127-year-old Anchor Brewing Co. to halt operations with tough economy, beer sales in decline
- July 12, 2023
By MICHELLE CHAPMAN | AP Business Writer
San Francisco’s 127-year-old Anchor Brewing Co. will shut down and liquidate after years of declining sales, citing tough economic conditions.
Anchor was a trailblazer in the U.S., brewing craft beers in the 1970s when most Americans were loyal to a handful of major brands. Its unique brewing techniques ignited demand beyond the city borders of San Francisco and it quickly became a sought-after prize by beer geeks everywhere.
In recent years, however, brewers have faced increasing difficulty turning a profit with a proliferation of canned cocktails, crafted drinks, spirits and wines dinging beer sales. Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic pressured brewers further.
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Last year, overall beer sales volume slid 3.1% in the U.S., according to the Brewers Association. Craft brewer sales volume ticked 0.1% higher during the period, but imports are rising.
“We recognize the importance and historic significance of Anchor to San Francisco and to the craft brewing industry, but the impacts of the pandemic, inflation, especially in San Francisco, and a highly competitive market left the company with no option but to make this sad decision to cease operations,” said brewery spokesperson Sam Singer in a written statement Wednesday.
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Anchor Brewing had teetered near insolvency before and in the 1960s it was acquired by a Stanford University grad, Fritz Maytag. Maytag implemented new brewing practices such as dry hopping, and began bottling the beer in 1971, according to the brewer.
By the mid 1970s Anchor Brewing had assembled a solid portfolio of respected brews including Anchor Porter, Liberty Ale, Old Foghorn Barleywine Ale, and its first annual Christmas Ale, which became a holiday tradition in locales far from San Francisco.
Jeff Alworth, author of The Beer Bible, said in a blog post Wednesday that Maytag “sparked a revival in small-scale brewing” that would transform the industry and give the emerging craft brewing industry its ethos and attitude.
“He had this approach to beer, which was, ‘We’re going to use traditional ingredients and we’re going to use traditional methods and we’re going to be defiant as we do it and we’re going to be hyper-local,’” Alworth said. “It served as a blueprint.”
Anchor Brewing was sold to the Japanese brewer Sapporo in 2017 and it’s decided to discontinue the brand.
Anchor said that it made repeated efforts over the past year to find buyers for the brewery and its brands, but that it was unable to find one. The company said that it is still possible that a buyer will come forward as part of the liquidation process.
Anchor recently announced that it would limit sales of its beers to California and that it would cut production of its Anchor Christmas Ale in an effort to cut costs.
The company has stopped brewing and will continue packaging and distributing the beer on hand while available through around the end of the month.
The brewer is giving employees a 60-day notice and plans to provide transition support and separation packages.
“Anchor has invested great passion and significant resources into the company,” Singer said. “Unfortunately, today’s economic pressures have made the business no longer sustainable, and we had to make the heartbreaking decision to cease operations.”
Anchor Public Taps will remain open to sell what inventory remains, including a small batch of 2023 Anchor Christmas Ale.
The batch was brewed prior to the company’s decision to cancel the nationwide release.
AP reporter Janie Har contributed from San Francisco.
Orange County Register
Read MoreDucks sign No. 2 draft pick Leo Carlsson to 3-year, entry-level deal
- July 12, 2023
The Ducks took care of another important piece of summer business, signing Swedish center Leo Carlsson to a three-year, entry-level contract, announcing the deal Wednesday.
Carlsson, 18, was the No. 2 overall pick at NHL draft last month in Nashville and the contract has an average annual value of $950,000, per CapFriendly.
This means that the top three draft picks in 2023 have all signed entry-level contracts as Carlsson follows No. 1 Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks and No. 3 Adam Fantilli of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Carlsson, who took part in last week’s development camp with the Ducks, will be at training camp in September. The upside of his situation is there are multiple options for his continued development – he could play this upcoming season in Anaheim, in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls or even return to Sweden for another run with his SHL team, Orebro HK.
The Ducks have made it clear they aren’t going to rush Carlsson into the NHL prematurely. He is their highest draft pick since taking Bobby Ryan at No. 2 in 2005.
“He wants to give it his best shot,” assistant general manager Martin Madden said in an interview with the Orange County Register in June.
“He wants to come in and try to earn a spot, but we’re taking a long-term view of this and we want to put him in a position where he’ll be successful. Uncomfortable but successful.
“The point is he wants to be an NHL player and he’s going to have the summer to fight for an NHL job.”
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Orange County Register
Read MoreFormer Huntington Beach mayor, police chief accused of having ‘hatred’ toward annual air show
- July 12, 2023
The former Huntington Beach mayor and police chief are accused in a lawsuit of halting the Pacific Airshow during an oil spill because of their alleged personal animosity toward the operator.
The accusations in an updated complaint are the latest developments in an ongoing legal battle involving the air show. While the city has settled for nearly $5 million with the show’s operator, Pacific Airshow is still suing former Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr for her role in canceling the last day of the 2021 event.
The lawsuit alleges that during a meeting on Oct. 2, 2021, to discuss the show, former Huntington Beach Police Chief Julian Harvey and Carr “expressed their personal feelings of hatred” for Pacific Airshow.
Harvey suggested canceling the event to “screw” Pacific Airshow, and then Carr said she would do so, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that Harvey’s “personal animosity” for the air show stemmed from its attempt to book rapper Ludacris for its concert accompanying the show. Harvey, who is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, declined to comment for this story.
The lawsuit also cites unnamed witnesses that accused Carr of being “giddy” at the prospect of using the oil spill to boost her political aspirations.
Carr said she was shocked by the allegations made by the air show, of which Kevin Elliott, the CEO of Code Four, an event management company, is president.
“The accusations by Kevin Elliott are completely false,” said Carr. “I find them outrageous … completely stunning.”
Pacific Airshow sued Huntington Beach and Carr in October for losses it incurred after the third and final day of the 2021 airshow was canceled. The city’s settlement didn’t include Carr.
Huntington Beach and Pacific Airshow agreed to a settlement that city leaders announced in May. The city agreed to pay the air show operator nearly $5 million, plus revoke some fees. Huntington Beach could pay $2 million more if the city recovers additional money through its lawsuit against Amplify Energy Corp., the company that owns the pipeline that leaked.
The oil spill ended up being about 25,000 gallons and closed beaches and fishing along much of the Orange County coast for weeks.
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Suoo Lee, an attorney representing Pacific Airshow, said there should have been a public hearing held with all the interested groups to make a decision about the air show, but that wasn’t done.
“Mayor Carr acted personally without consulting the proper agencies and other relevant parties to unilaterally make the decision to cancel the air show,” Lee said.
Carr said the city had no choice but to cancel the last day of the air show for public safety reasons, adding that the decision to shut it down was made by a group of people, including representatives for the U.S. Coast Guard, the fire department, the police department, the Orange County Health Care Agency and more.
“The city didn’t do anything wrong. We had an environmental crisis on our hands,” she said.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages from Carr, who left the City Council last year after losing her state Senate race.
In a 2021 interview following the air show’s cancellation, Elliott said he found out on the night of Oct. 2, 2021, about the decision. The air show was scheduled to take place Oct. 1-3.
“I very much care about the environment. That always has to take precedence,” Elliott said then. “One of the things that makes the air show so special is our beautiful coastline, and we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to protect it.”
There’s been much outside interest in the city’s decision to settle with the Pacific Airshow, with critics questioning why the city agreed to settle and pay up to $7 million.
Two former city officials sued to prevent the city from paying the settlement, and another resident filed a lawsuit demanding the city release a full copy of the agreement. Both cases will appear in court later this month.
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Orange County Register
Read MoreSwanson: Jacob Wilson, Roc Riggio give MLB draft a distinct Thousand Oaks vibe
- July 12, 2023
California is ripe with almonds and pistachios, strawberries and ballplayers – 2,439 major-leaguers among them, more than have been plucked from anywhere else on the planet, according to baseball-almanac.com.
So let’s savor the unmistakable Southern California flavor in these recent MLB amateur drafts, including this week’s. Oakland picked Jacob Wilson No. 6 overall (a bargain) Sunday and Roc Riggio was selected a day later, in the fourth round by the New York Yankees (they probably liked that he won’t wilt in high heat).
Up and down recent draft boards, area guys pepper the list. Including a couple more now growing on the A’s farm: Max Muncy (that’s Maxwell Price Muncy, from California, not the Dodgers’ Maxwell Steven Muncy, from Texas) went in the first round in 2021, and right-handed pitcher Vince Reilly in the 18th round last year.
If you’re detecting a strong, oaky note in this particular bushel of prospects, you’re 1,000% right: That’s just Thousand Oaks High’s recent bounty.
Those guys all are products of the Lancers’ championship program, which produced one of the best teams Southern California News Group sportswriter Tarek Fattal has covered in his eight years on the prep beat. They’re teammates who grew and thrived together, with their community’s support as sustenance.
Riggio – the 5-foot-9 second baseman whose big hits and big personality made him a favorite of Oklahoma State fans – grew up “in a cage,” dad Jayme Riggio said, waiting not even a beat to clarify: “A batting cage!”
Specifically, the batting cage Jayme built for himself before Roc was born. The cage that Jayme opened up to the neighborhood – “just pick up the balls and don’t let the dogs get out!” – bringing around bigger kids who helped show Roc how to hit it on a rope.
Wilson – the athletic, can’t-miss 21-year-old Grand Canyon infielder who struck out just 12 times in 492 plate appearances in the past two collegiate seasons – had his former major league All-Star dad to lean on. But then so did Roc and so many other local ballplayers for whom Jack Wilson was Coach Jack.
A long-tenured Pittsburgh Pirate, Jack learned a lot in his 12-year career as a big-league infielder. He’s been generous sharing that intel as a coach, including on the travel ball circuit, at Thousand Oaks High – and at his home, too.
In his yard one summer, he set up Roc in front of a FungoMan machine and left the kid out there fielding ground balls alone for hours at a time, wondering all the while if Coach Jack was ever going to come outside and do some coaching. He did, eventually. But not until Roc could say he’d fielded 10,000 grounders out there – which feels like a twist on the 10,000-hour rule that says you need to dedicate that much time to master a skill.
Maybe for ballplayers it’s more like a million-swing rule? Because that’s probably how many Roc had made by the time he was 10, by Jayme’s estimation.
From listening to Jack and Jayme reminisce this week, their sons’ dedication wasn’t because of pressure they put on, but because of how much those kids loved the game.
Yankees 4th round pick Roc Riggio is kind of a WHOLE vibe tbh pic.twitter.com/cLIJUeZ3ne
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) July 10, 2023
“The first place he learned to walk around was in my batting cage, dragging a bat,” Jayme said of Roc, who plays with joy that can border on irreverence, a combination, Dad said, of a grinder like Pete Rose and a let-the-kids-play entertainer like Ken Griffey Jr.
“Baseball was in his blood,” said Jack of Jacob, who spent time as a little kid at his dad’s office, sometimes taking batting practice at those big-league ballparks and even hitting some home runs – from the outfield, 5 feet from the fence. “It’s what he was always doing, always hitting, always throwing, his entire life.”
Coach-player, father-son!@TheMayorsOffice sits down with @GCU_Baseball coach Jack Wilson and son Jacob Wilson, one of the top prospects in the upcoming @MLBDraft. #FathersDay pic.twitter.com/iFKGLj7RIW
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 18, 2023
They brought that energy and effort to Thousand Oaks.
Riggio rewrote school records, with 12 home runs, 45 walks and 52 runs as a senior. And although Jacob had graduated by 2021, when the Lancers won the Southern Section Division 2 championship, he was part of the 2020 team that won all eight of its games before COVID interrupted. That was a jumping off point for what would become a Ventura County-record 31-game winning streak (covering a 744-day span!).
Impressive tallies, but the mindset within that group – which also featured catcher Charlie Saum, who plays for Stanford – also stuck with Grant Rodriguez, a younger infielder who’ll play at Westmont College next year.
As a sophomore, Rodriguez got to play a couple tournaments with the varsity squad and spent his time picking the stars’ brains. He remembers those future professionals – who pushed each other then and remain in touch now, comparing notes and cheering each other on – were always game to answer.
But what’s more: “They didn’t care about the final score,” Rodriguez said. “They just wanted to work hard and play their best.”
Exactly, said Coach Jack: “Our practices were tough. Probably the hardest-working group I had … there was always another box to be checked. Flush whatever happened the day before – and it was usually wins – and focus on what we had to do to get better.
“I got a glimpse of what they could be when they were in high school,” Jack added. “And now everybody else is seeing what we had too.”
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Orange County Register
Read MoreYoung wizards make potions and friends at magical camp
- July 12, 2023
Young wizards got the chance to hone their skills during the week-log Harry Potter camp in Anaheim.
It wasn’t the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but campers practiced some of the same skills from the books and movies.
“I like that (at camp) you can make potions and a wand and you get to experience all the fun,” Audrey Holm from the Hufflepuff house said after making her magic potion.
At the arts table, students painted and decorated magic wands while another station made the potions — basically slime.
Everyone participated in Quidditch — the ball and hoop game Harry Potter and his friends play while riding on broomsticks — passing the ball with only one hand as the other held an imaginary broomstick.
More than 130 kids enrolled in the camp that is put on by Anaheim at the Oak Creek Nature Center.
Nine themed camps, including Star Wars, Outdoor Survival and Pirate Week, are offered at this site.
Camps fill up fast and are sold out for this summer.
The center also offers free, public events. Nature Nights on Wednesdays through Aug. 9 and Discover Nature family hikes on Saturdays are two such offerings.
More info on the City of Anaheim camps and programs can be found here.
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Read MoreWhy renting is so unaffordable in 2023
- July 12, 2023
Franklin Schneider | Wealth of Geeks
Rent prices have increased dramatically over the past four decades. Since 1985, rent growth has exceeded inflation by 40% and income by 7%, according to a new study from Real Estate Witch.
While rent prices have climbed steadily upward, wage growth has been more volatile. Since 2011, income has increased about 4% each year. However, if adjusted for inflation, it’s grown just 2% each year, according to the Real Estate Witch study. As the price of rent rises, the purchasing power of the average U.S. worker erodes.
Rent prices remain stubbornly high because there’s a surge of tenants who want their own place to live. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated a shift toward solitary living, but construction of new homes and apartments never really recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, and inventory remains incredibly low today.
When you combine a limited resource like housing with pervasive and increasing income inequality, rich people are the ones setting the price,” said Ezra Glenn, a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. “The poor end up having to pay more of their income or get pushed out entirely since we’re all competing in these same limited markets.”
In a country where rent has largely outpaced income, the average rent-to-income ratio has become much less favorable to renters. From 2009 to 2021, the rent-to-income ratio increased in 46 of the 50 most-populous U.S. metro areas.
Up 42%
From 2009 to 2021, the last full year for which data is available, the median rent across the U.S. increased 42% – from $817 a month to $1,163. In high-demand rental markets, rent rose even higher.
In half of the 50 most-populous U.S. metros, rent increased more than 42%. In seven cities, it increased by more than 60%.
In San Jose, rent increased from $1,360 a month to $2,511. That’s an 85% increase in just 12 years, which equates to about 7% growth each year.
As extreme as San Jose’s rent increase may seem, some cities may be on pace to surpass it. In six U.S. cities, rent increased by 9% or more from 2022 to 2023.
Beating 92% of incomes
In a textbook definition of inflation, wages should rise in tandem with prices. But that’s not what working Americans have experienced. The affordable housing crisis across the U.S. exists because in 46 of the 50 most-populous metros, rent growth has exceeded income growth.
One of the hottest real estate markets is In Denver, where rent exceeded income by a staggering 71% – the highest percentage among all 50 cities studied. Denver isn’t the only city where the gap between rent and income is growing rapidly. In seven cities, rent surpassed income by more than 50%.
Since 2009, income growth has exceeded rent growth in only four U.S. cities: Providence, Rhode Island; Buffalo, New York; Cleveland; and Pittsburgh.
Those cities remain bastions of affordability, in part, because they’ve experienced lower population growth than in other cities where rent has increased sharply. From 2009 to 2021, the population did not grow by more than 1,500% in any of those four cities. By contrast, the population grew by at least 1,500% in all seven cities where rent exceeded income by more than 50% from 2009 to 2021.
However, if renters started flocking to affordable cities for their low prices, increased demand would likely cause rent to rise.
Most/least affordable
Financial experts suggest paying no more than 30% of gross monthly income on housing. On average, Americans spend about 20% of their monthly wages on rent.
Miami renters have the highest rent-to-income ratio, spending 28.5% of their monthly income on rent. Miami residents are squeezed on both sides by high rent and low pay. Their monthly payment of $1,492 is 28% higher than the national median rent price, while their annual income of $62,870 is 9% less than the U.S. median income.
On the other hand, Cincinnati renters have it good, spending just 15.5% of their monthly income on rent. Better yet, Cincinnati renters earn $70,308 – 2% more than the national median income – and pay just $906 a month on rent – 22% less than the national median.
Behind Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Buffalo, New York, are the most affordable cities for renters, with rent-to-income ratios below 17%.
This article was produced by Real Estate Witch and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
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Orange County Register
Read MoreDomino’s Pizza to offer delivery via Uber Eats
- July 12, 2023
By Daniela Sirtori-Cortina | Bloomberg
Domino’s Pizza shares jumped after the company announced a third-party ordering agreement with Uber Technologies.
The deal will allow US diners to order Domino’s through the Uber Eats and Postmates apps, according to a statement Wednesday. Orders placed on the platform will be delivered by uniformed Domino’s drivers.
“Given certain customers only order their delivery from the Uber Eats app, this deal could make Domino’s available to millions of new customers around the world,” Domino’s Chief Executive Officer Russell Weiner said in the statement.
Domino’s shares surged as much as 17% in New York trading, the most since February 2020. It was up 9.8% at 10:07 a.m., the most since October.
The company will do a test in four pilot markets in the fall and is expecting to roll out the service across the country by the end of 2023. Uber Eats will be Domino’s exclusive third-party platform in the US until at least 2024.
Domino’s said the move will help it access new customers, and that it expects “a meaningful amount of incremental delivery orders” once the platform is widely available.
Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Domino’s benefited from elevated consumer demand during the pandemic but has struggled in recent quarters after Americans returned to in-person dining and some lower-income consumers switched to eating at home.
“The partnership will likely boost Domino’s struggling domestic delivery sales and improve franchisee economics,” Peter Saleh, an analyst at BTIG, wrote in a note to clients.
Orange County Register
Read MoreSurfing Walk of Fame to honor surf icon Dick Metz, local hero “Chuy” Madrigal
- July 12, 2023
This year’s Surfing Walk of Fame inductees, who will earn a granite stone on the corner of Main and Pacific Coast Highway, include a list of local wave riders who have helped spread stoke within the surf culture.
“Every single one of these honorees has had a profound impact on the sport and culture of surfing. The 2023 class has some serious heavyweights in it,” said Peter Townend, surfing’s first-world champ who also oversees the Walk Of Fame. “From great competitors to the environment to making wave-riding more accessible to exploring the possibilities that lie beyond the horizon, there’s so much inspiration in this group.”
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Surfing Heritage and Culture Center co-founder Dick Metz is being honored as “Surf Pioneer.” Born in 1929 and raised in Laguna Beach, Metz was a long-time friend and business partner of surfboard shaper Hobie Alter, who revolutionized the sport when foam blanks were popularized.
Metz was also the inspiration for another friend, filmmaker Bruce Brown.
In 1958, Metz made “one of the first great around-the-world surf adventures, uncovering Cape Saint Francis in South Africa along the way,” reads the announcement for the event.
Metz would return to Dana Point to tell Brown about the adventures, urging him to take the same routes with a camera and two stylish surfers, including Huntington Beach’s Robert August, for the cult-classic surf film, “The Endless Summer.”
Metz spent much of the ’60s living in Hawaii running the Hobie shop in Honolulu, launched Surfline Hawaii with Dave Rochlen and later opened several other Hobie shops on both the West and East coasts.
Artist Robert “Chuy” Madrigal, center, is being inducted as “Local Hero” into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach on Aug. 3, 2023. (File photo by Michael Fernandez, Contributing Photographer)
Another familiar surfer is this year’s “Local Hero” inductee, Robert “Chuy” Madrigal, a well-known fixture in Huntington Beach since the ’70s.
“Bursting with talent, beyond his skills on a surf and skateboard, he’s also an incredibly talented artist, writer and event promoter,” reads the announcement.
Madrigal has long worked as a business liaison between the U.S. and Mexico, working with the U.S. Embassy and other governmental agencies.
Jesse Billauer, founder of Life Rolls On, holds up his surfboard. The non-profit helps get other paralyzed surfers in the water. Billauer is one of the inductees for this year’s Surfing Walk of Fame. (File photo: Julie Busch, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Jesse Billauer’s story is well known throughout the surf world: an up-and-coming competitor from Pacific Palisades who suffered spinal cord injuries at age 17.
Despite paralysis, Billauer would charge waves and inspire other wheelchair users to surf through his nonprofit Life Rolls On, which holds regular beach gatherings in Huntington Beach and Malibu.
Billauer is also a three-time ISA adaptive world surfing champion and was featured in the surf film, “Riding Giants.”
Just down the road, San Diego’s Don Hansen is landing on the “Honor Roll” for his contributions to the sport. After graduating high school in South Dakota, he hitchhiked to California and found himself in Santa Cruz shaping boards out of Jack O’Neill’s shop in 1958. In the mid-’60s, he would call San Diego home and opened up a shop under his own name, Hansen Surfboards.
This year’s “Surfing Champion” honor goes to Australia’s Cheyne Horan, one of the most influential surfers in the late ’70s and early ’80s pro surfing movement.
“Growing up in the talent-rich Bondi Beach surf teen, Horan was a teen sensation with a penchant for pushing the envelope,” the announcement reads. Joining the high-profile Bronzed Aussies in 1977, he’s often credited with inventing the floater maneuver.
These days, he lives, shapes and coaches in Australia.
Another Aussie, Pauline Menczer, is this year’s “Woman Of The Year.” She started surfing at age 14, and by 1993, she was world champion, despite having no sponsors and having to self-fund her world travels to stay on tour. She retired in 2006 with more than 20 world tour wins, and “her steely determination and conviction was a game-changer for women’s professional surfing,” the announcement reads.
Pauline Menczer, of Australia, was once a competitor at the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach. She is earning the Woman of the Year induction it the Surfing Walk of Fame on Aug. 3, 2023. (Photo by Starr Buck, The Orange County Register/SCNG)
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, “one of the most visible and outspoken advocates for the planet,” is earning the “Surf Culture” award.
He grew up surfing and rock climbing and eventually turned his passion into one of the world’s most successful outdoor companies.
“Calling himself an ‘existential dirt bag,’ in 2022, he made headlines when he announced he was donating Patagonia, worth $3 billion, to a trust dedicated to fighting the climate crisis,” reads the announcement.
The induction ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Aug. 3 in front of Jack’s Surf Shop. More info: surfingwalkoffame.com.
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Orange County Register
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