10:04 – The morning paper reports that another car full of teenagers wrecked, this time in Greensboro, which is about half an hour east of us. Four kids in the car. The driver was 15 years old and had no license. The car was going 95 MPH in a 35 zone. Three kids dead, one in critical condition. I’m not sure why this is happening so frequently lately. I understand that teenage boys drive like maniacs. It’s not cultural; it’s biology. High testosterone levels, little driving experience, and a sense of immortality. I grew up in an area with lots of Amish, and I remember the Amish teenage boys holding drag races in their buggies. I’m sure Roman boys 2,000 years ago took similar risks, and Cro Magnon boys 20,000 years ago. But we sure have had a run of these tragedies lately.
There’s probably nothing to be done. When I was that age, our schools regularly showed gory movies like Signal 30, showing mangled cars and mangled people. I’ll never forget the images of Jayne Mansfield with her face ripped off and her head impaled by a piece of pipe. But I’d be willing to bet that not a single kid who ever sat through those movies actually believed it could ever happen to him. It was always someone else.
Barbara will be happy to know that I’m now reasonably happy with our level of preparation for emergencies. As is only proper for anyone who’s writing a prepping book, we’re now better-prepared than probably 99.99% of the population, in terms of both supplies and knowledge. I still want to relocate away from the city, or at least buy a weekend/vacation home up in the mountains that we could relocate to permanently if necessary, but otherwise we’re in pretty good shape. I’ll keep buying small items and more food but nearly all of the major purchases are complete.
Our Amazon Prime membership expires Saturday, and I’m not going to bother to renew it. We haven’t watched any Prime video in months, and none of the other benefits are of any interest to us other than free 2-day shipping. And that’s not worth $99/year, despite the fact that I’ve placed 52 orders with Amazon in the last six months. I won’t have a problem reaching the $35 minimum for free SuperSaver shipping, and in my experience with it before I (re)joined Prime, it usually doesn’t take much longer than Prime shipping to arrive.
Hi Bob,
I remember “Signal 30”, as I grew up in Ohio, too. It’s on the Web Archive if you want to relive those days. The Narration is awesome.. 🙂
https://archive.org/details/0869_Signal_30_07_00_59_00
Cheers, Rod Schaffter
Signal 30 was shown in my high school too, but they warned us what was in it, and we could opt out of seeing it if we wanted. Most did. In fact, those of us who opted out wondered what was wrong with the people who went to see it.
Have any of those accidents in W-S involved cops chasing the kids? German police are prohibited from doing road chases. They catch speeders with handheld radar guns pointed at you as you come over a hill or around a bend, and the cop standing in the street, motions you over. They also have cameras at bridges which take pictures with the citation sent via mail. No chases at all like here, though — specifically because of innocent people getting killed, including innocent passengers in the car being chased.
I have been vocally opposed to police chasing or even making high-speed runs to ’emergencies’ in the US, as there have been a number of instances of accidents and deaths caused by both in Indy during the last several years. Here is somebody in New Zealand complaining of the same thing.
http://moscaddie.tumblr.com/post/50366179806/on-saturday
Apart from the chases, the way to solve the problem is raise the driving age. German kids cannot drive until they graduate high school, and even then, one has to take driving instruction lessons which cost several thousand euro. Most cannot afford that until they are 25 or so, unless their parents are rich. One just does not hear the squealing tires and racing engines that are so common on Tiny Town’s streets, just minutes after school gets out.
Of course, another major difference is that German teenagers are prohibited from taking jobs until they are out of high school, as it ‘steals work from adults with children’. Getting to work would be a problem for teens in this country without a car.
German kids cannot drive until they graduate high school, and even then, one has to take driving instruction lessons which cost several thousand euro.
That is why our German exchange students get their licenses while they are with us in the US. They need to have a permit for six months before they get their license. We had a couple of students that missed the six months before they went back to Germany. It was cheaper to fly back to the US after the six months had elapsed and get the license here than it was to take the driving school in Germany.
As best I can remember we haven’t had any deaths during a police pursuit in a long, long time.
As far as emergency vehicles speeding, I have no problem with that. It saves many more lives than it costs. Our fire department, for example, responds to 911 calls for medical emergencies. They’re trained and equipped to deal with heart attacks and so on, and the difference between them arriving in a couple of minutes and EMS arriving in even 10 minutes has I’m sure been the difference between life and death for many, many people.
In 1968 when I was 17 I took a summer job with the county fire dept. Even though our job was mostly wildlands the whole station went on most call. Highway accident were part of the course but back then it wasn’t as much for medical aid as prying bodies from the metal and washing down the road. First wreck was a rollover on Hwy58 in the Tehachapi pass. Two young teenage passengers thrown out and taking their last breaths, both dying on the scene. I’ve worn seat belts ever since.
Responsible emergency vehicle drivers do not race through red lights. Especially with 50,000# trucks. Most signals here have thru-way systems that turn lights green. Cops OTH often have that race like hell attitude and cause most of the problem.
As far as I’ve seen, all of our emergency vehicles, police included, slow at intersections, even residential ones with just stop signs. Some come to almost a complete stop, particularly at major intersections.
Unfortunately here’s a local example
http://www.copblock.org/72632/kern-county-employee-john-swearengin-kills-two-people-with-crusier-retains-job/
not that the two killed were acting responsibly either.
That is why our German exchange students get their licenses while they are with us in the US.
We have hosted a German and a Belgian exchange student through AFS. AFS is very clear that exchange students are not allowed to drive and will be sent home if they are caught driving. Other programs may have different rules.
Rick in Portland
Signal 30 is also available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VKOoenqbOk
Pretty gruesome stuff, but I’ve seen documentary and shock films with worse stuff. Looking at dead bodies doesn’t bother me much. Watching people die does.
We have hosted a German and a Belgian exchange student through AFS.
We have used AFS in the past but are currently using EF. We are getting two students next year, one from Norway, one from Germany. These students will not be old enough to get permits.
If I remember correctly at one time AFS did not have restrictions for driving. They did have restrictions for using a lawnmower, motorcycle, wave-runner, ATV, operating a boat, basically anything that had any glimmer of being fun. (Yes, they like my ZTR mower and considered mowing fun.)
AFS also had restrictions on computer/internet time, calling home, letters, trips across state lines, overnight trips, etc. We ignored a lot of those rules.
At last look EF allows the students to drive. The last student we had from Norway we had problems with insurance. Basically she could get her learners permit and she was covered by insurance because she was not the licensed driver. We needed a signed document from the insurance company. But once she got her license she could not drive as she could not get insurance on our policy. She could get her own insurance but it was $250.00 a month.
Amazingly, *I* had problems with insurance in the US while living in Germany when my dad died. He had vehicles here, but because I was a foreign resident, I could not get insurance to drive them, because my permanent address was in a foreign country — even though the vehicles’ ownership had been transferred to my name. What in the %&@# is a US citizenship worth when you are treated like a foreigner, even though a citizen? Even Rome treated citizens better in the days leading up to the downfall. Our government gives you trouble going and coming! Citizenship is worthless except to tax you.
Anyway, very smart lady running the insurance agency. “Got any children with a driver’s license?” Yeah, two. So she made my son the primary insured for the vehicles, and I was an “additional insured” and it did not make any difference where the secondary insured driver lived — I did not even have to give an address, although I had to have a US driver’s license, which I still possessed. Not sure if being a family member was a factor, which — if it was — would not solve the problem of a foreign student.
I am sure I told the story of my driver’s license. Typical bureaucratic fight. Germany had adopted a new rule that you had to surrender your US driver’s license to get the German driver’s license (that rule came into effect the year we moved there). I complained that I still needed to drive in the US, and the response was “a US driver’s license is good in Germany and a German driver’s license is good in the US.”
Well, no it ain’t. I had only something like 3 years of living in Germany to get a German driver’s license before my US driver’s license became invalid in Germany, and after that, *I* would have had to take the €3,000 driving lessons. Meanwhile, in the US, since 9-11, a German driver’s license is useless to insure yourself as a driver in this country. I do not know what foreigners who rent cars for vacations here do these days, but I could only rent cars for my contract work back in the US, and be insured for driving it, with a US driver’s license.
So I surrendered by US driver’s license, immediately reported it lost, and got a duplicate. Thus I still had driver’s licenses in both countries. You know it would be easier to take 40 lashes than to go through all the crap governments throw your way these days. And the worst thing is that foreign countries do not treat Americans anywhere near as badly as we treat foreigners!
“Stand with Hillary”
Well, gawrsh!
Or should I say golleee?
Here‘s the perpetrator of this atrocity.
I do not know what foreigners who rent cars for vacations here do these days
Do what I did when I rented a car in Germany. I got the insurance offered by the rental agency. The rental on the car was $30.00 a day. The insurance was $70.00 a day. But with that insurance if I had an incident the insurance company took over and acted as me. I would not have to surrender my passport and could still leave the country. The expense is why I no longer rent cars in Germany and instead opt for the train.
I was flying along the Rhine shoreline road one day running about 120 km/hr in my Audi sportwagon rental, following a guy in a VW Golf. Suddenly the guy braked hard as we were going around a blind curve and I heard a loud bang. We had run up on somebody sitting in the road and the guy in front hit him. I braked extremely hard causing my Audi to spin and missed both of them and the river, thank goodness. After that I always get rental car insurance, especially in a foreign country.
I would prefer to ride the trains but they do not always visit the interesting places in Europe. Driving the Rhine is always neat, especially visiting the castles which can be 1 km to 5 km up the hillsides.
If HILLARY’s supporters and activists keep coming up with dreck like that, the Dem Party honchos better find another candidate toot-sweet. But who cares, anyway.
“Citizenship is worthless except to tax you.”
Many examples of that sort of thing with the Sovereign Man site and lewrockwell.com, among others. Civvies are now getting some of the same sort of treatment returning veterans get; they love the latter while they’re still warm bodies and can carry a rifle (heroes). Once they’re back and out of it, they’re lower than whale shit, and ain’t nuthin’ lower than whale shit. Civvies now find that their “citizenship” ain’t worth a damn, either, unless they’re paying confiscatory and punishing taxes throughout their lives, no matter where they live in the world.
Got back a few hours ago from the “Vietnam Combat Group” session at the VA down in Burlap; very intense today, raw, bleeding stuff. The oldest group participant was a nurse over there and she weeps at every meeting, if only for a few seconds. We have at least three other guys not attending today who are in deep kimchi, i.e., one is now at the psych ward down at the White River VA Med Center (Desert One vet); another is overwhelmed at home with new twins, other kids and a wife diagnosed with radon-originated cancer; and a third guy is suicidal, along with at least two or three members who were there today. Jeezum.
Then we have at least one vet who listens to the librul nooz slant and worries about the poor protesters in Ferguson, and another vet who would probably like to strafe the area and then bulldoze it under; he had a tough week with his sister-in-law dying of cancer in his house, after living with her the last several weeks of her life. Another guy is now in a wheelchair ’cause he messed up his foot shoveling snow or sumthin up in the hills and lives alone up there and believes he’s still fucked up, etc., etc.
OFD will be making the rounds this holiday season to these guys, wherever they may be. I can at least function and talk rubbish and cook for people. Damn.
Our net was down when I got home, including the phones; no ideer why; rebooted the router/modem to zero effect, etc., and then it eventually came back on its own. I seem to recall we dumped Fairpoint for reasons like this. Meanwhile the state’s 911 lines were down for six hours last Friday; Fairpoint had a hardware failure due to the storm and then their backup system failed. Cops and emergency services and the state’s Public Service Board not happy at all, at all. And the strike continues; I reckon their days here are numbered.
It also occurred to me, and not for the first time, that we can get along quite nicely here without the internet or tee-vee. Plenty of books to read, the radio, and no shortage of chores around the house and yard anyway. We will need reliable net, however, to do the alternative gigs we are planning to do when our regular long-time jobs are no more, which for me looks like will be the case by the end of this month.
I’m sick and tired of hanging on and waiting for callbacks and interviews for just another IT drone job. If I don’t have one by New Year’s, I’m gonna give it up and start cranking on something else, which I’m investigating now anyway.
Pax vobiscum.
Hey OFD, did you ever get your snow blower?
Not yet, Mr. Lynn; I’m looking at various models and we got some other expenses to deal wid this month. Ain’t had much snow yet, anyway. But I wanna get one before it starts snowing heavily as I ain’t cut out to do them piles of hardened, frozen cinder blocks six feet high at the end of the driveway after the plows go by anymore. Last wintuh I had to rest between every three or four shovelfuls of that stuff and guzzle wottuh throughout. Cain’t be good for the old back and knees, either.
I would prefer to ride the trains but they do not always visit the interesting places in Europe.
We are usually visiting exchange students and their families. They take us to many interesting places. If we need to take a vehicle they drive and I just close my eyes and hang on.
Ray wrote:
” If we need to take a vehicle they drive and I just close my eyes and hang on.”
An English chap I know often visited Germany to colaborate with a related company. He was being driven at 200 km/h on the autobahn by a German guy, who just casually reached around to grab something from the back seat, twisting about 90 degrees and taking his eyes completely off the road.
I think that was a prayer invoking action…
I think that was a prayer invoking action…
Uh, no, that was butt hole explosion action.
Reminds me of that 1982 movie, If You Could See What I Hear, when the cop pulls over a carload of kids being driven by the lead character, who’s blind:
Cop: Your friend is blind?!!!
Passenger: More or less, yeah.
Cop: Then why the hell is he driving?
Passenger: ‘Cause he’s the only one who’s sober.
An English chap I know often visited Germany to colaborate with a related company. He was being driven at 200 km/h on the autobahn by a German guy, who just casually reached around to grab something from the back seat, twisting about 90 degrees and taking his eyes completely off the road.
I think that was a prayer invoking action…
I had a German friend take me on the Autobahn to show off his new BMW Z5 (a Z3 with a M5 motor). At night. In the fog. 280 km/hr.
I was very proud of myself for not screaming.
Do what I did when I rented a car in Germany. I got the insurance offered by the rental agency.
Umm, I was talking about the other way around. When I went to rent a car during a contract job in Boston after we had moved to Germany, at first, I unthinkingly whipped out my driver’s license and it was the German one, as my US driver’s license was now buried in my wallet because I had no use for it in Germany. “You cannot rent a car with that here, sir, because we require insurance and the insurance we offer is not valid for foreign driver’s licenses.” (This was one of the major operators, not a small one, and I was limited to that firm because of a corporate rate the company I was working for had.)
So I dug around for my US driver’s license. No problem with that. I was someplace like in the Prudential, where there were several car rental agency booths next to each other. Out of curiosity, on the way out, I asked the next one to where I rented if I could rent a car with my German driver’s license. “Nope!” was the answer.
I really have no idea what Germans do nowadays to rent a car in the US. A German driver’s license may be valid for driving in the US, but it will not rent you a car since 9-11.
As far as insurance, I always get the full insurance so I can walk away in the event of an accident and never come back. Since one almost always rents a car where one does not live, there would be nothing more disruptive than to have to return because of some litigation that might not be insured without the full-coverage insurance.
The expense is why I no longer rent cars in Germany and instead opt for the train.
Cars are simply unaffordable in any country these days. Americans refuse to admit it, but the fact is that more and more people are doing with 1 car instead of 2, or — like both of my kids — doing entirely without one. Many of their friends are doing without, too, because my kids are not earning the equivalent in buying power that I was able to get when I was their age. The problem is that the US is the only country in the world that disassembled its rail system, so no alternative exists as the price of personal transportation rockets out of affordability. Every other developed country in the world has decent public transit.
And that does not even consider the roads. You really have to have been absent from this country to see how badly the road upkeep has become in the US. When you are the frog in the pot heating to boiling, you do not notice it. I have been truly shocked, and what is worse: the Federal Highway Trust fund is insolvent, and must be bailed out frequently. So not only are roads in bad shape, there is not even enough money coming in to keep them in merely bad shape condition, let alone return them to what we had when I was a young adult. This cannot go on forever.
When we visited the US last, about 3 years ago, I rented a car on my Swiss license. The trip (flights + car) was arranged by a small travel agency here; a guy we’ve used for ages, and who gives really good service. Maybe he knows which agencies can deal with international licenses? Sadly, I don’t now remember which agency it was, but truly, there was never even a question about the license. I even had an official translation along (which the travel guy sent us), but never needed it.
Umm, I was talking about the other way around.
OK. I suspected many of the same issues applied when driving in a country where you do not possess a license.
A German driver’s license may be valid for driving in the US, but it will not rent you a car since 9-11.
We, along with other families that have hosted German exchange students, have had their parents come to the US at the end of the students school year. All have rented vehicles without any difficulty using their German licenses. Your experience is not normal based on my observations.
I always get the full insurance so I can walk away in the event of an accident and never come back
In the US you rent with a major credit card and the card issuer will cover any losses from an accident. The card issuer is basically providing the insurance. I use Discover and always decline the insurance.
You really have to have been absent from this country to see how badly the road upkeep has become in the US.
Depends on the state. In TN the roads are in excellent shape. Same goes for TX, GA, FL, AL, states which I drive in more than once a year. In CA it is a different story which is particularly bad last time I drove in that state. I think some of those states have been ripping off the federal government highway funds or badly mismanaging the funds.
Cars are simply unaffordable in any country these days.
I have no difficulty in affording vehicles, two of them. At one time I had three vehicles.
Unfortunately, there are no viable alternatives to using a vehicle. There is no mass transit in my area. Unless you live and work in a large city you need a vehicle to get around.
Everyone that I have visited in Germany have vehicles, some more than one. Problem with Germany is the lack of parking where hunting for a parking space is a time consuming adventure with the end result you have to pay to park almost anywhere. Germany is so densely populated that without mass transit the place would be total gridlock from 04:00 until 23:00.
The people that I associate with in Germany are not real high on the train system. With delays, strikes, equipment failures, most really dislike Deutsche Bahn with a passion. I don’t think it would be much better in the US if we had such a system.
In the Northeast where the population density is high mass transit is available and people can get by without a vehicle. Not possible in the wide open places as you move further west.
I was very proud of myself for not screaming.
Easy to do when you are passed out from fear.
Fastest I have been on the Autobahn is 220 kph and that was fast enough. Did it once, don’t need to do it again. Eventually found myself traveling at about 100 MPH in Germany as fairly normal. But it was exhausting. A couple of hours and I was ready for a break. In the US at 75 MPH I can travel for 8 hours without a break.
I love trains, but there are a lot of people who don’t. It’s a matter of personal preference, I suppose. If you live somewhere with a decent train network, you at least have the choice. But even in countries with good networks, some areas are hard to reach.
If you take the train, and then connect with a local tram or bus, it often takes longer than driving. Your time is broken into segments; if you have to change trains enroute, it is even more broken up. You may have to walk from the last bus/tram stop to your final destination.
On the positive side, you can do anything you like; I usually read, surf, or do math puzzles. You can get up and walk around. You can look at the scenery. Public transport is also a lot cheaper than owning a car: an annual pass here, good for nearly everything, costs about Fr. 3500. Compare that to car payments, insurance, maintenance and gas.
If you take the car, you cannot relax; if it’s rush hour, it can be pretty stressful. If you’re going into a big city, parking may be hard to find, may be expensive, and may be a fair walk from wherever you’re going.
On the positive side, you can go virtually anywhere, not just where the public transport runs. You aren’t tied to an external schedule; you can come and go when you want, and you don’t ever have to sit across from that weirdo over there. For some people, there is also a big ego factor tied to their vehicle.
So…personal preference. I know car drivers here who haven’t been on the train in years. Me, I drive about as much as our host – maybe 30-40 miles in a typical month.
If you take the train, and then connect with a local tram or bus, it often takes longer than driving.
The last two times I have been in Germany I have used the train for travel between towns. I get 1st class tickets as they are fairly cheap with a US passport, cheaper than what Germans pay for coach. I actually enjoyed the train, even when having to catch local runs.
Last December I made a trip to Washington DC. I had the choice of driving or taking the bus. Driving would have been shorter time by about two hours. I instead chose the bus. Not too bad a way to travel when your destination has a way to get around (DC Metro). Motel was only three blocks from the metro station.
I have always stated that if workable mass transit were available to me, I would use it. But there is none. Closest bus station is 20 miles away from home when work is only 30 miles. Factor in the cost of driving then paying for the bus, it is cheaper to drive the entire distance.
The Germans we know are always pitching a fit about the trains. Late, broken down, strikes, etc. I have never had a problem except for that one ticket checker on the local loop who had never seen my type of ticket. He backed down when I stood my ground.
I wish we had a decent train system. I would use it. But we don’t so I have to drive. Any such train system in the US would be fraught with multiple tax levies, environmental lawsuits, union rules etc. That would drive the cost of the tickets to the point where they are no longer economical. Even the bus I could catch after driving 20 miles will cost me $5.00 to go the remaining 10 miles. I can drive cheaper than that.
I live in the “densely populated” Northeast, though at its northern, less populated end. Nevertheless, we have access to buses and trains. Problem: they take twice to three times as long for trips as driving a car, and in both cases my long legs are a problem; last time I took a bus down to MA, ’cause we were down to one car at the time, it was extremely uncomfortable to the pain threshold. Crippling, in fact. Also, the trains and buses are at least as expensive as driving by private vehicle.
My kids drive to UNLV. It takes 20 minutes. There is a bus stop right at the Uni, but travel time from home (after 10 minute walk to the bus stop) is 90 minutes. It’s just not worth 3 hours of their time (plus 20 minutes of walking) each day to take the bus. We bought them a 2013 Ford Fiesta, which needs Fixes Or Repairs Daily. Battery died (I think) over the weekend so having it towed. USAA ins for towing (and other roadside assistance) is $1 per 6 months per vehicle.
Yeah, the time thing; I could hike or catch a ride into the “city” here (pop. 8k) and take one of the handful of daily scheduled buses down to, say, Burlington, about 33 miles, and hope to catch one back for the return trip. I did this routine from Montpeculiar to Burlap, about 40 miles, several times a week for a previous gig, when we only had one cah; with all the stops the bus makes, it was a good hour or more each way, depending on weather, and the ticket cost was about the same as it woulda been for the gas. Driving it takes a half-hour. Ditto from here to there.
If and when the glorious days of Happy Motoring eventually end, those of us who don’t live in big cities with everything wonderfully within walking distance (try this in Los Angeles) will have to find work much closer to home somehow. By now one would have thought a host of us out here could be working from home/telecommuting, etc., anyway, but the PHB manglers have been dragging their feet on this for many years. They just won’t have it.
The move is obviously on to get as much of the population as possible clustered up like caged rats in the giant metropoles, where, incidentally, they can be more easily controlled and monitored.
What about taxis? Here there is bus service in town and regional buses to outlying towns. The local buses are so so. Biggest complaint I have is the other riders but I have been known to use it. It is a ten minute walk from my house to the closest stop. but then less than 15 min downtown. often takes longer just waiting for it but if you pay attention to the schedule you can avoid that. Actually I usually drive everywhere, the only time I use other modes is if I’m imbibing.
Also, the trains and buses are at least as expensive as driving by private vehicle.
And this is the result of taxes and unions.
Each governing entity that the trains cross want some tax revenue, a piece of the action. Even though those entities contribute nothing to the operation of the train, crossing maintenance or signal maintenance. They all want some money.
Add to those taxes the cost of the union operators, ticket takers and everyone else involved with the trains, who are probably making twice what the job should really pay, and you have a significant fare that is collected.
Building new tracks would be even more expensive with land acquisitions, environmental studies and delays, kickbacks to politicians, it all adds up. Then you have the people who don’t want the train in their back yard who a year ago were bitching there was no train transportation.
Yah, we got us taxis here; they cost an arm and a leg to go anywhere, even local. Ditto the trains and buses. Ditto the monthly payments, taxes, gas, oil and repairs on vehicles. You wanna get to and from work and that work ain’t on the next block? Take yer pick. Wanna go shopping? Visit family? Take yer pick. You gonna pay.
The difference being, with private vehicles, you go when you want and what route you want and you got your privacy. When this becomes too expensive, you find another way or another job or whatever. If I had a job in the city (the 8k one three miles up the street) I’d either bike, walk, or in seriously inclement weather, drive it or catch a ride. But so fah, the jobs I’ve been able to land have been 30-40 miles away. Should we sell the house and buy a condo in Burlap and then be able to count on jobs being within the range of public trans and that we’d keep those jobs until we retire?? And that the public trans would always be available?? Remember when trains and cars bumped off the trolley car systems in the cities? Within OFD’s memory, I can assure you. And now on city buses you get “The Others.” Fugly single welfare moms with three or four uncontrollable squalling brats. The hip-hop asshole blasting his shitty noise at full volume and glaring at you. Poor old people obviously barely able to make ends meet, standing out in bitter wind and cold, waiting, waiting…buses always late. And jammed. The hipster types and wannabes with faces full of metal, pink hair and tattoos.
Taxis are as to transportation as motels and hotels are to rental living.