# What's the dumbest thing you've done?



## fuzzybuddy (Sep 6, 2015)

Yeah. You know. What's the dumbest thing you've done. It's hard for me to pick out the "dumbest", I've done so much dumb stuff. Just last week, I was home all day, when I noticed I had a message on my land line phone.  Why didn't I hear my phone ring? I called me via my cell and it DIDN"T RING. I called my phone company helpline. I got Tim. I told him my phone wouldn't ring. He tried one thing and nope, no ring. He tried some other thing and nope, no ring. For 20 long minutes,Tim tried all kinds of things and he couldn't get my phone to ring. Frustrated,Tim got his supervisor involved, and the two of them tried to figure out what was wrong. Then Tim casually said, " Now, you're sure you just don't have you ringtone shut off?" 

Uh Oh.   Yup.   The button was definitely in the off position.


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## Lon (Sep 6, 2015)

The dumbest thing I have ever done is to try (Unsuccessfully) and convince some hard heads on SF that I am really  a Political Independent when I really don't care if they believe it or not.


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## SeaBreeze (Sep 6, 2015)

Dumbest thing I've done was make a 'bone-in' lasagna.  Homemade sauce and all, used beef neck bones and simmered them too long so the bones started to splinter.  Of course I served it to my in-laws before my husband started picking bones out of his mouth.


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## Falcon (Sep 6, 2015)

Can you wait a bit until I get them sorted out until I can see which one was the dumbest?


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## jujube (Sep 6, 2015)

Shhhhh.....I'm trying to forget them.


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## imp (Sep 6, 2015)

Stole a car. 'Nuff said.   imp


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## tnthomas (Sep 6, 2015)

First thing that comes to mind:  marrying my second [ex] wife was not the best move I've made...


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## hollydolly (Sep 7, 2015)

Too many to mention and they're still ongoing...


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## mitchezz (Sep 7, 2015)

The one I can tell you about......I called a repairman because the clothes were coming out of the dryer still damp........he moved the switch from Warm to Hot.


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## Kadee (Sep 7, 2015)

Well ...where do I start ..One big huge mistake and the biggest in my life was marrying my ex ..who was a member of the Jehovas Witnesses.. ( he has been deceased for quite a while ) .I won't say anymore or my BP will go up :upset::upset:


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## Bobw235 (Sep 7, 2015)

Went "scrapping" one time with a college friend and some other young guys.  Entailed going into an abandoned building in the middle of the night and pulling out the copper wire.  A really stupid thing to do, but then I was young and stupid at the time.  One of the guys nearly got electrocuted.


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## Pappy (Sep 7, 2015)

One, two, three...forget it. Can't count that high.


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## SifuPhil (Sep 7, 2015)

I owned the first of what would eventually become a series of martial arts studios back in 1983 and was wracking my brain trying to come up with some way to increase membership. I was 25 at the time.

I managed to get a nice slot in the big local mall at noon on a Saturday in December, ensuring my demo would be well attended.

I brought several of my students with me to show off their skills and to act as foils for my own tricks. Everything went well, even the self-defense demo where they gang-attacked me and left me "shattered" on the ground.

Then came the finale.

Four students surrounded me - three holding single 1" pine boards at various heights and one standing next to a small table-like structure containing 3-1" boards stacked on top of each other.

I had a blindfold placed over my eyes.

After a little dramatic build-up the stacked boards were doused with lighter fluid and set afire. I proceeded to break one board with a punch, one with an elbow and one with a jumping kick. That left the blazing stack.

Turning in that direction I paused for a moment, sensing the hush of the huge crowd that had by now gathered. Marshaling all of my internal energy I released a loud yell from my diaphragm and brought my right knife-hand down on the stack, knowing as I did so that I had never done it better. The boards shattered with a loud crack.

But there was no applause. 

I froze in place, standing in a crouch and with my right arm hanging at my side, my ears questing for that expected (and to be truthful, desired) congratulatory roar of the crowd.

Nothing.

My ears having failed to pick up any clues, my other senses - with my eyes still covered, this meant mainly my sense of smell - kicked in. I smelled something, a familiar smell, one that I had encountered ... where? ... yes, yes, now I realized - it was the smell of burning hair I had sniffed when I accompanied my wife to the hairdressers. 

Immediately upon solving this riddle another sense - the sense of touch - kicked in full volume. 

My arm was on fire.

Turns out I had done the break perfectly but had neglected to withdraw my arm from the danger zone fast enough. As a result my arm hairs - and they are voluminous - as well as the sleeve of my uniform had caught on fire.

What followed, dear readers, was either horrifying or hilarious, depending upon your sense of humor. I fell to my knees and waved my arms in the air like I just didn't care, while a gradually increasing keening escaped my lips. like an angry cat being struck against a large set of windchimes.



After what seemed like an eternity one of my students - the one holding the fire extinguisher just in case - came forward and gave me a liberal dousing of dry chemical extinguisher. Only then did the crowd start a tentative applause, and as I stood up in the cloud of smoke like an apparition on Halloween, removed my blindfold and took a bow with my still-smoldering arm held stiffly at my side I decided I had enough students in my school for the time being.


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## QuickSilver (Sep 7, 2015)

Got married at 18....... to the wrong person.


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## Ameriscot (Sep 7, 2015)

Too many to rate the worst one!


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## hollydolly (Sep 7, 2015)

Dear God Phil, did you sustain any scarring from the burns.?? Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!!!!!!!


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## Davey Jones (Sep 7, 2015)

tnthomas said:


> First thing that comes to mind:  marrying my second [ex] wife was not the best move I've made...




Mine was marrying the first one. (g)


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## AprilT (Sep 7, 2015)

I once ran a speed dating business titled it quick dates. Dumb, dumb, dumb.  You don't want to know about the calls I received to the business, I had to change and re-register the name rather quickly after the first month, it wasn't even funny for a minute at the time.


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## applecruncher (Sep 7, 2015)

Among the many dumb things I did was to refuse a full college scholarship because I’d decided on a different college – HOWEVER, I was only 16.  They (hs guidance counselor and the college rep) should have called in my parents instead of accepting my refusal).

Another one was refusing a promotion because boss and I were feuding and I knew he wanted me in that other position.  It paid a little more but required a lot more travel.  But in the long term it would have been a good career move...…~~> cut off nose, spite face.

Lots more, but I'll stop now.


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## SifuPhil (Sep 7, 2015)

hollydolly said:


> Dear God Phil, did you sustain any scarring from the burns.?? Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!!!!!!!



Amazingly, no. 

But the _mental_ scars ... _they_ remain ... every time I go camping I have this insatiable urge to put marshmallows on my arm and ... OH, the _horror_ ... :sorrow:


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## AZ Jim (Sep 7, 2015)

Lon said:


> The dumbest thing I have ever done is to try (Unsuccessfully) and convince some hard heads on SF that I am really  a Political Independent when I really don't care if they believe it or not.



You are an independent like all the other republicans who try on sheep's clothing!


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## AZ Jim (Sep 7, 2015)

After living this long I am supposed to remember and weigh severity of my dumb moves?


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## ndynt (Sep 7, 2015)

Would not know where to begin...and they continue.   
Ohhhh Phil...how very painful.


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## SifuPhil (Sep 7, 2015)

ndynt said:


> Ohhhh Phil...how very painful.



As Patrick Swayze said in the movie _Roadhouse_ - 




... of course, I'm not Patrick Swayze ...


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## Lara (Sep 7, 2015)

Dumbest thing I've done is to walk into the political & hot topics forum and presume I was going to have fun :rofl:


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## ndynt (Sep 7, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> As Patrick Swayze said in the movie _Roadhouse_ -
> 
> 
> View attachment 21137
> ...


  No Phil you are not.... sadly he did not have your sense of humor :bigwink:


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## SifuPhil (Sep 7, 2015)

ndynt said:


> No Phil you are not.... sadly he did not have your sense of humor :bigwink:



And I did not have his looks.


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## hollydolly (Sep 7, 2015)

SifuPhil said:


> Amazingly, no.
> 
> But the _mental_ scars ... _they_ remain ... every time I go camping I have this insatiable urge to put marshmallows on my arm and ... OH, the _horror_ ... :sorrow:





LOL>>> you're nuts!! :lofl:


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## AZ Jim (Sep 7, 2015)

AprilT said:


> I once ran a speed dating business titled it quick dates. Dumb, dumb, dumb.  You don't want to know about the calls I received to the business, I had to change and re-register the name rather quickly after the first month, it wasn't even funny for a minute at the time.


  Ahhhhhhhh so it was YOU who hung up on me...


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## AprilT (Sep 7, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> Ahhhhhhhh so it was YOU who hung up on me...


:lol1:


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## Cookie (Sep 7, 2015)

So so many poor choices and dumb occurrences, I wouldn't know where to start.


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## debbie in seattle (Sep 7, 2015)

applecruncher said:


> Among the many dumb things I did was to refuse a full college scholarship because I’d decided on a different college – HOWEVER, I was only 16.  They (hs guidance counselor and the college rep) should have called in my parents instead of accepting my refusal


*Our youngest daughter pulled that...........took her many years to pay off her tuition.   *


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## debbie in seattle (Sep 7, 2015)

I'm queen of dumb sometimes, these two......my husband was even shocked.

#1   Was getting quotes on a new fence for our yard.   One of guys noticed an antique lamp I had and me, not thinking, told him 'hey, look at this one if you think that one's nice'.   By the time I realized what I just did, we were in our guest bedroom standing before the lamp.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.   It was as if we both realized at the same time where we were.   He left quickly and didn't win the bid, and he had the best price, I was just too embarrassed.

#2   To this day, I'm still bothered by this one...................It was when the census folks were coming around.   Our doorbell rang and standing there was a portly gentleman with all these lanyards around his neck (I thought that was weird, but that's as far as it went).   He claimed he was trying to reach our neighbors across the street and did I know anything about them.  Told the guy they were never home so couldn't help.   He then stated he forgot which house and could I come outside and show him again.   I readily walked out our front door and in our driveway he started acting screwy and there was just something that went off in my mind that told me he wasn't on the up and up and what was the real deal.   I think he realized I was questioning his sincerity and he turned and walked away as fast as he could.   I still wonder what was going on and think I'm lucky nothing happened to me.


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## SifuPhil (Sep 7, 2015)

Debbie, #2 - good thing your Spider-Sense kicked in, because that really DID sound screwy.


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## GeorgiaXplant (Sep 7, 2015)

Too many to list. Waaaay too many tied for dumbest.


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## imp (Sep 7, 2015)

Bobw235 said:


> Went "scrapping" one time with a college friend and some other young guys.  Entailed going into an abandoned building in the middle of the night and pulling out the copper wire.  A really stupid thing to do, but then I was young and stupid at the time.  One of the guys nearly got electrocuted.



But you were not "caught in the act"?    imp


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## applecruncher (Sep 7, 2015)

Lara said:


> Dumbest thing I've done is to walk into the political & hot topics forum and presume I was going to have fun :rofl:



Really?? Everyday is a learning experience, n'est-ce pas?


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## Pappy (Sep 8, 2015)

The dumbest thing I did two years ago, was let a vacuum cleaner salesman in the house. This was a well rehearsed company as the driver would drive away and leave the salesman until he called the driver back after the sale. I never let salesmen in my house but this time I had a mental brain fart. After about an hour of his BS, I actually threatened to call the police. Never, ever, will this happen again.

Oh, and the price started at $4,500 and before he left, dropped to $1,800. Hmmm.


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## Lara (Sep 8, 2015)

applecruncher said:


> Really?? Everyday is a learning experience, n'est-ce pas?


I never said it wasn't a learning experience. I said it wasn't fun.


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## applecruncher (Sep 8, 2015)

Lara said:


> I never said it wasn't a learning experience. I said it wasn't fun.



The "really" was sarcastic.
Oh I know it's not fun.
And I'm the one who brought up learning experience...for reasons not worth talking about.


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## Linda (Sep 8, 2015)

I was traveling to Sweden with my 15 year old granddaughter a few years ago and I tried to smuggle my bottle of liquid foundation (make-up) through security at Heathrow Airport.  I thought they would take it away from me and I'd just paid $15 for it so didn't want to give it up.  Well, I was pulled out of line and the lady had me dump out my tote bag and she went through it, held up the foundation and told me to put it in a plastic bag and move on.  I said "You aren't going to take it away from me?" and she said "No, we just want it in a plastic bag so it won't spill."  I thought because it was a bottle of liquid over a certain weight they would confiscate it.


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## applecruncher (Sep 8, 2015)

Linda, I'm confused. What did you do with the foundation that was dumb?


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## jujube (Sep 8, 2015)

Lending a large amount of money years ag to someone who, in retrospect, I should have realized would never pay it back.  I am now smarter but definitely poorer.


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## applecruncher (Sep 8, 2015)

jujube, many people have had to learn that lesson the hard way. Large or small amount, if you can spare the money it's better to give (not loan) money and to never mention it again to anyone.

If you can't spare it, just say No - something a lot of people have a hard time doing.


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## Bobw235 (Sep 8, 2015)

imp said:


> But you were not "caught in the act"?    imp



We were not, but to further add to our "adventure", after loading up a van full of wire, making our way out of a tiny street level window, in the early dawn, one of our merry band nearly fell out of the van as it rounded a corner.  Never did anything like that again, but at the time used the money to take my future wife out for a nice dinner.


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## imp (Sep 8, 2015)

Bobw235 said:


> We were not, but to further add to our "adventure", after loading up a van full of wire, making our way out of a tiny street level window, in the early dawn, one of our merry band nearly fell out of the van as it rounded a corner.  Never did anything like that again, but at the time used the money to take my future wife out for a nice dinner.



Now, ya tempted my curiosity! Mind if I ask whereabouts this wire deal took place?   imp


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## Bobw235 (Sep 8, 2015)

Boston area.


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## Kitties (Sep 8, 2015)

The house I bought in 2011. Now I have to decide buy again or rent forever.


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## Falcon (Sep 8, 2015)

Watched an entire infomercial.


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## charlotta (Sep 8, 2015)

I'm going to write a  book about the crazies I have create in my life.  I will let u know when it is published.


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## Linda (Sep 9, 2015)

applecruncher said:


> Linda, I'm confused. What did you do with the foundation that was dumb?



I'm sorry, I didn't make myself clear there, I was really tired when I wrote that.  When we got to a certain point there we were told to put everything liq over a certain weight (I forget what it was, but it wasn't much) out on a counter or table and put it in a clear plastic bag.  We were then suppose to take the clear plastic bag or bags along through customs and "declare" them.  So I assumed they were going to take it away from me, and I think it was "dumb" to try and smuggle the foundation through customs as I should have known their xray equipment would see it in my tote bag. And that wasn't the dumbest thing I ever did by a long shot, but it was the first thing I thought of when I read your post.


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## ndynt (Sep 10, 2015)

Bobw235 said:


> Boston area.


My first reaction to your post, Bob was "How could he not love the Boston area".  Then laughed...for I left it and am now living in Florida.  :bigwink:


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## Shalimar (Sep 10, 2015)

Nona, I thought you were living in Florida?


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## Lara (Sep 10, 2015)

I think she meant to say florida….just a typoish kinda thing


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## ndynt (Sep 10, 2015)

Thanks Shali.  Cannot believe I did that.  They just brought it a very senile roomate.  She is moaning and rambling.  I have enough trouble keeping my mind on track without this new distraction


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## Shalimar (Sep 10, 2015)

Sorry to hear that, Nona. That must be very trying for you. Hugs, hopefully you will be home soon.


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## ndynt (Sep 10, 2015)

I was so happy that the previous one was sent to a nursing home...she was claustraphobic, with a anxiety disorder and had copd, insisting that the room temp remain at 68. TV and all the lights on all night.  This one is worse...she is now trying to get out of bed.  Bless the aide, she is so very patient with her.  Cest la vie.....but, please shoot me if I get like that.  Sorry, hijacking this thread.


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## fuzzybuddy (Sep 10, 2015)

That last one just happened. I came out of Rite Aid, got in my car, but the key didn't work. Then I noticed a woman sitting in the passenger seat. Ya see, I drove in alone. I had gotten in the wrong car. And it wasn't the same make or color as mine????? The woman didn't yell or anything. I excused myself and got in my OWN car.


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## fishfulthinking (Sep 10, 2015)

After some considerable thought I think this was one of mydumbest…
In my teens a handful of friends and I went to a house partthat was near an outdoor public swimming pool. Here in my city these are few because we have insane long winters.  Anyhooo, after said party we decided becauseit was such a hot night out we would walk over to the pool and climb the chainlink fence and go for a skinny dip.  Wellall was fun until the local police showed up.  Nothing dumb about this yet. However…. They came right up to the fence and told us to get out of thepool.  Then told us to come over to thefence so they could talk to us.  Us beingthe very naïve teens that we were, we obeyed. Back in the day, we did exactly what any authority told us.  Looking back how dumb were we…. Those copsjust wanted to a free look at a handful of nude teens. Looking back I did havethe right to put my clothing back on me thinks. Dumb Dumb Dumb. .... and embarassing


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## Cookie (Sep 10, 2015)

Not the dumbest thing I've ever done, but still, not paying attention when I got off the elevator at the wrong floor and proceeded to try my key in a lock that was not mine, which of course didn't work.  I was glad no one was watching.


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## lb1818 (Sep 10, 2015)

Definitely the dumbest thing I ever did was to take up smoking at 16


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## chic (Sep 11, 2015)

Years ago I purchased AAPL x 120 @ $12.60 per share and sold at $55.00.

Stupid, stupid stupid.


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## GeorgiaXplant (Sep 13, 2015)

After having thought about this for a few days, I have to amend my response. The single dumbest thing I've ever done was to retire again. I had the idea that even though I've already retired three times, this time would be different. It's not. I hate it.

If there's anybody reading this who is a sitter-arounder, think long and hard about retiring. Maybe work part-time instead of full-time? Unless you have a plan in place to occupy the time that you work now, don't retire. 

The loss of income is nothing compared to the loss of activity.

I'm not a joiner sort of person nor a volunteer sort of person. The one thing that I'd have liked to do would be to volunteer at the library. Unfortunately, with taxes having been cut and cut and then cut more, places like our library have had to cut, too. Their hours have been shortened so much and so often, that they don't even have things for their volunteers to do anymore. When I inquired, they said they have a waiting list.


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## SeaBreeze (Sep 25, 2015)

Maybe not the dumbest, but most current...today.   My old flip cellphone was low on charge, so yesterday I plugged it into a power strip in my computer room like I always do.  Today when I went to take it off, it hadn't charged.  It's an old phone, and I thought the battery was shot, even though I rarely use it.

  So, called my husband in to look at it, as I thought the charger piece wasn't going into the phone deep enough for some reason.  Hubby checked it out, looked at the strip and told me the power to it was off.  Before we went on vacation, I clicked the power off and forgot all about it, didn't use that strip for anything else.  Pretty dumb, but it's charged now.


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