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Will Gordon

@willgordon.bsky.social
19.7K followers 361 following 44 posts

senior associate editor, The Atlantic

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Reposted by Will Gordon
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 13/10/2026
For most of human history, the power to decide where a civilization went next belonged to governments, monarchs, or despots—now it’s in the hands of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, @tyrangiel.bsky.social writes:
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Choose Your Overlord
Musk vs. Bezos
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
"The man who once rewired how the planet buys and sells everything has been chasing an even grander project—creating the infrastructure for an off-world economy upon which human civilization might someday depend." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
Choose Your Overlord
Musk vs. Bezos
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"Much of the world has always believed America’s defense of democracy to be hypocritical, and that American-led economic integration was self-serving. But now even the people who sincerely believed in the postwar American project are discovering that it no longer exists."
theatlantic.com
Empire of Grift
Far-right ideologues have transformed American foreign policy into a tool of private gain and antidemocratic reaction.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
Scott Stossel @stossel.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"These people do not talk about spreading democracy. They don’t care about America’s reputation. They are deploying the tools of American diplomacy & government to promote their own business interests or their own ideological goals" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
MAGA Is Making the World Safe for Corruption
Far-right ideologues have transformed American foreign policy into a tool of private gain and antidemocratic reaction.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
"One of my advisers joked that seeing me with a tenure-track job in hand was like 'watching the last dinosaur being born.' It was at once a compliment and a grim acknowledgment of reality. I had won the lottery in an apocalypse." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
Confessions of a Token Black Professor
The insufferable hypocrisy of elite academia
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Reposted by Will Gordon
Spencer Kornhaber @skornhaber.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Understanding the case for openmindedness about AI and art took me from Berlin to Venice, from a nightclub to a hypnosis booth to an "upside-down parliament." Here's my profile of Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst, the art world's most compelling anti-doomers— www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
What AI Will Do to Art
Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst believe the future doesn’t have to belong to slop.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
"The artwork, he said, would suggest how AI might change public life and ask the question 'How could you imagine living with the presence of these things?'" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
What AI Will Do to Art
Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst believe the future doesn’t have to belong to slop.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
Yoni Appelbaum @yappelbaum.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
From our July issue: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
How to Tell the American Story
Finding a common history that’s both unsparing and unifying has proved all but impossible in recent years. It shouldn’t be.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
"The cause of freedom has advanced only because of those who have been willing to stand up against government overreach." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
Use It or Lose It
Freedom of speech, and of the press, can be guaranteed only if Americans exercise their rights.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
David A. Graham @dgraham.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
New(k) from me: An obituary for the great Sonny Rollins www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
theatlantic.com
The Last of the Jazz Titans
Sonny Rollins, who died this week, was the embodiment of the genre itself.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
"Peacetime is a thing of the past; for the foreseeable future, the commissioner will be at war—with fans, with media critics, with players and coaches, with the game itself. I came to Nashville wanting to know: Does Adam Silver have the stomach for this fight?" www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
theatlantic.com
Adam Silver Goes to War
The mild-mannered NBA commissioner has overseen a time of peace and prosperity for his league. Until now.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 04/05/2026
David Sacks helped bridge the MAGA-tech divide—but his efforts are exposing Donald Trump to accusations that the president is selling out his populist base on behalf of the country’s richest men, George Packer reports:
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The Venture-Capital Populist
How David Sacks and the new tech right went full MAGA and captured Washington
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
"Sacks has always taken a dim view of politics. At 25, appearing on a C‑SPAN talk show while still in law school, he expressed a preference for 'the ethos of Wall Street' over 'the ethos of Washington.'" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
The Venture-Capital Populist
How David Sacks and the new tech right went full MAGA and captured Washington
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Reposted by Will Gordon
Scott Stossel @stossel.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
"AI's inventors spend hundreds of billions of dollars to develop the technology even as they issue dire warnings of its dangers: 'It might kill us, but we have to make it as powerful as possible as fast as possible.'" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
The Venture-Capital Populist
How David Sacks and the new tech right went full MAGA and captured Washington
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
"To contend successfully with the traditionalists’ effects on our politics and culture, we also need to recognize that elements of their worldview are correct. But which parts are correct, and which are completely off the rails?" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
History Is Running Backwards
Why reactionaries are taking over the world
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Reposted by Will Gordon
Scott Stossel @stossel.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
"We moderns may think we own the future, but the traditionalists like their chances. If this is a global culture war, it’s the whole world against us." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
History Is Running Backwards
Why reactionaries are taking over the world
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
"Some people in the Epstein files are monstrously gross. Some are moderately gross. Some are situationally, aspirationally, or cosmetically gross." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
theatlantic.com
The Epstein Spectrum
A moral exercise in a moral desert
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Reposted by Will Gordon
Matteo Wong @matteowong.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
For the Atlantic's April issue, I go deep in the race to power the AI boom: Elon Musk's gas turbines, the data center capital of the world, the underbelly of a nuclear reactor. Before bots can remake civilization, AI firms must reshape our planet in their technology's image. Call it terraforming.
theatlantic.com
Inside the Dirty, Dystopian World of AI Data Centers
The race to power AI is already remaking the physical world.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
"If AI doesn’t turn out to be as transformative a technology as experts predict, swaths of data centers could be left unused or unfinished—ruins from a future that never came to pass." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
Inside the Dirty, Dystopian World of AI Data Centers
The race to power AI is already remaking the physical world.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
"Shortly after Martin became chair, he announced that the DNC would be producing its own report on the lessons of 2024. He purposely called it an 'after-action review' and not an autopsy, to emphasize that the party is 'not dead.' That was reassuring." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
The Democrats Aren’t Built for This
They say they want to save democracy. First they’ll need to get out of their own way.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
Robert Rubsam @robrubsam.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
For @theatlantic.com I wrote about Joe Sacco's search for the essential truth, from Bosnia to Gaza to Uttar Pradesh: www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
theatlantic.com
A Cartoonist’s Complicated Search for the Truth
In his newest book, Joe Sacco worries about the kind of future that political violence might create.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
"Today Sacco’s drawings are still loose, dynamic, even a bit cartoonish—but he always senses when caricature should end and the facts should take over." www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
theatlantic.com
A Cartoonist’s Complicated Search for the Truth
In his newest book, Joe Sacco worries about the kind of future that political violence might create.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 12/12/2025
A new generation is marveling over Barry Bonds’s accomplishments—but his entrance into the Hall of Fame feels further away than ever, Jeremy Collins reports:
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The Legend of Barry Bonds, Baseball’s Greatest Antihero
He was the game’s ultimate slugger—and its biggest heel. Two decades after the steroid scandal that upended his career, America still doesn’t know what to do with him.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
"What I kept hearing was that to understand Barry, you had to understand Bobby. You had to understand what it was like to live in the house of Bobby Bonds, the man who never became the next Willie Mays." www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...
theatlantic.com
The Legend of Barry Bonds, Baseball’s Greatest Antihero
He was the game’s ultimate slugger—and its biggest heel. Two decades after the steroid scandal that upended his career, America still doesn’t know what to do with him.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 04/12/2025
Josh Shapiro believes he is uniquely suited to win over Trump voters—but he’ll need to overcome distrust among some in his own party first, Tim Alberta reports:
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What Josh Shapiro Believes
The Pennsylvania governor has spent his life preparing to lead an America that might no longer exist.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
"Shapiro seems to believe that he is uniquely equipped to run for president and repair the Democratic Party’s deficit of trust and authenticity. Any such campaign, however, would expose deficits of his own." www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
theatlantic.com
What Josh Shapiro Believes
The Pennsylvania governor has spent his life preparing to lead an America that might no longer exist.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 03/12/2025
Josh Shapiro believes he is uniquely suited to win over Trump voters—but he’ll need to overcome distrust among some in his own party first, Tim Alberta reports:
bit.ly
What Josh Shapiro Believes
The Pennsylvania governor has spent his life preparing to lead an America that might no longer exist.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
"Was real life ever like that? It was in the movies." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
theatlantic.com
Growing Up at the Movies
Adventures with sharks, talking dolphins, and my father
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
"Over the next 30 years or so, the changes to American life might be short of apocalyptic. But miles of heartbreak lie between here and the apocalypse, and the future toward which we are heading will mean heartbreak for millions." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century
Many places may become uninhabitable. Many people may be on their own.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
" @dgraham.bsky.social ... warns that Trump is already laying the groundwork to subvert the next vote. We talk about this week’s election as a test run for 2026, gerrymandering, and future possible scenarios of election meddling." www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...
theatlantic.com
Will 2026 Be a Fair Fight?
Democrats swept the 2025 elections. But Donald Trump is already laying the groundwork to subvert the next vote.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
Ashley Parker @ashleyrparker.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Rahm Emanuel is almost certainly running for president in 2028, and I spent the past few months with him. My profile on the impish, maddening, relentless Kiehl's lotion devotee, hoping to equal parts charm and bulldoze his way to the Oval Office: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
theatlantic.com
Rahm Emanuel … For President?
He’d like you to keep an open mind.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 30/10/2025
Rahm Emanuel has been a key player in nearly every major victory, defeat, negotiation, controversy, and innovation of the modern Democratic Party. In 2028, is he what Democrats need—or exactly whom they want to leave behind? @ashleyrparker.bsky.social reports:
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Rahm Emanuel … For President?
He’d like you to keep an open mind.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
"He wound down his breakfast talking points in typical Rahm fashion: pretending not to care while caring a great deal. 'I am a political animal, full stop. But I’m equally a policy animal,' he told me. “I don’t give a fuck what else you say.'" www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
theatlantic.com
Rahm Emanuel … For President?
He’d like you to keep an open mind.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
"Platner’s candidacy looks like a test—of how 'big tent' the Democrats want to be, and how willing its voters are to accept baggage, from social media and beyond, that less polished candidates can carry." www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...
theatlantic.com
How ‘Big Tent’ Are Democrats Willing to Go?
Many in the party say it needs a wider range of candidates to run. Does that include people with Nazi tattoos?
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
"Schools ... evolved in a democracy over centuries, towards the consensus that they should be free, open to everyone, and secular. But as we’re learning lately about those institutions, they can be gone faster than you can fall asleep in civics class." www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...
theatlantic.com
Testing Teachers for ‘Wokeness’
A vision of public schools by conservatives, for conservatives. The second episode in a two-part series.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
"Walters and a larger conservative movement seem to be trying to redefine public schools as only for an approved type: 'If you’re going to come into our state,” he said, 'don’t come in with these blue-state values.'" www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...
theatlantic.com
Is Oklahoma Breaking Public Schools?
“Woke”-teacher screenings. Trying to get Bibles in schools. A two-part series on how one state is remaking American education.
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Reposted by Will Gordon
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 02/09/2025
Israel and the United States delivered a blow to Iran. But it could come back stronger, Graeme Wood reports.
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The Neighbor From Hell
Israel and the United States delivered a blow to Iran. But it could come back stronger.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
"Now that talk of what happens after war is back, I rise to make the case for déjà vu. The region risks reverting to its default setting, which is peace that has characteristics of war." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
theatlantic.com
The Neighbor From Hell
Israel and the United States delivered a blow to Iran. But it could come back stronger.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
"The complicated and enriching work of raising individual babies was also important, pushing humans to discover new internal capacities and modes of connection." www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...
theatlantic.com
Was Language a Parental Invention?
A new book argues that child care drove the evolution of human speech.
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Adrienne LaFrance @adriennelaf.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
This is beyond great. A wonderful story by @nancywalecki.bsky.social, full of love (and rock stars!) www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
theatlantic.com
My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
And here’s a non-exhaustive list of the amazing people who made this piece possible
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Reposted by Will Gordon
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 07/08/2025
When the greatest rock musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—Fred Walecki was there. @nancywalecki.bsky.social writes about her father’s work:
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My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
When Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, and other 1970s music legends needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad, Fred Walecki, was there. My love song to him in @theatlantic.com September issue: bit.ly/45eZIfa
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My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
"My father has been there since the 1960s—doing his work so that some of America’s greatest artists can do theirs." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
theatlantic.com
My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
"We learn how trauma from Katrina still lives on in the hearts and minds of its survivors, and how, for the generation born after the flood, a disaster they never witnessed still governs their lives." www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...
theatlantic.com
Floodlines Part IX: Rebirth
A visit with Le-Ann Williams, and her daughter, Destiny, 20 years after Hurricane Katrina
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Reposted by Will Gordon
The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 27/07/2025
Democratic voters have said they want a fighter, and now they might have one in Jasmine Crockett, @elainegodfrey.bsky.social writes. She spoke with Crockett about testing out the coarse style of politics that the GOP has embraced.
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A Democrat for the Trump Era
Jasmine Crockett is testing out the coarse style of politics that the GOP has embraced.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
"Crockett is testing out the coarser, insult-comedy-style attacks that the GOP has embraced under Trump, the general idea being that when the Republicans go low, the Democrats should meet them there." www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
theatlantic.com
A Democrat for the Trump Era
Jasmine Crockett is testing out the coarse style of politics that the GOP has embraced.
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Will Gordon @willgordon.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
"More than I wanted to spend hundreds of dollars at Williams-Sonoma, I wanted to know my enemy." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
theatlantic.com
I Fought Plastic. Plastic Won.
My futile quest to avoid the material that my entire world is made out of
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Emma Sarappo @emmasarappo.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Tomorrow is the anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges. The intervening decade has been a trip—especially for Generation Z. I wrote about the vibes this pride: www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
theatlantic.com
This Pride Month, the Backlash Has Officially Arrived
Young LGBTQ people are facing the prospect of losing rights they thought they’d never have to worry about.
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Sarah Weinman @sarahweinman.com · 18/06/2025
Caroline Fraser’s MURDERLAND makes a provocative argument — one that fascinated me greatly — connecting the rise of serial killers with levels of environmental toxins. I wrote about the book, and what I call “The Bundy Problem”, for @theatlantic.com:
theatlantic.com
A Provocative Argument About What Creates Serial Killers
In her new book, "Murderland," Caroline Fraser argues that the rise of these criminals has deep roots in the release of industrial waste.
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