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Great OP! I'll be attending the NHRL event this weekend, so expect a trip report. 
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Dec 13, 2022 11:48
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| # ¿ May 13, 2025 04:37 |
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ewe2 posted:Anyone else watching the NHRL stream? Some great fights, and I didn't expect some Battlebots alumni in the compettion. Jake Ewart dropped into the chat to boost Jamison Go who's competing in all 3 classes today. I've just caught Silent Spring win a match, great bot. My daughter and I just got back (we left early because 12 hours is too much for an 8yo) and we had a great time. I saw and interacted with the folks from Sawblaze, HUGE, Ribbot, and Deep Six. I took a ton of pictures and I'll write up a long trip report tomorrow or Monday, depending on when I get home. (I'm with family in RI right now but I live in Maine).
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Dec 18, 2022 01:48
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Egads. The holiday season has kicked my rear end. I intended to write a nice long trip report for the NHRL event a couple weeks ago, but here's a bullet-pointed short version: The first thing you see upon entering the venue is the museum. It has some cool displays showing the 250lb version of a lot of bots from Battlebots, plus the scaled-down versions competing at NHRL. My daughter screamed like a teen at a pop concert as soon as she walked in, because the first thing she saw was her favorite bot: Tantrum. I made sure to take a picture of my daughter next to Mammoth, for scale. A little detail I noticed and may only be interesting to me: the bases for all the displays in the museum are made from old arena floors. I like the frugality and style it lends in just a little thing like that. I saw Pete Abrahamson (The Bot Whisperer) giving a guided tour to some folks with VIP tickets. VIPs get a couple of tours, one of which runs them through the pits. I didn't splurge on that, but I kind of regretted it. I think we would have liked to see the pits. (VIPs also have a lounge area for watching fights.) I was super impressed with how open and transparent everything is. For example, there's a machine shop with windows so kids and folks can look in. Across from that is where kids can make signs to cheer on their favorite bots, and right next to that is a repair shop door that stays open so kids can peek in and see what's going on. The venue never felt crowded, since there are enough other things to do besides watch fights. The areas are open enough that an introvert like me who doesn't like crowds never felt uncomfortable. The bleacher seating for the fights only got really full right about the time we left, around dinner time. (I have a two hour drive back to Rhode Island where we were staying with family, and my 8 year old and I had been there since 10 AM. It was a long day for her.) Prior ot about 4 PM, we never had any problem finding good seats for the fights. The arenas are laid out in a row of four, with the bigger weight class arenas on the edges and the smaller ones closer to the middle. There's enough screens spread around that you can get a good view of any fight from any seat. However, if you want the best view of an arena, the top of the bleachers is the best bet. The pace is blistering. They're cleaning and setting up idle arenas while one fight at a time is happening in one arena, and there's about a minute or two between fights. So if you were a crazy person, you could plop down in the bleachers and watch pretty much continuous robot combat for twelve gatdang hours. Having a kid with me, we didn't sit for more than an hour at a time, and frequently left to go do the other things at the venue. But there are enough screens outside the arena area too that I didn't miss many of the fights. We saw a bunch of teams from Battlebots: Ribbot, Sawblaze, Deep Six, HUGE, Valkyrie, and a few of the Rio Botz folks were there. There may have been more that I just didn't notice. I talked briefly with the captain of Team HUGE while standing at a taco truck, and he was a super nice dude. Jamison Go was very nice as well. Oh yeah. There's a taco truck (and about six other food vendors right on-site). Between that and on-site parking, it was a very hospitable venue. My daughter killed a robot in her first time at the controls. It was her own bot, sadly, but it was a good time. There's a demo arena set up for kids to pilot one of NHRL's "Referee" robots. My kid slammed that guy hard enough into the wall that the top of his frame flew off.  We saw Depth Charge's fight that was posted earlier. It was.... interesting. It seems like that team is hell-bent on making as much of their weight go into the weapon as possible, and to dare venues to ban them for destroying the arena. If there is a 250 lb version of what I saw, YIKES. Just, yikes on bikes. My daughter was pleased to see Team Ribbot in the mix all day with Polywog. She is a big fan of Ribbot and HUGE too, and made signs to cheer on both HUGE and Polywog. But by the end of the day, she was a big fan of Project Liftoff (I was too).All told, we had a great time and it was worth it for twice the price we paid for tickets. There's a ton of stuff to do, especially if you haven't been before and/or you have kids with you. But if you're not into any of that and you just want to watch carnage, you can get wall-to-wall fights with almost no interruption. The venue is open and family friendly and comfortable. I highly recommended it if you're anywhere near NYC and you have  and a day to spend. A++*~ Photo Dump~*           
Railing Kill fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Jan 1, 2023 |
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Jan 1, 2023 04:14
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I'm way up in central Maine, and NHRL happens to be the closest regular event venue to me. It would normally be eight hours away, but we were visiting family in RI that made the trip much easier. Norwalk is right outside of NYC though, so it's an easy thing to hop over and see if you happen to by in the city for anything else. I'll post more pictures in a bit. Most of my fight footage is in video form, but the NHRL feed can do a better job showing off that anyway. The rest of the pictures can give a good idea of the layout and space, and some more of the museum.
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Jan 2, 2023 14:55
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Snowglobe of Doom posted:Yeah, I dunno how far it'll go but goddamn is it entertaining to watch The 30lb Ripperoni had some of the hardest hits at the NHRL event. The 250lb version has some potential.
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Jan 7, 2023 20:48
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Rooting for Rotator so hard that it hurts.
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Jan 19, 2023 00:49
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Madurai posted:Is that not just Deep Six turned sideways? 
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Jan 19, 2023 00:51
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Whiplash v. Hypershock could be an amazing fight if Whiplash figured out what happened to their bot in their first fight. Also: Haven't seen Beta in a minute. Were they even in the last couple of seasons?
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Jan 26, 2023 13:04
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I am ride or die for Doomba. 
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Feb 1, 2023 23:20
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Madurai posted:Wait... is that a chainsaw? 
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Feb 1, 2023 23:59
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SLICK GOKU BABY posted:Seeing a bot like Claw Viper dominate a top tier bot like Ribbot is pretty awesome. I imagine the whole field is completely on notice after that fight. Ribbot is a really solid team and couldn't do anything at all against their speed. I am a bit behind and just watched Claw Viper's first fight of the season. I was genuinely surprised at how fast it is. Control bots don't usually do it for me, but this version of Claw Viper is just so hard for most bots to deal with. Even after the box rush, its speed dictates the whole match. It's the fastest bot I've seen in Battlebots, and it's not even close. Here's hoping for a Claw Viper v. Hypershock match in the future. 
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Feb 3, 2023 12:43
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I just started watching the new episode and my daughter and I were literally standing up cheering at Ripperoni v. Endgame.
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Feb 10, 2023 00:41
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That episode sucked but was bookended by two great fights. Tantrum v. Hydra I would hope will shut up the haters. While I like to see Jake Eward admit defeat, it's really just barely making up for him spending an entire year being a loving crybaby. I get that the show wants to foster these rivalry matchups, but they should probably not do so in such a way that eggs on internet grognards to be toxic and lovely to a whole team for an entire year. Just a thought.
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Feb 11, 2023 18:10
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Sir DonkeyPunch posted:I find it a little baffling they spent such a huge chunk of the episode hyping up the Tantrum/Hydra matchup and it basically was nothing. Was satisfying to see T constantly get under Hydra Yeah. Hydra is a great bot for sure despite my feelings about every single member of the Eward family acting like bullies from a 1980's teen movie. But Tantrum has the script to beat them: be aggressive from weird angles, use a little studder-step to bait the flipper, then get under it and punch the nose until it bends/breaks. Tantrum happens to be able to do all of this by virtue of being way faster. Some bots just can't do that because they're too slow of their driver isn't good enough to outmaneuver Jake Eward's careful driving. Hydra is actually pretty sluggish compared to an increasingly fast and nimble field. I would love to see Hydra vs. this new Claw Viper that's setting the world on fire. 
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Feb 11, 2023 20:50
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Yeah, that was my bad. But also,Borsche69 posted:this is why you just post and let god sort it out 
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Feb 12, 2023 13:09
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God drat, Minotaur. God drat.
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Feb 18, 2023 02:12
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Tantrum v. Blip  Quantum v. Black Dragon is a real test for Quantum. If they can win that fight, they're legit. My guess is Black Dragon is too fast for them and inexplicably too unkillable, but we'll see.
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Feb 22, 2023 01:11
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TomR posted:I don't think the bots have to win fights to get into the 32, they just have to be entertaining. It's a bit of both. I wouldn't imagine a scenario where, say, Ripperoni went 0-4 but was really weird and entertaining and they let them into the tourney anyway. Wins probably matter more, and being entertaining will break ties for teams on the bubble.
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Feb 22, 2023 16:20
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MikeNCR posted:People get really upset when you let an 0-4 bot into the tournament. Hahaha Listen, if Duck wanted to win that rumble, it should have had a way to finish. You earned that one. 
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Feb 23, 2023 03:41
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It was funny seeing Triton try getting cute with that Tombstone feigned flight move and get absolutely rocked for its trouble. Driving is really difficult, and most teams don't have someone like Daniel Frietas or Matt Vasquez. Keeping one's bearings in the middle of a pitched fight and mastering timing must be especially tough.
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Mar 2, 2023 03:45
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Scrotum Modem posted:I didn't think I'd ever reach this point as he has his whole persona going and all, but I have: I'm done with his shtick. No more. It's especially cringeworthy when they make him talk after a loss It's way more interesting that he's a community college professor bringing his students as the team than any schtick he (or the show) puts on. The blue collar worker and former community college professor in me really likes a team with that background going up against MIT wunderkinds. If they want to give him a schtick, they should lean into the plucky nature of the team.
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Mar 3, 2023 17:06
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Congrats to Team Riptide, I guess, for somehow making me root for Team Shredderator. Egads that team is obnoxious.
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Mar 9, 2023 13:24
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Some team is out there like Greg Maddux, just accumulating an enormous dossier of research on all of their opponents. (Maddux was a baseball player who wrote down every single at-bat he pitched against every hitter he ever faced. He kept it in a huge binder that he shared with the pitchers on his team)
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Mar 28, 2023 14:02
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The leadup to Cobalt v Overhaul was hilarious: Kenny Florian: "Cobalt's Kryptonite is the box floor, so Overhaul has a chance for an upset here if they can get under Cobalt and tip them over." ~Two minutes later~ Charles Guan: "So we have these long forks with stoppers to keep Cobalt off them and at a distance."  Like, I understand wanting to keep Cobalt at range, to control the fight and to stay alive. But holy poo poo I will never understand these control bots without what they call in MTG a "win condition." So Charles' plan was to keep Cobalt at arm's length for three straight minutes? And win on points with no points for damage? Really? Not even trying to have a knockout strategy is such a farce. This is why I love the resurgence of control bots in the form of Claw Viper and Quantum: they have win conditions and they're fighting to win and not just survive. There were a ton of moments in that fight where Overhaul had open shots at Cobalt's flanks and backside. If they weren't running those stopper forks, they could have easily flipped Cobalt. I just.... I can't even... how do you plan to win... 
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Mar 31, 2023 12:15
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Qwijib0 posted:At some point someone has to try a walker with full body spinner for the weight bonus, which I would think gives it an advantage since it would be less likely to go flying itself. Someone tried that and BattleBots barred it after testing. The thing was kind of terrifying.
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Apr 3, 2023 14:44
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I only had time to watch the first fight before work and let me just say: Madcatter v. Lockjaw  Instant classic.
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Apr 6, 2023 12:03
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:Ref quick-counted Mad Catter Lockjaw still would have won on points anyway, but it's the principle of the thing. If it was Black Dragon, it would matter for sure.
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Apr 7, 2023 01:19
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Let's go Ripperoni! Double-fisting whole slices of pizza into my mouth in anticipation of this match. Hell yeah
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Apr 12, 2023 16:22
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Shredding Bro v. Overhaul: guys, someone has to win this fight, ok? You can't both lose, so figure your poo poo out.
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Apr 12, 2023 16:24
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So there is a lot of talk about 1-3 bots qualifying for the tournament in this last episode. There's 32 spots and 50 (?) bots in the field, so a few could get through. I was thinking about which ones are most likely to make it at this point. Here's all the bots at 1-3 as of this moment: Captain Shedderator Emulsifier Free Shipping Fusion Gigabyte Gruff Overhaul Ribbot From that list, I'm only seeing Ribbot and Fusion as having a halfway decent chance, just based on the strength of their opponents and the quality of their losses. I do wonder how much the selection committee is going to (well, did) actually review fight footage to selection bubble teams for the tournament. This topic is a perennial can of worms of things like college football and college basketball because it relies so much on human judgment with murky parameters. I could see the fresher memory of Overhaul's last fight influencing a selection committee that didn't just watch what a wet fart their prior two fights were. The timeframe also makes me wonder about the details of the selection process just because there is so little time between the end of the regular season and the tournament. College football in the US, for example, has several times over the course of a months-long season where they assess and reassess the teams in the field, and they can do that over many weeks. I just wonder if the selection committee for Battlebots is just given, like, one day (or even less) to hammer this out and fall victim to bias of recent matches.
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Apr 15, 2023 11:34
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Here's hoping Black Dragon can outdrive
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Apr 19, 2023 23:37
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I just finished the most recent ep. I gotta say, just in terms of strength of schedule, Riptide is probably the weakest 4-0 team. Their opponents have a combined 4 wins, and only one of them (Black Dragon) is a top-flight robot. Madcatter is alright, but nowhere near a sure bet in any fight. Compare that to Quantum's schedule, or Huge, or whoever wins Minotaur v. Witch Doctor. I guess my point is, "the eye test" of subjectively looking at individual fight quality is hopefully emphasized less than strength of schedule. It's hard to give Riptide too much credit because all of their opponents prior to Black Dragon aren't good enough drivers to punish them for being mediocre drivers themselves. They haven't run into a Whiplash or Witch Doctor or Endgame that can gently caress them up with world-class driving. I guess that's my hope: that Riptide get matched up with, like, Lucky in the round of 32 and gets pitched out of the box by an expert driver.
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Apr 24, 2023 00:05
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PostNouveau posted:Oh yeah, this is neat. Anyway, all aboard the mothafuckin  HYPE TRAIN for Minotaur v. Witch Doctor! This has to be the match that the entire regular season was built around, like, "definitely pencil this one in for the end and build the rest of the season around it." These are my two favorite bots and teams. You gotta assume the winner is the overall #1, but even the loser might to go into the tournament in a top 5 slot even at 3-1. This match is going to be the gatdang apocalypse. I can't wait.
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Apr 25, 2023 23:58
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I'm surprised that Shatter got a nod over Mammoth or Shreddit Bro. Mammoth got their poo poo together in their last fight, as did Shreddit Bro to some degree, but I never felt like Shatter was effectual even in the one fight they won. Other than that, I'm ok with the seedings. I would have liked to see Quantum as a 3 or 4 seed over Hydra or Witch Doctor, but I also understand why they seeded the way they did. I'll be sad to see Claw Viper hemmed out by HUGE in the bracket. If not for that terrible matchup, they could make a run. I'll be rooting for End Game to finally put Riptide down with good driving (but here's hoping Hypershock can do it first). I'll also be hoping to see either Ripperoni or Quantum shock Hydra. I think Jake Ewart is a good driver, but he makes mistakes and a little studder-step followed up by an aggressive attack can gently caress up Hydra. It would be cool to see a control bot go far int his tournament, and Quantum has a better chance than Claw Viper, given the matchups. Anyway, here's what I got: 
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Apr 29, 2023 11:48
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KennyMan666 posted:I'm making some gambles. I really like Quantum. It's fast, tough, and its shape can give certain weapon configurations fits. I almost picked them over Hydra but I chickened out. 
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Apr 30, 2023 15:40
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SLICK GOKU BABY posted:Time to get on board with the pizza. Ripperoni is the glass cannonest glass cannon that ever glass cannoned and I love it. I would love to see it go far in this tournament. As for the mid-level seedings, I think a team's pedigree matters more than we might want it to. Copperhead, for example, has been around but Ripperoni is a more unknown quantity. If you're the producers trying to make sure as many tournament matches as possible are good, I guess the argument would be you can trust the proven bot to give you good matches more than the unproven one. You see this in college football and basketball seedings too. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it's a thing.
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May 3, 2023 11:08
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Bertha the Toaster posted:Didn't they used to have a self righter? Did they just get rid of it to reduce complexity and the failure that comes if it doesn't work? Their current self righting mechanism seemed to be working as intended during that last fight. It is Will Bales' Florida Man driving
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May 9, 2023 17:57
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I just watched Ripperoni v. Black Dragon. There isn't enough  in the world to describe that fight. Instant classic. Holy poo poo.
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May 12, 2023 01:25
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They seriously need a name on that trophy. It's not "The Golden Football" it's the goddamn Lombardi Trophy. Name it after Paul Ventimiglia or Ray Billings or something. Christ.
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May 12, 2023 16:38
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| # ¿ May 13, 2025 04:37 |
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Borsche69 posted:no loving way. the giant nut is the best name in sports. Ok. A compromise: Ray Billings' Giant Nut
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May 12, 2023 18:39
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