The VonFrederick 

Tempus             

March 2007  Volume 4 Issue 3

  Feature Article:

Congnition, Psychology, And Philosophy: Part 1

Elka Svensson Bjork, M.D., Ph.D, surgeon and researcher, The VonFrederick Group

I wanted to write about something different for this month’s periodical. As a neuro-surgeon and one interested in philosophy, I delved into the passion of cognition and psychology. The cognitive approach to psychology traces its origins to the classical Greek philosophers and to developments in nineteenth-century psychology. However, the contemporary version of cognitive psychology emerged within the last 50 years.

Human thought processes have intrigued philosophers and other theorists for at least 2000 years. For example, the Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed laws for learning and memory, and he emphasized the importance of mental imagery. As Hearnshaw (2000) notes, cognitive psychology is both the oldest and the newest component in the history of psychology. 

Theorists in the history of psychology often celebrate 1879 as the birth of scientific psychology. It was then that Wilhelm Wundt (pronounced “voont”) opened his laboratory in a small lecture room in Leipzig, Germany. Thus, psychology emerged as a new discipline that was separate from philosophy and physiology. Within several years, students (including my great-great grandfather) flocked from around the world to study with Wundt, who eventually sponsored 186 PhD dissertations in psychology.

Wundt proposed that psychology should study mental processes, using a technique called introspection. Introspection, in this case, meant that trained observers paid careful attention to their own sensations and reported them as objectively possible. Wundt also pointed out the importance of replications, which are experiments in which a phenomenon is tested under different conditions. 

Not all of Wundt’s colleagues adopted the introspective technique, however. Another German psychologist named Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885 – 1913) devised his own methods for studying human memory. He constructed more than 2,000 nonsense syllables (for instance, DAP) and tested his own ability to learn these stimuli. Meanwhile, in the United States, similar memory research was being conducted by psychologists such as Mary Whiton Calkins (1894), who was the first woman to be president of the American Psychological Association. Calkins reported a phenomenon called recency effect. 

Another crucial figure in the history of cognitive psychology is William James, an American whose theories became especially prominent at the end of the nineteenth century. James was not impressed with Wundt’s introspection technique or Ebbinghaus’s research with nonsensical words. Instead, James preferred a more informal approach, emphasizing the kinds of psychological questions encountered in daily life. He is best known for his textbook, Principles of Psychology, published in 1890, which has been described as “probably the most significant psychological treatise ever written in America” (Evans, 1990). 

Perhaps James’s most significant contributions to the field of cognitive psychology were his theories about memory. He proposed two different kinds of memory and distinguished between memory structure and memory processing. This framework foreshadowed the important memory model proposed about 80 years later by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). We will continue this discussion in Part II.

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CEO and CFO Fiduciary Responsibilities

Dr. Melissa K  Luke,  The VonFrederick Group

Corporate officers and managers are directly responsible for the preservation of the shareholders’ investment in a company. Unfortunately, many leaders have not taken their fiduciary responsibilities as seriously, as previous laws have required conditions which have moved Congress to enact the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to counter corporate malfeasance in the future. Although there are many concepts on how corporate reform should be structured, numerous citations indicate that current corporate reform measure enacted by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may have some unintended consequences.

Research conducted on Fortune 500 companies between 1995 and 2000 by Sanford Bernstein found that approximately 33 percent of all corporate profits during this time span were due to one accounting scheme, namely stock options. Statistically 33 percent of prestigious corporate leadership may be involved in accounting malpractice in some form. The primary area of failure recognized today in U.S. Corporations is segregating or insulating the financial department of a corporation from the actual operations of the organization itself. Lack of accountability by corporate officers, directors and managers with respect to the financial operations of the corporation has also been asserted as the reason for Sarbanes-Oxley. Until recently, regulatory efforts have been focused on the accounting professions, instead of who is directly responsible: the corporate chieftains. Sarbanes-Oxley was enacted to tighten corporate
reform, reassure investors and strengthen the economy, but the regulatory controls may be short-term solutions that will not create a system that effectively works until more thorough research has been conducted on the implementation process. 

With the collapse of some of the world’s largest corporations and the scandals of today’s corporate leaders revealed on a seemingly daily basis, the issues of leader-ship, organizational change, financial failure, ethics and integrity have been brought to center stage. As Sarbanes-Oxley finalizes all implementation dates, there is a growing pressure on corporations to find financially competent CEOs and CFOs, but efforts by senior-level executives capable of moving into leadership positions of small publicly traded entities may be thwarted by the projected costs and legal liabilities imposed on them. The avarice, lack of integrity and failure of many executives may have been factors leading to the creation of one of the most restrictive Acts created in Corporate America since the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. How corporations will deal with these issues, and regain the public’s faith in the future will be key to the recovery and growth of the economy.

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I have noticed that during discussions on the war on terror occurring in Iraq, the Liberals strategy of defeat always comes to the forefront. When the issue is raised liberals rush to defend their strategy with misinformation or accuse conservative critics of challenging their patriotism. Conservatives try to “make nice” and say no… I do not feel the need to pretend and will challenge the Liberal premise.

One false Liberal premise is the Iraq War is Bush’s Vietnam. History proves this is just another Liberal lie. Liberal Democrats demonstrated the same treasonous conduct in the Vietnam era. They allied themselves with the Communist enemy in order to defeat their “real” enemy, American conservatives. As today, they used rhetoric that legitimized the enemy and its cause. For example, they referred to the Viet Cong as “the National Liberation Front of Vietnam”. Today liberals try to legitimize Islamic terrorist as “insurgents” or refer to battle with jihadist in Iraq as an Iraqi “Civil War”, which is absurd. Liberals betrayed the South Vietnamese ally and engineered a massive bloodbath using the same methods they advocate today in Iraq.

Liberals call for the withdrawal of American troops in Iraq just as they did Vietnam. Consider the history of that failed policy. President Nixon withdrew American troops but continued to bomb the North, mine North Vietnamese harbors and attack North Vietnamese military supplies in Cambodia. In an effort to end the war “honorably” and achieve a ceasefire Nixon “negotiated” the Paris Peace accords in January 1973, which promised to protect South Vietnam against the Communist North’s aggression. It was a failed treaty.

After Nixon resigned and Democrats gained control of Congress North Vietnam attacked South Vietnam. Liberal Democrats refused to authorize aid to South Vietnam, which resulted in American defeat and a bloodbath for the democratic people in Southeast Asia. Liberals engineered the American defeat in Vietnam and the massacres that followed. Communist dictators gained power in Laos, Cambodia and all of Vietnam, massacred millions and even caused the inept liberal Sen. McGovern to call for military intervention to correct the liberal engineered catastrophe in Pol Pot’s Cambodia. A humiliating defeat in Iraq will be another “Democrat Vietnam”.

The premise Liberal Democrats support our troops are also false. The Liberal Democrat strategy to ensure American humiliation and defeat by de-funding the U.S. Military has been a common tactic used to aid the enemy. Liberals used it in Vietnam in 1973, in Nicaragua in 1982 and 1984 and in Lebanon in 1983. It is no surprise that liberal history is the bases for the Al-Qaeda and Islamic Fascist strategy for winning the war against America. Jihadists fight, not because they hope to win on the battlefield, but to strengthen the liberal antiwar activist and politicians.

The premise that Liberal Democrats are patriots is a joke. Liberals defend Rep. Murtha’s treasonous conduct by identifying him as Vietnam veteran who served “his” country. So! General Benedict Arnold also served his country with distinction before he sold America out. Now Queen Bee Hillary calls for withdraw of the troops. Liberals defend Queen Bee Pelosi’s strategy to aid the enemy and encourage defeat by saying it is “New Strategy” that the American people mandated in the last election. However, that is far from the truth and just more liberal misinformation and propaganda.

The Liberal premise that the 2006 election results were a mandate for their strategy for defeat is also false. Liberals say that Americans support their strategy to withdraw. What liberals fail to mention is that Sen. Joe Lieberman soundly defeated the liberal anti-war candidate Ned Lamont who advocated the troop withdraw. Defeated in a liberal bastion! Liberals lie about polls to promote their agenda. On Feb. 12th, 2007, Comrade Katie Couric ignored the true findings of a CBS News poll that reported Americans are evenly split on the non-binding resolution against the “troop surge” with 44% in favor and 45% opposed. She misstated the results by adding the 8% who are opposed to the war and stating 53% were opposed to the troop surge. Liberals misrepresent that a majority of Americans are against the war in Iraq and fail to mention the same polls report that Americans are tired of war, almost 70% oppose withdrawing from Iraq until victory is achieved.

The Liberal premise that President Bush fabricated intelligence about WMDs to invade Iraq because WMDs were not found in Iraq is also a lie! While it is true that “stockpiles” of WMD’s were not found, depending on one’s definition of “stockpiles”, saran gas, mustard gas, other chemical agents, other WMDs and enriched uranium was found.

Lincoln was undermined by the Peace Democrats, Ford by the “Anti-War Democrats and Bush by the “I Hate Bush” Democrats. Liberal Democrats have a history of exhibiting a willingness to destroy America for personal gain and party power. The liberal left considers Bush and conservatives as the “near” enemy and Islamic Terrorist as the “far-off” and benign enemy. 

Yes, “Treason” and “Unpatriotic” are harsh terms, but they fit. The Liberal media and politicians attack conservatives for stating the obvious. Conservatives then give ground, acquiesce and say they are not challenging liberal patriotism. Excuse me… I will!

The Democrat Party has returned to the Party of Defeat and Treason… among other descriptive adjectives. Evident when the new party leader, Her Majesty Queen Bee Nancy Pelosi’s loyal subject, the Earl of Boob, John Murtha, let the cat out of the bag when he recently informed the like-minded of their “slow bleed” strategy for forcing American defeat. Their plan is to impose funding restrictions on the war making it difficult for President Bush to staff the troop surge. More proof that once again, Liberals want an American Defeat!

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The occasional faded yellow ribbon one can see around town, tells us the too often ignored tale of a family longing for a loved one that has responded to the call of duty of a grieving nation. The country has put them in harm’s way, in lands to many policy-makers, voters, and college graduates cannot even locate on a globe after four years.

There, under fire and while the terrorists openly break every single rules of war as defined by the Geneva Convention, our troops are held to the highest standards by the International community and closely monitored by the media. This is called Asymmetric warfare, and in order to function, it needs to achieve the "brainwashing" of the public so that "it won't even detect the inborn immorality of the so-called moral requirements demanded from one of the parties while granting the other an indifferent and accomplice silence for its violation of the same requirements" (Olavo de Carvalho).

In Iraq, our forces won the war against Saddam’s armies and the battles fought against the militias afterwards, but we are losing that war at home. Three years ago, our Military had Al-Sadr’s militias at gunpoint. However, a politically correct chorus rose and demanded to allow them in the Democratic process. Now the militias are terrorizing Iraq, paid for by Iran. Three years ago, the Marines surrounded Fallujah. The same chorus piped in. Three years ago, the Syrian borders were closed to any infiltration or weapon smuggling. The chorus chanted again! And here we are today, deeper in the politically correct dug hole, wondering whom to blame, trying to fight a “sensitive” war. As a retired foreign officer, let me tell you that if the pictures of Abu Ghraib and the revengeful slaughters of Haditah are the worse that the hundred of thousands of our soldiers that have rotated on the battlefields can be accused of, then America should pride itself of having the most disciplined military of the world!

Hell is home, and today, scary sight, amnesic politicians from both sides, and forever-irresponsible media, are comfortable saying that the war had been conducted under false pretense and was based on a lie. How convenient! We let the war happen, all of us, and if indeed it is not legitimate, we bear the responsibilities! WE the People, and our chosen representatives and Senator are supposed to be the constitutional Legislative safeguard against any Executive mismanagement! We failed our troops.

Four years ago, everybody wanted a share of the quick victory. Four years ago, Republicans and Democrats sitting in the many Defense and Intelligence committees bought the same decade-old stale intelligence provided by our long time de-clawed intelligence community, and sent our downsized military to fight “an easy war.” (The military strength was brought down from 20 to 10 divisions by a previous administration according to the Force XXI cost-saving motto “more and better with fewer!”) Republicans and Democrats fell asleep together at the helm and instead of balancing the “Executive” as intended by the founding fathers, the “Legislative” dozed and ridiculously gathered in a cafeteria to rename their fries “freedom fries.” Worse of all, four years into the conflict, the Republican and now Democrat lawmakers chairing these committees have been exposed for their ignorance of the most basic facts related to the conflicts and players. We just let it happen!

Now look into the eyes of a wounded or crippled soldier! Look into the eyes of a mother, a dad, a husband, or wife of a dead soldier! Look into their eyes and tell them that it is time to cut and run because our government failed them, because BOTH SIDES of the aisle failed them, because we failed them by not demanding accountability while they were under fire, literally.

I want my children to grow in a country that is feared and respected, and as a veteran myself, I want our soldiers to feel pride in their daily achievements, when they kill a death squad member, restore water or electricity, or play soccer with local kids. We broke Iraq and it is our responsibility to fix it, unless we want to loose face and break our military for the next millennium. Peace is not the alternative of war, but “armed peace” is! Did any of you notice that the so-called “Madhi army” dropped their uniforms and buried their weapons when they learned that the US would send extra troops to deal with both Sunni and Shiite militias? Back there, the enemy is not America anymore and the terrorists are secure in their belief that our troops will withdraw soon. They want to reserve their forces for the internal religious war and power grab that might give birth to a new Great Persia, an oil- rich nuclear power under the anti-Occident dictatorship of an obscurantist form of Islam that supports religious terrorism.

Maybe war is too important a matter to be left to the military, but the affairs of war are too critical to be left to civilians to manage and media to scrutinize. Stop whining, get up, and fight! War is hell and our future security and freedom lay in victory, not in withdrawal!

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Reports of shooting sprees in places of employment – most notably at post offices – have received much attention since the late 1980s. The VonFrederick Group, one of the leading institutions in preventing such criminal behavior, argues that such incidents reveal a growing problem of violence in the workplace, tantamount to terrorism, and offers solutions in part II of this essay.

The blur of swirling lights and the squeal of a siren signal yet another pickup of a dead body. But the sight and sound of death zoom past stereotyped locales like public housing projects and alleyways, ending up in front of a pristine glass high rise.

Murder and violence have come to a place where Americans spend the majority of their waking hours: at work. Between 15 and 20 Americans are murdered on the job each week, triple the workplace homicides committed in the 1980s. Not because you did not “hear it in the media” does not mean it does not happen on a regular basis. Guns are the weapons of choice, accounting for about 71 percent – or 822 of the 1,034 homicides committed in the workplace in 1997, for example.

Victims of workplace violence are overwhelmingly white, male, and between the ages of 25 and 54, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). However, blacks, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics incurred a disproportionate share of workplace homicides compared with total workplace fatalities. Workplace homicide is the leading cause of death for women who work and the third main killer of men who work, according to the BLS. The bureau showed that while total workplace fatalities decreased over the previous decade, intentional killings increased. Homicide accounted for 1,034 or 17 percent, of the 6,083 work fatalities in 1997. 

Workplace violence is mostly an urban problem. Four-fifths of workplace homicides are committed in metropolitan areas. New York City leads the nation in workplace homicides followed by Los Angeles, the second largest city based on population.

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has declared workplace violence an epidemic. Piggybacking on the CDCs proclamation, the Surgeon General’s office vowed to approach workplace violence as a public health problem. The reasoning is that “public health focuses on prevention, and violence is a problem much more easily prevented than stopped” according to an address at a U.S. Post Office symposium on workplace violence.
For a profile of a workplace killer and for solutions, visit us in part II…

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Tempus Virtuous

(good), adj., morally excellent: kind, beneficent; honorable or worthy

How do you like your coffee? With cream or sugar? I like mine with a large spoonful of knowledge my java is improving the life of small-scale farmers and their families world-wide.
Coffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world. However, there are over two million coffee farmers below poverty level in the world…hmmm, you add up the math.

Last year I had first hand experience, literally, my coffee consumerism had an impact on children’s lives by what coffee I selected at my local barista and/or grocery store. I was in northern Nicaragua picking coffee cherries at the end of the harvest season. It was back-breaking work for the novice; a veteran coffee farmer is able to pick and bring down from the mountains to the mill four-100 pound bags of coffee in an 8 hour day. No special equipment is needed except sturdy waterproof boots, a strong back and agile fingers. There were 15 participants in my study group and we were only able to pick a little less than 35 pounds cooperatively in two hours! Coffee from this area is renowned world-wide for its high quality because of volcanic-rich soil and lush, shade-covered mountains. I was a student and participant living with small-scale coffee farmers (note: there are more than 40,000 coffee farmers in Nicaragua). What was different about the 20 or so Nica families I and the other students were living with was these farmers had chosen to be involved in a Fair Trade cooperative, a grass-roots, international business and social organization with strict criteria providing for a better market condition. These northern Nicaraguan farmers want to improve the quality of their families’ lives with better health and educational opportunities for their children. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to eliminate corporate fraud is an unknown factor in the lives of poor coffee farmers. Chances are it would never be implemented or considered at the level of the small-scale coffee farmer in this Central American country, except, perhaps at the large coffee plantation level dealing with major coffee brokerages. Coffee is a global commodity with many handlers looking to get a piece of the action (their share of money) long before it comes to a market nearest you. Now you can realize when coffee prices soar—too many people are in the mix and very little income goes back to the small-scale farmer, less during periodic economic crisis. 

Interestingly enough, Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the world, and yet coffee is the country’s most valuable crop export comprising 20 % of the country’s total export income. The small-scale coffee farmer who wants to make a difference will join and abide by cooperative rules and policies. Through hard work and determination, these coffee cooperatives are certified Fair Trade members, enabling them to receive higher prices for their coffee. Not all Nicaraguan small-scale farmers choose to join a cooperative. As with all agricultural growers, large and small, there is a certain amount of risks dependent on weather conditions--in the late 90’s Hurricane Mitch wiped out many farms, displacing tens of thousands of coffee farmers; and on world economic and political systems—in the late 1970s to the 1990s, the Sandinista government had a significant influence on some, but not all cooperatives. While some collapsed many realized the need to reunite even more. 

Nonetheless, coffee consumers world-wide can make a difference in children’s lives regardless of borders or politics. A child’s life needs to be considered beyond the riff politicking brings into a society gasping for economic fairness and dignity.

Are you feeling worthy of uplifting a child’s life by simply lifting a cup of coffee to your lips? Consider your choice of java. Ask for Fair Trade coffee at your barista and/or look for the Fair Trade Certified label on your coffee package.

To be continued…. “Happy Children in Poverty?”

In the meantime, I recommend the clicking on the following websites.
www.cecocafen.com, www.lwr.org/fairtrade
www.asocafemat.com, www.equalexchange.com
www.freshcup.com, www.soppexcca.com



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Tempus Prosa 

A SOLDIER IN BABYLONIA

OFF I GO AGAIN TO THAT FAR OFF LAND
WHERE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION MARCH HAND IN HAND.

OFF I GO AGAIN TO THAT FAR OFF PLACE
WHERE LIVES ARE DISPOSABLE AND MAN HAS NO FACE.

OFF I GO AGAIN TO SUFFERING AND WOE
WHERE PEOPLE GO HUNGRY, WITH NOWHERE TO GO.

OFF I GO AGAIN TO A PLACE OF DISTRESS
WHERE BOMBED-OUT VEHICLES KEEP MAKING A MESS.

OFF I GO AGAIN TO THAT LAND OVER THERE
WHERE CONSTANTLY THERE ARE “ BOMBS BURSTING IN AIR”.

OFF I GO AGAIN TO THAT SKIRMISH, THAT FIGHT
WHERE SHI’ITE AND SUNNIS CAN’T SEEM TO UNITE.

OFF I GO AGAIN TO WHERE MANY HAVE DIED
WHERE REBELS TAKE MORE AS THEY COMMIT SUICIDE.

OFF I GO AGAIN TO SIFT THROUGH THE CLUES
WHERE THE VERY NEXT BOMB COULD HAVE A SHORT FUSE.

OFF I GO AGAIN WITH FAITH AND WITH HOPE
WHERE I KEEP MY HEAD DOWN, JUST TRYING TO COPE.

OFF I GO AGAIN TO BABYLONIA TOWN
WHERE HISTORY RECORDS IT AS A LAND OF RENOWN.

OFF I GO AGAIN TO DARKEST IRAQ
WHERE HOME’S ON MY MIND – PLEASE LET ME GET BACK! 

PAULETTE ARMONY JOSEPH 
MARCH, 2007

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Did You Know? Michelle Glisan Blevins         

• That even though the Ovambo (or Owambo) peoples of Namibia did not begin emigrating there until the 1800s, they are the largest ethnic group in the country

• That the world’s oldest desert, the Namib, is thought to be around 80 million years old 

• That the average life expectancy at birth in Namibia is just over 43 years of age (in the US or UK the average is around 78 years of age)

• That Dragon’s Breath Lake, located in the Otavi Mountains in north eastern Namibia, is the world’s largest underground lake

The Namibian flag’s colors are said to represent: blue- sky and ocean; green- plant life; white- peace; red- the people and their heroism; gold- for the Namib Desert; and also the sun symbol- for energy

MARGARET KNIGHT

Margaret Ethridge Knight

02/14/1838 – 10/12/1914

Born in York, Maine and raised in New Hampshire, Margaret began inventing at a very young age- by12 a safety mechanism she invented was in use in a local textile mill. Receiving her first patent at the age of 30, Knight has been credited with as many as 90 inventions and 26 patents- items varying from automobile engine parts to a machine to cut shoe soles. She is best known for inventing a machine to cut, fold and glue flat-bottomed paper-bags, the type used in grocery stores today. Margaret co-founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company in Hartford, Connecticut and her original wooden paper-bag machine is on display at the Smithsonian Institute. She died at the age of 76 with less than $300 in assets. 

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How To Survive A Mugging

1. Do not argue or fight with a mugger unless your life is clearly in danger.
   If all a mugger wants is your purse, wallet, or other belongings, surrender them. Your possessions are not worth your life..

2. If you are certain that your attacker means to do you or a loved one harm, attack vital areas of your assailant’s body.
   Aim to disable him or her with the first blow by:
   • Thrusting your fingers into and above your attacker’s eyes. 
   • Driving your knee in an upward direction into his groin (if mugger is male).
   • Grabbing and crushing the attacker’s testicles as if crushing a handful of grapes (if mugger is male).
   • Striking the front of his or her throat, using the area between your thumb and first finger, or the side of your hand, held straight and strong.
   • Slamming the tip of your elbow into the side of the mugger’s ribs.
   • Stomping down on the mugger’s instep.

3. Use an object as a weapon.
   Many common objects can be effective weapons if they are aimed at vulnerable body parts. Pick up and use what is easily available:
   • A stick can jab at an attacker’s eyes or groin.
   • Keys held between your fingers can slash or punch.
   • A car antenna can jab or slash your attacker’s face and eyes.

(Piven and Borgenicht)

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The VonFrederick Group

Phone: (877) 207-1300
Fax:     (916) 488-7531
Email:

Dr. Lionel C.M. VonFrederick Rawlins
Lionel@VonFrederick.com

Dr. Melissa K. Luke
Melissa@VonFrederick.com

George A. Torres, MBA
George@VonFrederick.com

Eric Chevreuil
Eric@VonFrederick.com

Pat McLane
Pat@VonFrederick.com

Albert Globus, MD
Al@VonFrederick.com

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Cliff@VonFrederick.com

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reading at VonFrederick.com

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