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Sacred Debris

@bodymodificationarchive.com
308 followers 31 following 234 posts

Archiving, Documenting, and Contextualizing body modification history, culture, and ephemera since 1993. bodymodificationarchive.com

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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 14/08/2026
The lectures I gave in Berlin this month went well; split into two parts, they told the story of my mentor Jack Yount and how he quietly helped shape modern body modification. In September I'll be release a 130+ hardcover lecture companion book that adds more context to the talks.. more info soon!
Two page spread of a book; One features a magazine cover with a smiling grey haired man with a metal tusk in his septum piercing, the other VHS screen captures of the same man, with a transcript from the VHS tape they were taken from included. 

“I was just looking at a piece of mail. I brought it down to the original Silver Anchor home. I got it in the mail just as I left. It's from England. Friend of mine that I met last year at the tattoo  convention in England put together a new brochure, a little publication called Piercing World. And it's Pauline Clarke and her husband that are back of it. This is issue number two. There's a picture of Pauline here. And I've written two articles. First one appeared in issue one, in March. I'm looking to see there's supposed to be another article in here, somebody told me about it. Oh, it's a a short article right here. It's a picture that I sent in of one of my clients that I did piercing on. He's originally from Washington DC and now from down here in Florida. And here's a picture of  Sebastian from London who is a Master Piercer over there, and Sid and I both know him very well. So this is a rather exciting piece of  literature. Has a lot of information in it. Brand new. And today Sid got a new PFIQ And I was surprised to find that right in the beginning there's a picture of Pauline again, and she's talking about her publication. So it looks like things are going worldwide with piercing going in a great way.” 

- Excerpt from VHS recording by Sailor Sid Diller, 1986
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 04/07/2026
Squid tatz.
Two photos of phallic squid tattoos.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 15/06/2026
First lecture of 2026 went.. mostly well. Tech problems aside, it was nice introducing a new generation of body piercers to my mentor Jack Yount in celebration of what would have been his centennial year, and to do it with my old friend Brian Skellie. Next stop: Berlin.
two men sitting at a table. One has long hair and a grey mustache and beard. the other is a dork, in a Fred Perry Polo, and has tattoos covering his arms and throat. They're looking at a laptop.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 20/05/2026
Hard Hitting Journalism in FORUM, 1986
A Penthouse Forum cover, and a quote:

In 1986, Penthouse Forum magazine sent a writer to Tijuana to investigate Brown’s claim that he could make penises an inch or two longer by cutting the suspensor ligament holding the penis root to the pubic bone. The article, published as "The Incredible Dick Doctor," portrayed Brown as a wildly inattentive driver who backed into other cars, an absent-minded dresser whose pants fell down in the operating room, and a blithe spirit of a surgeon who, when he accidentally made a cut in the penile shaft that sent blood spurting everywhere, casually declared, "I made a boo-boo.”

- Paul Ciotti, Why did he cut that man’s leg off? The Peculiar Practice of Dr. John Ronald Brown Wednesday December 15th 1999.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 17/05/2026
We're coming into the home stretch. Next month I get to introduce a new generation of body art fans to Jack Yount- seen here having some penis power tattooed onto his silicone enlarged penis by tattooer Rich Nutebar, 1993-4? visit us at sacreddebris.com for updates, and body mod history!
A magazine ad for "penis power" featuring a cartoon man hugging his comically large penis. A man getting his penis tattooed with that cartoon. The finished product.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 04/05/2026
Vegas & Berlin- I’ll be lecturing this summer on my late mentor Jack Yount and the constellation of eccentric characters in his orbit, including one of the original “Modern Primitives” A VIKING NAVARO; an Econ professor with extensively pierced/stretched genitals. Sacreddebris.com
A letter, floating over two photographs of a pierced and stretched penis and scrotum.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 27/03/2026
Lecture slide! Sailor Sid Diller tattooed Jack Yount's "taint" with a flame; 1980s. I'll be discussing Jack and Sid's friendship in this summer's Yount100 talks sacreddebris.com
A Keynote presentation slide. The photo (on the right) features a shirtless man in a dixie cup style sailor's cap, and a full back tattoo of Icarus. He's tattooing the "taint" of another man.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 13/03/2026
I feel like this is one of the less subtle "coming soon" graphics I've ever made. August 2026.
Two specimen cups- one with a green lid, one a red lid. A black bar covers the contents, with a graphic reading JACK YOUNT THE MISSING PIECES; EVOLUTION OF A SUBCULTURE 01.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 13/12/2025
Olivier L, 1999. Photo by Philip Barbosa. Modcon.
Man pushing his finger through his stretched pierced tongue. photo by Philip Barbosa, 1999
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 02/12/2025
www.blurb.com/books/125078... In August I gave a lecture on the under-documented influence of queer tattoo artists & collectors in modern (1950s-1980s) tattooing. This book covers the introduction & tattooer/pornographer JD of TRASH fame. It's 25% off thru Dec 11th with code GIVINGTUES25
book cover for INDELIBLE IDENTITIES 01: A QUEER HISTORY OF TATTOOING. it features a tattoo design of a swallow (bird) and heart, with the word QUEER in the banner. The author is Shawn Porter. 
Page from book featuring a tattooed man.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 02/10/2025
Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of my mentor, Jack Yount. I'll be giving a series of lectures on his life and legacy in 2026, contextualizing his place in my history, body modification history, trans history, and more. Very excited about this series!
A square graphic- it features a piercing needle and captive bead ring in the background; the foreground text reads: evolution of a subculture 01: Jack Yount. Presented by Shawn Porter & Brian Skellie. 2026
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 25/08/2025
Excerpt from TATTOO; Rick Herold getting "ass flames" Directed by Michael Zen (C. Michael McCullough) 1975
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 15/08/2025
It was nice sharing time with so many amazing people yesterday at BMXNet. My talk went mostly well. Only had one person faint!
A large group of people facing the camera.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 23/07/2025
Pleased as punch to be invited back to Berlin by the fine folks at BMXNet!
Graphic advertising two lectures in August 2025; BMXNet Shawn Porter 
Indelible Identities 01- John Dagion and Evolution of a Subculture 03 Scar Wars
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 10/07/2025
Sarai, 2006. The SCAR WARS events- three in total- were the first organized gathering of cutting/branding professionals working alongside each other, collaborating, and sharing tips and tricks. This was from the second event. sacreddebris.com
A smiling tattooed and pierced woman with decorative cutting on her chest.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 07/06/2025
Happy Pride Month y'all! The history of queer tattooing is still being written (literally. Im procrastinating from writing about it right this second) but there will always be a special place in my heart for Sailor Sid Diller, seen here tattooing at his private studio, 1980s sacreddebris.com
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 29/05/2025
While searching for something else (which is often how I find cool things in my archives) I found a thought-lost letter from Viking Navaro to Jack Yount, 1982, discussing scrotum stretching. Excited to get it scanned! sacreddebris.com (photo of Jack, 1980s, cropped)
A shirtless, tattooed man with pierced nipples
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 22/05/2025
A few years back I put out a book featuring beyond rare photos of a modification devotee named TIL - who was most famous for his "penis inversion" - this was the promo video. nodalpointszine.com
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 22/05/2025
A friend of legendary piercer/tattoo artist Alan Oversby, taken 1978. sacreddebris.com #septumpiercing #bodyart
A younger bearded man with a bone through his pierced septum.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 20/05/2025
Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the first SCAR WARS event; we assembled some of the world's top scar artists for three days of cutting, peeling and branding. Will be doing a lecture about the events this August in Berlin!
Graphic that reads SCAR WARS TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 13/05/2025
John Dagion's semi-autobiographical smut zine, TRASH, collected his sexual escapades alongside the lascivious tales of his readers, personal stories, erotic art, & personal ads. It's essential documentation of the life of an underrepresented part of modern tattoo culture. sacreddebris.com
A book page screenshot, right side has a pink zine cover with a tattooed penis. The tattoo is of an eagle fighting a snake on the client's penis. The magazine is TRASH. True Revelations and Strange Happenings.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 09/05/2025
Just updated the blog with the not safe for instagram Polaroid of Bob from Michigan. Dates back 40 years or so. #queertattoo #indelibleidentities sacreddebris.com
Screen Capture of video segment featuring a tattooed male butt; flames come out of the crack and there's a male nude on the thigh
a series of photo prints on a scanner bed.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 20/04/2025
This is Easter. I celebrated by sorting, inventorying, and scanning through dozens of T.R.A.S.H. magazines; True Revelations and Strange Happenings. The issues featured amazing confessionals from JD, art by REX, the Hun, Bill Ward, and enough tattoo content to give added depth to my next lecture!
Four stacks of magazines, all titled TRASH: True Revelations and Strange Happenings. One cover features a tattooed penis, two covers feature "rough trade" and one is just text.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 19/04/2025
This is a cover mockup for the lecture companion I'll be making for my upcoming Berlin chat. The first in the INDELIBLE IDENTITIES series will feature gay trucker erotica scribe/tattooer John Dagion. This series isn't THE history of Queer Tattooing, just a piece of it.
A book cover featuring a man's exposed tattooed chest. there's an eagle tattoo on his chest. the text reads INDELIBLE IDENTITIES A QUEER HISTORY OF TATTOOING
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 25/03/2025
This is a flier for a lecture I’ll be presenting in Berlin, August 2025. We’ll be discussing SCAR WARS- a series of cutting/branding events I hosted from 2005-7, the blog that accompanied it, and its impact on the body mod community. sacreddebris.com for more info.
A flier advertising a lecture on SCAR WARS; the world’s first scarification and branding convention. 

Lecture title: EVOLUTION OF A SUBCULTURE O3: An Insiders History of Scar Wars.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 17/03/2025
This is a cutting by Dave Gillstrap, from the Scar Wars 2 event in February of 2006. Hail Slack. sacreddebris.com
A full torso scarification of JR "Bob" Dobbs
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 15/03/2025
This is Pat Tidwell, 2006. Pat's freehand piercing technique has become a thing of legend, as is his recitations of dialogue from Back to the Future. sacreddebris.com
unclose portrait in black and white of a man with large stretched nostril piercings.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 11/03/2025
This is Sailor Sid freehand drawing a “black graphic” coverup on a client. Influenced by his blackwork from Cliff Raven, Sid tried his hand at the emerging trend of “tribal” tattooing. VHS source from our archives- 1984-86 approx. Sacreddebris.com
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 10/03/2025
This is Econ professor A. Viking Navaro and "lovely Jeffrey" - very early 1980s.Viking had some early representational black graphic (more commonly called 'tribal' these days) tattoo work from Cliff Raven. sacreddebris.com
Two men stand naked from the waist up; one is bearded, with a large ivory tusk through his pierced septum. he has very large pierced nipples and tattoos. His counterpart has a mustache and a single pierced nipple
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 07/03/2025
Nodal Points 6, the latest edition of our ongoing exploration into the history, culture, and evolution of modern body modification. This issue brings together a diverse range of voices, each offering unique insight into the world of extreme body mod, ritual, & history. www.blurb.com/b/12323328-n...
Cover of NODAL POINTS 6 magazine. Features a Ma Song devotee pushing rulers through a large opening in his cheek.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 04/03/2025
This is the cover to PFI 13 featuring art by legendary gay artist BUD; This issue featured an article on A Viking Navaro - also called Bud - who was the subject of our first Archive Editions Book. www.blurb.com/b/10708501-s...
A magazine cover featuring a black and white illustration of a Native American influenced male pinup. His nipples are pierced. The text reads PFI QUARTERLY Issue 13. Featuring Special Who's Who double feature Meet Sunny & A Viking Navaro. Plus... letters and photos galore. The cover is signed in black pen BUD 2001.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 02/03/2025
This is Harriet- they’d like you to know that team Sacred Debris will be attending this year’s BMENet conference in Berlin! Can’t wait to see old friends and make new ones!
An anthropomorphic vulva with a fancy hat and phallus walking stick with a banner that reads SACRED DEBRIS and text underneath that reads SEE YOU AT BMXNET 2025
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 01/03/2025
This is Debra Cooper; she tattoos and was the cohost of a series of 1980s/90s tattoo documentary videos with her partner Royboy. The films are dated and at times problematic but provide rarely paralleled documentation of a time/place in tattoo & piercing culture. sacreddebris.com
A tattooed woman looking directly into the camera. She has a large tiger on one side of her chest and is rad as hell.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 27/02/2025
This is a business card for tattooer Guy Aitchison, early 1990s. sacreddebris.com
A black and white drawing of a skull with the text TATTOOING BY GUY AITCHISON
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 26/02/2025
This is Jacci, from New Orleans. Video- late 80s? Jacci's ART ACCENT shop in NO was a must visit for tattoo travelers in the 80s and 90s. Longer video will likely end up on our IG or Patreon - BS's video interface isn't great. sacredderis.com
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 25/02/2025
This is a Polaroid of Jim Ward- considered the granddaddy of the piercing industry- piercing the nipple of “Rufus of Rochester” - late 1970s or early 80s. Note the thimble on Jim’s finger; early piercing needles were considerably less sharp than their modern counterparts. sacreddebris.com
A man with an ivory tusk through his septum piercing is seen piercing the nipple of a fully tattooed man.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 25/02/2025
This is a colored pencil study for a tattoo by Don Ed Hardy. I consider Ed the most important folk artist of the 20th Century and the coolest I've ever felt was when Ed knew my name. I'm not cool, but for a second...
Prismacolor drawing of a winged tiger by tattooer Ed Hardy
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 25/02/2025
This is TRASH: True Revelations and Strange Happenings. Published by Mr. Trash (aka tattooer John Dagion) and featuring questionably true stories about truckers, bikers, carnies, and rough trade.
A photocopied “zine” called TRASH: True Revelations and Strange Happenings. The cover features a tattooed man who, it is implied, traded sex for a tattoo.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 24/02/2025
This is Larry and Mary- Hackensack 1975. A “t&p” party was a tattoo & piercing party. Some were play events. Others potlucks. I often say body piercing history is queer history and that’s true, but it’s not the whole story. Swingers, eccentrics, mystics, leathermen and women made up the scene.
A hand holding a photograph, back is showing. It says “Larry and Mary during a Hackensack T&P party- 1975”
Incredibly faded black and white photo of a male and female couple standing next to each other. The man is in a speedo.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 23/02/2025
This is a GIP flier for tattooists Guy Aitchison and Jack Kaplan- approx 1991. sacreddebris.com
Yellow flier featuring a female devil. She is holding a box of Halos that are meant to resemble a box of condoms. The flier is for tattooers Guy Aitchison and Mad Jack Kaplan. The flier is from around 1991.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 23/02/2025
This is a 1990s flier for tattoo artists Guy Aitchison and Mad Jack Kaplan. sacreddebris.com
Yellow flier with a female devil/demon with a biomechanical background. Text reads GIP: Tattooing by Guy Aitchison and Mad Jack.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 21/02/2025
This is an illustration by erotic artist BUD for DRUMMER magazine. Bud did illos for Drummer and PFIQ and despite his "kinky Hirschfeld" aesthetic, never reached the same level of queer art fame as Tom, Rex, the Hun, etc. sacreddebris.com
Drawing of a (well hung) heavily tattooed man; the text reads ARIES March 21/April 20. It is by erotic illustrator BUD
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 20/02/2025
This is Mike Wilson, tattoo artist, 2001. I met Mike in 1992. A lifetime ago now. He wasn't tattooing yet and I wasn't old enough to see a rated R movie. Funny how fast time goes. sacreddebris.com
A young man looks at the camera; he has a tattoo machine in his hand, a banner behind him that features a panther and the text MIKE WILSON; his client is facing away from camera and hs a heart with wings tattooed on her back.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 18/02/2025
This is Tom's chest, Philadelphia PA 2005. Tom's upper torso and back are covered with decorative scarification. sacreddebris.com
A man's torso with extensive decorative scarification.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 14/02/2025
Our new zine is now available for domestic & international orders! Surgical body modification, tattoo history, body suspension history, body jewelry oral history, facial skewering - it’s rad. nodalpointszine.com
Two page spread from book featuring a tattooed man named Emil. A man looking intensely into the camera. He’s bearded and has extensive decorative facial scarring.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 14/02/2025
This is tattooer Davy Jones, 1970s. Davy was responsible for Fakir Musafar's iconic blackwork back tattoo. 35mm negative scan, photographer Robin Ryan. sacreddebris.com
A bald man, facing away from camera, looks into a mirror. Tattoo flash (design sheets) are on the walls.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 13/02/2025
This is Val (Valeria) Watson; tattoo artist. Taken in Houston in 1976. Val began tattooing in 1972 - her story is the subject of a new tattoo zine by Sharky from Texas. Check out www.instagram.com/p/DF6UZmStk6... for more info!
Tattoo Artist Val Watson; 1976. 
African American woman with flower tattoos on her arm visible, and a star tattoo on her neck. She's wearing a convention badge and holding a cup.
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 10/02/2025
Screenshot showing bluesky’s REQUIRE ALT TEXT BEFORE POSTING toggle
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 10/02/2025
These are “wandering vulva” (pierced) stickers for Valentine’s Day. Drawn for us by Alice of the Dead. bodymodbookstore.com
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Sacred Debris @bodymodificationarchive.com · 07/02/2025
These are screenshots from the documentary film TATTOOING REALITY, by Michael O Stearns, celebrating Ed Hardy & Realistic Tattoo. The tattooer pictured is Dan Thome; "loyal to the coil" bros are probably unaware that in 1985, Ed Hardy hired a hand-poke tattoo artist @ Realistic. sacreddebris.com
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