Ginger Cobb and Kathleen Glynn-Sparrow
[Street Address]
[City, ST Zip Code]
March 10, 2011
[Recipient Name]
[Title]
[Company Name]
[Street Address]
[City, ST ZIP Code]
Dear
If the baby books had told us that one day we would have to talk to our teenager about sex, drugs, and the SATs, we would have used birth control! Teenagers today text instead of talk, twitter instead of chatter and blog instead of blab. So how do we communicate with them about two key life journeys: getting out of high school and getting into college?
Sex, Drugs and the SATs: Getting out of High School and Getting in to College is not only based on research, but also, real-life experience. The advice here is culled from a combined thirty-five years of practical hands-on experience with teenagers and parents. We have worked day to day with teenagers and know they come with problems in all shapes and sizes; there is no one -size -fits -all solution when it comes to raising teenagers. From putting a party-gone-bad plan into place to crafting a clever college essay, this book will give parents savvy solutions to surviving the teenage years.
Ginger Walsh Cobb holds a B.A. in English from Denison University and an M.A. in Private School Leadership from Columbia University. Currently, Ginger is finishing her 18th year at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. As Dean of Students, she educates students and their families about the following: drug and alcohol use, stress, harassment, abuse, internet safety, relationships and depression.
Kathleen Glynn-Sparrow holds a B.A. from Duke University and a M.Ed. from Emory University. Previously, Kathleen served as Director of College Counseling at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, MD. Currently, she is the Chair of the English Department at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, MD. She also runs The College Coaches, a counseling service which guides families through the college process. Kathleen has counseled students from prestigious college preparatory schools all over the Washington, D.C. area.
We have enclosed a Table of Contents and a few chapters. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Ginger Cobb and Kathleen Glynn-Sparrow
[Contact Information]
Showing posts with label Non-Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Non-Fiction. Show all posts
Jun 27, 2011
Mar 11, 2011
Query: The Narrow Way
Dear (Agent's Name),
In 2007, after twenty years of addiction, depression and attempted suicides, I finally found the courage to come out to family and friends as being gay. This profound inner shift was the spark for a spiritual revolution that would open my eyes to the teachings of Buddhism and lead me all the way to a life changing pilgrimage in India and Nepal.
Part psychological mystery, part spiritual adventure story, The Narrow Way: A Memoir of Coming Out, Getting Clean and Finding Buddha traces my life from the confines of the closet and hopeless addiction, all the way through an extraordinary transformation into a man who has finally learned to love himself.
I hope that the book I have written about this journey will not only be a guide for the people and families who are working through the coming out process but also a source of comfort and support for the millions who suffer the pain of addiction and an inspiration to all who read it to live according to their highest truth.
Since coming out three and a half years ago, I have traveled for two months in India and Nepal, completed a college course on creative non-fiction, written a full-length memoir and continued to stay clean and sober. I also teach weekly meditation classes in Colorado Springs under the guidance of Tibetan Buddhist nun, Venerable Tenzin Kacho.
I believe that The Narrow Way fits your agency’s criteria as a work that “sees the world through an uncommon lens” and that your passion and commitment to stories that inspire and promote positive change in the world make you a perfect choice for representation. As a result, I am sending this query exclusively to you.
The completed manuscript of The Narrow Way is approximately 62,000 words. A comprehensive book proposal, including a detailed market analysis and promotion strategy, is also available upon request.
Sincerely,
Chris Lemig
In 2007, after twenty years of addiction, depression and attempted suicides, I finally found the courage to come out to family and friends as being gay. This profound inner shift was the spark for a spiritual revolution that would open my eyes to the teachings of Buddhism and lead me all the way to a life changing pilgrimage in India and Nepal.
Part psychological mystery, part spiritual adventure story, The Narrow Way: A Memoir of Coming Out, Getting Clean and Finding Buddha traces my life from the confines of the closet and hopeless addiction, all the way through an extraordinary transformation into a man who has finally learned to love himself.
I hope that the book I have written about this journey will not only be a guide for the people and families who are working through the coming out process but also a source of comfort and support for the millions who suffer the pain of addiction and an inspiration to all who read it to live according to their highest truth.
Since coming out three and a half years ago, I have traveled for two months in India and Nepal, completed a college course on creative non-fiction, written a full-length memoir and continued to stay clean and sober. I also teach weekly meditation classes in Colorado Springs under the guidance of Tibetan Buddhist nun, Venerable Tenzin Kacho.
I believe that The Narrow Way fits your agency’s criteria as a work that “sees the world through an uncommon lens” and that your passion and commitment to stories that inspire and promote positive change in the world make you a perfect choice for representation. As a result, I am sending this query exclusively to you.
The completed manuscript of The Narrow Way is approximately 62,000 words. A comprehensive book proposal, including a detailed market analysis and promotion strategy, is also available upon request.
Sincerely,
Chris Lemig
Jul 29, 2010
Nonfiction Query: Einstein's Gift: The Engineering of Lucid Dreams
What if you were given a set of cognitive tools that enabled you to lucid dream any conceivable experience with precision? What if these tools not only opened up a brand new area of experience, but also unified previously disparate facts in the fields of, science, art theory and consciousness studies?
Einstein’s Gift: The Engineering of Lucid Dreams unifies disparate facts in three fields of study. In the field of science, empirical evidence proves that our senses do not perceive objects, rather they detect an abstraction that philosophers call raw sense data, or more accurately, abstract sense data). In the field of art, the advent of Cubist painting 1910-1912 is Braque and Picasso’s unconscious acknowledgement that the senses perceive an abstraction. This acknowledgement continues through the Movements of Modern Art and continues into Post Modern and Contemporary Art. In the forty-year-old field of consciousness studies, the fact that the senses perceive abstract sense data, lays an empirical foundation for a radically new kind of science – a first-person science of consciousness. Handling abstract sense data allows anyone who is interested the ability not only to choose the contents of their lucid dreams before hand, but also to experience themselves in two places at one time. Einstein's Gift is a must-have for lucid dreamers, artists, academics, and anyone interested in the nature of consciousness.
A first-person science of consciousness attempts to bring the spiritual back into science and is one of academia’s hottest new fields of study. Roger Penrose, Dan Lloyd, and Douglas R. Hofstadter, all contemporary academic scholars involved in attempts to establish a first-person science of consciousness, are employing narrative non-fiction as a means to explain their theories of consciousness. Unlike their books, which define and philosophize the nature of consciousness, Einstein’s Gift narrates actual first-hand experiences from the author's own engineered lucid dreams. The Engineering of Lucid Dreams eschews narrating details of the author's personal day-to-day life and instead utilizes a fictional, but academic dialogue between two characters. The first character is a college student studying abstract art (a portrayal of the author learning how to engineer lucid dreams). The second is Einstein (based on the historical Albert Einstein 1879 – 1955 whose intellectual commentary and guidance are based upon 17 years of the author’s academic and shamanic study). In the classic Aristotle vs. Socrates dialogue and debate, the young painter and Einstein argue over the existence of abstract and imaginary sense data, the nature of Postmodern Art, the Movements of Modern Art, the disappearance of the Avant-Garde and the exquisite nature of engineered lucid dreams.
The Engineering of Lucid Dreams unifies a new cognitive understanding of abstract art with the contemporary academic attempt to establish an empirical basis for a first-person science of consciousness. The book confronts many of the time-tested and treasured ideas about God, evolution, the nature of reality, the nature of dying and very definition of what it means to be alive. The author’s first-hand lucid dreaming experiences demonstrate how he answered his big speculative questions: Where did the Neanderthals go? Can human consciousness experience the ultraviolet spectrum? What happened at the beginning of the universe? Can we be aware of the atoms in our own bodies? In addition, Einstein’s Gift offers controversial answers to long-standing academic questions: What is the purpose of abstract art? Why is abstract art the dominant feature of the last 100 years of art? What is the function of consciousness? What is consciousness?
Einstein’s Gift is the fruition of over 17 years of shamanistic practice and academic study, earning the author a BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Arizona and an MA in Art Theory, History and Criticism from Prescott College. He has presented his theory of consciousness at the world renowned 2006, 2008 and 2010 Tucson Consciousness Conferences. He has over 14 years of Southwestern gallery showings where he talks about and introduces people to the idea that the power of abstract art is incredibly miscalculated.
Einstein’s Gift: The Engineering of Lucid Dreams offers readers interested in art, science and consciousness a highly compelling argument and jaw dropping lucid dream experiences. The book will be 55,000 words, contain a bibliography, photographic reproductions of 7-15 paintings. The manuscript and all required copyright clearance will be completed three to six months (or sooner) upon receipt of advance. Chapters 4-8 (of 11) are undergoing a professional edit. Chapters 1-3 will be attached to your request for my nonfiction book proposal.
Einstein’s Gift: The Engineering of Lucid Dreams unifies disparate facts in three fields of study. In the field of science, empirical evidence proves that our senses do not perceive objects, rather they detect an abstraction that philosophers call raw sense data, or more accurately, abstract sense data). In the field of art, the advent of Cubist painting 1910-1912 is Braque and Picasso’s unconscious acknowledgement that the senses perceive an abstraction. This acknowledgement continues through the Movements of Modern Art and continues into Post Modern and Contemporary Art. In the forty-year-old field of consciousness studies, the fact that the senses perceive abstract sense data, lays an empirical foundation for a radically new kind of science – a first-person science of consciousness. Handling abstract sense data allows anyone who is interested the ability not only to choose the contents of their lucid dreams before hand, but also to experience themselves in two places at one time. Einstein's Gift is a must-have for lucid dreamers, artists, academics, and anyone interested in the nature of consciousness.
A first-person science of consciousness attempts to bring the spiritual back into science and is one of academia’s hottest new fields of study. Roger Penrose, Dan Lloyd, and Douglas R. Hofstadter, all contemporary academic scholars involved in attempts to establish a first-person science of consciousness, are employing narrative non-fiction as a means to explain their theories of consciousness. Unlike their books, which define and philosophize the nature of consciousness, Einstein’s Gift narrates actual first-hand experiences from the author's own engineered lucid dreams. The Engineering of Lucid Dreams eschews narrating details of the author's personal day-to-day life and instead utilizes a fictional, but academic dialogue between two characters. The first character is a college student studying abstract art (a portrayal of the author learning how to engineer lucid dreams). The second is Einstein (based on the historical Albert Einstein 1879 – 1955 whose intellectual commentary and guidance are based upon 17 years of the author’s academic and shamanic study). In the classic Aristotle vs. Socrates dialogue and debate, the young painter and Einstein argue over the existence of abstract and imaginary sense data, the nature of Postmodern Art, the Movements of Modern Art, the disappearance of the Avant-Garde and the exquisite nature of engineered lucid dreams.
The Engineering of Lucid Dreams unifies a new cognitive understanding of abstract art with the contemporary academic attempt to establish an empirical basis for a first-person science of consciousness. The book confronts many of the time-tested and treasured ideas about God, evolution, the nature of reality, the nature of dying and very definition of what it means to be alive. The author’s first-hand lucid dreaming experiences demonstrate how he answered his big speculative questions: Where did the Neanderthals go? Can human consciousness experience the ultraviolet spectrum? What happened at the beginning of the universe? Can we be aware of the atoms in our own bodies? In addition, Einstein’s Gift offers controversial answers to long-standing academic questions: What is the purpose of abstract art? Why is abstract art the dominant feature of the last 100 years of art? What is the function of consciousness? What is consciousness?
Einstein’s Gift is the fruition of over 17 years of shamanistic practice and academic study, earning the author a BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Arizona and an MA in Art Theory, History and Criticism from Prescott College. He has presented his theory of consciousness at the world renowned 2006, 2008 and 2010 Tucson Consciousness Conferences. He has over 14 years of Southwestern gallery showings where he talks about and introduces people to the idea that the power of abstract art is incredibly miscalculated.
Einstein’s Gift: The Engineering of Lucid Dreams offers readers interested in art, science and consciousness a highly compelling argument and jaw dropping lucid dream experiences. The book will be 55,000 words, contain a bibliography, photographic reproductions of 7-15 paintings. The manuscript and all required copyright clearance will be completed three to six months (or sooner) upon receipt of advance. Chapters 4-8 (of 11) are undergoing a professional edit. Chapters 1-3 will be attached to your request for my nonfiction book proposal.
May 13, 2010
Non-Fiction Proposal- Canary in a Coalmine: How One Southern State is leading the Nation to a Renewable Energy Future
In 1933, unemployment in America was estimated to be nearly 25 percent.
As part of President Franklin Roosevelt's first 100 days in office, on May 18, 1933, he signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, creating the first effort in America to create a government-sponsored clean energy system.
The first damn built to create non-polluting, clean energy was the Norris damn on the Tennessee River near Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The federal government had purchased the land years before, but the project languished until the desire for free, clean, easy-to-create electricity met the need for skilled and unskilled labor.
In 2009, unemployment in America is just over 10 percent with most of the job losses in manufacturing. Again, the government was looking for ways to create new jobs required skilled and unskilled labor with the goal of making the country more energy independent.
It seems that history is repeating itself and Tennessee is again in the spotlight.
Historic Announcements
Two major international firms recently decided to build multibillion-dollar plants in Tennessee. Two government-sponsored, clean energy research institutions are being established in Tennessee with federal stimulus money.
Here is a link to the groundbreaking celebration for the Hemlock semi-conductor and photovoltaic plant being built just north of Nashville.
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Hu412gEBM
Here is the link for the groundbreaking announcement for the new Wacker Chemie chemical plant being built southeast of Nashville.
Wacker Chemie announcementHttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGATeXLdFP8&feature=PlayList&p=9F806328A559900D&index=2
A billion-dollar Volkswagen assembly plant recently broke ground just outside Chattanooga. The facility will assemble a small, energy efficient sedan for the North American market. Http://www.chattanoogachamber.com/newsandvideo/071508_VolkswagenChoosesChattanoogaEnterpriseSouth.asp
Most recently, Nissan Motor Manufacturing, North America has announced their intention to build between 50,000 and 100,000 battery powered cars at the assembly plant in Smyrna, just south of Nashville with funds from a federal loan designated to help America switch from fossil-fueled transportation to electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, in the time period before these announcements, Tennessee was sighted as one of the top three states in the country in creation of clean energy producing jobs.
The Pugh Charitable Trust names Tennessee one of the top three in creation of clean energy manufacturing in this link.
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-5XJbNb-VU
Here's my story from that same news conference.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wmot/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1518544
Government Support
Federal stimulus spending of over 62 million dollars will create two new clean energy/solar power entities in Tennessee.
In west Tennessee, a "solar farm" with row after row of solar collectors will power hundreds of homes in Haywood County near Brownsville. It would be operated in partnership with TVA and coordinate with research conducted in Knoxville.
The five-megawatt, 20-acre solar farm would be part of a proposed industrial development "mega site" and one of the largest solar installations in the Southeast.
While in east Tennessee, research would be conducted at a new Tennessee Solar Institute that would be headquartered in Knoxville at the University of Tennessee's planned Cherokee Farm Innovation Campus and would be operated by UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Why I Should Write This Book…
For over thirty years, Middle Tennessee has been my beat. While I've covered just about every kind of story you can imagine, I've always felt that part of my job at the News Director at a public radio station licensed to a university was to find ways of making subjects involving science and history pertinent to the listener.
Here are links from the Publish2 website that show a variety of profiles and articles I've recently published.
A very entertaining article about essayist David Sedaris:
http://audiofilemagazine.com/features/A1460.html
An interview about an award-winning science book:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wmot/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1437407
A profile of author Dennis LeHane:
http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/features/A2114.html
Over the years I've met hundreds of people, many with very unusual stories that I was happy to cover. There once was a young congressman who represented the multicounty district in middle Tennessee. His father had been a Congressman and Senator, but up until that time he'd shied away from the "family business."
Al Gore Jr. was a well-schooled and disciplined campaigner. And while I didn't talk with him every day, I have several pictures of the two of us when we were both much thinner and much less gray. The story of this father's efforts to help "electrify" the Southeast United States and his efforts to bring "renewable" energy sources to this same region will allow me the opportunity to attempt to interview him again after all these years.
Given the scope of the book and his family's involvement, there's at least a faint hope that he might even contribute a blurb or a forward.
Technical assistance
A friend of mine, Jonathan Gilligan (Ph.D. Yale University 1991 and currently Research Assistant Professor and former Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Vanderbilt University) has agreed to help guide the organization of the book from outline to checking the facts and figures in the final draft. He has also offered to write a blurb for the cover.
As part of President Franklin Roosevelt's first 100 days in office, on May 18, 1933, he signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, creating the first effort in America to create a government-sponsored clean energy system.
The first damn built to create non-polluting, clean energy was the Norris damn on the Tennessee River near Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The federal government had purchased the land years before, but the project languished until the desire for free, clean, easy-to-create electricity met the need for skilled and unskilled labor.
In 2009, unemployment in America is just over 10 percent with most of the job losses in manufacturing. Again, the government was looking for ways to create new jobs required skilled and unskilled labor with the goal of making the country more energy independent.
It seems that history is repeating itself and Tennessee is again in the spotlight.
Historic Announcements
Two major international firms recently decided to build multibillion-dollar plants in Tennessee. Two government-sponsored, clean energy research institutions are being established in Tennessee with federal stimulus money.
Here is a link to the groundbreaking celebration for the Hemlock semi-conductor and photovoltaic plant being built just north of Nashville.
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Hu412gEBM
Here is the link for the groundbreaking announcement for the new Wacker Chemie chemical plant being built southeast of Nashville.
Wacker Chemie announcementHttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGATeXLdFP8&feature=PlayList&p=9F806328A559900D&index=2
A billion-dollar Volkswagen assembly plant recently broke ground just outside Chattanooga. The facility will assemble a small, energy efficient sedan for the North American market. Http://www.chattanoogachamber.com/newsandvideo/071508_VolkswagenChoosesChattanoogaEnterpriseSouth.asp
Most recently, Nissan Motor Manufacturing, North America has announced their intention to build between 50,000 and 100,000 battery powered cars at the assembly plant in Smyrna, just south of Nashville with funds from a federal loan designated to help America switch from fossil-fueled transportation to electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, in the time period before these announcements, Tennessee was sighted as one of the top three states in the country in creation of clean energy producing jobs.
The Pugh Charitable Trust names Tennessee one of the top three in creation of clean energy manufacturing in this link.
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-5XJbNb-VU
Here's my story from that same news conference.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wmot/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1518544
Government Support
Federal stimulus spending of over 62 million dollars will create two new clean energy/solar power entities in Tennessee.
In west Tennessee, a "solar farm" with row after row of solar collectors will power hundreds of homes in Haywood County near Brownsville. It would be operated in partnership with TVA and coordinate with research conducted in Knoxville.
The five-megawatt, 20-acre solar farm would be part of a proposed industrial development "mega site" and one of the largest solar installations in the Southeast.
While in east Tennessee, research would be conducted at a new Tennessee Solar Institute that would be headquartered in Knoxville at the University of Tennessee's planned Cherokee Farm Innovation Campus and would be operated by UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Why I Should Write This Book…
For over thirty years, Middle Tennessee has been my beat. While I've covered just about every kind of story you can imagine, I've always felt that part of my job at the News Director at a public radio station licensed to a university was to find ways of making subjects involving science and history pertinent to the listener.
Here are links from the Publish2 website that show a variety of profiles and articles I've recently published.
A very entertaining article about essayist David Sedaris:
http://audiofilemagazine.com/features/A1460.html
An interview about an award-winning science book:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wmot/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1437407
A profile of author Dennis LeHane:
http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/features/A2114.html
Over the years I've met hundreds of people, many with very unusual stories that I was happy to cover. There once was a young congressman who represented the multicounty district in middle Tennessee. His father had been a Congressman and Senator, but up until that time he'd shied away from the "family business."
Al Gore Jr. was a well-schooled and disciplined campaigner. And while I didn't talk with him every day, I have several pictures of the two of us when we were both much thinner and much less gray. The story of this father's efforts to help "electrify" the Southeast United States and his efforts to bring "renewable" energy sources to this same region will allow me the opportunity to attempt to interview him again after all these years.
Given the scope of the book and his family's involvement, there's at least a faint hope that he might even contribute a blurb or a forward.
Technical assistance
A friend of mine, Jonathan Gilligan (Ph.D. Yale University 1991 and currently Research Assistant Professor and former Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Vanderbilt University) has agreed to help guide the organization of the book from outline to checking the facts and figures in the final draft. He has also offered to write a blurb for the cover.
Jan 31, 2010
QUERY: Around Egypt on One Foot
Dear Agent,
Marie broke her ankle, managing to do this in the washroom of the plane taking her to Egypt. After two days in a Cairo hospital, she decides to continue her voyage, but what was to be the trip of a lifetime for this French Canadian pharmacist has now become a trip on crutches with the occasional—and sometimes comically defective—wheelchair thrown in. All this, Marie is convinced, is the result of the curse of Ramses which has not only been delivered prematurely, but continues to dog her throughout the trip.
Marie candidly recounts her quirky misadventures with a heavy dose of humour, from the unexpected surgery in the Egyptian hospital where important things always get done at midnight, the witching hour, to an encounter with the crutch-sucking sand of the evil Beach of Torment.
To survive, Marie adapts and acquires new skills. She learns how to avoid face-first landings in the hummus when dealing with buffets—a dangerous activity for anyone on crutches who is not a three-handed mutant. She defeats the heaving, bobbing, and rolling Dock of Despair, and even manages to build a snowman while sailing down the Nile.
Marie further enlightens the reader on the mysteries of the pyramids, Egyptian mythology, and the art of building a proper mummy. She does this with the aid of Widget and Otitis, two ancient Egyptian cartoon characters who pop up throughout the book, interjecting their own interpretation of events.
AROUND EGYPT ON ONE FOOT is a non-fiction narrative of my trip to Egypt. It not only reveals the beauty of this country from the decidedly different perspective of a damaged tourist, but also shows the kindness and warmth of its people, without which, I would have been up the Nile without an oar. It is complete at 52,000 words and is my first book.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Marie Descent
Marie broke her ankle, managing to do this in the washroom of the plane taking her to Egypt. After two days in a Cairo hospital, she decides to continue her voyage, but what was to be the trip of a lifetime for this French Canadian pharmacist has now become a trip on crutches with the occasional—and sometimes comically defective—wheelchair thrown in. All this, Marie is convinced, is the result of the curse of Ramses which has not only been delivered prematurely, but continues to dog her throughout the trip.
Marie candidly recounts her quirky misadventures with a heavy dose of humour, from the unexpected surgery in the Egyptian hospital where important things always get done at midnight, the witching hour, to an encounter with the crutch-sucking sand of the evil Beach of Torment.
To survive, Marie adapts and acquires new skills. She learns how to avoid face-first landings in the hummus when dealing with buffets—a dangerous activity for anyone on crutches who is not a three-handed mutant. She defeats the heaving, bobbing, and rolling Dock of Despair, and even manages to build a snowman while sailing down the Nile.
Marie further enlightens the reader on the mysteries of the pyramids, Egyptian mythology, and the art of building a proper mummy. She does this with the aid of Widget and Otitis, two ancient Egyptian cartoon characters who pop up throughout the book, interjecting their own interpretation of events.
AROUND EGYPT ON ONE FOOT is a non-fiction narrative of my trip to Egypt. It not only reveals the beauty of this country from the decidedly different perspective of a damaged tourist, but also shows the kindness and warmth of its people, without which, I would have been up the Nile without an oar. It is complete at 52,000 words and is my first book.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Marie Descent
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