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The Best Mattress in a Box for Every Kind of Sleepy Guy (And Every Budget)
Photographs: Getty Images; Collage: Gabe Conte
We played Goldilocks and found the mattresses that suit practically everyone.
All products featured on GQ are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Despite recent conjecture otherwise, you don't need a chemistry PhD to find a mattress that works for you. These days, you're usually looking for the best mattress in a box. Not only can a shippable internet mattress be yours in a few clicks, but you can also avoid all the snafus that come with perusing brick-and-mortar mattress stores: high prices, scheduling deliveries, creepy sales people asking increasingly invasive questions about how you sleep, etc.
There's just one catch: You can't try it out first before having the thing shipped to your house and lugged up the stairs. Thankfully, most bedding companies that are truly worth their salt offer no-risk returns (more on that below), even a full calendar year after your purchase date. But it's always nice to have a clear sense of what you're getting into before you add an expensive, hemmed-and-hawed-over mattress to cart.
Which is where we come in. Over the past few years, we've actually built our own mattress emporium exclusively from mattresses in a box.
The Best Mattresses, at a glance
The Overall Best Mattress: Helix Midnight Luxe, $2,099
The Best Mattress for Side Sleepers and Back Sleepers: Casper Wave, $2,895
The Best Memory Foam Mattress: Thuma, $1,095
The Best Budget Mattress: Allswell, $349
The Best Cooling Mattress: Cocoon by Sealy, $1,699
We sent GQ staffers, the sleep-indifferent and sleep-obsessed alike, to put the mattresses through the same paces they would if they were buying them at a store. Everyone's favorite activity? Testing the responsiveness and bounce by running across all of the mattresses (in clean socks, of course).
By bringing all the mattresses in the same room, and bringing editors of all different sleeping types and mattress expertise levels, it became a lot easier to articulate differences in the small things, like, "Where is the line between feeling swaddled in memory foam and feeling like you're drowning in it?" and "Does this mattress sleep hot, or is it just me?"
Everyone tested for qualities like edge support, heat retention, motion transfer, bounce, and comfort, taking note of additional and unusual perks for the price point, and how well each model held up to the promises in its branding. From there, each person used their sleep preferences to choose which mattresses to test (firmer spring coil models for back sleepers, for example, or pure memory foam for stomach sleepers who prefer some pillowy cushion to sprawl out on), the way you would if you were shopping for your own mattress.
We've even taken a couple home to really get a sense of how they hold up under scrutiny, because it's hard to replicate the lived-in feel of sleeping and sweating on a mattress for months, or navigating spatial dynamics with a bedfellow. After comparing and testing upwards of 30 mattresses from the internet, we can assure you that the risk is worth the reward.
What to look for in a mattress
Despite all the differences in mattress preferences, a clear through-line emerged. Two factors came up again and again as priorities: The best mattresses in a box should be comfortable and supportive. That's it. Everything else (the materials, the cooling and heating properties, whether or not it offers reclining opportunities so you can prop your feet up like you're lying on a La-Z-Boy) are just icing on the cake. Things to add-on to your mattress wish list as secondary bullet points.
Types of mattresses
Springs? Foam? A combination of both?! In your search for a mattress, you'll come across three general types of mattresses, each with their own set of pros and cons. Here's how each fares for different kinds of sleepers.
Foam/Memory Foam: If you want to sink into your bed like it's a cloud, foam and memory foam is something you'd probably like. It cradles your body, offering a type of soft support that can ease achey joints, while providing excellent body contouring (so it molds to your body). Foam is notoriously bad for hot sleepers because it traps heat, but brands continue to develop new ways to give foam some sort of cooling features to relieve some of that pent-up warmth.
Innerspring: Innerspring mattresses offer harder support than memory foam mattresses, and it's really good for back sleepers. Cheaply made innerspring mattresses will lose their springiness quickly and even cheaper mattresses will make an annoying squeaking sound. This type of mattress is also not the best for couples because they don't do a very good job at reducing motion transfer, so if you're a wild sleeper, your partner might easily be awoken by your movements.
Hybrid: Get the best of foam and springs with a hybrid mattress. Not all hybrid mattresses are expensive, but in general, going the hybrid route means you'll spend a little more money than a full foam or innerspring mattress. You get a softer feel than an innerspring mattress without the quicksand-feel of foam, and it's easier to customize a hybrid mattress (depending on what certain brands offer) to suit your preferences.
How to measure comfort and support
Comfort is easy to conceptualize. How comfortable does it feel to lay on this? How hot does it get? Do I like the cradling of the foam, or the bounce of a coil spring mattress—or a little bit of both?
The support part is harder, and really boils down to your body type. Hammocks and bean bags are comfortable, but let us know how supported your back feels after sleeping in them for a year. Generally, thicker mattresses and denser materials will be created with multiple layers of support to them (like layers of foam, some spongier and others harder, as you'll find in a mattress like the Casper Original). Others, like "hybrid" models, replace the popular spring support models of yore with a combination of bouncy coils on the bottom and soft supportive foam or gel layers on the top that provide additional comfort and support.
How you interpret what's supportive and what's not has a lot to do with how much you weigh and your preferred sleep position. If you are an average-sized male adult, for example, you already have some options eliminated for you. A medium-soft or soft mattress likely won't provide enough support for your frame, and you'll probably prefer something on the firm to medium-firm side of the spectrum. Side sleepers, whose hips and shoulders dig into the bed and create uneven pressure, might lean toward soft but supportive medium options that have some give but still keep the spine aligned and pressure even.
With all that in mind, we've created this guide to help take the guesswork out of buying the best mattress in a box online. To make sure we bring you the best and most up-to-date mattress reviews in 2022, we'll keep testing new ones all year round. When combined with our favorite sheet sets, pillows, and comforters, these mattresses provide what we think is the best possible sleep experience you'll ever get. (And if you can't pull off a new bed, you can try upgrading what you have with our favorite mattress toppers.) Without further ado, here are the best mattresses in a box for every price and every sleeping style.
Helix Midnight Luxe: The Overall Favorite
Helix Midnight Luxe mattress
Warranty/Guarantee: 100-night trial, 15-year warranty
Firmness Level: Medium Firm
Type: Hybrid foam and innerspring coils
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At its onset, Helix made fully customized mattresses, which we wrote about a couple years ago. In those days, every company had a one-size-fits-all solution, so this was a revolution. And as the one-size-fits-all brands became, okay, a-few-sizes-fit-all brands, Helix changed too. Helix offers six different versions of mattresses at two price points (a "standard" and a "luxe"), giving a solid option for just about every type of sleeper. It more recently expanded its collection to include a "Plus" mattress for big and tall sleepers, plus a smaller size for kids. In fact, even if you don't buy a Helix, it's worth taking this nice mattress quiz just to get a better sense of what type of mattress will work best.
The Helix Midnight Luxe, a hybrid mattress with a coil base and a luxurious memory foam top, was a runaway favorite among GQ staffers. It's just so damn comfortable ("nice pillow top, but not too soft, with a healthy but forgiving spring," noted one enthusiastic tester). Several staff members also praised the mattress' coolness, which can be attributed to a breathable woven stretch knit cover that keeps it from overheating.
If you're someone who has slept on memory foam mattresses for a few years, you might have forgotten the appeal of a coil base, which adds a little bounce and, maybe just as importantly, a little familiarity for those new to the memory foam mattress world. The mattress is medium firm and perfect for side sleepers: just enough "give" to distribute the pressure on your shoulders and hips, but not so much that you feel like you're in sinking sand. We found all types of sleepers enjoyed it. The obvious downside is the price, but if you're looking for the most comfortable bed, start here.
Two Other Great Hybrid Mattresses
Aviya hybrid luxury firm mattress
Warranty/Guarantee: 100-day trial, 10-year warranty
Firmness Level: Medium to Medium-Firm
Aviya may not be a household name in the bedding market yet, but its beds are favored by a number of five-star hotels that help weary travelers get a stellar night's sleep before rising and grinding the next day. As right of center medium-firm hybrid models, these beds use a springy foundation of innerspring steel coils covered by multiple layers of soft, but dense foam. The result is a blissfully bouncy, yet supportive sleep experience, which is made even sweeter by enhanced edge support in case your partner or relentless cat ends up pushing you right to the furthest corner. We tested the luxury firm option, though you can also opt for slightly more plush or firm alternatives, too. Our tester, who has slept on this mattress for a number of years now, has never had any problems with it sagging or losing its buoyancy, but if for some reason you do, the mattress is guaranteed for 10 years against the odd loose spring.
Saatva classic luxury firm mattress
Warranty/Guarantee: 365-day trial, lifetime warranty
Saatva specializes in high-end mattresses, and its luxury firm option is every bit as ritzy-feeling as the name implies. Shipping wasn't the speediest (a week to two weeks), but the brand's free white glove delivery service got the bed easily up to our tester's third floor walkup without any snags or odious off-gassing upon arrival. We tested the brand's crowd-pleasing, medium firm model—which uses a bed of pocketed innerspring coils topped off with three inches of plushy pillowtop—though there are options if you'd prefer to dial it up with a firmer foundation. Our tester appreciated that the queen size mattress provided ample space for himself, his partner, and 30-pound Goldendoodle, with little to no motion transfer upsetting their sleep in the middle of the night. Combined with the striking off-white color of the bed, he called this mattress a stylish, "dreamy combination of cushion and support," one that didn't trigger any back pain and allowed him to sleep comfortably on both his back and his side. Blessedly, the mattress comes with a lifetime warranty for tuneups down the line, plus a full year's worth of testing to put it through its paces.
The Best Mattress for Side Sleepers and Back Sleepers: Casper Wave
Casper Wave mattress
Warranty/Guarantee: 100-night trial, 10-year limited warranty
Firmness Level: Firm to Medium-Firm
Type: Foam
Casper is the mattress brand that first sparked the online mattress revolution. But what began as a "one size fits all" mattress has evolved into an entire line of sleep solutions offered at a lot of different price points. For your next bed upgrade, you could do a lot worse than just to pick whichever Casper mattress works with your budget and sleeping preferences. But if you're not coming to the mattress game with a hard budget, we recommend the hybrid Casper Wave. After testing many of Casper's mattresses, it emerged as a clear favorite. The Wave is a medium-firm mattress that's extremely supportive. One of our testers slept on one for a few months, and, while the additional firmness was initially a little jolting, they adjusted quickly and, reportedly, "slept like a king." For side-sleepers, the Wave, like many of the higher-end mattresses, will do a much better job cushioning your shoulders and hips, without making you feel like you're sinking.
Sure, it costs a lot and probably makes the most sense for those with support issues or an extreme dissatisfaction with their previous $1000 mattress. It's important to remember that at $2,600, you're not buying a mattress because it's twice as good as a $1000 one; you're spending $2,600 because even marginal improvements in support and sleep are worth the extra $160 a year over its 10-year warranty.
Another Supportive Alternative for Combination Sleepers
Dreamcloud luxury hybrid mattress
Warranty/Guarantee: One-year trial period, lifetime warranty
Type: Foam and innerspring coils hybrid
Dreamcloud's been around since 2017, and in that time they've released three mattresses that aim for a luxury experience at a manageable price point. The latest two are variations on the brand's original luxury hybrid mattress, which typically runs for around $1500, but has a sale price of $999 during Black Friday. For a mattress that's a combination of foam and innerspring coils, it's not surprising that this one falls in that medium-firm sweet spot of being just comfy enough to keep most average-weight people happy, and just supportive enough that your lower back won't stage a protest in the mornings. It's most likely a fit for someone who's a side sleeper or a back sleeper (or both). Our tester called it a "a dreamy combo of pillowy and supportive," with a design that's "nice to look at even before you put the sheets on."
It's taller than a lot of mattresses out there at 14 inches, which can be helpful for people who want a little more elevation (and also a disadvantage for getting your fitted sheets to slide on without a struggle, as our tester found). There's a plushy cashmere cover to it that feels soft to the touch, but if you're worried about overheating with that kind of material, know that there's also a gel memory foam layer right beneath it that's designed to keep you cool.
The Best Memory Foam Mattress: Thuma
Thuma mattress
Thuma
Type: Foam and Latex
Part of the appeal of the Thuma experience is that your choices are limited. Thuma's classic mattress is offered in only one variety: a foam slab (comprised of two layers of polyurethane foam, and one cushy latex subsection on top) all sewn up in a quilted Tencel cover. In this case, less is more. The mattress is an optimal blend of soft and supportive, and our tester reports that laying on it really does feel like sinking into a cloud—but a cloud with seriously firm underpinnings. The foam embodies all the good qualities of an innerspring/memory foam duet, except with none of the bulky heft that such mattresses typically carry. And it sits perfectly atop the Home Award-winning bed frame the brand offers while neutralizing the effects of body movement.
At around $1,000 bucks, it's around the same price as the Leesa below, but we sense that its medium firm foundation will sit better with most combination sleepers than the slightly softer cushion of the latter. Best of all, the thing is ridiculously easy to set up. Arriving in three separate boxes, our tester notes that assembling the bed takes as little as 10 minutes and "offers the satisfying sensation of building a Lego set." Even if, like him, you happened to miss the instruction manual that arrived in one of the boxes, assembly is so intuitive that it can still be completed in minutes without any head scratching involved.
Another Great Foamy Option
Leesa Original mattress
Firmness Level: Medium
Like the Thuma, Leesa's best-selling original mattress is composed of three layers of foam, but doesn't feel anything like the cheaper bricks of memory quicksand. It provides the best parts of the material—solid support, a really comfortable give—while staying cool and keeping just a little bit of bounce. This one feels like a true medium, plushy yet supportive in a way that made our brains want to fall asleep the moment we laid on it.
The Best Mattress for Fine-Tuning Your Sleep: Eight Sleep Pod Pro
Eight Sleep Pod 3 mattress
As one of our Fitness Award winners this year, the five-layer foam mattress Eight Sleep Pod Pro fell into the fitness category based on the sleep tech baked into it that tracks metrics—similarly to how a smart watch would. The Pod Pro includes medical-grade sensors that chart data like your heart rate, respiratory rate, and movement, which are easy to monitor during waking hours with Eight Sleep's app. For the person who wants to get really precise with fine-tuning their sleep preferences, the mattress also includes heating and cooling capabilities (between 55 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit) that you can adjust for each individual sleeper based on whether you tend to burn up or get the chills at night. To sweeten the deal, the mattress even includes a built-in alarm that gently wakes each person with chest-level vibrations and a gradual temperature change, which is a nice alternative to the blare of a traditional alarm.
The Best Budget Mattress: Allswell
Allswell hybrid mattress
It's easy to forget that what you're sleeping on is just fine—or that it was just fine before it got a little old and lumpy. It might feel like your only options are to stay with your old mattress or upgrade to something that's close to $1000. But there are a range of cheaper options that are worth considering for your starter apartment or mostly abandoned guest room. If you're on a shoestring budget, we'd suggest the Allswell mattress. At $329, it offers the best value in mattresses that you'll find anywhere. Allswell, a brand run by Walmart, is a hybrid consisting of an innerspring base and a memory foam top. It's thinner and less supportive, but, surprisingly, it's still pretty comfortable. Nearly all our testers were shocked when they discovered how affordable this mattress was. "This is the kind of bed you'd be excited to jump on if you were a kid," said one editor who visited our mattress showroom. That a mattress this cheap comes with a limited 10-year warranty and a 100-night risk-free trial, is well, crazy.
Another Great Budget Option
Zinus cooling copper hybrid mattress
Firmness Level: Medium-Soft
Zinus has been a big player in the cheap sleep universe for years. Its solid foam mattresses and bed frames. Last year, the company released a bunch of new mattresses, including this hybrid. It's constructed in a very similar way to the Allswell, with a foam top layer supported by an innerspring bottom, though the Zinus is a full two inches thicker. That thickness, which mostly comes from a thicker super soft top layer, makes the high-density mattress feel a little bit more like a traditional memory foam option. You really sink into it. It still feels supportive, but we think that most sleepers will find the Allswell more comfortable in the long term.
The Best Eco-Friendly Mattress: Avocado Green
Avocado Green mattress
Warranty/Guarantee: One-year trial period, 25-year warranty
The standard mattress from Avocado is a relatively simple hybrid mattress in design. It's made with foam and contains coils arranged in five distinct zones. The effect of these zones (the contouring!) wasn't felt as strongly by reviewers as some of the engineered support layers of mattresses like the Casper Wave or the Leesa Legend. The result is something on the firmer side. It doesn't exactly cradle your body, but will provide enough density for back sleepers to rest comfortably.
You can get this from a lot of cheaper mattresses, including the Allswell mattress and the Leesa Original. But neither of those companies are as specific about the sourcing of their materials. The latex foam in an Avocado mattress is organically certified, as is the organic cotton and wool that covers the foam. For you, that might be worth paying a premium.
The Best Cooling Mattress: Cocoon by Sealy
Cocoon by Sealy chill hybrid mattress
Cocoon by Sealy
Warranty/Guarantee: 100-night trial period, 10-year warranty
Firmness Level: Medium-Firm
Type: Hybrid latex and innerspring coils
For hot sleepers who tend to wake up with the sheets and blankets piled around their ankles in the morning, a set of cooling sheets might not be enough to stay comfortable. That old mattress that traps body heat in its upper layers could use an overhaul, too. True to its name, the Cocoon by Sealy Chill Hybrid bills itself as a mattress aimed at curing your overheating woes. It bears some similarities to our favorite mattress, the cooling hybrid Helix, offering adaptive memory foam and innerspring coils that give you a supportive-yet-bouncy feel with less pain on your pressure points. Our testers felt chill as a cucumber dozing off on this bed, but for a cool $200 upgrade, there's also an "extra chill" hybrid version that promises enhanced cooling technology and an even brisker cover.
One tester called it the "perfect combination between squishy and firm," noting that it had good edge support and a great foundation of fabric-encased coils for reducing motion transfer. "We used to wake each other up multiple times during the night with our tossing and turning. But this mattress allows us to sleep without being disturbed by the other person's movement." As an added bonus for people who like to experiment with their elevation, Sealy also sells a Tempur Pedic-like base for $949 that raises and lowers your head or feet area if you want to relieve pressure on your back.
The Best Super-Firm Choice: Brooklyn Bedding Plank Mattress
Brooklyn Bedding Plank mattress
Firmness Level: Firm+
True to its name, Brooklyn Bedding's The Plank is for a back sleeper who wants the firmest bed possible short of laying on the cold, hard floor. While most internet options are either medium or medium-firm, Brooklyn Bedding offers plenty of truly firm options, and the Plank is billed as its firmest. You actually have two options, a .75" top layer or, when flipped over, a slightly-less-firm 1.5" top layer. It's not for everyone, but you'll know immediately if it's for you.
Another Suitable Firm Choice
Novosbed firm mattress
Firmness Level: Firm
The Novosbed is a unique bed with an adjustable hardness. You order the bed in soft, medium, or firm. If you find that firmness not to your liking, the company will send you a firmness adjustment kit that allows you to change the density of the top layers. Our tester, who prefers a firmer mattress, found that the comforter did a really good job of dissipating her body heat. But she also thought that the high-density foam in the "firm" setting wasn't quite firm enough, probably because she felt like she was sinking into its all-foam construction. If you prefer the feeling of a memory foam bed to an innerspring mattress, you'll likely appreciate the ability to adjust the hardness of your mattress.
5 Other Mattresses We Like, With Some Reservations
Awara Hybrid mattress
Awara's Hybrid mattress offers a lot of the same advantages of the Casper Wave. Like the Wave, the Awara contains a bottom layer of thick innersprings, which gives it a bit of bounce and substantial supportive. But the top layers are very different from the Wave's. The Wave employs a lot more tech, like a layer of gel memory foam, to make the mattress feel cooler to the touch and help with pressure relief and back pain. The Awara mattress is, in contrast, much simpler—there is a thick layer of latex foam on top of the springs and a cover made with wool and cotton on top of that. That's it.
This composition makes the Awara feel less supportive, true, but it also makes it feel much more cloud-like than a conventional hybrid mattress. Our tester called it "soft, yet sturdy." That might be the perfect trade-off if you're a combination side and black sleeper, who wants to be cradled to sleep by your mattress.
Birch Natural mattress
Firmness Level: Soft
The Birch mattress is actually made and designed by the same team behind our all-around favorite mattress, Helix. But unlike the Helix mattress, the Birch comes in a fixed firmness that is not endlessly customizable. That firmness isn't really firm…like, at all. Our tester described it as "very plush," which makes the mattress less than ideal for any back and side sleepers. Still, it might not be a dealbreaker for stomach sleepers or a lighter person who wants something that they can literally sink into sleep with. Like Avocado's organic mattress, the Birch is also made from certified organic latex and wool. We think more people will find the more supportive Avocado mattress to be a better choice over time, but if you value softness in your bed-in-a-box, the Birch is a good option.
Tuft & Needle "Original" mattress
At around $900 for a queen size, Tuft & Needle's Original Mattress is a great value. Made with two layers of foam: a comfort layer of softer foam and a base layer of denser foam, it strips out all the bells and whistles and gives you a luxurious bed at a comfortable price. One of our side-sleeping testers who has suffered from shoulder pain in the past found the Tuft & Needle to be the ideal combination of give and support. The mattress' foam contains a cooling gel to keep things from overheating (don't worry, this does not actually feel like a waterbed of goo).
That top layer of foam leans on the firmer side, which makes it just a hair less preferable for the way most people sleep (a combination of side and back), but not so much that you'd really notice unless you hopped between the two in one evening. Another plus: Tuft & Needle's offerings are available at some Lowe's stores, which might make it easier to go out and lay down on one if those 100-day trials strike you as bothersome.
Purple Original mattress
Type: Polymer hybrid
The Purple mattress was the most polarizing mattress tested. It's made out of a proprietary polymer and designed, basically, like an egg crate. A big, purple egg crate. It's a weird mattress, but if you've always been dissatisfied by your traditional mattress options, it's certainly worth checking out. As one staffer noted, "it's comfortable, but might be better suited for a space shuttle."
It's billed as a medium-firm mattress, but it feels softer, probably because it's so unlike the memory foam and spring mattresses we've experienced. It distributes pressure evenly while feeling nice and cushioned—like memory foam, but a little more responsive. One of our testers said laying in it made him feel "like I'd just fallen into one of those trapeze nets." Other staffers thought it slept hot and did feel like you were sinking into it. If you've got the time and the curiosity, a 100-night trial makes trying out something new like this much, much easier.
AmazonBasics memory foam mattress
Warranty/Guarantee: 30-day return window, one-year warranty
Say you want to go even cheaper than the Allswell. As with all things buyable, there's an AmazonBasics offering at a jaw-dropping price. There are dozens of mattress brands that sell essentially the same options (from the same factories) on Amazon, but the AmazonBasics stands out among them for several reasons. You have an 8-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch options, all made of three layers of memory foam. It's not the most comfortable mattress in the world, but it's still made of nice-enough memory foam. The 8-inch might be a little thin in support for an adult male, so we went with the 10-inch.
The memory foam feels fairly standard, and the cover, combined with the middle section of foam, seems to do an adequate job preventing the mattress from overheating. The memory foam might not stay as responsive for years and years, but out of the gate, it'd be hard to tell the difference unless you were able to test nicer mattresses immediately after. You get a 30-day return policy and a one-year warranty, which doesn't quite match up to the other offerings listed here. But do the other offerings even come close to this price? If you want to spend as little as possible, this is the mattress is a box for you.
More Great Bedding Recommendations From GQ
The Best Memory Foam Mattresses to Help You Sink Into a Deep, Deep Sleep
The Best Down Comforters For Every Kind of Sleeper
The Best Pillows for Side Sleepers Offer Primo Support and Cushion
The Best Sheets for Hot Sleepers (And the Blankets to Top Them Off)
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By Lori Keong


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2021 Awards, 26th January
Grace Tame, Australian of the Year 2021
Grace Tame, who took on the law over rape silencing, has been named Australian of the Year for 2021. She is the first Tasmanian to be named Australian of the Year. After a sexual assault at the age of 15, she was unable to speak about her experience due to Tasmania's sexual assault victim gag laws. Ms Tame ultimately applied to the Supreme Court for the right to publicly self-identify as a rape survivor and won. Her case is one of those that has prompted the Tasmanian government to reconsider the gag law, for which it is now taking community submissions. Ms Tame has continued to use her media profile to advocate for other vulnerable groups in the community. In her acceptance speech she said she was focused on empowering survivors and using education to prevent child sex abuse.
(1800 RESPECT is the national sexual assault and domestic and family violence counselling service on 1800 737 732)
Dr Miriam-Rose Ungumerr Baumann (AM) of Daly River in the Northern Territory was named Senior Australian of the Year.
Dr Miriam-Rose Ungumerr Baumann, Senior Australian of the Year
Dr Baumann, 73, is an Aboriginal activist, educator and artist who in 1975 became the NT's first fully qualified Aboriginal teacher. She campaigned for years for visual art to become part of every child's education, and has served on the National Indigenous Council. In 2013, she established the Miriam Rose Foundation, which drives grassroots reconciliation. to bridge the divide between Aboriginal culture and the rest of Australia.
Dr Baumann said, "We have lived in this great country for many thousands of years and 200 years ago we began to interact with whitefellas. And now, Australia has become multicultural. Since then we have adapted to a new way of living. We learnt to speak your English fluently. For years, we have walked on a one-way street to learn the white people's way. I've learnt to walk in two worlds and live in towns and cities, and even worked in them. Now is the time for you to come closer to understand us and how – and to understand how we live, and listen to what needs are in our communities. When you come to visit or work in our communities and leave your comfort zones, I ask that you bring your knowledge and wisdom, but we ask you also to learn and understand how we live and function in our communities, and listen to what our needs are."
The Young Australian of the Year was tonight revealed to be 22-year-old social entrepreneur Isobel Marshall.
Young Australian of the Year, Isobel Marshall
Isobel is a full-time student at the University of Adelaide, where she is studying medicine and surgery. She was just 18 when she co-founded women's organisation TABOO with school friend Eloise Hall. The pair crowdfunded $56,000 to launch their range of hygiene products in August 2019, selling organic cotton pads and tampons to Australian buyers, with all profits going to One Girls, a charity that provides education programs for girls and women in Sierra Leone and Uganda.
Ms Hall said, "Menstrual products should be accessible, affordable, not a luxury or a choice. But the reality is one in every 10 girls around the world can't afford menstrual products and culture stigma forces women and girls to isolate the days they bleed."
She called on all Australians to join the cause. "Firstly, let's change the conversation around menstruation. Those on your period, expect respect in place of shame and be proud of what your body can do. Families and teachers, invest in creating an environment that understands the importance and the strength of the menstrual cycle, and don't shy away from the conversation. And, of course, let's all commit to fighting period poverty around the world." TABOO also provides free hygiene products to Vinnies Women's Crisis Centre, for women in need of emergency accommodation in South Australia.
Migrant and refugee advocate Rosemary Kariuki was named Australia's Local Hero. The 60-year-old – the subject of 2020 documentary Rosemary's Way.
She arrived in Australia from Kenya in 1999, fleeing family abuse and tribal clashes. Her early lonely years in Australia made her realise how isolated migrant and refugee women could be – with many unused to going out alone, having no transport, and struggling to speak English. "It took me a while to feel like this country is home".
Ms Kariuki encourages women to become involved with the community, creating with the African Women's Group the annual African Women's Dinner Dance, which attracts a crowd of hundreds. She also ran the African Village Market, which helped migrants and refugees start their own business. Currently she is the multicultural community liaison officer for the Parramatta Local Area Command, specialising in helping migrants who are facing domestic violence, language barriers and financial distress.
She urged people to embrace Australia's multiculturalism.
"Together we can make this wonderful country that I call home even greater. So let us share what we know and give each a helping hand. Let us embrace our multicultural nation, more building on it and looking for the opportunities and positives. I would like to encourage every one of you to meet someone new from a different background this coming week and see what doors open to you."
Australia's local hero, Rosemary Kariuki
National Australia Day Council chairperson Danielle Roche (OAM) congratulated the recipients. "Grace, Miriam-Rose, Isobel and Rosemary are all committed to changing attitudes in our society and changing lives. They are strong, determined women who are dedicated to breaking down barriers and advocating for people's rights – particularly the rights of women and children."
Inspiring women! Inspiration for us all!!
(Text sourced from Channel 9 news report, 25 January 2021)
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God bless. Peace be with you [Editor]
A fresh look at Jonah
(A sermon by Rev Sandy Boyce, 24th January 2021).
If we can think beyond boats, storms and whales from Sunday School lessons about Jonah, we might find ways that the story is surprisingly relevant.
God called Jonah the prophet to deliver a hard message to the city of Ninevah. God had seen their wickedness and Jonah was to call them to repentance. Jonah was reluctant to go. More about that later. Instead, Jonah fled in the other direction. Sunday School lessons have given a negative spin on Jonah. Shouldn't he have been like those fisherman in today's Gospel reading who just dropped what they were doing and followed Jesus, no questions asked. Shouldn't Jonah have just eagerly shared God's message to the people in Ninevah?
Let me tell you about Ninevah, the largest city of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, on the outskirts of Mosul in what is modern-day northern Iraq. Nineveh was a city great in power, culture, and size. The citizens of Nineveh felt secure behind its massive walls – some 30 metres high and broad enough for three chariots to be driven abreast on the roadway running along their top. The Assyrian Empire was powerful, and sought to conquer the world. Enter Jonah, a Jewish man, who God asked to leave his own country of Israel, and go into the heartland of an enemy people, to declare the coming wrath of God.
Now, the Assyrian empire considered the Jewish God inferior to their own, especially since their own gods had prevailed. Ninevah as a city was thriving, defeating enemies, gaining power and wealth. Nobody would have felt they were evil and needed to repent – they just relished the success they had achieved.
To maintain its power, the Empire had a way of dealing harshly with anyone who challenged the status quo. Jonah knew he risked imprisonment at the very least for the message he would bring. Ninevah was infamous for mutilating and torturing its prisoners. He faced the prospect that he might even be killed as soon as he opened his mouth. The prophet Nahum had called Ninevah 'the city of blood'.
Jonah declared, "40 days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" He had the audacity and courage to speak truth to power, right there in the centre of the city that served as the capital of the Empire. Just 8 words (5 in Hebrew). And God wasn't even mentioned. Nor was there any mention of what the people should do in response.
But, surprisingly, the city listened, took it seriously, and acted. A fast was proclaimed; everyone wore sackcloth. Even the King put on sackcloth and sat in the ashes. I'd like to see a few current day leaders repent, don the sackcloth and repent! The King declared everyone should turn from their evil ways and from the violence that was in their hands, so that God's mind would be changed and the people would not perish. Indeed, that's what happened. The threatened calamity was averted. I could round this off by saying this passage from Jonah reminds us that people can, in fact, turn from their unfaithful ways, and that the voice of a prophet can be extremely powerful!
But we need to read on – the punchline is that Jonah was angry with God when the Ninevah actually put on a show of repentance. He was angry because God's mind could be changed so easily, just because the oppressor had a temporary change of heart and put on a bit of a show. In fact, the Assyrian Empire would quickly return to its ways. History reveals Assyria conquered Israel in waves in the late 8th century deporting most of its citizens. A remnant remained in the north, but the nation of Israel was under Assyrian rule. Tens of thousands were deported and put to work as servants in Assyria. And then, the Assyrians began to populate Israel with people from other nations they had defeated (2 Kings 17:24).
This was a practice called geographical migration, or transmigration, where they would invade an area and uproot the heart of their society, forcing them to move to another region of the Empire. It's a strategy still used in our world. The resulting confusion and terror ensured that the people can never rise against their oppressors. Scholar Christy Randazzo cites three factors: ignorance – since the people had no knowledge about the new place in which they were forced to live and work; starvation ("uprooting" was meant literally: they lost their carefully tended fields, which often took generations to cultivate); cultural trauma because so many cultural practices had been linked to the physical landscape, the land itself. Many turned to the gods of the Empire for comfort.
Empire would cut the heart out of a people, in effect killing their entire sense of "peoplehood." This form of cultural genocide was, and is, irrefutably "evil". It's part of our Australian story and the dispossession and dislocation of First Peoples. It's why the conversation about January 26th matters.
The Assyrian Empire was clearly the oppressor in this story. Violence. Nations and patriots. Power, privilege and entitlement was on their side. Oppressive systems and structures.
Jonah was a lone voice calling for change, for justice, for repentance. Jonah's call for change, had it led to transformative change, would have enabled the nation of Israel to safely live in peace, to be unafraid. His call for change is replicated in those voices from the margins over the centuries calling for transformative change, for the sake of the poor and marginalised. Repeatedly, the biblical witness tells us that God's priority is for the welfare of the poor, the marginalised and the oppressed. The groundswell of such voices led to the Black Lives Matter movement. To the Civil Rights movement. To recognising Aboriginal people in the 1967 Referendum.
How does the Church speak to the Empires of our day? How do we listen to the voices of the prophets in our midst calling for justice, mercy and repentance? To turn from evil and towards good. Modern day prophets, like Jonah before them, will be angry when repentance is lip service only and does not lead to changed lives, nor substantive systemic change that disrupts power and privilege. Injustices need to be named, and structures that created and sustained injustice completely reimagined. Anything else is cheap repentance, the cause of Jonah's anger.
What is needed is a change of heart.
The Book of Jonah may have been written in the context of Jewish people encountering cultural genocide by the Assyrian invaders, to explain what was happening to them. They would have resonated with Jonah's rage. How could Ninevah, the centre of the Assyrian Empire, the one that would destroy God's own people, be reconciled to God? Jonah lamented, "O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you're a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing".
God: gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. God's love is for all, even enemies like the Assyrian Empire – when there is repentance. The prophet Isaiah (Ch19) says, "Behold the days are coming when God's promises are all fulfilled. Behold the days are coming, when I will bless Assyria, my people Egypt to my chosen, and Israel, my inheritance". There is the possibility of many blessed, beloved chosen peoples.
God never gives up hope on anyone, even the least likely.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
A sermon by Rev Sandy Boyce, 10th January 2021
The Day of Epiphany, in the Western church, is celebrated on January 6, completing the 12 days of Christmas. Traditionally Epiphany marks the visit of the Magi, the wise men – Gentiles from another culture – who recognized Jesus' kingship and bowed before him in worship. It begins the season of Epiphany in the church calendar when Christians celebrate how the light of Christ spreads to all people and all ethnic groups. The true identity of Jesus as the revelation of God is revealed afresh to us.
Usually, the Day of Epiphany gets a liturgical nod and not much more. It's when Christmas trees and decorations are often taken down, and the nativity set packed away.
This year Epiphany began in a quite different and shocking way. We had good reason to contemplate the actions of an anxious leader with a manic claim to power.
I'm speaking, of course, of King Herod.
History remembers him as a leader who had no hesitation using violence in a bid to ensure no-one would be able to challenge his authority and absolute power. His power depended on his capacity to convince people that his power alone was legitimate, that he alone had the capacity to protect the interests of the citizens in his part of the world.
King Herod was enraged when he learned from the Magi, the wise men, that there was an infant born in Bethlehem who they were seeking to worship. He smooth talked his way with the wise men, using them as pawns in his quest to protect his own power. He asked them to inform him about where he could find Jesus, promising he too was a devout religious man, that he would like to worship the infant king too (Matt. 2:8). Epiphany this year is a sobering reminder that religious language and symbols can be co-opted as a weapon of earthly political power. Herod was also happy to use his own religious advisers as pawns to retain power.
The arrival of the Magi was a catalyst for Herod to unleash violence. Matthew's Gospel (Ch 2) highlights that there was "fear," "terror," and "lies" when the Magi come calling on Herod. Herod was anxious, and the people under him were cautious and apprehensive. The Magi discerned something was wrong.
The Magi, we are told, did find Jesus and pay homage to him, and then instead of returning to Herod, went home by a different route.
This year, the story has particular poignancy, with the power plays of Herod and the feigning of religious belief and appropriation of religious symbols.
Like the Magi, we too may need to find a different route to travel on from this point.
We speak about Epiphany as a time of light and illumination, a time of revelation, to see more cleraly the revelation of Jesus. Epiphany this year was also a wake-up call – that we need a new direction to head as a global community.
We are tired. Tired of the pandemic. Tired of political life that exploits and delivers partial truth. Tired of economic and political movements that promote nationalism, isolation, and versions of xenophobia. Tired of wealth that is hoarded by a few people while others struggle to simply survive. Tired of the way policy is guided by insecurity, fear, prejudice, and racism. Tired of the overwhelming reality of global climate change and so little we can do when those with power refuse to confront the issues for the sake of future generations. The earth is groaning.
We need a prophetic vision, focused on the light of Christ. A vision that invests in human flourishing and well-being. The story of the Magi is a story to enliven our own faith. They had seen something hopeful that propelled them to undertake a long journey. It was this hope that sustained them. Such a hope in the God revealed in Jesus is one to sustain our actions, our prayers, our relationships as we share in God's redeeming work in the world.
The Genesis reading we heard today begins, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. . Scholars believe it actually says, 'In beginning…'. An action, rather than a time. And that action continues.
Mark's Gospel states its intention with the words: 'the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God'. It suggests the beginning of a new order, a new world that is to come. And it happens through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Mark's Gospel begins in the wilderness on the far side of the Jordan, on the Jordanian side of the river. UNESCO has declared Bethany Beyond the Jordan a World Heritage site, identifying present-day Jordan as the location where Jesus' baptism is believed to have taken place. The Vatican and Orthodox Christian patriarchs have given their blessings to the site. This location was also closely associated with the foundational identity of the Jewish peope. It was where the miraculous crossing of the Jordan into the promised land took place, under the leadership of Joshua.
The location is significant. It meant that a large number of Israelites symbolically left their land, and then re-entered the land. A fresh start. And immersion in the Jordan's waters. Dying to the old ways of living, and rising to the new ways of living, to God's way.
What happened this week as Epiphany began was shocking but it also provokes an opportunity for us to examine our own lives, about what's important. Like those who John baptised, who symbolically left their land and then re-entered it fresh from baptism, we need to ask what we need to leave behind and how we re-orient our lives to the way of Jesus. To pause and ask ourselves what it means to be a follower of Jesus. To ask, who are we? What are our values? How do we love our neighbours as ourselves, those we agree with and those we don't? How do we follow the Jesus way?
Jesus invites us to the way of truth-telling, of mercy and justice, of love, of forgiveness, of repentance, of reconciliation. We reorient our lives to this calling. The prophetic work of the church is to take up the slow work of repair, of re-forming our churches around the deep, unchanging truths of the light of Christ. To reconstruct communities where we can know and speak truth, serve the needy and the poor, love our neighbours, learn to be poor in spirit, and witness to the light of Christ amid darkness. To bring wholeness, and healing. To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God, as the prophet Micah said.
The Jesus Way invites us find a different route than the one that has led us to this point, because there will always be another Herod whose fear and hold on power leads to violence and death. Let us journey through this season of Epiphany, seeking the revelation of Jesus in our midst.
And this blessing for the journey:
May God strengthen you for adversity and companion you in joy.
May God give you the courage of your conviction
and the wisdom to know when to speak and act.
May you know peace.
May you be gifted with deep, true friendship and love.
May you have laughter to fortify you against the disappointments.
May you be brave.
© Valerie Bridgeman, December 18, 2013

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The VTMS Scheme have NINE Radar Sensors strategically located at Koteshwar, Jakhau, Chhachhi, Mandvi, Navinal, Kandla, Balachadi, Chudeshwar and Okha for providing continuous coverage of the entire Gulf of Kutch. The VTMS Master Control Centre is located at Kandla besides Six Port Monitor Stations (PMS) at Kandla, Vadinar, Okha, Bedi, Sikka and Navalakhi for operation and management. Besides the monitoring systems of the Navy and Coast Guard at Okha too could monitor the movements of any ship in the Gulf for interception of any illegal elements. Sensors for measuring tidal and weather conditions have also been established. The data is transmitted through a microwave link. The monitoring is so specific and minute that even small fishing boats entering the GoK can be noticed by the radar stations and monitoring stations of the area.


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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (FOI)
Please could you provide me with the number of known Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel that have sought help from the States of Jersey health services for mental health related issues / PTSD?
Please can you provide for me the number of registered cases of Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel that are currently in the care of a States of Jersey mental health practitioner?
Please could you provide me with the amount of funding set aside by the States of Jersey to tackle mental health related issues / PTSD for Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel?
Please could you provide details of what provision the States of Jersey have for dealing explicitly with Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel that have a need for mental health / PTSD related issues?
Please could you confirm what 3rd party support / assistance the States of Jersey provide to Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel that suffer from mental health related issues / PTSD?
Please could you provide details of those Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel that have been admitted into care in relation to mental health related issues / PTSD and have since been discharged back into their own care or to that of a 3rd party?
Please could you provide details of where the States of Jersey (which ever department may be responsible for such matters) have discussed what provision is needed and in place to assist Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel that are suffering mental health related issues / PTSD?
A and B
This information is not recorded in a reportable format.
To obtain the requested information would require significant resource and involve retrieving thousands of electronic / paper case files and trawling through case notes. This would entail approximately 80 hours of work per 1000 case files which would exceed the 12.5 hour permitted timeframe for answering Freedom of Information requests. Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied.
There is no funding set aside by the States of Jersey to respond specifically to mental health issues / PTSD for Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel. They would have full access to all services that respond to mental health / PTSD related issues.
Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel that have a need for mental health / PTSD related issues have full access to States of Jersey services.
There is no specific 3rd party support / assistance the States of Jersey provide to Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel that suffer from mental health related issues / PTSD.
This information is not collected.
Jersey resident ex and serving military personnel that have a need for mental health / PTSD related issues have full access to States of Jersey services. Specialist mental health / PTSD support are delivered through Health and Community Services.
Article 16 A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive
(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.
Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.


Display your Seasons decks in the perfectly sized Legacy 4-Deck collector's box. Made to truly embrace the innovative diptych package designs this is a must-have display case for any collector. Set your decks up side-by-side in this gorgeous wood collector's box. Features scratch resistant felt lining, a piano finish gloss exterior, pull ribbons, and hidden magnetic closures that secure your decks inside.
These gorgeous new Ace of Spades T-shirts show off the true details of what Seasons is all about.
Each shirts was individually screen printed by hand with the utmost care. The shirts are pre-washed and made of 100% cotton so whether you're performing or lounging around, you can feel as good as you look.
This gorgeous dual-tone dealer coin features recessed black nickel on a shimmering gold coin. The front displays the Seasons logo along with our philosophy for design. The reverse of the coin features our iconic Joker, the Peacock sitting in the eye of a feather.
A limited number of 175 uncut sheets are pulled directly from the factory floor before cutting. These sheets are true pieces of art sure to inspire any collector. Each sheet is indivdually numbered and hand signed by the artist.
Uncut sheets are shipped unframed and signed by the artist.
These rare first-edition sheets are pulled directly from the factory floor before cutting begins. These authentic sheets are true pieces of art that embody the Magna Carta series. The gorgeous scrollwork across the back symbolizes the multiple regions of the Barons uniting against royalty. Featuring the full Magna Carta ensemble this true piece of art is sure to inspire any collector. This limited edition run is a single run and will never be available again.
Each sheet is individually numbered and hand signed by the artist out of a series of 175. A true gift for any history buff.


Lucky Dube – Born To Suffer Mp3.
Lucky Dube – Born To Suffer : today we bring to you a reggae song by a well respected African Reggae Legend Lucky Dube. cope the free full song below.
Download the mp3 to "Born To Suffer" by Lucky Dube Below, Don;t forget to share on facebook or twitter.
I LIKE THIS SONG,BUT I DONT HAVE EMAIL.


Fashion magazine are giving away $5000 worth of Nicole Richie's fabulous designs from her Winter Kate collection and House of Harlow closet. Click Here to enter the Nicole Richie wardrobe contest.
The only downside to this contest is that it is only open to Canadians, but if you live in Canada this great news for you!


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LifestyleNewsThe Latest
A Look At 'Zao Lian' and The Secret Dating Lives of Teenagers in China
by Talia Smith June 13, 2016
by Talia Smith June 13, 2016 0 comment
Join me, Talia Smith, as I travel to Shanghai China, investigating the different facets of life in China. Today I'm taking a closer look into how China's high school system influences the personal lives of its students."
"I don't think any other language has a word for this." Danqi Xie is talking about "zao lian" a popular Chinese saying that literally translates to "early love." "The meaning is extremely negative…" Zao lian is essentially a term that people use to stop young high school students from dating. If there were an equivalent Mean girls quote to paraphrase it, it would be Coach Carr's "Don't have sex, because you will get pregnant and die!"
Danqi attended school in China up until her high school senior graduation, she now attends New York University. She says there is a common understanding and rule in high schools across China that students aren't allowed to date, and teachers aren't afraid of enforcing it. "If a teacher catches you kissing or hugging you may first get a warning, or detention, or more homework, but usually, they call both of your parents."
You can see modern examples at Shenmu High School located in the Northwest province of China. Shenmu's cafeteria is now gender-segregated to avoid any chances of "zao lian." This is a far cry from my former high school on the lower east side of New York where couples could be found making out in-between every period. What is the reasoning behind schools monitoring students dating lives? The major reasoning comes from two words, gāo kǎo.
The "gāo kǎo" is the Chinese college admission exam that just might be 20 times more difficult than the SAT exam. Most students in China spend their whole academic lives preparing for it. Parents line up outside of he school waiting while their children take the gāo kǎo. The gāo kǎo determines your future, if you're from a rural area and otherwise cannot afford education, that one gāo kǎo score could be your ticket into a top school. Unlike American colleges and Ivy's that seem largely ran on bureaucracy, networking, and extra curricular activates. Due to the high-stress nature of the test, schools and parents want little time taken away from their children's studies. Ziao lian is seen as the ultimate distraction and obstacle in preparing for your future.
Although most high school students in China can't be seen being affectionate at school or at home, that doesn't stop it from happening. Danqi says most of the time students may date behind their parents and the schools back, usually by going out on the weekends. However, it does cause a lot of built up angst. "Most people once they get to college they may do a lot of crazy stuff. Not in high school…maybe secretly in high school. Chinese colleges are more liberal. High school is super hard because you have to pass the gāo kǎo but once you're accepted into college, it's easier to graduate college in China so you have more free time to date."
Danqi notes the difference in teen-dating culture in China and other areas around the world, can be found in pop culture. She believes in comparison to China, American TV shows make their high school students seem very adult-like, the situations and plot lines are very mature for high school students:
"Sometimes when Chinese students go to study abroad in America their parents might tell them "don't do drugs or have sex" because much of the perception of life in American schools is what we get from shows and movies like Gossip Girl and American Pie. When you watch Chinese movies that are set in high school- it's never a romance. If it is romance, then it's usually a tale against "zao lian." The ending is always the girl gets pregnant and ends up dropping out and ruining her life. A Chinese drama about a high school love story will usually end tragic because of zao lian. If you compare Korean and Japanese dramas that take place in high schools, the plots are more focused on school than love life, whereas in America it's focused on sex and school." Danqi chuckles when noting the difference between Chinese dramas versus Korean and Japanese dramas "Whenever there is an adaptation of a Korean or Japanese drama that takes place in high school, if there is a love story involved, China remakes it into a college setting."
The stigma associated with teenage relationships seems to be wading down a bit. Recently, the families of a teenage couple sued their high school for recording a video of them kissing and showing the footage, with their faces blurred out, to the student body as an example of "improper behavior." Although they did not win, the case was able to cause conversation surrounding the stigma.
americanChinacollegecultureDatingexamshighschoolJapankoreanlifeLovelovelifenewsNYURelationshipsshanghaistudentworld
Talia Smith
George Henry Longly's 'We All Love Your Life' Debuts At Red Bull Studios
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Max Brenner Open New Flagship Store In Times...


Essays by Hannah Frieser and Luis Alberto Urrea.
In 2008, David Taylor received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his ongoing examination of the U.S.–Mexico border. His investigation is organized around the documentation of a series of 276 obelisks that mark the international boundary as it extends from El Paso/Juarez to San Diego/ Tijuana. These monuments—striking objects situated in impossibly gorgeous and difficult terrain—were installed between the years 1892 and 1895.
In the process of his work, Taylor earned remarkable access to U.S. Border Patrol facilities, agents and routine operations. Patrol agents often refer to their job in the field as "line work" which is an apt description of Taylor's own time as he documented the obelisks. Being on the "line" has given Taylor a unique view into overlapping issues of border security, human and drug smuggling, the continuing construction of the border fence and its impact on the land.
This book captures the complexity of the terrain, the politics, and the human dynamics involved. While the images are documentary in nature, they are so formally and visually compelling that the work ultimately transcends genre.
David Taylor earned an MFA from the University of Oregon and a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University. His photographs, multimedia installations, and artist's books have been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions at the The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut; 516 Arts, Albuquerque, New Mexico; the Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at the University of Texas at El Paso; El Paso Museum of Art; SF Camerawork, San Francisco; Society for Contemporary Photography, Kansas City, MO; and Northlight Gallery at Arizona State University, Tempe. His work is in a number of permanent collections, including Columbia College Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia; University of Washington, Seattle; El Paso Museum of Art; Fidelity Investments, Boston; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Palace of the Governors/New Mexico History Museum. Taylor has completed recent major commissions for artwork that is installed in the U.S. Border Patrol Station in Van Horn, Texas and the United States Federal Courthouse in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Taylor's ongoing examination of the U.S. Mexico border was supported by a 2008 Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Luis Alberto Urrea is the critically acclaimed author of eleven books including Across the Wire, By the Lake of Sleeping Children, and Devil's Highway, all of which document life along the Mexican-American border. He is currently professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois/Chicago.
Hannah Frieser is the director of Light Work, an artist-run, non-profit organization in Syracuse, NY, that has supported artists working in photography and related media since 1973. She has curated numerous exhibitions and her essays and articles appear regularly in photography publications such as Contact Sheet and Nueva Luz.


Gift Coupons now available at the Explore Store!
Tired of underpants and socks?
Suggest to your friends a wonderful Explore Store Gift Coupon! (you'll never have to buy a gift again - they'll get paintings for the rest of their lives). That'll teach them to buy you underpants!
Or....Stuck for a gift idea for the (other) artists in your family?
Maybe you know you want to buy something but can't decide what? - or maybe you want to buy a coupon now and wait for a sale (or a new product!) to get even better value for your hard earned $$$$?
On purchase of your gift coupon you will receive an email which includes your unique voucher code (keep this safe somewhere), and a link to a blank gift coupon (as above) in the denomination you have purchased.
NOTE: YOU NEED THAT CODE. IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!!
If you are giving a coupon to someone else as a gift, you may like to print the coupon, and handwrite your unique code on it.
The lucky gift coupon recipient then only has to visit the Explore Store at their leisure, choose some most excellent products, and enter their unique code in the Discount Code section of the shopping cart at chekout. Easy peasy!
*NB - our Gift Coupons are one use only, and unfortunately any remaining funds will be funnelled to our various offshore bank accounts. SORRY!! Make sure you get everything you want in one go.
(Just kidding. Actually our IT team has serious limitations and is thus far unable to figure out how to handle remaining funds. Please contact us if this makes you sad and we will work something out, as our one and only goal is to ensure you are happy with us at all times).


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City of Winnipeg to Celebrate Bob Marley Day
On March 5, the city of Winnipeg will rock to the sounds of Jamaica's number one reggae icon, as the Canadian city celebrates Bob Marley Day.
This is the second year that the city is observing Bob Marley Day and Chairperson of the Organizing Committee, Jamaican-born Dan Woodstock told JIS News that the day would be used to celebrate not only the life of Bob Marley, but also Canada's rich multi-cultural fabric.
A number of additions to this year's event should make it as successful as last year's celebrations, he added.
Ethiopian cuisine will be featured alongside Jamaican cuisine as an Ethiopian community group, The Ethiopian Society, has been invited to be a part of the event. A charitable organization will benefit from funds raised at the celebration. The Manitoba division of the Canadian Cancer Care Society (CCCS) will receive 85 per cent of the day's proceeds. "It's our way of helping to raise awareness of the disease which Bob died from and which affects a large number of people," said Mr. Woodstock.
He noted that the Bob Marley Day celebration was becoming a popular event in Winnipeg and that all levels of government would be represented.
Mr. Woodstock said the hope was for the celebration to become a major event on the calendar for Winnipeg. He recalled a popular Sunsplash-type event dubbed, 'Black-a-rama', which was cancelled several years ago. "This serves as a rebirth of Black-a-rama, but with a Bob Marley flavour, in honour of the great man whose music has touched so many lives," he noted.
Plans are underway to make the celebration an outdoor event next year. "We want to have an outdoor event, but Winnipeg is too cold in February. So next year we plan to do it in May, which is the perfect month weather-wise for Winnipeg," Mr. Woodstock said.


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Q: FastInject not detecting objectId in Parsley I have just started using Parsley recently and I ran into this issue. The thing is I have a custom component in my project, which is "configured" by Parsley and has a piece of code as follows:
<fx:Script>
<![CDATA[
            ...
            [Inject(id="dateFormatter")]
            [Bindable] public var dateFormatter:DateFormatter;
            ...
]]>
</fx:Script>

<fx:Declarations>
<parsley:Configure />
</fx:Declarations>

My problem is that I don't want Parsley to configure the component entirely. I want to simply use FastInject in MXML, instead of using Configure, like:
<parsley:FastInject objectId="dateFormatter" property="dateFormatter" type="{DateFormatter}" />

From what I found when I searched online, the objectId in FastInject is the same as [Inject(id="dateFormatter")]. Here's the source for that. Please correct me if I am wrong :).
But when I use it, I hit the following error:
 Error: More than one object of type mx.formatters::DateFormatter was registered
Does this mean that the ID of the property being injected is not being picked up? It works fine when I configure the whole component and use the Inject meta-tag, but I don't want to configure the whole component.
Can someone suggest a solution?

A: FastInject by id works if objects declared in the context have an id.
Context configuration
<fx:Declarations>
    <foo:FooBar1 />
    <foo:FooBar2 id="fooBar2" />
</fx:Declarations>

FastInject in your component
<fx:Declarations>
    <parsley:FastInject injectionComplete="handlerInjectComplete(event)">
        <parsley:Inject property="foobar1" type="{FooBar1}" />
        <parsley:Inject property="foobar2" objectId="fooBar2"/>
    </parsley:FastInject>
</fx:Declarations>
<fx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
        [Bindable]
        public var foobar1:FooBar1;
        [Bindable]
        public var foobar2:FooBar2;

        protected function handlerInjectComplete(event:Event):void
        {
            if(foobar1) trace("foobar1 available");
            if(foobar2) trace("foobar2 available");
    }
    ]]>
</fx:Script>

This works for me.

A: Parsley FastInject gets confused when you inherit B from class A and want to inject both by id, while specifying type.
You need to use only one of objectId / type attributes of FastInject

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve
Park Places
Weather and Seasons
5 Best Road Trips
Fly then Drive
Gateway Towns
Stops on the Way
Colorado Places
New Mexico Places
Utah Places
Wyoming Places
Camping and RV Parks
Hotels and Cabins
Restaurants, Dining, Breweries, & Distilleries
Attractions and Museums
Best Hiking Trails
Neighbouring Parks
Park Itineraries
Great Smoky
Utah Parks
NPTM Privacy
Explore Colorado National Parks
We love Colorado and exploring its national park sites with diverse and unexpected landscapes. Rocky Mountain National Park spans the Continental Divide with alpine lakes, the headwaters of the Colorado River and dozens of mountain peaks. Mesa Verde National Park showcases human history at ancient cliff dwellings from 1,400 years ago. Sled or hike a spectacular array of dunes trapped by mountains at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, and watch birds take a deep dive between the vertical canyon walls of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We invite you to travel the depths of Colorado and discover your own place of adventure.
Spanning the Continental Divide, the park stretches across 415 square miles filled with alpine lakes, the headwaters of the Colorado River and dozens of mountain peaks.
Described as the pyramids of North America, the ancient ruins at Mesa Verde hold the early stories of our nation from 1,400 years ago.
Is this south central Colorado or the Sahara? It's not always easy to tell at this unique park where the continent's tallest sand dunes join the rugged Sangre de Cristo mountains.
At this impossibly sheer, narrow canyon in southwestern Colorado, 40 feet at it's narrowest, rock walls plunge a half mile down.
Best known for its vistas from the 23-mile scenic Rim Rock Drive, the park also is a great place to hike, watch wildlife and stargaze.
The dinosaur bones at this park would be reason enough to stop here, but the monument also has excellent river rafting, hiking and ancient rock art panels.
Top 9 Colorado Hot Springs Soaking Spots
Colorado is blessed with naturally-heated mineral waters. Here are our favorite places to soak.
What to Pack for Your Rocky Mountain National Park Vacation
How do you pack for a place where temperatures can fluctuate 35 degrees in one day? Here are the top 14 items to bring to the park.
Where Can I See Wild Animals in Colorado's National Parks?
Home to thousands of elk, mule deer, marmots, bighorns, and the occasional black bear.
Regardless of where you start your vacation, you'll find an exciting scenic route to the park when you follow our suggested maps and itineraries.
Stop on your way to the parks to see wild horses, caves, hiking trails, vineyards, mountain peaks, historic towns and attractions.
Where is Rocky Mountain National Park?
Head for northeast Colorado. The park is flanked by Estes Park on the east and Grand Lake on the west.
300 days of sunshine a year, no crowds, snow play areas, backcountry skiing, and snowshoeing are just a start to fun activities during wintertime
Join Tamron photographers in your favorite national parks
Which Rocky Mountain Park Trail Should I Hike?
Find your perfect hiking trail in Rocky Mountain National Park by answering a few questions. Then view our personalized guide to the trail.
Old Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park
Great Getaway in Lyons near Rocky Mountain National Park
How Do I Stay Safe from Lightning at High Elevations?
© 2019 National Park Trips Media. All rights reserved.


text:
Ronda Rousey belongs 'in the top three' in pound-for-pound rankings
Few, if any, would argue Ronda Rousey isn't the top female fighter on the planet. While Cyborg Justino might take issue with the claim, Rousey is demonstrably more accomplished given her status as the UFC women's bantamweight champion.
Yet, the question remains, how does she stack up against the best of the men? According to Rousey's coach Edmond Tarverdyan, the answer is right at the top.
Top three, for sure. Top three, yes, he told Ariel Helwani on Monday's The MMA Hour. Ronda finishes every fight. Ronda finishes every fight, she's amazing. With the skills and the hard work and what she shows in the Octagon.
With 16 seconds, she showed everything. Good punch, good knee, good takedown, good ground and pound. This girl did everything in 16 seconds, so she is in the top three. The way she performed against Sara McMann also, silver medalist, and the way she controlled her on the cage. Put those combinations together, mixed it up with elbows, everything, and dropped her. It's great.
As Tarverdyan sees it, it's not merely that Rousey's wins or accomplishments count. Certainly those count, but they don't tell the sum total of her career. According to him, it's the nature of how she's winning that also should be taken into account.
You have a girl that's a great grappler, he explained. The first opponent she knocks out, she gets it from the liver shot. Think about that. That's very difficult to do. In boxing, when we build our fighters, the way I do it is to make them understand the body shots. We work on that because it's going to be very important in a twelve-round fight. You drop people from the body, so you learn that in the beginning of your career when you're getting what people call those tomato cans to fight.
But it's a learning process, so you can be ready for that big fight. Ronda's first knockout she gets is from the body. That's amazing. That's amazing because she was dropping people in the gym with the body shots. She did it. She was dropping people in the gym with head shots, the overhand right. In this case, she did it. She's an amazing athlete.
While the debate is likely to rage over where Rousey belongs in the pound-for-pound rankings in addition to how Tarerdyan's comments exacerbate the back and forth, the coach of the UFC champion is unwavering in his belief.
What I see with her, yes, the fights finish early, but she's the best in the world, he argued. She's should be in the top three.
'Bigfoot' Silva: I want to finish Andrei Arlovski this time
Antonio Bigfoot Silva and Andrei Arlovski will meet again, and the Brazilian heavyweight wants to go 2-0 against the former UFC champion with a finish.
Bigfoot and Arlovski battled for three rounds in Strikeforce in 2010. Four years and four months later, Silva, who won that bout via unanimous decision, headlines the UFC Fight Night 51 card in his homeland of Brasilia, Brazil.
We fought once and we know what we can do, but we fought four years ago and I changed my game a lot since, Silva told MMAFighting.com. I was too anxious in that fight. It was the second time I was fighting a well-known fighter, after Ricco Rodriguez, so I wanted the win no matter what. I tried to finish him but I couldn't. I'm sure that it's going to be different this time.
I will do everything I can to finish him, he added. I don't like to let the fight go to a decision, we never know what the judges are going to do. My goal is to end it as soon as possible, but I will be ready for five rounds. I will try to submit or knock him out all the time. Arlovski deserves respect, but I only care about myself.
Bigfoot asked the UFC to fight at the Fight Night card in Brasilia on Sept. 13, but Arlovski wasn't the opponent he had in mind. The American Top Team heavyweight campaigned for a bout against Josh Barnett, but is happy to face a former champion.
I really wanted to fight Josh, but the UFC thought that Andrei Arlovski would be a better fight right now, he said. He's a really tough opponent, a former heavyweight champion, and I'm happy to headline a UFC card in Brazil against him.
Out of the UFC since 2008, Arlovski returned to the Octagon in June with a split decision victory over Brendan Schaub. UFC president Dana White criticized both fighters for their performances, but Silva won't underestimate Arlovski.
It was a weak fight, technically speaking. Neither fighter wanted to expose, he said. It was an ugly fight, but I'm pretty sure he will be back better this time. He will be back better trained, and I know he wants to fight better.
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