Just van Rossum

I used to make fonts. I still do, but I used to, too.

I made the "You wouldn't download a car" font.

I develop font-related software and I teach.

Public Key

npub13l8xwr9qg6c0e7p5w6lwm0hpwz85xptpx3ld40pxlh4dq7n9fcss0m2a7w

NIP-05 Address

justvanrossum@typo-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsglnn8pjsydv8ulq68d0hdhmshpr6rq4snglk6hsn0m6ks0fj5uggpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsfmtxtn

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub13l8xwr9qg6c0e7p5w6lwm0hpwz85xptpx3ld40pxlh4dq7n9fcss0m2a7w

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Last Notes

2026-10-24 12:01:01 UTC

Malicious woff2 is now a thing?

2026-09-30 11:34:04 UTC

“Post hoc ergo fucking propter hoc.”

2026-09-25 09:56:45 UTC

Lazyweb: any Gothenburg area tourism tips suitable with an eight-year-old? Apart from Universeum, Liseberg and Slottsskogen?

2026-09-01 12:05:57 UTC

https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/117/195/688/883/749/570/original/0ccb8727f4512db2.png

2026-08-17 13:24:35 UTC

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@nprofile…tzy0 knowing what we know, I think it’s irresponsible to talk about ai as “amazing”.

2026-08-17 10:19:39 UTC

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@nprofile…tzy0 At what cost, and whos benefit, though.

2026-08-06 10:03:58 UTC

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@nprofile…yeul This does highlight a fundamental problem with the parametric approach: beyond a certain number of axes, the interactions between them are not (humanly, reasonably) reviewable. Nor fixable.
Things start to look progressively worse the farther away you get from a drawn source, because this is essentially extrapolation.
Adding more sources to correct these problems only helps to a point, as the amount of work involved increases exponentially.

2026-08-04 08:56:18 UTC

I’m having a minor Spinal Tap moment: the salt I intended to order versus the salt I actually ordered.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/117/036/388/976/025/434/original/b494f67675b98c04.png

2026-07-28 05:41:42 UTC

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@nprofile…maqu Fair. And thanks: I fixed it.

2026-07-26 16:28:10 UTC

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@nprofile…ale9 willing to help install @nprofile…c6pm 😀

2026-07-26 15:06:59 UTC

The 8-year-old takes his serifs very seriously.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/986/894/206/107/943/original/220cca1cdf7a0bd9.png

2026-07-26 07:54:16 UTC

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@nprofile…hvh8 same, same, oops

2026-07-26 07:11:01 UTC

Language codes as a compact summary of colonialism.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/985/016/894/742/660/original/acf6094d367bea0b.png

2026-07-09 18:39:45 UTC

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@nprofile…lel8 It probably depends, but I do agree that ellipses sometimes come across that way. Additionally, I sometimes perceive smileys as passive aggressive. Especially the pervasive Smug Smiley™.

2026-07-06 18:11:50 UTC

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@nprofile…9l9j that individual got upgraded from “muted” to “blocked”.

2026-07-06 17:17:42 UTC

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@nprofile…saqv Not super recent: when the iOS timer app started supporting multiple timers. (This is also the only app I use Siri for. Ideal while cooking.)

2026-07-06 16:42:23 UTC

“Here is a 200 commit generated PR that I didn’t read. Also, I’ll gladly take over the project”.
Fuck you?

2026-07-06 14:20:48 UTC

Scraping all of open source for profit is legal in the same way that slavery used to be legal.

2026-07-06 10:40:57 UTC

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@nprofile…yeul "machine learning is kindof interesting" barely makes a dent in the reputation of this extremely exploitative industry.

2026-07-06 07:53:59 UTC

The question whether to support an industry that works hard to increase inequality worldwide and is wholly on board with Trump's fascism should be a no-brainer. Yet here we are.

2026-07-06 07:41:10 UTC

AI-bros are gonna AI-bro

2026-07-06 06:58:03 UTC

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@nprofile…ns6x https://academy.ilovetypography.com/vibe-coding-course/

2026-07-06 06:48:32 UTC

Glyphs embracing and promoting the ocean-boiling plagiarism machine is something every user should think about deeply before buying an upgrade.

2026-06-30 06:54:00 UTC

I've developed muscle memory for this snippet, which formats Unicode code points:
>>> codepoint = 1234
>>> f"U+{codepoint:04X}"
'U+04D2'

2026-06-27 22:04:37 UTC

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@nprofile…rpac …yet.

2026-06-27 10:18:16 UTC

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@nprofile…j5ce I learned a ton from just looking up stuff on https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/

2026-06-26 13:56:17 UTC

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@nprofile…6xrv Yes indeed. Part of it actually feels like a co-working space.
(The mock rooms would indeed be funnier.)

2026-06-26 13:36:51 UTC

Heatwave: schools and daycares closed, whole families work from "home" at IKEA, babies and all.

2026-06-19 07:58:08 UTC

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@nprofile…yeul The spec says:
"Care must be taken when choosing file names: glyph names are case sensitive, yet many file systems are not."
Maybe that's not strong enough.

2026-06-17 16:42:35 UTC

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@nprofile…kuux
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/766/435/415/271/985/original/bc7495c7e4962d55.png

2026-06-17 12:55:49 UTC

Several of them designed by @nprofile…uvqd and/or me.

2026-06-06 17:43:53 UTC

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@nprofile…nst7 so artsy it hurts?

2026-06-03 10:56:46 UTC

Typo of the day
Firefix
#TypoOfTheDay

2026-06-02 20:31:28 UTC

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@nprofile…zk9d Ugh.

2026-05-31 08:23:41 UTC

What I'm reading is “My take on distributing wealth towards the already wealthy is, essentially, everybody who’s against it is too against it and everybody who’s for it is too for it.”

2026-05-30 06:40:13 UTC

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@nprofile…8pur When I first encountered this sigh I read it as XING PED and I will continue to do so.

2026-05-24 17:02:43 UTC

@nprofile…nst7 your shipment is ready
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/630/623/409/096/422/original/5ac71586ec92d40a.png

2026-05-22 09:06:54 UTC

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@nprofile…nst7 @nprofile…xzfg
Bad news: it looks like it's using the SVG fallback, which explains why the variations don't work.
Good news: so it seems Affinity allows palette customization for SVG-in-OT.

2026-05-21 20:13:20 UTC

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@nprofile…nst7 Unfortunately it still misbehaves.
Note how only one in three spaces in the screen recording behave like breakable spaces, even though all of them are regular spaces in the typed text.
(Each glyph has three alternates, including the space glyph. The OT substitution cycles through the three alternates.)
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/614/383/030/480/374/original/894ef43e53a6985a.mp4

2026-05-21 13:02:05 UTC

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@nprofile…nst7 Beowolf and BeoSans do that to get the “random” alternate cycling to cross word borders. Affinity Publisher used to misbehave on that quite badly. I’ll have to check again with the new Affinity application.

2026-05-21 08:53:41 UTC

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@nprofile…nst7 @nprofile…xzfg sheesh.
Did they ever fix that bug that if the space glyph gets substituted by an alternate glyph, words don’t behave like words anymore?

2026-05-21 07:27:15 UTC

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@nprofile…nst7 @nprofile…xzfg Amazing! So happy to see COLRv1 getting some traction.

2026-05-21 06:42:58 UTC

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@nprofile…w44f I call them line metrics. Then I have line metrics for horizontal layout and line metrics for vertical layout.

2026-05-20 13:33:17 UTC

I initially read that as well-spaced.

2026-05-19 17:41:16 UTC

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@nprofile…5az9 Great to hear! Thanks for testing.

2026-05-18 16:12:00 UTC

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I hope this update makes @nprofile…5az9's Neon font render correctly, as well as faster.

2026-05-18 16:09:02 UTC

FontGoggles COLRv1 update!
Version 1.9.4:
- Rendering of sweep gradients has been greatly improved (faster, now spec-compliant)
- Rendering of padding modes has been fixed (now spec-compliant)
This is thanks to some massive contributions to black-renderer (my COLRv1 render library) by @nprofile…rjpr
https://github.com/justvanrossum/fontgoggles/releases/latest/

2026-05-16 10:26:39 UTC

“The tech industry is shaping up to be one of the most hated industries in our modern era.”
Great essay by @nprofile…3src, as recommend by @nprofile…ugpy
https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2026/the-old-world-of-tech-is-dying/

2026-05-14 18:05:29 UTC

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@nprofile…8pur Post Factum Authentication

2026-05-09 18:21:21 UTC

“Code to learn” — pretty much sums up my Daily DrawBot (*) phase. Still a big part of why I code.
*) https://www.tumblr.com/dailydrawbot

2026-04-28 15:26:03 UTC

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@nprofile…pa80 I would reword as “Learn to be dependent on big tech while boiling the oceans, and pay for it, too”

2026-04-26 06:49:09 UTC

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@nprofile…ln7g I’m afraid I didn’t make this one up.

2026-04-25 15:49:48 UTC

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“But Teslas are good cars”

2026-04-25 15:42:56 UTC

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“Ethics aside, coding is hard”

2026-04-25 15:37:32 UTC

Good news everybody! People rather to pay money for fascism-aligned tech and boil the oceans than to learn the tiniest amount of coding!

2026-04-21 07:26:06 UTC

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@nprofile…559r “AI is getting more expensive. Who’d have thought.”

2026-04-17 19:13:49 UTC

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@nprofile…zx7l Curious to follow along, interested in integrating into @nprofile…c6pm.

2026-04-17 16:44:38 UTC

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@nprofile…t2td @nprofile…yv0g Ahh sorry, you're right.
--passthrough-tables doesn't take args, and an empty --drop-tables argument indeed makes it keep all tables. Hard to remember or guess without looking at --help!

2026-04-17 16:23:13 UTC

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@nprofile…t2td @nprofile…yv0g I suspect you can leave out the --drop-tables and --passthrough-tables arguments, since they require arguments to do something.

2026-04-17 14:36:32 UTC

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@nprofile…ahkr I can make that work. So you say, a PR for this could get accepted? That would be great.
I’ll wait to see if there’s any feedback from my native expert.

2026-04-17 12:10:45 UTC

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I quickly made this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fbUPdHwqRPMlc4FyBjjM4IRi0XjNtl1j5380ArC9lgg/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Names are styled after similar languages/scripts in the Glyphs App list.

2026-04-17 09:43:49 UTC

Does anyone already have a set of working glyph names for the Tulu-Tigalari script? Unicode range 11380–113FF.

2026-04-17 09:13:51 UTC

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@nprofile…yv0g @nprofile…t2td `--glyphs="*"` should also keep all glyphs.

2026-04-17 09:12:14 UTC

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@nprofile…t2td "fonttools subset" has a `--no-hinting` option that promises to drop all hints.

2026-04-15 15:22:41 UTC

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@nprofile…uvqd it splits a string by forward or backward slash.

2026-04-15 12:42:38 UTC

I have a new favorite regular expression in Javascript:
s.split(/\\|\//)

2026-04-14 11:09:06 UTC

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@nprofile…2lvq "Tegaki can animate text as it streams in — perfect for AI chat interfaces."

2026-04-13 16:21:30 UTC

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@nprofile…7xkr Davie504 has the perfect illustration / MacGyver solution:
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/398/303/094/023/359/original/b84b132e7b9ac4de.png

2026-04-02 14:32:12 UTC

Using ChatGPT is like driving a Tesla. I said what I said.

2026-04-01 17:44:39 UTC

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@nprofile…uvqd @nprofile…vxlc @nprofile…fnwc There is U+200F (RIGHT-TO-LEFT MARK) and U+200E (LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK), but I'm not sure if they can make an LTR script go RTL.

2026-04-01 16:06:03 UTC

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@nprofile…vxlc @nprofile…uvqd @nprofile…fnwc For whover finds this fun:
for f in AllFonts():
for g in f:
for lg in g.layers:
lg.scaleBy((-1, 1), origin=(lg.width / 2, 0))
f.save()

2026-04-01 16:03:13 UTC

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@nprofile…vxlc @nprofile…uvqd Run a @nprofile…fnwc script to mirror all glyphs, then manually override the direction in the view. Maybe that's cheating, too.

2026-04-01 16:02:03 UTC

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@nprofile…uvqd Buuuut I couldn't get it to work in FontGauntlet, with the RTL button, so maybe font editors are cheating.

2026-04-01 15:58:58 UTC

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@nprofile…uvqd
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/330/275/074/221/866/original/a378d8937a23b704.png

2026-03-28 20:17:07 UTC

Ceramic Voronoi? Old shop lettering in Delft.
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/308/631/981/790/626/original/6362e7618652226a.jpg

2026-03-19 16:25:39 UTC

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@nprofile…zk9d same

2026-03-09 08:33:41 UTC

The poll still runs for a day, but it is already abundantly clear we should take the term “production names” out of production…

2026-03-08 20:25:12 UTC

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@nprofile…aswa it seems that 4 is about to change. Otherwise, yes, I think.

2026-03-08 18:31:27 UTC

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@nprofile…vxlc Thank you for the kind words!

2026-03-08 07:53:19 UTC

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@nprofile…7am7 @nprofile…9ng9 @nprofile…5g26 @nprofile…fnwc @nprofile…2mms But, that... correct?

2026-03-08 07:37:14 UTC

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@nprofile…9ng9 @nprofile…5g26 @nprofile…fnwc @nprofile…2mms Wait what, this literally says that it maps "friendly" names to "production names". So in this context the "production names" end up in the font, no?

2026-03-08 07:04:19 UTC

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@nprofile…9ng9 @nprofile…5g26 @nprofile…fnwc It does make sense if you differentiate between the "design process" (where you want friendly names) and the "production process", where you are concerned with the final output.
(I'm pretty sure I heard @nprofile…2mms use the word "production" in such a way, so that may explain my bias.)
While we can nicely discuss alternatives, I think we should put an effort by *at least* not using the term in opposite meanings. I'm pretty sure "production name" meaning "final name" is the more established interpretation. But I'll make a poll now.

2026-03-07 22:26:05 UTC

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@nprofile…5g26 @nprofile…fnwc it is also very confusing in the UI
https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/190/238/083/595/298/original/6ee1910d9c845993.png

2026-03-07 22:03:21 UTC

@nprofile…fnwc I'm confused by https://robofont.com/documentation/topics/production-names/
You call the names used during the design process "production names", as opposed to "final names" that go into the final font.
In my understanding (and fontmake, and other tools), a "production name" is what goes into the final font, equivalent to what you call a "final name".
Am I misreading the page, or do we fundamentally disagree with what a "production name" is?

2026-02-23 16:52:41 UTC

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But to be fair, thanks to Bad Bunny I am now also listening to Bad Bunny.

2026-02-23 16:28:09 UTC

Thanks to Bad Bunny I am now listening to Andy Montañez / El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. Album: Aqui Esta El Reencuentro.

2026-02-18 05:43:34 UTC

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@nprofile…6xrv I have idea what you are talking about.

2026-02-17 20:46:33 UTC

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@nprofile…lwfy It is one column indeed. However, I can't seem to make the bottom flexbox item the right size: It's too small, despite it having flex: min-content;
Given my description above, what flexbox settings should give the desired result?

2026-02-17 10:43:11 UTC

CSS Grid Q: I have three rows, like this:
grid-template-rows: min-content auto min-content;
The first row is static. The second row should be as tall as possible. The third row should *never* be taller than needed to fit its content, but should also not be taller than (say) 20% of the total height.
minmax() for that row does not give me the behavior I want, as it will happily go towards 20%, even if that's more space than needed.
I can set max-height for the row element itself, but then I can't use a percentage, as that would be a percentage of the available space for itself and not the container. The row element has overflow-y: auto set, so it can scroll if not all content fits.
How can I use a percentage? I must be missing something obvious.

2026-01-31 15:39:22 UTC

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@nprofile…0lfj post some screenshots?

2026-01-30 08:21:10 UTC

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@nprofile…rpac @nprofile…vlma Drawing a clock face is such a nice exercise!

2026-01-29 09:06:37 UTC

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@nprofile…np6y I just found his repo and opened an issue!

2026-01-29 09:01:49 UTC

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@nprofile…np6y could mention FontGoggles.

2026-01-24 20:28:20 UTC

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@nprofile…dt4z ITC Avant Garde Gothic

2026-01-24 17:07:48 UTC

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@nprofile…uvqd hi res qr code?

2026-01-23 11:47:11 UTC

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@nprofile…uvqd ```
import pathlib
import sys
from PIL import Image
for p in sys.argv[1:]:
inPath = pathlib.Path(p)
outPath = inPath.parent / (inPath.stem + ".webp")
im = Image.open(inPath)
im.save(outPath)
```

2026-01-21 20:27:29 UTC

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@nprofile…7am7 @nprofile…c6pm I’m… confused?

2026-01-19 22:05:40 UTC

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https://typo.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/924/028/705/012/338/original/4ac67a8f8d284927.mp4

2026-01-19 20:21:18 UTC

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@nprofile…8clk @nprofile…4t5m https://www.typotheque.com/blog/a-typeface-in-four-dimensions#eyJzYW1wbGVUZXh0IjoidHQiLCJmb250U2l6ZSI6MTgzLjQyNjI1NDE1OTcxNjQ4LCJyYWRpdXMiOjEzMC44MDQxMDc0Mzg0ODU3LCJyb3RhdGlvbiI6MTI3LjA4NzIwNTE1MzM0NjQ3LCJyb3RhdGlvblNwZWVkIjoxLCJzZXR0bGVTcGVlZCI6MH0=

2026-01-19 17:26:26 UTC

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@nprofile…xzfg @nprofile…4t5m Dankje!