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Hi pen nerds! I picked up a Preppy a few weeks ago and this thing is the cat's meow. I've been trying to come up with reasons/excuses to write, since I have no real need to in my everyday life, but there's something fun about it when I get the opportunity. I had a couple questions: 1. I really dig Diamine Epinard for its color. Are there any other solid green-black or olive-black inks out there that I should look at? 2. I saw Noodler mentioned a bunch and noticed that he has some weird poo poo on some of his bottles, eg Rome Burning. He's, uh, kind of a character, huh?
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May 25, 2013 23:25
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 01:31 |
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Reivax posted:Did you perhaps mean Sailor Epinard? My favourite green/black is Diamine's. One of the first inks I bought and still one of my favourites. Eh, I think it's a pretty American thing to be hesitant to subsidize someone's brand of crazy unless you agree with it. For instance, the polarizing presentation on Rome Burning likely scared off some and made the product an instant purchase for others. I'm sure there are poorly photocopied handbills rambling on about the feds "TAKIN ARE FREEDOMS" originally penned in the stuff specifically because of what it says on the bottle. I'm guilty of letting my purchases be influenced by ideology to some extent myself--I avoid a fast food chain here that puts Bible verses on its packaging. Although I probably would avoid them anyway because it's unhealthy, the creepy religious packaging is the first thing that comes to mind when I decide I don't want to eat there. I might be able to make an exception in this case, though, because at least this guy seems to be passionate about creating a quality product and has some really cool ink to show for it. As for the green ink, yeah, Sailor is what I meant. I'm not sure why I made that mistake. I probably looked at both and got them mixed up since both definitely catch my eye. I'd struggle to choose between the two since both are really nice. I suppose I need to keep working at coming up with a project to get me writing first so that I'm not just collecting pens and inks without ever using them.
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May 26, 2013 02:33
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404notfound posted:you'd best not be talking about in-n-out Nah, it's some place called Cook-Out. Only seems to be in a handful of Southern states. For what you pay it's actually pretty tasty and you get kind of a lot of food, but ugh, Bible verses on every last thing.
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May 26, 2013 04:15
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That TWSBI 580 looks pretty rad. I was wondering though, wouldn't it be a bother to have the entire back end of the pen serve as a piston knob like that? I figured it'd be a mess waiting to happen.
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May 29, 2013 19:14
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delpheye posted:I'm going to dip my toe in these inky waters. I hardly ever write, but more than once managed get complimented on my handwriting(it's not the great, I promise). Anyway, I'm giving my self the modest...est of modest budgets to give this a shot. Here's what I'm considering. I ordered a Preppy through Goulet like recommended in the OP and I'm really happy with how it writes. It's not as flashy, but compared to your combined pen and ink it's about half the cost. I wasn't expecting much for it being so cheap, but I have no complaints at all and I know some folks in the thread regard it as a decent pen. I'm in the same boat as you minus the compliments. It's actually pretty nice writing with this thing, and I'd like to get another pen and some ink for the hell of it, but I never need to write in my daily life and I've been struggling to come up with an excuse to write aside from, say, foreign language study. I'm not much of a creative writer, and I sure don't want to go around copying passages from novels and books of poetry. On that note, if anyone had to scheme up some project for themselves, I'd be interested to hear what you did.
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Jun 14, 2013 18:43
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or less? Or is my budget so low that any pen I find will be mediocre at best? I admit the draw for me to this pen is the way it looks and the fact that it's called Skywalker. Yeah, no shame here.
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Hm, I was going to pull the trigger on a Safari and some ink because why not, but isellpens has literally none of the inks I was considering. Some aren't in stock, some don't appear to be products they carry. I think I might just grab a couple samples. I haven't put any thought into browns or purples, does anyone have a recommendation for one that they carry?
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Jun 17, 2013 22:58
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Teach posted:Two pens to show, if you're interested. On the advice of the OP, I bought myself a Lamy Safari. Oh what's up, I picked up a Safari just like that a few weeks ago. I picked up a bottle of Diamine Ancient Copper to go with it, so mine's doing kinda brownish too. Looks pretty cool.
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Jul 6, 2013 21:08
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Lord Girlyman posted:Also: Gentlemen, the time is nigh. Noodler's El Lawrence will soon be in stock once more. Soon all of my writing will be done in a dirty, used oil kinda color. Oh wow, I've never seen that one. That's pretty slick. Shame I have tons of ink and not a whole hell of a lot of opportunity to write in a given day. But maybe not for long! I noticed I'm much better able to organize my thoughts at work with handwritten notes, plus I've looked into picking up a penpal or two to stay in practice with my old foreign language hobby, and a friend of mine is apparently very keen on writing letters. I figured I should probably correspond like proper, but I've put no thought into stationery or fancy notebooks since it's news to me that people still write letters or take notes on anything but fifty cent legal pads. Is there anything decent and inexpensive for letter writing? And how about a notebook/pad?
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Sep 7, 2013 05:50
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ColdPie posted:I had the body on an eyedropper Preppy unscrew a little bit in my bag and it made a huge mess that I didn't notice as I carried it around for a full day. Never again. I have a Preppy I plan on converting once the cartridge it came with runs out, but I'm terrified of it doing something like that. If I had more confidence with it I'd use it instead of my 580 and Safari for my boring colors, but my black and blue-black are Noodler's bulletproof monstrosities. As much as I like 54th Mass I don't know if I want to commit my 580 to it.
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Sep 13, 2013 16:39
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Diamine Ancient Copper is also worth trying out. One of my favorites for sure.
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Sep 13, 2013 18:43
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aldantefax posted:poo poo. Iroshizuku inks are 20 bucks on Amazon right now and I have Prime. I'm gonna get that Tsuki-yo, but what else? Yama-budo? Asa-gao? Ugh, I already have a decent blue black, dunno if I can justify a Tsuki-yo until that's gone. Been eyeballing that Fuyu-Syogun for a while though.
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Sep 24, 2013 19:54
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Demon_Corsair posted:I really need to find ways to write more. Once in a blue moon I'm tasked with writing something for work and I do the first draft by hand on a legal pad so I don't get distracted. Definitely doesn't do much for my penmanship since I'm on a deadline when I do that, though. I've also been brushing up on a foreign language. Nothing like repetitious writing to help with rote memorization.
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Sep 30, 2013 19:18
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Hrm. On one hand, that's the only bottle of Noodler's I've already got. On the other hand, I've been looking to get an inkwell for my TWSBI and this is a great excuse to do so in the name of saving a buck. But then, I could always just go for broke and get the extra nib I wanted and maybe some notepads and oh god why do I spend money on pens my life is so empty. Anybody seen the previews for that new Diamine Salamander? I saw one here and it looks like a greener El Lawrence. I could get behind that.
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Oct 9, 2013 22:18
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daggerdragon posted:I like that pen because with the clear barrel filled with Nikita, it looks like I'm writing with blood. I've been wanting to get some Diamine Oxblood and keep it in one of my demonstrators for that very reason. 
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Oct 14, 2013 21:01
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My handwriting has gotten much better with fountain pens, but it still looks like butt. I think what improvement I've seen is mostly because the pen flows more smoothly so I pay a little more attention to how I'm writing. Then I get to watch my newly refined handwriting feather all over the cheap-rear end Staples legal pad I use.
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Nov 18, 2013 06:23
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It seems like the majority of my writing lately has been Chinese, and I could really use something with as fine a nib as possible so I don't have to choose between gigantic writing or feathering into illegibility. What're some good choices for that? I've got an old Esterbrook with a 9550 nib that I received for Christmas and am in the process of cleaning out, but I've also toyed with swapping out my 54th Mass in my Preppy for something that actually flows and behaves well or getting one of those Jinhao X750s with an EF Goulet nib. Is there another EF option that I should consider?
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Jan 8, 2014 18:48
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lady flash posted:Here's a sample of some smaller nibs I have inked. This is a field notes page. You weren't kidding about the Penmanship, wow. I finished cleaning up the Esterbrook I have, so I might give that a shot first, but I might just have to pick up one of those.
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Jan 10, 2014 03:52
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The Rome Burning video was my first exposure to Nathan Tardiff and I remember thinking he'd managed to bottle and sell talk radio.
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Mar 25, 2014 15:54
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Well poo poo. I knew this would happen eventually, but what a pain. I went to refill my eyedropper Preppy when, upon closing it (and not tightly I swear), a hairline fracture opened along the body and it started seeping ink. Unless it's worth fixing (it's probably not worth fixing) I guess it's time to switch pens. I have a TWSBI 580 and a Lamy Safari that I also use, but not as heavily since this one was a way finer nib than either of them and I use it on a certain writing project where my writing is downright microscopic. To hell with getting another fragile disposable Preppy. Is the answer one of the new fine-nib Metros, or is there something else that's inexpensive with a decent fine/extra fine nib? And I guess while I'm at it I should really get another bottle of ink to flesh out my modest collection. 54th Mass, Ancient Copper, and Alt-Goldgrun are pretty nice but I'm sure there's something else I should take into consideration. My sample of Noodler's Black was pretty nice, a really impressively black black, but how boring. And of course this is a good excuse to grab a cheap notebook or two, maybe a Dotpad and something a little more portable. Any suggestions offered will be taken under serious consideration. It just figures that breaking a four dollar pen is going to wind up costing me a bunch, but I knew what I was getting into. At least my hands look cool right now.
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May 10, 2014 03:19
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I got my fine Metro in and inked it up. I have an old Esterbrook EF nib that's just about the same size but way scratchier to write with. This thing is a goddamn steal, even moreso that it writes fine enough that the ink doesn't feather illegibly in my crappy one dollar no name brand notebook. While the topic of cleaning pens is fresh, I have a Safari with a black nib and the last ink I used in it creeped like mad (Kung Te-Cheng looks great but isn't all that well behaved) and I was thinking I should probably make sure the nib and feed are as clean as possible before I ink it again. It's been a while since I emptied it out and gave it a bit of a rinse, but to be more thorough, would it be prudent to take out the feed and let it and the nib soak for an hour or two in the usual water/ammonia/soap mix I see recommended here?
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May 15, 2014 04:21
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Goddamn. I've been using my fine nib Metro for the last week or so and I absolutely love it. A good bit of my daily writing is Chinese on crappy paper, and now I can keep things nice and microscopic. One thing I noticed that I haven't seen mentioned is that the Metro's cap fits pretty snugly and takes a little force to remove. One of the reasons I didn't get one of these in the first place is because I was super paranoid about having a non-screwcap pen full of bulletproof ink as a daily carry, but I don't really see an accident happening with this.
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May 18, 2014 18:39
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Depends on the size of your handwriting too. I have to make a conscious effort to take up more than half the height of a line and to keep things a sensible width. If I'm writing larger and using a well behaved ink my TWSBI medium works, it just starts getting a little messy if I'm writing a character with a lot of strokes in a small area.
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May 19, 2014 15:24
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Remora posted:That would be the steampunkiest pen ever Not until you glue pointless gears all over it it's not.
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Jul 20, 2014 14:11
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I'm not sold on these Hobonichi planners since I'm not sure I'd actually need something beyond Google Calendar, but I wound up reading up on them because the Earthbound connection seemed so random and weird. Which one of these things do you guys get? It seems like the Japanese language ones have way more features and attention to detail, plus they're cheaper.
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Sep 1, 2014 17:55
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Solkanar512 posted:I'm pretty sure that's the guy who runs Noodler's Ink. I had no doubt in my mind whatsoever once I saw him write "Capitalism" with a big ol' flourish. I've got a question for you guys. What compels you to get a bigger, fancier pen and how do you go settling on something? I've been doing a fair bit of writing lately (and will probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future) but I'm not sure what exactly I'd gain over my 580 by getting something fancier. Even if I did, I have no idea where I'd begin shopping for one aside from "oh hey that looks nice."
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Sep 25, 2014 17:27
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Massdrop is doing a deal for a Safari pen and mech pencil set (lol no converter included). Maybe more interestingly, they're doing a Lamy 2000 for just over a hundo. I admit, even after what I said about not getting the pricey pen hype, that's a pretty tempting deal given how much I'm writing lately.
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Sep 26, 2014 19:52
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Well poo poo, sounds like we're closing on our first house. Since I'm pissing away a ton of money but still getting a much better deal than anticipated I may as well impulse buy that cheap 2000 so I have something fairly fancy to sign with. Now I just need to decide between EF and F nibs. I like my Metro F but I get more use out of my TWSBI M, so maybe something in between (presumably the F).
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Sep 27, 2014 00:17
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Of things I bought, I have a Safari that I carry with a little notebook, a 580 I use at my desk, and a Metro F for when I need to take really densely written notes. I have bottles of Ancient Copper and 54th. As far as gifts go, I have an italic Joy that came in a fancy tin, two vintage pens, some ink samples, and a bottle of Alt Goldgrun. I've thought about what else I'd get, but it feels like I'm sitting on too drat much stuff as it is.
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Oct 3, 2014 03:12
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Massdrop are doing a Vanishing Point in fine or medium for $105 with an optional bottle of Iroshizuku for another $20. That's.. pretty good I guess? It's sorta tempting. vvv: Fair enough. Those metallics do look cooler than the options they offer anyway. Meldonox fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Oct 5, 2014 |
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Oct 5, 2014 05:17
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Tulip posted:The simplest way to improve in general is handwriting repair. Jesus Christ, that thing could use some website repair.  My handwriting has always been rubbish. My cursive handwriting was always bad and it's never improved so much as it's matured so it looks deliberate and stylistic instead of just illegible. My Cyrillic was gorgeous, but a year of college Russian isn't going to get me very far at anything. The Italic guide linked from that Reddit board is pretty nice though. I might have to give that a shot.
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Oct 8, 2014 04:27
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Deviantfish posted:A family member seems pretty gung ho about buying me a fountain pen for my birthday, and is set on the Pelikan M205. It looks good, from what I've seen, but for $140, I can't help but think there are better choices. I'm kind of leaning towards saying "hey save money and get a TWSBI Vac 700 or 580" or if they're dead set at that price point, a Lamy 2000 or something. Has anyone had experience with a few of these, who can compare and contrast? For context, all I have right now is a Safari and a Vista, both EF. I'm in a pretty similar position, only I don't have a particular model in mind. If someone really wants to get me something fancy I'm not going to say no, but I have no strong opinions on what I want and these responses have named every single one I've considered. Good luck! Also I can't speak for iron galls generally, but I had my Safari inked with Scabiosa recently and mostly lying idle for.. three weeks, I think? I wound up putting most of it back in its sample tube since I wasn't doing as much writing as I anticipated, but I didn't have any problems. I'd consider not letting it sit for quite that long between flushes, but if you do it shouldn't be the end of the world.
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Oct 10, 2014 03:35
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So this one's a decent deal, then? I know that Lamy 2000 deal wasn't meant to be that great, but if this is, eh, I guess I've been interested in a fancier pen and a bottle of Fuyu-shogun for a while now. Edit: also dang, does the rhodium/gold thing make a tangible difference? I usually go for white metal, but that gold accent work is pretty fancy. Meldonox fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Oct 15, 2014 |
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Oct 15, 2014 16:32
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Welp, I ordered that Falcon but I guess I could get in on that 2000. It was on sale for the same amount recently though and I do believe someone in this very thread said it isn't THAT great a deal, so be sure to check prices elsewhere first. Also I think I may get some decent paper and work on some handwriting practice with a stub. Is it Dotpads all the way or should I consider a Goulet sampler or just mess up my lovely dollar notepad I keep on my desk?
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Oct 23, 2014 19:49
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Man, Massdrop is constantly putting up pretty decent deals on pens. Tonight they've got AL-stars for the same price as a Safari, and I'm pretty tempted to get in on that. Just trying to decide if I want an EF for practical purposes or a big stupid broad nib so I can actually use up some of these ink samples I have.
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Nov 18, 2014 06:11
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Hey, that's pretty nice handwriting. What's the purple pen there?
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Dec 3, 2014 23:31
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I'd hate to see "bad."
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Mar 20, 2015 01:55
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cobalt impurity posted:There's also an amusing and traditionally ranting video from Nathan himself. "I view it as the greatest crime when the dollar is devalued and I don't want any part of it." Goddamn Nathan, never change. 
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Aug 20, 2015 02:52
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Depends on how fancy you want to get I guess. I've got a Metro, Safari, Al Star, 580, and Falcon. The Safari and 580 are far and away the two that see the most use. TWSBI catches a lot of flak here (and rightly so) but when their poo poo isn't breaking it's really nice. Definitely the workhorse of my collection. Edit: Also everybody, do feel free to tell me what my collection is missing and what I obviously need to get. Meldonox fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Aug 21, 2015 |
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Aug 21, 2015 02:27
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Brightman posted:Also going back to the initial post from Meldonox I think the Pilot Custom 823 might be the best recommendation. It's pricey, a vacuum filler, with a gold nib, and a great reputation. Ya know, unless you hate any of those aspects. Well, I write a lot with my TWSBI so I obviously hate great reputations. These are some good suggestions guys, thanks. I'm looking over some of them now.
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Aug 21, 2015 17:46
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Man, I could get behind that. The blue is especially nice. Wonder if I need a new ink to go with it.
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Aug 21, 2015 18:02
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