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Saga posted:I wheelie everywhere with my headlight on low-beam. I feel this is an excellent compromise and to judge by the enthusiastic waving of fists from cars going in the other direction, other motorists agree!
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Sep 8, 2012 00:54
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In Sydney these days there seems to be an epidemic of really poorly-aimed headlights. They should make it part of our yearly roadworthy checks which are done before registration. So often when driving I am blinded by oncoming cars or cars following me, and then I realise they don't even have their high beams on. Often it will just be one light which is dazzling. I'm not even sure how this happens, it's not like putting a new bulb in moves the headlight housing so I can only guess people are replacing their own headlights with wrecker parts due to breakage or foggy lenses and not paying any attention to the aim. Someone pointed out to me recently though that cabbies deliberately aim their kerbside headlight high because it better illuminates house numbers etc. They have loving spotlights on the sides of their roof specifically for this purpose though so I would love to see cops throwing the book at the shitheads.
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Sep 8, 2012 05:45
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I don't think it's poorly aimed headlights, I think it's that every shithead and his dog had HID lights these days. Hate those loving things.
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Sep 8, 2012 05:58
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2ndclasscitizen posted:I don't think it's poorly aimed headlights, I think it's that every shithead and his dog had HID lights these days. Hate those loving things. They're also illegal to put on if the car didn't originally come with them right? Or is that just Cali. People still do it anyways, but I had a friend get a fix-it ticket for his just tacked on top of speeding.
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Sep 8, 2012 06:04
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2ndclasscitizen posted:I don't think it's poorly aimed headlights, I think it's that every shithead and his dog had HID lights these days. Hate those loving things. Nah, there are definitely plenty of poorly-aimed standard headlights on all sorts of very plain cars. You can usually spot the HID fuckwits because aside from the lights being blinding, for some reason they all seem to have a hardon for the disgustingly high colour temperature burners.
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Sep 8, 2012 06:08
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Here4DaGangBang posted:In Sydney these days there seems to be an epidemic of really poorly-aimed headlights. They should make it part of our yearly roadworthy checks which are done before registration. So often when driving I am blinded by oncoming cars or cars following me, and then I realise they don't even have their high beams on. Often it will just be one light which is dazzling. I'm not even sure how this happens, it's not like putting a new bulb in moves the headlight housing so I can only guess people are replacing their own headlights with wrecker parts due to breakage or foggy lenses and not paying any attention to the aim. It's not just Sydney, it's everywhere (and it is part of the yearly MOT test in the UK). My particular favourite are the ones who have one broken light so put the other on high beam because thats the same isn't it? Bondematt posted:They're also illegal to put on if the car didn't originally come with them right? Or is that just Cali. In the UK they're illegal on cars that don't have automatic levelling and lens washing systems. Again, doesn't stop people though.
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Sep 8, 2012 08:31
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Bondematt posted:They're also illegal to put on if the car didn't originally come with them right? Or is that just Cali. Same in Florida, as well. Blue lights are off-limits too; but that doesn't stop people. I see them with HID's and the nauseatingly bright blue ones enough to know that it isn't strictly enforced.
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Sep 8, 2012 17:20
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For the first time in the 7 months I've been riding I had my first close call yesterday. I was riding along a two lane road, ~55 mph. Approach a line of about 6 cars coming the other direction and a SUV, second in the line, pulled out to pass. They didn't see me. I began emergency braking and downshifting while pulling towards the right shoulder. He had time to get back in front before I would have had to ride off to the right into the grass. Lost my mind for a bit, turned around and started chasing them to pull them from the car and beat them. I calmed down before I caught up, and turned back around. My heart is racing just thinking about it typing this. Right about here in the right lane, eastbound. http://bit.ly/QtnCLh
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Sep 9, 2012 19:00
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Wulframn posted:Good post
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Sep 19, 2012 21:25
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nsaP posted:Now come on, tell us how you really feel. My keyboard was broken that night so I only got around to a brief, two minute comment.  Next time I'll be sure to neglect proper spacing and such and you can enjoy wall-o'-text with no punctuation. 
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Sep 20, 2012 03:17
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While riding like a dong around my favourite bit of coast road I came around a bend to find a Rental car almost stopped in the road, stuck behind a blatantly unfit couple on push bikes, riding at less than walking pace, two abreast. I might have made the stop but as I was starting to stand it up on the brakes I noticed the oncoming lane was empty and used that momentum to swerve around them. Scared the absolute poo poo out of me. Lesson learned, make a slow run of the road before pushing it.
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Sep 20, 2012 09:55
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ReelBigLizard posted:Lesson learned, make a slow run of the road before pushing it. Exactly this. I was riding on a road that I usually hit 3 times a week because no one is on it and it's always in great shape. Last weekend I started out at a much quicker pace than usual and turned a corner into a bunch of sand/gravel randomly scattered on the road. Apparently the few houses that are there were having their driveways done. Wobbled a bit and was able to keep upright, but I definitely learned to scope out the terrain first.
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Sep 20, 2012 15:38
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Couple of weeks ago, I was going down a mostly empty straight road at night, just having pulled out of the gas station. In the midst of fiddling with the choke, I feel a incredible jolt, handlebars wildly side to side, but it self corrects and I'm able to pull over. Turns out I had hit an inkjet printer in the middle of the road. Should probably keep my eyes on the pavement.
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Sep 21, 2012 20:58
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I saw "something in the road" coming, but fuckin  at a printer. Glad you stayed upright!
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Sep 21, 2012 22:24
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AncientTV posted:I saw "something in the road" coming, but fuckin Hitting a printer and staying upright is a whole new level of proficiency in my humble opinion.  I know I would have hit the asphalt in that situation.
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Sep 21, 2012 22:40
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Probably fell off the back of some other goon's car as he was driving to the home of a girl he likes.
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Sep 21, 2012 23:46
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Probably fell off the back of some other goon's car as he was driving to the home of a girl he likes. Haha immediately thought of the episode of the Simpsons where Homer tries to send an S.O.S. fax as he drives off the end of the pier. 
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Sep 22, 2012 03:00
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Wulframn posted:Hitting a printer and staying upright is a whole new level of proficiency in my humble opinion. I hit a stacking metal/plastic chair on a steel grate bridge once. I thought for sure I was going to die, as it was heavy traffic and I had school buses on both sides. The metal-grate bridge was already about 80% of the way to "I'm just going to flop over and die" stability-wise, then bam chair in the road. Gyroscopic stability is a marvelous thing, as is just realizing you're going to die, so you don't do anything stupid like react and so the bike just sorts itself out.
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Sep 23, 2012 01:33
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Gyroscopic stability is a marvelous thing, as is just realizing you're going to die, so you don't do anything stupid like react and so the bike just sorts itself out. Significantly less pants-making GBS threads, but I hit a manhole that was raised about 2" above grade, and I didn't hit it straight on the other day. The bike wiggled a little under me, and then sorted itself out.
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Sep 23, 2012 02:44
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Before I started riding I used to wonder how motorcycles worked and why someone would ride them. I used to say, like many other non-riders, that they were simply dangerous on the most basic level and physically unstable, etc. Of course, I wasn't using my brain then. Some would argue - actually quite a lot do - that I'm not using my brain now that I do ride a bike. However, now that I do ride I pay attention to the physics going on under and around me, I read a lot of safety and recreational motorcycle books and material, and I practice safety techniques and scenarios weekly. Actually, I find myself growing ever more impressed with how much the bike will recover from virtually any form of dumb-fuckery you feed into it provided you don't panic once you realize you've messed up.
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Sep 23, 2012 03:29
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Welp, I'm back again  Today it bucketed down with rain from dawn to dusk. Lighting, howling wind, the whole show. So a friend and I, being the idiots we are, decided to wrap up and go for a spin; Him on a street-fightered GSXR-750 SRAD, me on the 690 SMC. The roads were strewn with poo poo; leaves, twigs, mud and gravel washed around from random flash floods. He was taking it really easy, the bike was squirming on some of the corners and I think his suspension set up is hosed or non existent. The KTM is pretty stable in the wet, especially with the sticky front on, so I was pushing it to a certain extent. Well I pushed it too hard. "Tarmac still has like 80% of the grip in the wet as it does in the dry" I'm thinking. "You usually take this corner at 35+, so 25 will be totally cool right?". Wrong. Within a blink of an eye I was in an opposite lock slide around the whole loving corner and more through shock and terror than skill I kept the throttle open and the bike just sorted itself out.
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Sep 23, 2012 22:31
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80% is perfect world, which rarely translates into the real world. Are your tires still grooved like new, was the road surface uniform and in good condition, was this the first rain in a while? All of those will change the Coefficient of Friction by a significant amount.
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Sep 23, 2012 22:54
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Actually the road on that corner is in great condition, it's been raining on and off all weekend and my tires have great tread. I'm pretty sure I just rolled on too much throttle because I was getting cocky.
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Sep 23, 2012 23:00
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ReelBigLizard posted:Welp, I'm back again East coaster? I got caught out last night, it wasn't so bad cause I was wearing my jacket with liner and it was warm(er) out here in SE PA, but after a while the water reached my nuts and it went from tolerable to "oh god just get me home" for the last 5 minutes of my 40 minute trip. Also the hail sometimes found gaps in my armor, which in turn I found unpleasant.
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Sep 24, 2012 00:37
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I was hoping to not have to post in any of these threads, but I finally got to test out my bikes new rear tire/breaks, I was heading down the freeway and realized I was about to miss my exit, seeing a big gap in traffic I signal and pull into. I was not expecting some guy in a hatchback to be parked on the side median and decide to pull out into the same gap. I came within inches of nailing his front end at about 45 and I'm just glad I recently replaced my balding rear tire and non existent rear brake pads/warped rotor and apparently my recent emergency brake practice helped. The guy of course gave me the what the gently caress arm gesture/look.
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Sep 24, 2012 01:55
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ReelBigLizard posted:Actually the road on that corner is in great condition, it's been raining on and off all weekend and my tires have great tread. I'm pretty sure I just rolled on too much throttle because I was getting cocky. Good for you for staying on the throttle and the bike. Wet weather has a bit of a habit of throwing all kinds of slippery patches in your path. Don't think for a second the grip is as even as on dry, because for me most of my 'oh poo poo' moments are on the 'safe' parts of the road in the wet.
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Sep 24, 2012 02:29
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:East coaster? Not even close  KARMA! posted:Good for you for staying on the throttle and the bike. Wet weather has a bit of a habit of throwing all kinds of slippery patches in your path. Don't think for a second the grip is as even as on dry, because for me most of my 'oh poo poo' moments are on the 'safe' parts of the road in the wet. Eh, it could have been a diesel patch or something. In any case I would have been fine if I had been less of a dong and slowed down.
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Sep 24, 2012 08:58
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Here's another from me that I just remembered. A while back I was rolling around town going to one of the local doughnut shops and there are a lot of dense wooded sections inside the town since a river cuts through the town and the city likes to look pretty with all the trees etc. So I take a turn and as I'm coming out of it a deer jumps out of the treeline and right into my path. Luckily I had just come out of the turn and leveled out so it wasn't too much of a problem to brake but I was literally close enough to pet the thing as I rolled on by. It was one of the little ones too, poor thing probably got separated from its family. Since then though I take that turn a lot more cautiously. I'd never even seen a deer that far into town before much less had one hop out on the road and that could have gotten really nasty really quick if I had been mid-turn when that thing hopped out at me.
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Sep 24, 2012 12:44
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ReelBigLizard posted:Wrong. Within a blink of an eye I was in an opposite lock slide around the whole loving corner and more through shock and terror than skill I kept the throttle open and the bike just sorted itself out. This is probably just the KTM being so Ready To Race(TM) that it's taking matters into its own hands. Are you satisfying its natural appetites for backing it in? Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if it's sneaking out at night at popping wheelies while you're not looking.
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Sep 24, 2012 14:42
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Does it count as a near miss if I sort of caused a crash tonight? Well, someone else's idiocy and hatred of bikes caused the crash, I was merely the catalyst. Well I just got a very nice call from the Police telling me that they were not reporting me for an offence (which I was certain would be the case but still, you never know) and that the car driver is being prosecuted for driving without due care and attention. They had wanted to charge him with dangerous driving but weren't sure it would stick, whereas DCA is pretty much proven by the fact he ran into the back of the van. Just need my insurance to confirm that they've told the bloke to get hosed too and I'm sorted.
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Sep 24, 2012 15:32
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ArbitraryTA posted:Luckily I had just come out of the turn and leveled out so it wasn't too much of a problem to brake but I was literally close enough to pet the thing as I rolled on by. It was one of the little ones too, poor thing probably got separated from its family. Woah woah woah woah woah woah....now you're new here so it's okay, everybody gets one. Sympathy for deer is not allowed, available emotions that you can have for them include: anger, contempt, hatred, disapproval, animosity, disgust, or personally I go with seething rage. If you continue to feel anything but these for these "poor thing" road rats you can just 
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Sep 24, 2012 17:02
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nsaP posted:Woah woah woah woah woah woah....now you're new here so it's okay, everybody gets one. Sympathy for deer is not allowed, available emotions that you can have for them include: anger, contempt, hatred, disapproval, animosity, disgust, or personally I go with seething rage. If you continue to feel anything but these for these "poor thing" road rats you can just I wholeheartedly agree with the above statement. Mainly because of this:  Deer can kindly 
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Sep 24, 2012 17:48
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nsaP posted:Woah woah woah woah woah woah....now you're new here so it's okay, everybody gets one. Sympathy for deer is not allowed, available emotions that you can have for them include: anger, contempt, hatred, disapproval, animosity, disgust, or personally I go with seething rage. If you continue to feel anything but these for these "poor thing" road rats you can just +1 Seriously, I grew up in the forest (a real forest, not one of those wooded sections of town or some poo poo) and my entire childhood was spent seeing deer on an almost daily basis: running across the street, digging through our trash, making a general nuisance of themselves. Then, every year, some twig boys let their girlfriends talk them into leaving the concrete womb that is the city they were born and raised in. They come out to the Fish and Wildlife office and complain that if we don't stop torturing and killing deer (hunting) they're going to starve themselves for some indeterminate amount of time so every year the office issues less permits to keep twig boys from starving; which ultimately results in evolution failing us on multiple levels.  I haven't had a run-in with a deer on my bike yet, because now I live in town. I'm a little afraid to cruise through the forest on my bike because I know how bad it can be out there.
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Sep 25, 2012 03:49
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Ah, just last night I was riding home on a fairly deserted road, slowing down for a stop sign ahead, when this weird shadowy thing kind of floated by near the intersection. I got on the brakes and squinted and saw a fawn, about the size of a large dog, wandering across the road. It walked up to the shoulder and then stopped and stared at me as I pulled up beside it. I turned the bars to flash it with my headlamp and revved the engine and it jumped and took off into the forest. nsaP-approved emotion: disapproval
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Sep 25, 2012 06:35
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Snowdens Secret posted:This is probably just the KTM being so Ready To Race(TM) that it's taking matters into its own hands. Are you satisfying its natural appetites for backing it in? Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if it's sneaking out at night at popping wheelies while you're not looking. poo poo you might be right, maybe I'm not taking care of her needs  I mean I take her all around town and give her the best 10W60 money can (just about) buy. I know I get her engine revving all the way to the limit pretty regular but maybe that's not enough... I'll change baby, I promise!
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Sep 25, 2012 09:00
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That map CLEARLY shows that you're near the Jersey Shore.
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Sep 27, 2012 01:31
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Coasting down a hill into work a Wasp got into my jacket and worked its way under my shirt and stung me, over my heart. At the same time an 18 wheeler was coming up the hill and as I pulled into the parking lot, a box truck tried to reverse over top of me, all while I can feel the loving wasp buzzing around inside my shirt, lusting after my tender flesh. Coasted the bike to a stop, kicked the stand down, jumped off and proceeded to do a loving panic dance while stripping gear off of me.  The whole office was roaring with laughter at me.
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Oct 4, 2012 18:36
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The SUV of death tried to come for me today. I'm usually very careful not to get alongside SUV's or cars, but I was in traffic and didn't have a choice. I was even with the front fender and she had been behind me so she knew I was there. She merged into my lane with no blinker and no warning. I jumped the curb slowed down and hopped back off behind her while laying on my horn and giving her the finger. She really almost got me.
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Oct 4, 2012 23:05
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Christ. Serious boner moment here, and not in the good way. It's beautiful today, so I figured a brisk ride though some back roads was in order. I was coming into this turn here https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=204807765806864099705.0004cb52fb8ea64e2c7da south at probably just a little lower than 60 when I felt the back end start stepping out on me.,Meanwhile, there's a van with a line of traffic behind it about to enter the turn. The bike started to do this weird wobble where I could feel it start to slip, it got pretty bad like it wanted to throw me. I managed to stay on throttle which I hope helped, but in the end I went over the center and just missed the van. I really thought I was going to lose it and smash head on into it. Obviously, I need to slow the gently caress down. I'm kicking myself pretty hard, why do I always have to push it? I can't say I saw my life pass before my eyes but I thought I was dead. What the hell was that wobble though?
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Oct 5, 2012 18:24
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Did you ride over a tar snake or a painted line while leaned over or something? Those can get you all out of shape.
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Oct 5, 2012 18:50
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