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  • Thinking differently about BI delivery

    - by jamiet
    My day job involves implementing Business Intelligence (BI) solutions which, as I have said before, is simply about giving people the information they need to do their jobs. I’m always interested in learning about new ways of achieving that aim and that is my motivation for writing blog entries that are not concerned with SQL or SQL Server per se. Implementing BI systems usually involves hacking together a bunch third party products with some in-house “glue” and delivering information using some shiny, expensive web-based front-end tool; the list of vendors that supply such tools is big and ever-growing. No doubt these tools have their place and of late I have started to wonder whether they can be supplemented with different ways of delivering information. The problem I have with these separate web-based tools is exactly that – they are separate web-based tools. What’s the problem with that you might ask? I’ll explain! They force the information worker to go somewhere unfamiliar in order to get the information they need to do their jobs. Would it not be better if we could deliver information into the tools that those information workers are already using and not force them to go somewhere else? I look at the rise of blogging over recent years and I realise that what made them popular is that people can subscribe to RSS feeds and have information pushed to them in their tool of choice rather than them having to go and find the information for themselves in a tool that has been foisted upon them. Would it not be a good idea to adopt the principle of subscription for the benefit of delivering BI information as well? I think it would and in the rest of this blog entry I’ll outline such a scenario where the power of subscription could be used to enhance the delivery of information to information workers. Typical questions that information workers ask might be: What are my year-on-year sales figures? What was my footfall yesterday? How many widgets have I sold so far today? Each of those questions includes a time element and that shouldn’t surprise us, any BI system that I have worked on includes the dimension of time. Now, what do people use to view and organise their time-oriented information? Its not a trick question, they use a calendar and in the enterprise space more often than not that calendar is managed using Outlook. Given then that information workers are already looking at their calendar in Outlook anyway would it not make sense then to deliver information into that same calendar? Of course it would. Calendars are a great way of visualising information such as sales figures. Observe: Just in this single screenshot I have managed to convey a multitude of information. The information worker can see, at a glance, information about hourly/daily/weekly/monthly sales and, moreover, he/she is viewing that information right inside the tool that they use every day. There is no effort on the part of him/her, the information just appears hour after hour, day after day. Taking the idea further, each one of those calendar items could be a mini-dashboard in its own right. Double-clicking on an item could show a plethora of other information about that time slot such as breaking the sales down per region or year-over-year comparisons. Perhaps the title could employ a sparkline? Loads of possibilities. The point is that calendars are a completely natural way to visualise information; we should make more use of them! The real beauty of delivering information using calendars for us BI developers is that it should be so easy. In the case of Outlook we don’t need to write complicated VBA code that can go and manipulate a person’s calendar, simply publishing data in a format that Outlook can understand is sufficient and happily such formats already exist; iCalendar is the accepted format and the even more flexible xCalendar is hopefully on its way as well.   I’d like to make one last point and this one is with my SQL Server hat on. Reporting Services 2008 R2 introduced the ability to publish data as subscribable Atom feeds so it seems logical that it could also be a vehicle for delivering calendar feeds too. If you think this would be a good idea go and vote for it at Publish data as iCalendar feeds and please please please add some comments (especially if you vote it down). Work smarter, not harder! @Jamiet Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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  • Thinking Local, Regional and Global

    - by Apeksha Singh-Oracle
    The FIFA World Cup tournament is the biggest single-sport competition: it’s watched by about 1 billion people around the world. Every four years each national team’s manager is challenged to pull together a group players who ply their trade across the globe. For example, of the 23 members of Brazil’s national team, only four actually play for Brazilian teams, and the rest play in England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Ukraine. Each country’s national league, each team and each coach has a unique style. Getting all these “localized” players to work together successfully as one unit is no easy feat. In addition to $35 million in prize money, much is at stake – not least national pride and global bragging rights until the next World Cup in four years time. Achieving economic integration in the ASEAN region by 2015 is a bit like trying to create the next World Cup champion by 2018. The team comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. All have different languages, currencies, cultures and customs, rules and regulations. But if they can pull together as one unit, the opportunity is not only great for business and the economy, but it’s also a source of regional pride. BCG expects by 2020 the number of firms headquartered in Asia with revenue exceeding $1 billion will double to more than 5,000. Their trade in the region and with the world is forecast to increase to 37% of an estimated $37 trillion of global commerce by 2020 from 30% in 2010. Banks offering transactional banking services to the emerging market place need to prepare to repond to customer needs across the spectrum – MSMEs, SMEs, corporates and multi national corporations. Customers want innovative, differentiated, value added products and services that provide: • Pan regional operational independence while enabling single source of truth at a regional level • Regional connectivity and Cash & Liquidity  optimization • Enabling Consistent experience for their customers  by offering standardized products & services across all ASEAN countries • Multi-channel & self service capabilities / access to real-time information on liquidity and cash flows • Convergence of cash management with supply chain and trade finance While enabling the above to meet customer demands, the need for a comprehensive and robust credit management solution for effective regional banking operations is a must to manage risk. According to BCG, Asia-Pacific wholesale transaction-banking revenues are expected to triple to $139 billion by 2022 from $46 billion in 2012. To take advantage of the trend, banks will have to manage and maximize their own growth opportunities, compete on a broader scale, manage the complexity within the region and increase efficiency. They’ll also have to choose the right operating model and regional IT platform to offer: • Account Services • Cash & Liquidity Management • Trade Services & Supply Chain Financing • Payments • Securities services • Credit and Lending • Treasury services The core platform should be able to balance global needs and local nuances. Certain functions need to be performed at a regional level, while others need to be performed on a country level. Financial reporting and regulatory compliance are a case in point. The ASEAN Economic Community is in the final lap of its preparations for the ultimate challenge: becoming a formidable team in the global league. Meanwhile, transaction banks are designing their own hat trick: implementing a world-class IT platform, positioning themselves to repond to customer needs and establishing a foundation for revenue generation for years to come. Anand Ramachandran Senior Director, Global Banking Solutions Practice Oracle Financial Services Global Business Unit

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  • Thinking Sphinx with Rails - Delta indexing seems to work fine for one model but not for the other

    - by hack3r
    I have 2 models User and Discussion. I have defined the indices for the models as below: For the User model: define_index do indexes email indexes first_name indexes last_name, :sortable => true indexes groups(:name), :as => :group_names has "IF(email_confirmed = true and status = 'approved', true, false)", :as => :approved_user, :type => :boolean has "IF(email_confirmed = true and (status = 'approved' or status='blocked'), true, false)", :as => :approved_or_blocked_user, :type => :boolean has points, :type => :integer has created_at, :type => :datetime has user(:id) set_property :delta => true end For the Discussion model: define_index do indexes title indexes description indexes category(:title), :as => :category_title indexes tags(:title), :as => :tag_title has "IF(publish_to_blog = true AND sticky = false, true, false)", :as => :publish_to_main, :type => :boolean has created_at has updated_at, :type => :datetime has recent_activity_at, :type => :datetime has views_count, :type => :integer has featured has publish_to_blog has sticky set_property :delta => true end I have added a delta column to both tables as per the documentation. My problem is that delta indexing works only for the Discussion model and not for the User model. For ex: When I update the 'title' of a discussion, I can see the thinking sphinx is rotating the indices etc. (as is evident from the logs). But when I update the 'first_name' or the 'last_name' of a user, nothing happens. The User model also has a has_many :through association through a model called GroupsUser. I have setup a after_save on the GroupsUser as follows: def set_user_delta_flag user.delta = true user.save end Even this doesn't seem to trigger delta indexing on the User model. A similar setup for the Discussion model works perfectly! Can anyone tell me why this is happening?

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  • Thinking Sphinx index rebuild error on windows xp: searchd is already running

    - by Voldy
    I have Sphinx installed on windows xp system. A I use Thinking Sphinx plug-in within my rails application. I can't rebuild index with Thinking Sphinx rake task after application server starting up even if I stop it: Stopped search daemon (pid 4492). ... bla bla bla ... total 3 reads, 0.000 sec, 1.3 kb/call avg, 0.0 msec/call avg total 9 writes, 0.000 sec, 1.2 kb/call avg, 0.0 msec/call avg WARNING: could not open pipe (GetLastError()=2) rake aborted! searchd is already running. If I reload system, I can rebuild index. What do you think about? p.s: Does this question suited for serverfault.com?

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  • Does TDD lead to the good design?

    - by Eugen Martynov
    I'm in transition from "writing unit tests" state to TDD. I saw as Johannes Brodwall creates quite acceptable design from avoiding any of architecture phase before. I'll ask him soon if it was real improvisation or he had some thoughts upfront. I also clearly understand that everyone has experience that prevents to write explicit design bad patterns. But after participating in code retreat I hardly believe that writing test first could save us from mistakes. But I also believe that tests after code will lead to mistakes much faster. So this night question is asking for people who is using TDD for a long time share their experience about results of design without upfront thinking. If they really practice it and get mostly suitable design. Or it's my small understanding about TDD and probably agile.

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  • The Disloyalty Card

    - by David Dorf
    Let's take a break from technology for a second; please indulge me. (That's for you Erick.) A few months back, James Hoffmann reported that Gwilym Davies, the 2009 World Barista Champion, had implemented a rather unique idea for his cafe: the disloyalty card. His card lists eight nearby cafes in London that the cardholder must visit and try a coffee. After sampling all eight and collecting the required stamps, Gwilym provides a free coffee from his shop. His idea sends customers to his competitors. What does this say about Gwilym? First, it tells me he's confident in his abilities to make a mean cup of java. Second, it tells me he's truly passionate about his his trade. But was this a sound business endeavor? Obviously the risk is that one of his loyal customers might just find a better product at a competitor and not return. But the goal isn't really to strengthen his customer base -- its to strengthen the market, which will in turn provide more customers over the long run. This idea seems great for frequently purchased products like restaurants, bars, bakeries, music, and of course, cafes. Its probably not a good idea for high priced merchandise or infrequently purchased items like shoes, electronics, and housewares. Nevertheless, its a great example of thinking in reverse. Try this: Instead of telling your staff how you want customers treated, list out the ways you don't want customers treated. Why should you limit people's imagination and freedom to engage customers? Instead, give them guidelines to avoid the bad behavior, and leave them open to be creative with the positive behavior. Instead of asking the question, "how can we get more people in our stores?" try asking the inverse: "why aren't people visiting our stores?" Innovation doesn't only come from asking "why?" Often it comes from asking "why not?"

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  • What are your suggestions on learning how to think?

    - by Jonathan Khoo
    First of all, this is not the generic 'make me a better programmer' question, even though the outcome of asking this question might seem similar to it. On programmers.SE, I've read and seen these get closed here, here, here, here, and here. We all know there are a multitude of generic suggestions to hone your programming skills (e.g reading SO, reading recommended books, following blogs, getting involved in open-source projects, etc.). This is not what I'm after. I also acknowledge the active readership on this web site and am hoping it works in my favour by yielding some great answers. From reading correspondence here, there appears to be a vast number of experienced people who are working, or have worked, programming-related fields. And most of you can convey thoughts in an eloquent, concise manner. I've recently noticed the distinction between someone who's capable of programming and a programmer who can really think. I refuse to believe that in order to become great at programmer, we simply submit ourselves to a lifetime of sponge-like behaviour (i.e absorb everything related to our field by reading, listening, watching, etc.). I would even state that simply knowing every single programming concept that allows you to solve problem X faster than everyone around you, if you can't think, you're enormously limiting yourself - you're just a fast robot. I like to believe there's a whole other face of being a great programmer which is unrelated to how much you know about programming, but it is how well you can intertwine new concepts and apply them to your programming profession or hobby. I haven't seen anyone delve into, or address, this facet of the human mind and programming. (Yes, it's also possible that I haven't looked hard enough too - sorry if that's the case.) So for anyone who has spent any time thinking about what I've mentioned above - or maybe it's everyone here because I'm a little behind in my personal/professional development - what are your suggestions on learning how to think? Aside from the usual reading, what else have you done to be better than the other people in your/our field?

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  • How to correct a junior, but encourage him to think for himself? [closed]

    - by Phil
    I am the lead of a small team where everyone has less than a year of software development experience. I wouldn't by any means call myself a software guru, but I have learned a few things in the few years that I've been writing software. When we do code reviews I do a fair bit of teaching and correcting mistakes. I will say things like "This is overly complex and convoluted, and here's why," or "What do you think about moving this method into a separate class?" I am extra careful to communicate that if they have questions or dissenting opinions, that's ok and we need to discuss. Every time I correct someone, I ask "What do you think?" or something similar. However they rarely if ever disagree or ask why. And lately I've been noticing more blatant signs that they are blindly agreeing with my statements and not forming opinions of their own. I need a team who can learn to do things right autonomously, not just follow instructions. How does one correct a junior developer, but still encourage him to think for himself? Edit: Here's an example of one of these obvious signs that they're not forming their own opinions: Me: I like your idea of creating an extension method, but I don't like how you passed a large complex lambda as a parameter. The lambda forces others to know too much about the method's implementation. Junior (after misunderstanding me): Yes, I totally agree. We should not use extension methods here because they force other developers to know too much about the implementation. There was a misunderstanding, and that has been dealt with. But there was not even an OUNCE of logic in his statement! He thought he was regurgitating my logic back to me, thinking it would make sense when really he had no clue why he was saying it.

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  • How *not* to handle a compensation step on failure in an SSIS package

    - by James Luetkehoelter
    Just stumbed across this where I'm working. Someone created a global error handler for a package that included this SQL step: DELETE FROM Table WHERE DateDiff(MI, ExportedDate, GetDate()) < 5 So if the package runs for longer than 5 minutes and fails, nothing gets cleaned up. Please people, don't do this... Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!...(read more)

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  • Inspiring the method of teaching. Example- C++ :)

    - by Ashwin
    A year ago I graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering. Considering C++ as the first choice of programming language I have been in the process of learning C++ in many ways. At first - five years back - I had many conceptions, most of which were so abstract to me. It started when I knew almost everything about Structs in C and nothing about Classes in C++. I went through a great time experimenting them all and learning a lot. I had a hard time evaluating Procedural programming vs Object-Oriented Programming. Deciding when to choose Procedural or Object-Oriented Programming took a great deal of patience for me. I knew that I cannot underestimate any of these Programming styles... Though Procedural programming is often a better choice than simple sequential unstructured programming, when solving problems with procedural programming, we usually divide one problem into several steps in order regarded as functions. Then we call these functions one by one to get the result of the problem. When solving problems with Object Oriented Priciples we divide one problem into several classes and form the interaction between them. Evaluating these two at the beginning (as a learner) required a lot of inspiration and thoughts. Instructing to think step by step. Relative concepts to understand deeply. Intensive interests to contrast both solving in both POP and OOP. If you were ever a mentor: What ideas/methods would you teach to students in which it will Inspire them to learn a programming language (in general, computer sciences)?

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  • Is it possible to increase the levels of abstraction I can hold in my head/reason about at once? How would I go about this? [closed]

    - by invaliduser
    I'd like to be able to read through fifteen pages of assembly code and know what it does. I'd like to be able to write programs that write programs that write programs that write programs. We've made a lot of strides in taking load off our brains by with good tools (Chrome dev mode/Firebug for web stuff, REPL's for many languages, IDEs), but I'd like my brain to be able to handle a bigger load, as opposed to paring the load down with tools.

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  • How to solve programming problems using logic? [closed]

    - by md nth
    I know these principles: Define the constrains and operations,eg constrains are the rules that you cant pass and what you want determined by the end goal, operations are actions you can do, "choices" . Buy some time by solving easy and solvable piece. Halving the difficulty by dividing the project into small goals and blocks. The more blocks you create the more hinges you have. Analogies which means : using other code blocks, yours or from other programmers . which has problem similar to the current problem. Experiments not guessing by writing "predicted end" code, in other word creating a hypothesis, about what will happen if you do this or that. Use your tools first, don't begin with a unknown code first. By making small goals you ll not get frustrated. Start from smallest problem. Are there other principles?

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  • Thinking of Powerline adapters for networking

    - by Henderson McCoy
    will powerline work as good as wifi I am now in a large house (renting a room) and the router is in the front of the house and I am in the back. Don't know if wifi will have the range and stability so I am looking at all the alternatives from running a long cable to powerline. looks like a powerline adapter set will cost about $50 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Actiontec---500-Mbps-Powerline-Home-Theater-Network-Adapter-Kit/5215483.p?id=1218625358741&skuId=5215483 has anyone use these or other powerline adapters? how is powerlines speed? Are they more stable then wifi? powerline cost is good i am just currious about the performance

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  • Thinking about buying a LG 30" monitor

    - by evan
    I'd love to get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005115 but I'm wondering if I should hold out until more LED monitors are on the market. I love really like the brightness of the 27" imac monitor and the above monitor is only rated at 5 cd/m2 less than that monitor, but wouldn't a back lit monitor appear to be much brighter than an LCD monitor? Does anyone know how the above monitor compares to the 27" imac monitor? Why are Apple monitors in general so much more expensive than other monitors - just the brand name? I must be confused about how to read the specs? Thanks in advance for your input!

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  • thinking about moving to Trac

    - by Martin
    We're starting development and are at a point where we need a bug tracking site. Our code is in SVN and we're thinking of using Bugzilla, but setup is tricky. I'm considering going for Trac instead. From what I understand, Trac would need to be on the same machine as SVN. I'm really having a hard time parsing through the Trac documentation. What kind of things should I look for when I'll be migrating?

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  • Searching and sorting by a float field with thinking sphinx

    - by nathan Verni
    I'm using thinking sphinx to for search on a rails app. I have a float field called 'height'. I need to be able to search this field for exact values (i.e. exactly 6.0, not 6.5). I also need to be able to sort on the field. What I have so far: indexes height, :sortable => true Problem: doesn't sort properly, returns 6.0 and 6.5 if I search for '6'

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  • Benefits of programming (doing) versus reading blogs (thinking?)

    - by Xian
    I have come to a conclusion or realization that perhaps many developers I know including myself have a fanatical fascination with reading as many programming and technology blogs or listening to podcasts as humanly possible. I sometimes wonder if this time would be much better spent in actual coding and doing, rather than the incessant thinking and perhaps wondering what the "other guy" is doing? With a very large signal to noise ratio in most blogs and podcasts, is there real benefit in maintaining a huge and constant blog role.. or is this some primal fear or instinct to keep up the pace unless being left behind? Can they simply be relegated to Google search and just-in-time learning? Edit: (There are some amazing answers here and touch a philosophical nerve with me, if you are reading this for the first time, I recommend taking the time reading through the answers below)

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  • Making it look like the computer is thinking in TicTacToe game

    - by rage
    here is a slice of code that i've written in VB.net Private Sub L00_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles L00.Click, L01.Click, L02.Click, L03.Click, L10.Click, L11.Click, L12.Click, L13.Click, L20.Click, L21.Click, L22.Click, L23.Click, L30.Click, L31.Click, L32.Click, L33.Click Dim ticTac As Label = CType(sender, Label) Dim strRow As String Dim strCol As String 'Once a move is made, do not allow user to change whether player/computer goes first, because it doesn't make sense to do so since the game has already started. ComputerFirstStripMenuItem.Enabled = False PlayerFirstToolStripMenuItem.Enabled = False 'Check to make sure clicked tile is a valid tile i.e and empty tile. If (ticTac.Text = String.Empty) Then ticTac.Text = "X" ticTac.ForeColor = ColorDialog1.Color ticTac.Tag = 1 'After the player has made his move it becomes the computers turn. computerTurn(sender, e) Else MessageBox.Show("Please pick an empty tile to make next move", "Invalid Move") End If End Sub Private Sub computerTurn(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Call Randomize() row = Int(4 * Rnd()) col = Int(4 * Rnd()) 'Check to make sure clicked tile is a valid tile i.e and empty tile. If Not ticTacArray(row, col).Tag = 1 And Not ticTacArray(row, col).Tag = 4 Then ticTacArray(row, col).Text = "O" ticTacArray(row, col).ForeColor = ColorDialog2.Color ticTacArray(row, col).Tag = 4 checkIfGameOver(sender, e) Else 'Some good ole pseudo-recursion(doesn't require a base case(s)). computerTurn(sender, e) End If End Sub Everything works smoothly, except i'm trying to make it seem like the computer has to "think" before making its move. So what i've tried to do is place a System.Threading.Sleep() call in different places in the code above. The problem is that instead of making the computer look like its thinking, the program waits and then puts the X and O together at the same time. Can someone help me make it so that the program puts an X wherever i click AND THEN wait before it places an O? Edit: in case any of you are wondering, i realize that the computers AI is ridiculously dumb, but its just to mess around right now. Later on i will implement a serious AI..hopefully.

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  • Help thinking "Pythony"

    - by Josh
    I'm brand new to Python and trying to learn it by replicating the following C++ function into python // determines which words in a vector consist of the same letters // outputs the words with the same letters on the same line void equivalentWords(vector <string> words, ofstream & outFile) { outFile << "Equivalent words\n"; // checkedWord is parallel to the words vector. It is // used to make sure each word is only displayed once. vector <bool> checkedWord (words.size(), false); for(int i = 0; i < words.size(); i++) { if (!checkedWord[i]){ outFile << " "; for(int j = i; j < words.size(); j++){ if(equivalentWords(words[i], words[j], outFile)) { outFile << words[j] << " "; checkedWord[j] = true; } } outFile << "\n"; } } } In my python code (below), rather than having a second vector, I have a list ("words") of lists of a string, a sorted list of the chars in the former string (because strings are immutable), and a bool (that tells if the word has been checked yet). However, I can't figure out how to change a value as you iterate through a list. for word, s_word, checked in words: if not checked: for word1, s_word1, checked1 in words: if s_word1 == s_word: checked1 = True # this doesn't work print word1, print "" Any help on doing this or thinking more "Pythony" is appreciated.

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  • TDD - How to start really thinking TDD?

    - by user74825
    I have been reading about Agile, XP methodologies and TDDs. I have been in projects which states it needs to do TDD, but most of the tests are somehow integration tests or during the course of project TDD is forgotten in effort to finish codes faster. So, as far as my case goes, I have written unit tests, but I find myself going to start writing code first instead of writing a test. I feel there's a thought / design / paradigm change which is actually huge. So, though one really believes in TDD, you actually end up going back old style because of time pressure / project deliverables. I have few classes where I have pure unit tested code, but I can't seem to continue with the process, when mocks come into picture. Also, I see at times : "isn't it too trivial to write a test for it" syndrome. How do you guys think I should handle this?

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