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Sunday 6 November 2011

STONEHENGE guide


The banshees don’t live there, but you can for just $300,000.
Carhenge has been put up for sale by the nonprofit organization that runs it for less than the price of a Lamborghini Aventador.
Located outside of Alliance, Nebraska, the tourist attraction was built in 1987 by artist Jim Reinders as an homage to Stonehenge, the prehistoric megalithic site in Great Britain. Constructed from 38 cars, it is visited by over 80,000 tourists a year. He dedicated it to his father who once lived on the farm where it sits.
The Friends of Carhenge group told the Lincoln Journal Star that it does not have the money to “take it to the next level,” by adding profitable amenities such as a campground, convenience store and go-cart track that could generate the funds needed to keep it in operation. Currently, the organization does not charge for admission and the only facility on site is a small gift shop
Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay off loans that were taken out to cover operating expenses, establish an art scholarship and promote tourism in the area.
If you’re interested in picking up a slightly used 1987 model Carhenge in good condition, you’d better hurry. The winter solstice is just two months away.

Two Top Motorbike Rides in the UK

Stonehenge Circuit – 140 miles
Traveling through the beautiful countryside of Wiltshire, this route passes through scenic New Forest and gentle fields of Salisbury Plains on its way to the historic Stonehenge monument. The ancient and mysterious stone circle is a timeless attraction, and a great place to stop for lunch on your motorbike tour.
Once you’ve taken the time to explore and sample some local brew, you can travel through the distinctive Wiltshire Downs on your way back to Salisbury. The Salisbury Cathedral is the tallest spire in England and a great place to conclude your tour of this historic route.

Severn to the Sea – 260 miles

From the Brecon Beacons north through the Cambrian mountains and Snowdonia in the north, Wales offers breathtaking sights and stunning scenery. If you choose to take this bike drive, you will enjoy a predominantly smooth ride on a well-maintained road. Take care between Rhayader and Devil’s Bridge, however: Unfenced pasture on either side of the road leads to sheep wandering in front of motorists and bikers alike!
If you start at the north, your destination will be St. George’s Channel at Aberystwyth, where you can stop in for a drink at a popular local coffee shop. If you’re heading northward toward Chepstow, you can enjoy a scenic view of Chepstow Castle on the banks of the River Wye. Either way, you can enjoy some of the most stunning views in the UK. So make sure that you are all ready to ride and have motorcycle insurance and ready to ride. The UK has some stunning open road rides so let get out there and roar down the road.

Piri Reis map mystery

It’s the year 1929 and a small group of men inside a dimly lit room in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul are studying an amazing map that’s imprinted on an old Gazelle skin on which the date 1513 appears.
The room which is filled with documents from a time gone by has yielded a map for which these historians can offer no plausible explanation.
The map shows a part of the Atlantic Ocean and depicts both the Americas and the northern coast of Antarctica in incredible detail. What is so mysterious about this map is that it has only been drawn up a few years after Columbus discovered America and three centuries before the discovery of Antarctica.
The map is named after its creator Piri Reis. The word ‘Reis’ actually means ‘Admiral’. Piri Reis was born Hadji Muhiddin Piri Ibn Hadji Mehmed around 1465 in Gallipoli in the then Ottoman Empire. The youthful Piri joined his uncle, Kemal Reis, as a privateer harassing and plundering the ships of enemies of the Ottoman Empire. Later, on request of the Sultan they joined the Ottoman Navy as admirals.
Piri Reis was a cartographer at heart and even though he did not survey the globe himself he collected charts and drawings of coastlines and lands of the known world on his travels. Eight of those source maps that he used to draw his world map in 1513 came from around 300 BC and he also used a copy of the map which Columbus drew of his exploration of the New World.
The Piri Reis map was drawn using a series of circles with lines radiating out of them unlike today’s maps which indicate longitude and latitude with straight lines. The maps guided ships from port to port and one could not calculate a definite fix of the position of the craft such as with modern maps. These types of maps were known as ‘portolan’ maps and were in widespread use in earlier times.
The most astonishing thing of the map of 1513 is that Piri Reis managed to draw an accurate map of the Antarctic region 300 years prior to its discovery. Furthermore the map shows the coastline under the layers of ice that covers it. This can only indicate that the Antarctic region must have been surveyed prior to it being iced over.
The landmass of the Antarctic continent was first mapped in 1949 by a combined British and Scandinavian project that had to use modern equipment to see the land underneath the mile-deep icecap. It has been suggested that Antarctica was free of ice up to 6,000 years ago.
There are also criticisms of this map in that certain cartographers claim that maps using the portolan system of map drawing could be interpreted incorrectly since it leaves its accuracy much in the eye of the beholder.
However on the Piri Reis map the Falkland Islands are placed at the correct latitude even though it was only discovered in 1592. Greenland is shown as three separate or different islands. This was only confirmed in the 20th. century.The map also depicts the Andes Mountain range on the map of America, a discovery that was only made much later.
Many believe that the geographical data and mathematical expertise needed to create a map of this accuracy was well beyond cartographers of the sixteenth century and before that. It is said that cartographers at the United States Air Force in the 1960’s found the map so accurate that they corrected their own maps with data from the Piri Reis map.

Some of the findings about the Piri Reis map:

  •  Piri Reis in his own writing details how he made the map from source maps dating back to ancient times.
  •  The makers of the source maps calculated the circumference of the Earth to within 50 miles.
  • The Antarctic region must have been mapped prior to a time when the continent was free of ice.
The origin of the source maps from which Piri Reis drew his world map is not known but there have been suggestions that, that level of accuracy could only have been obtained by an aerial survey and that either a previous highly developed civilization on earth mapped the world or alternatively an extra terrestrial race left the maps behind for mankind.
Most of our current theories about ancient civilizations and its people are based on artifacts that have been unearthed through time. Historians are mostly responsible for history as we know it, in fact they formulate theories based on what they discover and observe.
Sometimes artifacts come to light that does not fit into that framework of theories. As the weight of such newly found knowledge increases over time it becomes necessary that we recognise the need to re-evaluate our understanding of ancient history to obtain a truer picture of the distant past.

A closing note on Piri Reis

Piri Reis is known today for his maps and charts in a book which contain detailed information on navigation, the Kitab-I Bahriye or Book of Navigation. He also drew very accurate charts of the Mediterranean Sea and the important ports of this area. Piri Reis drew up a second world map in 1528. In his later years he became Chief Admiral of the Ottoman Navy.
Egyptian officials accused Piri Reis of fleeing from the Portuguese during a battle to save himself and his fortunes. The Sultan had Piri Reis beheaded and all his possessions was stored at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The map was found here in a room in the Harem section of the palace during restorations in 1929.
The map is now kept in the palace’s Imperial Library. Piri Reis will always be linked with cartography due to the historical map which bears his name.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011

Stonehenge traffic inquiry


A public inquiry into plans to prohibit the use of motor vehicles at Stonehenge has begun.
The proposals, by Wiltshire Council, would see various byways around Stonehenge closed to vehicles, with certain exceptions, within the site and part of the A344.
The reason given for the plans for Stonehenge is to “improve the amenity of the area”.
The Stonehenge road proposals have met with opposition from various people and groups including Druid leader King Arthur Pendragon.
The inquiry, at Salisbury Rugby Football Club, is due to run until 5 October.
The inspector will then make recommendations to Wiltshire Council about, which will make the final decision.
Druids and Pagans at Stonehenge
Mr Pendragon is one of those due to give evidence at the inquiry.
He said the closure of the Netheravon Coach Road in Amesbury would prevent people from holding the three-day solstice and equinox celebrations.
“By prohibiting all people from celebrating at Stonehenge, Druids and Pagans would be disproportionately discriminated against, since the solstices and equinoxes have particular significance for our beliefs,” he said.
An earlier inquiry into plans by English Heritage to close the main road east of Stonehenge and return it to grass was held in June.
English Heritage wants to stop traffic from travelling close to the stones and “restore the dignity” of the World Heritage Site by closing the A344.
The report has been submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport, who will make a final decision on the road access to Stonehenge.

Checking Stonehenge off my bucket list !

stonehenge


A bucket list is an inventory of things to do and places to visit before one kicks the proverbial can out of life. I do not have said list, but if I did, I suppose going to Stonehenge might be on it.
I was in the UK, I had access to a car, I was traveling with a friend from Brighton to Bath andStonehenge was along the way. Why not stop and see this mystical area where Druids used to gather on solstices, celebrate marriages and sacrifice virgins.
When we arrived to the road off the A303 where Stonehenge lies, I’d just completed my first two hours of driving manual on the left side of the road ever. I was ready for a break, and ice cream. Yes, Stonehenge has ice cream.**
I pulled into the parking lot at the National Trust site where a cute (for a Brit) young man asked if I had a pass.
“No.” I laughed. Mostly because, I mean, do I sound like I’m from here?
“You could at least pretend.” He joked.
“Oh! Yeah, totally. I have a pass. Yes.” I joked back.
“Okay, go ahead,” he smiled at me and waved us in.
I parked the car and sighed. Not for finally making it to one of the wonders of the world, but for finally being able to take my hands out of their death-grip on the steering wheel. Driving on the left, in a manual drive car and going around a roundabout for the very first time was one of the scariest/ most stressful moments of my life. Perhaps it too is something I can check off my bucket list.
After our ice cream was devoured and £7 entry was paid, we picked up our audio tour and headed towards the busloads of tourists.
stonehenge
You’re not allowed to get very close to Stonehenge, as some bad apples ruined it for everyone. Now, you wander around the stones counter-clockwise stopping at various points where you’re supposed to listen to info-logues.
After taking the mandatory “Facebook profile” shots (one arm in the air looking back on me and Stonehenge – or more realistically, the sky or grass and part of my face) I began looking at the second most interesting thing about Stonehenge: the people it attracts.
There was one man, about thirty years old, who looked to be meditating by himself on the Western side of the site. I tried to watch him and penetrate his thoughts, but I’m no mind reader. He sat cross-legged in jeans and a t-shirt for a long time.  I began to assume he was not meditating but simply taking respite away from his family.
It was people 60 years old and more who seemed to enjoy the site the most, maybe because they knew more about its history or that they had more respect for wonders, or had paid £60 for the daytrip and damn it, they were going to appreciate it. They walked around slowly, intensely listening to the audio tour about the history of the site and the theories about what it all meant and how it came to be.
stonehenge
Of course, there were the stereotypical Americans with big bellies, socks pulled up to their knees and cameras hanging from their necks. More interesting than the loud-talking yanks were the fence voyeurs: people who pulled their car to the side of the highway, reached their camera’s over the chain-linked fence to capture their check on the bucket list. Been to the side of the road, snapped that.
While wandering around these large stones in the middle of the English country side I found myself hoping for a life changing moment. Expecting that this sacred wonder would provide some kind of spiritual awakening – at least a sensation, a glow, or a feeling- but, I felt nothing. I wandered around this historical site, looking more at the other people that came here than the stones themselves, and I’m okay with that.
We exited through the gift shop, as you’re always required to do, passing up commemorative Stonehenge mugs, pens, key chains, calendars, coasters, books, book marks, posters, stuffed animals, snow-globes and cotton jumpers with Stonehenge embroidered across the chest as if it was a major university.
More important than the information I learned, more satisfying than getting free parking from a cute bloke is that after 8 trips plus a year of living in the UK I can finally check Stonehenge off my list.
By Sara Bynoe - actor,writer,humourist and Stonehenge visitor.

Stonehenge voted top “Must – See Destination” in world

From the ancient and mysterious Stonehenge to the grandiose and awe inspiring, voters in Intel’s Visual Wonders of the World poll have chosen the world’s most visually stunning locations. The poll formed part of Intel’s campaign to find out what matters most to the UK in their Visual Life. The top seven must-see locations, in the order of ranking, as chosen by voters from all over the UK  are:                                                                                                                                                 
  1. Stonehenge, England
  2. Rome, Italy
  3. Chatsworth House, England
  4. Cape Town, South Africa
  5. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
  6. Sahara, North Africa
  7. Aurora Borealis, Sweden
  8. New York City, USA
  9. Gower Peninsula, Wales
  10. Machu Picchu, Peru
The poll also showed how patriotic we are in the UK, selecting two UK locations, Stonehenge and Chatsworth house within our top three. This was mirrored by the likes of the US, who voted for the Grand Canyon and the Golden Gate Bridge, Germany, who opted for Neuschwanstein Castle, and the Netherlands, whose Canals in Amsterdam topped both their country poll and the votes across Europe.
Natural beauty
The Visual Wonders poll also captured how male and female voters cast their favourites. Both men and women voted for Stonehenge as the must-see location in the UK, whereas mostly women voters opted for the romance and atmosphere of Rome, while mainly men chose the history and scenery of Chatsworth House.
The poll also had five categories: ancient, man-made, natural, religious and urban and interestingly the results show that the UK as a whole prefers natural beauty over the draw of urban life.
Partnering with Intel to create the Visual Wonders poll, travel deal experts Travelzoo confirmed the significance of aesthetic attraction for travellers and holiday makers. “What’s really interesting in Intel’s poll is the UK’s thirst to discover the landmarks of history that are near to them, and in some cases right on their doorstep,” said Joel Brandon-Bravo, managing director  of Travelzoo in the UK. “The perfect getaway is no longer solely about the faraway beach; the rise of staycationing appears to have reignited our passion for the UK in recent years.”                              
“Intel’s Visual Wonders of the World poll has shown the passion that the UK has for our own visual landmarks”, says Gail Hanlon, marketing director Intel UK. “As part of our Visual Life campaign this year, which encouraged using technology to get the best out of the great things that surround us every day, the enthusiasm for each of the top ten results proves how important technology can be in sharing everyday experiences.”
The Winners
The mysterious structure of Stonehenge claimed top spot in the poll of must-see locations. This ancient creation is visited by thousands of people a year in the South of England and its popularity could be down to its imposing presence, or the shroud of mystery surrounding its purpose as ‘experts’ remain undecided as to whether it was used for human sacrifices or for charting the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars.
Rome, the city of ‘romance’ and ancient wonders came in at a close second place with the vast majority of UK female voters choosing its stunning architecture and romantic atmosphere as the reasons for choosing it as one of the world’s most desirable locations.
Set in the heart of the Peak District in Derbyshire, Chatsworth House landed third place in the poll. Construction of the first house at Chatsworth began in 1552 and the current site offers the captivating history of the house, scenic gardens as well as a farmyard and adventure playground, making it a consistently popular choice for men and women of the UK.
In fourth place was the sun-drenched city of beautiful people, Cape Town, in South Africa.  A city famed for its near-perfect weather, Cape Town is a location surrounded by sea and mountains, including the legendary flat-topped Table Mountain.
Other top locations from across the world that proved the most popular among UK voters include the architectural brilliance of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and the sweeping sands of the Sahara in North Africa.
The spectral beauty of Sweden’s Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights) were also in the top 10, alongside the vibrant buzz of New York City, USA; Gower Peninsula in Wales and the breathtaking views of Machu Picchu, Peru.
Survey Information
This survey was conducted in June/ July 2011 via Intel’s Facebook pages.  A total of 1,715 votes were cast globally: 67 in Germany, 237 in Hungary, 38 in Ireland, 130 in Italy, 246 in the Netherlands, 136 in Southern Africa, 133 in UAE, 99 in the US, 365 in UK and 264 in the rest of the world.

Bluestone Henge twin?

A new  digital reconstruction of the monument, discovered by the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2009 suggests that the circle of Welsh blue stones found at the southern terminus of the avenue may well have been oval, and not round. If this is correct, it echoes the layout of the Bluestone oval at the centre of Stonehenge.
Henry Rothwell, Creative Lead at Heritage Data Solutions explains;
“The model was created as part of the forthcoming smartphone app ‘Journey to Stonehenge’. When we built the first wire-frame of the circle we ended up with a fairly standard circular representation. We were using a low level aerial image taken by Adam Stanford. It showed the full extent of the excavation, including the socket holes of the blue stones, into which the Stonehenge Riverside Project team had placed upturned black buckets.”

However, while checking the wireframe model, Adam pointed out another upturned bucket on the far right of the image, which had been missed out of the original model. Rothwell continued, “Initially we tried expanding the circumference of the circle to make it fit, but that made it far too large – so we settled on an oval, which lined up perfectly. A configuration which is very similar to the Bluestone oval in the centre of Stonehenge.”

If this interpretation is correct, it adds an intriguing new angle to the relationship between the monuments that lie at each end of the Avenue.

The excavations of 2009

Archaeologists from Sheffield and other universities had previously discovered this lost stone circle a mile from Stonehenge, on the west bank of the River Avon back in 2009.
The stones had been removed thousands of years ago but the sizes of the holes in which they stood indicate that this was a circle of blue stones, brought from the Preseli mountains of Wales, 150 miles away.
Excavations in August-September 2009 by the Stonehenge Riverside Project uncovered nine stone holes, part of a circle of probably 25 standing stones.

Excavations at Bluestone Henge with excavators standing in stone holes- Aerial-Cam. 

The new monument was 10m (33 ft) in diameter and surrounded by a henge – a ditch with an external bank. These standing stones marked the end of the Avenue that leads from the River Avon to Stonehenge, a 1¾-mile long (2.8km) processional route constructed at the end of the Stone Age (the Neolithic period).
The outer henge around the stones was built around 2400 BC but arrowheads found in the stone circle indicate that the stones were put up as much as 500 years earlier – they were dragged from Wales to Wiltshire 5,000 years ago.

The link to Stonehenge

When the newly discovered circle’s stones were removed by Neolithic people, it is possible that they were dragged along the route of the Avenue to Stonehenge, to be incorporated within its major rebuilding around 2500 BC.  Archaeologists know that, after this date, Stonehenge consisted of about 80 Welsh stones and 83 local, sarsen stones. Some of the blue stones that once stood at the riverside probably now stand within the centre of Stonehenge.
Only the radiocarbon dating programme can clarify the sequence of events. The discovery of this stone circle may well be confirmation of the Stonehenge Riverside Project’s theory that the River Avon linked a ‘domain of the living’ – marked by timber circles and houses upstream at the Neolithic village of Durrington Walls (discovered by the Project in 2005) – with a ‘domain of the dead’ marked by Stonehenge and this new stone circle.
There is no evidence that the circle had a particular orientation or even an entrance. Soil that fell into the holes when the stones were removed was full of charcoal, showing that plenty of wood was burned here. Yet this was not a place where anyone lived: the pottery, animal bones, food residues and flint tools used in domestic life during the Stone Age were absent.
The shape of Bluestone Henge is still open for re-interpretation as most of the monument was not fully excavated, but preserved for future archaeologists to explore.

Stonehenge visitor centre

Denton Corker Marshall’s design for a newStonehenge visitor centre is set to go ahead. The design consists of two single storey boxes – one made of timber, one of glass – containing exhibition facilities, toilets, cafe and a shop. The two boxes will be covered by a curved thin metal canopy echoing the surrounding hills and supported by slender angled columns resembling a copse of trees. These light delicate elements are in contrast to the heavy solidity of Stonehenge.
Denton Corker Marshall is best known for eye-catching work such as the Melbourne Museum. This scheme breaks this mould as it makes no such statements. At 2.5 kilometres from the stones – with a low-energy transport system to drop visitors closer to the stones – the Stonehenge visitor centre centre will not be visible from the historic site. Denton Corker Marshall’s UK director, Stephen Quinlan, explains “if once back at home, a visitor can remember their visit to Stonehenge but can’t remember the Stonehenge visitor centre they passed through on the way, we will be happy.
The Stonehenge visitor centre project has been years in the making. Denton Corker Marshall originally won the competition for the centre in 2001. However, the project had difficulty with funding largely because it relied on a local highway being put in a tunnel. Snagged in red tape, it was abandoned in 2007. In 2009, Denton Corker Marshall won a second competition for the Stonehenge visitor centre – this time on a new site within the World Heritage precinct and with instructions for a more modest centre.
This also did not go ahead according to plan as it was hit by the government’s cut to the cultural budget in response to the global financial crisis in 2010 – once again the idea was shelved. The project finally received a lifeline when English Heritage secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Department of Transport and the project gained planning approval in February 2010. Construction is now expected to begin in late 2011 on the Stonehenge visitor centre.

Lesley’s Stonehenge marathon charity walk for Alzheimer’s

A DETERMINED daughter whose parents have both been affected by Alzheimer’s Disease will walk the length of a marathon on Sunday to raise money to find a cure.
Lesley Griffiths, 46, of Devon Walk, Cottesmore, is taking part in the 26.2 mile walk from Stonehenge to Avebury Stone Circle across Salisbury Plain as part of The Memory Walk South in aid of The Alzheimer’s Society.
Lesley said: “This is a charity that is close to my heart as my father passed away from vascular dementia and now my mother has been diagnosed with dementia.”
In order to take part in the event Lesley has to raise £260 and has raised £150 so far.
She is being supported by her daughter Abigail, 16, and husband Paul who has agreed to drive her to and from Stonehenge.
On Monday Lesley will be back at work as a teaching assistant at Langham Primary School.
She said: “I am getting nervous now and have been walking around Rutland Water and up Burley Hill to train. It will be interesting.”

Temple of Abydos – 5000 year old carvings of modern aircraft

The Temple of Abydos lies next to the River Nile, just less than a hundred miles in a northerly direction from the City of Luxor in Egypt. The temple of Abydoswhich dates back to around 3150 BC. was apparently constructed by Pharaoh Seti I. The surrounding area was believed to be sacred to the fallen angel Osiris.
Osiris was killed by another “god”, in this case his brother Typhon, who disposed of his body by scattering it all over Egypt. Isis, his sister and wife gathered the parts of his body and placed them together at Abydos thus restoring him back to life to become the “judge of the dead” and “lord of the underworld”.
In 1848 a British archaeological expedition came upon mysterious hieroglyphs which were carved on a marble ceiling beam in the Abydos temple which they could not identify but nevertheless copied it carefully and returned home with the sketches. Back home the carvings caused quite a stir amongst the Egyptologists but was later dismissed as strange carvings for which there was no acceptable explanation.
Towards the close of the 20th. century, images of the carvings at Abydos began to appear on the web and caused great excitement amongst UFO enthusiasts who identified it as flying machines.
There are four images depicted on the marble stone and one of the carvings shows a modern helicopter with what appears to be a cargo holding area behind the cabin similar to the Sikorsky Skycrane heicopter below.
The object in front of the helicopter is thought to be a submarine. Below the submarine is a aircraft and the tail wing and cabin can be readily recognized.
The craft at the bottom reminds of the skimmer craft in the Star Wars Trilogy where Luke Skywalker races it against other similar craft.
Egyptologist is less enthusiastic about this interpretation of the glyphs and rejects any suggestion that these depictions could be aircraft from 3000 years ago. They believe that these carvings are due to the re-carving and re-facing of the original stonework at Abydos as well as natural weathering effects and are therefore just illusions.
Re-carving was a common occurrence in ancient Egypt. This usually occurred after the ascension of a new Pharaoh who sought to leave his own stamp by overwriting the hieroglyphs of his predecessors.
The Egyptologists argue that over an extended period of time parts of the reworked stone have fallen away which has revealed older glyphs underneath.
The belief is that the original and re-carved glyphs have become overlapped to result in images which bear no relation to the original hieroglyphs. Egyptologists call these images ‘palimpsests’
I believe a simple question would settle this issue and that is, ‘What would be the statistical probability that four hieroglyphs which resemble modern craft in a space less than 3 feet be the result of glyph overlapping’?
I think you will agree that it would be negligible, unless of course we were both in deep denial…….
Ramesses II did made alterations to Abydos when he acquired it but on close examination of the glyphs it is clear that they are continues intact images and the detail of the helicopter is precise.
When we consider that Stonehenge was built at approximately the same time as Abydos one does wonder if such technology existed at that time or if it is the technology of a previous civilization that suddenly ceased to exist because of a cataclysmic event that took place.
In the words of Graham Hancock, the author of the book ‘Heavens Mirror;’
“I am convinced by the evidence that we are a species with amnesia. We have forgotten something of great importance from our past. When we recover it we will realize for a start that our civilization is not the apex of creation. It is not the pinnacle to which everything has been building throughout all of geological times, rather it is part of an up and down flow and that it is possible for a civilization to reach a very high level of advancement and then be wiped out”
However unpalatable it might be it is expected that the current scientific model of the understanding of our ancient past and theories such as the widely accepted but hitherto unproven theory of evolution will in the not too distant future come under question if not ridicule.

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