Deer assassination in Ann Arbor, habitats for fish sex in Ypsi, the music of Heather Evans, and our first in-studio bat infestation… on episode 33 of the Saturday Six Pack

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After kicking things off with the awesome into song written by our recent guest Frank Allison, we jumped right into things with University of Michigan Associate Professor Rebecca Hardin, the host of WCBN’s environmental news show It’s Hot in Here, and avid hunter Ben Connor Barrie, the editor of the Ann Arbor blog Damn Arbor. The idea was for us to discuss Ann Arbor’s somewhat controversial deer cull, but, as sometimes happens, we spent a good deal of our allotted time together just getting to know one another. Eventually, though, we got around to the topic of Ann Arbor City Council’s recent 8-1 decision to allocate $35,000 so that sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture could be brought into city parks at night in order to kill up to 100 deer, thereby restoring balance to our delicate local ecosystem.

Hardin, Connor Barrie and I discussed the growth of the local deer population, and the research that has been done thus far. [Two aerial deer surveys were completed of Ann Arbor’s first and second wards. A February 10 survey counted 116 deer. A March 6 survey counted 168 deer. This growth rate, according to experts, is untenable.] We discussed issues that have been raised on both sides of the debate, from the belief held by some that this upcoming cull is only happening because a small, vocal group of Ann Arbor home owners are tired of having their shrubbery eaten, to the view that, if the herd isn’t thinned, we might experience an outbreak of life-threatening Lyme Disease. We discussed the impact our deer have on our native plant species, as well as the ethical concerns raised by those who see these animals as “kindred life forms” deserving of compassion.

While both Hardin and Connor Barrie seemed to agree with the ultimate decision of Ann Arbor City Council, they acknowledged the merit of the arguments made by those against the cull. As Hardin, who studies human/wildlife interaction and wildlife management, pointed out, this discussion about having sharpshooters in our parks is happening at the same time that we, as a community, are debating whether or not we should allow guns in our schools. And there are those who, justifiably, would like to see us find more modern, less violent ways to address the problems that confront us as a society. Unfortunately, according to Barrie, the other possible solutions that have been discussed thus far are both costly and illegal. [Apparently, while there’s been talk of dosing our local deer population with birth control, doing so is currently against the law. Furthermore, according to Barrie, it’s estimated that this would cost approximately $1,000 per deer.]

In the end, my sense is that both Hardin and Connor Barrie feet as though the impact on our local ecosystem just can’t support our increasing deer population. While, yes, people could put up fences, and perhaps plant fewer hostas in their yards, our growing deer population would invariably do significant damage to our public spaces. As Connor Barrie noted, if we intend to stay on our present course as a community, prioritizing native plant diversity in public spaces, we cannot, at the same time, allow the local deer population to grow unchecked… Here are Connor Barrie [who once grilled deer meat live on the Saturday Six Pack] and Hardin discussing the increasing impact our deer have on local biodiversity; our native plant species, our pollinators, and our migratory birds.

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[If you would like to listen to episode thirty-three of The Saturday Six Pack, you can either download it from iTunes or scroll the bottom of the page, where you’ll find the Soundcloud file embedded.]

Then, at the 37-minute mark, we talked about our local fish population with Elizabeth Riggs, the deputy director of the Huron River Watershed Council, and Schultz Outfitters fly fishing guide James Hughes.

We started off by talking about species diversity… The problem, as it was explained by our guests, isn’t that we don’t have good species representation in the Huron. It’s that these populations, generally speaking, are small. According to a recent shock study conducted in the Huron River, Hughes said, we have both small and large mouth bass, white bass, two different sucker species, and various darters and smaller fish. And, of course, we have carp, which thrive in the warm waters of the Huron. [Riggs added later that we also have rock bass.] The problem is, with the exception of the carp, these fish are relatively little, and in small numbers.

This, says Riggs, is largely due to the dams along the Huron, which have changed the flow of the river, and thus the ecosystem. [There are 10 or 11 dams along the entire river, 5 of which are between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.] The water, she says, is, for the most part, warmer and shallower than it has been in the past. While Riggs says this could change in the future, as aging and costly dams are removed, like was done some time ago in Dexter, there are things that we can do now to help our native fish populations… And that work is starting this week.

Funded by the Watershed Council’s RiverUp! campaign and a grant from the Wildlife Conservation Society, efforts are currently underway to redirect 20 mature trees so that they hinge over the river, where their branches will provide protective canopy, giving local fish species slower areas where they can rest along the river while avoiding predators. Furthermore, work will soon begin in the area of the Riverside Park gazebo, where a little excavation will be done in order to add depth, and rocks will be put in place to both slow the current and provide cover. As a result of these activities, Riggs says, we may not just increase our small mouth bass, rock bass, and sucker populations, but also start to see these fish increasing in size.

Hughes, who has been leading fly fishing tours along the river for years, says he thinks that, by doing this, we very well might also convince some larger fish to come back into the river from Ford Lake. The big fish, according to Hughes, like the lake, as it has both depth and cover, but they come back to the river every spring to look for quiet, shallow areas in which to build their nests and spawn. And, he suspects, some may spend more time in the river after spawning, once these habitat improvements are made. Small mouth bass, for instance, may prefer the river, he said, as they typically prefer the flow of rivers to the stillness of lakes.

[note: We were interrupted at the 41-minute mark by someone claiming to be our favorite, somewhat-retired prank caller, The Who Guy, who wanted to make it clear that the person who called in last week, claiming to be him, was not in fact him. I won’t go into a lot of detail here on our discussion, but it’s worth listening to, if only to hear him snap at me, saying, “I don’t want to do your job for you,” when asked if he could explain to people in the audience how he defined himself.]

We also talked a bit about carp, which Hughes defended. [Schultz Outfitters specializes in warm water fly fishing and carp.] Yes, they’re invasive, he said, but they’re been here for over 100 years, and the ecosystem has adapted to them. [People from other states he says, come to Ypsi to fish for our carp.]

And, we also talked a bit about non-fish subjects, like the fact that the Huron is getting cleaner with each passing year, and the fact that, just a few hours before we went live on the show, a dozen or so volunteers outfitted with chainsaws and various pieces of machinery, set out to create an access point for canoes and kayaks on the north end of Frog Island Park… Here are Hughes and Riggs telling us about life beneath the surface of the Huron.

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And, then, at the 59-minute mark, we began talking about bats with Aja Marcato, the conservation programing director at the Organization for Bat Conservation, who had brought with her a Big Brown bat. [Big Brown bats, as we learned, are the second largest bats in Michigan.] We talked about why bats are so important to our environment, the nine different species that live here in Michigan, and the threat they’re facing due to habitat destruction and pesticides. [As Rebecca Hardin mentioned in our first segment, much of the debate around widening Geddes Road is that, in order to do so, several old-growth trees, which are homes to countless local bats, will have to be removed.] Most of our time, however, was spent discussing the spread of the devastating bat disease White Nose Syndrome, which, according to Marcato, could wipe out as many as 95% of some of our bat species. [It’s believed that the spores were carried by a spelunker from a cave in Europe to a cave in New York.] While researchers are working on a treatment for the deadly fungus, it’s unlikely that treating bats will be easy, and, in the meantime, we’re already beginning to see the negative effects spread from the east coast.

We also discussed the undeserved bad rap that bats get [sucking blood, spreading rabies, and getting tangled in people’s hair] and the fact that, to a large extent, it can be attributed to the fact that, until somewhat recently, we didn’t really have the tools to study and understand bats.

Here are Marcato and her bat, Nikola, explaining to us why we should all be building bat houses. [In the wild, bats like Nikola, eat up to 2,000 bugs a night.]

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And, toward the end of the show, beginning at the 1:37-mark, we invited in musician Heather Evans, who just recently relocated to Ann Arbor from Marquette. Between songs, we talked with Evans about what it was like growing up in Marquette with a father who was a small town radio personality, her passion for roasting coffee, her experiences on the road with a bluegrass band, and the time she played a wake for a 70 year old in Wisconsin who was still alive… The man being celebrated at the wake, who called himself Wild Man, apparently wanted to have his big going-away party when he was still in a position to enjoy it. According to Evans, he spent his time dancing on the lid of his coffin and serving shots. [Wild Man’s friends used a wood-burning kit to leave their names and messages of love on the coffin, which he intended to use once he passed away.] …Oh, and we also talked about her experience recording for Matt Jones when he rolled through Marquette, collecting song for his now-statewide River Street Anthology project. Here’s Evans performing for us. [Her set, which is awesome, begins at the 1:50-mark.]

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Oh, and somewhere during the segment with Evans, our part-time music director, the great Jim Cherewick, burst into the studio to cover the Ted Nugent pro-hunting anthem Fred Bear. [Listen at the 2:27-mark.] Here’s Jim totally redeeming himself for that time he phoned in the cover of the Go-Gos song Vacation.

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Thanks, as always, to AM 1700 for hosting the show, Kate de Fuccio for documenting everything with her camera, and Brian Robb for running the board, making sure the bills paid, and insuring that the toilet paper and bleach stays stocked. [All photos above come courtesy of Kate.]

If you like this episode, check out our archive of past shows at iTunes. And do please leave a review if you have the time, OK? It’s nice to know that people are listening, and, unless you call in, that’s pretty much the only way we know.

Now, if you haven’t already, please listen for yourself, and experience the magic firsthand… Oh, and tell you friends.

Posted in Agriculture, Ann Arbor, Environment, Local Business, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 32 Comments

Ypsi Immigration Interview: Misha Tuesday

After fleeing Ypsilanti for Chicago several years ago to pursue fame and fortune in the lucrative field of birthday party entertainment, the man who now calls himself Misha Tuesday has returned home to Michigan. This is his formal re-entry interview.

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MARK: What’s your name?

MISHA: For me, that’s a complicated question. I used to change it every day. It’s currently Misha Tuesday, and has been for a while, but I still use a lot of different stage names, like Magister Freud, Dizzy the Clown, and Rathbone the Pirate.

MARK: Can we trust you?

MISHA: I think to some extent all words are lies, in a “map-is-not-the-territory” sense. As an actor and magician, I make my living through lying and deception. I think truth is overrated, and often what people mean by “truth” is merely a petty devotion to facts. But, yes, you can trust me.

MARK: What’s your first memory?

MISHA: I remember hanging on to my dad’s shin, sitting on his foot like a sit-and-spin, and having him walk around like my own personal amusement park ride. He was a potato farmer, and this happened when he got home from a day of working in the fields. He tired of it way before I did.

MARK: Where did you grow up?

MISHA: I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, then spent about 7 years in Pittsburgh before moving to Michigan.

MARK: What did you think of Pittsburgh? I quite like it there.

MISHA: Pittsburgh is a great town. I think of it as a town, or a town of towns, rather than a city. The hills keep the neighborhoods very distinct, and they all feel like towns. I lived there when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup two years in a row, and it was hard, even for a non-sports-fan, to not feel the camaraderie and civic pride.

MARK: So what brought you to Michigan from Pittsburgh? Did you come to EMU for school?

MISHA: I originally moved from Pennsylvania to Ann Arbor because my son’s mother went to U of M for grad school. But I soon found that most of the artists and musicians I got along with lived in Ypsi. I was spending all my time here anyway, so I stopped going to Ann Arbor, or paying rent there. After brief sojourns to Pittsburgh and Arizona, and a long one to Chicago, I’ve realized that Ypsi is where my heart and my people are.

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MARK: Do you remember your first experience in Ypsi? I’m curious as to what brought you here from Ann Arbor the first time.

MISHA: My earliest memories of Ypsi are going to basement art parties and playing at house shows. I met Emperor Chadness and Adam Winnie at a show at the Trumbullplex in Detroit. They played on stage with me without knowing who I was or what we were going to play and that’s pretty much the definition of instant friendship in my book. They were both living in Ypsi at the time, so I started taking part in some of their shenanigans, which is how I met and started occasionally collaborating with Pat Elkins. Parallel to that, I had close friends from Pittsburgh who lived in Ypsi and kept talking about this cool art space called Dreamland, and, since Naia is so welcoming, I started doing shows there. Short answer: the names I wanted to drop turned out to be Ypsi names instead of Ann Arbor names.

MARK: What kind of kid were you?

MISHA: A dreamer, and robotically rebellious. I always wanted to do things that caused consternation in grown-ups.

MARK: Was life in rural Pennsylvania difficult for you, given your interests?

MISHA: If it was, I didn’t realize it at the time, and now I think bitching about it would just be the beginnings of a bitter old man. Every time I fix something around the house that’s broken, I’m thankful of my farm upbringing. And even though my high school football field was literally right next to a cornfield, there were still musicals and marching band and even stage magic classes at the community college.

MARK: Why did you leave Ypsilanti? I have a very vague memory of you yelling at me dressed like a giant rabbit. And then you were gone.

MISHA: I left Ypsi for one part love, one part adventure, and one part ambition. My wife lived in Chicago when I met her and I got tired of driving to Chicago twice a month. Of course, when I moved I still had gigs booked in Detroit so I ended up still driving back and forth until my own practice got off the ground.

I have yelled at a lot of people in a lot of costumes. I delivered a breakup letter (to a pawn shop employee) dressed as a circus clown. I have been hired to do wedding proposals as both a giant squirrel and a clown fish. I’ve been pulled over as a pirate, Santa, and the Cat in the Hat. I’ve seen on-duty police officers crack up a lot.

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MARK: What, in your experience, is the best outfit for getting out of a speeding ticket?

MISHA: Santa is best if it’s December. Otherwise it’s a risky venture. When you get pulled over in a costume or wearing face paint, the cop usually has his hand on his sidearm as he approaches the car. It’s only after explaining that you just entertained a classroom or whatever that they have a laugh and lighten up with you.

MARK: What’s the biggest mistake one can make when performing in front of kids?

MISHA: Trying to dictate what they should be interested in. Rules and structure are for class time, not fun time. If I have a magic show prepared and the kids are more interested in singing songs, I’ll sing with them the whole time. To paraphrase Roald Dahl, a kids’ entertainer should be in conspiracy with the kids against adult authority. That’s why so many kids magic acts have the magician repeatedly failing until the kids say the magic word. Seeing grownups as fallible, and seeing themselves as being able to fix things, is an important part of growing up.

MARK: The last I heard, you were running some kind of birthday party entertainment empire in Chicago, or something. Do I have that right?

MISHA: That’s right. I started booking myself as a clown and magician when I moved to Chicago, and quickly had more demand than time, so I started booking other people as well, and a few years later I was an entertainment agency. I still have people that I book in Chicago, and I’m working on building a clientele for my own act here in the mitten.

MARK: And what is your current act?

MISHA: I have a lot of different skills, and I usually customize my character and presentation based on the expected audiences at the events I perform for. For kids, it’s most often magic and balloon twisting as a clown or pirate. For adults, it’s usually straight-ahead magic, or mind reading and fortune telling.

MARK: What called you back to Ypsi?

MISHA: In my experience, there’s no place weirder (in a good way) or friendlier than Ypsi. Chicago has lots going on, and tons of opportunity, but it’s a little impersonal. Everyone gets lost in the shuffle, and, if you didn’t go to school there, it’s hard to make lasting friends.

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MARK: I’ve heard that you’ve recently created a child. How are you enjoying fatherhood?

MISHA: That was a big reason to leave Chicago. My wife and I both grew up in small towns, and want the same for our daughter, at least for her little little years. She’s my wife’s first child, but my third. My other two kids are adults (a magician friend of mine sardonically calls me “Tony Randall”). This time around it’s pretty easy. My wife and I both work from home most of the time; she’s a grant writer for an arts organization, and I sell entertainment (being a working entertainer is mostly a phone sales job). I can’t imagine how people do daycare, logistically and economically.

MARK: How is the new Misha different from the old Misha, who used to live here?

MISHA: The old Misha wouldn’t have followed through with this interview. The old Misha didn’t pay his bills or carry car insurance or care about the future. The old Misha thought he was a creative genius, but he was just yelling at people from a bunny suit.

MARK: What would you like to accomplish over the next five years?

MISHA: I’d like to put together a semi-regular magic and mystery variety show featuring local and touring magicians and variety acts. I’d also like to join or start a homeschooling cooperative, where parents take turns hosting all the kids and teaching what they know. There’s another difference for you: the old Misha never planned more than five days in advance.

[Still wondering why people are moving to Ypsi? Check out the Ypsilanti Immigration Interview archive.]

Posted in Art and Culture, Special Projects, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Building a kayak and canoe launch in Ypsi

On last night’s episode of The Saturday Six Pack, in a discussion with Elizabeth Riggs, the deputy director of the Huron River Watershed Council, about efforts to improve fish habitat along the Huron, Riggs mentioned work that had been done earlier that morning at the north end of Frog Island Park to create an access point for canoes and kayaks. Well, here, in case anyone is interested, are a few photos that I took after completing my shift clearing brush… It’s pretty incredible what a dozen or so volunteers can accomplish in a single morning, especially if they have a few chainsaws, a little backhoe, and an industrial wood-chipper at their disposal.

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I may have misheard Bill Kinley, as he was running along the riverbank with a chainsaw at the time, but I’m pretty sure he said that, not too long ago, it had been proposed that the cement staircase, which can be seen above, be removed. [As I understand it, no one really knows why it was put here in the first place.] This, I believe Kinley said, would have cost the city over $200,000. Instead, however, he and folks at the Huron River Watershed Council called in a few favors, and put out the call for volunteers, and we were able to clear the overgrowth around the stairs and create a usable river access point without spending a single dollar of the city’s money. There’s still some work to be done, but a huge number of rocks were pulled from the river, and an entire 40-foot expanse of the riverbank was cleared. So, if all goes according to plan, next spring you’ll be able to put your tubes, kayaks and canoes in at the north end of Frog Island, and travel all the way through the city to Water Works Park.

[Special thanks, as I understand it, are owed to Margolis Nursery, which provided the backhoe, the wood-chipper, and the folks to operate both.]

Posted in Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Incredibly moving video documenting the creation of Ypsi’s HP Jacobs mural

Not too long ago on The Saturday Six Pack, I talked with Ypsi Community Schools (YCS) art teacher Lynne Settles, local historian Matt Siegfried, an Ypsi High student by the name of Paris, and Jackson-based artist Douglas Jones about the work they’d done, along with several dozen YCS students, to create a new mural on the south side of Ypsi commemorating the incredible life and accomplishments of HP Jacobs, a runaway slave from Alabama who made his way to Ypsilanti, became a janitor at what is now Eastern Michigan University, and then went on to found both a church and a school for black children here, before heading back south for several years after the Civil War, where he served in the Mississippi State Senate, helped found what is now Jackson State University, and, at the age of 65, become a doctor. Well, as much as I’d like to think that, during our discussion, we collectively conveyed a sense of just how incredibly inspiring this project was, there’s really no substitute for seeing Ypsi’s young artists working on it firsthand. And, now, thanks to the folks at Dream Real Photo & Video, you can do just that… Check out this incredible piece of video.

[The HP Jacobs mural can be found on the side of Currie’s barbershop, at 432 Harriet Street, in Ypsilanti.]

Posted in Art and Culture, Education, History, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Killing Ann Arbor’s deer, bringing native fish back to the Huron, saving Michigan’s bats, and the music of Heather Evans… on this weekend’s edition of the Saturday Six Pack

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This evening, on a special episode of the Saturday Six Pack, we’ll be changing course a bit and discussing wildlife. To be more specific, we’ll be talking about killing deer, saving bats, and making habitats for native fish.

During our first segment, we’ll be discussing Ann Arbor’s somewhat controversial deer cull with U-M Associate Professor Rebecca Hardin, the host of WCBN’s environmental news show It’s Hot in Here, and our old friend Ben Connor Barrie, the editor of the award-winning Annarbour blog Damn Arbor. If all goes according to plan, Hardin, whose research deals with human/wildlife interaction and wildlife management, and Connor Barrie, who once grilled deer meat live on the Saturday Six Pack, will be joining me in a lively discussion on the recent growth of the deer population in Ann Arbor, the various solutions that have been considered, the ongoing debate, and plan that was recently adopted by Ann Arbor City Council. [I’ve heard a rumor that a listener in Ann Arbor may be delivering deer stew to the studio, but, as of right now, I can’t confirm this.]

And, during the second segment, we’ll be talking local fish habitats with Elizabeth Riggs, the deputy director of the Huron River Watershed Council, and Schultz Outfitters fly fishing guide James Hughes, both of whom will likely be coming to the show directly from Frog Island Park, where, tomorrow morning, folks are going to be gathering to build a canoe landing. [If you’re interested in helping clear brush, just show up at the north end of Frog Island Park, by the Forest Avenue bridge, between 8:30 AM and noon. More details can be found on Facebook.] Among other things, I’m sure we’ll be discussing the current state of the Huron as it flows though Ypsi, the kinds of fish that call our part of the river home, and their efforts to both bring back native species in significant numbers and decrease the number of non-natives. So, if you have an interest in fish habitat restoration, be sure to tune in at 6:30.

And, during the the third segment, we’ll welcome Aja Marcato, the conservation programing director at the Organization for Bat Conservation, who will be coming on to talk about Michigan’s bat population. [She tells me she’ll be bringing at least one bat with her into the studio.] Among other things, I’m sure we’ll discuss why bats are so important to our ecosystem, the various species that call Michigan home, and the work being done to increase their numbers.

And, once we’ve gotten the bats out of the studio, we’ll turn our attention back to the human world with musician Heather Evans, who will be playing a few songs for us, and answering our questions about her recent decision to relocate to Ann Arbor from Marquette. [If you follow that last link, you’re see video of Heather performing.]

Oh, and, speaking of music, I should mention that our part-time music director, the great Jim Cherewick, will be back with us this week, providing musical accompaniment throughout. [It’s been requested that he cover the Ted Nugent song Fred Bear, but he’s yet to let me know if he intends to accept the challenge.]

And, here, thanks to AM 1700 senior graphic designer Kate de Fuccio, is this week’s poster, in case any of you want to print copies and distribute them in the Meijer’s parking lot.

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FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER TUNED IN TO THE SIX PACK BEFORE, HERE ARE THE DETAILS ON HOW TO LISTEN:

Unless you live inside the AM 1700 studio, chances are you won’t be able to pick the show up on your radio. As that’s the case, I’d recommend streaming the show online, which you can do either on the AM1700 website or by way of TuneIn.com.

And for those of you who aren’t yet familiar with the show, and need to get caught up, you can listen to the entire archive on iTunes. If you start right now, and listen to everything at double speed, but you can do it.

One last thing… If you’d like to tell your friends and neighbors about the program, feel free to share the Facebook event listing.

And do call us if you have a chance. We love phone calls. So please scratch this number into the cinder block wall of the recreation room of whichever facility you’ve been assigned to… 734.217.8624… and call us between 6:00 and 8:00 this Saturday evening. The show is nothing without you. Sure, sometimes it’s nothing even with you, that’s true, but usually you make it better.

Posted in Ann Arbor, Art and Culture, Environment, The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

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