text:
"use strict";

Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", {
  value: true
});
exports.__PictureImpl = exports.__SourceImpl = exports.Source = exports.Picture = exports.__ReactImgixImpl = exports.default = void 0;

require("./array-findindex");

var _reactDom = _interopRequireDefault(require("react-dom"));

var _react = _interopRequireWildcard(require("react"));

var _propTypes = _interopRequireDefault(require("prop-types"));

var _targetWidths = _interopRequireDefault(require("./targetWidths"));

var _constructUrl = _interopRequireDefault(require("./constructUrl"));

var _HOCs = require("./HOCs");

var _common = require("./common");

function _interopRequireWildcard(obj) { if (obj && obj.__esModule) { return obj; } else { var newObj = {}; if (obj != null) { for (var key in obj) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(obj, key)) { var desc = Object.defineProperty && Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor ? Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(obj, key) : {}; if (desc.get || desc.set) { Object.defineProperty(newObj, key, desc); } else { newObj[key] = obj[key]; } } } } newObj.default = obj; return newObj; } }

function _interopRequireDefault(obj) { return obj && obj.__esModule ? obj : { default: obj }; }

function _typeof(obj) { if (typeof Symbol === "function" && typeof Symbol.iterator === "symbol") { _typeof = function _typeof(obj) { return typeof obj; }; } else { _typeof = function _typeof(obj) { return obj && typeof Symbol === "function" && obj.constructor === Symbol && obj !== Symbol.prototype ? "symbol" : typeof obj; }; } return _typeof(obj); }

function _classCallCheck(instance, Constructor) { if (!(instance instanceof Constructor)) { throw new TypeError("Cannot call a class as a function"); } }

function _defineProperties(target, props) { for (var i = 0; i < props.length; i++) { var descriptor = props[i]; descriptor.enumerable = descriptor.enumerable || false; descriptor.configurable = true; if ("value" in descriptor) descriptor.writable = true; Object.defineProperty(target, descriptor.key, descriptor); } }

function _createClass(Constructor, protoProps, staticProps) { if (protoProps) _defineProperties(Constructor.prototype, protoProps); if (staticProps) _defineProperties(Constructor, staticProps); return Constructor; }

function _possibleConstructorReturn(self, call) { if (call && (_typeof(call) === "object" || typeof call === "function")) { return call; } return _assertThisInitialized(self); }

function _getPrototypeOf(o) { _getPrototypeOf = Object.setPrototypeOf ? Object.getPrototypeOf : function _getPrototypeOf(o) { return o.__proto__ || Object.getPrototypeOf(o); }; return _getPrototypeOf(o); }

function _assertThisInitialized(self) { if (self === void 0) { throw new ReferenceError("this hasn't been initialised - super() hasn't been called"); } return self; }

function _inherits(subClass, superClass) { if (typeof superClass !== "function" && superClass !== null) { throw new TypeError("Super expression must either be null or a function"); } subClass.prototype = Object.create(superClass && superClass.prototype, { constructor: { value: subClass, writable: true, configurable: true } }); if (superClass) _setPrototypeOf(subClass, superClass); }

function _setPrototypeOf(o, p) { _setPrototypeOf = Object.setPrototypeOf || function _setPrototypeOf(o, p) { o.__proto__ = p; return o; }; return _setPrototypeOf(o, p); }

function _slicedToArray(arr, i) { return _arrayWithHoles(arr) || _iterableToArrayLimit(arr, i) || _nonIterableRest(); }

function _nonIterableRest() { throw new TypeError("Invalid attempt to destructure non-iterable instance"); }

function _iterableToArrayLimit(arr, i) { var _arr = []; var _n = true; var _d = false; var _e = undefined; try { for (var _i = arr[Symbol.iterator](), _s; !(_n = (_s = _i.next()).done); _n = true) { _arr.push(_s.value); if (i && _arr.length === i) break; } } catch (err) { _d = true; _e = err; } finally { try { if (!_n && _i["return"] != null) _i["return"](); } finally { if (_d) throw _e; } } return _arr; }

function _arrayWithHoles(arr) { if (Array.isArray(arr)) return arr; }

function _objectSpread(target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i] != null ? arguments[i] : {}; var ownKeys = Object.keys(source); if (typeof Object.getOwnPropertySymbols === 'function') { ownKeys = ownKeys.concat(Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source).filter(function (sym) { return Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(source, sym).enumerable; })); } ownKeys.forEach(function (key) { _defineProperty(target, key, source[key]); }); } return target; }

function _defineProperty(obj, key, value) { if (key in obj) { Object.defineProperty(obj, key, { value: value, enumerable: true, configurable: true, writable: true }); } else { obj[key] = value; } return obj; }

var PACKAGE_VERSION = "8.6.1";
var NODE_ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV;

var buildKey = function buildKey(idx) {
  return "react-imgix-".concat(idx);
};

var validTypes = ["img", "picture", "source"];
var defaultImgixParams = {
  auto: ["format"],
  fit: "crop"
};
var defaultAttributeMap = {
  src: "src",
  srcSet: "srcSet",
  sizes: "sizes"
};

var noop = function noop() {};

var COMMON_PROP_TYPES = {
  className: _propTypes.default.string,
  onMounted: _propTypes.default.func,
  htmlAttributes: _propTypes.default.object
};

var SHARED_IMGIX_AND_SOURCE_PROP_TYPES = _objectSpread({}, COMMON_PROP_TYPES, {
  disableQualityByDPR: _propTypes.default.bool,
  disableSrcSet: _propTypes.default.bool,
  disableLibraryParam: _propTypes.default.bool,
  imgixParams: _propTypes.default.object,
  sizes: _propTypes.default.string,
  width: _propTypes.default.number,
  height: _propTypes.default.number,
  src: _propTypes.default.string.isRequired
});
/**
 * Parse an aspect ratio in the format w:h to a decimal. If false is returned, the aspect ratio is in the wrong format.
 */

function parseAspectRatio(aspectRatio) {
  if (typeof aspectRatio !== "string") {
    return false;
  }

  var isValidFormat = function isValidFormat(str) {
    return /^\d+(\.\d+)?:\d+(\.\d+)?$/.test(str);
  };

  if (!isValidFormat(aspectRatio)) {
    return false;
  }

  var _aspectRatio$split = aspectRatio.split(":"),
      _aspectRatio$split2 = _slicedToArray(_aspectRatio$split, 2),
      width = _aspectRatio$split2[0],
      height = _aspectRatio$split2[1];

  return parseFloat(width) / parseFloat(height);
}
/**
 * Build a imgix source url with parameters from a raw url
 */

function buildSrc(_ref) {
  var rawSrc = _ref.src,
      width = _ref.width,
      height = _ref.height,
      disableLibraryParam = _ref.disableLibraryParam,
      disableSrcSet = _ref.disableSrcSet,
      type = _ref.type,
      imgixParams = _ref.imgixParams,
      aspectRatio = _ref.aspectRatio,
      disableQualityByDPR = _ref.disableQualityByDPR;
  var fixedSize = width != null || height != null;

  var srcOptions = _objectSpread({}, imgixParams, disableLibraryParam ? {} : {
    ixlib: "react-".concat(PACKAGE_VERSION)
  }, fixedSize && height ? {
    height: height
  } : {}, fixedSize && width ? {
    width: width
  } : {});

  var src = (0, _constructUrl.default)(rawSrc, srcOptions);
  var srcSet;

  if (disableSrcSet) {
    srcSet = src;
  } else {
    if (fixedSize || type === "source") {
      var dpr1 = (0, _constructUrl.default)(rawSrc, _objectSpread({}, disableQualityByDPR || {
        q: _common.CONSTANTS.q_dpr1
      }, srcOptions, {
        dpr: 1
      }));
      var dpr2 = (0, _constructUrl.default)(rawSrc, _objectSpread({}, disableQualityByDPR || {
        q: _common.CONSTANTS.q_dpr2
      }, srcOptions, {
        dpr: 2
      }));
      var dpr3 = (0, _constructUrl.default)(rawSrc, _objectSpread({}, disableQualityByDPR || {
        q: _common.CONSTANTS.q_dpr3
      }, srcOptions, {
        dpr: 3
      }));
      var dpr4 = (0, _constructUrl.default)(rawSrc, _objectSpread({}, disableQualityByDPR || {
        q: _common.CONSTANTS.q_dpr4
      }, srcOptions, {
        dpr: 4
      }));
      var dpr5 = (0, _constructUrl.default)(rawSrc, _objectSpread({}, disableQualityByDPR || {
        q: _common.CONSTANTS.q_dpr5
      }, srcOptions, {
        dpr: 5
      }));
      srcSet = "".concat(dpr1, " 1x, ").concat(dpr2, " 2x, ").concat(dpr3, " 3x, ").concat(dpr4, " 4x, ").concat(dpr5, " 5x");
    } else {
      var showARWarning = false;

      var buildSrcSetPair = function buildSrcSetPair(targetWidth) {
        var urlParams = _objectSpread({}, srcOptions, {
          width: targetWidth
        });

        var aspectRatioDecimal = parseAspectRatio(aspectRatio);

        if (aspectRatio != null && aspectRatioDecimal === false) {
          // false indicates invalid
          showARWarning = true;
        }

        if (!srcOptions.height && aspectRatioDecimal && aspectRatioDecimal > 0) {
          urlParams.height = Math.ceil(targetWidth / aspectRatioDecimal);
        }

        var url = (0, _constructUrl.default)(rawSrc, urlParams);
        return "".concat(url, " ").concat(targetWidth, "w");
      };

      srcSet = _targetWidths.default.map(buildSrcSetPair).join(", ");

      if (showARWarning && _common.config.warnings.invalidARFormat) {
        console.warn("[Imgix] The aspect ratio passed (\"".concat(aspectRatio, "\") is not in the correct format. The correct format is \"W:H\"."));
      }
    }
  }

  return {
    src: src,
    srcSet: srcSet
  };
}
/**
 * Combines default imgix params with custom imgix params to make a imgix params config object
 */

function imgixParams(props) {
  var params = _objectSpread({}, defaultImgixParams, props.imgixParams);

  var fit = false;
  if (params.crop != null) fit = "crop";
  if (params.fit) fit = params.fit;

  if (params.ar) {
    delete params.ar;
  }

  return _objectSpread({}, params, {
    fit: fit
  });
}
/**
 * React component used to render <img> elements with Imgix
 */

var ReactImgix =
/*#__PURE__*/
function (_Component) {
  _inherits(ReactImgix, _Component);

  function ReactImgix() {
    var _getPrototypeOf2;

    var _this;

    _classCallCheck(this, ReactImgix);

    for (var _len = arguments.length, args = new Array(_len), _key = 0; _key < _len; _key++) {
      args[_key] = arguments[_key];
    }

    _this = _possibleConstructorReturn(this, (_getPrototypeOf2 = _getPrototypeOf(ReactImgix)).call.apply(_getPrototypeOf2, [this].concat(args)));

    _defineProperty(_assertThisInitialized(_this), "componentDidMount", function () {
      var node = _reactDom.default.findDOMNode(_assertThisInitialized(_this));

      _this.props.onMounted(node);
    });

    return _this;
  }

  _createClass(ReactImgix, [{
    key: "render",
    value: function render() {
      var _objectSpread2;

      var _this$props = this.props,
          disableSrcSet = _this$props.disableSrcSet,
          type = _this$props.type,
          width = _this$props.width,
          height = _this$props.height; // Pre-render checks

      if (NODE_ENV !== "production" && _common.config.warnings.sizesAttribute) {
        if (this.props.width == null && this.props.height == null && this.props.sizes == null && !this.props._inPicture) {
          console.warn("If width and height are not set, a sizes attribute should be passed.");
        }
      }

      var htmlAttributes = this.props.htmlAttributes || {};

      var _buildSrc = buildSrc(_objectSpread({}, this.props, {
        type: "img",
        imgixParams: imgixParams(this.props),
        aspectRatio: (this.props.imgixParams || {}).ar
      })),
          src = _buildSrc.src,
          srcSet = _buildSrc.srcSet;

      var attributeConfig = _objectSpread({}, defaultAttributeMap, this.props.attributeConfig);

      var childProps = _objectSpread({}, this.props.htmlAttributes, (_objectSpread2 = {}, _defineProperty(_objectSpread2, attributeConfig.sizes, this.props.sizes), _defineProperty(_objectSpread2, "className", this.props.className), _defineProperty(_objectSpread2, "width", width <= 1 ? null : width), _defineProperty(_objectSpread2, "height", height <= 1 ? null : height), _defineProperty(_objectSpread2, attributeConfig.src, src), _objectSpread2));

      if (!disableSrcSet) {
        childProps[attributeConfig.srcSet] = srcSet;
      }

      if (type === "bg") {
        // TODO: Remove in v9
        throw new Error("type='bg' has been removed in this version of react-imgix. If you would like this re-implemented please give this issues a thumbs up: https://github.com/imgix/react-imgix/issues/160");
      }

      if (type === "source") {
        // TODO: Remove in v9
        throw new Error("type='source' has been changed to <Source />. Please see the upgrade guide at: https://github.com/imgix/react-imgix#7x-to-80");
      }

      if (type === "picture") {
        // TODO: Remove in v9
        throw new Error("type='picture' has been changed to <Picture />. Please see the upgrade guide at: https://github.com/imgix/react-imgix#7x-to-80");
      }

      return _react.default.createElement("img", childProps);
    }
  }]);

  return ReactImgix;
}(_react.Component);

exports.__ReactImgixImpl = ReactImgix;

_defineProperty(ReactImgix, "propTypes", _objectSpread({}, SHARED_IMGIX_AND_SOURCE_PROP_TYPES));

_defineProperty(ReactImgix, "defaultProps", {
  disableSrcSet: false,
  onMounted: noop
});

ReactImgix.displayName = "ReactImgix";
/**
 * React component used to render <picture> elements with Imgix
 */

var PictureImpl =
/*#__PURE__*/
function (_Component2) {
  _inherits(PictureImpl, _Component2);

  function PictureImpl() {
    var _getPrototypeOf3;

    var _this2;

    _classCallCheck(this, PictureImpl);

    for (var _len2 = arguments.length, args = new Array(_len2), _key2 = 0; _key2 < _len2; _key2++) {
      args[_key2] = arguments[_key2];
    }

    _this2 = _possibleConstructorReturn(this, (_getPrototypeOf3 = _getPrototypeOf(PictureImpl)).call.apply(_getPrototypeOf3, [this].concat(args)));

    _defineProperty(_assertThisInitialized(_this2), "componentDidMount", function () {
      var node = _reactDom.default.findDOMNode(_assertThisInitialized(_this2));

      _this2.props.onMounted(node);
    });

    return _this2;
  }

  _createClass(PictureImpl, [{
    key: "render",
    value: function render() {
      var children = this.props.children; // make sure all of our children have key set, otherwise we get react warnings

      var _children = _react.default.Children.map(children, function (child, idx) {
        return _react.default.cloneElement(child, {
          key: buildKey(idx),
          _inPicture: true
        });
      }) || [];
      /*
      We need to make sure an <img /> or <Imgix /> is the last child so we look for one in children
      a. if we find one, move it to the last entry if it's not already there
      b. if we don't find one, warn the user as they probably want to pass one.
      */
      // look for an <img> or <ReactImgix type='img'> - at the bare minimum we have to have a single <img> element or else it will not work.

      var imgIdx = _children.findIndex(function (c) {
        return c.type === "img" || c.type === ReactImgix || c.type === ReactImgixWrapped;
      });

      if (imgIdx === -1 && _common.config.warnings.fallbackImage) {
        console.warn("No fallback <img /> or <Imgix /> found in the children of a <picture> component. A fallback image should be passed to ensure the image renders correctly at all dimensions.");
      } else if (imgIdx !== _children.length - 1) {
        // found one, need to move it to the end
        _children.push(_children.splice(imgIdx, 1)[0]);
      }

      return _react.default.createElement("picture", {
        children: _children
      });
    }
  }]);

  return PictureImpl;
}(_react.Component);

exports.__PictureImpl = PictureImpl;

_defineProperty(PictureImpl, "propTypes", _objectSpread({}, COMMON_PROP_TYPES, {
  children: _propTypes.default.any
}));

_defineProperty(PictureImpl, "defaultProps", {
  onMounted: noop
});

PictureImpl.displayName = "ReactImgixPicture";
/**
 * React component used to render <source> elements with Imgix
 */

var SourceImpl =
/*#__PURE__*/
function (_Component3) {
  _inherits(SourceImpl, _Component3);

  function SourceImpl() {
    var _getPrototypeOf4;

    var _this3;

    _classCallCheck(this, SourceImpl);

    for (var _len3 = arguments.length, args = new Array(_len3), _key3 = 0; _key3 < _len3; _key3++) {
      args[_key3] = arguments[_key3];
    }

    _this3 = _possibleConstructorReturn(this, (_getPrototypeOf4 = _getPrototypeOf(SourceImpl)).call.apply(_getPrototypeOf4, [this].concat(args)));

    _defineProperty(_assertThisInitialized(_this3), "componentDidMount", function () {
      var node = _reactDom.default.findDOMNode(_assertThisInitialized(_this3));

      _this3.props.onMounted(node);
    });

    return _this3;
  }

  _createClass(SourceImpl, [{
    key: "render",
    value: function render() {
      var _objectSpread3;

      var _this$props2 = this.props,
          disableSrcSet = _this$props2.disableSrcSet,
          width = _this$props2.width,
          height = _this$props2.height;
      var htmlAttributes = this.props.htmlAttributes || {};

      var _buildSrc2 = buildSrc(_objectSpread({}, this.props, {
        type: "source",
        imgixParams: imgixParams(this.props)
      })),
          src = _buildSrc2.src,
          srcSet = _buildSrc2.srcSet;

      var attributeConfig = _objectSpread({}, defaultAttributeMap, this.props.attributeConfig);

      var childProps = _objectSpread({}, this.props.htmlAttributes, (_objectSpread3 = {}, _defineProperty(_objectSpread3, attributeConfig.sizes, this.props.sizes), _defineProperty(_objectSpread3, "className", this.props.className), _defineProperty(_objectSpread3, "width", width <= 1 ? null : width), _defineProperty(_objectSpread3, "height", height <= 1 ? null : height), _objectSpread3)); // inside of a <picture> element a <source> element ignores its src
      // attribute in favor of srcSet so we set that with either an actual
      // srcSet or a single src

      if (disableSrcSet) {
        childProps[attributeConfig.srcSet] = src;
      } else {
        childProps[attributeConfig.srcSet] = "".concat(src, ", ").concat(srcSet);
      } // for now we'll take media from htmlAttributes which isn't ideal because
      //   a) this isn't an <img>
      //   b) passing objects as props means that react will always rerender
      //      since objects dont respond correctly to ===

      return _react.default.createElement("source", childProps);
    }
  }]);

  return SourceImpl;
}(_react.Component);

exports.__SourceImpl = SourceImpl;

_defineProperty(SourceImpl, "propTypes", _objectSpread({}, SHARED_IMGIX_AND_SOURCE_PROP_TYPES));

_defineProperty(SourceImpl, "defaultProps", {
  disableSrcSet: false,
  onMounted: noop
});

SourceImpl.displayName = "ReactImgixSource";
var ReactImgixWrapped = (0, _common.compose)(_HOCs.deprecatePropsHOC, _HOCs.ShouldComponentUpdateHOC)(ReactImgix);
var Picture = (0, _common.compose)(_HOCs.ShouldComponentUpdateHOC)(PictureImpl);
exports.Picture = Picture;
var Source = (0, _common.compose)(_HOCs.ShouldComponentUpdateHOC)(SourceImpl);
exports.Source = Source;
var _default = ReactImgixWrapped;
exports.default = _default;
//# sourceMappingURL=react-imgix.js.map


Welcome to Culligan of Fairmont, MN where we've been for 70 years! Click here to view a detailed service area.
So whether you're new to the area or just interested in treating an existing water problem give us a call or contact us via e-mail for information on how Culligan of Fairmont can serve you. For all inquiries we guarantee a quick response.


Want a job where you get to help make people's lives better each and every day? Then why not start with one of our fitness courses? Start studying with us now, and join the hundreds of students studying to be part of the dynamic fitness industry. If you are passionate about helping others reach their fitness goals and want to choose your own hours or be your own boss, becoming a nationally qualified Fitness Trainer is a great fit.
With this level of competency you will be expected to train individual clients, on a one-on-one basis, and may include older clients and children. PT National believes in teaching future fitness professionals in the same manner that the Fitness Industry trains their clients. You will have access to PT National's comprehensive video learning resources that bring you into contact with fitness and allied health professionals and industry leaders that invite you into their world of expertise and save time.


GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) The ovation moved Aaron Rodgers to tears.
"Every time he gets a rep, my eyes are on him. I'm just studying him each and every day, picking his brain, just trying to become a better receiver." - Washington on watching Brown in practice.


text:
package org.zstack.header.storage.snapshot;

import org.springframework.http.HttpMethod;
import org.zstack.header.identity.Action;
import org.zstack.header.query.APIQueryMessage;
import org.zstack.header.query.AutoQuery;
import org.zstack.header.rest.RestRequest;

import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

/**
 */
@AutoQuery(replyClass = APIQueryVolumeSnapshotTreeReply.class, inventoryClass = VolumeSnapshotTreeInventory.class)
@Action(category = VolumeSnapshotConstant.ACTION_CATEGORY, names = {"read"})
@RestRequest(
        path = "/volume-snapshots/trees",
        optionalPaths = {"/volume-snapshots/trees/{uuid}"},
        responseClass = APIQueryVolumeSnapshotTreeReply.class,
        method = HttpMethod.GET
)
public class APIQueryVolumeSnapshotTreeMsg extends APIQueryMessage {

    public static List<String> __example__() {
        return Collections.singletonList("uuid=" + uuid());
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


You use a Windows-based computer that supports High Precision Event Timer (HPET), and the computer runs for several hours. Then, you may notice that the system time differs from the BIOS time by several seconds.
This time difference occurs because the HPET hardware and the Real-Time Clock (RTC) are never completely accurate. The W32Time service synchronizes the system time with a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server to account for any time differences. If there is no active connection to an NTP server, the system time is synchronized with the BIOS clock. If the time difference exceeds 60 seconds, the system time is corrected automatically according to the BIOS clock.


Tang, Q., Fang, L., and Guo, W. (2017). "Investigation into mechanical, thermal, flame-retardant properties of wood fiber reinforced ultra-high-density fiberboards," BioRes. 12(3), 6749-6762.
The demand has grown in many fields for materials that are eco-friendly and sustainably developed. In this study, several formulations of novel wood fiber reinforced ultra-high-density fiberboards (UHDFs) using resol-type phenolic resin (RTPR) as binders were manufactured for application in decorative building facades. The influences of the various formulations on water resistance and the mechanical, thermal, and fire-resistant properties were systematically examined. All formulations of the UHDFs exhibited better water resistance, internal bonding, and fire resistance as the RTPR content and density increased. To better evaluate mechanical properties, the microstructure of the UHDFs was observed using scanning electron microscopy. After optimization of hot-pressing conditions, UHDFs with excellent mechanical properties of approximately 7.2 GPa, 85.9 MPa, and 5.4 MPa for bending modulus, bending strength, and internal bonding, respectively, were achieved. Good water and flame resistance were also achieved, which makes these materials competitive with other commercial products.
Currently, reducing carbon and promoting sustainable development are among the most pressing issues in high-energy-dissipation building projects, which are now making great efforts to develop green building materials. Ceramic tiles are an important material for use in decorative building facades. However, their production process creates a lot of dust and consumes a lot of electrical energy. Therefore, the authors proposed a novel, natural, fiber-reinforced biomass composite as an alternative to ceramic tiles for use in decorative facades, contributing to the sustainable development of green buildings.
Wood fibers, an environmentally friendly, natural fiber, have been widely used in indoor furniture (Saz-Orozco et al. 2014; Sommerhuber et al. 2016; Wang et al. 2016) and automobile interiors (Ann Gnpta et al. 2008; Gallo et al. 2013), but are not often used as structural materials in engineering due to their poor mechanical properties.
Conventionally, wood fiber reinforced composites are composed of wood fibers that have been pressed together under high temperature and pressure with a resin binder to form a homogeneous board. Studies on wood fiber reinforced composites have mainly focused on low-density fiberboard (LDF) (< 600 kg/m3) (Chen et al. 2015a,b; Cai et al. 2016) and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) (600 kg/m3 to 800 kg/m3) (Sliseris et al. 2014; Taghiyari et al. 2015a,b; Liang et al. 2016; Taghiyari et al. 2016). The LDF is often referred to as insulation board because it is mainly used for thermal insulation in civil engineering. The MDF consists of 80% to 90% wood fibers and 10% to 20% resin. It is widely used to make various kinds of furniture such as shoe racks, dressing tables, and closets. It has an internal bonding strength of approximately 0.6 MPa to 1 MPa and a flexural strength of approximately 30 MPa to 40 MPa according to ISO/DIS 16895-2 (2008). To widen its application areas, significant effort has been made to improve the mechanical properties of MDF by adding reinforcing agents such as nano-wollastonite (Taghiyari et al. 2015a), wollastonite fibers (Taghiyari et al. 2016), and organo-silane derivatives (Taghiyari et al. 2015b). Moreover, some researchers have tried changing the types of adhesives (Sitz and Bajwa 2015; Arévalo and Peijs 2016; Wu et al. 2016). Sitz and Bajwa (2015) and Arévalo and Peijs (2016) prepared MDF using methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and the self-binding capability of cellulose, respectively.
However, these improvements are very limited and cannot be used in decorative facades due to its low mechanical properties according to JG/T 260 (2009). To promote the application of wood fiber reinforced composites in decorative building facades, a kind of biomass composite should be designed. Fiberboard that consists of wood fibers is a porous material on a micro-level (Lv et al. 2015a,b), which affects its interior mechanical properties. Therefore, the authors propose the fabrication of an ultra-high-density composite (> 1000 kg/m3) with high pressure and high resin content (> 20% in total weight loss). Under high pressure, the vessels and lumens can be crushed. The resin can then fill the cavities of the vessels, lumens, and cracks in the cell walls, forming an ultra-high-density composite (UHDF) with fewer holes and excellent mechanical strength. Due to the ability to add colored pigments to the surface during curing, a variety of colors are possible. In addition to its use in furniture and flooring, such a material is expected to be an ideal candidate for replacing ceramic tiles inarchitectural decorative facades. As a novel composite, its properties are unknown. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically investigate its structure-property relationship.
Resol-type phenolic resin (RTPR), a dark brown liquid, was supplied by Beijing Taier Technology Co. Ltd. (Beijing, China), with a viscosity (25 °C) of 30 mPa/s and solid content of 50%. Wood fibers (Populus, I-214, length <1 mm, 0.40 g/cm3) were bought from the Chinese Academy of Forestry (Beijing, China). The wood-based panel press (DMP-30) and wood-based panel glue blend machine (QS-2) were supplied by Shanghai Wood-based Panel Machinery Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China).
The composites were manufactured using a hot press with a manually controlled hydraulic press system. Before pressing the fibers, the fibers were conditioned to a 10% to 12% moisture content by weight. Once the fibers had been sufficiently conditioned, the fibers were placed into a rotating drum (20L) with paddle mixers. The fibers were then sprayed using an atomizing air gun (2 MPa and the speed is 50 mL/min) with RTPR resin to act as a binder. After sufficient mixing (room temperature, 10 min), the fibers' moisture content was conditioned again, until a decrease to 3% to 4% by weight. The blended fibers were pressed at 155 °C for 9 min to produce 9 mm thick panels with a density of 1.05 g/cm3. The contents of RTPR in total weight were 20%, 30%, and 40%.
Further, to investigate the effect of density on properties of UHDF, three series of UHDF with different densities (1.05 g/cm3, 1.15 g/cm3, 1.30 g/cm3) were produced at 155 °C with 20% RTPR content.
The water absorption (WA) and thickness swelling (TS) properties were determined from the difference between specimen thickness and weight before and after immersing in water for 24 h according to ISO 16979:2003 and ISO 16983:2003, respectively.
where, m2 and h2 are the final weight (g) and thickness (mm) after immersing in water, respectively, and m1 and h1 are the initial weight (g) and thickness (mm) before immersing in water, respectively.
The mechanical properties were characterized using a universal testing machine Zwick/Roell Z030 (Zwick/Roell, Radeberg, Germany). At least five specimens were tested for the average value.
For internal bonding strength, the samples (50 × 50 × 7 mm3) were cut with a keyhole saw Bosh PST 900 PEL (Qingdao Sanmu Woodworking Machinery Co., Ltd., Qingdao, China). The test followed ISO 16984: 2003 with a load rate of 5 mm/min. The bending properties of composites (120 × 15 × 6 mm3) were tested with a load rate of 10 mm/min according to ISO 16978:2003.
The microstructures of the composites was characterized via SEM. The samples were introduced in liquid nitrogen and fractured. The fracture surfaces were observed using a JEOL JM-6400 microscope operating at 40 kV with a gold sputtering (Mettler Toledo, Burladingen, Germany).
The TG was analyzed using a Mettler Toledo TGA/DSC1 TG (Netzsch, Bavaria, Germany). The samples were heated at 10 °C/min under a nitrogen atmosphere at a flow of 20 mL/min, and the temperature was from 30 °C to 700 °C.
The LOI tests were performed according to ASTM D2863 (2000) using a Stanton Redcraft FTA (Tarlin Scientific, London, the United Kingdom) at room temperature. The sample is 150 × 6.5 × 3 mm.
Water absorption has an important influence on the long-term use of wood fiber reinforced composites. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the WA and TS of these composites. The WAand TS values as a function of every factor were plotted at different RTPR contents, and the results are illustrated in Fig. 1.
It was observed that the WA and TS values of UHDFs produced at 155 °C slightly decreased as RTPR content increased, with WA and TS decreasing from 11.5% to 8.9% and from 5.3% to 3.4%, respectively. This was due to the hydrophilic quality of wood fibers. As resin content increased, the hydrophilic hydroxyl content in the UHDF decreased. Thus, water permeation into the vessels was more difficult when the boards were immersed in water at room temperature, which resulted in lower WA and TS values.
To investigate the effect of density on water absorption, the authors examined the UHDFs produced at different densities, and the results are shown in Fig. 1. The figure shows that both WA and TS decreased as density increased. This can be explained as follows: With increased UHDF density, the internal structure became denser. Thus, more fibers were enveloped by the phenolic resin. This resulted in a more hydrophobic surface, such that water cannot permeate the panels, which contributed to water resistance. However, as the WA decreased the TS decreased. These low values of WA and TS are conducive to the use of UHDF in decorative facades.
The effects of RTPR content on the internal bonding strength of UHDF were evaluated. Several RTPR contents (20%, 30%, and 40%) were studied for the boards with a density of 1.05 g/cm3. The influences of these factors on the internal bonding properties of the UHDF are presented in Fig. 2.
An increase in RTPR content led to a clear improvement in internal bonding strength (Fig. 2). Such an improvement in mechanical performance continued with resin contents of 40%, yielding a value of 4.08 MPa, which was higher than that of conventional wood reinforced fiberboard (ISO/DIS 16895-2 (2008)).
In an attempt to better understand the influence of resin content on the internal bonding properties of UHDFs, the microstructures of the internal surfaces of the boards were studied by SEM (Fig. 3). High-magnification micrographs (× 300) of the internal surfaces of samples produced using different RTPR contents at 155 °C (Fig. 3A, Fig. 3B, and Fig. 3C) showed obvious differences.
There were many visible holes in the internal structures of the samples produced with 20% RTPR content (Fig. 3A). However, the holes disappeared gradually with increased RTPR content. Especially for the samples produced with 40% resin content, the board showed very compact structures (Fig. 3C). Figure 3 shows that the wood fibers were well dispersed in the structure. The wood fibers and polymer matrix were entangled and formed a three-dimensional network structure, which resulted in physical bonding of the two components that formed a rigid framework and improved the mechanical performance of the boards. Meanwhile, these disappearing holes facilitated effective linkages between the wood fiber and the phenolic resin, thus yielding better mechanical properties.
To further illustrate the influence of the RTPR content on the mechanical properties, more details in the micrographs should be noted. In the samples produced with 20% RTPR content (Fig. 3A), the wood fibers were well dispersed in the inner structures. The broken fibers mainly occurred at the interface, with most of the fibers retaining their original structures. However, the broken fibers showed pronounced changes with increased resin content. They broke not only at the fiber–matrix interface but also along the axial and radial directions of the wood fiber, especially for samples with 40% RTPR content (Fig. 3C). Additionally, many fibers were broken in the longitudinal direction. It was inferred that stronger interfacial adhesion occurred between the fibers and the matrix as RTPR content increased, which allowed for better fiber–matrix interactions and explained the gradual increase in the internal bonding strength of the UHDFs.
To investigate the effect of density on the internal bonding strength of the UHDFs, samples with different densities (1.05 g/cm3, 1.15 g/cm3, 1.30 g/cm3) were produced, and the results are shown in Fig. 4. As density increased, internal bonding strength increased from 2.9 MPa to 6.7 MPa. This may have been due to an increase in the number of linkages between the fibers and the matrix, which ensured an efficient and timely stress load transfer from the fibers to the polymer matrix.
where V0 and V are the volumes of the blended fibers and the UHDFs (cm3), respectively.
where ρwf and ρ are the densities of WF and UHDF (g/cm3), respectively.
The density of dried WF was determined by their cell walls, so the authors used the density of the cell wall to simulate that of the WF to calculate the porosity. The density values ranged from 1.497 g/cm3 to 1.517 g/cm3 for Populus (Kellogg and Wangaard 1969), so the authors used 1.50 g/cm3 as the average cell wall density. According to Eq. 4, it was inferred that a strong increase in density led to a decrease in porosity. As expected, the porosity of UHDF with a density of 1.30 g/cm3 is 13.33%, which was much lower than the corresponding values for UHDF with a density of 1.05 g/cm3 (42.85%) and UHDF with a density of 1.15 g/cm3 (23.33%). The internal bonding strength of UHDF can therefore be directly related to its density and inversely related to its porosity. Microvoids cause stress concentrations and are detrimental to mechanical properties. Therefore, as expected, denser materials exhibited better mechanical properties.
Further explanations are evident in the SEM microstructures of UHDFs shown in Fig. 5. According to the micrographs, the structures became more compact, which contributed to beneficial mechanical properties.
The bending strength is a very important index for composites; thus the effect of RTPR content on the mechanical properties of the fiberboard should be evaluated. The RTPR contents of 20%, 30%, and 40% were studied for the boards with a density of 1.05 g/cm3. The influence of these factors on the bending properties of UHDFs are presented in Fig. 6. The results showed that an increase in RTPR content resulted in a decrease from 64.3 MPa to 58.6 MPa in the modulus of rupture (MOR). This observation conflicts with the results regarding the internal bonding strength. However, such a reduction in bending strength was reasonable with a resin content of 40%, which yielded the lowest value of 58.6 MPa.
Generally, the mechanical properties of composites are determined by several factors such as the nature of the reinforcement fiber, fiber aspect ratio, fiber–matrix interfacial adhesion, and the fiber orientation of the composites. With ultra-high-density composites, the wood fiber content decreased as resin content increased, as shown in Fig.7. When the UHDF samples were subjected to the three-point flexural test, samples with a high RTPR content resulted in fewer fibers for stress load transfer and less energy for fiber pull-out. This decrease in energy can destroy the boards. However, the modulus of elasticity (MOE) remained relatively stable at approximately 5 GPa to 6 GPa (Fig. 6). This result indicated that the RTPR content had little influence on the MOE.
To assess whether higher density would improve flexural properties, two samples were prepared with higher densities of 1.15 g/cm3 and 1.30 g/cm3, respectively. As expected, this increase in density yielded further improvement of the MOR and MOE values from 64.3 MPa (1.05 g/cm3) to 85.9 MPa (1.30 g/cm3) and from 5420 MPa (1.05 g/cm3) to 7230 MPa (1.30 g/cm3), respectively (Fig. 6). According to Yildiz's (Yildiz et al. 2005) report, the MOR and MOE of solid wood (Populus, I-214) are 32.6MPa and 3.89 GPa, which are lower those of UHDFs, further, Li (Li et al. 2017) had also reported that composite consisted of wood fiber and polypropylene also showed low mechanical properties. The MOR and MOE are 31.8 MPa and 2.52 GPa. So we can infer that this composite exhibit good mechanical properties. The bending strength of UHDF with a density of 1.30 g/cm3 met the requirements of JG/T 260-2009 (2009) for curtain walls in buildings. In this standards, it stipulates that the density, the bending strength and thickness swelling must more than 1.30 g/cm3, 80MPa and 5%, respectively.
According to the porous properties described above, the number of voids decreased with increased fiberboard density, which led to a lower stress concentration in the fiberboards and contributed to improved mechanical properties. Moreover, this improvement was explained by the microstructures in the panels shown in Fig. 5. The fracture surfaces shown in Fig. 5 depicted an increasingly compact structure with increased density, especially for the UHDF sample with a density of 1.30 g/cm3. This dense structure contributed to the transfer of stress and improvement of the flexural strength.
Thermal stability is also an important index for boards used with daily frequency. Figure 8 shows the TGA and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) profiles for the WF, RTPR cured at 155 °C (C-PR), and composites under different conditions.
The WF (Fig. 8A) shows only one main step of thermal degradation. Further, the initial decomposition peak (T10%) occurred at 267.3 °C. In the step between 250.2 °C and 380.3 °C, polymer chains decomposed (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, etc.) and water and formaldehyde were formed and released. The cellulose fibers mainly degraded between 250 °C and 400 °C, where the cellulose decomposed through the formation of levoglucosan (Kim et al. 2010; Hu et al. 2012). Further, some weight loss occurred at temperatures lower than 100 °C, which potentially corresponded to moisture losses in the WF. The char at 600 °C was 19.4% levoglucosan, which may have been attributed to the polynuclear aromatic structures.
For C-PR, a gradual weight loss was observed. This may have been due to two reasons: first, RTPR is a mixture, as the solution contains many small molecules (water, phenol, formaldehyde, etc.). Thus, there should be some small molecules in C-PR after curing at high temperatures; Second, aldehydic and phenolic compounds degraded gradually from C-PR during the thermal process. However, the char amount at 600 °C was 69.0%, which indicated that phenolic resin had good char-forming ability.
The decomposition patterns of the UHDFs were similar to those of WF and C-PR. The initial degradation temperature (T10%) of the UHDFs was over 250 °C, which indicated that these fiberboards exhibited good thermal stability and are suitable for daily use. Moreover, T10% of the UHDFs decreased with increased RTPR content due to the small molecules in the cured phenolic resin. All of the studied fiberboards showed two thermal degradation steps, one at 250.0 °C to 360.0 °C (I) and the other at 360.0 °C to 440.0 °C (II) (Fig. 8B). In step (I), the WF exhibited a high rate of weight loss. However, the rate of weight loss for C-PR was near 0. Thus, step (I) likely contributed to the degradation of the major components in the WF (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin). As RTPR content increased, the maximum weight loss decreased, which was attributed to the different ratios of phenolic resin with good thermal stability in the fiberboards. The opposite effect was observed in step (II) in that the maximum peak of weight loss increased as RTPR content increased (Fig. 8B). This was due to the degradation of phenolic resin in the temperature range used. As seen in Table 1, the char amounts at 600 °C increased with increased RTPR content.
To investigate the effects of density on the thermal properties of the fiberboard, a series of UHDFs were characterized and their relative data are shown in Table 1, Fig. 8C, and Fig. 8D. Moreover, UHDFs with different densities had similar thermal degradation processes. Therefore, it can be concluded that density had no effect on the thermal properties of the UHDFs.
To quantitatively analyze the flammability of the UHDFs, LOI tests were performed. The LOI values of the boards produced with varying levels of RTPR content are presented in Fig. 9. The LOI values with higher concentrations of resin showed better results than those of boards with low resin content. Further, with a RTPR content of 40%, an LOI value of 28.6 was observed. This was attributed to the fire-resistant properties of phenolic resin. Increasing the RTPR content by adding more flame-retardant to the boards contributed to good LOI results. Meanwhile, the effect of the boards' densities with 20% RTPR content on the LOI values was also examined. As shown in Fig. 9, the LOI values increased from 26.1 (1.05 g/cm3) to 30.2 (1.30 g/cm3) with increased density. This may have been due to the compact inner structures hindering flame propagation, thus an improved flame-retardant quality. This useful flame-retardant behavior promotes the wider application of UHDFs.
This study showed the potential of UHDFs prepared with high pressure, density, and RTPR content for use as environmentally friendly panels composed of renewable resources and biodegradable wood fibers.
Systematic analysis revealed that the optimal conditions for achieving good mechanical properties were a RTPR content of 40% and a UHDF density of 1.30 g/cm3.
The mechanical tests showed that bending and internal bonding properties of the UHDFs increased with increased UHDF density. The internal bonding strength also improved with increased RTPR content, although the bending strength was negatively affected.
The thermal and fire-retardant performances of the UHDFs were investigated using TGA and LOI. The results indicated that LOI had a close relationship with the RTPR content and the density of the UHDF, but thermal stability was independent of density.
The strong mechanical properties of the UHDFs and their excellent water resistance and fire resistance make them applicable in architectural decoration.
The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Special Fund of Chinese Central Government for Basic Scientific Research Operations in Commonwealth Research Institutes (No. CAFYBB2016ZD006).
ASTM D2863 (2000), "Standard test method for measuring the minimum oxygen concentration to support candle-like combustion of plastics (oxygen index)." ASTM Committee, West Conshohocken, United States.
Chen, T. J., Niu, M., and Xie, Y. Q. (2015b). "Optimizing preparation conditions of ultra-low-density fiberboard by response surface methodology," Wood Fiber Sci. 47(3), 240-248.
ISO/DIS 16895-2 (2008). "Wood-based panels — Dry-process fibreboard — Part 2: Requirements," International Organization of Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO 16979 (2003). "Wood-based panels – Determination of moisture content," International Organization of Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO 16983 (2003). "Wood-based panels –Determination of swelling in thickness after immersion in water," International Organization of Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO 16984 (2003). "Wood-based panels –ISO 16978 (2003). "Wood-based panels – Determination of tensile strength perpendicular to the plane of the panel," International Organization of Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO 16978:2003. "Wood-based panels –ISO 16978 (2003). "Wood-based panels –Determination of modulus of elasticity in bending and of bending strength," International Organization of Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
JG/T 260 (2009). "High-press laminates-sheets based on thermosetting resins for curtain wall," Chinese National Committee for Standardization, Beijing, China.
Article submitted: March 23, 2017; Peer review completed: May 30, 2017; Revised version received and accepted: June 15, 2017; Published: July 31, 2017.


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The Salvation Army of Central Maryland held their 14th annual Compassion in Action Gala on April 26 at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Doors opened at 6:00 pm and over 250 people attended the event. ROUGE Catering provided a delicious catered dinner and dessert and guests enjoyed live music from our MD Praise Band.
The Compassion in Action Gala is an annual fundraiser that supports The Salvation Army of Central Maryland's programs, which includes an anti-human trafficking home, thee boys & girls clubs, a 24-hour emergency family shelter, three corps community centers, and five family service centers.
This year's theme, Planting Hope, Growing Communities, focused on the many ways in which The Salvation Army is expanding opportunities of service through new innovations. In conjunction with this theme, The Salvation Army showcased a video presentation at the event, highlighting The the organization's latest initiative to combat food insecurity, DMG Foods grocery store.
ABC2News' John Costello was the program host and Baltimore Orioles Executive Vice President Jon P. Angelos provided the keynote address.
Former Advisory Board Chairwoman Lois Rosenfield, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding commitment to supporting housing for the homeless throughout central Maryland. Lou Kousouris was also recognized as our newest Lifetime Advisory Board Member.
This year's sponsorship opportunities included a Presenting Sponsor, followed by Lead, Gold, Silver, Pathway of Hope, and Friends of the Army sponsors.
Our top sponsor this year was our very own home team, the Baltimore Orioles. Lead sponsors included Connelly & Associates Fundraising, Harkins, True Sense Marketing, JMT, Evergreen Advisors, and Heritage Financial Consultants. Click here to see all of our 2018 sponsors that made this event possible.
All event sponsors are featured on signage throughout the event venue, as well on our website and event program. To learn more about this event or to become a sponsor at our next Compassion in Action Gala, please contact Resource Development Director, Amy Middleton.


For the third year the Catholic Education Foundation (CEF) is holding the CEF Annual Appeal Day. We invite all Primary and Secondary schools to show their support for the foundation's valuable cause and participate in the annual fundraiser. By being involved you will help to support families in need in your local community, and give them the opportunity to access a quality Catholic education for their child.
Please save the date in your school's calendar for week commencing Monday, 4 September 2017 (Week 8, Term 3), on any day which is most suitable for your school. If this week is not suitable, please select your own date, preferably during the week prior or week after.
Students are invited to participate in a mufti day and wear their favourite outfit (for e.g. football club jersey, super hero, movie star) for a $2 coin. Schools may choose to adopt a theme for the mufti day, e.g. super hero day! Money raised to be donated to the CEF Bursary Fund to support children and their families.
How can our school show our support?
Above is a flyer your school can display and include in your newsletter to promote the fundraiser to students and parents (click on the flyer to open the PDF file in a new window).
For schools on Twitter, find us 'Cath Ed Foundation' and follow us @CEFSyd. The CEF has created a special hashtag for the event #CEFAAD17 and encourage schools to tweet using this hashtag!
How will our school be acknowledged for their support?
The highest fundraising Primary and Secondary schools will receive a framed certificate (Note the highest fundraising schools will be calculated by the average funds raised against the school's student enrolment to give a 'per student' figure). Runner up schools (2nd and 3rd place) in both Primary and Secondary will also receive a framed certificate. Participating schools will have their school name and funds raised included on the 2017 CEF Annual Appeal Day honorary participation list promoted on the CEF website.
How do I send funds raised to the CEF?
Please use the creditor code CEOCEF or creditor name 'The Catholic Education Foundation' to raise an invoice in SAS so that payment can be made directly to the foundation via EFT.
When raising the invoice, please use the invoice number CEFAAD17 and GL Account: 8.8112.97 for both the receipt(s) and invoice.
Thank you for your support of this annual fundraising event.


The next time you have that itchy feeling where all you want to do is jump on a plane and head somewhere exotic and maybe your bank balance says otherwise?
Then let me introduce you to the micro-trip. If like me, you find part of the buzz of travel is simply exploring new places, getting lost in local neighbourhoods of your own city, where no-one speaks english is the perfect solution.
Traditional men's clothing from India. Image by Jade Jackson.
You don't have to catch a plane to experience a micro-trip. Drive, catch a train, a ferry, or even walk, there's bound to be suburbs you haven't explored in-depth wherever you live. In Sydney, walking around places like Liverpool, Cabramatta, Fairfield and Campsie always make me feel I'm in a different country. Signs in different languages, multi-cultural food and different customs.
Astrology is serious business. No really! Image by Jade Jackson.
Perhaps you have some black magic, evil spirits, or simply a case of bad luck? Then in Fairfield, 'world famous Astrologer, Raghavendra, who is 5 times more powerful than other Astrologers' might have the antidote to all your problems.
Being surrounded by people speaking languages other than English can give you that same feeling as having visited a different country overseas. Seeing your city with different eyes, gives you a new perspective when you do travel, to perhaps find beauty in urban areas you might have previously overlooked, away from the tourist zones.
On a recent trip to Liverpool, Fairfield and Cabramtta, (in Sydney, Australia) I ate a Lebanese style mixed plate with a lamb, chicken, beef, and sweet potato char-grilled kebabs with home-made hommous, baba-ganoush (eggplant dip), and garlic sauce, with freshly made tabouli. Taste wise, I was in Lebanon. It's easy enough when you close your eyes to be transported by food.
To complete my experience, I bought some backlava from a specialist bakery who makes them on-site in batches by the hundreds. Instead of the usual pistachio filling, Aladdin Bakery also makes cashew, walnut, date, ricotta, and almond baklava.
Liverpool also features lines of Indian boutiques selling colourful sari's, flashy gold and silver jewellery, and homewares to match.
Take your ears to another country, whilst you surround yourself with foreign tastes and smells. Here's a world music playlist. Listen now or download for free, with a three month trial of Apple Music.
The idea of a micro-trip came to me (albeit ironically) on my last day in India, I was in New Delhi and I wasn't completely happy with the amount of photos I'd taken on my trip so far, I was missing the money shot – that one photo that perfectly sums up an entire country, so I took the subway (partly because it had air conditioning) and hopped on and off random stops, taking some of my favourite photos that day out of my whole India trip.
I found mosaic street-art down alleyways, portraits of people in doorways, decorated yogis and gurus in temples, smartly dressed schoolkids packed into rickshaws, street hawkers frying samosas and pakora's, and jingly-jangly jewellery reflecting the late afternoon sun in market stalls.
I took more photos that last day, than I did the previous twelve days combined. None of the places I went, had anything that was significant to tourists, so I saw no other foreigners the whole day, which also meant, I wasn't harassed to give money, or buy junk the whole time. As a general rule, if you stick to touristy areas, you will get harassed for money.
Once i was back home in Australia, I looked at a map of Sydney and read aloud all the places I'd heard about, but never visited. Places like Auburn, Granville, Blacktown, Liverpool and Cabramatta. Partly it was distance, and partly I didn't know anyone who lived in these places, so never had the need to visit them.
My first introduction to these places was when I was working in travel, and had to ride my red scooter out, to visit other travel agents. I visited one in Liverpool, parking my bike in a nearby lane way, upon returning, I couldn't find my keys anywhere, I spent ten minutes searching every pocket of my pants and leather jacket, before I realised I had left them, in my bike! I called it the boot, but it was under seat storage with it's own locking mechanism, and for hours my scooter had been sitting in a dingy lane way, with the keys in it, and no one had stolen it. That completely changed all perceptions I had of these far away suburbs. Perhaps I'd been extremely lucky but had that been the Sydney CBD, my bike would have been gone for sure.
On a recent trip to Liverpool, I was asked in a shop if I needed any help, I responded with "nah, I'm just having a squiz," and the girl didn't have any idea what I meant. It's nice to know there's pockets in Australia where slang is foreign so you can easily feel like you're in another country, without the cost of a plane ticket.
You can even pick up a souvineer mug. Image by Jade Jackson.
Every July at the end of Ramadan there's a Multicultural and Eid Festival and Fair in Fairfield which features over a hundred different cultural stalls, food, music, art, and even rides for the kids. This year, the Multicultural and Eid Festival and Fair for 2018 is on the 8th July. You can find more information on what to expect from this article.
So now whenever I feel the need to escape, and don't have the time or budget to duck off overseas, I take myself on a micro-trip. Exploring suburbs, seeking authentic foreign food, adventure, and locals.
Every city I've been to around the world, has various options for micro-tripping, whether it's the foreign supermarket in Kyoto, or the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an in China, or Chinatown in San Francisco!
Where's the best suburbs in your city to take a micro-trip and what should explorers look out for? Comment below with your suggestions.
>> Love travel? Then subscribe to my podcast, Travelosophy.


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Wake on open, Sleep on close.
The slim, yet sturdy Smart Cover Polyurethane Dark Gray for iPad 2 and the new iPadprotects your iPad screen without covering up its durable aluminum back. So your iPad still looks and feels like an iPad — just with a little extra protection. An aluminum hinge magnetically aligns the Smart Cover with iPad for a perfect fit. While magnets inside help it stay put. Open the Smart Cover, and iPad magically wakes up. Close it, and iPad automatically goes to sleep.


My name is Maryse Larousse. I am a French native speaker. I offer English to French translation services for a range of clients in the medical, health and psychology niche.
In each case I ensure that I do not merely translate the words, I also translate the style and implication of the original document.
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text:
Fool me no more!
To repeat facts quoted in: "The rich-poor gap in America is obscene. So let's fix it – here's how": Do we want a democracy or not?
The top 1% now own more wealth than the bottom 92%.
The 50 wealthiest Americans own more wealth than the bottom half of American society – 165 million people.
Over the past [pandemic] year 650 billionaires have seen their wealth increase by $1.3tn.
In 1978, the top 0.1% owned about 7% of the nation's wealth. In 2019 … they owned nearly 20%.
The two richest people in America, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, now own more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans combined.
If income inequality had not skyrocketed over the past four decades and had simply stayed static, the average worker in America would be earning $42,000 more in income each year.
Instead, as corporate chief executives now make over 300 times more than their average employees, the average American worker now earns $32 a week less than he or she did 48 years ago – after adjusting for inflation.
Bernie Sanders says it again: "Today, half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, 500,000 of the very poorest among us are homeless, millions are worried about evictions, 92 million are uninsured or underinsured, and families all across the country are worried about how they are going to feed their kids. Today, an entire generation of young people carry an outrageous level of student debt and face the reality that their standard of living will be lower than their parents'. And, most obscenely, low-income Americans now have a life expectancy that is about 15 years lower than the wealthy. Poverty in America has become a death sentence."
"A job should lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it." So raise the minimum wage with the object of righting the inequality by recycling the money that went to the top when it should not.
Can't be done without restored and reinvigorated union power.
"We need to create millions of good-paying jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure – our roads, bridges, wastewater plants, sewers, culverts, dams, schools and affordable housing.
"We need to combat climate change by fundamentally transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels towards energy efficiency and renewable energy which will also create millions of good paying jobs.
"We need to do what virtually every other major country does by guaranteeing healthcare to all people as a human right. Passing a Medicare for All program would end the absurdity of us paying twice as much per capita for healthcare as do the people of other countries, while tens of millions of Americans are uninsured or under-insured.
"We need to make certain that all of our young people, regardless of income, have the right to high quality education – including college. And that means making public colleges and universities tuition free and substantially reducing student debt for working families.
"And yes. We need to make the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in America start paying their fair share of taxes.
"Growing income and wealth inequality is not just an economic issue. It touches the very foundation of American democracy. If the very rich become much richer while millions of working people see their standard of living continue to decline, faith in government and our democratic institutions will wither and support for authoritarianism will increase. We cannot let that happen."
Wealth recycled to the people with nature's asymmetric sense of justice for all: A movement that people with money should intuitively be able to endorse. If they cannot, then clearly their money distorts their vision of the economy. Let's stand up and clarify the situation for all. Or fool me again!
Money vector created by stories – www.freepik.com
Pi 2 B
Happy hopeful Pi Day! Remember October? Anyway, Pi has snagged me again with the reminder that the year is kinda round (not perfectly round, mind you) but round enough to grow a pumpkin for a pie for today, and to say, once more, Happy Pi Day to all! And this post will stay a while, until I am snagged in here again. Meanwhile, let's shake this pandemic once and for all and stay prepared, please. We could do with a slice of something better about now, or should I say, a shot in the arm? Pi is also math's hidden language of puns. For without double and multiple meanings there would be no numbers. Seriously, you didn't think I'd let you off the hook without snagging a reference to one of my books, did you? It's "The Imperfect Democratic Tao of Pi." As for getting sucked in, click here or above, the article on the "snags of Pi" is imperfectly the same. 2 much of a good thing, like pretending all those decimals just go on forever…
Saturn's ocean moon, Enceladus: Enough heat to power interior hydrothermal activity for billions of years, generated through tidal friction, if the moon has a highly porous core, a new study finds." The moon is a potentially habitable world.
Enceladus via NASA
"This includes a global salty ocean below an ice shell… Jets of water vapour and icy grains are launched through fissures in the ice. The composition of the ejected material measured by Cassini included salts and silica dust, suggesting they form through hot water – at least 90ºC – interacting with rock in the porous core.
"The efficient rock–water interactions in a porous core massaged by tidal friction could generate up to 30 GW of heat," for tens of millions to billions of years.
"'Future missions capable of analysing the organic molecules in the Enceladus plume with a higher accuracy than Cassini would be able to tell us if sustained hydrothermal conditions could have allowed life to emerge,' says Nicolas Altobelli, ESA's Cassini project scientist…
"'We'll be flying next-generation instruments … to Jupiter's ocean moons [Ganymede, Callisto and Europa] … with ESA's Juice mission, which is specifically tasked with trying to understand the potential habitability of ocean worlds in the outer Solar System,' adds Nicolas."
Source: Heating ocean moon Enceladus for billions of years
JUICE – JUpiter ICy moons Explorer – is the first large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme. Planned for launch in 2022 and arrival at Jupiter in 2029, it will spend at least three years making detailed observations of the giant gaseous planet Jupiter and three of its largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
How and why the absence of absolute symmetry in nature allows for the multifarious creation of worlds is explained with the logic of asymmetry developed in Unicycle, the Book of Fictitious Symmetry and Non-Random Truth.
Into the solstice once more!
Pi is the relationship between a circle and it's diameter. Sounds simple. But it's not really a simple fact that the diameter fits into the circumference 3.14 times — that will not quite do it, will it! — There's a snag. All those decimals in a tangle: 3.141592653… and on and on and on, and will they ever let go! Murphy's law of land and sea advises us that if something can snag, it will snag. A rope round a protrusion, even in calm weather, an electric lawnmower cord on a smooth rock, we have our favorites.
Something obtuse about natural law seems to invite things to snag on things. And so I will venture the thought that, in spite of the trouble, it might be a good thing. Without this unruly attraction, what could connect? Not that everything that connects need be called a "snag," but the point is that the snag was not the destination. We had someplace in mind, some objective that was presumed more snag-less.
The surprising thing about pi is that we are alerted against thinking the circle is perfect, that it will come clean. The decimals of pi are a string of red warning lights. Endlessly imperfect! That the circle will not close absolutely is re-enumerated in all sorts of ways, no matter how we pull on it — but it does get our attention. It's got traction.
In the absence of perfection, the circle connects with things; it snags many things in the real world and in the imagination. But it can be unsnagged if we find where it connects, so we can stop pulling on more decimals, stop counting pi and be aware of something else. How many decimals must we endure before we cave and admit that there are no absolutely perfectly symmetrical circles, no absolutes at all, in fact, in the absence of any perfectly straight lines for diameters? Pi calls out echoingly that infinity is a snag, mathematically as well as otherwise. It is snagging the loftiest physicists. Where the rubber meets the road, pi provides useful traction when viewed realistically. Experimental science has not found any pure symmetry in nature, at all. Walk outside and find me just one thing that does not imperfectly imply circularity.
Just when you think you can identify symmetry in a flower, in a leaf, there is a snag, one of the petals is askew, and that is a beautiful thing — nature's true balance. Another beautiful aspect of pi is its call to democracy. We can share the democratic pi in a balanced way by getting inspired by nature's gifts. How does the circle snag democracy? The number pi snags the mind into the natural world, in spite of our presumptions and with no need to be familiar with the snagger. Individuals are brought together, not into a monoculture of symmetrical banality, but into a potential flourishing of character, one and all.
This notion of a dancing, changing, balancing polarity in circles is of course not new, and is renewable in time. The ancient understanding of the polarities of the Tao have long been applied to relationships of a circle, where Yin and Yang move round each other. So do not be snagged by an illusion of some ideal symmetry in the famous Yin-Yang symbol! As the I Ching, the Book of Changes, foretells in the natural cycles of the lines of its well-weathered hexagrams, absolutes are overturned, preemptively snagged, I would add. The connections between the seasons and the livelihood of the people had deep and long-recognized roots in the planet, way before it was widely known to be round.
The vital questions of how to live and behave as humans among the forces of nature, what is right and wrong and what works and what fails in life; these issues have long focused the mind as it developed. Does nature have a moral compass? Should we follow it? If so, how? But these questions have begun to look dated, and we have become jaded. We need to be snagged by more democratic pi all round! Yoganomics opens up opportunities for further exploration, puns included.
5 of 45 Presidents Came into Office Without Getting the Most Votes Nationwide: John Q. Adams (1824), Rutherford B. Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888), George W. Bush (2000), Donald Trump (2016). Alternative history, anyone? Check out the chart. Will we wonder, What if we had not lost so much in the Middle East? What if we still had a democracy?
In 2016, Donald Trump became President even though Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by 2,868,518 votes. Trump won because he carried Michigan by 11,000 votes, Wisconsin by 23,000 votes, and Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes. Each of these 78,000 votes was 36 times more important than the 2,868,518 votes cast in other states.
In 2000, George W. Bush became President even though Al Gore won the national popular vote by 537,179 votes. Bush won because he carried Florida by 537 votes. Each of these 537 votes was 1,000 times more important than the 537,179 votes cast in other states. More…
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Explanation. It has been enacted into law in 16 jurisdictions with 196 electoral votes (CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, HI, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA). The bill will go into effect when enacted by states with an additional 74 electoral votes. See map.
"Last week, Nate Silver, the polling analyst, tweeted a chart illustrating the chances that Joe Biden would become president if he wins the most votes in November.
"Mr. Silver's analysis is bracing. If Mr. Biden wins by five percentage points or more — if he beats Donald Trump by more than seven million votes — he's a virtual shoo-in. If he wins 4.5 million more votes than the president? He's still got a three-in-four chance to be president.
"Anything less, however, and Mr. Biden's odds drop like a rock. A mere three million-vote Biden victory? A second Trump term suddenly becomes more likely than not. If Mr. Biden's margin drops to 1.5 million — about the populations of Rhode Island and Wyoming combined — forget about it. The chance of a Biden presidency in that scenario is less than one in 10." —By Jesse Wegman, NYT, Read the article: The Electoral College Will Destroy America.
Absolutism fixates while creativity liberates
From two articles, contrasting Camus and Sartre, Decartes and Shakespeare:
1. "How Camus and Sartre Split up Over the Question of How to Be Free"
Their radically opposed ideas of freedom broke up the philosophical friendship of the 20th century. By Sam Dresser, editor of Aeon
As Europe was rebuilding after WWII, "They were gleaming icons of the era. Newspapers reported on their daily movements: Sartre holed up at Les Deux Magots, Camus the peripatetic of Paris… Readers looked to Sartre and Camus to articulate what that new world might look like. 'We were,' remembered the fellow philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, 'to provide the postwar era with its ideology.'"
The existentialism of "Sartre, Camus and their intellectual companions rejected religion, staged new and unnerving plays, challenged readers to live authentically…" As Sam Dresser writes, "We must choose to live in this world and to project our own meaning and value onto it in order to make sense of it. This means that people are free and burdened by it, since with freedom there is a terrible, even debilitating, responsibility to live and act authentically… If the idea of freedom bound Camus and Sartre philosophically, then the fight for justice united them politically."
Albert Camus: "Absolute freedom is the right of the strongest to dominate… Absolute justice is achieved by the suppression of all contradiction: therefore it destroys freedom." In Dresser's words, "The conflict between justice and freedom required constant re-balancing, political moderation, an acceptance and celebration of that which limits the most: our humanity. "'To live and let live' [said Camus] 'in order to create what we are.' Sartre read The Rebel with disgust. As far as he was concerned, it was possible to achieve perfect justice and freedom." This absolutism threw Jean-Paul Sartre and many others down the addictive rabbit hole, the impossible symmetries of communism (plus of course, Tweedledum and Tweedledee).
Dresser continues, "With the publication of The Rebel, Camus declared for a peaceful socialism that would not resort to revolutionary violence… Sartre, meanwhile, would fight for communism, and he was prepared to endorse violence to do so. The split between the two friends was a media sensation."
Dresser concludes: "Absolutism, and the impossible idealism it inspires, is a dangerous path forward – and the reason Europe lay in ashes, as Camus and Sartre struggled to envision a fairer and freer world." Read the relevant and succinct article here…
2. "Much Ado About Uncertainty: How Shakespeare Navigates Doubt." By Lorenzo Zucca, author of the work-in-progress, The Poet of Uncertainty: How Shakespeare Helps us Navigate an Uncertain World.
I am spoiled for choice of quotes in this article, but Zucca begins by summing things up with a familiar and relevant theme:
William Shakespeare lived in an age of uncertainty. His society was traversing a number of unpredictable challenges that spun from the succession of the heirless queen Elizabeth to the ascent of a new class of merchants. But the biggest issue had to do with religious conflicts. In the premodern world, religion provided absolute certainty: whatever we knew was implanted in our mind by God. We didn't have to look any further. Once that system of beliefs started to collapse, Europe was left with a yawning gap. Religion no longer seemed capable to explain the world. René Descartes and Shakespeare, who were contemporaries, gave opposite answers to the sceptical challenge: Descartes believed that our quest for knowledge could be rebuilt and founded on indubitable certainties. Shakespeare, on the other hand, made uncertainty a leitmotiv of all his works, and harnessed its creative power.
Zucca brings vitality to these matters by spotlighting some plays, revealing such things as ethics and factual analysis like we rarely see them. Because I am tired of hearing reverence for Plato, I like this:
Poets have long been denied the right of residence in the republic of philosophers. The main charge against poets is that their art is not likely to educate the masses to be good. Plato castigates poetry and claims it should be expunged of images that command excessive emotions: gods cannot be portrayed as moody or weak or as having too much pleasure; that would send the wrong message to the people. Heroes should not be shown as doing monstrous deeds; they would no longer be seen as models. More generally, poets have a tragic worldview that captures psychological conflicts within someone's soul, but don't advance recommendations as to how to deal with them.
Plato made an icon of Socrates, whose famous suicidal encounter with democracy lives in memory today. But how long would Shakespeare have lasted in Plato's Republic? We only need to wonder what kind of death that would have been.
One more, involving the rebel poet John Keats:
Shakespeare's vision from uncertainty brings together the imagination of a poet, the judgment of a philosopher, and the creativity of a scientist. Being capable to stare into the abyss without being swiped away emotionally is a great attitude for whoever wishes to further our understanding of the world and the way we live in it. The poet John Keats described it in 1817 as the negative capability: 'when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason'. By refusing to colour the world with his own rose-tinted spectacles, Shakespeare allows greater room for systematic understanding. He has an intuitive grasp of human limitations of knowledge, and to this extent he painstakingly alerts us to the biases and prejudices in our judgment.
As Zucca says, "Uncertainty makes freedom and creativity possible." Read the long and the short of it here at Psyche…
How addiction to power hands out abuse
Some key Krugman quotes:
He begins with this quote from B. Traven's 1927 novel, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: "Anyone who is willing to work and is serious about it will certainly find a job. Only you must not go to the man who tells you this, for he has no job to offer and doesn't know anyone who knows of a vacancy. This is exactly the reason he gives you such generous advice, out of brotherly love, and to demonstrate how little he knows the world."
Krugman: "It turns out [Traven] knew more about economics than any member of the modern G.O.P. caucus — a group whose members believe that cutting unemployment benefits and thus forcing people to seek jobs at all cost will somehow conjure more jobs into existence."
"Today's column was about the failure of Senate Republicans and the Trump administration to come up with any meaningful plan to deal with the expiration of special pandemic aid to the unemployed. Much recent economic research has investigated how much effect this aid had on incentives of workers to seek jobs, with the apparent answer being not much. As I argued, however, this question is largely irrelevant: no matter how hard workers look, they can't take jobs that aren't there." More…
And from "Today's column," Aug. 3, 2020:
The Unemployed Stare Into the Abyss. Republicans Look Away.
The cruelty and ignorance of Trump and his allies are creating another gratuitous disaster.
"In case you haven't noticed, the coronavirus is still very much with us. Around a thousand Americans are dying from Covid-19 each day, 10 times the rate in the European Union. Thanks to our failure to control the pandemic, we're still suffering from Great Depression levels of unemployment; a brief recovery driven by premature attempts to resume business as usual appears to have petered out as states pause or reverse their opening.
"Yet enhanced unemployment benefits, a crucial lifeline for tens of millions of Americans, have expired. And negotiations over how — or even whether — to restore aid appear to be stalled.
"You sometimes see headlines describing this crisis as a result of "congressional dysfunction." Such headlines reveal a severe case of bothsidesism — the almost pathological aversion [addiction to symmetry!] of some in the media to placing blame where it belongs.
"For House Democrats passed a bill specifically designed to deal with this mess two and a half months ago…
"Republicans, however, have shown no sign of understanding any of this. The policy proposals being floated by White House aides and advisers are almost surreal in their disconnect from reality. Cutting payroll taxes on workers who can't work? Letting businesspeople deduct the full cost of three-martini lunches they can't eat? …
"Above all, Republicans seem obsessed with the idea that unemployment benefits are making workers lazy and unwilling to accept jobs.
"This would be a bizarre claim even if unemployment benefits really were reducing the incentive to seek work. After all, there are more than 30 million workers receiving benefits, but only five million job openings. No matter how harshly you treat the unemployed, they can't take jobs that don't exist.
"It's almost a secondary concern to note that there's almost no evidence that unemployment benefits are, in fact, discouraging workers from taking jobs. Multiple studies find no significant incentive effect...
"So the attack on unemployment aid is rooted in deep ignorance. But there's also a strong element of malice." Krugman muses earlier in the op-ed, "Well, I'm of two minds. Was it ignorant malevolence, or malevolent ignorance?" Understandable question, but I would place it more in the medical category of addiction to absolutes. But Krugman has long pointed out that this malice goes back to the old fixation on the excuse of ills attributed to the perennial criminal and lower classes.
"Republicans have a long history of suggesting that the jobless are moral failures — that they'd rather sit home watching TV than work. And the Trump years have been marked by a relentless assault on programs that help the less fortunate, from Obamacare to food stamps. As Oliver twist might ask, More?…
Don't look away.
While America Looks Away, Autocrats Crack Down on Digital News Sites
"Independent journalism is on the defensive, from Hungary to Malaysia," by Ben Smith, July 12, 2020, NYT
"They are the little Gaulish village holding out against Rome," marveled Naresh Fernandes, the editor and co-founder of Scroll, an Indian news site. Scroll, like the Hong Kong Free Press, represents a different strain in the current crisis for independent media — both are digital outlets in countries now rolling back their once-robust free press traditions.
Tasting quality of place
Maine Grains is just down the Kennebec River from us, and when I taste the flour, I'm so glad to be here. And here's what I saw on the NYT home page:
That Flour You [We] Bought Could Be the Future of the U.S. Economy
"Keep baking bread. Small grain companies may suggest a better path for American business, by Tim Wu, NYT, July 24, 2020."
On the Maine Grains homepage: "We believe that a gristmill is at the heart of turning the many and varied contributions of a community into sustenance for all."
Over the years we have been involved here and there in helping out the process of finding and reviving an exciting street life in old mill towns and their regions. Another book asks to be written, but here's Tim Wu's article and a few excerpts:
This bigger-is-better, dominate-the-industry strategy is a major reason the American economy is as oligarchical and homogeneous as it is. It leads to large national companies that richly reward shareholders and executives while limiting workers' salaries and reducing the prospects for smaller or local competitors. The sale of flour is no different.
Companies like Maine Grains and King Arthur are challenging the commodity pressures in flour markets using methods that were pioneered in the craft beer and local produce markets. The commodity industry takes flour as flour — just an ingredient, the cheaper the better. But baking is also an emotional experience, an act of creation in its beauty and intensity, a longstanding symbol of the home. And it provokes, in some, a yearning to connect with local soil and local land…
A regional mill like Maine Grains represents a more radical vision: the return of true agricultural localism. As Amber Lambke, the founder and chief executive of Maine Grains, told me, there's more to that vision than selling a fancy type of flour. The local mill is the missing link in a local food economy that sees regional trade between farmers, bakeries, beer breweries and raisers of livestock.
The regional grain industry also employs more people, relative to its size…
We have, for the past few decades, put our faith in an economic model that insists that everyone will be better off if we do everything to make production as cheap as possible, keeping prices and salaries low, and make every region of the economy highly specialized. That approach, it turns out, does make some people rich, but it does not help everyone.
The flour industry might seem an unlikely arena for business innovation. There was once a time, in the 1990s and 2000s, when it was widely thought that Silicon Valley would show us the way to a better, fairer economy, creating entire ecosystems of companies with distinctive offerings. Yet that was before the emergence and eventual dominance of Amazon, Facebook and Google. Instead of high-tech, it is low-tech businesses like craft beer and community supported agriculture that seem to stand at the forefront of economic transformation.
If it can happen with flour, it can happen anywhere.
Whole loaf here…
Mr. Wu is the author of "The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age," and "The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads." Both books succinctly helped me gain perspective on a warped economy.
Universal Civic Duty Voting Advantages
The Brookings Report: "Lift Every Voice: The Urgency of Universal Civic Duty Voting" raises awareness of reasons I hadn't known, for example, as per the NYT:
"Larger turnouts would force candidates to broaden their appeal, reducing partisanship."
"Mandatory balloting would eliminate the incentive to suppress the votes of opponents' supporters"
"Money that parties now spend on registering and turning out supporters could be devoted to educating them on the issues."
"The democracy movement is literally standing in the midst of a globalized movement for social justice… What was seen as impossible to discuss five years ago is being discussed now." –Cornell William Brooks, Kennedy School professor, former N.A.A.C.P. president, who helped prepare the study.
"It's about showing up, rather than forcing people to make a choice," –Brenda Wright, senior legal strategist at the voting-rights group Demos and one of the study's authors.
"The report urges Congress and the states to make voting mandatory, even if the ballot is blank, but also to make the penalty for not voting minimal and to offer a range of acceptable excuses for those who fail to cast ballots."
"The study takes its cue from Australia, where voting has been mandatory since 1924, turnout regularly pushes 90 percent and Election Day — Saturday there — has a party atmosphere, often featuring grilled "democracy sausages" for those who cast ballots. But civic duty voting, as if it sometimes called, is the rule in more than a score of nations, including in Mexico and most of South America."
So, that does it! I now fully agree that this is "vital to the long-term legitimacy of the democratic system itself," and clearly "democracy is facing historic challenges."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


You will love these personalized 16 oz Tumblers. I can create yours any way you like. Color options are attached, but please just ask if you need a different color, as I an always getting new colors in.
Just let me know your wedding colors.
Each tumbler is 16oz, with matching bow attached. If for a gift, tumblers can be wrapped in cellophane and have a gift tag attached. Perfect for Wedding party or Birthday gifts!
Shipping is $7.00 USPS with delivery confirmation. $1.00 for each additional cup.


TheMazeRunner is not only the name of the cool movie, but also the name of cool World of Cubes world in Multiplayer, built by talented builder - Xan! Search this world in Multiplayer, join it and you will spawn as a real heroes from the movie - in the box! When you go out from the box, you will be pulled into a Glade, and outside the Glade is the Maze!
The Maze is a labyrinth of high walls and roof with Glass, where Grievers are living.. You, as one of Maze Runners have to find the way out from the maze to escape, and stay alive! Almost every minute the box is sent up with a new person to Multiplayer!
Run fast! Watch out Grievers! Find the way out from The Maze!
This world is highly recommended to visit and play!
Screenshots from the world are below!
The way out from the Maze is really exist!
Visit more worlds made by Xan in Multiplayer: SandStorm, MazeRunner4, TheGlade!
Yay! I have made it to the WoC News! Such fun! I have worked very hard to make levels for people and am still learning. I shall try to make more levels like this one that has purpose and goals! Feel free to message me! I need ideas.
hi can i also get this on windows 10 ?
Yes. You can get World of cubes on the Windows 10 store. Though I don't think it's been updated to match iOS and android version yet.
verry nice do u think u are gonna make more epic maps?!?!?
Yes. I plan to but I have no release dates yet. Go to my profile and look at my user description and I have all the names of the worlds I've made.
I Am Playing In Windows 10 !!! TMR Is Great!!! Great Work!!! Map Is So COOL!!!


Now a cultural center and gathering place, the Old Center Cultural Center in Galveston started life as Texas' first African American high school.
Founded in 1885 as Texas' first African American high school, Old Central Cultural Center is now preserved, used as a museum and activity center.
It's new owners regularly host events that encourage diversity, and to teach about cultures that might otherwise not be seen and celebrated.
Old Central Cultural Center is located at 2627 Avenue M, Galveston, TX.


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SCOTT MORRISON UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY AS ENROLMENT BOOMS
SENATOR DON FARRELL.
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Thu, Nov 25, 2021 8:44 AM
SENATOR DON FARRELL
A record number of Australians are now enrolled to vote at the next federal election, with enrolment this week surpassing 17 million or around 96 per cent.
This record enrolment rate – expanding voting rights to more Australians than ever before – is the result of the hard work of the Australian Electoral Commission and reforms under previous Labor Governments, including automatic direct enrolment.
Labor will always support measures that ensure all eligible Australians can exercise their democratic right to vote.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Morrison-Joyce government.
While the AEC is working to ensure every Australian can easily exercise their right to vote at the upcoming election, Scott Morrison is furiously trying to make it harder.
His proposed voter ID laws would force 17 million people to prove their identity before casting their vote and are a deliberate attempt to undermine confidence in Australia's robust electoral processes.
Australia's electoral system is the envy of the democratic world.
The independent AEC says incidents of people voting more than once are "vanishingly small", many are simply administrative errors, and most of the rest are people aged over 80 who vote again on election day after forgetting they've submitted a postal vote.
Importantly, the AEC already picks up these rare incidents and investigates them.
Australia's electoral system works. As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Instead of making it harder for Australians to vote, Scott Morrison should focus on areas where there is still room for improvement.
Indigenous enrolment rates are as low as 69 per cent in the Northern Territory and the government still isn't doing anywhere near enough to close that unacceptable gap.
Our nation's youth enrolment rate also has plenty of room for improvement, with only 83 per cent of Australians aged 18-24 enrolled to vote.
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Watch every New York Comic Con 2017 trailer here
By Lauren O'Callaghan 2017-10-09T10:33:02.281Z
New York Comic Con 2017 might be over, but we still have the trailers to remember it by. We know you're busy though so if you spent the weekend going out and having a life you might have missed some. Don't despair though because you can catch up now with our round up. From the first Pacific Rim Uprising trailer to the latest Justice League look, you can find every trailer, teasers, and clip released at NYCC below. You're welcome.
Read more: Watch every SDCC 2017 trailer in one place
The Justice League are back in action in the latest trailer for the superhero team-up and you can feel Joss Whedon's influence. Superman makes an appearance (although only in Lois's dreams) and the rest of the crew are wise-cracking and fist-pumping throughout.
The Walking Dead season 8
The Walking Dead revealed a scene from season 8 at NYCC and keen fans will notice that it mirrors the series' first episode where Rick is walking discovering what's happened around after waking up from his coma.
John Boyega stars as Jake Pentacost, son of Stacker Pentacost from the first film (and made exceptionally cool by Idris Elba). The Jaegers are sweet, the Kaiju are mean, the fights are gargantuan. It looks like everything you'd want in a sequel.
The X-Files season 11
This two-minute trailer for the new season of The X-Files will give you goosebumps as Mulder and Scully return to save the world.
Keanu Reeves' turned up at NYCC to reveal the first trailer for his upcoming sci-fi thriller Replicas. With a distinctly Blade Runner feel to it and co-starring Star Trek's Alice Eve this could be one to watch for hardcore sci-fi fans.
Castle Rock season 1
Hulu's new series Castle Rock got its own NYCC debut with the above trailer and although it doesn't give much away it teases its Stephen King influences with a shot of the Shawshank prison logo.
Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams season 1
New sci-fi anthology series Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams is already showing in the UK - you lucky things - but Amazon has grabbed the rights for the US. The ten standalone episodes don't have a stateside release date yet, but you can watch the trailer above.
Marvel's Runaways season 1
The latest show pony from the Marvel stable has a fun twist - it focuses on the children of supervillains. The gang of parentally-disadvantaged teens includes a witchy goth, a lacrosse player, and a model and their shady parents are part of a group called The Pride. Even better, Spike from Buffy himself plays Victor Stein, one of the bad dads. The show will air on Hulu from November 21.
Future Man season 1
The Hunger Games' Josh Hutcherson is back in this new Hulu show, which sees him recruited to save the world by characters from his favourite video game.
The Man in the High Castle season 3
Another first look from Amazon Prime comes with this clip for The Man in the High Castle season 3. Featuring Rufus Sewell's John Smith, it teases what we can expect from the third season of the alternative world series.
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan season 1
If you haven't had enough of the Jack Ryan movies, Amazon Prime is bringing you a TV adaptation starring John Krasinski in 2018.
Shut Eye season 2
Hulu continues its NYCC reveals with a teaser for the second season of Shut Eye.
The Tick season 1
The Tick is already here but that didn't stop Amazon Prime from releasing a trailer for the season part of the first season at Comic Con.
Lauren O'Callaghan
Entertainment Editor at GamesRadar+. Northerner, Whedon fanatic, and English Breakfast tea addict.


Lose weight while you sleep! You may have heard health claims such as this connected to nutritional supplement or fad diet advertising. Well, it turns out that there may be some truth to the promise that getting a good night's sleep can help with weight management. Research presented at the annual Food and Nutrition Conference (FNCE) of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics held in Nashville, Tennessee this year included studies on the effect of sleep deprivation on food intake. Bottom line: the less you sleep the greater your odds of weighing more.
Registered dietitian Devon Golem, professor at New Mexico State University explained that lack of sleep can disrupt the hormonal regulation of appetite leading to increased total calorie intake and intake of high-fat, high-sugar foods.
Another excess calorie source: when most sleepy folks reach for caffeine they're not ordering black coffee. It's more likely to be the higher calorie specialty coffee drinks with cream and sugar. Choose low calorie sweeteners and fat free milk to lighten up coffee drinks that perk you up.
How much sleep is healthy? According to the National Sleep Foundation adults should get between seven to nine hours. Meanwhile, the national daily average is six and a half. "Sleep deprivation is an epidemic in the US," said Katherine Finn Davis researcher at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Hill pointed out that while diet and exercise plans work well to help people lose weight, the real challenge is helping them keep it off for the long haul. "We are wildly successful at losing weight but also wildly successful at gaining it back." So research on obesity treatment has turned to the psychological components of mindset and motivation to help dieters find their individual purpose for weight loss goals. "It's like a light switch going on," said Hill.