Nerds and Words: Week 30

I have dug through the Internet this week and uncovered all this geeky goodness. You can find the thousands of links from previous weeks here.

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I have marked my favorite links with a ?. Enjoy.

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Science to Read, Write, and Watch

When do kids understand death? A perplexing part of growing up.

? Why do some crocodiles eat fruit? Not quite sure, but we have some theories

?The first stars were born of hydrogen, but they died in a cloud of heavier atoms.?

Don?t worry, this ball of congregating flies isn?t a sign of the apocalypse

The dancing mud of New Zealand makes bubble physics all the more pronounced

Usain Bolt uses 92% of his energy just to fight the air he rushes through

Parasitic wasp gets a free ride on a damselfly?only to doom the fly?s eggs with her own

? How big is our solar system? Here?s a fun way to see for yourself

The Poets of Starlight. A lovely post on how the natural world calls to scientists.

Huh. Shrapnel isn?t a thing, it is the guy who invented it

Yes, we can trust Monsanto with our food.

? Mouseunculus: How The Brain Draws A Little You. The kind of science that makes your eyes widen.

With an electron microscope and some software, we now have incredible videos of up-close everything

FYI: You can get about a million miles from the Sun before dying

? Now Curiosity is a pale blue dot. Kinda poetic

It?s absolutely amazing to see ?real-live death? move through an animal

Sugar doesn?t make children act badly, but parents might

Thanks to one war photographer, two soldiers will live forever in the annals of fascinating physics

Need to chill out? This helped me: A Year of the Sky

Before we establish ?Bigfoot language?, we need to establish the existence of Bigfoot

There?s a name for when something obscure to you suddenly seems to be everywhere

? How Could We Stop An Asteroid? With LASER BEES

It?s a Myth That Cheetahs Overheat While Hunting. ?Nuff said.

New species of shrew has a spine of the Gods, Gods with flowing blonde hair and sexy stubble

It?s summer time, so get your bug drugs straight: Busting five myths of mosquito repellents

If you?re a tropical tourist, be gentle with coral! You?ll impale them with their own skeletons

Good. God. In Bacon Therapy, the Meat Isn?t for You: It?s for the Bugs Eating Your Skin

?Without loyalty, a meadow would be a much less colourful place.?

?Gravity waves? have little to do with gravity but are still very pretty from space

? Even the desert would rather put The Phantom Menace behind it. At least it was good for science.

You can learn a lot more than ?woah? from firing a gun underwater

Zebrafish neurons fluorescently labeled with the Brainbow method

Destroying priceless works of art with light, moisture, and xenophobia

? Stop it paleo-nerds, you can?t beat a T. rex in an arm-wrestle

The Lagoon So Beautiful (and Toxic) It Had to Be Dyed Black

Think you know where the hottest place on Earth is? Satellites do

? An ostrich can run a marathon in 40 minutes, so yes, feel bad about your stupid human legs

Why everything that movies told you about amnesia is probably wrong

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Nerdery at its Finest

? Wolverine Science (Snikt!): What does a Wolverine without regenerative powers have to fear? Concussions, cancer, and magnets. Examining the healing powers of an X-man. What if Wolverine couldn?t heal [Infographic]. The science behind adamantium and alloys. Everything wrong with the second film.

What if You Were Fus Ro Dah?d? A fun analysis that gets a bit number-happy.

Where would you find a real Sharknado?

? Pacific Rim Science:How a Jaeger rocket punch is a 747 to a Kaiju face. How could you create dry land on the bottom of the ocean? Detonate a nuke. A biological guide to the film. What makes Pacific Rim?s battles look so epic? Scale.

Got time to kill? Find the 48 scientific errors in this photo

17 people you probably saw at Comic Con

?

GIFs and Image for Two Second of WOW

*Bad* taxidermy?Also ironically awesome

? These ?water as it is perfectly covering you? photos captivate me

When military snipers try to mimic great animal camouflage, they do a pretty damn good job

I don?t think cheetahs like the rain, but I watched this for about a minute before deciding that

Hungry, hungry water tension

A seahorse gives birth like a sneeze

? A skull at the shore of Very Salty Lake

? Sometimes a landslide looks like the Earth letter her hair down

A galaxy in a lighter

OMG the Earth from Saturn

I see your water tornado, and raise you a fire tornado.

Quicksand can be a non-Newtonian fluid

FYI: You can also release the kraken with calcium gluconate

? So awesome: Bees are nature?s 3D printer, and a great video of the ?3-B? printing process

It?s amazing to watch an animal other than a human be amazed by something

What happens when a wind turbine doesn?t properly brake during a storm

? DJ Chameleon. That is all

?

Oh yeah, other stuff happens too

Cosplay crossovers are officially over. These two win.

I?d train for the Olympics just for that meteorite-infused medal?

Tight-lipped prisoners are more cooperative than college kids in a classic moral dilemma

It?s my favorite image of Comic Con too.

The accurate scientific fear factor

Celebrate the Moon landing with 10 debunked ?Moon Hoax? arguments

Alan Turing is set to be pardoned. But only by teaching his full story can we honor his memory

And the winner for most annoying ringtone goes to?

Chinese ?nail houses? that refuse to be torn down are fascinating

The time when James Randi un-convinced Barbara Walters that Uri Geller was something special

Science makes little gods

You shall not pass: The weapon inspectors of San Diego Comic-Con

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/basic-science/~3/TM__DFAUMF0/post.cfm

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Apple's Strong iPhone Sales Mask Falling Revenue Per Unit As Gross Margins Contract

The market is waiting for Tim Cook to reveal the next big thing, until then, strong iPhones sales will do ?- Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife

Tim Cook was probably breathing a sigh of relief as shares in Apple Apple took off after a solid fiscal third quarter earnings beat on Tuesday.? And while investors were rejoicing from a welcome jump in the stock price, Apple continues to face intense margin pressure, particularly as its marquee iPhones and iPads saw continued erosion in revenues per unit.? Without the release of some bombshell new products, it will be different for Tim Cook to keep the wind blowing behind?Apple?s sails.

It?s been a difficult few months for Apple?s management and investors since last September, as concern over the company?s future helped wipe out about 40% of its market capitalization.? A big part of the problem has to do with margin erosion, as it becomes increasingly difficult for the company co-founded by Steve Jobs to squeeze higher profits from its cash cow product, the iPhone.

Gross margins continued to contract during Apple?s fiscal third quarter, Tuesday?s earnings release showed, both on a sequential and a yearly basis.? At 36.9%, margins are nearly 700 basis points off their levels last year.

While Apple saw its iPhone shipments jump 20% to 31.2 million, beating the consensus estimate by a wide margin and helping the company beat profit forecasts, increased competition is clearly taking a toll on profitability. ?Samsung and other Android-powered smartphones provide different, and in some cases, cheaper alternatives to Apple?s iPhones, while the return of the Blackberry and the prospects of Windows powered phones could make it harder to gain share.

This fact is clearly expressed in Apple?s supplemental documents, where they break out revenue and unit metrics per device.? A year ago, Apple was making $607.85 per iPhone in revenue, while today the company reported $581.10 per unit.? The same fact shows up with iPads, Apple second-best selling device, with 14.6 million units shipped in the third quarter.? Apple now makes $436.07 in revenue per iPad, a 15% decline from a year ago.

Interestingly, Apple saw increases in average revenue per unit in two of their least loved products.? While iPod shipments tanked 32% to 4.57 million from a year ago, Apple now records $160.43 per unit, compared to $157.01 previously.? And amid talks of the end of the PC era, with shipments ticking down to 3.8 million, Apple saw revenues per unit grow 6.2% to $1,303.41.

Apple has clearly relied on the iPhone as their main product over the past several years, also benefiting from the rise of the tablet and the dominance of their iPads.? But with margins per product declining, and competition becoming intense, it will become increasingly difficult for Tim Cook & Co. to deliver growth levels seen in previous years.

In the press release, Tim Cook stated, ?we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014,? while in the conference call, he noted he doesn?t believe the high-end smartphone market is saturated. ?Cook will have to put his money where his mouth is if he wants to prove he?s right.

Beyond the unexpected jump in iPhone sales, Tuesday?s earnings release revealed other bright spots.? With Apple?s cash stash rising to $146.6 billion, it is encouraging to see research and development spend jump 33.6% in the nine months to June 29, hitting $3.3 billion.? Furthermore, revenues from iTunes, software, and services surged 25% to $3.99 billion, becoming the fastest growing product by far over the past 12 months.

Investors were clearly pleased with Apple?s fiscal third quarter, rewarding the company with a substantial share price increase in the post-market session.? The stock did slowly begin to make its way lower, though, and by 6:00 PM in New York was trading up 3.5% to $433.60.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2013/07/23/apples-strong-iphone-sales-mask-falling-revenue-per-unit-as-gross-margins-contract/

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Tips on how to Decide the Best Health and fitness Shoe for just a ...

Pick the best pair of health and fitness shoes could make or separate just about any attempt at having a prolonged exercise routine. Incorrect boots is painful as well as damage, and that is non what beneficial workouts are exactly about. While you shop, take with you your individual sports socks or even just about any shoe insert gadgets you require to help you better test out how a brake shoe will certainly match once you work out.

Know very well what you would like to utilize the running shoe with regard to. Do not fair choose a footwear that appears beneficial as well as can feel easy. Taking walks footwear must be firmer at the base, smoother on top, together with stronger service in the back and front due to motion ones ft . follows. Running sneakers needs to be far more accommodating, rich person far better adhesive friction and become to a greater extent cushioned for the more substantial impact your Nike CTR360 III ELITE base will need. Basketball or maybe tennis Football Boots Online shoes need documentation around the features considering that the animal foot will minimize along with transfer several route.

Receive installed for ones footwear during the night time. Being on your toes throughout the day will always make these people tumesce, around 50 % any footwear size by the remainder of waking time. The best and also remaining base aren?t specifically similar and so do each foot tested regarding measurement as well as breadth and begin looking in alternatives.

Circumambulate the video store and also leap around, simulating the act of the feet, while try-on the actual shoes or boots. Test them out in tricky types of surface, not just carpeting. Choose a 1 / 2-? involving living space between your end of this bottom plus the boot. Analyze the flexibility by driving upon the actual toes. If the back heel slipping out, the shoe is way too inflexible. Get up on one foot or so in addition to device the particular foot or so laterally. If your foot slips laterally the upper part of the brake shoe seriously isn?t governing the base plenty of.

Put on shoes or boots from several different producers. Invest the majority 1 hour try-on footwear. When they will not really feel veracious, do not buy these individuals. Don?t ever have to break shoes.

Realize perhaps full sneakers will certainly need replacing. Exercise place really should be employed only reserved for training, certainly not everyday, every day work with. Numerous gurus suggest that sportsmen or ramblers really should substitute sneakers each ccc to d kilometers. Another rule would be to change these one or more times 12 months in case you determine frequently.

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Source: http://psopsay.com/tips-on-how-to-decide-the-best-health-and-fitness-shoe-for-just-a-foot-or-so/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tips-on-how-to-decide-the-best-health-and-fitness-shoe-for-just-a-foot-or-so

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In zombies, Israelis and Arabs find common enemy

JERUSALEM (AP) ? In one of the central scenes of the summer blockbuster movie "World War Z," Israeli troops funnel Palestinian refugees to safety in Jerusalem behind a massive concrete wall. There, the Arabs and Jews embrace, dance and sing ? shortly before they are all engulfed by bloodthirsty zombies.

Even for such an over-the-top work of science fiction, in which billions of people come back from the dead as horrific zombies to terrorize Earth, one of the most improbable plotlines of the film is that Israelis and Palestinians are fighting on the same side.

Granted, the film assumes that a post-apocalyptic world and a supernatural common enemy are needed to achieve such harmony. But the image of an elusive Mideast peace, coupled with the film's overall positive portrayal of Israel, have not been lost among the region's war-weary moviegoers.

"It's a fantasy, and it seems ridiculous to those who live here, but it is still heartwarming to see Israelis and Palestinians coming together," said Yehuda Stav, a movie critic for the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot.

At the core of the cinematic coexistence lies a towering barrier Israel is praised for building to keep out zombies and protect inhabitants of the Holy Land ? Jews and Arabs alike. In reality, Israel's separation barrier with the West Bank ? which Israel says is meant to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers ? is much smaller but much more contentious. Palestinians call it a symbol of occupation that steals their land, hinders their movement and damages their crops.

In the film, Israel is praised for its savvy, survival instincts and peaceful intentions. It is credited with predicting the zombie invasion and preparing proper defenses, making it one of only two nations to prevent a lethal outbreak.

The other, North Korea, adopts a more draconian solution: It extracts the teeth of all its citizen to prevent people from biting each other and spreading the deadly zombie virus.

The movie depicts the Israeli military as courageous and resourceful, the Israeli people as inviting and humane. Even Israel's often criticized system of West Bank checkpoints is portrayed as an effective tool to protect both sides.

"If it weren't for the zombies in the background, you'd think this was an engineered campaign of the Defense Ministry to strengthen Israel's status in the world," Israeli movie critic Chen Hadad wrote in City Mouse magazine. The movie opened in Israel last week.

Such a futuristic Israel in "World War Z" has sparked outrage in the real Arab world, where bloggers and moviegoers have slammed the film as a love song to Israel.

"It's free propaganda for Israel at a time when it occupies other people," complained Ramzi Taweel, a 38-year-old Palestinian cartoonist from Ramallah in the West Bank. "It portrays Israel as a moral power that protects human beings. It justifies the wall. ... The Israeli occupation army in the movie is a humane army that protects the world."

In Lebanon, it is showing in theaters, but some of the Israel scenes have been censored or edited out. It also has been widely distributed in the Gulf, where it has received some thumbs down.

"I don't think it was trying to justify Israel's occupation, but it was glorifying the Israelis by emphasizing peace and harmony of the two nations, which is far from the truth," moviegoer Aleena Khan told the Dubai-based Gulf News. "It was a very rose-tinted version of what the relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians actually is."

But even the fictional love fest comes at a cost.

(Spoiler alert: Readers who have not seen the movie may want to read no further.)

Since the zombies are drawn to noise, the raucous Israeli-Palestinian celebrations prove to be their demise. Their joint rendition of a popular Hebrew song of peace wakes the undead from their slumber, and they ultimately catapult over the wall and bite everything in sight.

Such scenes have raised philosophical debates in the blogosphere about whether the movie is actually for or against Israel's real-life separation barrier.

The setting of "World War Z" migrates to Jerusalem after its hero, Gerry Lane, played by Brad Pitt, arrives to figure out how the Israelis have created a safe zone from zombies. There he meets the chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency, who cites the experiences of the Holocaust, the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympians in Munich and the surprise war Arabs launched on Israel the following year as lessons that taught the Jewish state to prepare for the unexpected. The spymaster tells Pitt's character that Israel envisioned the threat because officials are encouraged to play devil's advocate, with someone offering a dissenting view if everyone else agrees.

Once pandemonium breaks loose, Pitt manages to escape thanks to a cunning, courageous female soldier, played by Israeli actress Daniella Kertesz, who helps him save the world. Aside from her name, Segen, which is actually Hebrew for the rank of lieutenant, the Israeli depictions are fairly accurate. Though shot in Malta, the scenes appear authentic, as do the street signs, the uniforms and the characters' Hebrew accents.

The rare Hollywood focus on Israel has elicited local pride, with crowds cheering at the sight of the Israeli flag and giggling during Hebrew dialogue.

"It shows that we are strong, we fight to the end and don't give up, but also are willing to help others," Ohad Ben-Aharon, a 19-year-old soldier in the Israeli air force, said after a recent screening in Jerusalem. "It's fictional, but there is also an optimistic message ? that there can be peace."

Another moviegoer was Mark Regev, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman.

His takeaway?

"We hope the Palestinians indeed agree to live in peace with Israel before the zombies invade."

____

Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank; Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed to this report.

____

Follow Aron Heller on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aronhellerap .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-07-19-ML-Israel-Zombies/id-aad35cf00271453397a3e20be16526d2

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Chocolate: The Scent That Could Save Struggling Bookstores -

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Great news for independent booksellers striving to keep their shops profitable in an Amazon-dominated marketplace. Researchers in Belgium have discovered a simple, inexpensive way to keep customers in the store longer and, quite possibly, boost sales.

They report shoppers are more likely to engage in leisurely browsing?and ultimately purchase books in certain popular genres, including romance novels?if the store is infused with the scent of chocolate.

Writing in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, a research team led by Lieve Douc? of Hasselt University describes a 10-day experiment conducted in a general-interest bookstore in Belgium.

?Retailers can make use of pleasant ambient scents to improve the store environment, leading consumers to explore the store.?

For approximately half of its open-for-business hours (either morning or afternoon, depending upon the specific day), the scent of chocolate was dispersed into the store from two locations. The smell was subtle enough that it wasn?t immediately noticeable, but strong enough so that it could be instantly identified once it was pointed out.

Researchers tracked the actions of every fifth customer to enter the store?a total of 201 people. They report that when the scent was activated, shoppers showed a greater tendency to take their time, check out a variety of titles, and/or chat with an employee.

Specifically, ?customers were 2.22 times more likely to closely examine multiple books when the chocolate scent was present in the store, compared with the control condition,? they write.

In addition, when the aroma was present, shoppers were less likely to search out one specific book and take it directly to the cash register. Something about the store?s environment made them want to hang out a bit longer than they perhaps had planned.

The researchers tracked sales of books in four popular genres. A panel of students had previously ranked two of them (food and drink and romance novels) as congruent with the smell of chocolate, and another two (history books and mysteries/crime thrillers) as particularly incongruent with that aroma. Altogether, 119 of the 201 tracked shoppers bought at least one book in one of those categories.

They report sales for books in the first category increased by an impressive 40 percent when the chocolate smell was in the air. Perhaps even more encouragingly, those in the second category also rose, by a more modest but still substantial 22 percent, over the hours when the store was scentless.

Interestingly, the customers were more likely to check out the crime thrillers and history volumes when the aroma was absent. The scent of chocolate apparently steered people away from those genres.

But after controlling for the gender of the observed shoppers, sales of those books increased anyway during the chocolate-scented hours, apparently because those who did peruse the mystery or history aisles were more likely to buy multiple volumes.

These results lead the authors to offer some practical advice: ?Retailers can make use of pleasant ambient scents to improve the store environment, leading consumers to explore the store.? Ideally, they add, the scents should be congruent with the merchandise on sale?say, the salty smell of the sea for a surf shop.

It?s certainly worth a try for hard-pressed independent bookstores?or even for a certain struggling chain. Indeed, the customer-pleasing power of chocolate might even inspire thoughts of a merger. Who wouldn?t want to shop at Barnes and Nestl?s?

Source: http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/chocolate-the-scent-that-could-save-struggling-bookstores-62847/

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Claas Acquires Chinese Agricultural Machinery Manufacture

On 16th July, a contract confirming this was signed by the Chinese shareholder and Claas. As is usually the case with transactions of this kind, the conclusion of the contract is contingent upon obtaining approval from the national authorities, among others.

Dr. Theo Freye, Spokesman of the CLAAS Executive Board;
Jinying Ma, Chairwoman Shandong Jinyee Maschinery Manufacture Co. Ltd.

The spokesperson for Claas management, Dr. Theo Freye, said "China is the largest and fastest-growing market for agricultural engineering in Asia ? a market in which Claas has been represented for many years. By acquiring the majority share in Jinyee, we are creating local production capacity for machines aimed at the Chinese market. Through expanding our product range, we anticipate creating impetus for growth for Claas in other markets and Claas locations. We have production plants in the Western and Central European markets, as well as in the USA, Russia and India. Purchasing a production plant in China is another step towards Asia ? a step that fits in with our long-term focus on this area."

The mechanisation of agriculture in China is developing rapidly; driven by the changing demands for food (towards greater consumption of meat), the growing population and migration. Claas wants to use this acquisition to take advantage of the enormous potential for growth that it provides.

Jinyee produces various harvesting machines, mainly for the maize and wheat harvest, at two main sites in Gaomi and Daqing. Each of the sites lies right in the heart of a main agricultural region ? one in Central China and the other in North-Eastern China.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/StackyardNews/~3/9bWuvcLXusM/11_claas_china.html

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AEG attacks projection of $1B earnings for Jackson

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? An expert who projected Michael Jackson could have earned more than $1 billion on his comeback concerts testified Tuesday that his analysis didn't include a breakdown of the singer's yearly earnings over his lifetime and projected a longer concert tour than the superstar had ever performed.

Arthur Erk, a certified public accountant who is an expert in musicians' royalties, said his analysis didn't take into consideration figures detailing Jackson's spending over the years.

His projection that Jackson would have earned between $1.1 billion and $1.5 billion if he performed a 37-month, 260-show tour and crafted a Las Vegas show came under attack Tuesday by a lawyer for concert promoter AEG Live LLC. He said his figures were a conservative estimate of Jackson's earning potential if he had lived.

AEG Live attorney Sabrina Strong attacked Erk's projections, saying they were inconsistent with Jackson's historical spending, earnings or figures of how many sold-out shows Jackson would have performed.

"It wasn't a matter of history," Erk said. "This was going to be a final extravaganza. He was going to do a blowout tour, he would have earned a lot of money."

Erk is testifying for Jackson's mother in her lawsuit against AEG Live, claiming the company is liable for her son's death because it failed to properly investigate the doctor who administered a fatal overdose of an anesthetic propofol in June 2009. At the time of his death, Jackson was preparing for 50 comeback concerts in London called "This Is It," but there was the possibility the singer would have embarked on a worldwide tour.

The accountant based his calculations on documents prepared by AEG, but on cross-examination conceded that the company never projected the singer would earn more than $1 billion after the "This Is It" shows opened. He said he didn't have information regarding Jackson's earnings over his lifetime.

Erk's estimate contemplated Jackson receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in merchandise, endorsement deals and royalties from a Las Vegas show based on his music and archival footage.

Strong showed Erk a chart that showed that Jackson's three previous solo tours comprised 275 shows over a 10-year span. She challenged Erk's contention that he was being conservative by projecting Jackson would have performed 260 shows over a three-year period.

Strong also attacked Erk's calculation that Jackson would have spent $134 million between ages 50 and 65. She cited testimony from Jackson's former business managers and accountants in depositions that Jackson was historically outspending his earnings by millions of dollars each year.

Jackson died an estimated $400 million in debt.

Strong also questioned Erk whether he should have taken into account Jackson's reputation after his acquittal on child molestation charges and when he dangled his infant son Blanket off a hotel balcony in 2002. Erk said those didn't matter in his projections.

Plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish said Erk's projections were based on AEG's plans to do a worldwide tour, and the company had no qualms about spending millions of dollars to prepare for the "This Is It" shows.

He said he planned to show that some of AEG's points brought out on cross-examination were not right.

"We're not done yet," Panish said.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aeg-attacks-projection-1b-earnings-jackson-183525259.html

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