Today's Stories

A Chagall Etching Is Liberated After Languishing For 20 Years In Customs

The etching, L’Acrobate au violon (1924), and another work were confiscated from a shipment of art being taken from France to Switzerland in 2005 after French agents determined that the items weren’t authorized to leave the country. The pieces were rediscovered after two decades, and the Chagall is now on display in Besançon. - Artnet

The Ancient World Beyond Greece, Rome and Egypt

The de facto equation of ‘ancient history’ with ancient Mediterranean history, at least in most of the Anglosphere, has endured for many generations. But we are on the cusp of a dramatic shift in perspective that is producing a much bigger, broader and more exciting view of ‘the ancient world’. - Aeon

Meet The Costumer Who Paints New York City Ballet’s Pointe Shoes

“To be a shoe colorist for New York City Ballet, as Tim Foster has been for 15 years, is to occupy a small yet important niche. Most pointe shoes and ballet slippers are manufactured in a pale pink. But the company’s repertoire requires a rainbow of hues.” - The New York Times

They’re Still Making New Discoveries At Pompeii

Archaeologists in Pompeii, the ancient city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, have unveiled the partially reconstructed frescoed ceiling vault of a banquet hall featuring detailed images of Greek mythology. - AP News

Performing Arts Centers In Australia’s “Second Cities” Form A Network

Four of Australia’s leading regional performing arts organisations have joined forces to establish a new national pathway for developing and presenting large-scale Australian theatre, backed by funding from Creative Australia. - Limelight

The Artist Helping Trump Remake How Washington DC Looks

Unlike other culture czars for the administration who have quickly come and gone, Mr. Taylor has an artistic background that makes him a distinct and persistent champion of the president’s vision. - The New York Times

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The Amazon’s Two Historic Opera Houses Get UNESCO World Heritage Status

The two venues — Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, the port in the central Amazon basin, and Theatro da Paz (sic) in Belem, the port at the mouth of the river — date from the late 19th-century rubber boom, which made those cities wealthy enough (for a while) to bring in major artists from Europe. - DPA...

Huntsville Public Radio Dropped NPR Programming — Here’s What Happened

Its listenership has grown since the change. WLRH is ranked as the No. 4 most listened-to station on its most recent Nielsen report, according to Brukner. It usually ranks around No. 10. - Alabama.com

Maybe Losing Federal Funding Ended Up Being An Opportunity For Public Media?

After the federal funding loss, the industry saw that it hadn’t plateaued but instead “found a whole new level of support,” Chinn said. Stations saw record giving, with some even raising enough to cover the loss of federal funding.  - Current

Why Did Paramount Agree To Delay Its Warner Deal?

With a $7 million-per-day ticking fee that kicks in starting Oct. 1 -- which would cost Paramount $650 million a quarter -- why would Paramount agree to such a delay? The key lies in the nine words preceding the June 1 target date: "until five days after the outcome in a trial." - The Wrap (MSN)

Sure, We’ve Canceled A Bunch Of Previews, But Our “Game Of Thrones” Play Is Just Fine, Says RSC

“Ticketholders for five preview performances of the play, Game of Thrones: The Mad King, were more than a little dismayed last week when the shows, scheduled for July 20-24, were canceled. ... A show on Saturday, July 25, was also called off just hours before the curtain was set to rise.” - The New York Times

What If More Intelligence Doesn’t Make Us Better?

If we think of intelligence as the ability to extract information from data, then even an infinitely advanced model endowed with infinite compute will be limited by the fact that there’s a limited amount of information that can be extracted from the data. - Noahpinion

Meet The Messi Of Ballet

In Argentina, they call her the Messi of ballet – although when it comes to who has the finest footwork, they should really be calling him the Núñez of football. - The Guardian

Authors Have Mixed Feeling About Anthropic “Win”

One possible way for authors to get a fairer shake in the age of AI could be through the licensing of their work to AI companies. - NPR

The Return Of “Tamizdat”: Why So Many New Russian Books Are Being Published Abroad

“Freedom Letters … (is) one of a growing number of cultural organizations that have joined forces with bookstores, wholesalers and book-fair organizers to build a literary resistance among the Russian diaspora. Together, they publish, sell and distribute books that can’t get through Russia’s restrictive new censorship laws.” - Bloomberg

After Decades Of Anonymity, One Of The Guerilla Girls Unmasks Herself

“The founding member of Guerrilla Girls known by the pseudonym Liubov Popova has revealed her true identity: she is 83-year-old US-based painter and sculptor, Joyce Kozloff, a major figure in the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970s.” - Ocula

At The Empty Kennedy Center, A Volunteer Tour Guide Soldiers On

“In a dogged demonstration of love and loyalty for an institution that has elevated life for her and millions of visitors, (Sandy Weisswasser) still arrives every Monday for her tour day, knowing she may soon find the doors locked.” - The New York Times

BuzzFeed To Lay Off More Than One-Third Of Its Staff

“In the first major restructuring move of Byron Allen‘s ownership tenure, … some 180 staffers (are) to be given pink slips companywide. ... BuzzFeed, across all its units, had approximately 510 employees prior to the cuts. The company said it expects to see $29 million to $32 million in annualized savings.” - The Hollywood Reporter

Buffalo AKG Museum (Formerly Albright-Knox) Splits Its Director Job In Two

“Cathleen Chaffee, who currently serves as … Chief Curator, is the museum’s incoming artistic director, while Jillian Jones, AKG’s deputy director, will become executive director. Under a new co-leadership structure, Chaffee will oversee the museum’s exhibitions and public-facing programs. Jones will guide overall strategy, operations and finances.” - Buffalo Toronto Public Media

Artist Betye Saar Has Died, Four Days Before Her 100th Birthday

“(She) transformed collections of bigoted bric-a-brac — Sambo dolls, ceramic mammies and crude renderings of pickaninnies — into potent works of assemblage that mined the searing history of race in the United States,” most famously in her 1972 piece The Liberation of Aunt Jemima. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

By Topic

The Ancient World Beyond Greece, Rome and Egypt

The de facto equation of ‘ancient history’ with ancient Mediterranean history, at least in most of the Anglosphere, has endured for many generations. But we are on the cusp of a dramatic shift in perspective that is producing a much bigger, broader and more exciting view of ‘the ancient world’. - Aeon

What If More Intelligence Doesn’t Make Us Better?

If we think of intelligence as the ability to extract information from data, then even an infinitely advanced model endowed with infinite compute will be limited by the fact that there’s a limited amount of information that can be extracted from the data. - Noahpinion

With So Much Abundance, Why Are We Bored?

For anyone with an Internet connection and a little discretionary income, the contemporary moment offers a superabundance of seductive distractions. Why then the pervasive mood of emptiness? Why are so many at once overstimulated and bored? - The Guardian

This Booker-Winning Book Set In Taiwan Has Sparked A Cultural Reckoning

The author says she “wanted to tell Taiwanese people, ‘We do not really understand our own land’s history,’” partly because of the time Taiwan was a colony of Japan. - NPR

Alert: Don’t Throw Away Your Old E-Reader

Of course don’t throw it away - get it to an e-waste recycler or dealer - but also, you can turn it into a Spotify controller or, perhaps coolest of all, a literary clock. - Wired

Advocates For The Board Game Monopoly Say People Only Hate It Because We All Play It Wrong

Seriously, we just have to read the rules (or so they say). - Slate

Performing Arts Centers In Australia’s “Second Cities” Form A Network

Four of Australia’s leading regional performing arts organisations have joined forces to establish a new national pathway for developing and presenting large-scale Australian theatre, backed by funding from Creative Australia. - Limelight

At The Empty Kennedy Center, A Volunteer Tour Guide Soldiers On

“In a dogged demonstration of love and loyalty for an institution that has elevated life for her and millions of visitors, (Sandy Weisswasser) still arrives every Monday for her tour day, knowing she may soon find the doors locked.” - The New York Times

Kennicott: Trump’s Smithsonian Complaints Are Laughable

Visitors who pass these signs on the way into the museum may find them concerning; when they pass them on the way out, they will probably find them laughably at odds with what they have just experienced. - Washington Post

In The Ongoing Saga Of Portland’s Performing Arts Centers, The Mayor Has Made His Support Clear

Mayor Wilson now supports a 3,000-seat city-owned performance hall at Portland State University, while the venerable, earthquake-unprepared Keller Auditorium would be rebuilt as as 1,200-1,800 seat venue. Keller supporters are incensed. - Oregon ArtsWatch

Meta Glasses Are Now Banned At Comic-Cons In The UK After Secret Filming Issues

“A number of guests had told the company they would be reluctant to appear at Comic-Con shows again after cases of recordings taking place without their knowledge. The ban is applicable to Meta glasses and any other ‘wearable recording devices.’” - BBC

The Accomplishments Of Ancient Greece Are Not Just The History Of White People

“There is nothing wrong with taking pride in one’s ancestors. … Honoring and celebrating the past achievements of those ancestors, however, is different from taking credit for them.” - The Atlantic

The Amazon’s Two Historic Opera Houses Get UNESCO World Heritage Status

The two venues — Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, the port in the central Amazon basin, and Theatro da Paz (sic) in Belem, the port at the mouth of the river — date from the late 19th-century rubber boom, which made those cities wealthy enough (for a while) to bring in major artists from Europe....

Pop Music’s Biggest Transformations Are No Longer About The Music

On social media, fans don’t just follow an era – they help bring it to life. Through videos, memes, fashion, conversations and creative interpretations, they shape the meanings that come to define a project and extend an album beyond the music itself. - The Conversation

Vancouver Music Organizations Propose Four New Concert Halls

A coalition of 32 performing arts organizations has unveiled an ambitious vision to create four new and/or substantially renovated performance venues in Downtown Vancouver, with four possible location options identified. - Daily Hive

The Most Haunting Music Of The ‘Odyssey’

“The aulos appears throughout Greek art, depicted in military and domestic scenes alike. To modern eyes it looks like two recorders that come together at a player’s mouth, blown at the same time.” - The New York Times

Boston Symphony Cracks Down On People Distributing Red Flowers At Tanglewood

This summer, both musicians and audience members have been wearing red-flower boutonnieres to protest the abrogation of Andris Nelsons’s contract. Now BSO management has instructed staffers to intercept anyone seen carrying multiple red flowers for distribution. - The Boston Globe

Big, Shiny Concert Hall In Georgia’s Capital To Be Demolished After 14 Years Of Sitting Unfinished And Unused

Rike Concert Hall in Tbilisi, designed by Rome-based practice Studio Fuksas, was built, and nearly completed, between 2010 and 2012 at a cost of €40 million. Work stopped with a change in the national government; the project was abandoned in 2017, and the property was sold to a developer in 2022 for €10 million. - Dezeen

A Chagall Etching Is Liberated After Languishing For 20 Years In Customs

The etching, L’Acrobate au violon (1924), and another work were confiscated from a shipment of art being taken from France to Switzerland in 2005 after French agents determined that the items weren’t authorized to leave the country. The pieces were rediscovered after two decades, and the Chagall is now on display in Besançon. - Artnet

They’re Still Making New Discoveries At Pompeii

Archaeologists in Pompeii, the ancient city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, have unveiled the partially reconstructed frescoed ceiling vault of a banquet hall featuring detailed images of Greek mythology. - AP News

After Decades Of Anonymity, One Of The Guerilla Girls Unmasks Herself

“The founding member of Guerrilla Girls known by the pseudonym Liubov Popova has revealed her true identity: she is 83-year-old US-based painter and sculptor, Joyce Kozloff, a major figure in the Pattern and Decoration movement of the 1970s.” - Ocula

Buffalo AKG Museum (Formerly Albright-Knox) Splits Its Director Job In Two

“Cathleen Chaffee, who currently serves as … Chief Curator, is the museum’s incoming artistic director, while Jillian Jones, AKG’s deputy director, will become executive director. Under a new co-leadership structure, Chaffee will oversee the museum’s exhibitions and public-facing programs. Jones will guide overall strategy, operations and finances.” - Buffalo Toronto Public Media

How Museums Are Using Data To Shape The Experience

Perhaps the biggest opportunity created by detailed data is the ability to provide personalized recommendations. Supplementing traditional curation with analytical methods, more recently including machine learning and artificial intelligence, has become more common. - Ars Technica

The Failures To Save The Glasgow School Of Art Building

A 12-year saga of destruction, rebuilding and yet more destruction, all underscored by an unedifying seam of political and institutional wrangling, reached an apologetic conclusion of sorts, with the recent announcement that Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s exquisite art nouveau creation is unlikely to be rebuilt in its original form because of stratospheric cost. - The Guardian

Authors Have Mixed Feeling About Anthropic “Win”

One possible way for authors to get a fairer shake in the age of AI could be through the licensing of their work to AI companies. - NPR

The Return Of “Tamizdat”: Why So Many New Russian Books Are Being Published Abroad

“Freedom Letters … (is) one of a growing number of cultural organizations that have joined forces with bookstores, wholesalers and book-fair organizers to build a literary resistance among the Russian diaspora. Together, they publish, sell and distribute books that can’t get through Russia’s restrictive new censorship laws.” - Bloomberg

Literary Crisis? I Think Not

I don’t want to totally wave away the issues these pieces are gesturing towards, but I’d argue the fear that we’re sliding into a post-literate society rests on a category error that feels endemic at this point. - Becoming Literary

Students Are No Longer Reading Full Books

Before we ask our students to read difficult material, those of us who teach in college owe it to all of them to explain that reading books in their entirety matters. If we won’t, or can’t, then higher education will have a bleak future. - The Conversation

AI Companies Are Buying Up Old Books And Destroying Them As They Scan

Once focused on helping libraries, distributors, and book shops find and sell books, ISBNdb now helps AI companies bulk-buy anywhere between 1,000 to one million books per order, according to 404. - Futurism

From Nearly Forgotten Author To Japanese Literary Hero

“Much of the Japanese fiction translated into English fits into broad categories – cats, crime, coffee shops – but one surprise bestseller stands alone. Sales of books by Osamu Dazai, who killed himself in 1948 aged 38, have rocketed in the last few years.” - The Guardian (UK)

Huntsville Public Radio Dropped NPR Programming — Here’s What Happened

Its listenership has grown since the change. WLRH is ranked as the No. 4 most listened-to station on its most recent Nielsen report, according to Brukner. It usually ranks around No. 10. - Alabama.com

Maybe Losing Federal Funding Ended Up Being An Opportunity For Public Media?

After the federal funding loss, the industry saw that it hadn’t plateaued but instead “found a whole new level of support,” Chinn said. Stations saw record giving, with some even raising enough to cover the loss of federal funding.  - Current

Why Did Paramount Agree To Delay Its Warner Deal?

With a $7 million-per-day ticking fee that kicks in starting Oct. 1 -- which would cost Paramount $650 million a quarter -- why would Paramount agree to such a delay? The key lies in the nine words preceding the June 1 target date: "until five days after the outcome in a trial." - The Wrap (MSN)

BuzzFeed To Lay Off More Than One-Third Of Its Staff

“In the first major restructuring move of Byron Allen‘s ownership tenure, … some 180 staffers (are) to be given pink slips companywide. ... BuzzFeed, across all its units, had approximately 510 employees prior to the cuts. The company said it expects to see $29 million to $32 million in annualized savings.” - The Hollywood Reporter

“Odyssey” Translator Emily Wilson Rips Christopher Nolan’s Movie To Shreds

“It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.” - London Review of Books

A High-Quality Bootleg Of ‘The Odyssey’ Leaked And Streamed For Hours On X

A message on X (Twitter) “included a high-quality version of the film, as confirmed by Variety, and climbed to over 2.1 million views within two and a half hours.” - Variety

Meet The Costumer Who Paints New York City Ballet’s Pointe Shoes

“To be a shoe colorist for New York City Ballet, as Tim Foster has been for 15 years, is to occupy a small yet important niche. Most pointe shoes and ballet slippers are manufactured in a pale pink. But the company’s repertoire requires a rainbow of hues.” - The New York Times

Meet The Messi Of Ballet

In Argentina, they call her the Messi of ballet – although when it comes to who has the finest footwork, they should really be calling him the Núñez of football. - The Guardian

In A Good News Moment, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s School Is Opening A New, Big Space

“As with many ballet companies, PNB’s school provides significant funding for the organization. Tucker said the school’s income is approximately 18% of the organization’s annual revenue. The school also serves as a feeder both for audience members and eventual company members.” - Seattle Times

A Ballerina’s 75-Year Career

Yoko Morishita, who will turn 78 in December, is the prima ballerina in Japan’s storied Matsuyama Ballet Company. One of Japan’s most-celebrated dancers, she performed with Rudolf Nureyev 200 times and toured with Margot Fonteyn. - The Wall Street Journal

National Choreographers Initiative Makes Its Last Dance

Ultimately dating back to 1991 and in its current form — four choreographers working with 16 professional dancers, creating pieces for three weeks and then performing for an audience which gives direct feedback, taking place each July at UCal-Irvine — since 2004. This year’s final edition features work by four alumni. - Pointe Magazine

Dance Is A Subjective Art Form. So How Do Judging And Scoring In Dance Competitions Work?

“Because every competition’s scoring rubric is slightly different, dancers may not always understand why they received a certain score or ranking. ... What do competitors and coaches need to know about the competitive-dance world’s many judging systems, and how can they glean useful information from the often-mysterious numerical scores?” - Dance Magazine

Sure, We’ve Canceled A Bunch Of Previews, But Our “Game Of Thrones” Play Is Just Fine, Says RSC

“Ticketholders for five preview performances of the play, Game of Thrones: The Mad King, were more than a little dismayed last week when the shows, scheduled for July 20-24, were canceled. ... A show on Saturday, July 25, was also called off just hours before the curtain was set to rise.” - The New...

What ‘A Chorus Line,’ Now Celebrating Its 50-Plus Anniversary, Taught Us About Theatre

“A Chorus Line celebrates artists’ commitment while demonstrating — both at the story level and in the way the script itself was assembled — how easy it is to bully or exploit them.” - The New York Times

The Hadestown ProShot Film Was So Popular This Weekend That It’s Getting An Extended Run

The live show capture came close to toppling Hamilton from its perch. - Deadline

Kenneth Branagh Returns To The Site Of His First Grand Success

“His time in Stratford was professionally formative, but rocky. Branagh tangled with the management over workloads and pay, and eventually felt that he had to move on to flourish.” That worked out pretty well for him, too. - The New York Times

How A Romare Bearden Collage Inspired One Of August Wilson’s Best Plays

Wilson “discovered Bearden in 1977, when The Prevalence of Ritual, a 1964 series of Bearden’s collages collected in a volume, captured his attention.” - The New York Times

Is This The End Of Nonprofit Theatre?

Oskar Eustis thinks so, but not a bad thing: “We’re faced with the need to prove to the people in our individual communities that we matter enough to them that they should support us. … Now, that’s not a very bad demand to put on an art form.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

The Artist Helping Trump Remake How Washington DC Looks

Unlike other culture czars for the administration who have quickly come and gone, Mr. Taylor has an artistic background that makes him a distinct and persistent champion of the president’s vision. - The New York Times

Artist Betye Saar Has Died, Four Days Before Her 100th Birthday

“(She) transformed collections of bigoted bric-a-brac — Sambo dolls, ceramic mammies and crude renderings of pickaninnies — into potent works of assemblage that mined the searing history of race in the United States,” most famously in her 1972 piece The Liberation of Aunt Jemima. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Guy Tudor, Who Brought Obscure Birds To Vivid Life, Has Died At 81

“Digital avian databases like eBird were far in the future when Mr. Tudor first set about documenting swaths of the avian world in watercolors and gouaches renowned for their delicacy and precision, and for the artist’s singular knack for capturing the quiddities of winged creatures.” - The New York Times

Who Knew Loki Would Turn Out To Be A Classicist?

“It was very clear from the word go that his heart was in classics, and it became clear fairly quickly to me that he really loved Greek tragedy, and that is a nice bridge to his acting career.” - The New York Times

Barbara Rubin Was The Teenage Filmmaker Who Stitched Manhattan’s Underground Together

“She filmed the scenes she helped create. Her best known and only surviving film, shot intermittently between 1963 and 1965, began with an unprintable working title before she borrowed its name from a line in the poet Arthur Rimbaud’s 'A Season in Hell': Christmas on Earth.” - The New York Times

Meet Matthew Bogdanos, Chief Of The Manhattan D.A.’S Antiquities Trafficking Unit

“Bogdanos himself is just as incongruous as these idols on the storeroom. He has the build of the sinewy boxers in the George Bellows prints on his office wall — he still competes as an amateur middleweight — and the manner of a man who enjoys a fight more than he will admit.” -...

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New Jersey Performing Arts Center seeks President & CEO

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Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts seeks Director of Production and Presentation. Annual salary range of $80,000 to $90,000.

Artist Betye Saar Has Died, Four Days Before Her 100th Birthday

“(She) transformed collections of bigoted bric-a-brac — Sambo dolls, ceramic mammies and crude renderings of pickaninnies — into potent works of assemblage that mined the searing history of race in the United States,” most famously in her 1972 piece The Liberation of Aunt Jemima. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Good Luck Getting Tickets To The Odyssey In 70mm IMAX

The FOMO is real. “Complicating things further for The Odyssey is that it’s available in so many premium formats—six, altogether—that the film’s official website includes a guide to their various strengths and aspect ratios.” - Wired

Warner Bros Sues Amazon For Poaching Employees

“In the complaint, Warner says that ‘Amazon has chosen to ride on the coattails of other well-established Hollywood mainstays,’ and that it engaged in a ‘lawless employee shopping spree.’” - The Verge

Bill McGlaughlin, Longtime Classical Radio Host, Has Died At 82

His long career included stints as a trombonist (Philadelphia Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony) and conductor (Kansas City Symphony, among others), but he was best-known to public radio listeners as the host of St. Paul Sunday (1980-2007) and Exploring Music (2003 until earlier this year). - WWFM

The End Of The Mega Gallery

“Are we witnessing the art world’s Napoleonic march to Moscow, an over-expansion propelled by hubris that is now inevitably falling to its knees?” - Artnet

Resurrecting The Nearly Lost Art Of Film Projection

“In advance of The Odyssey’s release, Imax contracted 130 experienced projectionists and required each to attend an intensive, weeklong training program.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

One Of Our Most Prominent Living Philosophers Argues That Opera Can Save Us

“In the opinion of Martha Nussbaum, now 79, …opera can help to fix Western societies that have become nasty, brutish and narcissistic. In particular, we need more men like Cherubino, the cross-dressing boy of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro … than we do Putins, Hegseths, Trumps and Tates.” - The Telegraph (UK) (MSN)

Revisiting Mark Twain In The Age Of Trump

Satire makes fun of something to expose its truth in a way that can be notoriously difficult to decode. What is often misread in Twain’s most famous novel is this: he satirically uses racism to ridicule racism. - Adi Magazine

Sam Neill, Beloved New Zealand Actor Known For Jurassic Park And The Piano, Has Died At 78

The actor was a warm internet presence and a proud producer of wine from his vineyard. “At 11, he changed his name to Sam, taking inspiration from characters in Western movies. It was, he added, ‘probably the best decision I made in my life.’” - The New York Times

It’s Possible That We’re Coming To The End Of Literacy

How can we tell? Well, a lot of ways. One grim statistic: “Gambling has become a more common leisure activity than reading a book.” - The Atlantic

Is TikTok Ruining Books, Or Publishing In General?

Personal testimony is paramount on BookTok; a book is deemed successful if it ‘breaks’ or ‘destroys’ a “reader. The most common book-review content on the app understands books as pleasure-spiking torment factories.” - The New Yorker

The University Of North Texas Can’t Handle An Art Show With Work Critical Of ICE

“Initially, the administrators discussed removing some of the pieces from the show. But then the provost texted that he wanted to take down the entire exhibition instead. wrote, ‘I think it'll be easier to manage any barking from our friends in Austin.’” - NPR

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