# Many People In Large Cities Go Without Internet



## 64K (Nov 5, 2014)

This surprised me because everyone I know has internet service.









http://arstechnica.com/business/201...er-cities-nearly-40-percent-go-internet-free/


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## RCoon (Nov 5, 2014)

So, mainly Ohio?


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 5, 2014)

I see my region is well-represented: New Orleans, Mobile, Birmingham, Jackson.  The Gulf South has alot of poverty.


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## 64K (Nov 5, 2014)

RCoon said:


> So, mainly Ohio?



Yeah, the Michigan and Ohio region has a good bit of poverty due to that region being heavily invested in the auto industry and many of those jobs have been outsourced to other countries or plants have been moved to areas of the USA where the labor is cheaper. Detroit Michigan has been especially hard hit. They became the largest municipal filing for bankruptcy in US history. There debt was estimated at ~20 billion dollars at the time of filing.


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## Tatty_One (Nov 5, 2014)

I assume it means where no internet is available as opposed to those that don't actually have/want it?


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## Kursah (Nov 5, 2014)

That or they're all stealing the Interwebz from eachothers' WiFi and not telling the polls what's really going on.


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## 64K (Nov 5, 2014)

Tatty_One said:


> I assume it means where no internet is available as opposed to those that don't actually have/want it?



From my understanding of the article it includes both people that have no access to broadband and people who can't afford it/ don't want it.

This FCC chart shows that a fairly small amount of Americans don't have access to broadband.

https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-329160A1.pdf

Kursah has a point. It would be interesting to see some estimates on how many households are thought to be leeching off of a neighbors unsecured wireless or hacked their wireless network password.


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 5, 2014)

Kursah said:


> That or they're all stealing the Interwebz from eachothers' WiFi and not telling the polls what's really going on.


 
Until you look at the cities in the list that might be a good theory.  I know of the 4 in my region on the report that I listed, all four have large populations below the poverty line, so broadband would be prohibitive.  And then there's the Rust Belt cities in Ohio and Michigan too to account for.


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## Tatty_One (Nov 5, 2014)

rtwjunkie said:


> Until you look at the cities in the list that might be a good theory.  I know of the 4 in my region on the report that I listed, all four have large populations below the poverty line, so broadband would be prohibitive.  And then there's the Rust Belt cities in Ohio and Michigan too to account for.


Yes, demographics will play a big part of it, for example cities with a high elderly count would possible have less users, then as you have said, poverty would play a big part even though over here with some very "basic" TV subscriptions Broadband is thrown in for free by some companies.


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 5, 2014)

Tatty_One said:


> ...even though over here with some very "basic" TV subscriptions Broadband is thrown in for free by some companies.


 
Complimentary broadband, I like!  It seems to me that is a great idea, because the internet is such a basic part of life now, more so than even basic television service.


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## 64K (Nov 5, 2014)

I guess people in the larger cities might still have dial up internet but that is archaic. As for gamers I don't know if Steam would even service them but even if they did it would take ~25 days to download a 15 GB game at 56K.


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## remixedcat (Nov 5, 2014)

Some people just use a phone as well.

A stylist I had at a salon here only has a galaxy s4 And no PC.


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## Arctucas (Nov 5, 2014)

Free Internet for everyone!

While we are at it; free everything for everybody!

Damn Socialists.

Here is a thought; get a job, or do without.


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## xorbe (Nov 5, 2014)

Cities with the most old people.  FL hits the top ten twice!

Or, neighbors are sharing internet, and have cell phone service individually.


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## twilyth (Nov 5, 2014)

remixedcat said:


> Some people just use a phone as well.
> 
> A stylist I had at a salon here only has a galaxy s4 And no PC.


Yeah, as more people ditch landlines and only use their mobile phones, even dialup isn't really an option.  I know someone like this too and I'm looking into Miracast for them.  This way they can use their phone's data plan and mirror the display to a tv.  Add an external keyboard, and they should have what amounts to essentially pc-equivalent internet access.  All they need to do is buy a dongle like the new Amazon firestick that supports Miracast and they're good to go.


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## XSI (Nov 5, 2014)

@64K "I guess people in the larger cities might still have dial up internet but that is archaic. As for gamers I don't know if Steam would even service them but even if they did it would take ~25 days to download a 15 GB game at 56K."

something is off with this math, it's only 4GB per week on maximum speed, so, it would take more than 1,5 month!!!
I had 33,6...max download ~4KB/s + dial-up is unstable, and barely achieves max speed. I needed about one week non stop download to download 1GB.
edit: it was 2002... now it takes about 1,5-2minutes  and for some of my friends...like 12-15 sec.


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## Liquid Cool (Nov 5, 2014)

Interesting thread...we're getting ready to probably turn the internet off at our house.  Just too expensive.

Someone commented above about no job...no internet, this leaves the handicappers in the lurch.

I'm caught in the middle.

Best,

LC


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## remixedcat (Nov 5, 2014)

I think omaha has a cheap wireless isp that's like 20/mo or something you could look into?? I had a friend out there that used them... forget the name. They paid 15/mo for theirs


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## twilyth (Nov 5, 2014)

You can always try tethering on your cellphone.  Some of the smaller mobile providers have up 5-10gb/month plans for between $35 and $55/month.  You just need to make sure they'll let you do tethering or mobile hotspot with the phone.


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## remixedcat (Nov 6, 2014)

If you got a rooted android it makes tethering much nicer.


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## Tatty_One (Nov 6, 2014)

Arctucas said:


> Free Internet for everyone!
> 
> While we are at it; free everything for everybody!
> 
> ...


If you live in a country with several million unemployed and a stuttering economy that may not always be so easy for some.


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## RCoon (Nov 6, 2014)

Tatty_One said:


> over here with some very "basic" TV subscriptions Broadband is thrown in for free by some companies.



If you have a phone contract with EE or Orange, you can get 20Mbit Broadband for £2 a month. My partner has it, and gets an actual 12.9Mbit with 2Mbit upload. Pretty good for £2 a month, and viable for a lot of households who don't have a landline but do like a mobile phone contract. It helps that I work in Education too, because I get entitled to 20% discount on my monthly tariffs.

I couldn't operate without my 84Mbit broadband though. I upload and download on a daily basis in great amounts. Uploading 1440@60P to youtube takes its toll.


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## AsRock (Nov 6, 2014)

In the end every American should be able to get online one way or another as it's being more a requirement for even job hunting and if it was not due to places like your local library even more would go with out,  well that's if it's around still ours been closed down 3 times over the last 10 years.

Going on like everyone's a hacker who don't have internet and bs, sounds more like a excuse not to face the fact, and those who don't want it might end up needing it one day and question is would they be able to get it if they don't have a local library ?.


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## Jetster (Nov 6, 2014)

There is nothing wrong with not having internet


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## newconroer (Nov 6, 2014)

Inconveniences aside, most of these people are better off. I can't even dream any more about a world without mobile devices and the internet. I have to go watch a Blu Ray of Dirty Harry to imagine what normal life used to be like.


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## rtwjunkie (Nov 6, 2014)

newconroer said:


> Inconveniences aside, most of these people are better off. I can't even dream any more about a world without mobile devices and the internet. I have to go watch a Blu Ray of Dirty Harry to imagine what normal life used to be like.


 
LOL, the irony of having to use a modern implement like Blu-Ray to see the old days before internet is not lost on me!


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## newconroer (Nov 6, 2014)

I mention Blu Ray because then you can see the high(er) quality version of films that were filmed in the past decades, and therefore get a real sense of immersion. I actually watched one of the old Dirty Harry's and my phone went off right as it was ending. I was like "WTF WAS THAT...oh"


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## Arctucas (Nov 6, 2014)

Tatty_One said:


> If you live in a country with several million unemployed and a stuttering economy that may not always be so easy for some.



I do; the United Socialist States of America, thanks to the Progressives and their Democrat allies.

Let me ask you this: if you are so poor that you need assistance, why would you waste money on a non-essential expenditure such as Internet? Who in their right mind would choose Internet over feeding, clothing and sheltering their families?

Internet, as is the case with so many things we spoiled Americans see as 'necessary', is a luxury. And before anyone says it _*is*_ necessary, public libraries have PCs with internet access.


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## eidairaman1 (Nov 6, 2014)

Living within a city you're right by a CO normally, AT&T has several in the Houston Area, however some areas that are direct feed are like 6-15000 ft, forget getting DSL higher than 1.5 if you're over 7K as a reference.

Same goes for being by a node too.

Course ATT is too cheap to send fiber to homes directly so they use existing copper which is only really good for POTs.

In the End, Internet is not a necessity, its a Luxury.

Water, Electricity, Food, Clothing, Roof over head, means of transportation, school are Necessities.

Working class shouldn't be paying for Welfare Kings/Queens laziness or luxuries, necessities.


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## 64K (Nov 6, 2014)

Arctucas said:


> I do; the United Socialist States of America, thanks to the Progressives and their Democrat allies.
> 
> Let me ask you this: if you are so poor that you need assistance, why would you waste money on a non-essential expenditure such as Internet? Who in their right mind would choose Internet over feeding, clothing and sheltering their families?
> 
> Internet, as is the case with so many things we spoiled Americans see as 'necessary', is a luxury. And before anyone says it _*is*_ necessary, public libraries have PCs with internet access.



It's odd with public assistance. Where I live cell phone service is provided free for families under the poverty line. A few months ago I was in a convenience store and watched as a young girl bought four hotdogs with a food stamp card that was about 3 times more expensive than if she had bought the ingredients from a store and made them herself. You can buy soda, chips and candy with food stamps but you can't buy toothpaste and soap and vitamins with them. The last I heard there are ~44 million Americans receiving some amount of food stamps. I'm not a hard ass. I donate to the local food bank. I don't want to see anyone go hungry but the public assistance system is whacked.


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## twilyth (Nov 6, 2014)

Internet service is becoming a necessity just for communication purposes.  It's easy to say 'go to the library' but if you don't have a car, that gets a little tricky.  I know a few people who are disabled and receive assistance.  They can only dream about ever owning a car.  

But on the bright side, smart phones can serve most of a person's communication needs.  Between voice, SMS, email and web access, you can do pretty much everything you need to do whether it's communicating with healthcare providers or govt agencies or looking for work or arranging transportation.  

And as more smartphones support mirroring via Miracast or Google cast, it will become as easy and convenient as using a PC.


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## eidairaman1 (Nov 6, 2014)

those specific smart phones should be crippled by several means- aka a low end, allow only certain amt of calls per week, very limited on data plan, no facebook, google plus, video gaming, or skype, cannot download additional applications to them, no text service, can only use email. and they are heavily monitored for use.

because our taxes do pay for those Welfare Kings/Queens to sit on their asses and never work again


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## AsRock (Nov 7, 2014)

Arctucas said:


> I do; the United Socialist States of America, thanks to the Progressives and their Democrat allies.
> 
> Let me ask you this: if you are so poor that you need assistance, why would you waste money on a non-essential expenditure such as Internet? Who in their right mind would choose Internet over feeding, clothing and sheltering their families?
> 
> Internet, as is the case with so many things we spoiled Americans see as 'necessary', is a luxury. And before anyone says it _*is*_ necessary, public libraries have PCs with internet access.



My wife lost her job 2 months back and found that it was required to have internet access and a phone, internet due to the fact that's were companys look for people to fill their recruitment requirements and a phone so they can get in touch with you as email don't really work as well and a lot are doing phone interviews now too.

If you said that 10 year ago i would of agreed with you but today it's become more of a requirement as a lot of people do not have access to a library which if it's like ours is only open 3 days a week,  you aint getting a job checking emails 3 times a week i tell ya.


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## eidairaman1 (Nov 7, 2014)

Theres starbux. Libraries, mcdonalds to name a few


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## AsRock (Nov 7, 2014)

eidairaman1 said:


> Theres starbux. Libraries, mcdonalds to name a few



Starbucks McD well not ours and would they not charge you ?, please remember you could be  having a issue feeding your self and keeping a roof over your head.


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## eidairaman1 (Nov 7, 2014)

Im currently using my earnings from the last job i had. Im currently in transition


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## Tatty_One (Nov 7, 2014)

Arctucas said:


> I do; the United Socialist States of America, thanks to the Progressives and their Democrat allies.
> 
> Let me ask you this: if you are so poor that you need assistance, why would you waste money on a non-essential expenditure such as Internet? Who in their right mind would choose Internet over feeding, clothing and sheltering their families?
> 
> Internet, as is the case with so many things we spoiled Americans see as 'necessary', is a luxury. And before anyone says it _*is*_ necessary, public libraries have PCs with internet access.


The point is people have differing priorities and interpretations of what is a essential or non essential, I can't speak for your country but in mine, the unemployed can be seriously disadvantaged without internet access, I agree that in many cases we have become too reliant on the internet but that seems to be the way of things, point is if it's now really cheap over here for 10meg broadband (or offered free with some other packages) why is it not so over the pond?

As for Progressives/Democrats/Economy...... were you not in any difficulty prior to their influence?


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## newconroer (Nov 7, 2014)

Arctucas said:


> I do; the United Socialist States of America, thanks to the Progressives and their Democrat allies.
> 
> Let me ask you this: if you are so poor that you need assistance, why would you waste money on a non-essential expenditure such as Internet? Who in their right mind would choose Internet over feeding, clothing and sheltering their families?
> 
> Internet, as is the case with so many things we spoiled Americans see as 'necessary', is a luxury. And before anyone says it _*is*_ necessary, public libraries have PCs with internet access.



This is kinda response I give when people complain they cannot afford to pay a monthly subscription for a MMO game, yet they can afford the really good computer they have (on monthly payments!?) and the internet to go with it.
I call it the 'stoop mentality' where all your financial priorities are out of whack. You draw a benefit or welfare check an then you spend in on things like sneakers, clothes, bling and cell phones, so you can build the right image for the wrong people.



Tatty_One said:


> The point is people have differing priorities and interpretations of what is a essential or non essential, I can't speak for your country but in mine, the unemployed can be seriously disadvantaged without internet access, I agree that in many cases we have become too reliant on the internet but that seems to be the way of things, point is if it's now really cheap over here for 10meg broadband (or offered free with some other packages) why is it not so over the pond?



There's not enough disparity between the welfare state of America and of England, for that statement to be true. The type of people that are poor and unemployed in England can simply walk to a local job center and a government worker effectively do all the searching for them. And most that do, put in very little effort - often arriving with empty log books and lack of actual interviews achieved per week. The reality is, benefits are more than enough for some people. And thus they too devolve into the stoop mentality. In England, it involves living at the local pub and spending your cash that way.

I actually do not think this is really about money or about necessity. I think it's about interest, ignorance and marketing.
A lot people simply do not want the internet and the other half don't know enough about computers to bother or they didn't consider it until it was rammed down their throats by some young upbeat sales guy going door to door.


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## Tatty_One (Nov 7, 2014)

newconroer said:


> This is kinda response I give when people complain they cannot afford to pay a monthly subscription for a MMO game, yet they can afford the really good computer they have (on monthly payments!?) and the internet to go with it.
> I call it the 'stoop mentality' where all your financial priorities are out of whack. You draw a benefit or welfare check an then you spend in on things like sneakers, clothes, bling and cell phones, so you can build the right image for the wrong people.
> 
> 
> ...



I agree however our "Job Centres" are not a service to everyone unemployed any longer and for those they do serve they now limit to vacancies advertised specifically through their service by employers, if employers do not want to employ the long term unemployed they simply don't advertise through them and therefore using them no longer gives you access to all of the vacancies, generally to have that you either need a local newspaper (for locally sourced opportunities) or the internet.  Things have gotten much stricter over here in the last couple of years and benefits generally have been cut dramatically, the easiest way these days to get decent benefits, housing without working is to have lots of children!


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## newconroer (Nov 7, 2014)

That's true, I have noticed rumblings about restrictions. I suppose temp agencies are another viable option.

Let's not get started on housing benefits and _child rearing rewards_. Maternity leave is bad enough as a concept, but then achieving the same thing when NOT employed - that's just sinful.
There are a lot beautiful, smart and kind young women taking care of their children - that they actually MEANT to have and also tried to be financial prepared for ahead of time. They are still working two jobs, and they have no others to help and dump their kids off on. Meanwhile these 'career' women or unemployed women use children as an excuse to live a life at home on someone else's dime.
Cunts the whole lot of them - I bet they've got internet.


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## Atomic77 (Aug 27, 2015)

I once lived way out in the country where 56k Modem was the only internet you could get.


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## AsRock (Aug 27, 2015)

Once i lived in a city were the best was 56k .  Whats sad is that today you kinda need it were as back then you could do without it.

This is going make problems as time goes on as with shady company's like Comcast and such everyone will not be able to afford it and actually need it even more so if your job hunting.


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## Blue-Knight (Aug 27, 2015)

Spoiler: Do not waste your time reading this...



Not surprised. People can live very well (I would say better) without internet.

I have no phone and I live very well. I could not live without food and water... The rest (material) is dispensable.

I told you: Do not waste your time reading this. Why did you read me!? 

That's probably a problem you should fix.


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## micropage7 (Aug 27, 2015)

Atomic77 said:


> I once lived way out in the country where 56k Modem was the only internet you could get.


in here the cheap connection even cant reach 10 kbps

maybe the good thing when you dont have internet access is when judgement day is coming you cant be tracked, safe from skynet


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## Tatty_One (Aug 27, 2015)

Holy thread necro @ Atomic!  I once lived when there was no such thing as the Internet, WWW or even modems, damn landline telephones were so expensive back then my parents used to use a pigeon and a small piece of paper.


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## Steevo (Aug 27, 2015)

Arctucas said:


> Free Internet for everyone!
> 
> While we are at it; free everything for everybody!
> 
> ...




What do you propose we do when automation renders 80 some percent of jobs obsolete?


We are nearing a money-less society, where the ideas that you work for the profitable betterment of the owner of a company and so you can be paid just enough to survive and maybe a little more, with no real job security, all for fake agreedupon paper, that is now actually fake agreed upon bits of information that represent fake agreed upon paper that represent a slightly upgraded bartering system where people can use money to make money at the expense of those performing labor for said money become obsolete as well.


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## Atomic77 (Aug 27, 2015)

Tatty_One said:


> Holy thread necro @ Atomic!  I once lived when there was no such thing as the Internet, WWW or even modems, damn landline telephones were so expensive back then my parents used to use a pigeon and a small piece of paper.


Well I was born in 1977 so as a kid computers were just starting to get popular as I was growing up.  my first modem was 2400bps even before 56k was standard.


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## Tatty_One (Aug 27, 2015)

Atomic77 said:


> Well I was born in 1977 so as a kid computers were just starting to get popular as I was growing up.  my first modem was 2400bps even before 56k was standard.


My first modem were 2 cans with string attached


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## dorsetknob (Aug 27, 2015)

Tatty_One said:


> My first modem were 2 cans with string attached



Never worked well Here in my part of Brittan Rain made the string Soggy and the ping was more of a plop 

My Cardboard box also went soggy   ah how we envied those who lived in a wooden Apple crate


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## flmatter (Aug 27, 2015)

Yeah I remember a place before internet existed, it was called outdoors. Boy those were the days..... all you needed was a stick and some imagination.   Glad I live in Alaska now, best of both worlds - go outside and have fun, stay indoors and play on internet. Somedays  I leave phones and tablets at home and feel good about not being "connected".
.


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## twilyth (Aug 28, 2015)

Tatty_One said:


> My first modem were 2 cans with string attached


You had cans . . . and string?   You are soooo lucky.  We had to use bonfires on hilltops - which really sucked when it was raining.  Not only did the fires tend to go out but the scribe's ink would get so smudged you couldn't read the message.


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## m4gicfour (Aug 28, 2015)

twilyth said:


> You had cans . . . and string?   You are soooo lucky.  We had to use bonfires on hilltops - which really sucked when it was raining.  Not only did the fires tend to go out but the scribe's ink would get so smudged you couldn't read the message.


YOU COULD READ? When I was a whippersnapper, the only folks who could read were royalty, lords, and church scribes.


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