WEBVTT - Fruit Punch

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild.

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<v Speaker 2>Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history

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<v Speaker 2>is an open book, all of these amazing tales are

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<v Speaker 2>right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The area outside Panama

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<v Speaker 2>City was sweltering and packed with people. A train pulled

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<v Speaker 2>into the depot, disgorging multitudes into the hot station at

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<v Speaker 2>La Sienega. Men and women flocked to the Ocean House

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<v Speaker 2>Hotel and the Pacific House Hotel to pay for cheap lodgings.

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<v Speaker 2>Those that weren't planning to stay gathered by the station

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<v Speaker 2>or at the beach. There was a steamship, the John L. Stevens,

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<v Speaker 2>to take these people to San Francisco that it was

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<v Speaker 2>currently aground until the tide rolled in that evening. The

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<v Speaker 2>situation left many Americans with nothing to do but sweat

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<v Speaker 2>and wait. It was April fifteenth of eighteen fifty nine.

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<v Speaker 2>The California gold Rush was at its peak, and in

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<v Speaker 2>the aftermath of the Mexican American War, plenty of American

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<v Speaker 2>colonists were eager to grab California land while it was cheap,

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<v Speaker 2>and traveling through Central America was a faster and often

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<v Speaker 2>less perilous way of going west compared to the Oregon Trail. However,

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<v Speaker 2>at this point, the Panama Canal didn't exist, so it

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<v Speaker 2>was still a haphazard route passing through the Republic of

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<v Speaker 2>New Grenada, and as a result, Panama City got extremely congested.

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<v Speaker 2>Jack Oliver, an American man, stepped out of the Golden

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<v Speaker 2>Eagles Saloon at around five thirty PM. He was one

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<v Speaker 2>of many foreigners who were passing through Panama City far

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<v Speaker 2>slower than he would like. It was already very drunk,

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<v Speaker 2>trailed by several friends in similar states of intoxication the way.

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<v Speaker 2>He grabbed a slice of watermelon from a street vendor,

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<v Speaker 2>which he ate as he walked along. The vendor, understandably

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<v Speaker 2>annoyed that the American had stolen the watermelon without pain,

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<v Speaker 2>pursued him. That man's name was Jose Luna. He insisted

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<v Speaker 2>that Oliver pay him ten cents for that slice. Oliver

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<v Speaker 2>brushed him off, telling him to get lost. Luna insisted,

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<v Speaker 2>following Oliver further and further down main street. Oliver in

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<v Speaker 2>a fit of rage, drew a pistol and pointed it

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<v Speaker 2>at Luna's face. Luna defensively drew a knife, but before

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<v Speaker 2>either of them could do anything, a local grabbed Oliver's

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<v Speaker 2>pistol and attempted to wrestle it from his hands. The

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<v Speaker 2>gun went off, fortunately hitting no one. Knowing better than

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<v Speaker 2>to press his luck, Luna quietly vanished into the crowd.

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<v Speaker 1>The man who had grabbed the pistol, though, Miguel Abraham,

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<v Speaker 1>broke and run the gun still in his hands. Oliver

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<v Speaker 1>and the other Americans chased after him, shouting angrily. They

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<v Speaker 1>even brandished more weapons, and soon the locals were ready

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<v Speaker 1>with weapons of their own. More gunshots went off, and

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<v Speaker 1>the pack streets of Panama City descended into chaos. It

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<v Speaker 1>was an explosion of tension that had already existed in

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<v Speaker 1>the area. Locals, primed and angry toward the arrogant Americans,

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<v Speaker 1>took to American run businesses with clubs and other improvised weapons.

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<v Speaker 1>Both hotels, The Ocean and the Pacific were trashed in

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<v Speaker 1>the ensuing riot. The main group of Americans, including the

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<v Speaker 1>ones who had incited it all to begin with, fled

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<v Speaker 1>to the train station, where they barricaded themselves inside. The

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<v Speaker 1>Panama police arrived shortly after and attempted to control the scene,

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<v Speaker 1>but when a stray bullet from the station struck a policeman,

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<v Speaker 1>any attempts to calm things down died a quick death.

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<v Speaker 1>Police and locals stormed the train station, breaking down the

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<v Speaker 1>doors and forcing their way inside. The riots lasted hours

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<v Speaker 1>well into the night. By the end, the train station

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<v Speaker 1>was destroyed, the telegraph lines had been severed, and even

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<v Speaker 1>sections of train track had been torn up. There were

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<v Speaker 1>over sixty injuries and seventeen people died, fifteen Americans and

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<v Speaker 1>two Panamanians. And what about Jack Oliver, the arrogant American

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<v Speaker 1>who thought stealing fruit from a poor vendor was a

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<v Speaker 1>good idea Well. Retellings of the riot tend to lose

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<v Speaker 1>track of his story, but at least one account claims

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<v Speaker 1>that he just sat the riot out. The tide came in,

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<v Speaker 1>so he boarded the ship along with the other tourists,

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<v Speaker 1>and while the violence raged on, he slept in steerage,

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<v Speaker 1>waiting to be taken back to America. To some a

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<v Speaker 1>riot like this was inevitable, though the governments of America

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<v Speaker 1>and Panama might have had an agreement, but intense racial

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<v Speaker 1>and economic disparities between the populations were very well documented. Predictably,

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<v Speaker 1>the business owners who lost money in the riot blamed

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<v Speaker 1>the locals like Miguel Abrahan, rather than Jack Oliver, who

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<v Speaker 1>had drawn his gun in the first place. The conflicts

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<v Speaker 1>between nations, individuals, and businesses became inextricably tied up together

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<v Speaker 1>in the riot, leaving everyone frustrated. Traveling from one end

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<v Speaker 1>of a continent to another is always going to provoke

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<v Speaker 1>some sort of stress. Even as technology improves, we accept

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<v Speaker 1>a certain amount of discomfort if it gets us where

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<v Speaker 1>we're going. Only when your plane has a layover, it

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<v Speaker 1>rarely ends with the airport burning to the ground. They

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<v Speaker 1>say that you can't outrun fate, but as this story proves,

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<v Speaker 1>you may be able to outswim it. On the morning

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<v Speaker 1>of November twenty one of nineteen sixteen, a young stewardess

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<v Speaker 1>walk through the dining room of the HMHS Britannic. The

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<v Speaker 1>Britannic was originally built as a passenger liner, but when

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<v Speaker 1>World War One broke out, it was requisitioned for use

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<v Speaker 1>as a hospital ship. On this particular November morning, it

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<v Speaker 1>was sailing through the Kia Channel on its way to

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<v Speaker 1>pick up sick and wounded British sailors from the Greek

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<v Speaker 1>island of Lemnos. Our young stewardess, a woman named Violet,

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<v Speaker 1>squeeze past the dining tables where doctors and nurses were

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<v Speaker 1>chatting over breakfast. She made her way to the kitchen

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<v Speaker 1>to pick up breakfast for a sick nurse that she

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<v Speaker 1>was caring for. But just as she picked up a

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<v Speaker 1>teapot from the pantry, a deafening roar shook the Britannic. Instantly,

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<v Speaker 1>the men in the kitchen dropped their pans and spoons

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<v Speaker 1>and sprinted toward the deck, but Violet stayed calm. She

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<v Speaker 1>was no stranger to chaos at sea. She'd been a

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<v Speaker 1>stewardess on the supposedly unsinkable Titanic when it hit an

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<v Speaker 1>iceberg four years earlier. A year before that, she'd been

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<v Speaker 1>working on another luxury liner, the RMS Olympic, when it

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<v Speaker 1>collided with a British warship. Whatever was happening on the

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<v Speaker 1>Britannic that morning, it wouldn't rattle Violet jessup, so she

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<v Speaker 1>took the pot of tea to her patient in sick

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<v Speaker 1>Bay and calmly helped her get dressed and ready, and

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<v Speaker 1>then Violet strolled down the deserted hallways to her own cabin,

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<v Speaker 1>gathered up her toothbrush and her prayer book, and made

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<v Speaker 1>her way up to the deck. As she did, a

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<v Speaker 1>startled officer ran up to Violet and told her that

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<v Speaker 1>there had been an explosion and the ship was sinking fast.

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<v Speaker 1>All of the other women had already been evacuated, and

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<v Speaker 1>so she was hurried into a lifeboat, and as it

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<v Speaker 1>was lowered into the water, something caught Violet's eye. Another

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<v Speaker 1>lifeboat that had already set sail was drifting along the

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<v Speaker 1>side of the ship and being pulled into the churning

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<v Speaker 1>water by the ship's propellers. She watched in horror as

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<v Speaker 1>the other lifeboat was sucked into the propellers. One by one,

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<v Speaker 1>its occupants jumped overboard into the water, barely making it

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<v Speaker 1>out before the lifeboat was shredded. Violet realized that if

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<v Speaker 1>she was going to survive, she was going to have

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<v Speaker 1>to jump overboard as well. There was only one problem,

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<v Speaker 1>Violet couldn't swim. Pushing down her first pangs of fear,

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<v Speaker 1>she held her breath and plunged into the icy water.

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<v Speaker 1>She was tossed around by the waves, sinking further and further,

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<v Speaker 1>and then bobbing back to the surface. She smacked her

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<v Speaker 1>head on something hard, and as she choked and saltwater

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<v Speaker 1>filled her lungs, she felt a hand clutch her arm.

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<v Speaker 1>Mere moments before she would have drowned, she was pulled

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<v Speaker 1>to safety. All told, twenty eight lives were lost in

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<v Speaker 1>the sinking of the Britannic, but Violet Jessup survived and

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<v Speaker 1>made a full recovery, and the news got out that

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<v Speaker 1>the stewardess had lived through a third major disaster on

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<v Speaker 1>the ocean. She earned the new nickname Miss Unsinkable. After

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<v Speaker 1>taking a short break to reevaluate her life choices, she

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<v Speaker 1>decided to go back to work as a stewardess, and

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<v Speaker 1>she worked at sea for another three decades, thankfully without

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<v Speaker 1>another accident, before finally taking her well deserved retirement at

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<v Speaker 1>the age of sixty one. Fates can be a curiously

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<v Speaker 1>powerful force, but for Violet Jessup, it couldn't match the

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<v Speaker 1>pull of the ocean. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided

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<v Speaker 1>tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on

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<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting

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<v Speaker 1>Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me

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<v Speaker 1>Aaron Mankie in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make

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<v Speaker 1>another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,

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<v Speaker 1>book series, and television show, and you can learn all

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<v Speaker 1>about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. And until next time,

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<v Speaker 1>stay curious.