Officials eye accused Sharpsburg recreation director's links to other ...

By Rick Wills

Published: Thursday, January 10, 2013, 12:01?a.m.
Updated 6 hours ago

Authorities are investigating whether a Sharpsburg recreation director accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy was similarly involved with other minors with whom she talked on her cellphone.

?Police plan to interview other individuals who have had contact with this woman,? said Mike Manko, a spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.

Neighbors of Susan Sundo, 45, said her arrest shocked them. Sundo volunteered in the canteen at the Aspinwall Area Baseball Association, where two of her children play, they said.

?It?s a shame. I did not know her. I have seen her and know that her boys play baseball,? said Edward Echnat, a neighbor.

Her neighbors said Sundo, a married mother of three boys ages 6 to 14, accompanied her children to baseball tournaments in Puerto Rico.

County police arrested Sundo on Tuesday on charges of corruption of a minor, statutory sexual assault and related felonies, accusing her of carrying on the sexual relationship for six months. She is being held in the Allegheny County Jail.

Court officials said it was not clear if she has an attorney. No one answered the phone or door at her home.

?She will not be back in the canteen,? said Bill Hudic, president of the Aspinwall Area Baseball Association.

Hudic said he did not believe the boy involved with Sundo was a player in the Aspinwall league. Sundo?s husband complained to police about his wife?s relationship with the teenager, said Sharpsburg Mayor Richard Panza.

?She was relieved of her duties as of last night. Everybody was pretty surprised by this. We are in shock,? Panza said.

A criminal complaint states the boy repeatedly spent the night in the Sundo household and entered her bedroom several times wearing only underwear. He slept in Sundo?s bedroom as recently as Dec. 16, police said.

Sundo?s husband, whom authorities did not identify, told police that the boy got a large number of text messages and phone calls from Sundo starting about six months ago.

While at the Sundo home, the boy said, she often sent him text messages encouraging him to meet her for sex in the attic or basement, the complaint states.

When Sundo?s husband drove to the boy?s home to confront him and his parents, the teen told him that they had sex for several months ? in her home and in a sport utility vehicle parked in an Aspinwall lot, the complaint states.

Jim Donahoe, head of Aspinwall Council?s parks committee, said background checks are standard for volunteers in youth sports.

?They run background checks on any new people,? Donahoe said.

A review of online criminal records showed no arrests in Pennsylvania for Sundo.

Rick Wills is a staff writer forTrib Total Media. He can be reached at412-320-7944 or rwills@tribweb.com.

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Source: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/3264956-74/sundo-police-aspinwall

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Andrew Goudelock Closer to NBA Call-Up Since Joining New D-League Team?

Andrew Goudelock showed promise as NBA rookie with the Lakers last season, but found himself cut and ventured out to the NBADL anyway. So far taking the minor league by storm, Goudelock hopes he's more poised for a call-up since joining the RGV Vipers.

Despite spending his rookie season in the NBA with the Lakers, Andrew Goudelock found himself let go after training camp this past fall. Starting off his sophomore campaign with the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the D-League, the combo guard hit the ground running. Averaging over 20 points per content, Goudelock began to embrace the role of leading man, all the while propelling the Skyforce to a rather strong start to the season.

But that all suddenly changed when the former Lakers' guard served as the headliner for a three-team deal that shook up the minor league right in time for the Showcase. Goudelock was traded to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, all but less than a week ago.

He may have already been an early M.V.P. candidate, but the guard asserted that he's only further coming into his own as a new member of the Rockets' NBADL affiliate. He added, "The style of play here is definitely different. We play open. There's a lot of running, and if you see a good shot, you just take it. I think it fits my style of play a little bit better."

As fate would have it, Goudelock's statistics so far with RGV don't lie; they agree with him. Through his first three contests as a Viper, he has averaged a similar 20.7 points, but has done so in a much more efficient fashion. All his shooting percentages have improved all around thus far. The guard is shooting 49% from the field, 36% from deep, and a clutch 93% from the charity stripe.

There's no doubt that Goudelock can score the basketball. His display of talent so far in the minors only confirms that. With that said, there's another facet of his game he'd like to improve upon in the interest of earning a call-up soon. The guard said, "Everyone knows me for my scoring---my floaters. That won't change, because ultimately, that's what's going to get me money. But the biggest thing for me is expanding my playmaking abilities and defense, and just getting better at the point guard position."

As he joins the Vipers as part of the Rockets' organization, Goudelock joins a franchise that has proven to appreciate D-League talent to the fullest. In addition to actively assigning their existing prospects up and down on a frequent basis, Houston's brass has also pulled the trigger to pluck diamonds in the rough from the minors over the years.

Because of the welcoming attitude the Rockets have towards utilizing the D-League, Goudelock now sees more hope for the near future. He added, "Since I've gotten here, I've already talked to a couple of teams. That's exactly what I came down here for. But like you said, the Rockets do give us all hard looks. My agent and I have talked to them a couple of times, but you never know what'll happen or where you'll end. I just have to keep pushing for it and see what happens."

As he aims to continue improving his game in the meantime, however, the guard said playing with the Vipers' core of existing players is making that an easy thing to do. Goudelock said, "This is a better place for me. I have a lot of good talent around me, so it's almost like an NBA team that we have down here."

In addition to simply playing well, a player's situation has to be an ideal one for them to truly shine. Now donning a RGV Vipers' jersey, Goudelock can rest easy knowing he can continue letting his play do the talking as even more NBA executives take a closer look.

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Source: http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2013/1/10/3859092/andrew-goudelock-closer-to-nba-call-up-since-joining-new-d-league-team

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REALTOR? Plays Watchful Role in Appraisals - Americas Best Agents

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It may be a fundamental element in nearly two-thirds of every residential real estate transaction, yet when you think about buying or selling a Pelican Bay home or condo, it?s not likely to be your major focus. Important though it may be, for most people, the appraisal process seems like a mere formality. After all, haven?t the seller and buyer already agreed to the deal? What?s left to do, other than dot the I?s and cross the T?s?

Of course, if you are a cash buyer, you can choose to skip the appraisal altogether. If so, congrats - you are ready to buy as soon as you find the right property! But for the rest of us, if a loan is involved, so too is the lender?s appraisal ? or appraisals.? Yet many real estate agents are not a part of this element.

The entire transaction hinges upon its success because the lender needs assurance that the property has at least the agreed value. If the home doesn?t comp out, the bank will not fund the loan.

When it comes to the appraisal, I will admit to being one Realtor who favors the proactive approach. One way to help assure the right outcome at appraisal time is for your Realtor to meet the appraiser at the property -- armed with a package of comparables that support the agreed-upon price. Most appraisers may have uncovered the same comps already, but that?s not always the case. If my seller has completed upgrades or improvements, I also like to bring proof to help justify a higher price. Making the appraiser?s job easier is an important part of a Realtor?s job.?

As a trusted Realtor in Naples, I?ve found that taking an active role during appraisal is an important way to protect my client?s interests. It?s a commitment I make to help insure that each and every closing finishes as planned.? If this winter finds you looking for a local Realtor who will be by your side from start to finish -- drop me an email, or give me a call!

Most of my sales in Pelican Bay are all cash and there are no appraisals.

^?Realtor is a trademark of the National Association of Realtors

Source: http://americasbestagents.net/blog/realtor%C2%AE-plays-watchful-role-in-appraisals/

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Christmas | Travel Blog

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Do people put Christmas lights up in SA? Bear in mind that I don?t walk anywhere at night, so I only know what I saw in the daytime. Maseru, Lesotho?s small capital city, had decorative lights strung across main street and, in a small park, red and green plastic palm trees stood around a traditional Christmas tree shape out of white lights. I didn?t see lights or decorations in front of houses in residential areas of Maseru or Pretoria. Most homes are surrounded by walls with gates across the driveways, so you can?t see much. At the Bloemfontein mall (where I went to see The Hobbit) there may have been some signs about Christmas in store windows, but I don?t remember much decoration there either. Back in Kameelpoort, I saw one man putting up a short string of white lights above his door on Christmas Eve.

Is the church service long? Do they sing lots of Christmas carols? I didn?t go to church the Sunday before Christmas because I had just returned home. But there were no Christmas Eve or Christmas Day services that I knew of. On Christmas Eve, I walked around the village with a young woman friend,

Jane, and met some of her cousins and friends who were visiting for the holidays. While walking, I struck up ?Joy to the World? which Jane and her friend knew...but Jane didn?t want to sing in front of others.

I don?t know much, do I? I am ignorant about what?s on TV or radio, and I don?t get the newspapers. (I do read the 3-month old newspapers sitting in the outside latrine) I love having my outside room, but I don?t go into my family?s house often. Some PCV?s join their families at 8 each weekday to watch Generations, a very popular TV show. It is about two successful families in Jo-burg. Like Dallas without JR. Instead there is a lunatic young woman who put condoms in her friend?s suitcase so that the friend?s boyfriend would discover them; later on she got injured in a fall and is milking that for all it?s worth. One of the sons got married to another man, but he has a baby on the way with the daughter of the other family (who, of course, are feuding....though the mother of one family and the father of the other were involved previously and that

might be sparking up again). Like all soaps, if I watch it every 3 months or so, I catch up on all the dirt.

My family invited me to join them at Patricia?s house near Pretoria for Christmas. First, which one is Patricia? In the car, I made a list of Martha?s family with Ouma?s help. Ouma is 4^th down the list of Martha?s nine living children. She and her husband, Edison, live down the street from us and Patricia is the 2^nd of their 5 daughters. Patricia is around the same age as Martha?s two youngest, Zanele and Samuel, who live at home. Such an age spread, and honestly, I can?t see the age differences at all! Since Christmas, we have had a young woman and her 3 yr. old daughter staying with us who are the daughter and grandaughter of Jane, Martha?s middle daughter.....who no way looks like a grandmother! So Martha?s great-grandaughter is younger than Martha?s grandaughter, Thandeka, who is Zanele?s daughter. There are two other granddaughters (or great-gd) staying here this break and watching these 4 girls play together is such a kick! This is why I enjoyed myself so much this Christmas....Just feeling like

I was getting to know the family.

As an ugogo, I sat most of the day under a canopy with Martha and Ouma (Ouma is a very heavy woman who can?t do much physical work). Early in the day, Patricia let me slice up the carrots, but I was never in that very small kitchen when all the food was being dished up. I brought a crochet project along (a potholder I gave to Patricia later) and Martha did most of it. She used to knit and crochet a lot before her eyesight worsened; but this was an easy thing, so she was happy. Others joined us under the canopy, Patricia?s father-in-law and another older man. They had a beer or two to drink, but I didn?t see anyone drinking too much that day. Two men grilled the meat outdoors (a braii - pronounced bry) , and then young people delivered plates of food, to the men and elderly first..including me. (Let?s not go there!) Food was pap, tomato/onion gravy, vegetables, and meat. [Time in SA: I was told we?d leave at 8 am, but we left at 10 and arrived before noon. Food was served about 4. Martha?s son, Moses, said something which made the others laugh (which of course, I couldn?t understand) When I asked his wife, Hilda, what he said, she told me he was being ?the rude uncle? by commenting on how long it was taking Patricia to get the food ready. Anyway, things happen when they happen here in SA.] After our food plates are taken, large plates piled with an assortment of chips and nuts appear. There is nothing to drink during the main course, but now large cold drink bottles are set down by every 4 or 5 people and glasses are poured around. After this, dessert is a bowl of cake, fruit cocktail, and pudding. Last is a plate of watermelon. About two hours have gone by, with young people carrying plates back and forth between the guests and the kitchen. I just sat, waited, and watched. We were about to pour wine for those of us under the canopy when the thunderstorm which had been sputtering for the last hour, became a downpour. Grace came out with an umbrella and escorted us, one by one, into the house.

It?s not just time that?s laid back here, it?s something about life. (It?s really quite different from the characters in the TV show, Generations, with all that drama.) Conversation (with a lot of humour as far as I can tell) is the order of the day. My take on this, is that there is also a lot less ?fretting, arranging, and worrying? than I?m accustomed to. Arranging the meal is not a feat to be accomplished and family members are content to just sit around and joke amongst themselves......for hours. Some of the jokes I get translated even seem pretty lame to me. All contribute to the conversation, and everybody is just there, with no expectations. (I DO expect some days of heavy-duty card playing arranged when I get back to the States, however.) Do you see how our cultures are different? I know I am from a family that likes to fix things up so they ?go right? and I know that some of the frustrations I may have at work will be because I expect things to be examined and improved; which may not happen here in quite the same way. Who knows, maybe all this ?worrying? I equate with my American home is really part of a culture centered on financial success, and can be found anywhere, as Generations seems to show. Or maybe Martha?s family is just so nice....Martha has a great chuckle and I never heard her sound like she was scolding or reprimanding anyone. Whatever dramas there may be in such a large family which is bound to have conflicts or concerns, they didn?t surface on this holiday.

The evening ended with the music being turned up and people going outside to dance whenever the rain let up. The house was so small that it felt like a college party in a rented house packed with people. Music and laughter were very loud, everyone was enjoying themselves. Then we piled in the two cars (Samuel?s and his girlfriend?s); I had Lindo (one of the little girls) asleep on my lap. And we got home before midnight.

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Source: http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Mpumalanga-/Barberton/blog-765327.html

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Making use of Brian Urlacher Jersey Self Improvement To Boost The ...

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Messi wins record 4th world's best player award

Argentina`s Lionel Messi, left, and US Abby Wambach, right, pose with their trophies after winning the World Player of the Year Awards during the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2013 held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone, Walter Bieri)

Argentina`s Lionel Messi, left, and US Abby Wambach, right, pose with their trophies after winning the World Player of the Year Awards during the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2013 held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone, Walter Bieri)

Argentina's Lionel Messi poses with the trophy after winning the FIFA Men's World Player of the Year Award during the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2013 held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone, Walter Bieri)

Argentina's Lionel Messi shows off the FIFA Men's World Player of the Year Award during the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2013 held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone, Steffen Schmidt)

Argentina's Lionel Messi shows off the FIFA Men's World Player of the Year Award during the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2013 held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone, Steffen Schmidt)

US soccer player Abby Wambach poses with the trophy after winning the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Award during the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala 2013 held at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, Jan 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone, Walter Bieri)

ZURICH (AP) ? Lionel Messi became the first four-time winner of the FIFA Player of the Year award after shattering the world record with 91 goals last year for Barcelona and Argentina.

The 25-year-old won for the fourth straight time, beating Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta in voting announced Monday. His 91 goals topped Gerd Mueller's mark of 85 for Bayern Munich and Germany in 1972.

Abby Wambach became the first American to win FIFA Women's Player of the Year since Mia Hamm in 2001 and 2002. Pia Sundhage was voted top women's coach after leading Wambach and the U.S. team to the gold medal at last summer's London Olympics.

Messi received 41.60 percent of the points in votes by national team coaches and captains plus selected media. Ronaldo got 23.68 percent and Iniesta 10.91 percent.

"To tell the truth, this is really unbelievable to get the fourth award. I am so nervous," Messi said in Spanish, wearing a black tuxedo jacket and bow tie, both with a white polka-dot pattern in an unexpectedly flamboyant touch.

U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann and captain Carlos Bocanegra both voted Messi first, as did Soccer America's Paul Kennedy.

"Whether I win or not it doesn't matter, it's a privilege to be here," Ronaldo, the 2008 winner, said at a pre-gala news conference he attended while wearing a New York Yankees cap.

Zinedine Zidane of France and Ronaldo of Brazil were voted FIFA Player of the Year three times before the award merged in 2010 with France Football's Golden Ball, given to the European player of the year. The Golden Ball, or Ballon d'Or, was won three times by Michel Platini of France and Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten of the Netherlands.

The 32-year-old Wambach received 20.67 percent to edge teammate Alex Morgan (13.5) and five-time winner Marta of Brazil (10.87). Jill Ellis, who was interim U.S. coach last fall, voted Wambach first, as did Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl, while American captain Christie Rampone voted Morgan first.

"I'm very, very surprised," Wambach said. "Not only do I think Marta and Alex could have won, but many other players could have been here as well."

Wambach, who received the award from American goalkeeper Hope Solo, scored five goals in London as the U.S. won its third straight Olympic title. She has 152 international goals, six shy of Hamm's record.

"She's so completely deserving of this award," Morgan said. "She's made such a huge mark on women's soccer over the past decade. She's an inspiration to not only the thousands of young girls around the country and world, but also to me."

The U.S. players were serenaded from the stage by Sundhage, who sang a verse of the Bob Dylan song "If Not For You" when she received her award.

Sundhage, who left the U.S. job after the Olympics to coach her native Sweden, got 28.59 percent of the vote to defeat Nono Sasaki of Japan (23.83) and Bruno Bini of France (9.02).

Vicente del Bosque was voted top men's coach after leading Spain to its third straight title in a major tournament, the 2012 European Championship. Del Bosque got 34.51 percent to win over Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho (20.49), who won last year, and Pep Guardiola (12.91) who won in 2011 and retired from Barcelona last spring.

The three finalists for men's Player of the Year were on the World XI All-Star team chosen by the FIFPro group of players' unions, comprising 50,000 members worldwide.

They selected a team composed entirely of players from Spanish clubs, with nine repeating their selection from one year ago.

Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas was selected as goalkeeper, joined on defense by teammates Sergio Ramos and Marcelo and by Barcelona's Dani Alves and Gerard Pique. Iniesta was joined in midfield by Barcelona teammate Xavi Hernandez and Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso. Messi led the attack with Ronaldo and Atletico Madrid's Radamel Falcao. Marcelo and Falcao replaced Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic and Wayne Rooney from the 2011 team.

The Puskas Award for the best goal in 2012, voted on by fans, was won by Miroslav Stoch of Fenerbahce, who had a long-range volley last March in a Turkish league game against Genclerbirligi.

Uzbekistan won the fair play award for its good disciplinary record. Sepp Blatter made the FIFA presidential award to Franz Beckenbauer, who captained and coached West Germany to World Cup victories, and then led the local organizing committee of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-07-SOC-FIFA-Awards/id-394020048a3c4adb966c3e314b2ccb02

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Common STD grows resistant to treatment in North America

The most commonly acquired sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the U.S., chlamydia and gonorrhea, are usually cleared out swiftly and easily with a dose of oral antibiotics. But one of these infections is growing bold and finding ways to evade treatment. More than 321,000 cases of gonorrhea are reported each year in the U.S. alone--and the actual number of annual infections is probably much higher because many people do not experience symptoms. The infection has lost much of its social stigma since antibiotics were enlisted to fight it off earlier last century. But left untreated today, it can still cause pelvic inflammation, severe pregnancy complications and female infertility. Its presence increases the odds of an infection with HIV, and babies born to women with untreated gonorrhea are at risk of blindness. Although antibiotics have reduced this infection to little more than a modern-day inconvenience for most, the bacterium (Neisseria gonorrhoeae) has been steadily evolving to knock out medical weapons. Sulfonamides ceased to be effective in treating it in the 1940s; penicillins and tetracyclines lost effectiveness in the 1970s and '80s; and fluoroquinolones were taken off the treatment table in 2007. The last simple treatment, a class of antibiotics called cephalosporins, appears to be weakening against gonorrhea infections worldwide. And that drug resistance has now reached North America in sizable numbers, according to a new study, published online January 8 in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association. Resistance to the commonly prescribed oral antibiotic cefixime (a cephalosporin) was first detected several years ago in Japan. Since then, public health officials have been watching the phenomenon spread to Europe and now to North America. For the new study, researchers led by Vanessa Allen, of Public Health Ontario, examined people who were treated for gonorrhea with cefixime at a clinic in Toronto. The clinic required people to come in for a follow-up appointment two to four weeks later to make sure their infection had been cleared; it also surveyed patients about whether they might have been exposed to the infection since their initial visit. These practices allowed the researchers to gather data on how often the drug failed to work. Of 133 patients who received treatment and returned for their follow-up appointment for testing, 6.77 percent had failed to respond to treatment, which corresponds to about one in 15 infections. Drug-resistant gonorrhea has officially arrived in North America. Other experts in the field call "its arrival deeply troubling; clinicians now face the emergence of cephalosporin-resistant N. gonorrhoeae without any well-studied, effective backup treatment options," observed a team of researchers led by Robert Kirkcaldy, of the Division of STD Prevention at the CDC, in an essay published in the same issue of JAMA. And, they noted, as there are no proven alternative treatment waiting in the drug development wings, " the antibiotic pipeline is running dry." And our ability to track this spreading resistance has actually been hampered by the advent of rapid genetic screening. Traditional tests grew cultures of the bacteria in the lab, which could then be analyzed for strain variety and resistance profiles. Genetic testing, however, just detects the presence of the infection without revealing further details. A survey completed in 2007 showed that even then only about 5 percent of U.S. laboratories tested for gonorrhea via culture. And follow-up tests after treatment are not technically recommended for most cases. The clinic used in the study might present a higher-than-average rate of gonorrhea infection in general because many of its patients are men who have had sexual encounters with other men, a population that, so far, has shown a higher rate of infections with genetic propensity to resist antibiotic treatment. Previous research had pinpointed the presence of genes in U.S. cases that would indicate a possible resistance to cefixime. But this study was able to establish the rate at which the drug actually failed to treat the infection. In light of growing drug-resistance worldwide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently recommended clinicians no longer prescribe a single antibiotic treatment. Instead, they now advise that patients receive an injection of ceftriaxone as well as a week-long course of oral azithromycin or doxycycline. Kirkcaldy and his colleagues also recommend that, "all patients treated for gonorrhea should be given risk reduction counseling, offered condoms and retested for gonorrhea three months after treatment," they noted in their essay. "Clinicians must remain vigilant for cephalosporin treatment failures and report suspected cases to the local or state health department," Kirkcaldy and his colleagues wrote. "Patients with persistent or recurrent symptoms shortly after treatment should be retested for gonorrhea by culture." Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/common-std-grows-resistant-treatment-north-america-220300738.html

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