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Prof Stephen Wood

@stephenwood8.bsky.social
861 followers 156 following 489 posts

Occasional chorister, professional academic

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Prof Stephen Wood
Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 01/10/2026
If I went to Switzerland and won a Swiss watch precision contest, I would literally never talk about anything else
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Patrick Stokes @patrickstokes.com · 30/09/2026
If nothing else AI is making clear that there are people all around us for whom writing, art, and music are not communion with another mind, but just - wallpaper. Just pleasant things to look at. They think AI is conscious because they have no actual grasp of what it is to encounter another mind.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026
Hey, ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson here. I’m taking over the account to tell you about my new story. For months, I posed as a problem gambler on DraftKings to test the company's "responsible gaming" safeguards. Spoiler alert: They made me a VIP — and I lost $10K. Here's how it all went down. 🧵
Selfie taken by ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson, a man wearing a backwards baseball cap and an orange T-shirt.
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Fabio Chiusi @fabiochiusi.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
AI Exec: We May Have Pulled Off “The Largest Theft of Labor in Human History” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
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Neuroskeptic @neuroskeptic.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
British Journal of Psychiatry: "We are the last generation of human psychiatrists" www.cambridge.org/core/journal... "Psychiatry by AI will be free as soon as the pharmaceutical companies realise that chatbots can be persuaded to recommend their branded medication." 😐
cambridge.org
We are the last generation of human psychiatrists | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core
We are the last generation of human psychiatrists
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spooky october name @dormin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
the extra fun thing about excising terfs from an organisation is it gets rid of most of the racists and homophobes and misogynists and other assorted bigots for free
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Futurism @futurism.com · 19/09/2026
It's a disaster in the making.
trib.al
MIT Report Finds That AI Is Leading to "Cognitive Surrender" Among Students
A new MIT report finds that students are offloading their thinking to AI -- right at the moment they need to develop it.
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Biological Psychiatry @biologicalpsych.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In our latest episode of The Biological Psychiatry Podcast, we sit down with Dr. @sidchop.bsky.social from @orygen.org.au and the @unimelb.edu.au to discuss his latest work distinguishing the effects of psychotic illness and antipsychotic medication on the brain.
thebiologicalpsychiatrypodcast.riverside.com
Differential Effects of Psychotic Illness and Antipsychotics on the Brain
In this episode of The Biological Psychiatry Podcast, Dr. Elvisha Dhamala sits down with Dr. Sidhant Chopra from Orygen and the University of Melbourne to discuss his recent paper published in Biologi...
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whet moser @whetmoser.com · 18/09/2026
dudes rock www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/w...
nytimes.com
Can Two Friends Complete a Game No One Has Ever Finished? (Gift Article)
The Campaign for North Africa, a staggeringly complicated World War II board game, has stymied players for decades. Now two guys in England are giving it a serious go.
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Early Intervention Mission @eimission.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
📢 Early Intervention Mission Milestone! The study has now recruited over 800 people with psychosis!
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A six year old does not deserve to be in poverty. Full stop.⁣ ⁣ Every kid in poverty is a policy failure. But since kids don't have separate incomes, you can't help the kid without helping the household they're in. That's the whole political tension. youtu.be/gL2kxIbPitU
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Roger Luckhurst @theprofrog.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A frankly trying modern literature university job for someone, being forced to live in Lausanne on a very good salary for years on end
timeshighereducation.com
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track Directly to Professor Ordinaire) in Modern English Literature - Lausanne, Canton of Vaud (CH) job with UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE - UNIL | 415561
The University of Lausanne seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Modern English Literature, leading to Professor Ordinaire ...
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Cam Walker @camwalker.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
'The forests on the plateau are the largest area of long unburnt snow gum remaining in VIC. They remind us of what much of the Australian high country looked like before the climate change driven fires that have dominated over the past three decades.' themountainjournal.com/2026/09/17/a...
themountainjournal.com
A return to Baw Baw
The bulky massif of the Baw Baw plateau is a serene bookend to the view as you look north from the Latrobe Valley. It is ringed by tall forests of Alpine Ash, Shining and Tingaringy Gum, Mountain A…
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Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore @sjblakemore.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Last year, I was honoured to give the Huttenlocher Lecture at the @fluxsociety.bsky.social conference. Over the past year, I’ve been writing it into a paper: The developing adolescent brain: Implications for youth justice and children in criminal proceedings www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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JRBsays @jrbsays.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
How ‘housing first’ is helping people leave rough sleeping behind A housing model that gives people a permanent home before asking them to tackle the other problems in their lives has achieved striking results. #GoodNews www.positive.news/society/how-...
positive.news
How ‘housing first’ is helping people leave rough sleeping behind
A housing model that gives people a permanent home before asking them to tackle the other problems in their lives has achieved striking results. Now its principles are being built into England’s new a...
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I'm probably a dinosaur, but I wish students were allowed more time just to be students: to study, to read, to think, to talk to each other, to have big ideas - maybe even to have fun now & then. I'm not convinced turning unis into training centres is going to fix bigger problems in the jobs market
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Eiko Fried @eikofried.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Wonderful to see such integrative work. I wish we'd have a better overview of the socioecological environments people w mental health probs live in. Automatically equating doing poorly in very poor situations with mental illness is really problematic. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 08/09/2026
Two extraordinary charts from today’s PISA test results: 1) School test scores continue to collapse internationally, underscoring how this is no longer a Covid effect but sustained decline. Those falls in reading and maths are equivalent to about two years of lost schooling.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Cartoon by Stephen Collins for The Guardian. Script as follows:

[scene is Winston Churchill in a bbc studio, giving his 'finest hour' speech]

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CHURCHILL:
The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. 

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CHURCHILL:
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war.

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CHURCHILL:
If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free 
and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sun-

BBC PRESENTER:
Thank you prime minister 

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BBC PRESENTER:
Mr hitler, your response?

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HITLER [in the studio]:
Vell zis is hysterical woke nonsense as usual from mr Churchill

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HITLER:
What we are proposing -

CHURCHILL:
Hang on

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HITLER:
Let me finish - what we are proposing eez a simple power-sharing arrangement -

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CHURCHILL:
What's he doing here

BBC PRESENTER:
It's important we hear both sides of the debate

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CHURCHILL:
This isn't a debate 
You don't debate fascists

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HITLER:
Oh here we go with ze Godwins law!

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HITLER:
Why must you people always compare ze things you don't like to 'fascists, Nazis, Hitler'...

CHURCHILL:
Because you are a fascist Nazi Hit-

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HITLER [standing up, saluting]:
RAUSS!

BBC PRESENTER:
*Please* Mr Churchill let him speak

[ends]
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Awais Aftab @awaisaftab.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Postpartum Psychosis and Diagnostic Sclerosis The DSM needs postpartum psychosis more than postpartum psychosis needs the DSM www.psychiatrymargins.com/p/postpartum...
psychiatrymargins.com
Postpartum Psychosis and Diagnostic Sclerosis
The DSM needs postpartum psychosis more than postpartum psychosis needs the DSM
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Prof Stephen Wood @stephenwood8.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
We have got a serious problem
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Old British Telly @oldbritishtelly.co.uk · 04/09/2026
[1980] The Teardrop Explodes - Extraordinary live performance of 'Reward' on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
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Science X / Phys.org @sciencex.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
After 35 years in the U.S., the Ig Nobel Prizes moved to Zurich amid visa and safety concerns. Winners included work on cockroach milk, nose-blowing, and 1,000 buried pairs of underwear.
phys.org
Scientists studying cockroach milk and nose-blowing win Ig Nobel prizes for quirky science
Ten research teams were honored Thursday at a satirical science awards ceremony that was hosted outside the U.S. for the first time due to travel concerns.
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Sidhant Chopra @sidchop.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
🧠 Excited to share the results of our placebo-controlled RCT in psychosis: cortical thinning in the first year of illness is very likely not because of antipsychotic medication, but due to the illness itself. www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000... Thanks to @alexfornito.bsky.social &
biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com
Differential Effects of Illness and Antipsychotics on Cortical Thinning in First-Episode Psychosis: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Cortical gray matter loss is a common finding in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of psychosis and can progress with ongoing illness. A major unresolved question concerns whether these changes...
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Biyu Jade He @biyuhe.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
📣 My lab at NYU currently has two open post-doc positions. We are interested in understanding perception, thinking, and hallucinations. We employ a range of cutting-edge techniques in human neuroscience (e.g., 7T fMRI, MEG, iEEG/DES) and computational approaches (e.g., DNN modeling).
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Katya King @katyavdgk.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Doctors’ AI scribes get names of drugs and diagnoses wrong, NHS watchdog warns www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Doctors’ AI scribes get names of drugs and diagnoses wrong, NHS watchdog warns
Exclusive: Patients identify errors in consultation transcripts that are missed by GPs, Healthwatch England finds
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Patrick Stokes @patrickstokes.com · 31/08/2026
I'm sure it's totally fine and healthy that a wealthy state in one of the richest countries in the world has to rely on prison labour to maintain basic infrastructure
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The Mental Elf @thementalelf.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
ODDESSI, the first randomised trial of Open Dialogue in the NHS, has had a warm reception. Its primary outcome, time to first relapse, was null. 🌳 The admission and re-referral findings are secondary. Interesting, but secondary. buff.ly/mp8StLn #OpenDialogue #CrisisCare
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Funranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
[sighs deeply] Before feeding any of your research into any LLM, please check your grants and institution's information security/academic integrity policies. You may be surprised how very little of your work are allowed to let anywhere near the Plagiarism Engines.
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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 28/08/2026
I am currently recruiting for a 2-year postdoc/research fellow role at the University of Auckland here in New Zealand, focusing on auditory perception, hearing, and music in older adults, including people with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias ~NZ$100k/yr, flexible start date, please apply!
forms.gle
Postdoc in The Music Lab // Expression of interest
Note. The below text is a general overview of the sorts of postdocs we often recruit. We are currently recruiting candidates for a 2-year position focusing on auditory perception in aging populations,...
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Micah @rincewind.run · 25/08/2026
dolly parton taught millions of children to read dolly parton raised millions of dollars for cancer research and disaster relief dolly parton stood by the lgbtq community her entire life dolly parton personally helped fund the moderna vaccine if there was a right side of something she was on it
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Marc L Seal @parkvillegeek.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
🍿
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Climate Disconnect @climate-disconnect.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
This is from today's newsletter by @phillipspobrien.bsky.social, telling it like it is. This is where we are. phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/canada-is-...
The US Cannot (and Should Not) Be Trusted By Any State

What the Canadians have discovered is that the USA cannot be trusted. This needs some discussion. All states lie and deceive. That is nothing new. Indeed, one element of successful diplomacy is the effective and well-placed strategic lie. However, if your entire policy is to lie, all the time and with malice, it makes a mockery of international relations.

Yet, that is precisely where the USA is now. It has reached the state where there is no national interest or even national policy. There is the will of a fundamentally dishonest president, often filtered through the mind of a 35-year-old stalker.

As I have said before, this means that the US government needs to be seen as a threat, not a friend, by other states, particularly those who are, or at least were, US allies. The US cannot be trusted because it is run by a dishonest criminal, and behaves as such.

The implications of this are massive and will run far beyond this Trump term of office. The US has shown that it will opt for a criminal to run it, even after that criminal tried to subvert a free election just a few years earlier. It has shown that within the USA there is a large and loyal pool of supporters for that criminal (say 33-38% of the country), who will follow said criminal even though he is openly corrupt.

In other words, a far too large percentage of Americans have shown that they will support and continue to support a criminal leadership. If they still support Trump now, they can and likely will support another criminal at another time.
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
In some ways quite helpful that the racist academics are signing the "I Am A Racist Academic" pledge.
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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
This is a lovely conversations ep. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
abc.net.au
The post-punk guitarist who decided to finally live openly as herself, a trans woman - ABC listen
Guitarist and engineer Josie Scott battled crippling gender dysphoria for decades before finally deciding to live openly as a trans woman in her 60s. In 1984 in Adelaide, two brothers formed a pionee...
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David Ghoul-iams (not actually a ghoul) @davidw1457.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Before I invest in a company making such claims, I'd read @zachweinersmith.bsky.social and @weinersmith.bsky.social 's most recent book
acityonmars.com
A CITY ON MARS
Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no war, no Twitter—beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? Critica...
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JAACAP Journals @jaacapjournals.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Author Explain: Josh Nguyen discusses machine learning prediction of first suicide attempts in early adolescence among child ideators. @joshnguyenpsych.bsky.social @scotttags.bsky.social @lianneschmaal.bsky.social @stephenwood8.bsky.social @koutsouleris.bsky.social twp.ai/E5EE6t
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Cam Walker @camwalker.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
"Renewable energy is already the cheapest power in the system, roughly 1/2 the wholesale cost of coal & gas. If the Nationals were serious about protecting Victorians from blackouts & high bills, they'd be backing projects that get that cheap power to households." www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
abc.net.au
Victorian Coalition says it would not accelerate end of coal power
The Coalition pledges not to accelerate the end of coal-powered energy in Victoria should it win the November state election.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
👇Great post this. Learning the recorder is a classic example of the importance of knowledge-rich learning that may seem pointless: it’s an easy, cheap way to provide children with the building blocks that allow them to learn to play many instruments quicker later.
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Penmon lighthouse near Beaumaris, north Wales, photo by Hannah Taylor.
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Prof Stephen Wood @stephenwood8.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Two drum kits being set up for Massive Attack at RLA tonight…
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Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
"Being trans is sad Being trans is horrid." Shut up. Being trans is great. Look. I've got inner peace and a fucking scythe.
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NearlyKnowledgeable @g0blinegg.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
✨️New Post ✨️ There is a new article over on the website! This one discusses some of my top tips for churchcrawling! There is a great joy to be found whilst visiting historic churches! nearlyknowledgeable.co.uk/guide-to-chu... #churches #history #heritage #churchcrawling
nearlyknowledgeable.co.uk
Guide To Churchcrawling | Nearly Knowledgeable
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Prof Stephen Wood @stephenwood8.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
What’s your sign?
Warning! Cognitohazard. Do not think about it
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Paul Bleicher @pbleic.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Astonishing. RFK Jr. adds 8 members to a 6 member FDA advisory panel. 6 of them were sellers of peptides, and the 7th a compounding pharmacist. In an 8-6 vote with all 8 votes coming from these new panel members, the panel approved 4 peptides against the objections of FDA scientists.
nytimes.com
FDA Panel Supports Lifting Restrictions on Four Peptides (Gift Article)
In an all-day hearing, the agency’s scientists argued against allowing broad access to unproven drugs that the agency had banned three years ago.
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21 Group @21group.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
David Latchman has been appointed Vice Chancellor of University of London He was found guilty of research misconduct by University College, London. He blamed his postdocs. Nice to see strategy, networking & playing the long game win out in the end 😉
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Eiko Fried @eikofried.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
“In our most detailed model, judge-level effects explained 61% of the total variance, whereas combined paper and journal-level effects accounted for only 7%.”
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Tim Dunlop @timdunlop.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
"Australia's system of privatised employment services is structurally broken and its prized federal contracts are being used to enrich millionaires and private equity firms, a new report argues."
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SMD's pension @anothersmd.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
This is fucking terrifying
Separate research supports the concern. Anat Perry, a Helen Putnam Fellow at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute and associate professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, co-authored a paper in Science examining how sycophantic AI responses erode users’ ability to calibrate their own judgment. The paper found that when AI systems consistently affirm a user’s position, the user’s capacity for independent evaluation degrades over time.

Joanna Stern, NBC’s chief technology analyst and author of “I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything,” has documented the creep of AI dependency in daily life. Her reporting has shown how users begin with low-stakes queries, such as what to cook for dinner or what to wear, and gradually escalate to consequential decisions about careers, finances, and relationships. The trajectory from convenience to reliance is difficult to reverse once established.
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The Mental Elf @thementalelf.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
A third of people with schizophrenia don't respond to antipsychotics, and we can't predict who. 🔬 A new mega-analysis links brain metabolite differences to treatment response. 🎯 Could this help personalise care? buff.ly/4WuGy2t #Psychosis #Schizophrenia
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