What are the Ethics of Outdoor Recreation While We’re Sheltering in Place?

Are you doing anything outdoors these days?

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What’s the Best Rain Jacket You Can Buy?

Once and for all an answer to the question that keeps you up at night.

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We’re All Just Navigating Rapids Now

A beautiful look at the life of a professional river guide in the Grand seems very on point for these times.

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There’s a Catch, But You Can Now Buy An Awesome, All-Electric 1966 VW Bus

A 1966 VW Bus that can cruise at 80 mph and is fully electric? Okay, we're listening.

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Do, Um, Knot Miss This Chance to Become an Outdoor Knot Master

"If you don't know a knot, just tie a lot," need no longer apply to anyone.

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There Are Never Any Lines at the Highest Post Office on Earth

Neither snow, nor rain, nor lung-searing altitude.

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The 25 Best National Park Dayhikes

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10 Tips For Raising Outdoors-Loving Kids

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12 Tips For Getting Your Teenager Outdoors With You

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What ‘Walden’ Can Tell Us About Social Distancing and Life’s Essentials

Thoreau's ability to shape his external reality by how he thought about the natural world is a terrific lesson for us all in this age of self-isolation.

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What Happens When a Pandemic Hits Mid-Way Through Your Cross-Country Paddle?

Taipei-based paddler and journalist Neal Moore set off in early February to cross the U.S. in his canoe. He paddled right into a pandemic.

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The Yellowstone River Was Nearly Dammed—This Is Why it Wasn’t

The Yellowstone River was nearly dammed, threatening Montana's magnificent Paradise Valley. This is the story of a dam that wasn't.

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An Update on the Status of Adventure Journal

We're hanging in there, but are considering a few additions.

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Norman Baker Steered Heyerdahl’s Reed Rafts Across the Atlantic—Twice

You've heard of Thor Heyerdahl's famous transoceanic voyages? Well, meet his mountain climbing, plane flying, gold mining navigator.

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How to Choose Trekking Poles

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The Right Way to Store Winter Gear for the Summer

Hey, your skis, Gore-Tex, and avy gear needs some TLC, and you've plenty of time to do it now.

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Tribute to Trail Dogs

The perfect trail companion has always been the dog.

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How I Finally Got Rid of Plantar Fasciitis Once and For All

Millions of runners suffer from this gnarly heel pain, and doctors often don't have the answer. Here's one guy's $25 forever fix.

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The Best Trekking Poles of 2020

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Outdoor Brands Are Stepping Up to Shift From Making Gear to Medical Equipment

Outdoor brands are stepping up to manufacture medical supplies.

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Adventure History Buffs Rejoice—Smithsonian Opens Collections Virtually

Take a swan dive into the deepest and coolest archive of them all.

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This Nature as Pharmaceutical Ad Spoof is Parody and Truth At Once

Take two natures and call us in the morning.

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Is There Anything Duct Tape Can’t Do?

You know what they say: If you can’t duct it, f….just get rid of it. Or something like that.

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Photographer Chris Burkard Captures Glacier’s Melt in Stunning Imagery

AJ contributing photographer Chris Burkard works his magic above New Zealand's iconic Tasman Glacier.

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Underdog? Here’s the Story of the Ultrarunning Underdonkey

The heartwarming tale of a tiny burro and fellow human aiming for the world championships.

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Thru-Hiking in the Time of Coronavirus

In an alternate timeline, I’d find myself bathing deep in the restorative forests of Japan’s Kii Peninsula at this very moment. Later on, I’d slip into a steamy beer onsen (yes, you read that correctly) at the Misugi Resort, then spend an afternoon cycling through a series of remote villages, stopping only to slurp the […]

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Dude Runs Entire Marathon On His Balcony

When the streets are shut down, the balcony will suffice.

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Close National Parks Now—An Open Letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt

Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt Washington, DC icommunications@ios.doi.gov Secretary Bernhardt, I am writing to you with a simple but critically important request: Please close national parks immediately. Many of America’s greatest parks have already shuttered facilities or paused some of their services, like ranger-guided tours or the canyon shuttle in Zion National Park, and […]

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When Any Risk Seems Like Too Much Risk

What's the outdoor enthusiast to do during a period of self-isolation?

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How to Know How Hard a Hike Will Be

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An Astonishing Variety of Wildlife Uses This Pennsylvania Log Bridge

A bobcat, a bear, a deer, a duck, an otter, a raccoon all walk over a log bridge and into a bar...

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Major Parks Close, Rural Residents Urge You to Stay Away (For Now)

Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, King Canyon, and Sequoia national parks have closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. All trails, roads, and facilities are closed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The California parks shut down Friday afternoon and Rocky Mountain in Colorado followed a few hours later at the request of the local […]

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Why I’m Still Planning Trips for ‘After’ the Coronavirus

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Do Some Mind-Cabining With This Theoretical Circular and Modular Dwelling

Nothing at all wrong with letting your cabin-loving imagination run wild with the possibilities.

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The Epic Ice Beard of Lake Superior Surfer Dan

It's epic icebeard season on the Great Lakes.

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How to Support Your Favorite Adventure Town Businesses During Wide Closures

From breweries to coffee joints, adventure town businesses are being hit hard, so we're buying gift cards to our faves.

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Staying social during social isolation

The current global health crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic is challenging workforces like never before, with an increasing number of organisations moving to a fully flexible working environment. 

For the team here at Envato, flexibility has long been at the heart of our day to day working life, and it’s certainly helped us become a better company for the global creative community.

There are now thousands of articles online with top tips, tricks and inspiration on how to make your time in social isolation work best – we quite liked Urban List’s tips on staying calm and Wired’s extensive gear and gadgets list  – but one important aspect to consider is how do we keep our social connectivity to our friends and peers in our jobs, even as our working lives shift to Slack, Google Hangouts, Zoom meetings and more. Unsurprisingly, happy employees often cite people as the reason they enjoy their job the most!

Changing the channel

Web Infrastructure Architect Andrew Humphrey knows more than most the challenges of connecting with a team, having been based in Bali for more than five years. While he’s a big fan of creating different ‘spaces’ at home for work and rest – “Remember that working from home doesn’t mean working all the time….find a separate space where its easier to switch off” – he also finds that there’s always a Slack channel he can dive into to find a social connection.

“While I’m in a privileged position of being video calls for 3-4 hours a day, where I get a lot of face time with my colleagues, I still jump into (Slack) channels like #random and #dad-jokes to help keep myself sane. I also find #work-from-anywhere a great place to turn to for advice about dealing with some of the frustrations that arise from time to time.  Folks in there likely have faced a challenge I’m dealing with and readily share how they solved it. Then for the purely social catchup, I occasionally join in the virtual coffee catchup that runs out of that channel.”

For Envato’s marketing team, who are more used to regular coffee catchups and walking meetings than solo isolation, the shift to fully remote has brought its own challenges…and opportunities. “We’ve started hosting daily coffee and tea catchups; short video calls where we jump on and hang out while making a brew,” says Marketing Director Adam Noonan, “and we’re doing a number of group activities in our team Slack channel. This week we’re running a quiz to guess what people’s home working spaces look like!”

New problems, new opportunities

It’s these new opportunities for human connection that has Jay Hyett, Senior Delivery Coach, so excited, especially as his role has a strong focus on helping teams across Envato connect and deliver their best work. “We have a great headquarters and office setup, so its a challenge to try and keep that atmosphere alive online. We’re trying a number of different ideas, including virtual water coolers for teams, where people can bring to life that impromptu hangout experience. One of our teams is trialling a Friday night drinks session over Google Hangouts and another is seeing if they can do workouts together!”

“Icebreakers are proving to be another big thing for our teams,” continues Jay, “and something that asks people to lean in and connect a bit more than they probably would day-to-day in the office. So that’s asking people to share photos of life at their house and where they’re working from, or even simply ‘are you wearing tracksuit pants today?’. Another team just did a retro where everyone brought a stuffed animal to keep them company.”

“Yes, it relies on people having a sense of humour, but that’s what makes it human, people connecting and supporting each other at a time when we’re probably having less interaction in our daily lives than ever before.”

Sharing and caring

Senior Developer Mary-Anne Cosgrove helped pioneer Envato’s social catch up program for remote workers and women in engineering. “People like to socialise over food and drink, so I set up the monthly women’s catch-ups at morning tea and lunchtime. The remote workers catch up time was a little trickier because we’re in quite a few different time zones, but we’ve settled on an early afternoon tea time. So the idea is to grab your food and beverage of choice before coming into the hangout. I’ve often asked my team to have a virtual team lunch, and sometimes they’ve even gone out to a cafe or restaurant in Melbourne and taken a laptop so they could include me there. “

“When they’ve done that, it has really helped me feel like a valued member of the team,” continues Mary-Anne. “This social interaction is hugely important, and different people need different levels of it. I’ve seen remote working fail for a person when they didn’t have enough interaction with their team and felt isolated and alone. If a person is hanging out with their team a lot in meetings and on Slack anyway they may not feel the need for virtual coffees or lunches – but the less formal virtual catchups allow us to get to know each other better than meetings where we are mostly discussing work.”

Bringing people together

Office-based events are often a perfect chance to bring people together, so spare a thought for the social committees and event organisers around the world who are scrambling to reschedule or reshape their event calendars. Envato Office Manager Ruth Crespo and Office Coordinator Tamar Collins turned the cancellation of the company’s Harmony Day potluck gathering at the Melbourne HQ into an online-based talent show, not to mention essential recipe resource.

“It’s 100% possible and necessary to find online ways to still celebrate events. Social interaction is so vital for mental health, even if it’s from the screen. It’s better to create something and give people the option to participate and connect online, than to offer nothing.

“It’s fun taking on the challenge of pivoting to cater to the new norm, and I feel lucky to have a component of my role that helps create that culture,” adds Ruth. “We really love our jobs and bringing joy to Envato staff, so it was a bit of a sad realisation when months of planning and preparation for many different events went out the window – but it’s been fun to get together and brainstorm alternatives.”

 

The post Staying social during social isolation appeared first on Envato.

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Thank You for Your Support—AJ Four-Packs Now Have Free Shipping

Your support in this tough time has been amazing—we hope free shipping helps a bit!

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Critically Endangered Black Rhino Population Is Rebounding

Although growing just 2.5 percent from 2012 to 2018, the number of black rhinos is in fact growing.

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Audrey Sutherland, Paddler and Writer, Did the Important Things—All of Them

Go simple, go solo, go now, was her motto. And boy, did she.

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An Updating List of COVID-19’s Impacts—From Public Lands to Retail Closures

Bringing a little clarity to the rapid-fire closures and suspensions in the outdoor world.

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Working From Home In a Rolling Home Named Bernie Vanders

A little voyeuristic escapism never hurt anyone.

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The 10 Best Backpacking Packs of 2020

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A Few Words About Adventure Journal and COVID-19

We're still making and sending magazines and notebooks, but with a lot more precautions.

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Need Inspiration Today? Meet the Paraplegic Hoping to Row Across the Pacific

Angela Madsen, Paralympian and Marine Corps veteran, is training to pull herself across the Pacific and if that isn't inspiring we don't know what is.

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5 Great Adventure Books to Take Your Mind Off Things

You probably have the time to catch up on reading, so catch up with these five faves of ours.

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Adventuring During a Pandemic and the Age of Social Responsibility

Learning valuable lessons about our impact in a time when it seems more weighty than ever.

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In Awe of the External Frame Backpack User

Some still bang around the backcountry with external-frame backpacks, and that's awesome.

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Jeez, Utah, We Get It, You’re Beautiful

Meet Ashley National Forest, seat of the mighty Uintas.

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The Final, Ill-Fated Adventure of a Pioneer Scientist

The obsessive navigator Josiah Gregg alienated the members of an ill-fated expedition into California’s wilderness.

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If You’re Stuck Inside, Might As Well Enjoy This List of Animal Cams

Let this be your window into the wider world, if your world is currently a bit smaller.

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Bikepacking With Your Kid Is the Best Kind of Staycation

If the kids are home and you're working from home, well, the woods are just right there.

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Reader Poll: How Is Coronavirus Affecting Your Adventure Life?

Bleep got real. So, are you making real changes?

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The 5 Southwest Backpacking Trips You Should Do First

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Alterra and Vail Resorts Close Ski Areas in Response to Coronavirus

Patagonia has shuttered all operations, too.

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Mt. Everest Spring Climbing Season Closed Due to Coronavirus

China acts first, Nepal swiftly follows

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Ask Me: Hiking the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim in a Day

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Quarantine You Say? We’ll Self-Isolate In This Tasmanian Pumphouse

If you need to self-isolate for whatever reason, you could do much worse than the middle of a lake in remote Tasmania. You could hardly do better in fact.

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Good To-Go Chef Jennifer Scism Dishes on Camp Food—With Bonus Kebab Recipe!

Ever wonder what goes into producing dehydrated meals? The founder of Good To-Go is here to help.

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These Are the Food-Hauling Hut Masters of the Appalachian Trail

Meet the "croo" who haul nearly 100 pounds of food into the backcountry AT huts of NEw Hampshire.

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Here’s a Handy Equation to Determine Your Peak Outdoor Fun Level In a Crowd

Introducing the Skill-to-Send-Ratio, where skill equals, well, skill, and send equals the chance for success in an outdoor endeavor.

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Stalking and Skiing the Floating Mountain of Rishiri

Mountain climbing, skiing, and udon slurping on a Japanese volcanic island.

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Natalia Molchanova, World’s Best Free Diver, Vanished During Final Dive

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The Secret Art of Keeping Your Derailleurs Happy

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Discovery Channel Rankles Storied Explorers Club Members With Semi-Takeover Bid

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In This Chinese Village, Everyone Skis—On Wood and Horsehair Sticks

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Bipartisan Senate Group Backs Huge New Public Lands Spending Bill—No, Really

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The AJ Interview: Hilaree Nelson on Aging, Obsession, and Life as a Role Model

One of the world's most celebrated adventure athletes opens up to us about, well, everything.

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Meet the Vermont Backcountry—And Leave Nice Tracks While You’re There

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5 Questions to Ask Before Trying a New Outdoors Adventure

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Finally, a Satirical Painting Poster Series of Bad National Park Reviews

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There Is So Much Empty Surf in New Hampshire If You Can Handle the Cold

Surf is where you find it, to quote zen master Gerry Lopez.

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There Are Still Old Growth Groves Being Found in the U.S.

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The 10 Best Dayhikes in Yosemite

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The Best Backpacking Trip in Glacier National Park

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Meet the Notorious ‘Pablo Escobar’ of Bird Egg Poaching

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Sea Otter Classic, Beloved Cycling Festival, Canceled Due to Coronavirus

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Hydrofoil Surfing Should Rebrand Itself As ‘Ocean Flying’

This might be as close to the Silver Surfer as surfers ever truly get.

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Tom Frost Was the Photographer and Engineer Behind Climbing’s Golden Age

Frost took the photos, climbed the routes, and designed the gear that spurred the clean climbing movement—the glue behind America's golden age of climbing.

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Cedar Wrapped Campfire Banana Boats

Sweet, smokey, gooey, and perfect.

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Here’s the Secret to Installing Tubeless Tires

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The 8 Best Hiking Daypacks of 2020

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This Is Why You Want to Get to Know Your Local Gear Shop

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How to Nail Your Thru-Hiking Resupply

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Review: Outdoor Research Refuge Air Hooded Jacket

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12 Ways to Make Friends at a Campground

"Whatdya guys think of that Donald Tru... Oh hey, is that beer!?"

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The 10 Best Expert Tips for Hiking With Trekking Poles

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Adventure Things I Once Mocked But Now Love

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The Great Klamath Dam Removal

One of the West's great rivers is about to be freed.

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What’s The Worst Kind of Car To Be Stuck Behind On a Mountain Road?

Is that bus really pulling out right in front of me? Argh!

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So You Wanna Be An Arctic Wildlife Photographer?

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5 Perfect National Park Backpacking Trips for Beginners

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Hike the World’s Most Beautiful Trail: The Alta Via 2 in the Dolomites

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