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Financial Samurai

Slicing Through Money's Mysteries

Buying Blogs, Selling Blogs: How I Built My Blogging Business

Updated: by 83 Comments

Building a blogging business and making money from blogging is one of the most attractive opportunities in the new decade. Buying blogs makes a lot of sense post pandemic.

A blog can be a very lucrative business, especially since it cannot be shutdown. When a blog can stay open 24/7 during a pandemic, of course the reliability of its revenue increases.

Further, with interest rates so low, the valuation of blogs has gone way up because blogs are high margin businesses. When you have a cash cow, please hold onto it for as long as possible, especially in a low interest rate environment!

Below is Mike’s story on how he built a blogging business running his own sites, selling blogs, and buying blogs. Today, I’m much more partial to buying blogs rather than selling blogs.



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The Pros and Cons of Online Dating: What If She’s A Man, Baby?

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Santorini Donkey

If you want to date, then you might as well participate in online dating. With Tinder, Bumble, and a bunch of other apps, online dating is the most efficient way to have fun and find someone.

My buddy, Craig has disappeared.  We used to keep in touch a couple times a week and play some tennis, but not anymore.  After a match at the club yesterday, I saw him walk by with some girl to the hot tub.  Interesting, I thought to myself.  So he’s got a new flame!

After my match, I curiously hopped on back like any good nosy friend would to see what was up.  Unfortunately, she was already gone.  Drats!  But there he was, with a big smile on his face, sipping some sangria he brought from home.  “Wassssssup?” I asked Craig.

“Yo, Sam!  Good seeing you man.  Not much.  I was just on a 3 hour date with a girl I met online!  We chilled in the back, watched the Blue Angels, and enjoyed the bubbles.”, Craig explained.

“Oh really?  Tell me more about this online dating stuff!” I inquired curiously.

Craig proceeded to tell me how he had recently signed up for this free online dating site called OKCupid, and how he was getting all these dates.  “Two a week, at least!”, he mentioned.  “There are so many women online, it’s ridiculous!  I feel like a rockstar!”

After an hour of conversation and some further research on my own (6 months undercover), I’ve come up with Sam’s guide to understanding online dating.

PROS OF ONLINE DATING

* You know what they want. It’s rough for guys to pick up girls at a bar sometimes.  Even if the girl is with her girlfriends or by herself, the law of logic states that if you find her attractive, every other guy will find her attractive, which means she already has a boyfriend and you are wasting your time!  At least if she fills out a profile online, it is certain she’s looking for love, unless stated otherwise.

* Try before you buy. You can “wink”, flirt and send messages to an interested candidate all you want.  If she or he doesn’t respond, no big deal because you haven’t spent much effort or any money.  For broke ass guys all around, online dating site is a gift from the heavens.  No longer can you question why the rich, ugly guys get all the women either!

* Way more efficient. Any good playboy or playgirl knows that finding someone is a numbers game.  1 out of 10 will show interest for the average male.  But, what a pain in the ass to talk to 10 different women live!  Instead, you can go online and ping literally a hundred at once (copy and paste your generic sassy message even) and bam!  Much better yield.

* You can search for what you want.  If you like 6′ 6″ inch beefcakes who look Ron Gronkowski of the New England Patriots, you can search for him!  If you like women with unadulterated, butternut skin who look like Jessica Alba………. keep dreaming sucker!  They are already taken!

CONS OF ONLINE DATING

* What if she’s a man, baby. What looks like a woman, could be a man, and vice versa!  You can’t really know for sure what someone looks like until you see them in person.  They could have glamor shots done to make them look skinnier, prettier, or more buff!  How many times do you say “HUH? WTF!” in your mind after seeing someone in real life after you see their photograph?  Deception is so easy!

* Other people might see. You’re putting yourself out there for the whole world to potentially see.  For those who love privacy, this is a tough hurdle to overcome.  Yet, if you try and put up a less than honest picture or bio, you will get less than effective responses from the online community.  That said, you might look so hot that you will be inundated with every horny guy or girl on the planet, which is kind of what you want since then you can choose the best.

* Unwanted attention.  You never know who you’re going to meet online.  Women should probably be more careful than men, because when was the last time you heard of a woman stalker?  If you are a particularly attractive woman, you may get a disproportionate amount of interest online which you cannot handle.  If you don’t respond to some, maybe you’ll offend them.  Then the stalker might come out!

Related: Career Or Love?

TIPS FOR FILLING OUT YOUR ONLINE PROFILE

Successful online dating requires a fantastic profile. Here are some tips.

* Be honest. Everything from a recent picture, to your biography should be honest.  If you start off on an honest track, you know that whoever pings you or accepts your interest is truly interested in who you are.  People get discouraged online as well and therefore start fudging how great they are: age, income, occupation, etc.  The truth comes out in the end, so you might as well be truthful in the beginning.

* Be responsive. If someone pings you, ping them back because you never know if he or she could be a match!  Unless you are super hot and getting an uncontrollable amount of messages, in which case you don’t need to be online anyway, get back to people who make the effort to want to get to know you.  Even a “Thanks, but I don’t think we’ll match” is good enough.  If you don’t want to respond after that, no problem.

* Show your personality. You don’t want to have another typical profile which says that your favorite movie is The Notebook and you like hiking and long walks on the beach.  Try to differentiate yourself with something memorable like “Love skydiving, but am still afraid of heights,” or “Sipping chardonnays and gorging on foot high pastrami sandwich overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.”  You know, something a little more descriptive and original.

* Don’t just go after the hot ones. You can run with the herd, or you can find your own path.  The hottest candidates are the ones who get bombarded by everyone.  Too much demand!  It’s the same concept with buying property.  Yes, that choice location property is more expensive than others, but it will always command outsized demand and outsized prices forever.  If you can look a little down the quality curve, you will find much more opportunity!

Related: How To Become Happier

Online Dating Is Here To Stay

Online dating has become mainstream.  In fact, I’m surprised not more people go the online dating route.  It’s efficient, accepted, and free often times.  Just beware of women with large Adam’s apples and men with crazy eyes!

As Saito said, “Don’t you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone?”

Related posts:

The New Rule For Engagement Ring Buying

A Wedding Rule To Follow So You Don’t End Up Broke And Alone

Photo: Donkey Love, Santorini, 2011.  SD.

How To Help Japan Recover From A Terrible Earthquake

Updated: by 17 Comments

How To Help Japan Recover From A Devastating Earthquake

On Friday afternoon, March 11th, the largest earthquake in Japan’s history hit with a magnitude of 8.9.  The devastation of the tsunami is unbelievable and my heart goes out to the victims and family members of this tragedy, which is still ongoing. This post discusses how to help Japan. After all, this is Financial Samurai.

I’m sure many of us would love to do something, anything to help our brothers and sisters out in Japan.  The best and quickest way is to donate money to organizations who have the infrastructure and processes set up to help.

To donate money to the Japanese earthquake relief efforts, please visit the Red Cross’s site here.  You can also donate money by mobile phone to the American Red Cross Relief by texting REDCROSS to 90999.  Every time you text REDCROSS, $10 will be debited to your phone bill and a donation will be made.  The death toll has breached 10,000.

I encourage those of us with blogs, Twitter accounts and any online presence to help spread the word. Japan needs all of our support right now!

Favorite Yakezie Writing Contest Essays

The second Yakezie Writing Contest ends on Wed, March 16th at 6pm.  The first, second, and third place essays will win $600, $300, and $100 that will go towards their education.  Here are my favorite three, and there are many more great one!  Have a read and vote!

  • #49: Memories – An enormously powerful story about a daughter who lost her father to alcohol.
  • #39: Peaches and Cream – A very difficult story about a girl who went through betrayal and then forgiveness.
  • #56: A Mixed Plate – A humorous post of growing up as a multi-cultural person and accepting people for who they are.

Stand strong Japan! If you want to know how to help Japan, keep spreading the word.

Related: Disaster Insurance: Necessary Or No?

Would You Return A Lost 12 Carat, $200,000+ Diamond Ring?

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You might have heard recently that an unemployed architect by the name of Mark Epple found a whopping 12 carat, yellow diamond ring when he and his family was skiing in Vail.

The first thing that came to mind was who wears a 12 carat diamond ring?  That must be so gaudy!  My second thought was what is an unemployed guy doing spending thousands of dollars flying his family to Vail to go skiing?  Each lift ticket costs $100, not to mention lodging and food for the family.  Finally, I wondered whether I would return the 12 carat diamond ring if I was unemployed.

It’s easy to argue not to return the ring.  Anybody who can afford a 12 carat diamond ring probably isn’t hurting for money.  It turns out the original owners have a vacation home near Vail, so that sort of proves the point.  Based on the new rule of engagement ring buying, a husband can get away with spending up to the value of his car for his bride to be.  Cheap car, cheap ring!

And based on my 1/10th rule of car buying, one doesn’t spend no more than 1/10th their annual gross income on a car.  In other words, this couple is earning at least $2,000,000 a year.  Furthermore, they probably have personal property insurance coverage like so many do with expensive jewelry.

It’s also easy to argue for why one should return the ring.  If you lose something of value, you certainly hope someone will have the decency to return what doesn’t belong to them.

I’ve lost everything under the sun before and am so grateful when someone returns my lost item.  Furthermore, it’s not like you can easily sell a 12 carat diamond ring without bringing any attention to yourself.

The largest engagement ring I’ve ever seen is 6 carats, and that was just ridiculous.  Finally, if you do happen to return something of great value, more often than not the person will likely reward you for your good deeds.

Related: The New Rule For Engagement Ring Buying

The Best Of Financial Samurai 2010

Updated: by 33 Comments

Financial Samurai - Samurai Alexa Ranking ChallengeYou guys have really rocked the discussions with multiple 100+ comment posts this year!  You’d think this was a big blog or something.  I can’t begin to thank you enough for your contributions and what I’ve learned from you.  A post recap of 2010 is a good exercise to not only discover what worked best for some guidance in the new year, but to also give new readers a chance to catch up via one easy page.

There are literally 36 posts in the queue for 2011, with some of them just screaming to get out.  Why has the queue gotten so large?  Two things mainly:

1) Using a wine terminology, it’s good to give each post a chance to breathe.  Often times there’s so much discussion that to post a new post the very next day feels off.  This is the main reason why I don’t post everyday.  A topic needs to be sussed out thoroughly before we move on.  I like to respond individually to all comments who require a response.  Also, I love reading all the other great blogs out there every other day.

2) I guess I just like to write a lot.  There is always something ridiculous going on in the world that needs addressing.  If you are a blogger who is afraid of running out of ideas, don’t be.  Just read the newspaper, turn on the TV, or go out and socialize with friends.  Remember, if you can speak forever, you can blog forever!

For 2011, I probably should only have a queue 10 deep because I’ve found multiple times that I forget what I wrote just a month ago, and sometimes the topic gets stale or irrelevant.  Let’s add that to the blogging new year goal!  Happy reviewing.

TOP POSTS FOR 2010

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Musings Of A Newly 30 Year Old Woman

Updated: by 16 Comments

 The following is a guest post by a regular reader who is a 30 year old woman.  She is thinking about kids and growing old. Here are her musings.

So often we let society overly influence how we feel and act. I could go on for hours about topics like body image, nutrition, and politics but for now let’s just touch on age and children.

Maybe I’m on my own in this, but it annoys me that society teaches us that couples should raise a family once they’re married. While I have no ill feelings towards you wonderful parents out there, it frustrates me that I still find myself doubting my lack of interest in having kids because it’s abnormal, against the grain.

Here are my thoughts as a 30 year old woman.

30 Year Old Woman Asks: Kids Or No?

As a thirty year old woman, I think more about kids.

However, more couples are choosing not to have children though and I commend them for knowing what’s best for them and not succumbing to the wishes of their parents, friends, siblings, in-laws, second cousins, and everyone else that undoubtedly approached them countless times with: “When are you having kids”, “You’ll love having a family,” “Your life will be more complete with children”, “You really should start a family now before it’s too late”, “You’ll regret it later if you don’t….” etc etc. Admit it – it’s still a bit odd for a happily married couple not to want children.

If you find yourself struggling with this weighty decision, don’t feel ashamed if you aren’t jumping for joy at the thought of having kids. Instead you should embrace your ambivalence! I think many people underestimate the option to say “no”, and often each spouse doesn’t equally evaluate the lifestyle and financial impacts of this huge decision. Deciding to wait or not to have kids doesn’t mean you’re cold, heartless, or a kid-hater. Sure people may question your decision but they wouldn’t be the ones raising your kids anyway, so who cares what they say.

If you worry about if you will regret it later, there are always other options like adoption, foster care, mentoring nephews/nieces, volunteering with kids, or even just getting a pet to care for. I’d strongly advise against letting fate decide. If you’re not using protection you’d better be 100% ready to have kids! I know many couples that got pregnant on the first try.

THE HILL IS JUST A LAUNCH PAD FOR NEW THINGS

As a thirty year old woman, I turned to my mother for her advice.

“I never worried about turning older” she said with a straight face. “The only birthday I really remember impacting me was when I turned 60, and that was just because I’d been looking forward to it for so long so I could start getting the senior discount when I go to the movies!” How adorable is that?

My mother’s easy going attitude and positive outlook has been a great anchor in my life and I hope to be as happy as she is when I reach 60! It’s still scary thinking about aging, but I’m determined not to let a number define my level of happiness. Instead of fearing getting older, I want to look forward to being a little old lady with lots of wrinkles from all the smiling and giggling I’ll be doing

I’d really like to slap the person that came up with the phrase “over the hill”. Sure we can’t stop the aging process but why do we have to dread that when we reach middle age, it’s only downhill from there? Shouldn’t we strive to die at our happiest and at the peak of our lives?

With an over the hill mentality, it’s no wonder people have mid life crises thinking that things are just going to get worse as each day, month, and year passes. Being a 30 year old woman is great!

AND SO WE CONTINUE

Our thoughts and feelings are more powerful than we give credit and I believe they can influence us physically too. 

If you want to have children, go for it, but don’t judge others for not wanting the same things you do.  If you believe you are young, you are!  Start thinking positively, avoid stress and pessimistic people, and you’ll see the world of difference.

Being a 30 year old woman is wonderful. Age is just a state of mind.

Update September 1, 2020: The guest poster is now 40 years old. She has two wonderful kids, a loving husband, and a beautiful home.

Carpe Diem!

Regards,

Never To Wonder

Related: What Is The Best Age To Have Kids?

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Instead Of Twitter Love What About A Twitter War?

Updated: by 38 Comments

Instead of Twitter love, what about Twitter war? I’ve been on Twitter since 2009 and I’m also a shareholder.

Twitter is a truly amazing platform. I’m impressed with how some can literally Twitter all day and not get tired.  There is definitely an addictive element to Twitter which makes the program so alluring. There are a ton of announcements of self greatness which I am very fond of reading for some reason.

Twitter Love Examples:

* “I rock because I created an awesome commercial about my product!”

* “My stock picks are up huge and outperforming the markets!”

* “Check out my net worth, killing it up 10%!”

* “Take a look at my new Gravatar picture!  What do you think?  Ain’t I cute?”

* “Happy birthday to me!  Come celebrate with me over on my site!”

* “Thanks!” -> What?  “Sweet!” -> What? “Cool!” -> What?



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Small Business Owners Encouraged To Fire Employees Before Tax Hikes

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Small business owners rock. The Bay Area is full of entrepreneurs and small business owners making the work work. The pandemic has made the value of online businesses more valuable. The simple reason is that you can’t shut down an online business!

I originally wrote this post on August 26, 2010, a year and two months after starting Financial Samurai. I was dismayed at higher taxes.



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The Katana: Deflation Is Out Of The Question

Updated: by 10 Comments

I don’t talk much about my finances, but I will tell you that I’m in the process of refinancing a couple mortgage loans down by 1% each. The interest savings is tremendous. This makes me think deflation is out of the question. And makes me very positive about consumption trends going forward. Ten other people I know are also refinancing. It behooves you to at least call your local bank and check their latest rates.

It does make me wonder with the strength of the stock markets lately, how the bond market can still be so frothy to provide such record low interest rates. Do remember that the higher treasury bond prices go, the more yields fall. 

Deflation Is Out Of The Question

Could there really be deflation on the way? I highly, highly doubt it. The bond market is telling us otherwise, but I still think deflation is out of the question.

To humor our minds, lets say there is deflation on the horizon. What would you do with your spending habits?  You’d probably stop consuming due to the assumption that whatever it is you want to buy will be cheaper in the future. 

As a result, you’d hoard cash and de-leverage. Bingo, that is exactly what plenty of folks are doing, including myself. This self perpetuating mentality is very damaging to economic progress. 

In addition to delaying consumption, you will probably seek ever higher yields. With the 30-year treasury yielding 2.35% right now, it sure looks like a buy compared to only 1.714% on the 10-year.

When talking about deflation, keep in mind that money is simply a medium of exchange. The more money currency you have, the better as the strength of your currency improves vis a vis the goods and services which it can buy. Frugality really is en vogue again. And I just can’t wait until Samurai September when I spend the whole month buying nothing!

Posts That Caught My Eye:

In “A Teacher’s Reply To Criticism”, BFS responds to E-dog’s scathing post against teachers. A very thoughtful response given BFS’s husband is a teacher. I for one believe teachers are highly underpaid. A merit based system that rewards great teachers is a great idea as well. Great teachers have meant the world to me, and I am forever grateful for their tutelage.

In “How To Simplify Your Life”, Forest provides some great tips on simplifying your home, finances, and wardrobe. I absolutely hate clutter and try and donate several bags worth of stuff to good will every month or two. I try and by quality clothing that lasts for a while, and all my retirement finances are automated so I appreciate what Forest is sharing.

Darwin highlights “The 10 Dumbest Uses For Your Tax Dollars In The Stimulus Bill” in his anti-government rant.  I just want to say one thing, “Don’t touch my Ant Talk sessions!”

Everyday Tips and Thoughts asks, “How Realistic Is It To Retire By The Age Of 40?”  At 42, Kris provides a very cynical answers to the possibility i.e. “better start saving at birth!”  Good stuff.  I fully plan to try to retire by 40, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that I will.  Saving money, making money, it’s all just a game frankly because really, how much do we really need to survive.  Not much!

In “Destination Wedding Or Traditional Wedding: Which One Is Cheaper” Young and Thrifty brings up a fun topic that sometimes costs and arm and a leg for hosts and the attendees.  I’m down with both since weddings are so fun!

Further reading

Readers, do you think deflation is out of the question? What are your savings and investing goals for this year?

Regards,

Sam @ Financial Samurai – “Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries”

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Samurai’s Alexa Ranking Challenge Update: Progress Through Adversity

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Financial Samurai

It’s been just over a month since the Samurai Alexa Ranking Challenge was announced, and I’m pleased to report we’ve made tremendous progress! With 35+ members strong, we are actively helping each other achieve our respective goals. I’d like to use this opportunity to recognize several Yakezie members for their achievements and initiatives in helping the team.

* Daniel-San from Sweating The Big Stuff took the initiative to compile the list and keep track. His efforts have in turn created a home for us members to visit once a week and get pumped.

* @Elle_CM from Couple Money has been amazingly selfless in retweeting my posts and many other posts. She is exactly the type of member the Yakezie Group seeks.  @FinEngr created a Yakezie Twitter Group to keep track of us and follow.  Pls follow so the group can follow you back.

* Monevator, The Amateur Financier, Evolution Of Wealth created weekly wraps to specifically highlight posts from the Yakezie Group. Meanwhile, Money Funk wrote a derivative post on how to increase your Alexa ranking.

* Eliminate The Muda and Planting Dollars have busted through their 200,000 goal and should obviously now shoot for top 100,000!

THE RULES HAVE CHANGED AND WE WILL ADAPT

At some point over the past several weeks, all of us got dinged by 2 spots on Wise Bread’s Top 100 PF list because of the addition of two new blogs in the #1 and #2 spots. Congrats to those two blogs for being able to piggy back off their respective major platforms. The Atlanta Journal and The Star Tribune of Minneapolis and rocket straight to the top.

I liken the scenario to a situation at work where you struggle for a long period of time to get promoted, only to find out your manager hires someone laterally or from outside the firm to fill the spot! 

Others have mentioned it’s like some who get into prestigious schools simply due to their connections, while the rest of us just make due with what we have. Guess what team? Life isn’t fair, and Wise Bread can do whatever they want. We are not going to complain. Instead, we will simply try harder!

It’s important to realize that in 5 months, to get on Wise Bread’s first page, reaching 200,000 will no longer be enough. The 100th ranked blog will probably be ranked around 165,000 by then. 

Furthermore, Wise Bread might start adding other piggy back blogs from major publications which will impede our progress further. Once again, we must do as much as we can to help each other out. Never surrender!

New Initiatives

* Guest Posting UP: I ask that all those in the Top 100,000 allow others who are outside the Top 200,000 to guest post if they want to. There is a mutual benefit to guest posting where the guest writer gets to reach out to the host’s readers, while getting a link back to their own site. 

Meanwhile, the host blog receives content.  The guest writer really benefits most, because many of the bigger sites already have a ton of content in the pipeline already.  The host blog will actively promote the guest post on Twitter and elsewhere.

* A Playful Dance: One of the great ways to get to know each other better is to write a post in response to a post from one of your members. You see Ryan and Planting Dollars and Wojo at Fiscal Fizzle plays this out with the topic on “Is There Really Such Thing As Passive Income”. That exchange has created a fantastic amount of insight for the readers, and I’m sure Ryan and Wojo’s relationship is better because of it.

* Carnival: Another major initiative is to create an ongoing Samurai Alexa Challenge Carnival each week or two.  We are small enough where we can highlight a post from each challenger, thereby helping promote their content, while promoting yourself since everybody will visit your site and read your content as well. 

You don’t have to highlight a post from every site, however, please do your best to highlight as many as possible.  Just check out the comments at Evolution of Wealth’s Rodeo.  We’ve already got three lined up!

Other Updates From The Alexa Ranking Challenge

* Ranking Host Rotation: Daniel-san has benefited by keeping track of the group’s progress, as he should.  What we are proposing is to allow a new member to host and update the rankings for every month of the challenge. 

I think we should discuss this proposal below, and get an idea of whether people like this idea, and would want to host the ranking as well. With two things in motion (weekly wrap and ranking), we can share the wealth further.  Or, we can keep the ranking at Daniel-San’s site since it’s already there. 

The host’s duty is to obviously update the rankings, check back on the original challenge post to see if new members would like to join, and add, while highlighting any big changes.

* A New Go To Ranking: Finally, at the end of the 5 month period, I plan to either bring the ranking back home to Financial Samurai or let the ranking float forever once a month. The plan is to morph Samurai’s Alexa Ranking Challenge into the go to personal finance ranking page. This will purely consist of individually run personal finance blogs that do not piggy back off other major publications. 

We will create a entirely apples-to-apples comparison of the best PF sites in the world. If anybody has any programming skills to create a page where entries will be automatically updated, please let me know. When the rules change on us, we have the power to make our own rules!

The Alexa Ranking Challenge Is For Everyone

You may think this challenge is just dedicated to a community of bloggers.  In reality, the Samurai Alexa Ranking Challenge is a case study on how to improve all our lives, readers and writers alike! 

Our personal real-life goals can range from finding love to early retirement. What we want to show is that through the selfless promotion of others, continuous teamwork, and an unwavering commitment, we will succeed despite setbacks. This is The Yakezie Way.

** Update Feb 25th: The Atlanta Journal and Star Tribune blogs which took up the top 2 spaces in WB’s rankings are no longer there.  Maybe this post made a different, maybe not. Regardless, this is a positive for all of us, and should serve as a reminder that the rules can and will change. We need to continue being diligent in our efforts.

Further Reading

Here’s some further reading for the week.

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