text:
UAE Economy
Lagarde warns prices could fuel social unrest
Christine Lagarde urges Asia to move towards economic integration. (GETTY)
Asian and European economies face severe challenges from soaring fuel and food prices and global financial turbulence, France's finance minister cautioned.
"Of course, we would all prefer to be triple-A economies," Christine Lagarde told an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of finance ministers. Host nation South Korea is grappling with a crippling strike by truck drivers over high oil prices, the latest in a series of global protests against rising food and fuel costs.
"We have important economic and financial challenges in common," Lagarde said in a keynote speech to the two-day meeting on the resort island of Jeju. "Adverse shocks have affected our economies. So far, euro area growth has been resilient, and Asia as well, even if the impact of recent turmoil may affect all economies."
She said there were clear concerns "about prices of food and prices of fuel and social unrest that results from such movements".
"This is indeed amplified and far more dramatic in emerging economies and in the developing world, but clearly this is the issue we share," said Lagarde.
The Group of Eight finance ministers meeting in Osaka warned on Saturday that high oil and food prices pose "a serious challenge to stable growth worldwide" and may worsen poverty and stoke global inflation.
The Jeju meeting is being attended by finance ministers or their deputies from 27 EU countries and 16 Asian nations, plus officials from six international organisations.
"We certainly want to develop further growth and improve the resilience of the euro area," Lagarde told the meeting.
"That has been made particularly urgent because of the financial crisis that we have gone through. We want to improve the co-ordination of regulators."
Lagarde said low interest rates have helped Europe cushion external shocks but she was "anxious and worried" because of inflation.
"We want better supervision and better surveillance generally. We believe that will certainly reinforce the strength of the eurozone in the face of financial challenges," she said.
In addition to world economic challenges, the three main ASEM agenda topics will be regional economic integration, market-based approaches to climate change and co-operation on infrastructure finance and micro-finance.
Lagarde urged Asian nations to work to persuade their people of the benefits of economic integration, saying Europe had failed to do this effectively.
Irish voters last week rejected the Lisbon Treaty, the latest attempt by the European Union to strengthen its institutions to cope with expansion into Eastern Europe. "I think that one of the mistakes that we have made in terms of fostering and promoting integration has to do with communication," she said.
"When you move towards better integration, make sure that you always along the way communicate the positive outcome of that integration."
Lagarde said "the man and the woman in the street" were not necessarily aware of the benefits of integration. She cited job creation, greater investment flows and the role which the European Central bank played to ease the global financial crisis.
Europe's huge and growing trade shortfall with China is also expected to be among key topics at the meeting. (AFP)
US crisis
Christine Lagarde called the slowdown in the US the biggest challenge to a global economy that faces rising oil and food prices and financial turmoil.
"Triple-F challenges" in finance, fuel and food threaten the global economy. These three are closely interrelated and to fix one we need to fix the others," she said.


text:
Q: How to design a statically typed REST API client? Last time I used I created a REST API client in .NET I used exceptions to represent status codes which don't indicate success. (404 was returning null). It's been quite some time since then and my ideas have evolved a bit. Now I am using Blazor for part of my project and I am faced with the problem of API client design. I am specifically interested in the response object design. C# 8.0 provides pattern matching which opens some new options for this design.
My API returns the object serialized as JSON if the call is executed correctly, 500 if internal server error, 404 if the object is not found, 400 if the validation fails, 401 and 403 in the corresponding authentication and authorization cases and the interesting part 409 Conflict when the error is one that should be displayed to the user. An example of such an error might be a registration call where the email is found to exist in the database or trying to post a comment without confirming the email. These are basically errors that would require additional API calls to validate on the client. So my question is how do I design a statically typed API client in C# 8.0 which allows me to express as much intent in the method signature and is easy to call and handle. 404 become nullable types but what about the rest? As I see it I have a few options

*

*Do it the old school way and make a bunch of exceptions for the other cases. This means that exceptions will be effectively used for flow control as I will have to use try/catch to branch. Even 500 errors are handled in an app with UI. For example if you get a 500 you display something like "Unexpected error" to the user and need to unlock the form that was locked during the post. This is different from server side programming where you would just bubble the exception to some global handler, craft an error response and terminate the request. You can't just kill the client app if one request fails (or maybe you can?). I can think of some workarounds here like a message bus that handles the exception and displays the message in an universal way but what about unlocking the form and what about these 409 responses which should result in the message from the server being displayed to the user?

*Craft response objects. The ASP.NET Identity has examples of this like the IdentityResult class which has a bool Succeeded property and an Errors property. You are supposed to if-check the Succeeded property and use the Errors property if it is false. This pattern can be extended to have a Result property which can be examined if the request needs to return some object. What I don't like about this approach is that you can forget the check. You can get this result even if you didn't check the property.

*My final idea is to create Result types designed to be used with pattern matching. For example like this
public abstract class Result
{

}

public sealed class Success<T> : Result
{
    public T Value { get; }

    public Success(T value)
    {
        Value = value;
    }
}

public sealed class Error : Result
{
    public string Message { get; }

    public Error(string message)
    {
        Message = message;
    }
}

public sealed class ExpectedError : Result
{
    public string Message { get; }

    public ExpectedError(string message)
    {
        Message = message;
    }
}

They would be used like this
Result userResult = await apiClient.RegisterUserAsync(something);

if (userResult is Success<User> success)
{
   User user = success.Value;
   //do something
}
else if (userResult is ExpectedError expectedError)
{
   DisplayError(ExpectedError.Message);
}
else
{
    DisplayError("Something went wrong");
}

This will at least force the client code to check if the request was executed successfully although it will not force handling the errors. I've also seen libraries that do similar thing with methods like OnSuccess, anyone has experience with these?
So which approach would you recommend? How can these approaches be improved? Any other options I have not considered? Maybe exceptions are fine and I can add some form of global handlers on the Blazor side that will keep the form's state?

A: I happen to be really interested in both Union Types and Result<T> instead of Exceptions in C#. Here's an implementation of Union Types that I've started messing around with.
public class UnionType<T1, T2>
{
    private readonly SelectedType selectedType;

    public T1 Type1 { get; }
    public UnionType(T1 t1) { Type1 = t1; selectedType = SelectedType.t1; }

    public T2 Type2 { get; }
    public UnionType(T2 t1) { Type2 = t1; selectedType = SelectedType.t2; }

    public void MatchWith(Action<T1> t1Func, Action<T2> t2Func)
    {
        if (selectedType == SelectedType.t1)
            t1Func(Type1);
        else
            t2Func(Type2);
    }

    private enum SelectedType { t1, t2 }
}

(I've got a UnionType<T1, T2, T3> and UnionType<T1, T2, T3, T4> as well)
Here's a sample function that generates a Union type composed of two different classes:
public static UnionType<PersonEntry, AgeCategory> DecideThing()
{
    PersonEntry person = new PersonEntry { Name = "Steve" };
    AgeCategory ageCat = new AgeCategory() { Age = 34 };

    // decide which to return, in this example case, return the PersonEntry.
    return new UnionType<PersonEntry, AgeCategory>(person);
}

And finally here's the code where the method is called and handled, forcing the callsite to specify a flow for all Types in the Union:
public static void Run()
{
    DecideThing().MatchWith(
        (person) => Console.WriteLine(person.Name + "!"),
        (ageCat) => Console.WriteLine(ageCat.Age - 1000)
    );
}

A: I decided that for now C# doesn't have the necessary tools to make using result objects better than exceptions.

*

*C# doesn't have a way to show that a Result object has specific subtypes (Success and Error) and thus the dev does not know what types they should pattern match on. By contrast F# has this

*Related to the previous one C# can't show the possible result types in the method signature (TS and F# can do that)

*C# requires introducing a new variable when pattern matching on type. TypeScript doesn't need this which makes the code shorter

*C# can't pattern directly extract a property (or at least I didn't find a good way) when pattern matching. For example if I have a Result and want to match Success and extract the value from it I can't do result is Success<User>.Value user I need to first match Success and then in a separate statement access the value which makes the code longer

*C# is fine with simply dropping return values. If we have a POST method we might not care about the return value. With exceptions if the call fails and we forget to catch the exception the program will crash which is what we want. If we use a result object and we don't care about the object returned we might forget about it and not check for errors. F# is better here as it is an error to ignore the value returned by a function.

*The switch expression cannot be used for handling errors (because handling them is a statement) and the switch statement syntax is too verbose. We can work around this by wrapping the handling the cases in a method that returns some dummy value but it feels dirty and in some situations introduces unneeded verbosity. This is not an issue with F#

*Familiarity of C# developers with the exceptions approach

I considered using a result type with methods like MatchSuccess(value => ...), MatchError(error => ...). They help the user see all possible cases to match but doesn't solve the issue with methods where you don't care about the value and the code becomes very verbose if the callback code is async which is often the case.
None of these issues is a deal breaker on its own but I felt the combination of them all makes the exception approach the lesser evil. This also convinced me that C# does need some form of sum types, discriminated unions or similar mechanism

A:
This means that exceptions will be effectively used for flow control as I will have to use try/catch to branch.

I want to disambiguate an important point here, are you're likely going to get (technically correct) advice that might answer a different question than what you're asking.
Exceptions are intended to be used for flow control (i.e. throwing and catching). There's no other way to correctly use exceptions to do what they were designed to do.
The bad practice would using exceptions to control a non-exceptional flow of your application, i.e. misusing the flow control to direct your application for anything other than a situation that cannot be resolved.

You can't just kill the client app if one request fails (or maybe you can?). I can think of some workarounds here like a message bus that handles the exception and displays the message in an universal way but what about unlocking the form and what about these 409 responses [..]?

You're getting confused between exceptions and bad results. When an exception is caught and you then return a bad result in your request (i.e. a non-200 status code), it ceases to be an exception, and instead is now functionally speaking a message to the consumer (i.e. the client app).
What you do with that result is up to your client application. Maybe you show it to the user. Maybe you silently log it. Maybe you swallow it intentionally (if you have a good reason to). Maybe you terminate your client application.
What your client app should do isn't answerable in this question, since we don't know the specs or user expectations.

409 Conflict when the error is one that should be displayed to the user

That is not how a 409 http status is defined. Are you maybe using 409s in a homebrew approach?
All responses from the server  (status code and response object), no matter the status code, are intended to be viewed by the consumer, since the consumer is the client app (not the person using the app!).
The entire purpose of the returned information (status code and response object) is so the server can relay information to its consumer. If the consumer wouldn't be allowed to see it, that'd defeat the purpose entirely.
Whether your client app then relays that information to its consumer (i.e. the end user), is contextual, as I already mentioned in the previous section. Whether your client app reuses the message it receives from the server, or it instead created its own message, is completely up to the client app to decide.
It seems like you are trying to use the 409 status to let the server decide whether the client app should or should not expose a certain server message to the user. That's not how you should be approaching this.
The server returns a result to a consumer (whether that's a client app, Postman, or an actual person firing off web requests), and it shouldn't care about what the consumer then does with the data it receives.

My final idea is to create Result types designed to be used with pattern matching. For example like this

This is one of those "just because you can do it doesn't mean you should do it" situations.

*

*Empty base classes are a misuse of OOP principles. There is nothing to gain by having this base type since the base type does not define any reusable implementation (nor contract).

*The functional difference between Error and ExpectedError can and should be expressed using a boolean property, not a new derived type.

*userResult is Success<User> success is polymorphism abuse. This too can be implemented using a simple scalar property, i.e. userResult.IsSuccess
The result object can be condensed into a single type and used accordingly. There is no reason to separate these types. However, I do understand where your intention comes from. This can be achieved using a different approach, e.g. static methods that define success/error states:
public class Result<T>
{
    public bool IsSuccess { get; private set; }
    public T Value { get; private set }
    public string Message { get; private set; }
    public bool IsExpectedError { get; private set; }

    private Result() { }

    public static Result<T> Success(T value)
    {
        return new Result<T>()
        {
            IsSuccess = true,
            Value = value
        };
    }

    public static Result<T> Error(string message, bool isExpectedError = false)
    {
        return new Result<T>()
        {
            IsSuccess = false,
            Message = message,
            IsExpectedError = isExpectedError
        };
    }
}

The private constructor ensures that you can only create Result<> objects using the defined static methods, and the static methods themselves specifically force the developer to fill in particular values for a particular result state (success/error). Usage examples:
var goodResult = Result<User>.Success(myUser);
var errorResult = Result<User>.Error("this is a message");

As a sidenote, I don't quite agree with the name/usage of an "expected" error, but I already addressed this in and earlier section. I retained its usage here to show how your code can be changed to avoid OOP abuse.

*

*Craft response objects.

*My final idea is to create Result types designed to be used with pattern matching

The response object (considering the improvements I just suggested) are really good result objects for the web response, i.e. the communication between backend and frontend.
However, these are not appropriate to replace exceptions in the internal logic of the backend itself. The .NET ecosystem has been built on exceptions, and you'll always have to deal with the possibility of exceptions being thrown.
Maybe you don't throw exceptions yourself, but the libraries and framework tools you rely on will be throwing exceptions and you should be catching them (at the very least on the top level just before it would otherwise be returned to the consumer of your backend).
If you're already going to be stuck handling exceptions anyway, there's no point to then also rolling your own result object for a subset of cases. If the error states of your result object are functionally equivalent to what otherwise would've been a thrown exception, you can just throw an exception.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


No matter how many times I visit Yosemite, I am always completely awe struck by its beauty.
Loved photographing this gorgeous Nevada County Native. It was a cold rainy day but we decided to brave the weather! Davia glowed! Nevada City has provided the sweetest locations for branding photography. I have loved capturing so many gorogues people within the city limits of Nevada City.
Winter has arrived.. FINALLY! Just a week ago it was daffodils were popping up and spring looked like it showed up. Photographed Blogger Mama Blake and her son today in the snow in Nevada City California. Loved these vibrant colors in the gorgeous snow. I have Social Media Content packages specifically designed for bloggers! Love creating these sessions that make such a big impact on your website or social media outlets. The importance of beautiful imagery on your social media accounts is vital in attracting an audience. These days, if your images don't stand out your blog or social media won't. Let me know if you are interested in Social Media Content Packages! Would love to share more details to you!
Loved photographing Hex the Store's beautiful interiors! Love her design and attention to detail.
It was a crisp bright sunny day when we headed out to capture these images for Hex the Store. This session was for their social media monthly package. We went for a all black attire to make these images sharp and stand out. We also chose black attire from the store to bring detail to accessories. Our model wore Purpose Jewelry beautifully. What an incredible hand made jewelry business that stands for quality. Always love walking downtown Grass Valley to to find hidden photography gems! Enjoy!
This head shot session was taken at the St. Josephs Cultural Center in Grass Valley, California. It was a very fun session where I was able to capture her personality. Love the black and white images. I always like to include a few more artistic shots after shooting the more typical head shots. This allows for some fun and personality to shine through. I have found it fun giving my clients the ability to obtain images that are not as basic but images that have more personality. We shoot images against a solid white wall for her Linkdin account and then a few sitting down in various areas with different back grounds that included natural elements like foliage and other organic textures. Love creating images like these! My clients reactions when they achieve their photography images from their photography session are priceless. Nevada County has so many beautiful nooks and crannies that are so fun to shoot!
Shot a lookbook for Hex the Store in downtown Grass Valley today. We shot in various locations around the Del Oro Theater, Carolines Coffee and on Neal Street. Love shooting for boutiques!
Nevada City session with mama blogger Blake Smith. We shot several outfits from Zara, Target, Madewell in downtown Nevada City. Blake Smith is a wife and mama to two super cute little boys. We shot her lifestyle images on Broad Street next to Abstrakt and by the Fur Traders.
When Lindsey and Max asked me to capture their engagement session I was thrilled! Lindsey spoke of wanting moody artsy images captured in black and white. Her family had just purchased an old home in Northern California settled in the foothills. Her family had plans to renovate the old home but hadn't began the renovation so we figured it would be a great location. It held sentimental value along with providing a really great mood setting. Nevada City holds a special place in my heart and being able to capture their 1950's home before the transformation happened felt really nice. Enjoy these moody images on this moody rainy day.
Loved photographing Blake, her sister and her boys in downtown Nevada City. We walked up Broad St. capturing moments along the way. We walked passed Curly Wolf , Kitkidizzi, The National Hotel, Treats, Three Forks Bakery and more! Downtown is so sweet! Loved their session.
Davis, you've been a blast. We have loved the people, the Greenbelt, the restaurant and the UC Davis Campus. We have experienced Winter, Spring and Summer. Spring was by car the best. Here a few snaps from a recent trip to the UC Davis Veterinarian Clinic.
Davis Headshot Session with Hex the Store. This session was so much fun shot on the UC Davis campus. We went to the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory by the Arboretum. The natural light was so beautiful coming through the cactus. Amy of Hex the Store created these beautiful outfits.
Loved this walk through historic Nevada City. We shot while walking past The Miners Foundry then continued on to Broad Street. We passed the historic old theater called The Nevada Theater. Loved how these black and white images turned out that were taken by the Nevada City Court House . This was such a sweet session.
This project shooting for Figs and Feather Farms in Sacramento, California. These are home made products that are plant based, all natural using ingredients gathered from local Northern California. The ingredients used are all organic and very high quality and harvested responsibly. The scents are calming which create a beautiful experience when used or when they are sitting in your bathroom/home. Each product is packaged in a eco friendly biodegradable packaging that are very tasteful.
This session was so much fun! We left early for the San Francisco City Hall to arrive right at opening hours to insure we were able to get there with minimal people. These images were shot on the top floor of the City Hall where the light is soft and natural and neutral. These ballet images were created for the sweetest ballot dancer who needed some headshots taken. We decided to make it into a dance session and it was gorgeous! She sure knows her stuff! Arabesque, Adagio, Battement Fondu all things she created in the most beautiful way!


text:
Samsung Releases Parts of NX300 and NX2000 Source Code
If you've ever wanted to go code diving into what makes a Samsung camera tick, here's your chance
By Tim Barribeau
Samsung NX2000 Camera
It's part of the deal with using many types of open source software: if you modify the code, you have to release it out to the public, too. And that's exactly what Samsung has done, putting up the open code for the Samsung NX2000 and NX300 on the company's open source page. That means that anyone with the knowledge and skills can grab these files, and pick apart some of what Samsung is doing to make these cameras function like they do.
Some of the software that Samsung uses on these cameras is licensed under GPL or one of its derivatives, and part of that license is that if you modify the code, it has to be shared publically. Samsung obviously tweaked said code some, and in keeping with the rules, has released it into the wild.
Unfortunately, according to some commenters, this isn't the full source code for the camera, so you're not going to be able to craft custom firmware or anything like that. But it's still good to see Samsung living up to its obligations in using open source code for commerical devices.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Ronnie's Awesome List presents a guest article by Traci Gearhart, owner of In Her Shoes Marin, in downtown San Rafael, a unique and heartfelt shopping experience that is changing women's lives all over the world.
If you feel like you should be able to dress fashionably AND help women all over the world, your dreams have just come true. In Her Shoes Marin is teaming up with the organization Global Fund For Women, who advance the rights of women and girls worldwide by increasing the resources for and investing in women-led organizations and women's collective leadership for change, In Her Shoes Marin is on a mission to change the world one shoe at a time.
As of this August, the Global Fund For Women has made a total of 10,310 grants for $124,469,805.22 to 4,820 organizations in 175 countries. That's a lot of help for women all over the world. The Fund works on their 3 pillars of change – zero violence, economic and political empowerment, and sexual and reproductive health and rights – by utilizing grants, technology, education, and awareness to further women's rights all over the world. Their success stories ring proudly of changing laws on child marriages, making sure girls have access to schools, funding women-owned businesses, helping women achieve food security, and so much more.
Global Fund For Women believes that women are powerful catalysts for change and that strong women's organizations and movements make transformative shifts in power that are crucial to women realizing their rights and creating lasting solutions to the world's problems. Sounds like something we can all get behind – this world is ripe for a change and women are leading the charge.
We all want to make a difference in the world, and struggle sometimes in finding a way to give back. The Global Fund For Women is a channel by which you can see real change being made to our mothers, sisters and daughters all over the world.
And for the price of a sweet pair of unique Italian made boots, you can help them do that. Come and browse the store knowing that your purchase not only helps your local community, but also the global village.
Fashion and social responsibility – it is a beautiful relationship.
September 10th is the grand opening of In Her Shoes Marin at 1344 4th Street in San Rafael. A great way to support a local mom and a portion of the proceeds directly to Global Fund For Women every quarter.


Cal State Monterey Bay has an active and engaged faculty, staff and student body, and we love interactive ways to connect and share information online. The university encourages its faculty, staff and students to use tools such as social media to advance their work and heighten their experience as members of the campus community.
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We consider social media any technology tool or online space for integrating and sharing user-generated content in order to engage in conversations. These guidelines do not attempt to name every current and emerging platform, but some examples are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.
Be connected. If you have been authorized by your supervisor to create a CSUMB social media site or a video for posting in locations such as YouTube, please contact University Communications for an approved logo and other images and to ensure coordination with other CSUMB sites and content. Social media channels are not considered official unless they are developed or authorized by University Communications, which maintains and publicizes a list of all official university social media channels.
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Best ways to respond using social media.
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Don't be a mole. Never pretend to be someone else and post about CSUMB. Tracking tools enable supposedly anonymous posts to be traced back to their authors. There have been several high-profile and embarrassing cases of company executives anonymously posting about their own organizations.
Take the high ground. If you identify your affiliation with CSUMB in your comments, readers will associate you with the university, even with the disclaimer that your views are your own. Remember that you're most likely to build a high-quality following if you discuss ideas and situations civilly.
Be aware of liability. You are legally liable for what you post on your own site and on the sites of others. Follow the same CSUMB honor code, FERPA, Conflict of Interest Policy, Privacy and general civil behavior guidelines cited above including respecting copyrights and disclosures, and not revealing proprietary financial, intellectual property or similar sensitive or private content. Individual bloggers have been held liable for commentary deemed to be proprietary, copyrighted, defamatory, libelous or obscene (as defined by the courts).
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Follow a code of ethics. There are numerous codes of ethics for bloggers and other active participants in social media, all of which will help you participate responsibly in online communities. If you have your own social media site, you may wish to post your own code of ethics or adapt an existing code already on the Web. Monitor comments. Most people who maintain social media sites welcome comments; it builds credibility and community. However, you can set your site so that you can review and approve comments before they appear. This allows you to respond to comments in a timely way. It also allows you to delete spam comments and to block any individuals who repeatedly post offensive or frivolous comments.
Share and link back. Please share content posted on official CSUMB social media channels across your personal networks, and link back from your site to CSUMB.EDU. By virtue of self identifying as part of CSUMB in such a network, faculty/staff/students connect themselves to, and reflect upon, the university.


text:
Climate of Afghanistan
Title: Climate of Afghanistan
Subregion South Asia [1][2][3]
Geographic coordinates 00|N|65|00|E|type:country name=
- Water Ranked 41st
647,500 km2 (250,000 sq mi)
0 km2 (landlocked)
Coastline landlocked
Countries bordered Pakistan 2,430 km (1,510 mi),
Tajikistan 1,206 km (749 mi),
Iran 936 km (582 mi),
Turkmenistan 744 km (462 mi),
Uzbekistan 137 km (85 mi),
China 76 km (47 mi)
Highest point Noshaq, 7,492 m (24,580 ft)
Lowest point Amu Darya, 258 m (846 ft)
Longest river Helmand River
Largest inland body of water Kajaki Dam
Dahla Dam
Naghlu Dam
Band-e Amir
Qargha
- Arable land
- Permanent crops
- Other (2005 estimates)
Irrigated Land 27,200 km2 (10,500 sq mi)
Climate: Arid to semiarid
Natural resources natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, uranium, gold, silver, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stone[1][4][5][6][7]
Natural hazards earthquakes, flooding, avalanches
Environmental issues limited fresh water, overgrazing, deforestation, desertification, air pollution, water pollution
Afghanistan is a landlocked and mountainous country that is usually designated as being located in South Asia.[1][2][3] It is sometimes described as being the center or heart of Asia, connecting South and East Asia with Central and Western Asia. The country is the 41st largest in the world in size. Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan, located in the Kabul Province. Strategically located at the crossroads of major trade routes, Afghanistan has attracted a succession of invaders since the sixth century BCE.[8][9]
The Hindu Kush mountains, running northeast to southwest across the country, divide it into three major regions: 1) the Central Highlands, which form part of the Himalayas and account for roughly two thirds of the country's area; 2) the Southwestern Plateau, which accounts for one-fourth of the land; and 3) the smaller Northern Plains area, which contains the country's most fertile soil.
Land elevations generally slope from northeast to southwest, following the general shape of the Hindu Kush massif, from its highest point in the Pamir Mountains near the Chinese border to the lower elevations near the border with Iran. To the north, west, and southwest there are no mountain barriers to neighboring countries. The northern plains pass almost imperceptibly into the plains of Turkmenistan. In the west and southwest, the plateaus and deserts merge into those of Iran. Afghanistan is located on the Eurasian Tectonic Plate. The Wakhan Corridor and the rest of northeastern Afghanistan, including Kabul, are situated in a geologically active area. Over a dozen earthquakes occurred there during the twentieth century.
The greater part of the northern border and a small section of the border with Pakistan are marked by rivers; the remaining boundary lines are political rather than natural. The northern frontier extends approximately 1,689 km (1,049 mi) southwestward, from the Pamir Mountains in the northeast to a region of hills and deserts in the west, at the border with Iran. The border with Iran runs generally southward from the Hari River across swamp and desert regions before reaching the northwestern tip of Pakistan. Its southern section crosses the Helmand River.
Afghanistan is bounded by six different countries. Its longest border is the poorly marked Durand Line, accounting for its entire southern and eastern boundary with Pakistan. The shortest one, bordering China's Xinjiang province, is a mere 76 km at the end of the Wakhan Corridor (the Afghan Panhandle), a narrow sliver of land 241 km (150 mi) long that extends eastward between Tajikistan and Pakistan. At its narrowest point it is only 11 km (7 mi) wide.
The border with Pakistan runs eastward from Iran through the Chagai Hills and the southern end of the Registan Desert, then northward through mountainous country. It then follows an irregular northeasterly course before reaching the Durand Line, established in 1893. This line continues on through mountainous regions to the Khyber Pass area. Beyond this point it rises to the crest of the Hindu Kush, which it follows eastward to the Pamir Mountains. The Durand Line divides the Pashtun tribes of the region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Its creation has caused much dissatisfaction among Afghans and has given rise to political tensions between the two countries.
1 Mountain systems
2 Rivers and lakes
3 Vegetation
Mountain systems
This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on World Heritage Encyclopedia. See World Heritage Encyclopedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (June 2009)
The Hindu Kush mountain range reaches a height of 7,492 m (24,580 ft) at Noshaq, Afghanistan's highest peak. Of the ranges extending southwestward from the Hindu Kush, the Foladi peak (Shah Foladi) of the Baba mountain range (Koh-i-Baba) reaches the greatest height: 5,142 m (16,870 ft). The Safed Koh range, which includes the Tora Bora area, dominates the border area southeast of Kabul.
Important passes include the Unai Pass across the Safed Koh, the Kushan and Salang Passes through the Hindu Kush, and the Khyber Pass that connects Afghanistan with Pakistan. The summit of the Khyber Pass at 1,070 m (3,510 ft) at Landi Kotal, Pakistan is 5 km (3 mi) east of the border town of Torkham. Other key passages through the mountainous Pakistan border include two from Paktika Province into Pakistan's Waziristan region: one at Angoor Ada, a village that straddles both sides of the border east of Shkin, and, further south, the Gumal River crossing, plus the Charkai River passage south of Khost, Afghanistan, at Pakistan's Ghulam Khan village into North Waziristan. The busy Pak-Afghan border crossing at Wesh, Afghanistan is in a flat and dry area, though this route involves Pakistan's Khojak Pass at 2,707 m (8,881 ft) just 14 km (9 mi) from the border. The border connects Kandahar and Spin Boldak in Afghanistan with Quetta in Pakistan,
The Wakhan Corridor in the northeast lies between the Hindu Kush and the Pamir Mountains, which leads to the Wakhjir Pass into Xinjiang in China. Taking the highlands of the country as a whole, there is no great difference between the mean temperature of Afghanistan and that of the lower Himalaya. Each may be placed at a point between . However, the remarkable feature of Afghan climate is its extreme range of temperature within limited periods. The smallest daily range in the north is when the weather is cold; the greatest is when it is hot. For seven months of the year (from May to November) this range exceeds 17 °C (63 °F) daily. Waves of intense cold occur, lasting for several days, and one may have to endure a cold of −24 °C (−11 °F), rising to a maximum of −8 °C (18 °F). On the other hand, the summer temperature is exceedingly high, especially in the Oxus regions, where a shade maximum of 45–50 °C (113–122 °F) is not uncommon. At Kabul, and over all the northern part of the country to the descent at Gandamak, winter is rigorous, but especially so on the high Arachosian plateau. In Kabul the snow lies for two or three months; the people seldom leave their houses, and sleep close to stoves. At Ghazni the snow has been known to lie long beyond the vernal equinox; the thermometer sinks as low as −25 °C (−13 °F), and tradition relates the destruction of the entire population of Ghazni by snowstorms more than once.
The summer heat is great in the Sistan Basin, Jalalabad and Turkestan, especially Sistan. All over Kandahar province the summer heat is intense, and the simoom is not unknown. The hot season throughout this part of the country is rendered more trying by frequent dust storms and fiery winds; whilst the bare rocky ridges that traverse the country, absorbing heat by day and radiating it by night, render the summer nights most oppressive. At Kabul the summer sun has great power, though the heat is tempered occasionally by cool breezes from the Hindu Kush, and the nights are usually cool. At Kandahar snow seldom falls on the plains or lower hills; when it does, it melts at once.
Although Herat is approximately 240 m (787 ft) lower than Kandahar, the summer climate there is more temperate, and the climate throughout the year is far from disagreeable. From May to September, the wind blows from the northwest with great force, and this extends across the country to Kandahar. The winter is tolerably mild; snow melts as it falls, and even on the mountains does not lie long. Three years out of four at Herat it does not freeze hard enough for the people to store ice; yet it was not very far from Herat, and could not have been at a greatly higher level (at Rafir Kala, near Kassan) that, in 1750, Ahmad Shah's army, retreating from Persia, is said to have lost 18,000 men from cold in a single night. In the northern Herat districts, too, records of the coldest month (February) show the mean minimum as −8 °C (18 °F) and the maximum as 3 °C (37 °F). The eastern reaches of the Hari River, including the rapids, are frozen hard in the winter, and people travel on it as on a road.
The summer rains that accompany the southwest monsoon in India, beating along the southern slopes of the Himalaya, travel up the Kabul valley as far as Laghman, though they are more clearly felt in Bajour and Panjkora, under the high spurs of the Hindu Kush, and in the eastern branches of Safed Koh. Rain also falls at this season at the head of Kurram valley. South of this the Suliman mountains may be taken as the western limit of the monsoon's action. It is quite unfelt in the rest of Afghanistan, in which, as in all the west of Asia, the winter rains are the most considerable. The spring rain, though less copious, is more important to agriculture than the winter rain, unless where the latter falls in the form of snow. In the absence of monsoon influences there are steadier weather indications than in India. The north-west blizzards which occur in winter and spring are the most noticeable feature, and their influence is clearly felt on the Indian frontier. The cold is then intense and the force of the wind cyclonic. Speaking generally, the Afghanistan climate is a dry one. The sun shines with splendor for three-fourths of the year, and the nights are even more clear than the days. Marked characteristics are the great differences of summer and winter temperature and of day and night temperature, as well as the extent to which change of climate can be attained by slight change of place. The highest temperature ever recorded under standard conditions was 49.9 °C (121.8 °F) at Nimroz in August 2009 and the lowest was −52.2 °C (−62.0 °F) at Shahrak in January 1964. The emperor Babur observed:
Within a day's ride from Kabul it is possible to reach a place where snow never falls. But within two hours one can go where the snow never melts—except in the rare summer so severe that all snow disappears. Both tropical and cold-weather fruits are abundant in Kabul's dependencies, and they are nearby.[10]
Afghanistan usually does not face much water shortage because it receives snow during winter and once that melts the water runs into numerous rivers, lakes, and streams, but most of its national water flows into neighboring countries. It loses about two-thirds of its water to neighboring Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The country needs several billion dollars to rehabilitate its irrigation systems so that the water is properly used.[11] The Afghan government is requesting a $12 billion investment from the international community to construct a number of dams for the production of electricity and to help the irrigation of the country.[12]
The nation's drainage system is essentially landlocked. Most of the rivers and streams end in shallow desert lakes or oases inside or outside the country's boundaries. Nearly half of the state's total area is drained by watercourses south of the Hindu Kush–Safid ridge line, and half of this area is drained by the Helmand and its tributaries alone. The Amu Darya on the northern border, the country's other major river, has the next largest drainage area.
The 2,661 km (1,653 mi) long Amu Darya originates in the glaciers of the Pamir Mountains in the northeast. Some 965 km of its upper course constitutes Afghanistan's border with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Flowing in rapid torrents in its upper course, the Amu Darya becomes calmer below the mouth of the Kokcha, 96 km (60 mi) west of Fayzabad. The Kunduz River is another major tributary. During its flood period the upper course of the Amu Darya, swollen by snow and melting ice, carries along much gravel and large boulders.
The Helmand River is the principal river in the southwest, bisecting the entire region. Starting some 80 km (50 mi) west of Kabul in the Baba mountain range, the Helmand is approximately 1,400 km (870 mi) long, making it the longest river situated entirely within Afghanistan. With its many tributaries, the most important of which is the Arghandab River, it drains more than 298 km2 (115 sq mi).
The Kabul River, 515 km (320 mi) long, is a vital source of water in the Baba Mountains and for Kabul itself, which it flows through. The Kabul and its tributaries are among the few in Afghanistan that eventually reach the sea, as it flows east into the Indus River in Pakistan.
In the west the sandy deserts along most of the Iranian frontier have no watercourses. However, in the northwest, the Hari and Morghab Rivers flow into Turkmenistan's Karakum Desert.
The characteristic distribution of vegetation on the mountains of Afghanistan is worthy of attention. The great mass of it is confined to the main ranges and their immediate off-shoots, whilst on the more distant and terminal prolongations it is almost entirely absent; in fact, these are naked rock and stone. Take, for example, the Safed Koh. On the alpine range itself and its immediate branches, at a height of 1,800–3,000 m (5,900–9,800 ft) there is abundant growth of large forest trees, among which conifers are the most noble and prominent, such as Cedrus deodara, Abies excelsa, Pinus longifolia, Pinus pinaster, Stone pine (the edible pine, although this species is probably introduced, since it is original to Spain and Portugal) and the larch. There is also the yew, the hazel, juniper, walnut, wild peach and almond. Growing under the shade of these are several varieties of rose, honeysuckle, currant, gooseberry, hawthorn, rhododendron and a luxuriant herbage, among which the ranunculus family is important for frequency and number of genera. The lemon and wild vine are also here met with, but are more common on the northern mountains. The walnut and oak (evergreen, holly-leaved and kermes) descend to the secondary heights, where they become mixed with alder, ash, khinjak, Arbor-vitae, juniper, with species of Astragalus, &c. Here also are Indigoferae rind dwarf laburnum.
Down to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) there are wild olive, species of rock-rose, wild privet, acacias and mimosas, barberry and Zizyphus; and in the eastern ramifications of the chain, Nannerops ritchiana (which is applied to a variety of useful purposes), Bignonia or trumpet flower, sissu, Salvadora persica, verbena, acanthus, varieties of Gesnerae.
The lowest terminal ridges, especially towards the west, are, as it has been said, naked in aspect. Their scanty vegetation is almost wholly herbal; shrubs are only occasional; trees almost non-existent. Labiate, composite and umbelliferous plants are most common. Ferns and mosses are almost confined to the higher ranges.
In the low brushwood scattered over portions of the dreary plains of the Kandahar tablelands, it is possible to find leguminous thorny plants of the papilionaceous suborder, such as camel-thorn (Hedysarum alhagi), Astragalus in several varieties, spiny rest-harrow (Ononis spinosa), the fibrous roots of which often serve as a tooth-brush; plants of the sub-order Mimosae, as the sensitive mimosa; a plant of the rue family, called by the natives lipad; the common wormwood; also certain orchids, and several species of Salsola. The rue and wormwood are in general use as domestic medicines—the former for rheumatism and neuralgia; the latter in fever, debility and dyspepsia, as well as for a vermifuge. The lipad, owing to its heavy nauseous odour, is believed to keep off evil spirits. In some places, occupying the sides and hollows of ravines, it is found the Rose Bay, called in Persian khar-zarah, or ass-bane, the wild laburnum and various Indigoferae.
In cultivated districts the chief trees seen are mulberry, willow, populus ash, and occasionally the plane; but these are because of man's planting.
It should be noted that in the last several decades, 90% of forests in Afghanistan have been destroyed and much of the timber has been exported to neighboring Pakistan. As a result, large percent of Afghanistan's land could be subject to soil erosion and desertification. On the positive note, the Karzai administration and international organizations are helping counter this problem by often planting millions of saplings.[13] The city of Kabul began to see maple trees being planted in the last decade.
Band-e Amir National Park in Bamyan Province
On the way to Baharak in Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan
The Salang Pass between the Parwan Province and Baghlan Province
Kajaki Dam and spillway in Helmand Province
Korengal Valley in Kunar Province
Dahla Dam in Kandahar Province
Watapur district of Kunar Province
Valley in Baghlan Province
A Multipurpose All-Terrain Vehicle providing security in Zabul Province
Road in Kapisa Province
Khogyani district of Nangarhar Province
Ghazni Province in eastern Afghanistan
Snow in Zabul Province
Winter in Uruzgan Province
Nawa district of Ghazni Province during winter
Ghor Province during winter
Khost-Gardez Pass (K-G Pass) in eastern Afghanistan
Approaching the Salang Tunnel in the Parwan Province
Wakhan District of Badakhshan Province
Badghis Province in northwestern Afghanistan
Valley in Samangan Province in northern Afghanistan
An aerial view from the window of a Blackhawk helicopter between Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz in northern Afghanistan
Arghandab district of Kandahar Province
Faryab Province in northern Afghanistan
Hari River in Ghor Province
Sayedabad district of Wardak Province
Tangi Valley in the Wardak Province
Road in Parwan Province, northeast of Bagram Air Base
Kabul River near the Behsud Bridge area in Jalalabad
Somewhere in Paktika Province
An AH-64 Apache helicopter shoots flares over a valley in Daykundi Province
Qargha Lake in Kabul Province
Kabul, the Afghan capital
City of Herat in Herat Province
Valley in the Gizab district of Urozgan Province
Scenery in Zabul Province
Chorah district in Urozgan Province
Khost, the capital of Khost Province
Intersection of Highway 1 and Route 606 in Delaram, Farah Province
Villagers tend their fields in the Pech River Valley in Kunar Province
Nimroz Province, which is mostly desert
Environmental issues in Afghanistan
Valleys of Afghanistan
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica - physical geography
Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. "Afghanistan: A Country Study." 1997. [1]
Commons has media related to Geography of Afghanistan.
Topographic map of Afghanistan (1 : 300 000)
Persia (Iran), Afghanistan and Baluchistan is a map from 1897
Afghanistan, Beloochistan, etc. is a map from 1893 created by the American Methodist Church
Afghanistan topics
Pre-Islamic period
Greater Khorasan
Islamic conquest
Arabs in Afghanistan
Hotaki dynasty
Durrani Empire
Third Battle of Panipat
Battle of Jamrud
First Anglo-Afghan War
Second Anglo-Afghan War
Third Anglo-Afghan War
Reforms of Amanullah Khan and civil war
Reigns of Nadir Shah and Zahir Shah
Daoud's Republic
Soviet war
2001 invasion
Persian (Dari)
Pashtun people
Tajiks
Farsiwan
Qizilbash
Hazara people
Uzbek people
Turkmen people
Baloch people
Nuristani people
Loya jirga
Ahmad Zia Massoud
Karim Khalili
Cabinet of Ministers
House of Elders
Afghani (currency)
Ariana Afghan Airlines
Rail transport and history
Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline
Kabul-Kandahar Highway
Kandahar–Herat Highway
Pashtunwali (Pashtun life)
Postage stamps and postal history
Sunni Muslim
Shi'a Muslim
War rugs
Geography of Asia
East Timor (Timor-Leste)
Other dependent territories
Climate of Asia


text:
Q: How to modify/set URL in the address bar of the browser with Laravel/PHP? Goal
Set/modify the url in the address bar of the browser depending on the DB search result.
Description
I try to develop a small multilang CMS (repository) with Laravel. Therefore i need the possibility to modify the url in the addressbar depending on the user input. For example the user enters www.example.com/page1 and this page/url isn't found in the DB of the cms, i want to redirect to www.example.com/404.
Other use case: The user enters www.example.com/contact, the url is found and i then want to show the url in the browser address bar like this: www.example.com/en/contact.
The code: At the moment i have a PageDataGetter class (repo link), which searchs for the data and returns
a DTO with the needed data (or the 404 page data). Then i assemble the data.
PageAssembler
public function assemble(
        PageDataGetterResponseTransfer $pageDataGetterResponseTransfer
    ): PageAssemblerResponseTransfer {

        $pageAssemblerResponseTransfer = new PageAssemblerResponseTransfer();

        $pageAssemblerResponseTransfer->setPage(
            response()
                ->view(
                    TemplateInterface::VIEW_PREFIX . $pageDataGetterResponseTransfer->getViewString(),
                    $pageDataGetterResponseTransfer->getPageDataTransfer()->getPageData(),
                    $pageDataGetterResponseTransfer->getStatusCode()
                )
                ->header('Location',  $pageDataGetterResponseTransfer->getUrl())
        );

        return $pageAssemblerResponseTransfer;
    }

In the controller i simply try to return the response like this, but it doesn't change the url in the address bar of the browser.
FrontendController
$pageAssemblerResponseTransfer = $pageAssembler->assemble($pageDataGetterResponseTransfer);

return $pageAssemblerResponseTransfer->getPage();

At least i'm not sure, if it is the right direction, i'm trying to achieve my goal.
I also tried to solve it with a redirect, but there i didn't know how to pass the the string to the view/blade and i also need the possibility to set the status code dynamically.
Maybe someone has a hint for me?


text:
Verk för olika betydelser av ordet se Wiktionary.

-verk som ändelse:

 något som gjorts eller skapats; gärning, skapelse
 Hantverk, ett produktionssätt som utförs för hand
 Bakverk, en oftast söt bageriprodukt
 Flätverk, en konstruktion där grenar eller annat material flätas in mellan käppar
 Pälsverk, ett material från pälsdjur
 resultat av ett arbete, speciellt inom konstnärlig verksamhet
 Konstverk, en produkt av en konstnärlig verksamhet
 Musikverk, eller komposition
 Uppslagsverk, eller encyklopedi
 Uppslagsverket Finland
 Verkshöjd, ett juridiskt begrepp som används inom upphovsrätten
 större anläggning, maskin eller mekanism som åstadkommer något
 Kraftverk, en anläggning för produktion av elektricitet
 Reningsverk, renar avloppsvatten
 Ställverk (elkraft), en anläggning för distribution av elkraft
 Ställverk (järnväg), en anläggning för att styra järnvägstrafik
 Sågverk, en skogsindustriell anläggning
 Tröskverk, en föregångare till skördetröska
 Uppfordringsverk, maskin för transportering av material från ett lägre till ett högre plan
 Vattenverk, renar eller behandlar dricksvatten
 mindre mekanism som åstadkommer något
 Räkneverk, en teknisk anordning som räknar
 Urverk, ett finmekaniskt system för att mäta och visa tid
 en benämning av en statlig organisation, främst i Sverige och Finland, men används ibland för motsvarande organisationer utomlands
 samlingsbeteckningar
 Affärsverk eller "Affärsdrivande verk", kommunala eller statliga organ som producerar varor eller utför tjänster utifrån affärsmässiga principer
 Centralt ämbetsverk, en statlig myndighet som är direkt underställd regeringen
 tidigare konkreta organisationer eller benämningar i Sverige
 Banverket (blev del av Trafikverket)
 Domänverket
 Försvarets Fabriksverk
 Glesbygdsverket (överfördes i Tillväxtverket och Myndigheten för tillväxtpolitiska utvärderingar och analyser)
 Högskoleverket (överfördes i Universitetskanslersämbetet och Universitets- och högskolerådet)
 Kriminalvårdsverket (bytte namn till Kriminalvården)
 Närings- och teknikutvecklingsverket (bytte namn till "Verket för näringslivsutveckling" eller Nutek och senare överfördes i Tillväxtverket samt Myndigheten för tillväxtpolitiska utvärderingar och analyser)
 Postverket (blev "Posten AB", senare Posten och senare Postnord)
 Radio- och TV-verket (överfördes i Myndigheten för press, radio och tv)
 Riksskatteverket (bytte namn till Skatteverket)
 Statens invandrarverk (bytte namn till Migrationsverket)
 Statens livsmedelverk eller SLV (bytte namn till Livsmedelsverket)
 Statens löne- och pensionsverk (bytte namn till "Statens pensionsverk" och sedan till Statens tjänstepensionsverk)
 Statens pensionsverk (bytte namn till Statens tjänstepensionsverk)
 Statens vattenfallsverk (uppdelades i Vattenfall och Svenska kraftnät)
 Televerket (delar överfördes till Telestyrelsen och resten till flera bolag)
 Verket för näringslivsutveckling eller Nutek (överfördes i Tillväxtverket samt Myndigheten för tillväxtpolitiska utvärderingar och analyser)
 Vägverket (blev del av Trafikverket)
 aktuella konkreta organisationer i Sverige
 Affärsverket svenska kraftnät, eller "Svenska Kraftnät"
 Arbetsgivarverket
 Boverket
 Bolagsverket
 Domstolsverket
 Ekonomistyrningsverket eller ESV
 Elsäkerhetsverket
 Fortifikationsverket
 Konsumentverket i Sverige
 Livsmedelsverket
 Luftfartsverket
 Läkemedelsverket
 Migrationsverket
 Naturvårdsverket
 Patent- och registreringsverket eller PRV
 Runverket (del av Riksantikvarieämbetet)
 Skatteverket
 Statens fastighetsverk
 Statens tjänstepensionsverk eller SPV
 Skolverket eller Statens skolverk
 Sjöfartsverket (finns kvar trots att del av verksamheten överfördes i Trafikverket)
 Statens jordbruksverk eller Jordbruksverket
 Statens musikverk, svensk statlig myndighet under kulturdepartementet
 Tillväxtverket
 Trafikverket
 Tullverket eller Tullen
 tidigare konkreta organisationer i Finland
 Arkivverket
 Konsumentverket (sammanslagen till "Konkurrens- och konsumentverket")
 "Utlänningsverket" (bytte namn till "Migrationsverket")
 aktuella konkreta organisationer i Finland
 Konkurrens- och konsumentverket
 Statens revisionsverk
 Lantmäteriverket
 Livsmedelsverket
 Museiverket
 Nödcentralsverket
 Trafikledsverket
 Transport- och kommunikationsverket
 Migrationsverket
 Statens ämbetsverk på Åland
 Försvarsmaktens logistikverk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: cant get SDL2 event's from window I my trying to learn SDL in C++ . I have simple program which will display a image . but When I try to close window by clicking close button on the window nothing happens.
here is my code:-
#include <SDL2/SDL.h>
int main(int argc,char **argv)
{
    static int k =0;
    SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO);
    SDL_Window *w;
    w = SDL_CreateWindow("SDL VS Works",300,300,400,500,SDL_WINDOW_OPENGL);

    SDL_Renderer *render = SDL_CreateRenderer(w,-1,SDL_RENDERER_ACCELERATED);

    SDL_Surface *tux  = SDL_LoadBMP("res/tux.bmp");

    SDL_Texture *texture = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(render,tux);
    SDL_FreeSurface(tux);
    SDL_ShowWindow(w);
    SDL_Event event;

    while(1)
    {
        k++;
        printf("Running and loop %d\'th\n",k);
        SDL_PollEvent(&event);
        if(event.type == SDL_QUIT)
        {
            printf("closing \n");
            goto sos;
        }
        SDL_RenderCopy(render,texture,0,0);
        SDL_RenderPresent(render);
        SDL_Delay(1000);

    }

sos:
    SDL_DestroyWindow(w);
    SDL_DestroyRenderer(render);
    SDL_DestroyTexture(texture);

    SDL_Quit();
}

I am using g++ 7.3 on Arch Linux.

A: The SDL uses an event queue internally. When any event occurs, like the mouse moving a few pixels, it gets added to the queue. When you poll for events (using SDL_PollEvent), you only get the oldest event. Everything else stays in the queue.
Since your code only polls once per second, the queue probably gets flooded by mouse movements, and the SDL_QUIT event is just waiting in line, deep into the queue.
What you usually want to do is poll for events in a loop. Note that SDL_PollEvent returns 0 when there is no pending event.
while (SDL_PollEvent(&event)) {
    if(event.type == SDL_QUIT)
    {
        //...
    }
}

A: By the way, the loop should look something like this:
SDL_Event SDLEvent;

    while (SDL_PollEvent(&SDLEvent))
    {
        switch (SDLEvent.type)
        {
        case SDL_QUIT: break;
        case SDL_WINDOWEVENT: break;
        case SDL_MOUSEMOTION: break;
        case SDL_MOUSEWHEEL: break;
        }
    }

Whether it's a switch statement like this or an if statement like you have isn't important. SDL_PollEvents will return 1 if there are still events in the queue, or zero otherwise. By calling the SDL_PollEvents(&SDLEvent) inside the while condition it will handle all the events in the queue before entering the while block next.
Interestingly your problem that your window won't close seems to be related to something else because it works for me. I've already mentioned maybe get rid of the SDL_Delay line and see if that does anything;


On February 6, 2019, Connie Kay Baker Robinson was called home to be with her father and mother - Lewis W. and Jessie E. Baker, and brother, Lewis R. "Roy" Baker.
Connie is survived by her husband of 46 years, Garland Robinson; three sons, Mike Robinson and wife Shanna of Sanford, Jeremy Daniel "J.D." Robinson of Sanford, Adam Robinson and wife Susie of Newport News, Virginia; three sisters and a brother, Sharon and Steve Warner of Vanderbilt, Texas, Sandra Loy and Bob Macha of Yoakum, Texas, Laura Swift of Colorado, and Lonnie and Tina Baker of Houston, Texas. Connie has eight grandchildren, Mariah and Jared Golden, Mason, Seth and Mathew Robinson, Hanna Baker, Emily Kay and Jackson Lane Robinson.
So sorry for your loss, our prayers are with you and your family.
Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you all!
Mike, Shanna, and family so sorry or your lost. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Ken and I were so sorry to hear about your sweet mom. Prayers for peace and comfort for you and your dad during this difficult time. Love you guys!
She touched a lot of lives in good ways.
From all the Trailmen of Troop 40, you have our deepest sympathy. May the Lord give you comfort in this time of grieving.
We will miss Connie very much ,Our love and prayers are whith all.
So sorry to hear about Connie. I have a special place in my heart for her and her family. I know she is enjoying her family now, though I feel the pain you are all experiencing. The good Lord bless you all.
Rest well sweet cousin, I love you.
My beloved cousin I will miss your infectious laugh and your beautiful caring spirit, I will think of you often and always through the beautiful music you have left behind.
Our thought and prayers with all of you. God Bless!
So very sorry for your lost.
My thoughts and prayers are with the family and I am so sorry for your loss.


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Tag Archives: england
Staying In and Getting Real: Current Events Roundup, Part One
It seems like I'm always doing "part ones" of series. But anyway, enough about me, so how are you?
I had a pretty productive day, I guess, but instead of going out tonight (it's a Monday, so it's par for the course, but whatevs), I decided to stay in, watch TV, and do laundry.
And of course, what is all over the news is pretty shocking. In case you've been off the grid for the past few hours, there was an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in England, with 19 people dead, most likely all teenagers or preteens. It's shocking and troubling, and all over every news and social media platform out there.
But what a lot of people don't realize is that this week was a gigantic victory elsewhere in the world that no one seems to be celebrating – 82 of the 200+ girls who were kidnapped while taking exams at their school in Nigeria have been found and returned to their parents. When I heard this news yesterday, I was truly elated. I can't imagine what those families must have been feeling, and the relief that even though the girls endured much horror, they seemed to be happy and healthy to be back with their parents. I couldn't stop clicking through YouTube videos of the happy reunions. I've always thought that if what had happened in Nigeria happened in the USA or Canada or England, the entire world would be up in arms, and not forget after a few days like they did when it happened 3 years ago. I've actually been thinking about it since it happened, I even remember where I was when I first found out about it, getting ready to embark on my first Summer Odyssey back in 2014. It was shocking then, and it's stayed with me consistently ever since. Although I'm really happy that those 82 are back, in addition to the 50 or so others who've escaped/been rescued over the years, there are still around 100 unaccounted for, which is way too many people to just forget about.
And just like the parents of the kids who died, were injured, or are MIA in Manchester right now, the parents of the Nigerian girls haven't forgotten, despite the world seeming to do so.
ariana grandeboko haramchibokenglandlifemanchesterpoliticsstuff
Dooley, Unduly
October 8, 2016 | thatssojacob
Yesterday afternoon, I opened YouTube to look for a video – probably a song from Hamilton or a clip from Family Guy – and the first thing that came up on the recommended videos list had a thumbnail of a confused-looking redhead, and was entitled "Kids for Sale."
So, naturally, I had to click…and I might have been sorry that I did, because the last 24 hours of my life have been occupied by one Stacey Dooley.
Ms. Dooley, who is just a few months older than I am, is a British TV journalist/documentarian who presents shows where she goes to different countries and investigates/attempts to solve/ingratiate herself in a local social issue, like human trafficking in Cambodia, cybersex in the Philippines, and the hard-partying lifestyles of the tourists of Magaluf.
Stacey Dooley gained fame on a show called Blood, Sweat, and T-Shirts, where she was one of a few unknown fashion-obsessed British teenagers who went to India to see how much illegal child labor goes into making the bras, jeans, and sweaters that are so readily disposed of after one season in the UK. Dooley was so inspired by either the plight of the people or the attention that she decided to extend her one-off appearance into a television career.
I watched first the episode called "Kids for Sale," where she goes to Nepal in order to free children who are illegally working in sweatshops. I was actually kind of impressed; she seemed to take no shit from people, have a genuine interest in learning about their lives, and in the welfare of the children in these situations. She managed to free a little boy completely in no time at all, which was incredible to watch, and then joined another boy on a long trek to find his parents, which ultimately failed, but at least she (or her producers) had the wherewithal to take the boy back to Kathmandu with them rather than leave him in the company of some shady relatives. The whole piece had a very positive, uplifting attitude about it, and I wanted to see more.
In my research, I found a few websites which threw her under a double decker Routemaster bus. There was an article about how her piece on Japanese suicide culture was so lame that it actually seemed to glorify suicide at times. People picked apart everything about her, from her constant crying to her lack of journalism experience to the fact that while we see subtitles when non-English speakers appear on the screen, she seems to be listening to them intently and nodding along, as if she speaks fluent Spanish or Filipino or Thai. Several comments sections and derogatory remarks later, I returned to YouTube to watch some more from her.
The next one I watched, about Cybersex and Children in the Philippines, made me cringe a little at first. After reading the comments of others, I saw the whininess, the crying, the repeated lines, and a few moments where I was going "really, Stacey? You're just going to walk away as this tween continues to flirt with sexagenarian British men on Facebook? You're going to get in a stranger's face and tell him he is a bad bad person?" (As a side note – the raid scene was incredible to watch. I can't believe they pulled it off, especially foreigners with camera equipment) Overall, this hour made her seem more like an uninformed, blithely attempting do-gooder from the West who was either ineffective or making things worse.
But I decided to watch just one more, and I definitely picked the right one, about Tourism in Magaluf, a hot spot on an island off the coast of Spain where British teenagers like to go and get knackered (or is it knickered? I don't know). This episode just struck me as something that could apply to teenagers everywhere, not just in Britain – it should be required viewing for high schoolers. In the first part, Dooley tries to enjoy herself despite all her crazy peers who are not documentary-makers, and then she continues on as a worker in the resort town, volunteering with the police and the paramedics on different nights, and seeing how disruptive the behavior of British teens can be, not just for themselves but for an entire island whose population they outnumber each summer. I used to be curious about going to Magaluf as a tourist and seeing what it's all about, but now I kinda want to do what she did and volunteer with the police to see all the crazy people. I'm sure that if any teen from the UK – or the USA – were to step into Dooley's shoes on one of those nights, they would never drink again. And if my rowdy neighbors would watch the bit about the hotels, and how annoying all the drunk people were, maybe they'd cool it on Saturday nights (as in: right now, where every thought I have is punctuated by a door opening, noises and bodies spilling out, and then said door slamming shut). Even though drunk and entitled teenagers isn't as groundbreaking as child sex workers, I do think that Dooley made some really good points and showed me, at least, something that I would not have seen otherwise. Because we're almost the same age, it does feel like I'm traveling along with her, and that I'm glad to not be rotting in a ditch on the Punta Ballena. She doesn't get particularly emotional in this piece either, and on the whole, it seems like a responsible journalistic work. Except for the part when she ran after some thieves, wanting to interview them, that was kind of stupid, she could have gotten hurt.
In the past 24 hours, I've gone with Stacey Dooley to visit the homes of tourism workers in Thailand and Kenya, and the mean streets of Cambodia where pimps and child prostitutes roam, and I'm not done yet.
But my feelings about Stacey Dooley have gone back to the admiration of how I initially felt about her. I don't know about the British public, but in terms of their misgivings about her and her shows, as far as I'm concerned –
1. Yes, she's young and emotional, and that's okay. She's braver than most of us are, and is probably in even more danger than her show leads us to believe. She doesn't always ask the most rational questions, because she's interested in the humans and their experiences, rather than delivering history lessons and listing off facts. And yes, she cries a lot. But I think I would too if I was sitting with a child prostitute in Cambodia or in a morgue for dead British teenagers in Thailand. She's a human, with emotions, and if that annoys you, go do something else.
2. She's doing something that you are not doing. So yeah, you donated twenty dollars, but she actually went there
bbcchild labordocumentariesenglandmagalufstacey dooleyyoutube
Don't Call These Midwives
July 6, 2016 | thatssojacob
Amidst all my prelim-reading, and a little bit of a summer cold, I actually finished a book. Totally tired, but I actually finished it. The book was Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson.
I didn't find out until about a hundred pages in that it was actually the third in a series about protagonist Josephine Tey, a real-life author and playwright in Victorian England. In this mystery, a local woman is found murdered and brutalized with tools in her clothing design workshop, with the backdrop of Tey writing a story about legendary baby farmers (and also real-life personalities) Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, whose exploits landed them in a double hanging.
The book was enough to keep me reading, but after finishing it, I don't think I'll be returning to the series. A reviewer online commented that it seemed that one of the other characters actually solved the mystery, and Josephine was just kind of…there…which I agree with. Plus, she had a lesbian sex scene when she could have been investigating, and actually attacks the murderer after their identity is revealed. However, the clues came at a relatively steady pace, with some good reveals, and it did keep me guessing. I actually was more interested in the long-deceased historical characters than those in the present day, especially when they cursed a bit too much for society ladies and talked about nothing at length.
Well, that was a short book review, despite the book being almost 500 pages. This book review was brought to you by Maybe (I Shouldn't Have Taken That) Antihistamine.
book reviewsenglandi actually finished a bookjosephine teynicola upson
Who Ya Gonna Call? Part II
September 6, 2015 | thatssojacob
Ever since I finished reading Call the Midwife, I've been dying to get my hands on one of the sequels. Despite only having seen about half of the first season, I decided to forgo any and all spoilers and interlibrary-loan a copy of Part II: Shadows of the Workhouse, once again, by Jennifer Worth.
Shadows has a very different tone and focus than its predecessor. The foreboding title notwithstanding, it ventures away from some of the more lighthearted tales of Jenny's adventures to some darker places further afield from Nonnatus House, from the workhouses of turn-of-the-century London to war-torn France. Most of the book has little to do with Jenny and the other nurses. The first and last sections focus on characters who are mostly tangential to the plot of the book and to Jenny's life, but appear in other contexts both in the previous book and on the TV series.
The first section revolves around Peggy, a cleaning lady at Nonnatus House, and her relationship with Frank, a sometimes-handyman for the ladies. I actually just watched this episode last week, so I knew what happened with them, but the TV show did not figure in the third character in this section, Jane, and kind of gave most of her traits to Peggy – unless there is a episode with Jane in it that I have not seen yet, and I'm not going to go looking in an episode guide at the moment because I want to remain surprised. The Peggy/Frank/Jane story line really brought to life the horrors of the workhouse. Before reading this, I had no idea how squalid it really was; it's almost as if living on the street would have led to a better and healthier life than being trapped in the bug-infested, lifeless, prison-lite conditions of the London workhouse. Yes, I understand that it was an effect of social services, and one of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time" things, but it obviously spiraled out of control, leaving its mark on people like these three. Ultimately, in both the book and the TV series, I thought that this story line was more bittersweet and heartbreaking than troubling. Peggy and Frank's situation was so unique that I was just glad that they were able to lead the lives they led.
Skipping ahead to the third section, we meet Joseph Collett, an elderly, ulcer-stricken army veteran with whom Jenny takes a shine to; not in that way, rather in more of a grandfatherly way. The harshness of Collett's life and the circumstances surrounding his death were counterbalanced by the sweetness, honesty, and loyalty Jenny showed him in his waning days. I think I said this before, but of all the midwives, Jenny is my least favorite (ironically, since she's the main character and all) but in this vignette both on TV and in writing, I came to admire how she treated this man and actually cheered for her. Good on you, Jenny. The TV episode about this vignette is absolutely riveting and does Collett justice, as well as driving home the importance of honoring all veterans of wars, young or old, American or British.
And then there's the middle section: a quasi-comedic look into the hijinks of Sister Monica Joan. I was sitting in Short Stack last night as I read this part, and I couldn't put it down. I won't tell you what happened, but it's a nail-biter. Just when you thought that Sister Monica Joan couldn't get weirder…she does. This section really brings out the individual qualities of the ladies of Nonnatus House, from plummy Chummy to goody-goody Cynthia to mischievous Trixie to the kind but judgement-questionable Jenny. Overall, the real winner was Sister Julienne and her equanimity, in addition to the deus-ex-machina twist, she's more and more like Meryl Streep's character in Doubt. The moral of the story: the real S.M.J. must have been the biggest pain in the ass to put up with, but one of the best to watch if you don't have to watch her.
I'm ready for Part 3!
Some new words I learned:
Serried – packed in rows
Turbot – a type of European food fish
Quinquereme – an ancient Roman galley with five oars on each side
Golliwog – a type of black doll
Drachm – another word for dram
Flavine – a type of antiseptic
This book review has been brought to you by PBS and the Pennsylvania State University-Mont Alto Library
bbcbook reviewsbookscall the midwifeenglandi actually finished a book
The Wonderful Wizard of…Wales
I usually read two books at a time, and this semester's long slog was no different. I started this one back when I could still sit on Memorial Union Terrace in a t-shirt and jeans, and I finished it shortly before I left Madison. Unlike River Cross My Heart, this one actually kept me wanting more. I'm talking about another book from the one and only Scarlett Thomas: Going Out.
My copy was actually a different cover, but I think that this one's much more interesting and relevant to this early 21st century twenty-something adventure/journey novel.
The characters – which there are way too many of, in true Scarlett Thomas fashion – are by and large an interesting bunch of flawed specimens. At first, we meet best friends Luke and Julie, who live in . Luke's problems are evident; Julie's not so much. Luke has some sort of condition that prevents him from going outside. Therefore, he has spent his entire life inside his house, learning about life from the TV and the computer. Julie is a waitress at a local cafe, where she is perfectly content to serve salads and solve complicated math theorems in her head. When Wei, a healer with whom Luke's been communicating, ends up in Wales, Julie and her friends hatch a plan to sneak Luke out of the house and across England so he can see the healer. The crew of six is assembled rather haphazardly, expanding to include David, a co-worker of Julie's who has cancer; Leanne, a mutual childhood friend and her cousin, Chantel, who's just won the lottery; and Charlotte, an ex-girlfriend of a now-deceased neighbor who has gotten close with Julie.
The story drags for the first hundred pages or so, introducing us to all the characters and their families and everyone else, but once all the niceties are out of the way, Julie hatches her plan to cure Luke once and for all, with Leanne creating a special "spacesuit" for Luke; Chantel renting a van and being the money behind the operation; and David and Charlotte…joining in for the ride and helping navigate, but not doing a very good job of it. Not their fault, though; the more we learn about Julie, the more we learn about her little psychoses: fear of large highways, fear of travel, fear of ingesting poison through packaged foods. It's the former two that make the journey a challenge; they must drive on smaller roads (Julie is the only one of them who knows how to drive), most of which keep getting flooded out due to the apparent monsoon that's overtaken Britain. When they finally get to Wales – small spoiler: not everyone makes it, but no one dies, though – they meet the mysterious Wei, and what ends up happening is not quite what anyone expected.
"Charlotte?"
"Yeah?"
"What the hell are we doing here? I mean…"
"What, why are we standing on the edge of Epping Forest with a Scooby Doo van, a Lottery winner, a guy with cancer and someone dressed in a space-suit – that we made – having just waved a tearful goodbye to a domineering retail-assistant who's gone into the words to 'fulfil her destiny' and learn how to channel her humungous [sic] witch powers?"
"Yeah," says Julie."
– Scarlett Thomas, Going Out, p. 242
I would say that this is probably up there with PopCo as my favorite Scarlett Thomas novel. Even in the slower beginning, it is clear that something amazing is about to occur. There's a sense of urgency that seems to come with the rain, and it's only through quick and rash decisions by the characters that anything happens. The second part of the book is really where the fun begins; Julie and her crew are really a set of young, modern-day adventurers in the purest sense, driving around England in what one of them refers to as "the van from Scooby Doo." There is something special in the fact that they aren't really that special; other than Chantel, who just won the lottery (which could happen in real life, improbable as it may be), nobody has any sort of magic or super-strength to get them where they need to go. I mean, if you don't count a lot of weed and cigarettes. It's just the six of them and one old van against the rain. Sometimes the group members take gambles that pay off, and sometimes Julie almost kills everyone. About three-quarters of the way through the book, I realized what a Wizard of Oz quality it maintains, and I guess I was right, since the final epigraph is a long quote from L. Frank Baum's novel.
The world needs more Julies, more Lukes, more Charlottes, more Leannes in its current literature; people who have shit to deal with and no witch or werewolf or vampire powers to help them. Because sometimes life sucks. Life sucks a lot in Scarlett Thomas's novels, which is, I think, why they work, and why I like them so much.
"Anyway, going back to our discussion, then: whatever happens to you, there are two possible outcomes, apart from the infinite one where you turn yourself into a die, throw yourself a billion times, and come up with the number six every time." He laughs. "You must realise that, in your predicament, when you have too much fear, even the infinite outcomes boil down to two basic ones. Essentially, you'll either survive, or you won't. Even the Schrodinger experiment demonstrates that. There really is no such thing as being fifty percent alive. You accept that?"
Julie has to accept elegant maths. "Yes."
– Scarlett Thomas, Going Out, p. 347.
But then you get moments like this, which seem magical in their own simplicity.
book reviewsbooksbrit litbritainenglandi actually finished a bookjourneyscarlett thomaswales
Book Review: Scarlett Thomas, PopCo
I finished the first book out of the 20 or so I brought home with me. It took me a few weeks, to finish it, but not because I was bored with it, mostly because of end-of-semester stress. Ladies and gentlemen, PopCo, by Scarlett Thomas.
I found it on the shelf at Memorial Library; it had a fascinating front cover with an eye and lips, and an equally more interesting back cover. After a few minutes of debating whether to get it and face the reality that it'd be returned unread, or not getting it and then when I went back to look for it, find it gone, so I just got it and put it under everything I had to read for the semester…well, not really, more like…alongside it, getting in a chapter or two here and there. This is the kind of book that's hard to put down, but once you pick it back up again, it's easy to get back into.
To summarize: Alice Butler is a twenty-something crossword puzzle constructor turned toy creator for a gargantuan toy company called PopCo. She is invited to the annual company retreat in a place called Battersea. There, in this weird company compound where there may or may not be children testing toys, she is assigned to a team of other eclectic and mysterious PopCo employees to make the "perfect product for the teenage-girl market." Much like her predecessor in Wonderland, Alice goes on a strange journey full of encrypted messages left at her door, wacky workshops where she has to play a paddle ball game, solve riddles, and sail a boat. It is also a journey into her childhood, as she searches for the solution for the mysterious code inside a locket given to her by her grandfather, reliving it alongside searching for the answers to the questions PopCo brings up – both of which yield unexpected results. It's like a hybrid of Alice in Wonderland and 1984.
It's got all the ingredients for a good story, but I think it's about 75% there. I loved the character of Alice; she seemed like a great combination of nerdy and spunky. Socially awkward, yet sexually desirable. Some of her friends, particularly Esther, got on my nerves for the sheer lack of information Thomas provides us with. I feel like it has a strong start and keeps going for awhile but loses steam toward the end. The last few chapters were fascinating, but still somewhat of a let-down. We never find out if Alice left PopCo or not; if the treasure was found, and by whom; if anyone from PopCo came up with the desired product; how Chloe's sabotage worked out; if Alice and Ben ended up together; and what the hell happened to Alice's father. I don't know if the author planned on writing a sequel, but since it's been a decade since she wrote it, it's unlikely that there will be a PopCo 2.
I would definitely recommend this book; it's full of fun and tidbits about cryptography and an inside look at major toy corporations and branding schemes. I loved the crazy book-page code, and the complicated one with the massive grid.
One thing I noticed that may or may not have been intentional; the names of the PopCo employee characters all line up in alphabetical order and alternated by gender and importance of their role in the story. Take a look:
Alice (protagonist)
Ben (her love interest)
Chloe (Ben's "fawn-haired" friend who isn't who she seems)
Dan (Alice's friend, a programmer)
Esther (a mysterious and duplicitous internet marketer)
Frank (not a major character; described as a "large black man with tattoos")
Grace (female Asian employee who beats Hiro at Go)
Hiro (male Asian employee and reigning Go champion who has a thing for Grace)
There are no I or J-named people, but there is Kieran (who is male but should be a girl, by the rule of being an odd letter of the alphabet) and two Icelandic employees, Mitzi and Niila (who fit, as Mitzi is female and Niila is male). There is also a Violet, however, nobody with names between O-U.
This one was tough to let go, knowing that I had so many unanswered questions. All the same, it intrigued me so much that I got two more of her books from the library, brought them home with me to read, and will probably end up moving their way to the top of my reading list.
adventuresbook reviewsbooksbrit litenglandfictionmysteriespopcopuzzlesscarlett thomas


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THE NEIGHBORHOOD POVERTY PROJECT
The Persistence
City Profiles
The Expanded Geography of High-Poverty Neighborhoods
Download Full Report
The Persistence of Neighborhood Poverty
In the span of just a few weeks, the U.S. economy went from "recession proof" to facing one of the largest single-quarter contractions since the Great Depression. From mid-March to mid-April, 26 million workers filed for unemployment, surpassing the nearly 23 million jobs created over more than ten years of economic growth.
The recession currently underway will hit the most economically vulnerable places the hardest. Persistent geographic inequality defined the record-long economic expansion that has just come to an end. "Winning" places pulled rapidly ahead while others stagnated or declined. While very few places are likely to emerge from this crisis unscathed, distressed American communities, where work was already scarce and household finances were already precarious, are the least resilient heading into the current storm, and their ranks have proliferated over the past several decades.
EIG's latest research initiative, the Neighborhood Poverty Project, tracks changes in the number and composition of metropolitan high-poverty neighborhoods from 1980 to 2018. It finds that the number of neighborhoods in which 30 percent or more of the population lives in poverty doubled from 1980 to 2010 and has remained stubbornly high despite a decade of national economic expansion. Unlike the 1990s expansion, the recovery from the 2009 financial crisis failed to meaningfully reduce the country's accumulated stock of poor communities or raise their household incomes. This project aims to clearly demonstrate that, as policymakers wrestle with how to ameliorate the damage of the current crisis, a return to the pre-crisis "normal" of national growth is not enough if we are to lift America's most vulnerable communities.
High-poverty neighborhoods enter the next recession severely disadvantaged relative to low-poverty places (defined here as places where less than 20 percent of residents are below the poverty line). One-quarter of adults living in a high-poverty neighborhood lack even a high school diploma. Residents are half as likely to have obtained a bachelor's degree as someone living in a low-poverty neighborhood. The average median household income for a high-poverty neighborhood is less than half the national average, and residents of these neighborhoods are much more likely to be out of work and rent-burdened. Concentrated economic hardship defines high-poverty neighborhoods and is the primary reason that the proliferation of these neighborhoods is so troubling.
The average life expectancy in a high-poverty neighborhood is 74 years, compared to 80 years for a low-poverty neighborhood. This six-year difference is the culmination of systemic gaps in economic, social, and physical well-being and reflects uneven access to economic opportunity, quality healthcare, and strong social capital. For example, 24 percent of high-poverty neighborhoods are food deserts compared to just 7 percent of low-poverty places. With respect to healthcare access, the share of residents of high-poverty neighborhoods who are uninsured is more than double the rate of low-poverty places, 15 percent versus 7 percent.
This project is divided into two research reports. The first report, The Expanded Geography of High-Poverty Neighborhoods, looks at the proliferation of metropolitan high-poverty neighborhoods between 1980 and 2018. It highlights the surge of high-poverty neighborhoods in the 2000s and the failure of the last decade to meaningfully reduce that number. Even more troubling, this report finds that the average real household income for high-poverty neighborhoods has declined over the past two decades. Real progress against the country's neighborhood poverty problem seems to have ceased at the turn of the century.
The second report, The Persistence of Neighborhood Poverty, zooms in on urban areas, which are not only under unprecedented strain in the current crisis, but are also where the majority of high-poverty neighborhoods are located. It draws the stark conclusion that, across American cities, new high-poverty neighborhoods have proliferated, established high-poverty neighborhoods have become entrenched, and very few communities have experienced meaningful turnarounds. In total, 64 percent of neighborhoods that were high poverty in 1980 were still high poverty in 2018, 38 years later. Only 14 percent had meaningfully turned around—most of which were in New York City, on the suburban/exurban fringe of metro areas, or immediately adjacent to downtowns.
While neither of these papers offer explicit policy recommendations, they underscore the need for place-focused targeting as policymakers develop strategies to protect small and new businesses and shield hard hit communities from further economic distress. The neighborhoods examined in these reports have been bystanders to decades of national economic growth. Continuing to ignore them in the current downturn and through the next recovery would be public policy malpractice. The old status quo did not work for poor communities; now is the opportunity to forge a new model that does.
Click the map to explore all metropolitan high-poverty neighborhoods.