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Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #202

Greetings and welcome to the Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #202. Time is moving along quickly. The sense of urgency in preparedness seems to be taking hold at a higher pace now. Why did it take so long for citizens to notice something is wrong in our world today? We are quickly moving through February and soon March will be upon us and preparers will be germinating seeds and readying their gardens. I hope this includes you.


It was another great week for HFS. All HFS platforms continue to grow which means more people are catching on and wanting to get prepared. We are trying to help as many people as possible as fast as we can. Our calendar is filling up fast for March through July with multiple locations now scheduled in TN, KY, and NC. A couple of additional locations may be added soon as details are worked out for additional training opportunities.


Nico the guard dog is coming along great. He is a great protector of our home and barks just like I want him to do. Anything or anyone that comes on our property he warns us. Granted he has taken to Ms. Lucy more than to me, but that is fine also. I think he favors her because of the turkey and chicken broth she occasionally puts over his food. I had the opportunity to take him with me on a truck ride during the week and he never barked and seemed to enjoy the ride. Amazing how dump trucks pulled up beside us at red lights and he never reacted yet when at home he would be bouncing off the walls if the same truck stopped on the street in front of our house. Time will rectify this problem. He did attack a few more delivered packages this week.


I want to give a big shout out to our local friends at High Thyme Farmacy for their continued success and new listings on Amazon at Amazon.com : High Tyhme Farmacy as well as from their website at High Thyme FARMacy. I personally use their products daily (Lip balm, soap, and lotion bars of multiple types and scents) and love them. Check them out and give their products a try. They are wonderful people, and supporters of Hope for Survival.


Thanks to everyone for your continued support to Hope for Survival. We appreciate you much.


Let us move along....


Communications: You can now follow HFS social media on the following outlets:


Facebook – Hope for Survival -Join us for daily posts on preparedness.

YouTube Channel – Hope for Survival

MeWe: - //mewe.com/p/hopeforsurvival2


HFS Thursday Zoom Session - No zoom session this week.


Check out HFS YouTube. - HFS interviews Marine Veteran and Podcaster from Philly, PA, Christopher Scott to talk preparedness, homelessness, and his own recent experience with a natural disaster. Check it out here.


Newest HFS video with Dr. and Chaplain Tracy Elder from the International Alliance of Community Chaplains - https://youtu.be/B_hntUWMKe4



If you have not, please consider subscribing to the HFS YouTube channel by hitting like and then subscribe. Connect and give me a shout. Again, hit subscribe and share with family and friends.


Upcoming Training Opportunities -


- Kentucky Gun and Preparedness Expo - $10 per person, Leburn, KY, March 25 & 26, HFS Kentucky family come check out this event. The classes and speakers will be posted later in January. HFS will be on site teaching three classes at this event. Eastern Kentucky's Largest Sportsman Show – The Gun & Preparedness Sportsman's Expo (gunpreparednessexpos.com)


- Mountain Readiness - Harmany, NC, May 5 - 7, 2023 - $0 TO $64.95 - Mountain Readiness is family friendly event centered around learning the skills of our ancestors. Mountain Readiness in an expo in which survival and readiness experts from across the country will gather to teach their craft. There will be live demonstrations, classes, and vendors. Mountain Readiness is an expo in which survival and readiness experts, presenters, and vendors will provide the knowledge, tools, and hands on training to further develop your self-sufficiency skills. HFS will be on site teaching classes at this event.


- Heritage Life Skills - Lite - July 21-23, 2023 - Hope for Survival will be teaming with Carolina Readiness Supply (CRS) to put this event together and offer some mid-summer preparedness training in Waynesville, NC. Stay tuned for more information.


- Project Appleseed - Project Appleseed | Project Appleseed (appleseedinfo.org) - This is a great program and opportunity to learn and spend time with a loved one, especially children. The link offers viewing for which states offering the Appleseed program. (Thanks Festus, for this submission)


Guest and Newcomers


If you are a guest or newcomer to the HFS journey, please check out this link for additional.


Hope for Survival books and HFS Thumb Drive for Emergency Documents -: You can obtain information on the two HFS books at this link: Survival, Preparedness, Disaster Management for individuals or family (hopeforsurvival.com)


Hope for Survival - How Food, Water, Shelter, and Security Could Save Your Life (Book 1)


Hope for Survival - The Mindset (Book 2)


HFS Thumb Drive for Emergency Documents - We just restocked the HFS Thumb drive and have them available now. Follow this link and you will see the add at the top of the page. Blog | Survival (hopeforsurvival.com)


We must make this brief public announcement to protect the innocent.


Ding, Ding, Ding....Attention HFS readers..... Opinions shared in this newsletter are just that, opinions, and nothing more. Read at your own risk. The owner and author of this site is not responsible for hurt feelings or thin-skinned readers. I do my best to show restraint and respect to the best extent possible. I take as many precautions as possible and try to remain as nonpolitical as possible, however, there are times when I just can't help but point certain things out. Occasionally I use words only Patriots recognize and understand. It's not personal against any non-Patriot. It's just the truth. Sometimes we must pull up our spenders and suck it up. Just saying. Stay the course, read what you want, and avoid the rest. Avoid fear porn as much as possible and the day will be okay. When all else fails… Keep the faith and always have Hope.


Let’s move along and get to some thoughts...


Thoughts for the week -


Are you ready to bug out? NOW? Maybe you should be.


Over the past 12 years I have looked deeper into the preparedness world. Before this period, preparing was a way of life while spending 20 years in the military. We stayed prepared to go forth and deliver our mission wherever that may take us in the world or at home. Preparedness meant be prepared in many different ways dependent on the situation. Floods, hurricanes, civil strife, collapse, genocide, recovery of US assets, rescue and evacuation of American and friendly nations from a US embassy in a collapsing nation. This could mean rising waters, disasters from hurricanes or tornadoes, a national war, civil collapse, tribes vs tribes, religious differences escalating to bloodshed, and more. We went where sent. Simple, right?


Things changed twelve years ago for many reasons. The more emergency and disaster preparedness classes I took to complete my master's degree, the more my mental bells set off to get my attention. The more I understood how the national system was supposed to work the more I realized if it didn't pertain to critical infrastructure, the civilian populace rated as a secondary concern and would be dealt with as time and resources permitted, in most cases. Get that, you do not matter. It's not personal.


How would this impact the family across the street? What about my next-door neighbor? My community? My town? My family and friends? I clearly learned in 2011 that most civilians are NOT prepared for more than 24-72 hours of sustainment, if lucky. This was April 2011, when multiple CAT 5 tornadoes swept from Mississippi to Virginia. Our city, Huntsville, AL took multiple hits during the period. No food, water, batteries, candles, and a crank radio to listen to local broadcast for situation updates and guidance. This was not good and a clear sign the FEMA national program to educate and prepare civilians and communities did not work. This was a regional disaster and not long term. Those who stayed home and weathered the loss of utilities for several days lived dependent upon neighbors. Us. This was a natural disaster that struck, caused damage, and left. The recovery was the sustained effort by workers repairing critical infrastructure. Many who could leave the area did so and returned when life was restored to normal. Everyone can't do that.


But what if it was an event that struck and released harmful and toxic chemicals to your community? Are you prepared for it? What if you went to bed, a disaster struck locally, and you are awakened to a ball of fire and a loudspeaker suggesting you leave the area immediately for your health and safety? What if the same event occurred and there was no loudspeaker telling you to leave the area? Would you already know based on this event and the impact, short and long term, you must leave immediately? This means the difference between putting your life safety in the hands of strangers who are supposed to be experts in the disaster type, and you having done your homework and know the impact this type of disaster could cause to your family and way of life.


Do you realize our nation has suffered from 12 train derailments in 2023? Wait, make that 14 train derailments since two more occurred overnight. Have you heard about any of them other than the last one in East Palestine, OH? Do you realize what is going on at the accident site in East Palestine, OH? Did you catch the press conference with US Sec of Transportation Pete Buttigieg discussing the Ohio accident? Yea, I know, there wasn't one. Instead, he discussed how the construction profession needed fewer white people. Really? Evidently things changed while he took his 12-month sabbatical from work. Okay, it wasn't that long. You get my point. He is one of many in high places doing minimal to make things better outside and provides more comments and direction on the equality realm. Currently as of the time I'm writing this no Federal response has arrived at the scene in East Palestine, OH.


Years ago, I was very sold on bugging out and believed it was the best way to plan for. It was a very narrow view in my reasoning to not adapt plans for both bugging out and bugging in. In this transition, I developed a list of questions I asked myself. They are:


If your plan was to bug out, what if?


- Your neighborhood is quarantined by the government due to a virus.

- Martial Law is declared and no movement is allowed.

- Some weather comes in that won’t let you move.

- Your bug out vehicle becomes disabled.

- Your chosen bug out route is temporarily impassable.

- You haven’t been able to reach all the individuals in your party and you didn’t have an adequate plan to get them to your bug out location without you.

- You or one of your parties are incapacitated and you cannot be moved.

- You or a loved one is kidnapped

- The location or region you planned to go becomes permanently unavailable

- Your spouse decides at the last minute she/he doesn't want to leave loved ones behind

- You delayed your departure and now gangs moved in, and control all exits from your neighborhood

- A burning inferno has swept through your bugout location and now is unavailable but you still want to bug out

- This list can go on and on. Get my point?


Now, let's talk about bugging in and what if that is your plan all along? What if:


- The house burns, and you no longer have a home?

- What if you had all your preparedness resources in the house when it burned?

- A tornado/hurricane/flood/tsunami/earthquake wipes out your neighborhood?

- A chemical spill happens nearby.

- The government decides to order a mandatory evacuation.

- A pandemic approaches your area spreading quickly.

- Roving raiders and gangs start ravaging homes in your neighborhood?

- You run out of water and must go mobile to locate more?

- You can’t defend your home and you lose it to gang members?

- Current danger level is escalating quicker than your ability to Bug Out?

- Like above, this list can continue with numerous causes to lose your bugout location.


No matter how well you plan and prepare your family for different disasters, that plan can change on a moment's notice. Have you considered this possibility? What can you do different to plan for the unexpected?


It is unknown in East Palestine, OH, if families will lose the possibility of returning home at some point. Several professionals who visited the disaster site before it was declared a "black out" for media, are contradictory in their message. Some say folks will be able to return while others are saying do not return. Video captured and released from the disaster site shows hundreds of dead fish floating in the water. Others are speaking about chickens dying randomly. Would it be safe to consume the eggs from chickens at this point? Would you trust the system and authorities enough to give tap water to your children and animals? How would you know it's safe to drink again?


In the Hope for Survival Five Mile Radius class, we discuss in detail conducting a risk assessment in your community and identifying things like trains carrying toxic chemicals that can cause hazardous conditions when exposed. This process helps you to know the things that could be a threat to you and your family which helps you know what to prepare for.in advance of the disaster or possible change to your life immediately.


Your doorbell rings and authorities are telling families to leave immediately. Now. Get out. Are you ready? Do you have bags on standby to grab and go? This falls under the HFS 5-5-5 planning which is you have 5 seconds, 5 minutes, or 5 hours to evacuate based on the event. Can you do it? Do you have all your personal papers in a single place to grab and go, along with kids, bags, pets, and everything else you need. Remember, you may never return home again. Can you do it.


Here is more detail on the 5-5-5 meaning and plan. This is a basic course of action used by many families. It is simple and easy to implement in your home. Like any plan, you must adapt and adjust it for your circumstances. Set up three different time categories: Five seconds, five minutes, and five hours. NOTE: If it takes you more than five hours to do anything, you are in trouble. If you have a family, then build the plan as a family.


The Five-Second Plan


This plan means you and your family are ready to evacuate your home in 5 seconds or less. Reasons to drive a five second plan would be: a house fire, an intruder, a tornado, event or disaster impacting your quality of life, and an earthquake. These are just a few examples. You may add others to your list after conducting your own risk assessment. What would you do if…?


…you woke up in your bedroom during a house fire and you only had time to run around your bedroom before evacuating, what would you grab? Your cell phone?


…you are standing in your pajamas during a drizzle in the winter while your home burns? You should have a change of clothing in your five second bag.


Whatever the emergency you are preparing for that might only give you five seconds, think about what you should need to have with you or to do in five seconds. Do you have your clothes laid out the night before, or do you have a “Ready Bag” or “Bug-Out” bag in your room with items that would help you deal with the situation?


I would strongly encourage you to set up a bag per family member in the room where they reside in the home. A simple backpack that is no more than ten to fifteen pounds. Remember, the route you plan to escape could be blocked, so think about your circumstances and consider staging identified items in a place other than your home. Maybe have a second bag set up aside from the prepacked bags. Each family member will grab their own bag as they escape. You will need a predetermined rally point to meet on the outside of your home.


You must also plan an escape bag for your family pet(s). That’s right. The last thing you need to be focused on during a disaster is finding your pet’s food, water, or medicine. You can either pack the bag yourself or buy a prepacked K-9 or kitty bag with essential items already in the bag.


The Five-Minute Plan


This plan means you and your family are ready to evacuate your home in 5 minutes or less. Reasons that drive a five-minute plan would be: a tornado warning in the vicinity of your home, a forest fire, or a medical emergency. These are just a few examples. You may add others to your list after conducting your own risk assessment.


In most cases, a person will have a few minutes to get ready. In the case of having a family, you can see how important it is for them to know what they need to do if something happens. Otherwise, you will be spending precious time getting them ready and none on getting yourself ready. Identify or break down each scenario into what you would need to do and what you would need to take for each family member.


You may have noticed that a tornado is listed in both scenarios. Wouldn’t you rather have 5 minutes to get ready for the emergency vs. the 5 seconds? The difference between the two could be as simple as having an alarm such as the Midland WR-120B NOAA Weather Alert All Hazard Public Alert Certified Radio. You would be awakened by a 90db alarm if something was happening in your area. The five-minute heads up could be the difference of getting your family to a shelter vs. just getting out the door. These radios can be purchased through Amazon, Wal- Mart, Radio Shack, and most box stores. Consider one that runs on battery, crank charge, solar, and electricity. Some are even equipped with a flashlight built in.


The Five-Hour Plan


This plan means you and your family are ready to evacuate your home in 5 hours or less. Reasons to drive a five-hour plan would be: a hurricane targeting your region, riots breaking out impacting your workplace routes to home, or a regional or national power grid failure. These life altering events are affectionately known as the Sheet Hit the Fan (SHTF) scenario which I refer to as the “Some Have all The Fun” event. You may add others to your list after conducting your own risk assessment.


This is the plan you must think out. If you lose the power grid or the financial system collapses, you will have some time to organize. Remember, do not be part of the 90% group and ensure you stay three steps ahead. While everyone else is either trying to stock food, get cash and fuel, or just doing crazy things, your plan will have you locking down, or you will be miles down the road headed out of town to a pre-designated location.


If you are planning on grabbing your items and heading to a bug out location, could you do it in five hours? Does the plan require you to load supplies and take several vehicles, pets, and family members? This may not be so easily done. Have you walked through your plan conducting each step to ensure it works? If your plan requires three vehicles and one breaks down, what is your fall back plan? What if your five-hour plan changes and turns to five minutes? Can you do it? Do you know how you will spend the five minutes? If you haven’t noticed by now, these plans require much thought and execution before the event. Why is this good? Because it will allow you to see failure points in your plan and have time to correct them before it is a real event.


In any plan, you may have to make the hard choice. No choice is guaranteed to ensure surviving a total failure of the system. Remember that most choices are driven by circumstances. You may be living your day normally and then something minor happens that escalates to something big. If you are not paying attention, you may be behind the curve from the start. You do not want this to happen, especially if the events require immediate response and you, your wife, and children, and any other family member or friends are located in different locations. Things such as:


1. Ability to relocate – Do you have the ability to leave your home?

2. Age, health and financial factors – Critical points to your plan.

3. Timing and events – May require big adjustments to your existing plan.

4. Intelligence reporting and existing threats – How soon will you receive accurate information?

5. Personnel in place – How separated everyone is will impact your ability to leave quickly.

6. Current danger level escalating quickly – Grid down, riots, and gangs will change your plan.

7. Mobility choices – The age of your family could determine your ability to mobilize.

8. Seasonal impacts – Based on your location, the weather could require altering your plan.

9. Consensus vote – Does everyone agree on the plan? They should because it impacts them.


You should not judge and anticipate other people’s actions based on your own views and values. Other people will act unexpectedly and irrationally, in ways that can potentially be enormously harmful to yourself, your family, and your possessions.


In situations with adverse scenarios disrupting normal social order, other people will feel they are justified in taking everything from you, including your dignity and quite possibly your life, even though there is no possible logic to it. Do not expect a societal breakdown to bring out the best in everyone. It will bring out the worst in sufficient numbers of people as to pose major problems.


If you actively protect your property and yourselves, you are likely to deter everyone but the most determined or desperate of looters during the early stages of any civil breakdown. In seven to ten days when looters are no longer motivated only by greed, but instead by fear and the need for survival, the situation will become more extreme. Past studies reveal teenaged children are the most violent to deal with when starving.


Much of this is covered in the Hope for Survival Book 1 - How Food, Water, Security, and Shelter, could save your life. The HFS Football memory stick is also loaded with a digital filing cabinet for you to scan in all your pertinent deeds, loans, mortgages, diplomas, bank documents, pictures, and the works. If you don't have time to grab the lock box from under the bed upstairs, you can have it all stored on this small waterproof stick. Both the book and football stick are sold here on the HFS website.


When you are running for your life and trying to get your family out of danger, you are likely not in the mindset to be running around your home trying to put things together. Pack some emergency bags and a digital stick, to have on standby, and be ready to go. Disasters are not prejudice nor will they text you to tell you they are about to strike. They happen at the most inconvenient time, which is always.


I can tell you from being in or near several major disasters, from hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, to civil strife and war, time is never a friend to those in danger and they always result about the same way. People ignore the challenge to prepare, and folks end up homeless, displaced, without personal possessions, and often without a loved one who died in the event.


Yes, I was once a bug out guy but now I'm a bug in guy with options to change my plan because I have adjusted my mindset and prepared accordingly. Have you?


Next ....


If you are not convinced yet that something is seriously wrong, I'm not sure how you think. Really. I'm not being judgmental or criticizing you. I read a great deal daily and weekly to stay on top of local, national, and global events, as well as national and local responses to events and topics occurring around me. I see people in the comment sections fighting over politics while the white flag is raised telling everyone the ship is going down. A ship could be sinking live on camera and right before the nations eyes and leaders comment about how much money the federal government has spent to make the boat house more pleasant to all races of people while the sinking ship/boat is in the background of the video. What on earth has drifted into the air to bring such inability to think clearly and allow key personnel in key positions speak clearly to the nation and provide quality information and guidance. What do you mean his message was stupid? He's a Democrat, or, he is a Republican. I DON'T CARE!!! Leadership is failing "we the people" and this great nation and I personally believe it is intended and on purpose. But I also believe my favorite team is the best every year, year after year.


Don't you cross that red line. Okay, next time you cross that red line, we are going to take action. Okay, okay, the very next time. Today I read Uncle Joe has laid out a new policy on how the US will address unidentified flying objects in our Air Space. What? This is 2023. We now have a policy on how to respond to unidentified objects flying in our air space. I'm so glad Russia and China has held off flying into our air space so far.


Have you noticed none of the global alarmist and Queen Greta didn't respond to the disaster in EP OH? The air, the air, I can't breathe. Yea, I know, when it's them it's all okay. Al Gore and Bill Gates says their jet plume isn't really harming the ozone but cow exhaust pipes releasing toxic gas is really damaging it so stop eating hamburgers. And still, we have citizens believing this mess of hog waste. Here is where we cue up a voice clip of Uncle Joe saying, "come on man."


I come here week after week telling stories to so many different events and failures taking place and people will still jump up and down like a kid who just lost their balloon outdoors and then say I'm being an alarmist. That is a real compliment, truthfully. Why? Because if I stay on the boat, they are driving I'm going to go over the side of the earth. Didn't you read the earth is flat? It's a theory, right? Oh, it's a crazy theory? I get it, the economy is booming, national debt is coming down, crime is dropping, inflation is dropping, and the southern border is under control. These are crazy theories, right? I get it, but do you?


Well, I like crazy theories and to understand where we are today, one must think crazy because it is the new normal in America.


Let us move along....


Preparedness News -


1. From Old World Garden Farms - Re-Energizing Raised Bed Soil - How To Bring Soil Back To Life! (oldworldgardenfarms.com) - Healthy soil is essential regardless of how it us used to garden. In our raised bed boxes, we have fed the soil crushed eggshells and used coffee grounds all fall and winter. Our worms are thriving in the soil at this moment. It won't be long till we can start growing again. What's your plan?


2. From Tom Marlowe - New Life on the Homestead - Are Your Chickens Losing Feathers? 9 Reasons Why (newlifeonahomestead.com) - I think I have heard more stories about issues with chickens the past year and mostly regarding feed purchased from chain vendors. If eggs are essential part of your diet and your birds stop laying eggs, what is your backup plan? Do you already have dehydrated effs on standby?


3. From Steve Nubie - Urban Survival Site - How to Make DIY Neosporin (With Pics) | Urban Survival Site - Outstanding. The local shelves are empty, Amazon is a thing of the past, and you have depleted your stock. What now? Good recipe for your printed library.


4. From Steve Nubie - Homestead Survival Site - How to Build and Use a DIY Composting Toilet (homesteadsurvivalsite.com) - You got it, another great plan for printing. It may sound crazy but just go 72 hours with no toilet or the means to dispose of your waste.


5. From Linda Loosli - Food Storage Moms - What Every Prepper Should Know About Storing Potatoes - Food Storage Moms - What's your plan? Even if you buy bulk loads of potatoes, how do you plan to store them long term?


6. From Off Grid Survival - OFF-Grid Lithium-Ion Batteries: Which Batteries are the best for off-grid power! (offgridsurvival.com) - Great discussion on a topic I seem to hear more about lately. When it comes to preparedness, how we invest our personal hard-earned money is important. The price difference today between deep-cycle vs lithium batteries is considerable.


Other News -


1. From Michael Snyder - Economic Collapse -Why Is The Mainstream Media Being So Quiet About One Of The Greatest Environmental Catastrophes In U.S. History? (theeconomiccollapseblog.com) - I'm going to keep my ducks under my lid for the moment and I don't want to sound conspiratorial on everything but something still seems a bit strange on this event and how it was handled. This disaster is long from over.


2. From Charles Hugh Smith - Of Two Minds - oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: A World Without Finance - One of the 1,000 hot issues we the people should be thinking about would be finances, or the lack of discussion and planning regarding our nations finances. Have you ever thought about our nation's finances beyond the debt?


3. Pastor Roger Anghis - News With Views - This is an excellent read but it will take some of your valuable time to do it.



4. From Paul Joseph Watson - Summit News - China Demands US “Explain Itself to the World” Over Nord Stream Attack Story – Summit News - Uh oh, someone's got some splainen to do. Hmm, what kind of whopper should we expect next? How about, "hey, you owe us trillions of dollars and we own the contract to protect your grid system, why don't you just admit, we own ya?"


5. From Jacob Roach - Digital Trends - 'I want to be human.' My bizarre evening with ChatGPT Bing | Digital Trends - I don't know if you have been following the ChatGPT information and videos the past few months but this is some pretty alarming stuff.



That's all my Patriot brothers and sisters.


Prayers - Please keep our great nation, our elected leaders, military and first responders in your thoughts and prayers. We pray for good health and wisdom. Please pray for our leadership to find answers and guidance to the problems facing our great nation. May your faith remain strong and answers to the unknown provided. God is good and may our prayers blanket and protect you and your circumstances. I pray for each, and every one of our Patriots.


HFS currently has several sisters and brothers in great need for prayer and uplifting. Please keep our HFS family members in your prayers. Prayers are needed in Central AL up to Huntsville, AL and our Patriot brother who remains with serious health issues. Prayers are still needed in northern GA, MD, KY and TN. Please pray for our Patriot sister in Western NC who deals with nerve issues impacting her back and ability to function daily. Please also keep the son of Skinny Medic in your prayers as he continues his recovery process from a severe medical condition.


May we pray for all the blessings and things in life to be thankful about and continued hope for revival around the world. We must continually pray for the unsaved, our family and friends who live each day without the protection for eternal life and salvation.


As Patriots we must stay strong and never give up. Our home, community, and nation need us now more than ever. Stay focused on your local community and things that will impact you around the nation. Don't allow the events around you to create fear in your life. Build your own self-reliance and focus on faith and hope. Remember we are a blessed nation, and we must continue to be great people today and make a better tomorrow. Keep charging.


Blessings,


Bravo Echo Out,




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