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Oh, Canada

 
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xo
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Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 10:06 pm    Post subject: Oh, Canada Reply with quote

So I'm thinking about moving to Canada. Vancouver, specifically.

I'd be lying if I was said I was really serious, but what the hey, it's an intriguing idea and it amuses me to daydream about it.

All you Canucks here, tell me why or why I shouldn't. I visited Vancouver once, fell in love with the city. This was back in '95-ish.

I'd need a job, something involving bioinformatics preferably, probably at UBC or something. Any leads on that front would be appreciated.

Where's a good place to live? I'd like a condo or something near a bakery and a coffee shop that isn't Starbucks. Milktea must also be proximal. Also, where do all the cute girls hang out? This is very important.

Do Canucks/Vancouverucks also hate ex-Angelenos like the rest of the U.S. does?

Thanks!
-xo
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snoopynme



Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 39
Location: ~ IRC ~

PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shocked

Let me repeat that... Shocked

Well... I've lived in Vancouver my entire life, so... Shocked Shocked Shocked
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(inc)



Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 356
Location: San Diego

PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 10:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just wondered, xo, did you visit in the Summer? I've been there a couple of times, and certainly if I was going to live in urban Canada, it would be my first choice -- but (and a big *but*) you've got to like _Weather_. Of course I'm born and raised in a place that proverbally doesn't have any (that is, if it's possible to have a lack of *weather* even in a neutral sense) so maybe I'm too sensitive to that issue.

Why don't you watch the webcams for a bit... (edited to add some more...)
http://www.portvancouver.com/the_port/web_cams.html
http://www.jericho.bc.ca/webcam/webcam.html
http://bluenose.seafoam.net/start/cgi-bin/webcam3_hist48.cgi?back_0
http://www.katkam.ca

(inc)
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xo
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Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

(inc) wrote:
Just wondered, xo, did you visit in the Summer?


'Twas in the fall. From what I heard, the weather is milder than Seattle to the south - less rain. I imagine cooler than Los Angeles, but I like cooler better than hot.

Weather isn't too big a deal for me; I like it mixed up a bit. I lived in Wisconsin for a spell, so I'm no stranger to extremes...

I think "cosmopolitan" is more important for me; Los Angeles is. Madison *ISN'T*. I think Vancouver is, being a port and all, with a high number of residents of Asian persuasion. I really need to have good food from all over the world readily accessible (sushi in Wisconsin? Bleah. Mexican? BLEAH).

In case I wasn't clear, I didn't like Wisconsin much Smile (meaning no offense to any Badgers here, of course)

-xo
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xo
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Joined: 09 Feb 2002
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Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

snoopynme wrote:
Well... I've lived in Vancouver my entire life, so... Shocked Shocked Shocked


So... you like it, then Wink?

-xo
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snoopynme



Joined: 14 May 2002
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The eateries here are really one of the only reason to ever want to visit here, except, of course, for relatives or whatnot. It's peaceful. Tiny. In those respects, really different from L.A.... So I wonder if you'd really be happy with it here. And no super cheap online deals for "residents of the U.S. of A. only"!! Evil or Very Mad

Summers are nice~ Spring is nice~ I guess we probably don't get as much rain as Seattle. Fall is wet, but not necessarily always so. Winter... doesn't last--so that's not too bad...

Broadband is decent as long as you're not going cable =P (limits and more limits). I'd love some of those euro/asian speeds and prices.

Sushi all over the place... You can find all sorts of sushi joints opened/run/prepared by every ethnicity possible... practically.
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Kaos



Joined: 03 Dec 2003
Posts: 8
Location: Calgary, Alberta

PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:15 pm    Post subject: Vancouver, eh? Reply with quote

I lived there for 5 years, from 92-97, and I remember sometimes it rained maybe 4 - 5 days a week. Didn't bother me too much but I know it did bother some.

Very green due to that rain though, very green. (I live in Calgary now, seems so dry).

--Kaos
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Gorunova



Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 318
Location: Burnaby, B.C., Canada

PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:55 pm    Post subject: Re: Oh, Canada Reply with quote

xo wrote:
All you Canucks here, tell me why or why I shouldn't. I visited Vancouver once, fell in love with the city. This was back in '95-ish.


Where ya from though? People usually compare cities. I can compare Van to other Canadian cities for you.

Vancouver has an above-average transit system. There are usually multiple ways to get where you're going by bus, and the intervals between buses are rarely more than 15 minutes except on holidays. But for driving, it sucks. There aren't many freeways, the city is badly laid out, and it'll basically take you forever to drive anywhere. Traffic does move - long traffic jams are rare and only during rush hour or near major construction - but there are stoplights everywhere.

People bitch about the weather, and I do too, but for opposite reasons. Part of the reason I moved here is because I LIKE rain. It doesn't rain enough for me here, and when it does it doesn't do it hard enough. The Summers are usually totally sunny and hot. Spring and Fall are also pretty sunny but with occasional rain. Winter is mostly overcast with about a 60% chance of rain any given day. Snow is very rare, and when it does happen the city is paralyzed because people don't know how to drive on it.

It's not a pretty city, but there are lots of interesting places to go in the area - especially skiing, snowboarding, hiking, mountain biking or boating. The city, being very large for a Canadian city, also has lots to offer.
Malls are scarce - there are a handful, and only one big one - and most shopping is in the form of regular storefronts on the street.

There are anime clubs and comic and music stores that have a moderate selection of anime goods. One comic store carries a lot of translated manga and some figures. But ultimately online ordering is probably the best way to go. For untranslated manga there is Chinatown.

xo wrote:
I'd need a job, something involving bioinformatics preferably, probably at UBC or something. Any leads on that front would be appreciated.


UBC would be a good place to start on the educational side. Also UVic. There are lots of technology companies here and I'm sure many doing that sort of thing.

There are some networking opportunities too - the B.C. Advanced Systems Institute puts on an annual school/industry mixer/trade show/research poster show in March - it's called the ASI Exchange.

xo wrote:
Where's a good place to live? I'd like a condo or something near a bakery and a coffee shop that isn't Starbucks. Milktea must also be proximal. Also, where do all the cute girls hang out? This is very important.


We're just as infested with Starbucks as you are. You can find two of them across the street from each other downtown here. I'm sure they'll soon be opening a Starbucks in the washroom of another Starbucks.

I don't know what Milktea is, but bubble tea is popular here.

Cute girls hang out in the Summer. Seriously. As soon as the Summer weather settles in, you're suddenly surrounded by succulent girlflesh everywhere. It was there all along, but covered up for the winter. B.C. has the hottest girls in Canada too. (UBC has a nude beach, but don't expect too much from it. Mostly old folks from what I hear.)

As for places to live - there are a few really nice areas, but they're really expensive. Most places are so-so. Places to avoid are Eastvan (Whore and drug central - ever hear of our famous pig farmer? That's where he did his shopping before the chopping.), Surrey (our nation's trailer court) and Richmond (not bad, but far away from everything and first into the sea when the next quake hits).

xo wrote:
Do Canucks/Vancouverucks also hate ex-Angelenos like the rest of the U.S. does?


This city is such a melting pot we'd never know what species you were unless you advertised it. Smile
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xo
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Joined: 09 Feb 2002
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Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 11:40 pm    Post subject: Re: Oh, Canada Reply with quote

Gorunova wrote:

Where ya from though? People usually compare cities.

Grew up in Los Angeles. Spent a decade away in Berkeley, then Madison, before coming back.

I like Los Angeles. A lot. I know a lot of people don't, but I do, warts and all. My reasons for starting to look for a move are more personal.

That, and I'd like to live somewhere not governed by a 80s action star.

Gorunova wrote:
Vancouver has an above-average transit system.

Awesome! I like public transit. Unlike most people in this city. I suppose that may be because I hate being in traffic more than most. I'm sure whatever traffic Vancouver has would be a welcome relief.

Gorunova wrote:
It's not a pretty city, but there are lots of interesting places to go in the area

Oh, I don't know - it was pretty damn gorgeous when I visited. The ferry ride to Victoria will forever be imprinted in my memories.

Gorunova wrote:
I don't know what Milktea is, but bubble tea is popular here.

I think they're the same.

Gorunova wrote:
B.C. has the hottest girls in Canada too.

*sigh*

Gorunova wrote:
This city is such a melting pot we'd never know what species you were unless you advertised it. Smile

Oh, I definitely plan on keeping a low profile Wink

Even if I don't ever move up there, I've made it my resolution of sorts this year to visit again. Appears that summertime is the best time for that Wink!

Thanks much for the info.

-xo
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Melchior



Joined: 19 Feb 2002
Posts: 190
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 12:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whoa, this topic's gotta be the most popular to hit abma.d in a while!

I'm a Vancouverite, been living here just about all my life. I experienced one "true" Canadian winter in Thunder Bay, ON four years ago, and it's an experience I'm not going to repeat. I'll take Vancouver's rain&clouds anyday over that cold and snowy nastiness. Sure was sunny over there, though.

I've gone travelling in New England and up and down the West coast of the US, as well as visited Western Europe and India. Of all the places I've visited, Vancouver and Geneva are the only cities that I've really gotten along with. Well, maybe Santa Barbara, but just because it's really warm there.

I can add another perspective to Vancouver, adding to Gorunova's and Snoopynme's comments:

Transit system: I used to work for Coast Mountain Bus, a subsidiary of the local transit authority. IMNSHO, our bus system sucks. Comparing the way we stuff people into buses to the way other cities' transit systems do, CMBC is among the top bus companies in North America for maximizing the number of riders per bus. Long waits in the cold driving rain? Yep. Going to UBC in the morning? If you're along one of the major routes living close to UBC, good luck finding an empty bus-- often enough living a 10 minute drive from UBC, I would find myself waiting half an hour or longer (while buses passed every 7 minutes) waiting for a bus that had space left-- forget about getting a seat, I was just aiming to get myself packed onto a moving bus like a sardine. Those long waits didn't happen *every* day, mind you, but they did happen a few times a week. Eventually I gave up on buses and just started driving to UBC daily. It would save about half an hour each morning. By the way, back in 2001 when I registered my second domain name, mtrs.org, I chose it because Mass Transit Really Sucks. Note that when I'm on my mountain bike, I can beat any bus in the city because they're so slow (exception: the 99 B-line express bus moves quicker than I can ride at 6:00am since there's no traffic and few passengers). Yes, on a mountain bike, since I don't own a road bike. Yes, I'm somewhat biased-- I bike and I drive.

On the other hand, since I drive a fair bit here, my opinion is that the roads here are pretty good for the most part. Within Vancouver City there are no freeways, but the main roads have timed lights and you can get where you're going pretty quickly. If a main street is blocked up and not moving, the beauty of the city's grid system is that you can easily and quickly get yourself onto another street to avoid the madness. If you're headed out to the suburbs (eg, Richmond), as long as you have a car (the bus system has notably poor connections to get to the suburbs), you can get where you're going pretty quickly and without excessive hassle, unless you're commuting with the flow of traffic at rush hour (buses will be stuck as well). Note that I commute from the middle of Vancouver City to within a mile of the US border every day. Normally I leave at 6:30am and my 35 km commute takes 25 minutes. A handful of times I've left for work an hour or two later, and it's never taken more than 32 minutes. Returning home in the afternoons takes about half an hour, give or take a few minutes (note that I currently work for BC Ferries, and if I mis-time when I leave from work, I get stuck in a temporary clog left by 900 cars/trucks piling off of two ferries at the same time-- this adds about 10-15 minutes).

Enough of transportation...

Weather: as Gorunova said, 60% chance of showers for most of the winter, overcast for days/weeks at a time. The positive is that it very rarely freezes over. We did get snow for one day last week-- I drove to work in the snow (a non-event), and I took the next day off work when it slushed over and the snow melted. If you're a skier/snowboarder, we have three local mountains that generally have decent skiing all winter, and if their conditions suck, Whistler Mountain's less than two hours away.

I disagree with Gorunova's opinion that it's not a pretty city-- it's far more interesting visually than a lot of other places that I've visited-- just for the greenery within the city, and the variation due to all the hills and ridges within the city-- it's not flat and boring unless you're in Richmond.

Malls: Vancouver City only has a handful, and only one really big one. However, if you include the suburbs, there's a number of medium and large malls. Owing to the high Asian population, there are a good number of places that sell anime merchandise/manga/DVDs.

Regarding jobs, I don't have any clue as to what "bioinformatics" is. Regarding the UVic suggestion, if you're looking for cosmopolitan, don't bother with Victoria.

Cute girls? As Gorunova noted, you won't see skin until late in the spring, but there are lots of girls out once the weather's decent. For the beach and girls in the summer, Kitsilano's the place to be. For nightlife, downtown (West End, Yaletown) is the place to be. I just moved out of Kitsilano (among other reasons, my parents live there and property crime sucks worse that other parts of the city-- my car was broken into five times in a 2.5 year period, only once was anything actually stolen), and I'm now living a few blocks from the Punjabi Market. Mmmm, samosas (have I ever mentioned that I'm half-Indian?).

Regarding East Vancouver, it's not necessarily bad. Based on how often we (and our neighbours) were broken into in Kits, it *can't* be worse elsewhere! I think Gorunova meant to avoid the Downtown Eastside, which is well-known as Canada's poorest neighbourhood-- I don't feel safe walking on the street there (to say the least, it's disturbing seeing people shoot up and deal drugs in the open). Surrey is known as the property-crime capital of Canada-- their reputation is of having the local rednecks.

If you like food, well, there's just about any restaurant you can think of. I regularly go out with my friends to all-you-can-eat sushi joints on the weekends (no shortage of sushi places in the city). Shaw Cable are assholes with it comes to download limits on their "unlimited" cable internet service, though they seem to have relented somewhat in the last year-- when I signed up for cable at my new place, the guy on the phone said they'd call us if we went over 20GB/month up&down-- it's reasonably-priced though, at CAD$36/month.

Yep, we're a Starbucks-infested city. Gorunova wasn't kidding-- at one intersection downtown, there are two Starbucks kitty-corner from each other. Most neighbourhoods will still have a coffee shop or two that are not Starbucks.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy living here, and I've yet to see another city that I've liked *more* than Vancouver.

Incidentally, us Vancouver anime folks should meet up sometime to watch videos, or drink bubble-tea, or something.

Edit: crap, this post was longer than I'd intended it to be. Sorry for the transit rants at the beginning!

Edit 2: I just read Xo's reply to Gorunova's post. Comparing traffic here to what I've experienced in and around LA on the five trips that I've made down there in my life, well, traffic here isn't even on the same order of magnitude as it is down there. The worst traffic I've ever experienced, by a long shot, was on a freeway in LA. Public transit here does still suck, as far as cramming lots of people onto not-so-many-buses goes, but thanks to the relatively-good traffic conditions, the buses move pretty well, even during rush hour.
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Gorunova



Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 318
Location: Burnaby, B.C., Canada

PostPosted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 9:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Melchior wrote:
I disagree with Gorunova's opinion that it's not a pretty city-- it's far more interesting visually than a lot of other places that I've visited-- just for the greenery within the city, and the variation due to all the hills and ridges within the city-- it's not flat and boring unless you're in Richmond.


I think Calgary is a lot prettier, at least in the Summer. Vancouver stays green year-round whereas the rest of Canada turns brown for most of the year, but in the Summer Calgary is green with the occasional building peeking out. Plus it has an extensive system of parks linked by bike paths, so you can really get out and appreciate it. I mean real bike paths, not roads with the occasional reminder to drivers to watch out for bicycles.

Calgary also has a nice view of the mountains without being shut in by them, and if you prefer flat land just go in the other direction.

Calgary also has the best anime selection in a video rental store I've ever seen.

One thing Calgary does not have going for it is the people. They suck. Confused

Melchior wrote:
Incidentally, us Vancouver anime folks should meet up sometime to watch videos, or drink bubble-tea, or something.


Great idea! And if xo ever does drop by again, we should do something then.
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xo
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Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Melchior wrote:
Transit system:


Thanks for the perspective on the transit system. It's pretty atrocious here in Los Angeles, though it's been getting better over the past 5 years or so. There are so many programs designed to reduce our traffic, at least some were bound to be successful. I'm lucky as I don't have to use the MTA buses- a smaller local city (Santa Monica) runs their own line that takes me to and from work. It's an outstanding bus line and, as I'm affiliated with UCLA, costs only 25 cents.

FWIW, the worst traffic I ever experienced was in Chicago- I've found that L.A. drivers tend to be more polite than in other cities I've spent time in. And I haven't even been on the East Coast.

Melchior wrote:
Regarding the UVic suggestion, if you're looking for cosmopolitan, don't bother with Victoria.


Aye, though Victoria was a nice place to visit, it seemed sort of provincial and frozen in time in a way that Vancouver was not.

Melchior wrote:
Yep, we're a Starbucks-infested city. Gorunova wasn't kidding-- at one intersection downtown, there are two Starbucks kitty-corner from each other.


Heh, I haven't noticed any multiple-Starbucks corners around here, but I did once count that I pass within 1 block of *5* Starbucks on the commute to work. This is a <4 mile commute, mind you.

Thanks for the post!
-xo
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Kaos



Joined: 03 Dec 2003
Posts: 8
Location: Calgary, Alberta

PostPosted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 11:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gorunova wrote:
Plus it has an extensive system of parks linked by bike paths, so you can really get out and appreciate it. I mean real bike paths, not roads with the occasional reminder to drivers to watch out for bicycles.


Heh, I live in Edgemont in Calgary (have lived in two houses here now, still living with rents though), and our first house backed on the ravine, which was great. I always went biking and blading in it. Our new house is now at the otherside of the ravine, which takes a lot more effort to get down to it, so I don't go as often (don't bike anymore, only blade, use too much brake just to get down to it). I know there are biking paths in hawkwood, and there's always nosehill. Unfortunatly I only really know the NW.

Gorunova wrote:
Calgary also has a nice view of the mountains without being shut in by them, and if you prefer flat land just go in the other direction.


One of the reasons why we moved, my rents really wanted it.

Gorunova wrote:
Calgary also has the best anime selection in a video rental store I've ever seen.

Hmmmm, only place I've checked is Rogers, know of some others?

I know there are a few places to buy Anime downtown (a lot of it HK imports), but I can usually find it on Animeniacs.com for cheaper.

Gorunova wrote:
One thing Calgary does not have going for it is the people. They suck. Confused

Ouch... Evil or Very Mad


Also, our Transit system isn't too bad. Although I've never really taken the train in major rush hours (but it does come every 5 minutes in rush hour times, so), so I can't comment on that. One thing I can complain about is the new Dalhousie Station (finished in December). I used to take one bus from my house to the ICT building at UofC, now I take one bus to that station, and the train either to Brentwood station or to university station, and either way it's a 10 minute walk to ICT Mad
(or wait 10 minutes for a bus from Brentwood to ICT)
Other than that I've found our transit to be pretty good. Although I never used Vancouver Transit back when I lived there (was still going to Elementary School)

One thing to note about Vancouver, Auto Insurance. I don't know how it's changing here in Alberta, but in Vancouver the good drivers tend to subsidize the not so good drivers, so insurance costs tend to average out. I don't know how much my insurance would've been there, but my parents insurance dropped by 50% when we moved back to Alberta. Who knows whats going to happen to insurance here now though.

Good luck xo, I've found both places great to live in.
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(inc)



Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 356
Location: San Diego

PostPosted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 10:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kind of OT, but population demographics have always interested me and it's a site I like...

Wondering just how urban these places are, just checked: http://www.world-gazetteer.com/st/statn.htm -- an interesting site as populations of given metro areas are *real*, disregarding political boundries and looking at continuous population zones. Hence Tokyo is on top with over 31M, New York & Philly are basically 1 city, as are Chi/Mil and Wash/Balt, and a place like where I am that's bi-national is at 4.2M rather then the 3M you might see in the US census figures.

Vancouver ~2.2M
Calgary ~1M
...and might as well list...
Edmonton ~0.98M

And that chart is a *frame* from:
http://www.world-gazetteer.com/home.htm

(inc)
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Gorunova



Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 318
Location: Burnaby, B.C., Canada

PostPosted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 2:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kaos wrote:
Gorunova wrote:
Calgary also has the best anime selection in a video rental store I've ever seen.

Hmmmm, only place I've checked is Rogers, know of some others?

Video & Sound, which was on Center Street at 16th Ave North last time I was there. They had at least a couple thousand tapes of anime, many of them fansubs. I dunno what they're like now - they were starting to get DVDs in when I left town. It's thanks to V&S that I got to see all of Slayers, Tenchi, SMJ, Evangelion and others before I discovered the anime newsgroups.

Kaos wrote:
Gorunova wrote:
One thing Calgary does not have going for it is the people. They suck. Confused

Ouch... Evil or Very Mad

Present company excepted, of course.

Kaos wrote:
Also, our Transit system isn't too bad.

Yeah, it's not bad. I never found the C-Train very useful but that's probably because of where I lived and where I went. It was also annoying that it ran at street level and blocked traffic. I still think Vancouver's system is the best I've seen after Toronto's.
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