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| | Wednesday, December 07, 2005 |
This blog is now dead |
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Yes, the VegBlog is dead... long live the VegBlog!
I have moved it to another URL, no longer to be powered by Blogger.
I've installed Serendipity (an open source solution) onto my webserver to power my new blog. But don't worry, all the content of this site has been transferred to the new one, comments and all...
http://vegblog.veggiedude.com
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/07/2005 09:47:00 PM
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US Air Marshals shoot missionary on plane |
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The man who claimed he had a bomb on board an American Airlines plane was a missionary returning from Equador, according to later reports. Relatives and friends expressed shock that he could have done such a thing. Apparently, he had not taken his medicine for his bi-polar condition.
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/07/2005 08:41:00 PM
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| | Monday, December 05, 2005 |
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DeLay suffers a delay |
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A judge dismissed a conspiracy charge Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay but refused to throw out the far more serious allegations of money-laundering, dashing the congressman's hopes for now of reclaiming his post as House majority leader.
Let's wish him a happy holidays!!!
CNN.com - DeLay conspiracy charge tossed out
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/05/2005 08:10:35 PM
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Firefox browser leap frogs next years IE 7 |
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Firefox took a big step forward last week with the release of version 1.5, the biggest upgrade since the original version 1.0 leaped onto the scene in November 2004.
Before Firefox, Microsoft seemed to have decisively won the browser wars of the 1990s by crushing rival Netscape. But Netscape, shortly before disappearing into the maw of America Online, donated its key software code to the Mozilla Project -- named for Netscape's informal mascot, a Godzilla-like lizard.
Microsoft largely ignored browser development after releasing Internet Explorer 6 in 2001, despite the browser's many security flaws and lack of modern features.
"The Web changes, the content changes, so your browser needs to keep up,'' Baker said during a 90-minute interview Wednesday, the day after Firefox 1.5 launched.
Millions of computer users apparently agree. Firefox came out of nowhere last year to grab a worldwide market share that now stands at 10 to 12 percent, depending on which market research study you check, and pushed Microsoft down by an equal amount to about 85 percent...
...Instead of offering the next version of Internet Explorer only with its new operating system, Windows Vista, due in the second half of 2006, Microsoft decided Internet Explorer 7 would also be released next year for computers running today's Windows XP operating system.
The humble Mozilla Project, in other words, forced Microsoft to sacrifice a powerful selling point for Windows Vista -- a new browser -- in making Internet Explorer 7 freely available to current users.
MercuryNews.com | Firefox revisions boost user experience
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/05/2005 06:35:10 PM
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The 9/11 Commission's report card |
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The 9/11 Commission gave a very bad report card to the Bush Administration for protecting America from terrorism. They said politicians from both parties were to blame, but we all know who controls power in all three branches of government - the Republicans. Sure, there is lots of blame to go round, but in last years Presidential Election, the Democrats, and John Kerry in particular, said the exact same things.
In fact, Kerry promised if elected, that he would send National Guard troops to protect the chemical and nuclear plants in the US, and to secure all ports. None of this has been done by Bush, and won't be done, because he never said he'd do it, so why should he? Yes, the American people rejected the idea, I guess they love the "take the fight to their land" idea, so they (the 51% of them) get a 'F' on the report card too.
"There are so many competing priorities," said vice chairman Mr Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. "We've got three wars going on: one in Afghanistan, one in Iraq and the war against terror."
Once England had three wars. They were fighting the Russians. They were also fighting the French. And then they were also fighting terrorists in one of the colonies. They lost against the latter, because the insurgents fought dirty against them, and they were caught in a no win situation. Eventually they swallowed their pride, learnt a lesson, and had to give up. That's my little story for the day.
The Statesman - USA unprepared for next attack, says 9/11 panel
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/05/2005 05:40:00 PM
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| | Sunday, December 04, 2005 |
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Stevie Wonder talks about Lennon murder |
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New Discovery: Dog's do laugh |
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Researchers have discovered that dog's laugh, and they do so by panting long and hard.
"'What we found is that it had a calming or soothing effect on the dogs,' said Patricia Simonet, an animal behaviorist in Spokane who has studied everything from hamster culture to elephant self-recognition. 'Now, we actually really weren't expecting that.'
Nancy Hill, director of Spokane County Animal Protection, admits she was skeptical at first that this noise would affect the other dogs.
'I thought: Laughing dogs?' Hill said. 'A sound that we're gonna isolate and play in the shelter? I was a real skeptic … until we played the recording here at the shelter.'
When they played the sound of a dog panting over the loudspeaker, the gaggle of dogs at the shelter kept right on barking. But when they played the dog version of laughing, all 15 barking dogs went quiet within about a minute.
'It was a night-and-day difference,' Hill said. 'It was absolutely phenomenal.'
Officials say it works every time, and researchers across the country are taking note."
ABC News: Sounds of Dog's 'Laugh' Calms Other Pooches
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/04/2005 08:20:00 PM
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Is it global warming? |
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My hay fever started this morning. I must have sneezed over fifty times today.
I usually get hay fever attacks at the beginning of spring.
The earliest it had ever started was once in January about 4-5 years ago and maybe once or twice in February - something must be blooming early.
But in early December??
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/04/2005 05:35:00 PM
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Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas? |
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"The opening skirmish in the Christmas war this season came at Wal-Mart after a woman customer complained that the store was replacing 'Merry Christmas' with 'Happy Holidays.'
She received an e-mail response from the customer service department that said, 'Wal-Mart is a world wide organization and must remain conscious of this. The majority of the world still has different practices other than 'Christmas' which is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Siberian shamanism' and added that 'Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoths and the tree from the worship of Baal.'
The world's largest retailer issued an apology for 'inappropriate and inflammatory comments made by the former employee' after the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights threatened a boycott."
Oh? Did Wal-Mart fire the employee for telling the truth?
Right Charges War on Christmas | theledger.com
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/04/2005 03:53:00 AM
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11 comments
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| | Saturday, December 03, 2005 |
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Myth debunked: wine is good for you |
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Latest studies of the effects of drinking wine show that it does very little in preventing heart disease.
"Instead they say any benefit from light to moderate drinking is probably small and unlikely to outweigh the harm to health caused by alcohol. If anything, the evidence of heart protection is more convincing for heavy drinkers, say the experts. Post mortem studies show that dead alcoholics have relatively 'clean' arteries. But for this group, the dangers of alcohol abuse greatly outweigh any benefit from alcohol."
CNN.com - Study: Wine heart benefit 'small'
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/03/2005 10:10:05 AM
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Goodbye SETI@home |
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I've been running SETI@home for several years on my computer, accumulating over 3600 processed units. Now they are ending it to move to a more complicated setup called BOINC. I tried once to set BOINC up, I had a frustrating time at their website, trying to get the right password, and trying to configure the software. I finally gave up trying because it was too much hassles to go through.
Apparantly I'm not alone. Many people have the same complaints on Slashdot.net.
Slashdot | SETI@home Becomes Part of BOINC
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/03/2005 08:38:31 AM
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| | Friday, December 02, 2005 |
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Jobs and the economy |
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This post was made at the request of Will Franklin.
The economy was in the news today, and it boasted over 200k new jobs for last month. Now, the US economy should be maintaining this level every month, minimum, but it has been doing so poorly under the Bush admin, that when it does reach the bare minimum level, the neo-cons would have you believe it is time to shout for joy and celebrate. That is how sad things have gotten.
Sure, the economy is remarkably vibrant and it is strong. President Bush inherited it from Clinton. But lets remember that in George Bush's first year as president, six million people lost their jobs (some say it could be as high as nine million). Sixty months have passed. So, using basic arithmetic, that means for these people to get back to employment, at least 100,000 people have to get a job each and every month. Clearly, that has not been the case.
Each year, millions of people enter America's job force. They come out of high school or college, and some come from abroad, and some are immigrants. To keep up with this, it is estimated that there has to be 100,000 new jobs per month. Clearly, this has not been the case.
The unfortunate truth is, during the time George W. Bush has been President (5 years), not one new net job has been added.
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/02/2005 08:45:00 PM
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The best news of the week |
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The best news of the week is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) appointing a longtime Democratic activist as his Chief of Staff. Susan Kennedy was the Cabinet secretary to former Gov. Gray Davis. She is a former director of an abortion rights group and one of the highest-profile gays in state politics.
The appointment of Kennedy could help the Governor regain the support of Democrats and independents he lost over this last year. Adversely, it could hinder his standing among conservatives, his only truly reliable supporters.
The article mistakes conservatives as 'his only truly reliable supporters' which is rubbish. Conservatives did not vote for Arnold, they voted for a more conservative opponent instead (during the Gray Davis recall election). It was mostly Independants and Democrats who made him governor. Arnold wants to run for re-election, and it is only they that can do that for him.
All Headline News - Schwarzenegger Appoints Democratic Chief Of Staff - December 2, 2005
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/02/2005 07:22:00 PM
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Worst news of the week |
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The worst news of the week is that the US admin has further dragged the reputation of the USA through the mudd, by admitting it has paid for 'good news stories' to be printed in Iraqi newspapers. What were they thinking? We used to laugh and scoff at the Soviets at doing stuff like this...
U.S. Admits to Paying Iraqi Newspapers
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/02/2005 07:12:00 PM
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Faulty intelligence caused the War |
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Many comparisons have been made between the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam. Today, new documents have been released that expose the war in Vietnam to be started under 'flawed intelligence'.
The documents cast doubt on the existence of an attack on a US warship by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin on 4 August 1964.
The incident prompted President Lyndon Johnson to ask Congress, in effect, to declare war on Vietnam.
The revelations, released by the National Security Agency, were written by its own historian in 2001.
Robert Hanyok declares his review of all the intelligence shows beyond doubt that "no attack happened that night". The USS Maddox had been attacked two days earlier.
He claims errors were made in the translation of the intercepted signals from the North Vietnamese, and officials gave too much weight to flimsy evidence.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US Vietnam intelligence 'flawed'
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/02/2005 06:29:43 PM
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| | Thursday, December 01, 2005 |
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More on Gary Glitter |
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About the Belgian 'suicide bomber' |
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Clearly, Iraq is a breeding ground for al Qaeda members from all over the world. How can such a 'war' be won if recruitment depends on American forces being there?
Stunned Belgians are starting to get a clearer picture of the Belgian woman identified as a suicide bomber killed in Iraq last month.
La Derniere Heure newspaper published a photo of the woman it said was the bomber, and interviewed her mother.
The paper says she is Muriel Degauque, 38, from Charleroi, who converted to Islam after marrying a radical Muslim.
Federal prosecutors would not confirm the woman's identity, only that she was a Belgian of European origin.
But La Derniere Heure ran the headline: "This is our Belgian kamikaze killed in Iraq."
BBC NEWS | Europe | Belgian 'suicide bomber' is named
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posted: by veggiedude: 12/01/2005 04:59:39 PM
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| | Tuesday, November 29, 2005 |
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Tony Blair wants to consider nuclear options |
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair wants the nation to consider using nuclear energy. Greenpeace is opposed, and are beginning to disrupt talks on the subject.
I have to disagree with Greenpeace on this. I used to be against Nuclear Power, but the threat of Global warming seems to be a direct cause of us using fossil fuels.
I think Nuclear Power, bad as it is, may be the lesser of two evils. We need to start thinking of how best to use it, to contain it, and move ahead quickly.
France gets over 90% of its energy needs from Nuclear plants, and the excess is sold to its neighbours.
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Blair opens debate on the nuclear option
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posted: by veggiedude: 11/29/2005 04:46:29 PM
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| | Monday, November 28, 2005 |
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What to put on your Video iPod? |
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If you have the "Best of David Bowie" collection, then there are many wonderful music videos wating to be ripped to your iPod. But what if you don't own that or any music DVD's?
Check your DVD film collection! (hint: comedies are a best bet)
For starters, if you own any Pixar film (Toy Story, Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, etc) they contain numerous award winning Pixar short animations. Smash Mouth, Baha Men, and Counting Crow music video's can be found on the Shrek DVD's.
For other music video, here is what I've found on some of my DVD's:
Austin Powers trilogy:
There are a total of six on the second and third installment of Austin Powers. This includes Madonna, Britney Spears, Beyoncé Knowles, Lenny Kravitz and Scary Spice.
There's Something About Mary:
One music karaoke video.
About a Boy:
"Exciting music video's by Badly Drawn Boy"
The Wonder Boys:
"Things have changed" video by Bob Dylan
Tomorrow Never Dies (James Bond):
"Tomorrow Never Dies" video by Sheryl Crow
Planet of the Apes: (Tim Burton version)
"Rule the Planet Remix" by Paul Oakenfold
Almost Famous:
Stillwaters "Fever Dog" Music video
Love Actually (I've yet to watch this DVD)
Music video: Kelly Clarkson "The trouble with love is"
Red Dwarf season II
"Tongue Tied" music video
Blade II
Cypress Hill and Roni Size "Child of the Wild West"
Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring
Enya "May it be" video
Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers
"Gollum's Song" music video by Emillana Torrini
The Borne Identity
"Extreme Ways" music video by Moby
Kill Bill volume I
music video by "The 5,6,7,8's"
Spiderman
Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott: "Hero"
Sum 41: "What We're All About"
Spiderman II
Train "Ordinary" music video
Bridget Jones Diary
Shelby Lynne "Killin' Kind" music video
Gabrielle "Out of Reach" music video
Star Wars II - Attack of the Clones
"Across the Stars" music video by John Williams
Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith
"A Hero Falls" music video featuring John Williams "Battle of the Heroes" track
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posted: by veggiedude: 11/28/2005 02:57:00 PM
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The real meaning of the holidays |
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The real meaning of Christmas
Some people don't understand how an atheist can celebrate the holidays just like everyone else. Peace on Earth and goodwill to all mankind - who would argue against that?
But let's put it into context that even President Bush can understand. He has talked about how terrorists have hijacked a religion. Well, many years ago, the Christians hijacked the holiday season, and called it their own. You see, the end of year holiday season was a pagan ritual. The Christmas tree is pagan and has nothing to do with Christianity. Same with mistletoe. The Romans celebrated the season long before the time of Jesus - and scholars believe Jesus was born around May (in 4 to 6 BC no less!) - so the real hypocrites, if any, are the Christians who celebrate the birth of Jesus in December, not the atheists.
Christmas is a secular holiday - it is all about merchandise, buying gifts and giving them. There is nothing religious about it, but for those who are religious, they can celebrate their own meaning in it too, and that is good too. But no one group can claim the holiday season for themselves. Atheists, Jews, and all others can be a part of it.
My Christmas message
recommended reading:
Wikipedia - History of Christmas - "A few newer religions, notably the Jehovah's Witnesses, some Puritan groups, and some ultraconservative fundamentalist denominations, view Christmas as a pagan holiday not sanctioned by the Bible, and do not celebrate it..."
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posted: by veggiedude: 11/28/2005 09:13:00 AM
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16 comments
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Microsoft loses $10 on each Xbox sold |
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Despite promises from Microsoft Corp. executives that the retail price of the new Xbox 360 game console would cover production costs, product tear downs by two different market researchers suggest that the company is losing money on the machines.
On Thursday, researcher Portelligent Inc. conducted a tear down analysis of the standard Xbox 360, which retails for US$299.99, and estimated its actual material costs at around $310, suggesting a slight loss on every machine sold...
Microsoft hopes to recoup the lost on the sales of games. I wonder if people will scream when Sony PlayStation does the same.
Macworld: News: Is Microsoft losing money on Xbox 360?
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posted: by veggiedude: 11/28/2005 07:53:56 AM
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Italian Scientists: Romantic love 'lasts just a year' |
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"The University of Pavia found a brain chemical was likely to be responsible for the first flush of love.
Researchers said raised levels of a protein was linked to feelings of euphoria and dependence experienced at the start of a relationship.
But after studying people in long and short relationships and single people, they found the levels receded in time..."
BBC NEWS | Health | Romantic love 'lasts just a year'
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posted: by veggiedude: 11/28/2005 07:41:43 AM
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"Just another British ex-patriate living in the United States."
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Name:
Tony Martin
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
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I am a born-again atheist who is pro-life (I don't eat animals) and I agree with the Dalai Lama when he says "There is no creator".
Those are certainly good words of common sense. It tells us that "spirituality" has nothing to do with a belief in things supernatural. But then, those of us who grew up in the seventies watching "Kung Fu" already knew that being a vegan, atheist who follows the path of the buddha can reach enlightenment.
All kidding aside, what does a vegetarian atheist have to say? Stick around and you'll find out! Politically I'm rather liberal, but I do like to listen to staunch conservative talk show host Michael Savage (real name 'Wiener') so I'll probably be mentioning him from time to time in my weblogs. So for now, how about some talk of broccoli, carrots and peas? Recipe's anyone??
View my complete profile
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"Maybe happiness is a fragment of existence, but with better packaging." |
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