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The Internet Technology

Cooking Dinner From the Road 232

Roland Piquepaille writes "After 12 years of development and with the help of NASA's Embedded Web Technology software, the TMIO company is delivering its first smart ovens. You can monitor these refrigerator-ovens from any Internet connection. For example, you can adjust and control the oven settings from your cell phone and be sure that dinner is ready when you get home. But cooking from your office or your car won't come cheap: these ovens carry a price tag of $8,699. Right now, they're only available in North America, but I bet there soon will be distributors in other parts of the world. Read more for additional details about these smart ovens."
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Cooking Dinner From the Road

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  • OCD (Score:5, Funny)

    by dot.solipsist ( 895369 ) on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:31PM (#14586325)

    As a sufferer of obsessive-compulsive disorder, it is worth almost ten grand to not have to spend my entire day worrying if I did, indeed, leave the oven on.

    Now if they could only port this technology for my coffee maker.

    • Re:OCD (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1.0)

      http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2324.html [faqs.org]
    • Re:OCD (Score:4, Funny)

      by Urusai ( 865560 ) on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:48PM (#14586411)
      Yes, but how can you be sure your oven doesn't get a Trojan? Hmm, Mr. OCD? Better checksum your firmware again!
      • That was evil.

        I have oft thought to find someone with OCD and try and implant new and amusing compulsions in them.

        My favourite bizzare idea was 'did I wipe properly?'

        omg, that would so pwn!

        please type the word in this image: glossed
        random letters - if you are visually impaired, please email us at pater@slashdot.org
    • ...it is worth almost ten grand to not have to spend my entire day worrying if I did, indeed, leave the oven on.

      Yeah, but how many times have you received / made a "pocket call". Yeah, you know what I mean, when the celphone dials someone in your addressbook without you initiating it? Well now you can worry all day whether or not your pocket started your oven...

      By the way, your fly is open. :)

    • I'm finding it hard to understand the cost factor here. We have an oven with an electric heating element. Say $200-$300 at any appliance store. Then there is a couple of high-current MOSFET controllers that use a voltage to control the amount of current that goes to the oven's heating elements. Three or four at $20 each for high-quality devices. Then there is a modem to connect to the Internet Service provider through the home dial-up. Say $50. And a microcontroller interface board to run and keep tr
      • It looks much larger and better built than the generic electric range/oven at your local discount store. Plus, you are forgetting the refrigeration systems and the engineering needed to make two refrigerator/oven units.
  • by fragmentate ( 908035 ) * <jdspilled.gmail@com> on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:33PM (#14586329) Journal
    Hmm. All has been completed. With this, I no longer need my wife.
  • Or (Score:3, Informative)

    by digitalsushi ( 137809 ) <slashdot@digitalsushi.com> on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:33PM (#14586331) Journal
    I can toss a tv dinner in a toaster oven on an X10 plug, ssh into my box and turn it on with the firecracker module, and save... whatever it costs minus 15 bucks.
    • Re:Or (Score:4, Interesting)

      by adrianmonk ( 890071 ) on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:36PM (#14586354)
      I can toss a tv dinner in a toaster oven on an X10 plug, ssh into my box and turn it on with the firecracker module, and save... whatever it costs minus 15 bucks.

      I think the idea behind this smart oven is that it refrigerates the stuff while you're gone at work, so you can safely leave that Stouffer's brand frozen pork chop and mashed potatoes in there for 10 or 12 hours (or a week, if you feel like it) without it going bad while you're gone.

      Whether that's worth $9000 odd dollars to you is another question, but it is at least more than an oven on a timer.

      • Re:Or (Score:3, Funny)

        i think a lot of food doesnt go bad sitting out. i'll eat stuff that's been out for 6 hours if it's not all crusty.
      • Re:Or (Score:3, Insightful)

        by JanneM ( 7445 )
        you can safely leave that Stouffer's brand frozen pork chop and mashed potatoes in there for 10 or 12 hours

        Actually, with the exception of a few ingredients, there is no problem with leaving chilled stuff out over the course of a day. And if they start out frozen, I doubt there's any danger with any food.

        After all, if you want to thaw a chicken filet or a piece of salmon, that takes hours with it lying alone on a plate on the counter. If you have it lying together with other frozen ingredients in a containe
        • by damsa ( 840364 )
          It's not food you have to worry about, it's all the pathegens in the food like ecoli and salmenela. They start growing at exponential rates. But I think you are right, in the case of tv food the high temperature will kill off any bad things and most pre prepared foods have high salt content anyways.
        • It's best not to defrost your food at room temperature. Indeed, that's inviting pathogens to grow on the surface while you're waiting for the center to thaw. A couple or four hours is no big deal, but you don't want a piece of salmon sitting on the counter all day.

          Better is to put your food (in plastic!) in a bowl of cold water. Better still is to remember the day before (or three days before for a turkey) and put the item into the refrigerator to thaw. Then take it out about half an hour or 45 minutes
      • Just get takeaway (Score:4, Insightful)

        by cheekyboy ( 598084 ) on Saturday January 28, 2006 @03:35AM (#14587051) Homepage Journal
        Man if you can afford $9000 for an oven, then why bother

        Go out to a funky cafe/resteraunt, and spend that $16 on a well made pizza/pasta/stake and 3 beers.

        No wonder it takes $500million to launch a shuttle.
        • by hey! ( 33014 ) on Saturday January 28, 2006 @09:43AM (#14587766) Homepage Journal
          Man if you can afford $9000 for an oven, then why bother ...
          Go out to a funky cafe/resteraunt, and spend that $16 on a well made pizza/pasta/stake and 3 beers.


          You don't understand the term conspicuous consumption do you? You're supposed to spend 9K on the oven, then go the funky cafe. Then you tell your companion "Excuse me for a moment," pull out your blackberry and do a few taps, casually explaining off hand that you're telling the oven to put the Kobe steaks back into the fridge and not to decant the 1855 Château Latour.
    • ...until you burn your house down and the insurance company refuses to pay.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    OH crap, my cell phone is dead. OH crap, my house burnt down.
  • by Lord Byron II ( 671689 ) on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:35PM (#14586346)
    First of all, it doesn't take NASA to make a web-enabled oven. Second, if you read to the end of the article, you'll see evidence that this article is actually two or three years old (I'm talking about the 2003 and 2004 awards). And third, who would really benefit from an oven like this? Ask yourself:

    When was the last time you used your oven?
    Are you willing to prepare a dish in the morning and put it in the oven before you leave for work?
    Would you actually trust this thing not to burn down your house?

    My point is this: cool idea, but hardly worthy of a front-page post.

    • by adrianmonk ( 890071 ) on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:51PM (#14586420)
      who would really benefit from an oven like this? Ask yourself:

      When was the last time you used your oven?

      Yesterday afternoon. It's winter, after all, and using the oven also heats the house. Plus the food comes out better than when you microwave it.

      Are you willing to prepare a dish in the morning and put it in the oven before you leave for work?

      Sometimes. Probably not usually, but with an oven like this, you could in theory prepare a few dishes on the weekend, put them in the bottom of the refrigerator for the rest of the weekend, then put Tuesday's dinner in the oven (set to refrigerate) on Monday night before you go to bed.

      Also, lots of people who do serious cooking could make use of these on special occasions. For example, on Thanksgiving or Christmas, if you cook a big meal with turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, a pie or two, etc. there is a LOT of scrambling to do to get it all done. It's not uncommon for people who are hosting a Christmas gathering to get up at like 4:00am or 5:00am to start cooking so that it can be ready at lunch time. If part of that could be prepared the night before and could take itself through the rest of the process automatically, that could seriously cut down on stress in situations like that.

      Would you actually trust this thing not to burn down your house?

      There are millions of people who are perfectly comfortable going out or even going on vacation and leaving running appliances that work by burning explosive gases. If you don't believe me, then answer this: when you go out of town, do you turn off the natural gas supply to your water heater and furnace? Do you even think about it possibly burning your house down?

      • Plus the food comes out better than when you microwave it.
        Some people don't seem to comprehend this fact.

        Food in the microwave ends up soggy on the outside, which IMHO is shitty.

        When I was growing up, we didn't have a microwave and I don't ever plan on buying one for myself.
        • I think you are being unduly harsh on the microwave oven. Not only are they inexpensive, they are also very good at heating water FAST and with surprising efficiency. If you don't want to use one or you don't like to use them, that's fine with me, but don't assume the appliance is useless. In fact one of the greatest things that you can do with a microwave oven is to combine it with a traditional oven or convection oven to reduce cooking time and save energy without having to sacrifice anything about the en
        • "Some people don't seem to comprehend this fact."

          apparently it's a lot more than just "some people".

          Try walking down the microwaveable TV-dinner asle at your local grocery store sometime, notice how huge it is compared to the... um, oven cooking asle, or whatever it'd be called.

          "When I was growing up, we didn't have a microwave and I don't ever plan on buying one for myself."

          did u walk 10 miles in the snow uphills both ways to get to school too?

          • oven cooking asle, or whatever it'd be called. I believe that's called every other aisle in the entire store.
            • You know, thats what I thought... but...

              Im a bit of a cooking newb but college food has made me get really into it. I went to the grocery store to get actual basic foodstuffs (Im getting tired of boxes: boil water, throw in pot, "enjoy") and they were surprisingly scarce. Everything at the store is in boxes and bags of already-made or just-add-heat sort of things. It was a wee bit disheartening.

              P.S. Anyone know a good AND easy recipe for Hollandaise sauce? Im about ready to give up on my eggs benedict

              • P.S. Anyone know a good AND easy recipe for Hollandaise sauce? Im about ready to give up on my eggs benedict dream.


                Since you are talking about a rather unstable emulsion that gets rather finicky if you do not watch the heat (when the egg proteins shrink and squeeze out the butter you are simply screwed...) I would recommend taking a peak at the version in Julia Childs' "The Way To Cook" for the basics. It is also a bit of a cheat, but there are whisks out now that also have built in thermometers so you c
              • Although it's not the traditional way of doing it, I always make it using a blender. I've always had it come out fine.

                1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
                3 egg yolks
                2 tbs. lemon juice
                1/4 tsp. salt
                Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

                In a small saucepan, heat butter to bubbling but do not allow it to brown (or melt in microwave). Put egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne into a blender. Cover and turn motor to high. Immediately remove cover and quickly add the hot butter in a thin but steady stream. Once all the
                butter has bee
            • "I believe that's called every other aisle in the entire store."

              you cook your cereal and crackers in the oven? how strange...

          • About 2/3 of the frozen pizzas in that aisle are conventional oven only, and most of the rest are just plain awful when microwaved.

            The microwave has its place - for lean cuisine pseudo-Chinese food, there's very little difference between conventional and microwave preparation. But for anything that has bread in it, except when it's specially designed for the microwave, the conventional oven's miles better.

            For something like a lasagna, the conventional oven beats the microwave every time. Too bad about the
          • um, oven cooking asle, or whatever it'd be called.

            Ha! What do you think the rest of the store (generally excepting drinks, cereal, and snacks) is doing?

            Ever wonder what people do with all those funky things called vegetables, or did you think that they were ALL for salads?

            How about that wide assortment of meats?

            Lasagna noodles? Rotini? etc?

            Flour is used for more than flour tortillas.

            Start watching "Good Eats!" or something dude, because "not knowing how to cook, is like not knowing how to fuck." - Robert Ro
            • "Ha! What do you think the rest of the store (generally excepting drinks, cereal, and snacks) is doing?"

              and chips and crackers and cookies and... you know u just named a huge part of the store right? They all have their own asles in most large grocery stores.

              "Lasagna noodles? Rotini? etc?"

              and how many asles do those have? .... that's what i thought. And I microwave my pastas whenever I can, boils much faster.

              ""not knowing how to cook, is like not knowing how to fuck." - Robert Rodriguez"

              who the

        • Hey, I love my microwave. But it's only for re-heating shit that the fridge has already ruined :)
      • Sometimes. Probably not usually, but with an oven like this, you could in theory prepare a few dishes on the weekend, put them in the bottom of the refrigerator for the rest of the weekend, then put Tuesday's dinner in the oven (set to refrigerate) on Monday night before you go to bed.

        Unless the oven also has built-in regridgeration (which some do, but most dont), you would not want to do this. Leaving any kind of meat out that long at room temperature, even if it is going to be subsequently cooked well,

    • Are you willing to prepare a dish in the morning and put it in the oven before you leave for work?

      Yup, it's currently called a crok-pot. I use mine all of the time. I would love to be able to have an oven that I could trust as much as the good ol' crok.
    • I remember seeing that on Penn and Teller's "Bullshit." They were doing a segment on "The Best", and were covering the rediculous hype at Tech Expos:

      So we'll program in a cooling cycle, than (beep beep) we enter in to heat at 300 degreess for (beep beep), and (5 minutes of heating and cooling cycles later) and now we are ready to start cooking.

    • I started cooking years ago, I think it's a better way to pass time than playing WoW. It's very hard to eat Sonic after work now that I'm accustomed to roasted sweet potatoes with braised pork roast, for example. Neither of those dishes are very hard, either :)

      And I wouldn't ever make dinner in the morning. I'd make it the night before and stick it in the fridge. It makes for better marinading anyway.

      But yeah, I don't know why this is on the front page either. Maybe the web-enabledness is a sign of thi
    • When was the last time you used your oven?

      Yesterday, made baked zitti.

      Are you willing to prepare a dish in the morning and put it in the oven before you leave for work?

      I prepare all of my food for the week on sunday, trying to bulk up and this is a good way to make sure I have enough food for the entire week while keeping track of what I ate. I'd like to be able to stick it in the oven before I leave and know it'll be ready when I get back.

      Would you actually trust this thing not to burn down yo
    • When was the last time you used your oven?

      What the heck? I use it constantly. it's on right now. Microwaves are only good for vegetables. Fast food sucks to badly, it's more like toxic waste. proper restaurants are expensive. Plus I can make a significantly better meal myself, than all but the most expensive restaurants. And I'd need an Iron Chef's salary to go to those restaurants.

      Are you willing to prepare a dish in the morning and put it in the oven before you leave for work?

      Absolutely.

      Would you ac

    • When was the last time you used your oven?

      My wife and I use our oven all the time. I love baking fresh bread, cake, cookies, pies etc. And shes a world class cook who roasts and broils and bakes all the damn time. Just because you don like to make your own food doesn mean no one else does.

    • Would you actually trust this thing not to burn down your house?

      People trust AMD processors not to burn down their house either, but check these out:

      http://www.tomshardware.com/2001/09/17/hot_spot/ [tomshardware.com]

      http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArti cle.asp?ID=193 [logicalexpressions.com]
  • by thesupermikey ( 220055 ) on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:39PM (#14586370) Homepage Journal
    Did anyone else see the headline and thing the link was going to teach us how to look dinner on the engine block?
  • I already have one (Score:5, Insightful)

    by portforward ( 313061 ) on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:41PM (#14586383)
    It's called a Crock pot. Ribs, soup, chili, stew, chicken, it beats other types of cooking hands down. Set it in the morning, it is done when I get home. The food doesn't get burnt. You can get one for less than $40. What is the upside of this oven?
    • It's called a Crock pot. [ ...] What is the upside of this oven?

      It can be used to cook things that don't have the consistency of soup or stew. It cooks by convection and radiation rather than by boiling. And you can boil things in an oven as well, so this thing seems a lot more versatile.

    • Your right. I love my Crock. But the Crock is designed for cooking meals in a liquid. If you need to cook something dry then the Crock is not the best tool. For example if I needed to cook a prime rib... now i could do it in a crock, but it would have a very different flavor than if I cooked it dry. Professional kitchens always (as far as I know) cook the prime rib in an "oven", at low temperatures, with some humidity. The result is, as we all know, awsome. The Crock does not deliver the same flavor.
  • Big Deal (Score:2, Interesting)

    by apenzott ( 821513 )
    As a roadie, I have been doing this for years already.

    For some great recipies, check out Manifold Destiny [amazon.com] for some delicious and low-tech ways (aluminum foil, meat, vegetables, and possibly some fish to grill) to prepare some great meals. The best part is that your final destination does not have to be home. If planned properly, a picnic at a rest stop and no dishes to cleanup when done will have you be the envy of your fellow passengers.

    • Because using an engine block as a portable grill is the same thing as an internet ready double oven that keeps your food refrigerated till you want it cooked.
      • Well, I live in PA, so for about 5 months out of the year, it's chilly enough to throw the shit in the trunk for the ride to work, keep it in there frozen all day, and strap it to my exhaust for the ride home :p
  • by poptones ( 653660 ) on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:49PM (#14586413) Journal
    $8000.00 to cover the cost of the manufacturer's liability insurance.

  • by Andrew Tanenbaum ( 896883 ) on Friday January 27, 2006 @11:50PM (#14586416)
    These ovens don't seem very smart, just accessible. I would call them smart if they were able to cook food -- detecting when it's ready -- without any human intervention.
  • New Crime? (Score:2, Funny)

    by BigColby ( 950188 )
    Yes! Now I can fill my arsonist tendencies by simply hacking into someone's oven and overheating it! Or perhaps I'll simply get them back for getting that raise before me by burning their turkey on Thanksgiving...beats the heck out of ordering 20 pizzas...they'll never catch me
    • I can fill my arsonist tendencies by simply hacking into someone's oven and overheating it!

      Don't worry -- it's run by Microsoft software, so you know it'll be invulnerable to evil hacking scum.

      Microsoft Consumer Experience [tmio.com]
      TMIO is a Microsoft "MCX" (Microsoft Consumer Experience)® partner. This means we are part of the overall plan Microsoft has for a living experience with their products. Our applications include Microsoft's .NET (pronounced, "dot net") platform for hand held devices, Windows Exp

  • That's not engine block cooking! Get a copy of "Manifold Destiny" from a bookseller.
  • A couple of Thermotron http://www.thermotron.com/ [thermotron.com] ovens,
    some Omega controls http://www.omega.com/ [omega.com]
    all hooked up by their industry standard ethernet interface http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/i to_doc/ethernet.htm [cisco.com]
    to a PC http://www2.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/pc.htm [sjsu.edu]
    and you have the same thing for less money.

    Tell NASA to shoot for the moon NOT the moonpie!
  • For starters, the link to Roland the Plogger's blog entry on zdnet didn't get a "nofollow" tag, and that page, in turn, has multiple links to his Plogger sites. So he's using Slashdot for "search engine optimization" again. Sigh.

    As for the device itself, the manufacturer's link is this. [tmio.com] It's just an oven with refrigeration capability and remote control. Here's the user manual (.pdf). [tmio.com] With an EULA, no less.

    Not only does this oven have an EULA. It has spyware. It phones home to the manufacturer.

    • TMI
    • For starters, the link to Roland the Plogger's blog entry on zdnet didn't get a "nofollow" tag, and that page, in turn, has multiple links to his Plogger sites. So he's using Slashdot for "search engine optimization" again. Sigh.

      That's because the no-follow link is given to the "submmitter" link, his website, But he sneakily links to his ZDnet blog in the story, without any notice that it's his site. And when you go there, you find Roland's trademarked warmed-over crap pasted from ther sites about this jo

  • I'll order take out and still come out ahead.

    And I don't trust a crock pot to go unattended. Having a full blown oven going with nobody to watch it is asking to come home to a smouldering ruin.

    • How do you come out ahead with the take-away food, when you will probably end up on life-support someday because of it? I think the medical bills would be more than $10,000. Not to mention the pleasure of eating good food compared to take-away crap.
  • I could do pretty much the same thing with a PC, a broadband connection, some 50 amp P&B solid-states and a pair of thermocouples. Matter of fact, if any of you would be willing to fork over eight grand I'd be happy to get right to work on it. For an extra grand, I'll throw in a CCD imager so you can watch your pot roast burn up, I mean, cook thoroughly, while you're on the way home from work.

    And no, I didn't read the article but it just sounds kinda silly.
  • Cheaper option (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ozbird ( 127571 ) on Saturday January 28, 2006 @12:32AM (#14586561)
    Once again, NASA comes up with the high cost, over-engineered solution to a simple problem...

    1. Wrap food carefully, and completely, in foil.
    2. Place food parcel carefully on engine block; secure with wire if necessary.
    3. Drive home.

    For the average commuter, your dinner [unm.edu] is now cooked.
  • by WoTG ( 610710 ) on Saturday January 28, 2006 @12:34AM (#14586564) Homepage Journal
    Heh... I thought that this was going to be story about either road kill meals or some sort of cooking in the engine compartment of a car. Too bad it wasn't, an $8000 dollar oven with a timer isn't much interest to me.
  • A hot line to the local fire department. Those 600 minute instead of 60 minute typos can cause the occational fire.
  • I've been cooking on the road for years. You just wrap your food in aluminium foil, strap it to the car's exhaust or engine. By the time you get where you are going, you have a lovely grilled meal. And it doesn't consume any electricity or extra energy other than what you normally use running your car.
  • This [time.com] oven has a fridge as well but no internet, yet it costs under $2,000, and I'm sure it can't cost $6,000 to add the remote management. Also, who has internet in their kitchen? Ok, I know if you're rich enough to buy the oven, and are having a new house built, you'll most likely have network cables running through all the walls (even in the kitchen.) But how many people have that? For over $8000 (the cost of 5 or 6 regular double ovens, or that many refrigerated cooking ranges) you'd think the thing
  • cheaper solution (Score:2, Insightful)

    by flogic42 ( 948616 )
    The better solution is to just buy food that only takes 5 minutes to cook. Seriously.
  • by bitspotter ( 455598 ) on Saturday January 28, 2006 @02:32AM (#14586882) Journal
    Is anybody else uncomfortable with the idea of buggy computers and insecure networks controlling the operations of appliances that are known to be fire hazards?

    I'd much rather be home to monitor the operation of my cooking, frankly. Unless I can use one of those smellometer devices with my cell phone to tell whether or not something's burning. :)

    The other irony is if we have all these mobile devices that make it unnecessary to be in the office, why wouldn't I just stay home with my oven in the first place?

    Of course the reality is that for most people, mobile devices are actually excuses not to stay home.

  • ...I would like to thank future buyers of this over for allowing the hacking community at large to try cooking leftover turkey at 600 degrees for eight hours in someone else's oven just to see what happens.
  • Is there a webcam available?
    What is the interest of switching on the oven if you are not sure what is inside?
    How is a hot meal useful if it is burned because you could not switch off the oven before it's too late?

    Would you let your meat for a whole day in the oven at normal temperature? A fridge feature would be useful to keep the oven content at a conservation temperature until you decide to cook it.

    Well, one more time I think this is just a gadget at a price only for people who don't cook themselves.
  • by Vengeance ( 46019 ) on Saturday January 28, 2006 @06:52AM (#14587428)
    I'm no professional chef, but I really like to cook. In fact I've been cooking more than ever since I remodelled my kitchen at the end of '05. Naturally, while deciding what to do for the kitchen, my wife and I watched a number of TV shows on the subject.

    We saw ovens much like this, and I always have several problems with the concept. First and foremost: Most oven cooking calls for a preheated oven, and foods generally turn out best if they are given a chance to warm up to room temperature before putting them in to cook. So frankly, this would be 10 thousand dollars spent on an item of limited utility. I don't mind having the remote control, because that would allow me to preheat the thing before I get home from work. But I sure don't want my bread dough sitting in the oven as it does so!

    Besides, I got a 36" commercial-style range, with two 22K BTU burners, one 18K BTU burner, one 9K BTU simmer-burner, a charbroiler, an oven that will hold full size commercial bun pans, and a 30K BTU ceramic broiler all for roughly half the price of this device. I guess I'll bite the bullet and turn the knob when I want it hot.
  • Did you hear the one about the guy to messaged home to tell the oven to start cooking the turkey, and the oven routed the fetch turkey command not to the handybot, but to the baby-care bot instead due to a firmware error? Oh, and it evenually turned out the guy was on crackberry.

    I know it's true because I read it on a blog of a blog somewhere.

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