirBnB (Decentralized Accommodation Sharing/Renting) Permaculture (Sustainable, Decentralized Food Production And Living) ARTICLE Yerdle (Decentralized Sharing Things) Manufacturing: Open-Source Ecology (Open+Decentralized Manufacturing) VIDEO, VIDEO#2 Defense Distributed (Open+Decentralized 3D-Printed Firearms) Arduino (Open-Source Electronics Prototyping) VIDEO 3D Printing (Decentralized Manufacturing) VIDEO OScar (An Open-Source Car) Commerce: Bitcoin (An Open+Decentralized Digital Currency) VIDEO Community Currencies (Decentralized Local Currencies) Health: Decentralized Medicine Printing (VIDEO) Cure Together (Decentralized Healthcare Solutions) Rxisk.org (Decentralized Drug Research) Charity / Social Services: The Decentralized Community (Open+Decentralized Social Problem Solving) Occupy Sandy (Open+Decentralized Hurricane Relief) ARTICLE Kiva (Decentralized Microfinance) Government (the transition towards its obsolescence): How The Internet Will Transform Government (VIDEO) Fundraising: SpaceHive (Decentralized Neighbourhood Improvement Fundraising) Kickstarter (Decentralized Fundraising For Creative Projects) Petri Dish (Decentralized Fundraising For Scientific Research) Crowdfunding (ARTICLE) ARTICLE #2 Events / Partying: The Decentralized Dance Party (Decentralized, Crowdfunded Partying) Speakeasy (Decentralized Party Hosting) EventUp (Decentralized Venue Rentals) Audio Amplification: A Decentralized Sound System (Decentralized Audio Amplification) The Social Stereo (Open+Decentralized Audio Amplification) Media: Youtube + Vimeo + Facebook (Decentralized Media Platforms) Spot.us (Decentralized, Crowdfunded, Open-Source Journalism) Food: Buycott (Decentralized labelling of GMOs) ARTICLE Feastly (Decentralized Dining) ARTICLE Open-Source Ecology (Open+Decentralized Manufacturing) VIDEO, VIDEO#2 Crowdfunding Farms (Article) Permaculture (Sustainable, Decentralized Food Production And Living) ARTICLE Travel: Vayable (Decentralized Tourism Marketplace Where Anyone Can Discover, Book And Offer Tours, Activities And Unique Experiences Anywhere In The World) Art: Anyone Who #Bypasses The Entertainment Industry By Independently Creating And Distributing Their Own Work (An Illustrative Comic) -Music: Mackelmore, Con Bro Chill -Movies: HORSE the band’s Earth Tour -Comedy: Louis C.K. Made Millions Streaming His Own Show And Selling His Own Tickets –Freedomain Radio (The World’s Most Popular Philosophy Show- Funded By Donations) –More Suggestions Please! Love / Intimacy: Lovepalz (Decentralized Lovemaking) Law: Creative Commons (Free Legal Tools That Enable The Sharing And Use Of Creativity And Knowledge) Activism: Buycott (A Decentralized database allowing for coordinated boycott campaigns) ARTICLE Software: WordPress.org (Open-Source Website Development) Open-Source Software (Wikipedia Article) https://www.khanacademy.org/ https://www.udacity.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM95HHI4gLk https://www.wikipedia.org/ https://www.kurzweilai.net/decentralizing-education-how-startups-are-disman… https://www.craigslist.org/about/sites/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_ridesharing https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/a-ride-sharing-app-hails-10-milli… https://www.couchsurfing.org/ https://www.airbnb.com/ https://www.permaculture.org/ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2072383/Eccentric-town-Todmorden… https://www.yerdle.com/ https://opensourceecology.org/ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5DD5E8447F3CD3F0 https://vimeo.com/51764445 https://defdist.org/ https://www.arduino.cc/ https://www.ted.com/talks/massimo_banzi_how_arduino_is_open_sourcing_imagin… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS4Xw8f9LCc https://www.theoscarproject.org/ https://bitcoin.org/ https://youtu.be/Um63OQz3bjo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_currencies https://www.ted.com/talks/lee_cronin_print_your_own_medicine.html https://curetogether.com/blog/about/ https://www.rxisk.org/Default.aspx https://decentralizedcommunity.org/ https://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/ https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/nyregion/where-fema-fell-short-occupy-sa… https://www.kiva.org/ https://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_the_internet_will_one_day_transfo… https://spacehive.com/Home/AboutUs https://www.kickstarter.com/ https://www.petridish.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_funding https://www.shareable.net/blog/why-crowdfunding-is-just-the-beginning https://www.decentralizeddanceparty.com/faq/whatisaddp/ https://www.getspeakeasy.com/ https://eventup.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eaj7UHWoS6c https://www.decentralizeddanceparty.com/social-stereo/ https://www.youtube.com/ https://vimeo.com/ https://www.facebook.com/ https://spot.us/ https://www.buycott.com/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/05/14/new-app-lets-you-boyco… https://www.eatfeastly.com/intro/ https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323689604578222662518578442.… https://opensourceecology.org/ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5DD5E8447F3CD3F0 https://vimeo.com/51764445 https://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news_wp/?p=2969 https://www.permaculture.org/ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2072383/Eccentric-town-Todmorden… https://www.vayable.com/ https://theoatmeal.com/comics/music_industry https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/macklemore-and-ryan-lewis-chose-diy… https://www.conbrochill.com/ https://www.horsethebandearthtour.com/ https://mashable.com/2011/12/23/louis-ck-million/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/web/louis-ck-sells-4-5-million-in-tickets-in-… https://www.freedomainradio.com/ https://www.lovepalz.com/ https://creativecommons.org/ https://www.buycott.com/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2013/05/14/new-app-lets-you-boyco… https://wordpress.org/about/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software

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The Same Day Sam Bankman-Fried Is Hit with a New Count of Bank Fraud, Three Regulators Warn About Crypto Bank Runs
by Gunnar Larson 27 Feb '23

27 Feb '23

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/02/the-same-day-sam-bankman-fried-is-hi… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 27, 2023 ~ Damian Williams (Photo Source US Attorney's Office, SDNY, via AP) Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for SDNY, Is Leading the Prosecution of Sam Bankman-Fried On December 13, the U.S. Department of Justice released an 8-count criminal indictment against the former crypto kingpin, Sam Bankman-Fried. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission and commit campaign finance violations. Last Thursday, the Department of Justice added four additional criminal counts against Sam Bankman-Fried in a superseding indictment. These include: bank fraud; conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business; and two counts involving the purchase and sale of derivatives. Bankman-Fried’s jury trial is scheduled to start in October. The charge of bank fraud is something that jury members can get their minds around – particularly when the alleged bank fraud is shown to have taken place at federally-insured banks which are backstopped by U.S. taxpayers. And while the new indictment does not name any specific banks, it is well known that Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange and his hedge fund, Alameda Research, were involved with a number of federally-insured banks. (See, for example, Federally-Insured, Crypto-Focused Silvergate Bank Loses 43 Percent of Its Market Value Yesterday as Depositors Flee. Silvergate was a $160 stock in late April of last year. It closed on Friday at $14.33 following a massive bank run on deposits in the last quarter of 2022 as its ties to FTX became publicized.) Here’s a sampling of what’s in the new indictment regarding Sam Bankman-Fried’s alleged diabolical plan to engage in bank fraud: “SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, a/k/a ‘SBF,’ the defendant, perpetrated this multi-billion-dollar fraud through a series, of systems and schemes that allowed BANKMAN-FRIED, through Alameda, to access and steal FTX customer deposits without detection. For instance, in 2021, FTX began to accept customer fiat deposits into an Alameda-affiliated bank account that itself was established through a fraudulent scheme that BANKMAN-FRIED directed… “In part to obscure the relationship between FTX and Alameda, and in order to overcome Bank-1 ‘s refusal to open a bank account for FTX without extensive due diligence and licensing, in or about August 2020, SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, a/k/a ‘SBF,’ the defendant, directed the incorporation of a new U.S.-based entity, North Dimension. BANKMAN-FRIED was listed as sole owner, CEO, and president of North Dimension, which had no employees or business operations outside of its bank account. BANKMAN-FRIED and others chose the name ‘North Dimension’ in part to conceal that there was a relationship between North Dimension and Alameda from FTX customers and from banks approving transactions with the North Dimension bank account. BANKMAN-FRIED also directed the creation of a website for North Dimension and used a credit card in his name to fund the hosting services for the website… “Once the North Dimension bank account was opened, FTX directed customer dollar deposits to the North Dimension account. Thereafter, when FTX customers deposited or withdrew fiat currency, Alameda personnel, who maintained control over the North Dimension account and acted under the direction and supervision of SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, a/k/a ‘SBF,’ the defendant, and his co-conspirators, manually credited or subtracted the customer’s FTX account with the corresponding amount of fiat currency on an internal ledger system…” Investigative reporter, Gretchen Morgenson, reported for NBC News in December that North Dimension went to the trouble of creating a fake company website that marketed itself like this: “Our vision is to become most popular website for purchasing mobile phones and electronics by offering complete product information and a transparent purchasing procedure.” It is more than a little noteworthy that the same day that the Justice Department released details on how easily Bankman-Fried was allegedly able to commit bank fraud, three federal bank regulators released new warnings to U.S. banks about getting involved in crypto. The federal regulators are the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). One paragraph of the various warnings sounds like it is describing the negative impact to all crypto-related banks when a relationship like that between Silvergate and FTX/Alameda makes headlines. It reads: “Deposits placed by a crypto-asset-related entity that are for the benefit of the crypto-asset-related entity’s customers (end customers). The stability of such deposits may be driven by the behavior of the end customer or crypto-asset sector dynamics, and not solely by the crypto-asset-related entity itself, which is the banking organization’s direct counterparty. The stability of the deposits may be influenced by, for example, periods of stress, market volatility, and related vulnerabilities in the crypto-asset sector, which may or may not be specific to the crypto-asset-related entity. Such deposits can be susceptible to large and rapid inflows as well as outflows, when end customers react to crypto-asset-sector-related market events, media reports, and uncertainty. This uncertainty and resulting deposit volatility can be exacerbated by end customer confusion related to inaccurate or misleading representations of deposit insurance by a crypto-asset-related entity.” There is no such thing as federal deposit insurance for crypto assets.

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Listing of Parts of Life
by Karl 27 Feb '23

27 Feb '23

-> Keep something similar to how it has been (body, environment, culture, home ...) -> Hold different approaches together and their merits (ways, cultures, genes, personalities, memes) Feel free to rewrite.

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Cryptocurrency: El Salvador's Bukele Clears The Streets To Build The First Cryptopia
by professor rat 27 Feb '23

27 Feb '23

Crypto-fascist police state more like it. It didn't take long for the inverse-Marxist ' Libertarian' crowd to embrace the ' omelette " thesis of Joseph Stalin. And that's actually good cos now we know exactly where rotten turds like Adam Back are coming from. And they can be driven out of all things cypherpunk with heavy blows. " Know your enemy " and " Cut off the head of the snake ". Yesterday.

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