Sometimes working at PETA means being exposed to some pretty weird stuff—take for instance the latest issue of National Hog Farmer magazine. While it's always full of the latest news and gossip from the ever-glamorous pork industry, it was particularly interesting to see what they had to say about Smithfield’s recent announcement that it is phasing out cruel gestation crates:

"...it appears that U.S. grocery stores and restaurants will do whatever they have to do to keep that PETA guy in the carrot suit from standing in front of one of their stores."

Well Mr. Witty Mc-Hog-Farmer is right, PETA’s vegetarian campaign honcho Chris P. Carrot does have some clout, and while his 2004 run for President may have been unsuccessful, we here at PETA HQ—along with Mr. McCain and Mrs. Clinton as well I’m sure—are on the edge of our seats waiting to find out if he will throw his hat in the ring in 2008 . . .

Dare to dream Chris P. Carrot, dare to dream . . .

Today in Paris, Dan Mathews, PETA’s funloving, globe-trotting VP, hung out with French Olympic figure skater Surya Bonaly. They got together at an ice rink to shoot a new ad for PETA against the Canadian seal hunt.

Well, it turned out to be kids' day at the ice rink, which kind of freaked me out when I heard about the shoot, since it's for our Rather Go Naked ad series. But Surya wore� a black bathing suit w/straps pulled down for the shoot, which took place in front of dozens of media reps.� She gave an amazing interview, and� when a twelve year old asked, "but isn't fur so pretty?" Surya said, "Yes, my dear, you have pretty hair too—but does that mean we should cut your head off and wear it?" Oh, zing! After the shoot Surya rushed off to do a huge national evening show about the campaign.

We'll have lots more pics of the hoopla later, but for now here are some cool shots. The day was a smashing success and even the owners of the rink and the attaché from the mayor's office, who was there to make sure she wasn't completely nude (seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up) loved it and the slogan: “I’d Rather Skate Naked Than Wear Fur.”�

You may remember Surya from the Nagano Olympics, where she bucked the rules and threw in her signature move, a back flip landing on only one blade. Everybody except the judges thought it was just about the coolest thing ever. Surya has since turned pro and makes her home in the land of Freedom Fries, though she still tours internationally to perform and compete. And if she comes through Norfolk the next time Champions on Ice comes to town, I'm totally there.

With The Pretenders set to play Sydney, Chrissie Hynde made a quick stop to unveil a new PETA ad designed to draw attention to a gruesome procedure that Australian lambs are subjected to. The launch comes just a month after Pink narrated our video exposé of the wool industry. This ad isn't exactly PETA's most lighthearted work, but the procedure, which involves an Australian farmer, a frightened lamb, and a pair of gardening shears, doesn't really allow for a whole lot of levity. Chrissie, whose tireless dedication to helping animals is nothing short of heroic, unveiled the ad at the Sydney Opera House today. Incidentally, this is why I don't wear wool.

Barbaro, the horse who suffered a catastrophic leg injury during the 2006 Preakness, was euthanized yesterday morning. He had been in poor condition for more than 8 months after the accident, and it is a small mercy at least that his suffering is finally over.

Of course, in all the outward show of regret about Barbaro's cruel fate from within the horse-racing industry, everyone conveniently forgot to mention the fact that this kind of misery comes standard for horses used in racing. While the world watched to see what would happen to Barbaro, countless other horses continued to die on the tracks, and tens of thousands more (including thoroughbreds) were sold for slaughter—their meat used in cat food or sold to European countries for human consumption.

The story is being pitched as an unexpected accident that shocked the country, but the truth is that Barbaro's tragedy is a very public reminder of the plight of racehorses everywhere and the cruel fate that awaits so many victims of the horse racing industry.

After PETA UK released its brand-new "Feeding Kids Meat Is Child Abuse" billboard, a number of groups complained about the ad to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Having a brief look through the list of complainants, it really seems like they all have something in common, but I just can't quite put my finger on it. It does strike me as a bit weird that The National Farmers' Union, the Guild of Welsh Lamb and Beef Suppliers, and the International Meat Trade should suddenly come down with a case of social responsibility, but who am I to question them? I'm sure they're just worried about Britain's children. It's a moot point though, as the ASA rejected the complaints and cleared the ad, because, honestly, if feeding dead bodies to your kids isn't widely considered to be abusive, it probably should be …

Either way, the ad's a classic. Check it out:

So, for the past few months we’ve had this awesome intern named Ilze around PETA HQ here in Norfolk, VA. I didn’t know much about her, other than that she was from Europe and had a cool accent, but as it turns out, Ilze is from Latvia (my favorite Baltic state), is a kickass activist, and is pretty amazing all around.

A huge national magazine back home got wind of her US exploits and did this great feature on her. Those of you who haven't bothered to learn Latvian yet will just have look at the pictures.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a great front page piece about the ethics of corporate lobbying on Capitol Hill. And while that is interesting and all, the best part is that PETA is included in the handy guide to the new rules about wining and dining lawmakers.

What would you rather see—a bunch of geriatric baseball players handing out pig parts or a pair of Playmates dishing out veggie viagra?

I rest my case.

OK, so this title is lame. Forgive me. But I just had to give a shout out to international it girl Shilpa Shetty for last night’s win on the British reality show “Celebrity Big Brother.” Gorgeous Bollywood actor, reality show star, international celebrity, and the star of this stunning PETA India ad illustrating the misery of animals used in circuses. Seriously, is there anything this girl can’t do?

I’ve got a feeling we’ll all be seeing a lot more of Shilpa in the future . . .

As you probably know, Prince Charles has been making the rounds throughout the northeast this week. And we’ve been there every step of the way, urging him to use his influence with the British Ministry of Defense to switch to fake fur rather than slaughter Canadian black bears for the Royal Guard hats.

I mean, seriously Prince Charles, if you can suffer through the torture of a first class commercial flight to save a little jet fuel, can’t ya make a few phone calls to keep bears from being gunned down and their families orphaned for some ornamental hats? I promise that the Japanese tourists videotaping the changing of the guard won’t know the difference.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Paul Mooney (from Dave Chapelle's Show). Dude has some sage advice about interacting with animals and some great tips on effective child-rearing practices.

PETA's Open Letter in Response to OSU and OHSU's ‘Gay Sheep’ Experiments

After being outed by PETA for their cruel and deadly hormone-altering tests on gay sheep, experimenters continue to mislead the public as to the troubling implications of their work.

Experimenters Charles Roselli of Oregon State University (OHSU) and Fred Stormshak of Oregon Health and Science University (OSU) have failed to address ethical issues pertaining to their deadly hormone-altering tests on gay sheep and the tests' implications for humans. PETA will continue to scrutinize these and any other experiments to ensure that both animal and human interests are protected and represented. ... [More]

Other than me, of course. The reason I ask is that PETA is holding a competition to find the hottest vegetarian "boys and girls next door," and this year, we’re sending the winners to Hawaii. We already have some pretty damn good-looking entrants, but there's still time (just 4 more days) to submit yourself or one of your vegetarian friends for consideration. On January 30, we'll narrow the pool down to 10 male and 10 female finalists, and open up the site for voting in February. PETA's International Sexiness Manager Christopher Holbein—whose finely honed hotness detector is legendary in animal rights circles—will be coordinating the judging committee, which means that you can be assured of a fair and accurate assessment. As a PETA employee, I'm excluded from consideration—so dudes, don't be shy about entering yourself or your friends, as there's actually a chance you might win.

Click here to learn more and enter.

Today has been kind of massive as far as animals are concerned. In addition to winning the POM Campaign, we just got news that Smithfield Foods (the largest pork processor in the world) will begin phasing out the use of gestation crates in all of its farms. Gestation crates are among the most hideous torture devices employed by the meat industry, and while we'd love to see them banned, like, yesterday, this commitment on Smithfield's part is still a great step forward on an issue that we've put years of hard work into—pushing McDonald's, Safeway, Albertson's, WalMart, and others to oppose gestation crates, and speaking at Smithfield's annual meeting to raise awareness among shareholders. The Wall Street Journal covered the story today, and MSNBC ran a great piece as well, with an accompanying photograph that says more than I ever could about exactly why so many animal advocates have dedicated their lives to getting this practice outlawed:

PETA is calling off our campaign against POM Wonderful after the company announced that it will permanently end all animal tests. There follows a brief synopsis of our campaign against the juice company in dramatic form. For a longer, less dramatic synopsis of the campaign, click here.

POM Wonderful: Let's damage the arteries of male rabbits and induce them with erectile dysfunction in order to make health claims about our juice.

PETA: Um… WTF?

PAMELA ANDERSON: Considering the cruel experiments on animals that POM is funding, I'm calling on everyone to get Naked instead.

PETA: Meaning, like, Naked Juice, which doesn't test on animals. Frutzzo and Old Orchard are great alternatives too.

REUTERS: Whole Foods Market Inc., the largest natural and organic grocery chain, told Reuters it had decided to stop selling POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and associated tea blends by April 1 if POM continued to fund studies that might include animal testing.

POM: POM Wonderful pomegranate juice has ceased all animal testing.

PETA: Can we have that in writing?

POM: Neither POM Wonderful nor its related entities provide funding for ongoing animal testing on POM Juice (or POM Tea). Moreover, there are no plans to do so in the future.

PETA: Hooray! Thanks.

To tell the truth, the campaign was a little more hard-fought than that, but that's the general idea. This is a major victory, and a huge thank you is also due to everyone who participated in demonstrations, handed out information, contacted POM about this issue, and boycotted POM products. When we win a major campaign at PETA, that often means free vegan pizza for everyone, so fingers crossed that upper management doesn't forget about that small, but important detail in all the excitement.

Our undercover investigator just got back from almost six months inside two separate PetSmart stores, and what she brought back is pretty disturbing. Every time I've been inside a PetSmart, I always feel bad for the birds they keep in cages there, not to mention the rats, lizards, and other animals in cages. But it turns out that being stuck in a cage and harassed by customers is only the beginning of the nightmare for these animals: What goes on in PetSmart's back rooms is just one horror after another. As of this week, PETA has launched a full campaign against PetSmart until it stops selling all animals. Have a look at the video, and if you want to help out, you can e-mail PetSmart your thoughts by clicking here.

The lovely Pamela Anderson has a thing or two to say about a new postal stamp under consideration by the US Postal Service that would feature famed chicken torturer Colonel Harland Sanders. After a little detective work, it becomes pretty clear that the evil masterminds behind the projected stamp are none other than KFC themselves, but Pam's letter to the Postmaster has put a dent in their scheme. She writes,

Honoring a man whose legacy involves breaking animals’ bones and scalding animals to death in defeathering tanks is contrary to the values of most compassionate citizens, and I hope that you’ll deny KFC’s request. How about another Elvis stamp instead?

Anyway, as is so often the case, hooray for Pamela Anderson—I couldn't have said it better myself. MSNBC reported on the story, and you can read Pamela's letter in its entirety here.

In related news, KFC already has some battery-cage egg on their faces this week after Yum Brands (KFC's parent corporation) put a bid on a warehouse in PETA's hometown of Norfolk for a million dollars. What they didn't realize was that the property was owned by the PETA Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides support services for PETA. We responded with what we felt was an extremely reasonable counter offer—that we'd give them the warehouse for free if they'd listen to their own advisors and make a few small improvements in their animal welfare standards. Unfortunately, they suddenly lost interest and decided that maybe they didn't want a warehouse after all. Weird. The New York Times ran that story, which you can read here.

If J. Lo really has no current plans to give up her weird addiction to promoting the fur industry, she may want to seriously consider giving up promoting anything at all in public. Because this is just getting too easy. In the past year, PETA has protested the opening of her Pasadena restaurant, shouted her down at movie premieres, and showed up while she was giving a radio interview to get her reaction to some fur-farm footage we happened to have handy. And just this weekend, some PETA members posing as "glow girls" had some more input for her during the auditions for her new Glow After Dark reality show. Our friends at TMZ.com have the exclusive video:

At PETA, we've always subscribed to the notion that if you have something really important to say that not everyone wants to hear, you just have to persevere until your message is heard. If that doesn't work—which, honestly, it often just doesn't—you take all your clothes off. And, just in time for this year's State of the Union Address, that's exactly what one brave PETA member has done. We're calling it PETA's State of the Union Undress, and we're hoping very, very, very much that President Bush doesn't do the same thing at the actual State of the Union on Tuesday. Check it out:

As winter grips the country, animals find ways to keep warm …

UPDATE: Victory! POM Promises to End Deadly Animal Tests. Check it.

The recent statement by POM Wonderful's owners Stewart and Lynda Resnick that "POM Wonderful pomegranate juice has ceased all animal testing and we have no plans to do so in the future" seems pretty great, until you read the fine print.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's website, POM made a commitment through June 2007 to an experiment that involves forcing elderly rats to balance on a spinning rod and find a hidden platform in a water maze in order to try not to drown. I'll get back to you on whether those experiments are still going forward, but so far, POM's not getting back to us about it, which is ominous—coming from a company that has professed a desire to get out of the whole sordid animal-testing game. And it's especially ominous when you take into account the fact that POM's president told a PETA rep last summer that his company could deceive the public by declaring itself "cruelty-free," while continuing to test on animals through an affiliate set up by the company's owners.

Why might a company that apparently sees nothing even faintly ridiculous about drowning rats to judge “The Effects of Pomegranate Juice on Cognitive and Motor Deficits in Aging” consider misleading consumers about whether it funds animal tests? My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that Whole Foods threatened to stop selling the juice if POM continued to kill animals in pointless experiments. Whatever the reason, if POM's intention is indeed to mislead customers who are making a good-faith effort to buy cruelty-free products, they can be certain that we're not going to just sit back and watch. PETA's campaign against POM Wonderful will continue until the company signs PETA’s assurance statement pledging an end to all animal tests—something that the company has refused to do so far. Go figure.

You can read PETA VP Bruce Friedrich's letter to POM here.
And for more information and ways to help, click here.

One of the drawbacks of being an international business without any sort of ethical sensibilities is that once your questionable practices get out in the open, the entire world learns about them. Which is a lot of people. This past week, Burberry's callous disregard for animal welfare was exposed in …

Paris (by means of French people in coffins) …

… Hong Kong (with real cavepeople!) …

…and Los Angeles (where a little bit of nudity goes a long way)

And there's plenty more where that came from. So there you have it, Burberry. The whole world agrees that you should stop making clothes out of fur that doesn't belong to you.

And Forest Whitaker, who won Best Actor in a Drama for his riveting performance in The Last King of Scotland, recently starred in a somewhat more lighthearted piece for PETA with his daughter, True. If you're a fan of Forest's work, you should definitely check that out:

In the meantime, our old friend Joaquin Phoenix presented the award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, which was won by Meryl Streep. And last year's "World's Sexiest Vegetarian," Prince, won the award for Best Song. The whole event could almost have been a PETA Gala, except with, like, awards for people doing a good job in movies instead of PETA employees in giant rat costumes (not to say that wasn't really fun).

Jack Black is amazing. First, because his band rocks so damn hard that he had to go into hell to find his rhythm section; and second, because he had the good sense and foresight to put Colonel Sanders there, where he belongs. Check it out:

MSNBC just reported on a study which showed that the beneficial effects of tea are cancelled out when you put milk in it. According to MSN:

The beneficial effects of drinking black tea are completely prevented by the addition of milk, said Dr Verena Stangl, a cardiologist at the hospital. If you want to drink tea to have the beneficial health effects, you have to drink it without milk. That is clearly shown by our experiments.

Since I quit smoking about three years ago, I've been drinking, like, five cups of tea a day to fill the void, but I've totally been cheating death by using soymilk instead of cow's milk. Which, you know, hooray for getting one over on Death, but the underlying point here is that cow's milk is designed for baby cows, not for one's Earl Grey or English Breakfast.

While I'm on the subject—ever since I moved to the U.S., I've noticed that a lot of people here don't always bring their water to a full boil before pouring it on their tea. WTF is that all about? For a proper cup of tea, you need to use boiling water to activate the tea leaves, and then let it steep for at least a minute. Then, if you don't want to drop dead from a heart attack right there on the spot, skip the cow's milk and have some soymilk with that bad boy. At any rate, that's how I do it.

Stay tuned for more scintillating tea tips next week. I have a lot to say on this subject.

Things just keep getting worse for the folks at POM Wonderful, who (in case you're not up to date on this) can't seem to figure out why performing gruesome experiments on rabbits in order to sell more juice is as ludicrous as it is frightening. This week, right after two stores in California decided to ban sales of POM, the legendary nightclub promoter Steve Lewis sent POM CEO Matt Tupper a letter asking him to stop his animal testing program. If Matt agrees, Steve has made a commitment to use his considerable influence to get POM promoted in nightclubs throughout New York. The New York Post did a piece on the story, which you can read here.

Then, just as all this was happening, PETA's Pom Campaign Coordinator—the lovely Melissa—broke her leg. I admit that sounds like it would be more of a blow to us than it is to POM, but check out what she did with her cast! How do you like them apples, Matt Tupper?

P.S. Stay tuned for details on exactly how Melissa broke her leg. I'm still trying to get the story out of her. All I know at the moment is that it happened on New Year's.

In Other News

The British Medical Journal on Why Animal Testing Sucks

New Zealand's Take on Pink's Wool Boycott

Predict Your Own Death! (Accuracy Not Guaranteed)

These pictures kind of tell their own story, which, as I interpret it, is that a lot of MPs are pretty hacked off with the MoD for being so bleeding stroppy about the Queen's Guards' kit, innit? Or, translated into American, dozens of British politicians gathered outside parliament yesterday to call on the Ministry of Defence to ban the use of bear fur in making the well-known caps worn by the palace guards. Either way you look at it, it's pretty damn wonderful—and it's a big coup for PETA Europe in its quest to save Canadian black bears from a horrible fate. Great to see so many politicians getting involved in an issue on behalf of the British public, which—like most reasonable publics—is overwhelmingly against turning bears into hats without a bloody good reason.

Glenda Jackson, Mike Hancock, George Galloway, and dozens of other cross-party MPs protest the use of bear fur in The Queen's Guards' caps outside the Houses of Parliament

Mike Hancock, David Lepper, and David Taylor standing up for bears

Oscar winner turned MP Glenda Jackson with a Canadian black teddy bear

Victory! Raley's has discontinued the sale of live lobsters.

Update: After Thousands of Complaints From Customers, Raley's Has Agreed to Discontinue the Sale of Live Lobsters in Its Stores!

Earlier this week, a customer of Raley's—which is a popular grocery chain in Nevada, New Mexico, and California—sent PETA disturbing pictures of live lobsters kept in tiny plastic containers barely larger than the lobsters' bodies in a Raley's store. After PETA put an action alert up on our site last night, thousands of people wrote to the company to ask that they abandon this cruel practice immediately and consider following in the footsteps of chains like Safeway and Whole Foods and discontinue the sale of live lobsters entirely.

This morning, we received an e-mail from Raley's announcing that the company would do just that! Raley's Spokesperson Nicole Townsend gave PETA the following statement:

Raley’s Family of Fine Stores offered live Maine lobsters to our customers for three days during the holiday season. Raley's will not repeat this promotion or offer live lobsters in any of its stores.

It goes without saying that this is a massive victory for lobsters everywhere, who suffer immeasurably in grocery-store lobster tanks before being boiled alive. Raley's compassionate decision—along with the example of Safeway and Whole Foods—sends a strong message to supermarkets everywhere that cruelty of this sort simply will not be tolerated. A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to write to Raley's about this issue! Thanks to your kindness, countless lobsters will be saved from a horrific fate.

Today is my birthday, which—for those of you not familiar with birthday rules—means I can do anything I want. And what I want to do today is post this video that my friend Joel and I made a while ago for a song I wrote, which happens to be about birthdays. What does this have to with animals, you ask? Plenty. Apart from being a brilliant reflection on the alienating effects of ingrained cultural phenomena on the postmodern man, it’s also a step-by-step instructional video on how to make a delicious vegan birthday cake! E.g., use apple sauce instead of eggs. The chickens will thank you. Happy Birthday me!

P.S. Today is also Richard Nixon's birthday, but whatever.

KFC employees who are used to seeing PETA's crippled chicken hobbling across the street or watching Colonel Sanders burned in effigy in front of their restaurants are in for a pleasant surprise: The KFC Campaign is finally going naked, with our brand-new "Naked Truth" demonstrations. The bad news for the company is, unfortunately, that the "naked truth" about KFC is that it's gross and unethical and abusive and, seriously, don't even think about eating there. Even if there are attractive naked girls outside. Our first Naked Truth protest was immediately picked up by the Associated Press, proving, once again, that taking your clothes off really is a great way to help chickens on factory farms—though that line never works for me for some reason.

More pics after the jump.

I just found this speech by PETA President Ingrid Newkirk on YouTube. It's pretty old—an address she gave in Washington a few years ago—but it's cool to see some of the old campaigns PETA was working on back then. Plus, she's a hell of a speaker, so it's worth checking it out, even if you don't have 20 minutes to spare for the whole thing.

Getty Images

A few days ago, Eva Longoria (of Desperate Housewives fame) was heckled in London—where she was launching the Harrods' Winter Sale—for her nasty habit of draping herself in dead animals. For people who do care about animals, Eva's track-record has been pretty abysmal. In an interview last year, she told Oprah that she can "skin a deer and a pig and a snake - and rabbits," when she was talking about some of the things she learned in her childhood. Sounds like a hell of an education—and it may explain her crappy attitude towards people who try to educate her about the cruelty she's supporting by wearing fur. The New York Post reported the story as follows:

EVA Longoria drew anti-fur hecklers in London the other day when she kicked off Harrods' Winter Sale. The "Desperate Housewives" star, dubbed "Worst Dressed" by PETA for wearing "dead-animal pelts," was nearly drowned out as she gave interviews. A PETA rep says he hopes Longoria will see the light like another "Worst Dressed" winner, Christina Ricci, who e-mailed the group: "I never meant to hurt nor anger anyone with my insensitivity . . . [I] will not be wearing fur in the future."

I have to admit that Desperate Housewives is a kind of a good show, but it's always sad when you find out that the villains in TV shows are villains in real life too. Hopefully this experience will give her something to think about.

My New Year's resolution this year is to finally cancel the membership to my gym, which I enrolled in around this time last year in a fit of optimism and utter lunacy. The people at my gym are notoriously cunning, and last time I went there to try and end things, I walked out with a renewed membership and a year's subscription to their monthly magazine. But I know I can do this if I put my mind to it.

On a related topic, if you're still casting about for a New Year's resolution to get your teeth into, this is a pretty good time to look further into vegetarianism or veganism. PETA has some great resources for such things here, and this comic strip by Carol Lay illustrates the point pretty well too:

There are a few good ways to get people thinking about the fur issue. You can wear a T-shirt with an anti-fur slogan, hand out leaflets and information outside fur stores, and bring up the topic in casual conversation. Or, if you're the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in Paris, you can just wrap a big ol' bus in a PETA ad and drive it around France. Voici le reste de votre manteau de fourrure, biatch.

I'm not quite prepared to kiss and make up with Madonna after December's chinchilla coat debacle, but it does seem like she's beginning to make some efforts to quench her bloodlust a little bit—starting with a commitment to stop shooting at birds. Under the compassionate influence of her good friend Stella McCartney, Madonna has evidently decided to stop renting out her estate in Wilts for hunting parties; she had already given up hunting herself after one of the birds she had shot took a long time to die. As she put it:

"It wasn't dead. Blood was gushing from its mouth and it was struggling up this hill and I thought, 'Oh God, I did that. I haven't shot since."

Anyway, as I said, I'm not exactly ready to hold a parade in her honor yet, but this does seem like a promising start. As many of you probably know, I was recently named a co-winner of Time magazine's 2006 "Person of the Year" award, so I'm hoping that Madonna will pay more attention to me this time and give up the fur for good.

I don’t know why people keep sending me pictures of scantily clad girls, but as long as they do I’ll keep posting them.

Here’s what rock star activist Ashley Fruno has to say about her demo yesterday: “It was REALLY cold (only 32 degrees, but snowing really hard), we cut the demo off after an hour because I thought I might pass out.” Honestly I don’t know what she’s complaining about. I admit that a paperboard sign doesn’t do much to keep the body warm, but look at that warm hat. Doesn’t like 90% of body heat escape from the head!?! She looks toasty to me. She was probably passing out from heat exhaustion.

What’s this? Another e-card!?! What a wonderful time of year.

Click here to send to a friend.

Actually, I have a question just for you, my loyal blogoreader. Out of all of our holiday e-cards, which did you like the most or forward on (aside from the one I wrote and sang of course)?