Hey, why not?  After all, it worked for da liddle guy from Shenanigan.

"it worked for da liddle guy from Shenanigan."

Yep. Sure did. Only this time the opponent isn't Kim Campbell.

Here I thought all along he was just a putz , now I find out it stems from a medical issue. Watch out Canada, hide your women.

He may not capture the vote but he's certainly pitiful.

steffie has a case of hooni directional earings.

Probably an attempt by Liberal strategists to make his hearing, or lack thereof, an issue with the hopes too that CpoC makes it a joke, then they can employ the same strategy used by Chretien with the facial disfigurment ads. Watch for it. Liberals are desperate. They'll do anything to try and change the channel on the failure of their Green Shaft and it's rejection already by Canadians.

With apologies to Seinfeld

Stephane: The next morning, I woke up, and found myself unable to isolate sounds. I
can speak english if I really concentrate. But otherwise, oh!

Doctor: Yes, well, I'm going to have to be perfectly honest with you.

Stephane: Please, Doctor.

Doctor: I've examined you.

Stephane: Yes.

Doctor: I've looked at hearing test results.

Stephane: Uh-huh.

Doctor: And I find that there's absolutely nothing wrong with you.

Stephane: Hmm. Really? Nothing?

Doctor: Nothing that would indicate a problem with your ability to catch the music of the beautiful language of English.

Stephane: Well, it's kind of a mystery, isn't it?

Doctor: No, not really.

Stephane: How so?

Doctor: May I suggest the possibility that you're faking?

Stephane: Faking? What makes you think that I have time to see doctors, take hearing tests, make appointments,
grant media interviews when there's absolutely nothing wrong with me? What kind of a person would do a thing like that?

Doctor: I don't know what kind of a person would do something like that. Obviously a very sick person. A very immature person.
A person who has no regard for wasting other people's valuable time. Good-bye.

Stephane: Now, see here, Doctor.

Doctor: I said, good-bye.

Stephane: Fine. Ow!

The media will research this and have an explanation of the genetic hearing problem Dion has,which he says his mother has too. Maybe he meant it's generic or no-name, perhaps they could call it Dion's syndrome.

The story goes he can hear well but not in crowds when many people are talking and that is why he can't master the English language? Frankly, if he can't hear a question in any language he shouldn't attempt to answer it.

Not much doubt the media will attempt to play the sympathy card, It'll be another excuse when he gets trounced in the debates.

He may be self-defining himself as a victim but I'd define him as a scammer. Just like his Green Shaft is a scam.

Dion's English is not poor because he has a 'hearing problem; if that were the case, his French would be equally poor.

Dion's English is not poor because he has a 'condition' where he can't distinguish sounds from noise, i.e., relevant sounds from irrelevant sounds. He was able to learn French and he'd be able to learn English..in a quiet one-on-one learning situation. So that excuse is equally invalid.

Furthermore, both of the above excuses focus on the sounds or accent of the language. Dion's key problem is grammar. He has absolutely no sense of the grammatical structure of English. That has nothing to do with sounds. But with LOGIC. Dion can't grasp the logical structure of English.

Again - that has NOTHING to do with sounds. It has to do with the pattern of the words and their relations.

Dion's English is poor because he started to learn it too late and because he doesn't have any linguistic ability. It's NOT his accent; he simply cannot grasp the grammar.

So, I'm going to say that Dion has a problem with logical structure, with patterns of interaction.

And heck - that shows up for sure in his Green Shaft. That plan has no logic in it. It's a straight tax grab..and he then hands over the money to the very poorest people in Canada - those with a two-income gross income of 20,000 to 40,000. Hmm. Now, that interaction of Take Money and Hand Over Money sounds logical.

But.. the plan is supposed to be about stopping 'pollution'. It doesn't.

Indeed, Dion NEEDS the emissions to remain high. Or, there's no money.

And, his plan has no strategy to reduce the emissions. No strategy to develop new technology. No money for new technology devt. All the money he gets..goes to bribe voters.

BUT - the high taxes will both drive industries away (they won't have the money to install new technologies)..and..they'll simply pass on the costs of the taxes to the consumer. So, our cost of living will go sky-high.

Not very logical.

So, Dion's problem with the English language, which is spoken by over 80% of Canadians, and by our closest trading partner..has zilch to do with his ability to hear, or to differentiate sound from noise. As I said, IF that were the case, he'd have the SAME problem with French.

It's his basic inability to be logical; he cannot master the logical patterning of the English language.

And speaking of pity - how pitiful if we elect someone who can't speak to us or for us..and can't grasp basic logic as well.

Alot of anti-Dion comments on the CTV site...interesting. My wife and I both looked at each other when it was mentioned during the Political portion of the newscast with that look of "whattttttt". Clearly a ploy by the Liberals. Wouldn't matter to me, I wouldn't vote for that little slime-bag.

Mark Levin played on his radio show today a Barack Obama soundbite from his convention speech and a Jack Layton soundbite about factory equipment being to shipped to China that were almost identical.

Obama is such a blandly unorigional Marxist, he steals from Jack Layton...

Could Dion be anymore of a pussy? Eyes from the east coast, and eyes talk funny. I got it from my mudder, who got it from her mudder, who got it from her brudder, who was my uncle.

Nobody is going to vote for the pussy, not even other pussies. It is ludicrous that a grown man who wants to run our country, thinking we are going to buy into his poor little momma's boy routine.

If he was 40 years younger, I would take him out on the playground for a few rounds, to try and put some man into him.

Dion used bad VERBAGE, twice in a row, trying desperately to call the Prime Minister a liar today. It wasn't bad pronunciation in any way. It was bad English.

This election will be an easy mere formality in any event...

What I find puzzling is how his close colleague, Michael Ignatieff would not have heard of this debilitating problem until now!

Interesting poll!

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/HTMLTemplate

he only has the hearing problem in english ? ... so he hears ok in french!

Here's the Obama "hack-job on Jack Layton" post...
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/08/did-obama-pull-a-biden/

Dear Lord could this guy get more pathetic.

And this:

"Asked why he only spoke up about the problem now, during an election campaign, Dion said he doesn't know why and said he shouldn't have."

Within moments of throwing this pathetic hail Mary pity pass he's already publicly regretting throwing it???

I would have trouble hearing too if my head was shoved up my ass.

I had the exact same comment, if he has a problem hearing in English, then he should have the same problem en francais. Just like his Green Shaft, sorry, Green Shift, it's nothing more than a sham.

This is a pathetic ploy to gain sympathy in an attempt to deflect criticism. That's all. Oh, other than the fact he's a liar.

"Deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told CTV's Canada AM on Monday that he wasn't aware of the hearing problem"

Uh huh.

It's not just that he's a mangler of English. He's a pompous, arrogant mangler of English. He had years in office to learn the language of more than 80% of the country.

He chose not to.

Despite that, he still makes no sense in any language.

Yeah, he has a Selective hearing problem. He cannot hear common sense or the truth. What an Idiot!!!

heh, now they can bash Harper for picking on a deaf-mightaswellbemute. Whats next, he did the brown acid at woodstock, so as a result he's also retarded? Of course, that would explain alot....

CP - LMFAO, man, I just spit beer all over my keyboard...

ET

you are again out of your depth on dion's hearing problem

the thing he would have to battle is "definition", and that would effect any language other than his mother tonge

also , when hearing impaired, most accents (other than those of one's own tonge) can make it
make it very difficult to understand those with the accent

this does not stop one from learning another language, but could make it difficult tocommunicate in the "new" language

yes, dion is shot on logic, he's a liberal, and liberals tend to lean towards EMOTIONAL, rather than logical and practical thinking. That is one problem he has, another problem is that he thinks in french and then translates (poorly) to english, and there fore has difficulty is proper sentance stucture

I know about these problems because I am hearing impaired, as are two of my childeren, and I speak (limited) three languages, erm four languages

There is a very real possibility now that he may not stay the course in the election. I have no idea what happens if he bails. Party have to have a hurry up and vote a new leader, or at least an interim? Proceed without a leader and pick one from the survivors as the opp leader?

The disease is called "unilingualosis" characterised by the inability to speak more than one language, no matter what your mother told you you could do. Often manifests as incoherent in any language due to synaptic shortcircuits when speaking and thinking at the same time. syn. "illiterate".

There may be an environmental cause - Chretien suffered from it as well, and it has a higher than normal morbidity in those with teeny, teeny carbon footprints.

No word of a lie, I suffer the exact same condition. I still know what a carpool is.

And I have an eye problem, I can't see Dion becoming Prime Minister!

"eye problem"

Hilarious, Rene.

Interesting poll at CTV.ca
Who has the best chance to win over the 'undecided' voters?
over 13,000 already voted.

I tried to send the link...but it's waiting for Kates approval and she's probably outside with her puppies.

Eeeek...it appears that I have an attention deficit condition...as soon as I see Dion on TV, I feel compelled to switch channels...

Hep me...hep me...Steffi...

Perhaps if we all spoke English with a Parisian accent that would help.

gym - if Dion were unable to differentiate sounds, then, he'd have trouble in ANY language. But he's totally fluent in French. He can't speak English.

I don't believe he has a hearing problem. This is the FIRST time anyone has ever heard of it. I'm saying it's a sham, a scam; he's playing the Victim card.

He's trying to make Canadians feel bad for chastizing him about not being able to speak the language of over 80% of the population..and still considering himself as a valid leader of that population. He can't speak to us; he can't speak for us; he can't speak with us. And yet, we're supposed to feel guilty for expecting it of him. No way. He's manipulating us. Just like he's manipulating us by telling us that his Green Shaft is all about the environment. Heh.

I'm saying that he doesn't have any linguistic ability - Some people do, some people don't. And - he started to learn English far too late.

Yes, you are right; he thinks in French and then, tries to translate it using the French logical pattern..and makes an absolute mess of it. That's what I said; he doesn't understand the logical pattern of English.

And then, I went on to suggest that he is not, himself, a logical thinker. The evidence for that is his Green Shaft plan.

He's also manipulative. The evidence for that is both his new Pity Me Scam and the Green Shaft. Did you read in his Green Shaft, where he informs us that he's going to reduce income taxes by 10%? He calls reducing from 15 to 13.5 a ten percent reduction. Heh. It's a 1.5% reduction. You see, 'per cent' means 'per one hundred'. Dion's ten percent reduction is based on 15 rather than 100. He's lying to us; he's manipulating us to think that it's ten percent. Rather than 1.5 percent. That's treating us with contempt.

Chretin is gone and Dion was chosen for some times to took the position to get vote from Franch Canadian later they see
Harper charcter

now they Liberal try to find some one with better look better , talk and logic and passion and able to talk with international and knwo the security and knwo all major subject like tax economic multicultrim and how to handel them well and discrimination laws and grow ecominic

and so on

I have a good freind he finished his phd from UOT and he find good job still young he told me one day they have to go to big meeting and they decided to fake to bring big guy even younger then them look but he was big and can be look 10 year look older in middel of meeting finaly one of the buyer turn back to nice big guy friend of htem and start ask him a questions and they already tole him you donot talk and he said he started to talk and all of us get embrased

they got good lesson from that meeting he told me never ever he go by good look big guy in important meeting by bring such person again

Now having Harper able to talk English and nicer look but still not communicate with any Miniroty except WHITE Canadain

Greeen Party liberal now they can use recent campsion of USA and find
some one born in Canada and less background normal family life and educated and have political background able to talk hones able to talk media and knwo the game and

have VP with woman or multiculrim of black or otehr colour man or white woman can be fine

now Liberal has idea but need good leader to direct it and that leader able to talk French too

find and research you can find alot in Canada

econmic courses some business background travel to outside Canada
I do not belive Harper never went out of Alberta before he was elected even

find right man and woman in Canada is not difficult but keep them for all time to keep their honesty and not change for sake of power and money or hate that is difficult

people who went to universtiy knwo enter to university is difficult but finish it more challenge to admision of it

Canada need good leader and not look for majority not necessary majority know it all some times minority or multiculrism may know better

that is not nice either Dion has ear hearing problmes or simply try to find excuse may their party has better you must welcom better to come not belittle people I do not like culture amon Canadian are so bully and so humuliate people

the person must have gut to research and have logic to anlaysis the datas and make final decision, being extremist or right or left not the good solution for problems today

Just wanted to say that the CTV comments mention that Dion has Presbycusis, otherwise known as age induced hearing loss. It can be hereditary which basically means he lost some range of his hearing early on.

I suffer from Tinnitis and Presbycusis and have had a bitch of a time learning French. However pronouncation has been the issue, not grammar as in Dion's case.

That said, I believe Dion was trying to send an RSVP out to his own pity party.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbycusis

If you want a good laugh listen to the english translator trying to follow Dion's french explanation of the Green Shaft. I've heard two of them just give up on it and wait for the next question in english.

A suggested cure is eating hot dogs with a knife and fork; another is resigning from the leadership of the Liberal Party.

What a putz.

If he could strangle a protester, I might vote for him.

What he might be describing is a condition called Otosclerosis, a hereditary disease of the inner ear in which spongy bone growth leads to progressive hearing impairment. I happen to have exactly this condition in my left ear. It does hamper my ability to hear some sounds but I can still recognize a wanker when I hear one.

I would strongly suggest that Dion stop taking his english lessons at cocktail parties...What unmigitated rubbish,the man is showing his moral character with this 'admission' and his pandering to all by saying the 'music' of the language. Possibly he is setting up a not-too-graceful bowing out of the debate,replaced by Rae or Iggy.

"None are so deaf as those who will not hear" I am severely hearing impaired, so I went and got myself two nifty "hearing aids" not cheap but I simply cannot do without them. Dion if that indeed your problem help is readily available, if you are playing the poor-me card you deserve the contempt that is coming your way more and more. I know perfectly well you mused about putting the G S T back up. you also said you were going to roll back the credit for people with kids for childcare. Your "green shift" for which I understand you are paying Jennifer Wright, with the Liberals settling her claim out of court. You have a lot of gall to call our P M a liar, careful you will be in court yet again. What a train wreck your campaign is on what day 2 ??
cheers Bubba

It's too bad that CTV had to rush to meet deadline on this one, because Dion's further elaborations on his disability were even more interesting:

"Hit HAFFeck more den my earing HABill-ity, hit also HAFF-eck my tinking. Heff hi am in a debate hand many hissue are all confuse togetter, my earring por-blem HAFFeck my HABility to catch de music of politic, too. My mudder hat dis same por-blem -- hits HARE-ed-itary. Hye unnerstan hi-deahs honly hif dey are com-plett-ly aye-SO-lettid form udder idea. When one idea is mix wit utter one, like for HECK-sample when de HEN-fire-om-men hiss mix wit de ECK-on-omy, hit hiss complittly comfuse.

"Dat's why my strategy hiss to foekus hon one idea hat a time, one for heech election campaign. In diss one, hit will be de EN-virom-men. I hallways try to mention de ECK-on-omy in da same sentence hass de EN-virom-men, but this iss juss to ide my disABil-itty. Imm my home mine I nidstew kepp idea sepp-ritt form de udder."

Deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told CBV's Canada PMS on Monday that the prime minister has long been aware of Mr. Dion's disability, and yet continues to discuss complex issues. "Canadians are tired of having a prime minister who tramples on the disabled," he said. "The Canadian people are good people, decent people, and they will continue to oppose the majority who support Mr. Harper."

I think it is shameful that so many would allow their pitiful partisan hatreds loose to ridicule and criticize someone over a common medical problem.

FYI, almost everyone reading this post will eventually have the exact same problem Dion is claiming. The natural death of those inner-ear nerves which detect the high frequency sound creates a condition where understanding speech in noisy conditions is near impossible. That would apply to both English AND French, BTW.

I also believe it was the CTV twit who made the link to this malady probably causing his shitty English language skills. That is pure speculative bullshit.

If this story is at all accurate, Dion claims only to having difficulty enjoying hearing others in noisy environments. Of course he would comment on English specifically because he misses the natural rythm and visual cues of the language compared to his native tongue, making it even more difficult.

I myself have little respect for the weak-kneed Dion, but the ignorant, hateful and ignorant remarks thrown over this issue are simply pathetic.

And I thought liberals liked to feed at the bottom.

Watching him talk about the economy on CFTO, at least I think that is what he said...eecomnomicy was the only word I understood, the rest of his statement was incomprehensible. I have no idea what he was saying.

Must be my hearing.

Look, it's a scam. IF, IF, IF, Dion had a hearing problem, then we would have been told long, long ago of this.

We were repeatedly told that 'he's working on his English; he has someone come in on a daily basis, he's working on it'...
We were never told...He's working on it BUT he has a hearing problem so it is difficult for him'.

Never. Not one word about any 'hearing problem'.

So why now? Because his English is so terrible, so mangled, so incomprehensible..that someone has advised him to say: 'It's because of a hearing problem'. Heh.

For two years, we've never heard a word about this. Only that 'he's working on his English'. Never heard a word about it during his Chretien years. Never.
Oh - and he himself doesn't know the medical term for it. Sure.

I suspect that the Liberals are concerned about his appearance on the debates. Watch - Dion will be perfectly fluent on the French debate. No hearing problem. Harper is also reasonably fluent; he speaks with the flat English accent, but he uses the vocabulary and linguistic sentence patterns just fine.

Dion knows neither the vocabulary nor the sentence patterns of English. This has absolutely nothing to do with hearing. He only knows one language. Period.

I'm sure the Liberals would have like Elizabeth May on the debates; as Harper pointed out, she'd speak for Dion. Sorry; he's got to stand on his own two feet now. No Ignatieff, no Rae, no May beside him.
And he's got to explain why he is manipulating us, why he is lying to us.

CO - grow a pair, OK?

The man (sic) wants to play in the public square, he needs to suck it up and not whine, regardless of the excuse's veracity.

I mean, come on! Has the fellow no backbenchers?

...crickets...

Poor b@st@rd. No one loves him. He should just go off and eat worms.

Going to the garden to eat worms. An ex-girlfriend of mine once made the mistake of singing that song near me. I laughed for a good 20 minutes.

We digress. Skip, if they didn't ditch Turner formally mid-campaign, they're not going to ditch Dion. That said, am I the only one amused that Mr. Duceppe's English is better then Mr. Dion's?

Just an idle thought. The next time Dion speaks live,hit your mute and see how it is translated by the closed-caption program. That may be fun.

at the debate Harper can ask him if he knows as much about aural s ex as he knows about car pools.

the trick with the english language is not about hearing ,its about realizing what is being said when its not being said. irony, metaphor , or in borat dions case pathos.

"dat his not fair to bring hup da hissues and the peace prizes"

Canadian Observer" "I think it is shameful that so many would allow their pitiful partisan hatreds loose to ridicule and criticize someone over a common medical problem." -- I don't buy this. I also can't hear in noisy environments, and for this reason, they won't even consider me for the position of President of a local women's group . . . Dion is asking to be voted in as Prime Minister of Canada. Sometimes you are just not qualified. A disability does not automatically disqualify someone, but in this case, his problems with speaking English -- whatever the reason -- is a serious mark against him.

Well,I guess Jason is more in the loop than the Igster! The Troll knew all about this little problem and had been keeping the secret.How important you are little Jason.

SDA is classy as usual. Bypassing the story of the day that the Green Party was boycotted out of the debates by Layton and Harper, and taking the time instead of mock someone with a hearing problem.

Oh we pity Stephane, alright, but not because of his hearing.

What happened to your promise never to come back here, John?

Now run along like a good boy, and go play with that cute little fringe party while the adults campaign.

I was listening to Michal Harris today and apparently Dion could not make an appearance on the show because he broke a tooth while he was eating something. I had thought that that frail fellow would eat nothing tougher than yogurt. Who knew??

Well, hearing problem or no, the man is not stupid, and he should have known that the Liberal shift was bad policy from the get go. Won't call it the Green Shift, as that is an unrelated private enterprise whose good name has been tarnished by the Liberals.

ET writes:
Did you read in his Green Shaft, where he informs us that he's going to reduce income taxes by 10%? He calls reducing from 15 to 13.5 a ten percent reduction. Heh. It's a 1.5% reduction. You see, 'per cent' means 'per one hundred'. Dion's ten percent reduction is based on 15 rather than 100. He's lying to us; he's manipulating us to think that it's ten percent. Rather than 1.5 percent. That's treating us with contempt.

Just quoting Dion is enough to discredit him to anyone who is capable of logical thought and it doesn't help to make mathematical errors. 1.5 is 10% of 15 and, in this case reducing taxes from 15% to 13.5% represents a 10% reduction in taxes paid. Yes, the reduction is 1.5% of total income but the subject was taxes.

SDA is classy as usual. Bypassing the story of the day that the Green Party was boycotted out of the debates by Layton and Harper, and taking the time instead of mock someone with a hearing problem.

Posted by: Saskboy at September 9, 2008 12:44 AM

And you really believe he has a hearing problem? The Grift Party was NOT boycotted out by Harper,TalibanJack.As Harper has stated,Lizzie May has already said she will back the Lieberals.Problem is,she isn't the Lieberal leader,Deyawn is.Can't you even keep your leaders straight,Saskboy? And by-the-by,the only hearing problem with Steffi is....I can't hear you,lalalalala.

The only reason Steffie wants Lizzie-May in the debate, is because he looks upon her as his big sister, who will protect him from da big guy Harper. Steffie is a wimp, but he needs to stand on his own two feet, and take his ass kicking like a man.

This so-called "hearing problem" of Mr Dion's has a plausability problem, as others have already pointed out that it was only until the second day of campaigning that we have heard anything about it, it doesn't seem to effect his french language skills, and coincidentally immediately after he made this revelation at a liberal rally one of the liberal party members in attendance made sure the same revelation.....surely just a coincidence...not.
The other "coincidence" is that this "revelation" has come on the same day that sister lizzie may was told for the third time she can't participate in the debate.
And lastly, a final coincidence, both Dion and May are saying that its not fair.

The only thing missing is a comment from Joe Clark and the pre-written script would be complete.

The call of the Dionky Bird is heard in the land.

Dionky Bird say,

"“They are piling their lies upon lies. They are unable to stop to lie. Canadians will never accept that, it’s not the way we should have an election,” he said in Dionesque lingo, calling upon Harper to “stop to lie to Canadians, to not win an election by lying and to be honest for once.”"
...-

"Don Martin: Liberal campaign shows all the signs of poverty, poor planning"
http://tinyurl.com/6l36p4

Sample comment:
"by Mr.Ross
Sep 08 2008
7:43 PM
Mr. Dion and his sputtering pidgin-like English are the direct result of Canada's perpetual pandering to Quebec. The man was never once placed in a position in his life (until now) where he would have to learn and cope in English. Imagine for a second if you will, Stephen Harper standing up and breaking his teeth trying to speak French in the house of commons. Most of the media and the residents of Quebec would be howling for his resignation - if not for his very blood. Such is the dysfunctional nature of this so-called "bi-lingual" nation where Quebec leads the entire country by the nose - and we let them out of some misguided concern for hurting that spoiled little province's feelings.

What is even more astonishing to me as a westerner are the legions of Liberal supporters (primarily in Ontario) who have a propensity to elect inarticulate leaders from Quebec who can't speak English.

Even more ridiculously, Elizabeth May has been denied access to the leader's debates but Gilles Duceppe of the secessionist special interest group known as the "Bloc" is treated like he actually means something outside of his narrow, bigoted constituency.

Just once I'd like the other leaders to look him in the eye and say, "What the hell are you doing here?"."

Dion sure seems to have inherited a great deal from his mother, first he got French citizenship from her and now a hearing problem. For his information a lot of us have trouble hearing in crowds, his problem is he has a poor grasp of the English language and that's not due to hearing. Is he trying to tell us he hears well only in French?

loki - I'm well aware that 1.5 is 10% of 15. But that's now how we calculate our taxes. We calculate them out of a base of 100. Therefore, if we are told that we get a 1% reduction in income taxes...if our tax rate is 15, then we'd think that it would reduce to 14% of our income.

Dion's manipulation of percentages made it look as if the tax reduction was MUCH larger than it was. So, to tell us that our tax rate would be 10% less would mean, to a normal person, that the 15 would reduce to only 5%.

As one who has the same trouble hearing someone over a din in noisy surroundings, I find it a bit strange Steffi Dijon hasn't mastered the words: Excuse me, but could you repeat the question or speak up?"

btw, my hearing is probably a result of listening to jet and turbine engines for over 20 years serving queen & country. I'm just glad I wasn't artillary ;-)

Using loki's logic, in the last 2.5 years Harper has reduced GST by almost 29%.

"Dey can't stup to lie."

Harper already chickened out of a debate with Dion in Calgary, he'll chicken out in a one on one debate with May if she challenged him too. It's a crock that there are people who would defend that kind of cowardice here, and provide any excuse they can for Dear Leader Harper.