View transcript
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(upbeat music)

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(upbeat music)

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- [Vivian] Hi, and welcome

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to Story Time Science
at the Exploratorium.

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My name is Viv, and this
is the math episode.

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We're going to be reading this book,

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"The Cookie Fiasco" by Dan Santat

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and then we're going
to be doing an activity

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where we turn a greeting
card into a little gift box

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that has a top and a bottom to it.

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So let's get reading.

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(upbeat music)

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"The Cookie Fiasco."

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This is a very exciting book
about four very hungry friends,

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but only three cookies.

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And it's by Dan Santat.

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But this is an elephant and piggy book,

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elephant and piggy do the introduction

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and elephant and piggy
are created by Mo Willem.

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And Moe writes a little
introduction to you, the reader.

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Dear reader, it is so cool
that you like to read.

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Elephant and piggy like to read too,

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so I thought I would share

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some of their favorite books with you.

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The Cookie Fiasco is about four friends

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with three cookies and one big problem.

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I hope you enjoy this story

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as much as elephant and
piggy do, your pal Mo.

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I want to read this funny book.

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Me too!

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But how can the two of
us read this one book?

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We can read it together.

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That is one great idea.

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Hey guys, cookie time!

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Uh oh.

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Hold on, there are three
cookies, but four of us.

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Someone will not get a cookie.

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That is not fair.

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We need equal cookies for all.

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I have an idea.

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Maybe you two can share one cookie.

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What?

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We do not share cookies.

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We do not share a lot of things.

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Well, I am wearing her socks.

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I heard crocodiles do not like cookies.

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Maybe you should not get a cookie.

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Huh?

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I eat cookies.

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I love cookies.

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I could eat a whole plate right now.

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Or we can share by our size.

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That's a great idea.

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Wait, you're huge.

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You would get all the cookies.

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Oh, really?

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(laughter)

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Gasp.

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Do you hear something?

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Oh, and it looks like purple hippo

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is snapping all the cookies into pieces.

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Hippo, what are you doing?

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Gah, I break things when I am nervous.

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Sorry.

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Stop that.

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Show us the cookies.

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You are making things worse.

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One, two, three, four, five, six.

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Now there are six cookie
pieces, but only four of us.

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This is not good.

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This is not fair.

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This is not equal.

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My nerves.

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We have to solve this problem fast.

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Our friendship depends on it.

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We need equal cookies for all.

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Oh no.

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Purple hippo is still
snapping all the cookie pieces

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into more cookie pieces.

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Ah!

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Stop!

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The pieces are getting smaller.

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They will be crumbs soon.

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We will have to eat cookie crumbs.

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This is a flop, a mess, a disaster.

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It is a fiasco.

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But purple hippo keeps on
snapping cookie pieces.

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Snap, snap, snap, snap.

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No, sorry.

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I cannot stop.

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It is what he does.

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He broke all the pieces again.

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Why is he still holding the cookies?

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I am too afraid to count.

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One, two, three, four,

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five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12.

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Now there are 12 cookie pieces,

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but still only four of us.

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Get these cookies away from me, please.

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Oh boy.

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Guys, take one at a time.

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I have three pieces.

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Me too.

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Me too.

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One, two, three, me too.

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We did it, equal cookies for all.

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Munch, munch, munch, munch, munch.

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Hey guys, milk time.

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I have three glasses.

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Uh oh.

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And now your hosts, elephant and piggy.

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That was a fun book.

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But but now I am hungry for a cookie.

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Now I am thirsty for milk.

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This book makes me hungry and thirsty.

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Good books make me feel big things.

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(upbeat music)

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All right, now to our math activity

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and you know, math is not just numbers.

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Math is also shapes and math is measuring.

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We're going to be using a ruler.

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So we are going to take a greeting card.

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This is a birthday card, I
save all of my greeting cards,

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handy because then I
can use them later on.

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We're going to turn a greeting card,

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like a birthday card, this
one says, OMG Cake, on it,

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into a little box, that's like a gift box

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with a top and the bottom

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and we're just going to do that

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by measuring, cutting, and folding.

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Here's another one.

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This was also probably a birthday card

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because look, there's a little
cake with candles on the lid.

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Now the thing is, you want a greeting card

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that's not a square shape.

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You want it more of a rectangle shape,

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a little bit taller than it is wide

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and also, you don't want a card
that's too thick and glossy.

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It doesn't have a really shiny finish

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because you're going to be folding it

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and you want it to be easier to fold.

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So this has a not very shiny finish to it.

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Let me start with this OMG Cake one.

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Now on the crease of the card,

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I'm just going to be, with my fingernail,

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really running it along the crease

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'cause I want to tear this
card into two equal halves

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really, really easily, all right?

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So I'm going to go back and forth

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and I am just pressing my
fingernail across the crease.

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I don't want to cut it with scissors

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because I might go off a little bit

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and I want these to be completely even.

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So now that I've creased it,

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I'm just going to tear
it into two equal pieces.

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Now I have the bottom of my
box and the top of my box.

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So the next thing you want to do

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is find the center of this rectangle

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and the center of this rectangle

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and you don't have to measure,
this is a cool little trick,

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that you can do, a little math trick.

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I'm going to take a ruler

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and I am going to go from
this point right there,

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to this point right there with the ruler

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and normally I would
do this with a pencil,

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but so that you can see it better.

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I'm going to do it with
a black marking pen

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and you want to be as exact
as you possibly can be.

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I will draw this and I will show it to you

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and this is a great way to
find the center of a rectangle,

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or even of a square

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and then again from one
corner to the other corner,

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and you want the edge of that ruler

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right up against the points of the card.

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So there you have the X

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and you want to do that on
both halves of the card.

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So now I'm going to do the same thing.

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Corner to corner again,

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black marking pen is probably too dark

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for when you do this for real,

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I'm just doing it in black marker

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so that you can see it better

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and where these two corner
to corner lines cross

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is the exact center of this rectangle.

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We didn't have to measure.

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We just had to draw straight lines

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and that is the exact
center of this rectangle,

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this half of the card.

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Now, because we want the top of our box

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to be ever so slightly bigger
than the bottom of our box

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and we also want to make sure

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that the design is on the outside,

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we want to watch out
for a couple of things.

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We're going to start the folding part.

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So, I am going to make
four folds on this card.

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This is going to be the bottom of my box

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and I am going to fold
this size, side, excuse me,

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exactly up to that point in the middle.

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Exactly to that point in the middle, okay?

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And I'm going to do exactly the same thing

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on the other side.

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I am going to make a fold exactly up to,

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I want to make sure I
fold it nice and straight,

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exactly up to that
center, crisscross point.

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All right, now I'm going to unfold those,

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but you can still see the crease lines

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and I'm going to go to
this side and that side,

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and I'm going to do the same thing.

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I'm going to fold up
exactly to that center point

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and I want to make sure
that I fold evenly.

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I'm going to go ahead
and do it for both sides

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and then I'll hold it up for you to see.

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Always making sure that you
run your fingers on the crease

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so the crease is nice and tight

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and so now you can see your fold lines

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because I folded it this way
and I folded it this way.

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This is going to be the bottom of the box,

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so I folded it exactly up to this point.

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The bottom of the box is going
to be a little bit smaller

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than the top of the box.

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So now I see where these creases are

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and I'm going to make four cuts.

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I'm going to not cut anything off.

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I'm just going to cut a
straight line from the edge,

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exactly where this crease is,

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from this edge right up to the black line,

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then here from this edge,

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right up to that black
line, along the crease

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and then the same thing on the other side,

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from the edge, right up to the
black line, along the crease

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and from the edge right
up to the black line

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along the crease.

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Now I'm going to cut and
stop right at the black line.

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I am cutting along the crease,
stopping at the black line

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and I'm cutting this way, not this way

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and let me do these two here

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and then I'll hold it up for you to see.

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Where's my crease?

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There's my crease.

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So now I have two cuts
here and two cuts there.

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Okay, now I'm going to fold

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and we take these two little flaps

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and I'm going to go on the inside.

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You can see it's already
starting to look like a box

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and I'm going to fold those in

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and then there's a little
of the top of this edge here

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and I'm going to fold that over.

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The cool thing about these boxes

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is you don't need tape or glue.

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They will hold themselves together.

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So I will go ahead and fold that in,

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making a nice tight crease

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and then I will point it towards you again

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so that you can see very
closely what I have done.

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So again, this extra little
flap, I just folded it down

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and that secures the two
little side pieces in place.

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Now I'm going to do the
same thing on this end.

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Again, these two get folded on the inside

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and I fold it over the top here.

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So here is your box bottom, ready to go.

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Now I want to make the box top

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and I want to make the box
top a little bit bigger,

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so that means that this
area inside this rectangle

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has to be a little bit bigger

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than the rectangle for the bottom,

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so when I make those four
folds, I'm not going to fold

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all the way to the point in the middle,

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I'm going to fold each side just short

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of the little point in the middle.

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So let me do the first one

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and you can see I didn't fold
quite up to that little point

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right in the center where
the two lines cross,

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I stopped just short of that

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because I want the area
of the top to be bigger.

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Okay, and I'm going to do
the same on the other side.

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So now you will see a little bit of a gap

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between the two folds.

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There wasn't a gap when I
folded the sides of the bottom,

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but now you can see
there is a gap in between

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and once again, those folds,

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I made sure they were creased really well.

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I'm gonna do the same thing,

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fold it from the top and
fold it from the bottom

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and again, I am not going to fold

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all the way to that point in the center.

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I'm going to fold it just short
of that point in the center

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and by the way, you want to
make sure that the cool picture,

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like in this case, the cake,

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and it looks like a chocolate
cake too, is on the outside.

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That's what's going to be your box top.

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So I'm going to fold just short
of that criss cross point,

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right in the center,

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creasing it really,
really nice and tightly

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and I fold just short

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and once again, you can see

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there's a little gap in the center

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and now I'm going to do the same thing

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and make those little cuts

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and again, I have the
rectangular top here,

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the half of the card, and I'm
not going to cut in this side.

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I'm going to make a cut
from the edge of the paper,

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right up to the black line,

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the same thing, right along the crease

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from the edge of right
here to that black line

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and then the same thing there,

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right along crease and there
right along the crease.

[00:18:28.01]
So again four cuts and
double check my creases, good

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and I stop right at the black line

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and I'll show you once again, in a sec,

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after I finished making my four cuts

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and this box top should
be just slightly bigger

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than the box bottom, so
that it'll fit on the top.

[00:18:57.05]
So here you go, the box top

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and you have the cut there and there

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and the cut there and there

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and then I'm going to do the same folding,

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where I take these two flaps
and I fold on the inside

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and this extra little piece on top,

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oh, my fingers are in the way,

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this little extra piece on top
is going to get folded over

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to hold these two side pieces in place

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and I'm going to do that at both ends,

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so make sure that's there.

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Let me try and do this in mid air.

[00:19:29.09]
Might be a little bit easier
and then nice tight fold, oh.

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And there and there

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and then fold this on top

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and there's your box top.

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Oh, the cake is upside down.

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It's a, it's an upside,

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it would have to be a pineapple cake

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if it were an upside down cake.

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So there it is right side
up, there's your box top

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and now we're going to see
if it fits on the box bottom.

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We want it to be a nice snug fit.

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It does, it fits exactly.

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There is your little OMG Cake little box.

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Now, you could bake at teeny tiny cake

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and put it inside the box and
give it as a gift to somebody.

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Or, you know, you could
find a really nice flower.

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In other words, you've made a gift box.

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Maybe you should give somebody a gift,

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maybe a nice piece of
silver jewelry or, you know,

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a little drawing that you made.

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This box is so handy because
you don't need any glue,

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you don't need any tape.

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All you did was trace, cut,
and fold, and it holds together

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and it's a really nice decorated box

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and this way, it's a nice
way to use all of those

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bazillion birthday cards maybe you got,

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or greeting cards that you got

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and just make sure you always put the,

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the drawing, the picture
that you want on the outside.

[00:21:16.01]
You could, even, if you didn't
have any leftover cards,

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you could even use a couple of index cards

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because those are usually not
square, they're rectangular

[00:21:25.09]
and remember, you want
rectangular cards for this

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and you could then do a
drawing on some index cards

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and just, just remember,

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make the box bottom a little
bit smaller than the box top

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and it fits perfectly.

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This is using math to make something

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really, really handy and cool
looking and very practical.

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(upbeat music)

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Now it's time for poetry corner

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and I have two poems about math.

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I don't know the authors
of either of these poems,

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but that's okay, we can still enjoy them.

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The first one is called Numbers, Numbers.

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Numbers, numbers, everywhere I look.

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Numbers in the grocery store
and in my science book,

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price tags, speed limits,
calendars, and walls,

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in the cafeteria and even in the halls,

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numbers on my shoes and
shirt and on my cereal box,

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numbers on the TV and on my alarm clock.

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Numbers, numbers everywhere,
at my home and school,

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numbers everywhere I
look, numbers are so cool.

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And the second poem is
called Math About Me.

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Numbers, numbers, all around,
everywhere they can be found.

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Numbers tell how old I am and
how many people in my fam,

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how much I weigh and just how tall,

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where I live and that's not all.

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Numbers are a part of me,
money, time, and history.

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When to wake up and when to eat,

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what size shoes to buy for my feet,

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how much money something costs,

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a number to call if my dog gets lost.

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I don't know where I would be

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if numbers weren't a part of me.

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(upbeat music)

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