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Thursday, May 31, 2007

Oh yes. That's much better. 

A while back, Richard Glawson disrupted his own trial by punching an elderly juror. Although the judge didn't want to, he was ultimately compelled to declare a mistrial.

Giving the defendant the benefit of a speedy and public trial, Glawson's retrial began anew this week. Sadly, it appears that Glawson does not appreciate his day in court, as it is being reported that he is now threatening the lives of the jurors and their families unless they acquit him. Once again, the judge is attempting to see the thing through, and has again denied a request for a mistrial.

The most underpaid guy in America 

Wendy's manager shot several times by customer who wanted extra chili sauce.

I have no idea what he makes. But I'm sure it isn't enough.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

More TV stuff... 

So, I was right about Apolo.

Oh, and the Veronica finale? If it were a setup to next season - it was pretty good. As the last episode ever - it was more the "never buy anything advertised on the CW ever again" kind of thing.

So guess which of those two it was?

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

There's a special level of hell reserved for this guy... 

31 year old man poses as a critically ill teenager to persuade young girls to send him sexually explicit material.

TV observations... 

OK, if Peter has stored up all these powers from everyone he's ever met, why does he need Nathan to fly out of the damn city?

Subway hero Wesley Autrey's next act of heroism will be finding the strength not to strangle whichever idiot family member told him to turn down the 300 grand.

And, judging solely by last night's performances - your 2007 Dancing With the Stars Champion is Joey Fatone. (For the record - I picked Apolo at the beginning of the season.)

Monday, May 21, 2007

Nice try, dude. 

Defendant punches juror.

Judge denies mistrial.

But he did excuse the juror the defendant decked. So, he's got that going for him.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Stupid 80's Theater... 

Two plumbing companies are embroiled in controversy over a phone number, where a judge recently ordered a national plumbing company to change its phone number in New England, because a local plumbing company already was using the number.

The number in question? 867-5309. (Eight six seven five three oh ni-eee-yi-ine)

And, of course, now that you've heard the cursed number again, you have to listen to the song, don't you?


Friday, May 18, 2007

How do I know Dawn Summers will never visit the Netherlands? 

Their rampaging gorilla problem.

Bill Clinton is now a Belgian... 

...is just one of the many jokes that comes to mind after reading this story.

As someone who grew up in Illinois, my only question is, if I can figure out a way to vote multiple times...

Just saying, is all.

(Also, it's totally wrong, and I should be ashamed of myself for thinking of it - but...I just heard Ann Coulter e-mailed this story to the Edwards campaign under the heading "A friendly suggestion...)

Our long national nightmare is over 

Paris Hilton abandons appeal - will serve sentence for violating probation.

Rest easy, America. Justice has triumphed once again.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Unintended lessons... 

Man charged with assault for repeatedly biting his 3 year old nephew.

The lesson the boy was supposed to learn, according to the uncle: Biting people is wrong.

The lesson the boy actually learned: Uncle Hector's out of his damn mind.

Could somebody else tell my wife about this, please? 

CW cancels Veronica Mars.

On the other hand, Supernatural survives, which is good. I'm guessing this means Sam isn't really dead.

Say it with me, people... 

Americans can't be trusted with democracy.

For the record, Jordin should have gone home. Blake's been hit or miss all season - sometimes the beatboxing works, sometimes it doesn't, but he'll try and cram it in the song regardless - but Blake at least brings something unique and will make an interesting final.

And I'll go ahead and call it - Jordin Sparks is your new American Idol.

(Of course, I was wrong last year - twice - I picked Chris Daughtry to take it, then when he went out, I figured Katherine had it in the bag.)

Funerals 

Great post at PetitDov about funerals in the Middle East.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Maybe it's just a really big country... 

Between January 7 and January 9 of this year, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, a young couple in Tennesee, were the victims of a crime of staggering brutality. They were carjacked, abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered. They were victims of a crime so brutal it would shock the villain in an Eli Roth movie. They were victims of truly evil people, and I hope their killers receive the death penalty as soon as the state of Tennessee can arrange it.

What they are not victims of is a media cover-up. The idea that the media has no interest in this story has been making the rounds in various circles, but the idea, while attractive, just doesn't hold up to me.

When reporting on a crime, there are basically two interesting periods to the public at large. The first period starts when the crime is discovered, and runs until the suspects are caught. Once the bad guys are captured and the streets are safe, interest dies down until period two, which is the actual trial. (In capital cases, the run up to execution often serves as a third period of public interest.) Everything in between is important to the case, but there's a reason Law & Order condenses that part to about three minutes of screen time. It's not very exciting to watch. Newsom and Christian were last seen on a Saturday - Newsom's body was found on a Sunday - the suspects were arrested by the next Friday - not a very long period of time for the story to take hold. By the time word would have gotten out, the big news - the apprehension of the suspects - had already come and gone. Had Newsom and Christian remained missing, their fates and assailants unknown, it's likely the story would have been a huge national affair, what with Christian being a pretty young blonde. See Holloway, Natalie. There's a huge difference in covering a crime that has not been solved and covering one that has been - with the unsolved crime, greater coverage may help stir tips that lead to a resolution. But this case has apparently been solved, and developments in the case will involve status hearings, hearings on technical points of evidence, and other not terribly exciting details for the next year or so while both sides prepare for trial. These hearings are important steps necessary to bring the case to completion, but they've never gotten a ton of coverage. When was the last time your local newspaper ran a story on the Brian Nichols case, for instance?

The popular comparison for media coverage is to the Duke Lacrosse case, because the races of the accused and victims are inverted. This is considered the main difference driving the degree of coverage. But there's another difference that matters - in the Duke case, the DA actively sought out media coverage. He was either trying to drum up witnesses for an ongoing investigation (if you want to be charitable towards him), or exploiting the racial aspect of the case to help his re-election bid (if you don't.) Either way, he actively asked the media to cover his case. The authorities in Knoxville have not. Are the Knoxville authorities wrong for not acting enough like Mike Nifong?

And, while the details of this particular crime reach a level of horror that's almost impossible to comprehend, the truth is, in a country the size of the United States, people get murdered all the time without it becoming a story to anyone outside the town or city where it happened. According to the FBI, in 2004 there 16,137 murders in the United States, only a tiny fraction of which received any nationwide coverage. If you want to use only the most serious cases, in 2006 114 people were sentenced to death in the U.S., and there were certainly plenty of heinous crimes that didn't make that list of 114, because the defendant was either acquitted or received a sentence other than death. The hard truth is, murder, even at its most brutal, doesn't usually make headlines outside the area where it happened. Do Christian and Newsom deserve coverage otherwise given to Paris Hilton? Sure. But so does Cannie Bullock, an 8 year old girl who was raped and murdered back in 1979, but never received justice until recently, when advances in DNA testing allowed the state to identify Joseph Cordova as her killer. So does Stacy Payne, a 15 year old girl savagely raped and beaten by Roy Lee Ward. So does Kristy Vert, sexually assaulted and murdered in front of her grandchildren, allegedly by Sherhaun Brown. Vert's daughter in law was assaulted at the same time, her throat slashed and unsure if she will regain the ability to speak. So do countless other victims deserve to have their stories told. Heck, if paying more attention to celebrity stupidity makes one part of some liberal media blackout, I guess I need to admit my own culpability. The Newsom/Christian murders took place in January, and I remember reading the local stories when they happened. At almost exactly the same time, Paris Hilton has her little issue with California's traffic laws. Guess which story I wrote about first?

If there's a good reason for decent people to tell the story of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, it's to reclaim their names from the racists who think the problem is a lack of hate. Unfortunately, if you Google Newsom and Christian, you don't have to surf very long to get to white supremacist sites who have their own theories on the "media blackout." (No links. Trust me on this one.)

In the coming months, the defendants charged with the horrific murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom will slowly make their way towards a courtroom where they will finally be held to account. If there are any bumps on the road there, the local press will pick it up, and I'm sure if there's a reason for it to be a national story, it will be one. And while it goes on, other murder victims will die, and murderers will be arrested, tried, and sentenced without fanfare, because it doesn't fit into any media meta-narrative about race or sex or whatever it is we're supposed to be talking about that month. And while that goes on, different murder victims will die, and different murderers will be arrested, tried, and sentenced without fanfare, because those cases don't fit any counter-narrative. And while these murder victims will differ in age, sex, race, manner of death, they will all have one thing in common.

They'll all deserve better.

Movie news for nerds... 

Frank Miller to write and direct the movie version of comic classic "The Spirit." This kicks much ass.

Thomas Jane is out of the "Punisher" sequel. This does not kick ass, although the first movie was, at best, decent, meaning this really isn't that big a tragedy.

And finally, there is going to be a movie where Jason Statham takes on Jet Li. If the trailer is any indication, this will very likely kick a great deal of ass.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Not as important as Paris Hilton's traffic offenses... 

But what the hell, we've got a few days until her new lawyer gets the paperwork filed on her appeal.

Some guy getting a relatively minor immigration fraud case tossed usually isn't international news, but Luis Posada Carilles isn't just some guy. He has Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez personally on his case, accusing him of being a terrorist responsible for dozens of deaths.

More on that in a minute. His immigration case, essentially a charge of lying to authorities in an asylum petition, was dismissed because according to the judge, Federal Immigration Authorities violated Posada Carriles' rights when questioning him. (His answers to these questions are the false statements he is charged with making.) The judge throws out the interrogation, case gone. The judge's order may be read here. The statements were excluded for two reasons - one, poor translation made them unreliable as evidence against Posada Carriles, and two, "government deception" - basically scheduling him for a naturalization interview when the goverment knew damn well he wasn't eligible, specifically for the purpose of getting him to make incriminating statements. Federal rules of evidence aren't my bag, but the judge found the evidence against Posada Carriles to be both unreliable as to what it established, and improperly gained through deceit. Ergo, it's gone. To the extent anyone gives a flaming crap what Fidel thinks (and you shouldn't), he says it was all Bush's doing, which means one of two things. One, George Bush engineered all the legal precedent necessary for the judge to feel compelled to dismiss the case, or Bush wanted to create the illusion of enforcement, so he deliberately had the feds put together a crappy case. If either seems plausible to you, simply repeat the following statement out loud and see how it sounds:
"Man, that Bush administration may be evil, but there's no denying their brilliance."
I'm just saying, is all.

Now, the crimes Cuba and Venezuela accuse him of actually happened. A Cuban airliner did blow up in 1976, killing 73 people, and a hotel bombing in Havana in 1997 killed an Italian tourist. These were terrorist acts, no two ways about it - the dead are murder victims, not casualties of war, and there is enough evidence suggesting Posada Carriles' involvement to merit a trial. (Posada Carriles denies involvement, and there's certainly an agenda motivating portions of the allegations against him - that being said, the charge that he was involved in these attacks is supported by more than enough evidence to warrant trial.) No one is suggesting he be sent to Cuba for trial - not even Cuba. There's a recognition pretty much across the board that the idea a political enemy of Fidel Castro would receive a fair trial in Cuba is as ridiculous an idea as you're likely to hear, which means Cuba will have to content itself with a mock trial, where no defense will be presented. Venezuela, however, has also put in a bid to try Posada Carriles again. (Yes, again - more on that later. Also, Venezuela cares because at the time of the bombing, Posada Carriles was a Venezuelan citizen.) How about there?

A U.S. Immigration judge put the kibosh on that, expressing concern that the relationship between Venezuela and Cuba would suggest that Cuban intelligence might be allowed access to Posada Carriles, which would kind of defeat the purpose of sending him to a non-Cuba country. Venezuelan officials assert vigorously that Posada Carriles would get a fair trial in Venezuela - as to how much fairness a defendant identified as Fidel Castro's Public Enemy #1 would get in a country run by Hugo Chavez - draw your own conclusion.

There's one more thing - Posada Carriles has already been tried in Venezuela for the airliner bombing, and acquitted. While the U.S. prohibits a person from being tried again after being acquitted, in other countries, acquittals can often be appealed. And saying "he was acquitted" simplifies things more than they should be - as best I can tell, what happened is Posada Carriles was tried by a military court and acquitted. On appeal, a higher court ruled that the military court lacked jurisdiction over the case, and nullified it entirely. A civilian court initially declined to retry Posada Carriles, however, a subsequent prosecutor did file charges, and while awaiting trial on those charges, Posada Carriles escaped.

So by Venezuelan standards - the previous prosecution against Posada Carriles is a nullity, never happened, start fresh. I'm not convinced that would fly in the U.S., but while it is true that Posada Carriles has been tried and acquitted of at least the airliner bombing in Venezuela, it is also true that under Venezuelan law, the prosecution against Posada Carriles is still validly open. And, of course, it is also true that if you're not at least a little concerned about Posada Carriles getting a fair trial in Hugo Chavez' Venezuela, you're almost certainly more interested in this case because of the potential to embarrass the Bush administration than in any kind of justice for the victims of Cuban Airlines Flight 455.

Speaking of which - trials in Cuba and Venezuela being ruled out by various judges, there is a third option. A grand jury in New Jersey is looking into his involvement, and the FBI has traveled to Cuba to collect evidence and interview witnesses with an eye to prosecuting him here. (Which for the conspiracy minded - is actually the opposite of what the government would do if the Bush administration were actively trying to help Posada Carriles avoid justice.)
"The (U.S.) government is working very hard on this," said Gilberto M. Garcia, the attorney for five New Jersey Cuban-Americans he described as potential witnesses. U.S. prosecutors, he said, are under tremendous pressure "to get him on something."
Murder happens in undemocratic societies as well, and the fact that those justice systems have no interest in anything resembling what we call due process doesn't get rid of the fact that those victims need justice as well. Given the political nature of Posada Carriles' alleged crimes, it defies logic to expect due process in Cuba, and it strains credulity to believe that Hugo Chavez would permit a trial without taking steps to ensure a result that satisfies his mentor. These are legitimate concerns, and Castro and Chavez have no one to blame for them but themselves. But that being said, however much one might deservedly hate Fidel Castro - nobody aboard Cuban Airlines Flight 455 had any say in Castro taking or holding power.

The names of the passengers of Flight 455 may be found here. They include members of the Cuban national fencing team, the flight crew, some Korean diplomats, and several students from Guyana.

Taste the rainbow... 

Man charged with stealing $250,000 worth of Skittles.

He was caught trying to put back the green ones. Nobody likes the green ones.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Are you a cop? Because if you are, you have to tell me. 

The police suspected John Athan was involved in the death of 13 year old Kristen Sumstad back in 1982. Unfortunately, their investigation couldn't prove he was more of a suspect. However, advances in DNA technology being what they are, they took another whack at it recently. Problem is getting a sample from Athan to compare - ideally without letting him know the police are still investigating the case and possibly causing him to flee. (Athan had family abroad.) How to do this?

Well, what Seattle police did was send Athan a letter purporting to be a law firm seeking to sign him up for a class action lawsuit. Athan responds - and sure enough, he licked the envelope he used to answer.

So, can the police pose as lawyers (a misdemeanor under Washington law) to fool a suspect into providing a DNA sample? Remember, the only incriminating evidence was his saliva on the envelope, not anything he'd actually written. (His lawyers claimed his spit was protected by attorney-client privilege.)

By a 6-3 vote, the Washington Supreme Court ruled the state could use the DNA match against Athan. The Supreme Court ruled in its majority opinion "We find there is no inherent privacy interest in saliva." Also, said saliva was not a communication covered by attorney-client privilege. A concurring opinion suggesting DNA evidence might be afforded greater protection given different facts may be read here. Two separate dissents were filed - one concerned mainly with the DNA issue is here, with the final dissent, which is more upset that the cops pretended to be lawyers, is here.

Randomly selected news... 

Human rights activists jailed in Vietnam for calling for multiparty democracy.

Georgia Rule - not that good of a movie.

Dear Ron Mexico 

Atlanta Falcons owner to Vick - could you please quit making an ass of yourself?

Meanwhile, former backup Matt Schaub continues to settle in in Houston.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

I still blame rap music... 

Fight breaks out in crowd at opening night for the Boston Pops.

In other news... 

I'm sure I'm the only person who didn't know this, but apparently, when you use YouTube's "post this video" feature to directly post videos, there can be a delay that's as long as a day, but eventually it does post. And if you hit the button multiple times, there will be multiple posts, albeit sometime later after you've forgotten about it.

Also, if I ever find myself in Louisville, I'm eating at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Our long national nightmare is over 

Billy Ray Cyrus bounced from "Dancing With the Stars."

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Declare victory and go home... 

A man is charged with groping a woman but is acquitted at trial. What would be a bad way to move forward following this legal victory?

Bring a gun to court and try to shoot her.

The phrase "out of the frying pan, into the fire," seems appropriate, but since he'd been acquitted, he was already out of the frying pan, and safely on the kitchen counter someplace, then he jumped back into the fire.

Not at catchy a phrase, I admit.

Collector's corner... 

Redux Beverages bows to FDA - will be changing name of "Cocaine" energy drink.

Friendly advice to anyone who owns any of this stuff - Jump on the market now - as word spreads, everyone and their cousin will be putting this stuff up online.

Trust me - I speak from experience, albeit experience related to "Marvel Legends" figures.

Today's public safety tip 

Rooting for the Mets may be hazardous to your health.

Rooting for the Indians currently harms nothing more than your soul.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Welcome to the big time... 

Remember when Boise State won what was pretty much the greatest football game ever?

Go ahead, watch the highlights again...



Funny what happens when you join the big table - after his now-legendary proposal on the field, running back Ian Johnson has to watch the guest list and gift registry for his wedding to make sure they don't violate NCAA rules on improper benefits to players.

Heck of a game, though. I'd send you guys a gravy boat, but I don't want to get you in trouble.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

The most pressing legal question of our time... 

Was Paris Hilton treated fairly when a judge gave her 45 days for violating her probation? Various bloggers seem to think she was not.

A quick review of the facts is in order. Hilton gets a DUI in September. Not terribly egregious as DUI's go (just over the legal limit, no accident), but still a DUI. She pleads to it in January, and goes on probation, which is basically promising to stay out of trouble and do certain things, such as counseling, in lieu of going to jail. Due to her conviction, she loses her driver's license. She is given a notice of her suspension.

Remember - this all happened four months ago. She gets stopped by the police, and is given a warning for driving on a suspended license. She gets stopped again a month later - this time the officer actually cites her for driving while suspended. A month later - you guessed it - pulled over again, a prior notice of suspension in her glove compartment. She is cited a second time for driving while suspended. A hearing is scheduled to see if she has violated her probation, by, say, driving on a suspended license repeatedly.

She shows up late. Her defense as to why she was driving? Her publicist said it was OK. That's right - three cops and a judge tell her it's illegal for her to drive, and she drives anyway because her publicist said she could. One assumes she's filing bar complaints against the lawyers who gave her this bad advice, and her publicist has been fired. (As a general rule, if employee's stupidity puts employer at risk of going to jail, employee probably deserves to be canned.)

Oh yeah, she also didn't enroll in the counseling program like she promised she would.

So the judge decides that Ms. Hilton, has in fact violated her probation, rejecting her defense that she is either too stupid to comprehend the phrase "don't drive," or too important to listen to police officers or read the documents she signs. She gets 45 days in jail, which sounds pretty close to what normal people get who screw up to that degree. The prospect of being treated like everyone else has outraged her mother:
She fumes, "This is pathetic and disgusting, a waste of taxpayer money with this nonsense. It's a joke."
I concur. If Hilton was going to do so little on probation, it was a waste of time and resources to put her on probation in the first place and she should have just gotten a bunch of jail time on the front end.

For other takes, read Patterico on Paris having to go to a real jail, and Teeth for a suggestion for alternative punishment.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Tomorrow's headlines today... 

Today's News Story - O.J. Simpson picks Tiago to win Kentucky Derby.

Monday's News Story - Tiago fails to finish in the money at Kentucky Derby.

Wednesday's News Story - Tiago found dead in his stall.

Those wacky Canadians 

They have a $1 million dollar coin. It weighs over 200 pounds, and is very useful when you're trying to get someone else to pay for dinner. "I just have the $1 million coin, and I'd hate to have to break it, and they probably can't change it anyway - can you cover me until I can get to an ATM?"

Tip - Kicking Air.

Face it, tiger, you're getting too old for this... 

On the one hand, it's really, really cool to be married to someone who includes on their birthday to-do list - "Catch midnight showing of Spider-Man 3."

On the other hand, midnight showings generally start around midnight - it's a two and a half hour movie - the alarm clock rings at seven - it's your turn to drive in the carpool on Friday - your brain may be young, but your body is in it's mid-thirties - you do the math.

As for the movie itself - it's pretty good - 1 & 2 are better, but that's a pretty high bar. Most of the criticisms are geek-related, so if comic book continuity isn't a sticking point with you, go and see it right now because this movie has cool fights, great effects, interpersonal drama, and one of those upside down kisses that the girls seem to like. There's also a moment where Peter Parker tries to act like a pimp daddy that's more painful to watch then the guy cutting off his own foot in Saw.

If it's at least a potential issue - here's the deal - Sam Raimi clearly thinks this is the last movie in the series, so he tries to cram in every major villain still left in the Spider-Man canon, basically trying to tell about 400 comic books worth of stories in 150 minutes. This works just fine for Harry Osborn as Green Goblin, Jr. - who has the added bonus of two prior movies worth of character development - not so much with Eddie Brock/Venom, although the film hits the basics (starts rivalry with Peter, Peter shows him up professionally, gets symbiote.) The Venom of the comic books was too cool a villain for the relatively limited amount of screen time Brock gets, and Topher Grace isn't going to jive with the Venom you grew up with, although he makes a fine bad guy generally. Not that it matters, because there's only a limited amount of time, and we have to get in relationship issues between Peter and MJ, wisdom from Aunt May, J. Jonah acting insane, Stan Lee's cameo, and, oh yeah, a whole subplot involving Lowell from Wings. And without spoiling anything in the post (feel free in comments) - Sandman gets a backstory that's annoying if you're a fan of the comics.

It's good, it's fun, but if you've spent any portion of life as a comic book nerd, you'll notice this stuff. Of course, if you are or were a comic book nerd, nothing anyone says will keep you out of the theater some time this weekend. I suggest buying tickets in advance.

Also, it was my first look at the Harry Potter trailer. That looks like it's going to rock.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

The sort of thing that only happens in New Jersey 

NJ cable company accidentally sends hard-core pornography over the Disney Channel.

Of course it had to be the Disney Channel. Something like this never happens with, say, ESPN.

Doesn't everyone? 

Prosecutors want Paris Hilton in jail.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

For quality blogging, look elsewhere... 

For links to quality blogging - right here, baby!

Crimson Joe covers recent sports news - Go see that rarest of sightings - optimism in a Browns fan. (It'll be dead by week 5 of the NFL season, so see it while you can.)

Karol hearts Fred Thompson. - If Thompson ends up not running, he's just being mean by teasing his potential supporters.

Dawn Summers hearts outdoor couches. Really, don't we all.

Word of the People on Prince Harry's deployment to Iraq

Steve Silver on the coolest local news anchor ever. If there's one thing that doesn't happen enough, it's attractive women e-mailing racy pictures of themselves to married men.

And if you're not married - read PetitDov for the side effects of a gay best friend.

Stupid questions, stupider answers... 

What do you need to know to make an informed decision about who to vote for for President?

What each candidate would want if stranded on a deserted island, of course.

Tom Tancredo scores best for thinking of the big picture. Mike Huckabee and Bill Richardson get points for thinking of ways to communicate with the outside world. Sam Brownback is thinking of ways to survive on the island itself. The candidates who want books are stupid, and the ones who want their wives to suffer alongside them need marital counseling. (Note - one candidate manages to hit both bad answers - guess which one?)

And, if this survey reveals anything, it is that Christopher Dodd is too stupid to dress himself, let alone lead any portion of the free world.

Also, what does it say that the most sensible answers come from candidates with miniscule support?

Tip - Washington Monthly.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

If they outlaw guns, can I still keep my snakes. 

Things they don't teach you in the police academy - what do you do when you show up at a call and a drunk and depressed person tries to hold you off by brandishing poisonous snakes?

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