Bedok North Woods is approximately 9 minutes (760m) walk away from Bedok MRT Station.
In terms of pricing, excluding grants, 3-room from $272K and 4-room from $408K.
This development consists of 357 units of 3- and 4-room flats. Together with 3 linear garden spaces connected by a green circulation spine, shelters and trellises, residents can enjoy the experience of strolling through a landscaped garden within the project and the neighbouring greenery.
All units are facing South and might have at least 8 months in a year exposed to 3pm west sun, and particularly Unit 407 might have additional exposure to west sun all year round due to side walls.
All units might have minimal wind due to blockage of surrounding buildings.
Unit 405 is situated right beside the lift which can be accessed by public, this may pose a security concern for future homeowners.
For Block 429B, the lift ratio is 1:45, which turns out to be moderate.
Both units are facing towards North and both units have at least 5 months exposure to 3pm west sun, particularly Unit 409 might have additional exposure to west sun due to side walls.
Both units might enjoy moderate wind from the North direction.
Both units are situated right beside an open staircase which can be accessed by public, this may pose a security concern for future homeowners.
Both units are facing towards South and both units have at least 2 months exposure to 3pm west sun.
All units facing towards South might be able to enjoy the South East direction wind without any blockage of surrounding buildings.
For Block 431A, the lift ratio is 1:42, which turns out to be moderate.


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Africa, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Development & Aid, Education, Featured, Headlines, Indigenous Rights, Natural Resources, Poverty & SDGs, TerraViva United Nations
Agroecology in Africa: Mitigation the Old New Way
By Frederic Mousseau	Reprint | | Print | |En español
Frederic Mousseau, Policy Director of the Oakland Institute, coordinated the research for the Institute's agroeocology project.
OAKLAND, California, Jan 11 2016 (IPS) - Millions of African farmers don't need to adapt to climate change. They have done that already.
Frederic Mousseau
Like many others across the continent, indigenous communities in Ethiopia's Gamo Highlands are well prepared against climate variations. The high biodiversity, which forms the basis of their traditional enset-based agricultural systems, allows them to easily adjust their farming practices, including the crops they grow, to climate variations.
People in Gamo are also used to managing their environment and natural resources in sound and sustainable ways, rooted in ancestral knowledge and customs, which makes them resilient to floods or droughts. Although African indigenous systems are often perceived as backward by central governments, they have a lot of learning to offer to the rest of the world when contemplating the challenges of climate change and food insecurity.
Often building on such indigenous knowledge, farmers all over the African continent have assembled a tremendous mass of successful experiences and innovations in agriculture. These efforts have steadily been developed over the past few decades following the droughts that impacted many countries in the 1970s and 1980s.
In Kenya, the system of biointensive agriculture has been designed over the past thirty years to help smallholders grow the most food on the least land and with the least water. 200,000 Kenyan farmers, feeding over one million people, have now switched to biointensive agriculture, which allows them to use up to 90 per cent less water than in conventional agriculture and 50 to 100 per cent fewer purchased fertilizers, thanks to a set of agroecological practices that provide higher soil organic matter levels, near continuous crop soil coverage, and adequate fertility for root and plant health.
The Sahel region, bordering the Sahara Desert, is renowned for its harsh environment and the threat of desertification. What is less known is the tremendous success of the actions undertaken to curb desert encroachment, restore lands, and farmers' livelihoods.
Started in the 1980s, the Keita Rural Development Project in Niger took some twenty years to restore ecological balance and drastically improve the agrarian economy of the area. During the period, 18 million trees were planted, the surface under woodlands increased by 300 per cent, whereas shrubby steppes and sand dunes decreased by 30 per cent. In the meantime, agricultural land was expanded by about 80 per cent.
All over the region, a multitude of projects have used agroecological solutions to restore degraded land and spare scarce water resources while at the same time increasing food production, and improving farmers' livelihoods and resilience. In Timbuktu, Mali, the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) has reached impressive results, with yields of 9 tons of rice per hectare, more than double of conventional methods, while saving water and other inputs. In Burkina Faso, soil and water conservation techniques, including a modernized version of traditional planting pitszai have been highly successful to rehabilitate degraded soils and boost food production and incomes.
Southern African countries have been struggling with recurrent droughts resulting in major failures in corn crops, the main staple cereal in the region. Over the years, farmers and governments have developed a wide variety of agroecological solutions to prevent food crises and foster their resilience to climatic shocks. The common approach in all these responses has been to depart from the conventional monocropping of corn, which is highly vulnerable to climate shocks while it is also very costly and demanding in purchased inputs such as hybrid seeds and fertilizers. Successful sustainable and affordable solutions include managing and harvesting rain water, expanding conservation and regenerative farming, promoting the production and consumption of cassava and other tuber crops, diversifying production, and integrating crops with fertilizer trees and nitrogen fixating leguminous plants.
The enumeration could go on. The few examples cited above all come from a series of 33 case studies released recently by the Oakland Institute. The series sheds light on the tremendous success of agroecological agriculture across the African continent in the face of climate change, hunger, and poverty.
These success stories are just a sample of what Africans are already doing to adapt to climate variations while preserving their natural resources, improving their livelihoods and their food supply. One thing they have in common is that they have farmers, including many women farmers, in the driver's seat of their own development. Millions of farmers who practice agroecology across the continent are local innovators who experiment to find the best solutions in relation to water availability, soil characteristics, landscapes, cultures, food habits, and biodiversity.
Another common feature is that they depart from the reliance on external agricultural inputs such as commercial seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and chemical pesticides, on which is based the so-called conventional agriculture. The main inputs required for agroecology are people's own energy and common sense, shared knowledge, and of course respect for and a sound use of natural resources.
Why are these success stories mostly untold, is a fair question to ask. They are largely buried under the rhetoric of a development discourse based on a destructive cocktail of ignorance, greed, and neocolonialism. Since the 2008 food price crisis, we have been told over and over that Africa needs foreign investors in agriculture to 'develop' the continent; that Africa needs a Green Revolution, more synthetic fertilizers, and genetically modified crops in order to meet the challenges of hunger and poverty. The agroecology case studies debunk these myths.
Evidence is there, with irrefutable facts and figures, that millions of Africans have already designed their own solutions, for their own benefits. They have successfully adapted to both the unsustainable agricultural systems inherited from the colonial times, and to the present challenges of climate change and environmental degradation. Unfortunately, a majority of African governments, with encouragement from donor countries, focus most of their efforts and resources to subsidize and encourage a model of agriculture, largely reliant on the expensive commercial agricultural inputs, in particular synthetic fertilizers mainly sold by a handful of Western corporations.
The good news is that an agroecological transition is affordable for African governments. They spend billions of dollars every year to subsidize fertilizers and pesticides for their farmers. In Malawi, the government's subsidies to agricultural inputs, mostly fertilizers, amount to close to 10 percent of the national budget every year. The evidence that exists, based on the experience of millions of farmers, should prompt African governments to make the only reasonable choice: to give the continent a leading role in the way out of world hunger and corporate exploitation and move to a sustainable and climate-friendly way to produce food or all.
chemical pesticides
climatic shocks
commercial seeds
enset-based agricultural
floods or droughts
Oakland Institute
synthetic fertilizers
the Keita Rural Development Project
the System of Rice Intensification
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There are numerous successful agroecology projects in Africa and worldwide that do not get media attention, while I read slick articles from Africans involved with AGRA and the Alliance for a green Africa quite often. Some of these Africans have studied in the universities sponsored by, or influenced by, the corporate model. They then allow African spokespersons by these industries because there is their career. The governments and elites benefit from the corporate and conventional model through commissions, land sales and many other ways. The ordinary people never profit, and the 'commodification' of African agriculture sends profits out of the country, with some going into the offshore or fake holding company accounts of African elites.
The slower but more flexible agroecology approach is less 'top down' altho' African research and regional agricultural labs, and marketing improvements are part of it. It keeps Africans innovating and building up knowledge about their own resources, e.g. seed, water and markets, and directly benefits society in the long term because women and girls can advance,afford to send kids to school, girls don't have to be married too young and hence slow population and poverty growth, and keep people on the land, not in urban slums. While agroecology tends to empower females, it also keeps some of the local culture going – when villages are uprooted all of that gets lost.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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RECAP: Four Gloucester men deny drugs charge and other cases at Cheltenham Magistrates Court today
Four men from Gloucester will appear charged with drugs offences
Melissa JonesSenior Digital Reporter
Cheltenham Magistrates' Court
Cases of council tax avoidance and drink driving are the typical cases which appear in Magistrates Courts across the country.
These will be among the many cases heard at Cheltenham Magistrates Court today.
They will be joined by four men from Gloucester who have been charged with being concerned in the supply of cocaine, who will appear before magistrates today.
The charges are in connection with a vehicle stop by Support Group officers on Stroud Road in Gloucester on Tuesday afternoon.
As part of the search a quantity of cash and Class A drugs were recovered.
Gloucestershire weather: Here's what happens the day after it hits 25C (thanks to Hurricane Humberto)
Those charged are; John Minchin, 32 and of Ivory Close, Higshanti Allison, 33 and of Hemmingsdale Road, Martell Cunningham, 36 and of Windfall Way and Anthony Edwards, 44 and of Finlay Road.
All four men were remanded in custody.
Updates from cases at Cheltenham Magistrates Court will appear below.
Court is adjourning for lunch and the next cases will be at approximately 2.15pm. Thanks for following our blog of court one's proceedings.
Four men deny drugs charge
Four men from Gloucester have appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to a drugs charge.
John Minchin, 32, Higshanti Allison, 33, Martell Cunningham, 36 and Anthony Edwards, 44, were brought before magistrates in Cheltenham.
They were arrested on Tuesday and charged with being concerned in the supply of cocaine.
Officers stopped a vehicle on Stroud Road in Gloucester, where the class A drugs worth a street value of around £2,000 and cash were recovered.
Minchin, of Ivory Close, Allison, of Hemmingsdale Road, Cunningham, of Windfall Way and Edwards, of Finlay Road, all denied the accusation against them at Cheltenham Magistrates Court.
The next hearing has been scheduled for October 18.
Court resumes
Cases continue.
Magistrates have left the room and will be returning in approximately ten minutes.
Man, 33, jailed for breaching restraining order imposed a week ago
A man got inside a woman's home he was prevented from contacting via a restraining order.
Simon Parnell, 33, of Clement Street, Gloucester, pleaded guilty to breaching it on September 17 and without excuse, attending the address of the victim.
Prosecutor Jennifer Davies said he was given the order a week ago following 'violence against the complainant.'
Earlier this week, he saw the woman in the Regal pub in Gloucester and asked her to return his mobile phone- and she said it could be left at Barton Street police station.
A short time later he left and the court heard Parnell telephoned the victim to say he was in her house.
Police attended and found the back door unlocked and the defendant inside.
In his defence, magistrates were told Parnell had secured a job in Stoke and was due to leave the area, but wanted his phone before making the move.
His solicitor said he recognises his actions were not the right thing to do.
The offences meant Parnell, brought to court from custody, was in breach of a 12-week suspended sentence order for 12 months.
This was activated and another 12 weeks was added for the new offences, to be served consecutively.
We are underway here
A chef from the Cotswolds has admitted driving while over the limit and with no insurance.
Jamie Winfield, 30, of Rissington Road, Bourton-on-the-Water, pleaded guilty to the two offences.
Magistrates heard he was stopped in his car on September 3 on Digbeth Street in Stow, after the vehicle flagged with police it had no insurance.
Winfield gave a reading of 46 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Asked if he had anything to say, Winfield, representing himself, said: "Just apologise for my actions. It's quite embarrassing what has happened really."
He told the court he didn't realise he wasn't insured.
The defendant said he '100 per cent' wanted to take a course for disqualified drivers and would book in as soon as possible.
His ban will run until July 12 2020. Winfield was also fined £700.
Welcome to our live blog
The courtroom is assembling to hear the first cases of the day.


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Saving paper during a Semester at Sea
Find a way to keep paper usage and printing-related cargo as low as possible
Use PaperCut quotas to manage who prints what, and drive mindful printing
Significantly reduce wasteful and thoughtless printing
Right now, there's a ship sailing on an ocean somewhere, filled with enthusiastic school students. That's the extraordinary reality created by Semester at Sea (SaS), a not-for-profit collaboration between the Institute for Shipboard Education and Colorado State University.
With students spending 100+ days at sea visiting 10-12 countries, the SaS team needs to be on top of the supplies brought on board. More weight means more fuel, so they aim to be as efficient and sustainable as possible – even down to the amount of printing paper they carry.
Ships can carry more than cargo; they can carry ideas
C.Y. Tung, co-founder of the Institute for Shipboard Education
Among the numerous unique challenges facing the IT team of a floating campus is the need to travel lightly: "Every pound we carry equates to additional fuel cost," says Layne Hanson, SaS' vice president for public affairs. "We try to be as efficient and sustainable as possible".
An area that needed to be brought under control was the amount of paper taken on board for printing. And with new students each semester, it was critical that the print management solution was quick to understand and easy to use.
"We teach students about ocean awareness and sustainable practices," Layne continues. "Part of that is making them aware of paper waste. Wherever possible – exams and essays, for example – we try to use digital sources. But we still see a lot of paper waste."
"We were looking for a solution that was very user-friendly," Layne says. "Our population changes with each voyage, both students and staff, so we needed a solution that could be picked up easily."
As a result, Layne and the team selected PaperCut for their needs.
"The main selling point for us was the ease of use. We set up students and staff with different printing permissions and quotas. Once they burn through their allowance, students need to pay a small amount to print, and staff have to get permission to extend their allowance."
"I really don't know how else we would have reduced the amount of wasteful printing without PaperCut," Layne says. "Being able to pre-allocate the amount of printing really helps us manage paper and other supplies."
PaperCut has also helped reinforce the scarcity of paper and the importance of thoughtful printing: "By implementing PaperCut, we've been able to reinforce that paper and printing is a valuable resource on the ship."


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From classic styles to beautiful colours, you can choose from a big range of marble wallpaper; but which one is for you? Below we take a look at how to use marble wallpaper to infuse your home with the huge trend.
This marble wallpaper is one of our best-selling in the range. It has an elegant and classic style, whilst the gold tones add a subtle sense of luxury. Use with plain patterns, neutral colours and simplistic furniture to create a stylish living room that doesn't look like it tried too hard.
How relaxing is this 'ink in water' style marble pattern? The dreamy blue tones used to create an airy and thought-provoking pattern are perfect for a home office, study or any creative space. The colour blue also evokes feelings of calm and trust.
Add a sophisticated look to the marble trend by using subtle colours that ensue luxury The colours used in this mural will match well with most decor.
Marble is a great decor option for a young teen who has outgrown their current decor. It is on trend and sophisticated without being too adult.
Quartz patterns are also huge this season, and this quartz inspired marble pattern is an elegant way to embrace it. The complementing colours make the use of brights subtle and easily wearable in any home.
Are you looking for something dark and sophisticated? These tempting blue tones will infuse your living room, dining room or bedroom with a sophisticated vibe. Use with materials such as velvet and golds/silvers/copper colours.


Gomukhasana is a wonderful multi layered posture, there is so much more to this posture than first meets the eye. Gomukhasana is regarded as a royal posture. The cow is greatly respected in India so this posture should be performed with respect and awareness. It provides a time for stillness and appreciation.
Gomukhasana translates from Sanskrit as follows Go = Cow, Mukha = Face. The Cow Face posture and it is also referred to as head of the cow.
Next time you perform this posture, why not spend a little longer than usual in it? Holding the posture allows you to observe and experience the many sensations and benefits that this posture brings.
To bring you into the present moment when performing this posture notice all physical sensations that you experience, observe your breath and become fully aware of the flow of prana and all the energetic sensations that this posture brings.
Begin sitting in Dandasana (the staff pose), both legs are extended and the spine is straight. Bend your right knee, crossing the right leg over the top of the left and positioning the right foot beside the left hip. Now bend the left knee directing the left foot towards the outside of the right hip. The feet should be on their outside edges take your time to line the knees up, so that the right knee is on top of the left, now move the feet if possible so that they are level.
Try to keep both sitting bones on the floor and the torso square to the front. Keep a straight spine as you lift your left arm straight up beside your left ear. Bend the elbow, so that the left hand is behind your back, now reach the right arm behind the middle of your back with the fingers pointing up if possible clasp your hands. Sit tall drawing up your lower stomach muscles. Soften the shoulders whilst continuing to extend the left elbow up. Imagine a diagonal line from elbow to elbow helping to increase the space between your elbows. Direct your gaze to the tip of your nose or close your eyes.
Stay in this posture as you scan through your body and notice any physical sensations, release tension as you exhale, soften the face and breathe slowly through the nose. Feel that the raised elbow acts as an aerial to attract energy. Picture prana entering the body through this point and see yourself creating a triangular shape with your body. Notice energy travelling through your body as you hold this posture without bringing any tension into the body; spend time softening and releasing whilst encouraging prana to enter the body energising your whole being.
After spending sometime in this posture release the arms, uncross the legs, and repeat with the arms and legs reversed holding for the same length of time. Remember that whichever leg is on the top the opposite arm is raised.
Note in an Ashtanga practise this posture is often performed using the same arm and the same leg.
Reduces muscular tension in the gluteal muscles and outer thighs.
Opens the chest and heart.
Raises prana and increases energy levels in the torso.
Aids digestion (due to the torso being unrestricted, the spine being straight and the increased energy levels).
Allows you to come into the present moment helping to clear and focus the mind.
It provides a time for stillness, gratification and awareness.
This is a meditative posture.
Gomukhasana is notoriously difficult for some practitioners; if you experience discomfort it is possible to elevate the hips by sitting on a yoga bolster or a few folded towels, or just cross the ankles (sukhasana) and remember that whichever leg is crossed in front raise the opposite arm.
If you struggle to clasp your hands behind your back use a yoga strap, hold the strap in the top hand allow the strap to hang down the back and grasp it with the bottom hand as you take the lower arm behind your back.
It is believed that all cows are descended from Kamadhenu also known as Surabhi the symbolic cow of supreme abundance, Kamadhenu is able to grant all wishes and desires. Pictures and sculptures of Kamadhenu can be seen throughout India, showing the body of a cow with the face of a beautiful woman providing her master with all the milk that he desires. The horns symbolise the gods, the face symbolises the sun and the moon, the shoulders symbolise Agni (God of Fire) and the legs symbolise The Himalayas.
In some areas of India cow dung has been used for purification and is rubbed into the ground of areas considered unclean. It is also rubbed into doorways in rural areas for purification as the first job of the day. Even today we have to consider the role that cattle has played helping civilisations advance and evolve.


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Kailash Blades is primarily composed of senior ex employees of other khukuri houses, who became dissatisfied with slipping quality standards and working conditions with their former employers. The one goal in mind when setting up Kailash Blades in 2015 was to do things better. Better pay, better knives and better lives for everyone involved. While we may come from different backgrounds our team members have all come from the apex of their respective fields and are committed to setting a new standard of excellence for traditional nepalese manufacturing.
Mandip Rasaili
Mandip is a strongly motivated and highly skilled Blacksmith who has been working in the field and putting out excellent work for over 17 years. Over that period, he became enamoured with the traditional khukuris due to their simplicity and efficiency. Even though, he can make all sorts of traditional and modern blades flawlessly he loves making Angkholas as they're both beautiful to look at and very powerful in hand. He has a knack for patternmaking and has recently been working with Andrew to update certain models
Mandip has loved to play football ever since he was a child, playing barefoot with a ball made up of rags. As someone who spends so much time covered in metal he relishes the opportunity to scrub up and is a notoriously snappy dresser. This is a trait that his son has inherited- they're a mean looking duo. He is a loving and responsible man to his wife and caring dad to his beautiful son. After a hard days work, he enjoys nothing more than going home to their happy and smiling faces, forgetting all the sweat and aches from a hard day forging.
Mandip's makers mark is the star. If you find one on your blade you can be sure that he's made with a lot of heart honouring the traditions involved in making the blade.
Srikrishna "Siru" Karki
Karki is not a name usually associated with knifemaking. Srikrishna is unusual in that he comes from what would traditionally be the the administative and governmental caste of nepalese society, but went into the knife industry due to his sheer love of the craft. This non-traditional style has been a major part of his work for the last 13 years.
While he was initially involved in the forging process, his thirst for knowledge has led to him tackling new and challenging techniques, eventually specialising in new techniques like kydex sheathmaking, ergonomic handles and composite materials like micarta. He currently acts as a pioneer of new processes, learning and absorbing before training up new workers. He has been working with kydex longer than anyone in Nepal and is responsible for all of our Kydex as well as working alongside Andrew to adapt and create new sheath designs for limited runs or custom orders. He test cuts every blade that comes through Kailash and is the first line of defence for QC, while also handling our heat treat. Aside from this he's also our resident photographer- he first picked up a camera for Kailash since then his work has improved enormously. He also has plans to develop some of his own knife designs in future, something we absolutely cannot wait for.
Siru loves pigeons and is a real musical talent. If we're lucky he'll sing and play guitar for us in the workshop, with his voice weaving around the blows of the hammer.
Bikram BishwaKarma
Bikram is a passionate, but has been making khukuris under various houses for the last 13 years. His favourite khukuri styles are those that have more modern aspects to them and his skill in executing them is extremely high.
He's an extremely hard working, earnest man and his family is his number one priority. He has a son who is just learning to read and a daughter in year 3. He wants to provide for them and ensure they have access to as much education as they want and also for them to grow up to be kind and good people. He loves cooking with his family and in his spare time plays a lot of Carrom.
One day he'd like to run his own khukuri house and focus on training up his fellow smiths and reinvigorating their craft to keep them from taking up work overseas and leaving their craft to wither.
Bikram's makers mark is the Sun. Should you be lucky enough to find his mark on the blade, take solace in the fact that it was made with some of the most experienced hands in the industry.
Sisir Mangrati
Sisir is our traditional sheathmaker and is our youngest team member at 21 years old. Despite this he has over 8 years of experience under his belt, and was helping his father with from a very young age. Historically sheathmakers have been treated even more poorly than smiths and have in some ways remained worse off as the industry has developed.
He is extremely skillful in his work and is very open to new skills and ideaa. This is crucial as we're in the process of building him up into a unqiuely talented craftsman, with specialised frog and dap designs already mastered and Kailash planning a deeper push into the nuances of historical sheath design in future. He works without power tools and has built a formidable level of strength and control through his daily work. His power is very much appreciated when the team needs another striker at the forge and his area of the workshop is sought as refuge as it is quiet and filled with the pleasant smell of wood carvings.
He has a beautiful wife and 2 infant children and lives a very clean lifestyle with no drinking, smoking or gambling. He's committed to ensuring his children get education and opportunities that he didn't have access to as a child. He's often watching TV with his kids and has developed something of a cartoon addiction, with the telltale laughter of spongebob coming through the workshop wall from time to time.
Mahesh BishwaKarma
Mahesh is the most recent addition to our blacksmithing team but don't let that fool you- he's been making khukuris for over 17 years.
He's a very ambitious maker who is eager to demonstrate specialised techniques he's learned through his career like making formed metal handles and intricate fullering. He's very keen to take on challenges and advance his skills as much as possible, particularly in modern and hybrid designs.
He is the older brother of Bikram (in fact they are both named Mahesh and Bikram is a nickname). Sometimes there is sibling rivalry in the workshop- neither likes to be outdone by the other. This only helps the pair to improve their skills.
He is married with 3 children and loves watching nepali movies with them in his spare time. Finding balance betwen the stresses of work and family is something that has been difficult for him at past houses, but we're working to get the best situation we can for him at Kailash.
Mahesh's makers mark is the crescent moon (though it could be mistaken for a setting sun) this shape is also found on the Nepalese flag. If you receive a blade from Mahesh you can be sure that it's been made with proudly by a man who wants to make a name for himself.
Ashok Mangrati
Aside from answering emails, managing accounts and performing QC work our management staff all get their hands dirty in sheathmaking and composite work. As Kailash has grown the load on our management staff has increased a lot and the guys are often spread a bit too thin these days. Ashok is a longtime friend of the company (and brother in law of Sisir) who has been brought in to help out.
He helps work flow smoothly by taking over some of the simpler parts of the western leather, kydex or micarta making processes while also keeping the workshop organised and running errands. His relaxed and friendly demeanour has been very welcome to the sometimes stressful and always loud environment in the workshop.
In time he'll be gaining more skill and entrusted more freedom in these areas.
Who knows- as we grow he may find himself taking over one of these areas completely. Regardless he's an asset and a frient to the team.
He has a wife and 2 children in his family and he'd love for them to be able to travel internationally to study, work or just see the world. In his spare time he's developed a reputation as a fierce table tennis player in the local scene.
Bisnu Thapa. Head of Operations.
Bisnu manages every stage of production at Kailash Blades. He gives the Blacksmiths their orders, updates customers on progress, does the final quality checks before shipping and just generally makes sure that everybody is doing their job and doing it well. Having worked as the production manager of houses for nearly 15 years, he's a veteran of the industry and has developed connections and respect with smiths far and wide. In recent years he's taken a big step outside of his comfort zone and has taken over Kailash's social media, helping to give a stronger connection to the day to day operations of the business. He also is responsible for all stacked leather and micarta handle production- talk about an asset to the team.
When not working, he dedicates his time to punching above his weight with his beautiful wife and raising their two gorgeous daughters. He's also the vice president of Buddhamarga Youth Club. With BMYC he organises funding for local infrastructure, funds a free library and other charity work all aiming to improve the quality of life for his extended community.
Radhe Karki. Supply Manager
Radhe's role is very broad and absolutely indispensable. He handles accounts, plans for investments for the business' future, manages shipping and also is the first line of contact for customer email enquiries. He's also responsible for all the western leather sheaths that leave Kailash. Perhaps his most crucial role is managing our stock and raw materials so that manufacturing can go smoothly. In the west this would be a challenge- In the tangle of Nepali industry, ever shifting regulations and import issues this is a superhuman task. For over 13 years he's been navigating the unusual, disorganised and chaotic pathways that are unavoidable in order to source products in Nepal at the right price. He has connections and know how and gets things done. To many in the Kathmandu valley he is the face of Kailash.
When not haggling with a remote villager over the price of some exotic buffalo leather, he'll be either tearing up the streets on his beloved motorbike or tearing up the Football court with his teammates.
Andrew Lucas. Industrial Designer, Strategic Consultant.
Andrew is a Melbourne based multidisciplinary, who does a lot more than just put bottle openers and knives (though he does do that a lot).
He decides which new products Kailash will introduce, what they'll look like and how they'll work. He takes care of its marketing and business strategies and all parts of the branding from the website to the packaging knives arrive in. He soaks up ideas, problems and opportunities from both customers and the teams and spits out new designs, new processes, and new systems. He's also responsible for the full custom section of our website and guides all of those special projects to completion.
He's a trained bicycle mechanic and loves two wheeled machines. Having a worklife that allows him the freedom to dictate his own hours and work remotely has been a lifechanger. He's hoping to set up an old van as a camper to seize these opportunities as much as he can- sketching up bendy knives from under a gum tree a few days drive away from the next set of traffic lights.
Bisnu manages every stage of production at Kailash Blades. He gives the Blacksmiths their orders, updates customers on progress, does the final quality checks before shipping and just generally makes sure that everybody is doing their job and doing it well. Having worked at KHHI as the production manager for nearly 15 years, he's a veteran of the industry and has developed connections and respect with smiths far and wide. In recent years he's taken a big step outside of his comfort zone and has taken over Kailash's social media, helping to give a stronger connection to the day to day operations of the business. He also is responsible for all stacked leather and micarta handle production- talk about an asset to the team.
Thanks for getting to know us!
A hearty Namaste from the entire team at Kailash Blades.


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text:
\section{Introduction}

Gallium oxide (Ga$_2$O$_3$) is a promising candidate to advance existing technologies in the field of high-power electronics and solar-blind ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors because of its large band gap. \cite{Pearton2018} Among the five identified polymorphs of Ga$_2$O$_3$, $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ has the most stable crystal structure and thus has attracted a great deal of recent attention. \cite{Pearton2018}
This material has a wide band gap of 4.5-4.9 eV and its high breakdown electric field significantly exceeds that of the commonly used SiC and GaN. \cite{Higashiwaki2012,Mastro2017}  Most importantly, bulk crystals of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ can be produced from the melt by using melt growth techniques at a potentially lower cost than the fabrications of SiC and GaN.\cite{Pearton2018, Kuramata2016}

In the development of electronic devices based on $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, the fabrication of metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) has  been recently demonstrated. \cite{Chabak2016,Higashiwaki2013,Hwang2014,Ahn2016} For $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ MOSFETs, a semiconductor with a high dielectric constant (high $\kappa$) is desirable to serve as a gate dielectric so as to reduce the device operating voltage.\cite{Kamimura2014,Carey2017} Moreover, a gate dielectric must provide sufficient barriers for both electrons and holes, which requires a sufficiently large band gap to obtain the desired band offsets($\gtrsim$ 1 eV). \cite{Carey2017} Al$_2$O$_3$ has been identified as a good candidate because of its large band gap and high dielectric constant. \cite{Pearton2018,Gitzen2006, Dorre2011}
Recently, Kamimura \textit{et al.\ } obtained a conduction band offset (CBO) of 1.5 eV and a corresponding valence band offset (VBO) of 0.7 eV at the $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ (010) interface.\cite{Kamimura2014} In Ref.\ \onlinecite{Carey2017}, the VBO was measured to be 0.07 eV for atomic layer deposited (ALD) $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ on ($\bar{2}$01) $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and $-$0.86 eV for sputtered $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ on Ga$_2$O$_3$. And the corresponding CBO was measured to be 2.23 eV and 3.16 eV, respectively.  Hung \textit{et al.\ } found a CBO of 1.7 eV on atomic layer deposited Al$_2$O$_3$/Ga$_2$O$_3$ ($\bar{2}$01) interface through capacitance-voltage measurements. \cite{Hung2014} Hattori \textit{et al.\ } measured VBO of 0.5 eV and the CBO of 1.9 eV, respectively, at the $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ (010) interface. \cite{Hattori2016}

Band offsets are critical parameters for designs of heterostructures. However, the reported values for both VBO and CBO at the Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interfaces clearly exhibit a large variability. Take the VBO at the Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interface as an example, the reported value vary as much as 1.5 eV. Such an ambiguity is also found
for some other dielectrics deposited on $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$.\cite{Pearton2018}
Some possible reasons include interface disorder, surface termination, and so on.\cite{Pearton2018}
Given this, there is a clearly a need to elucidate the atomic structures and the chemical bondings at these interfaces.
Besides, most of the recent studies are limited to the $\alpha$ phase, without considering other phases which also have large band gaps and high dielectric constants. \cite{Gitzen2006, Dorre2011}
 Therefore, computational investigations are necessary to accurately determine the band offsets between $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and Al$_2$O$_3$ polymorphs.

In this work, we study the interfaces between $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and Al$_2$O$_3$ using density functional theory (DFT). We investigate four representative phases of Al$_2$O$_3$, i.e., $\alpha$, $\theta$, $\kappa$, and $\gamma$. To overcome the band gap problem, we use hybrid density functional to determine the electronic band structure. The band offsets are obtained through an alignment scheme in which bulk calculations and interface calculations are combined. \cite{Alkauskas2008}
Our study can provide guide for future synthesis and device design, especially for the design of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ MOSFETs.

Our DFT calculations employ the Gaussian plane waves (GPW) method as implemented in the CP2K code. \cite{cp2k}The GPW method can efficiently solve the Kohn-Sham equation\cite{KohnSham} by using Gaussians as basis set and plane waves (PW) as auxiliary basis. We use double-$\zeta$ basis sets\cite{VandeVondele2007} and Goedecker–Teter–Hutter (GTH) \cite{Goedecker1996}  pseudopotentials for all the atoms. Treating the Ga $3d$ electrons as valence is important to appropriately describe its electronic band structure. The energy cutoff of PW expansion is 600 Ry and the Brillouin zone is sampled by the $\Gamma$ point when a sufficiently large supercell is used in the calculations. For direct-gap semiconductors, their gaps are calculated using sufficient large supercells. For indirect-gap semiconductors, their gaps are determined with a k-point mesh. The geometry optimizations use the generalized gradient approximation in the form of Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof  (PBE).\cite{pbegga} The established experimental band gaps of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and Al$_2$O$_3$ are reproduced through an common approach of adjusting the fractions $\alpha$ of Fock exchange in the PBE0($\alpha$) hybrid functionals. \cite{Perdew1996, Adamo1999} In the PBE0($\alpha$) calculations, auxiliary density matrix method adopted to accelerate the time-consuming Fock exchange calculations.\cite{Guidon2010}

The band offsets at the interfaces are determined through the alignment procedure described in Ref.\ \onlinecite{VandeWalle1986,Baldereschi1988, Alkauskas2008}.
For a heterojunction $A/B$, this procedure requires an interface calculation and two separate bulk calculations for bulk components $A$ and $B$. To be more specific,
the VBO of a heterojunction $A/B$ is calculated from the following equation:
\begin{eqnarray}
\textrm{VBO} (A/B)=&(&E_{\textrm {VBM}}^{B}-\bar{V}^{B} )-(E_{\textrm {VBM}}^{A}-\bar{V}^{A} )+  \nonumber  \\
 &(&\bar{V}^{B}-\bar{V}^{A})
\end{eqnarray}
where $E_{\textrm{VBM}}-\bar{V}$ is the valence band maximum (VBM) with respect to the bulk reference level determined in two separate bulk calculations, and $\bar{V}^{B}-\bar{V}^{A}$ is the interface lineup of bulk reference levels determined in the interface calculation. We follow the common practice of choosing the averaged electrostatic potential as the  bulk reference level.
The corresponding CBO can then be calculated from the following equation:
\begin{equation}
\textrm{CBO} (A/B)=(E_{\textrm g}^{B} -E_{\textrm g}^{A} )+\textrm{VBO}(A/B)
\end{equation}
where $E_{\textrm g}$ denotes the band gap of each interface component.
The interface lineup is obtained at the GGA level which can yield almost the same interface lineup as hybrid functionals but be less computationally expensive. \cite{Weston2018,Shaltaf2008, Alkauskas2008, Steiner2014} To obtain the interface lineup, we first calculate the $xy$ planar average of the electrostatic potential and then apply a double convolution along the $z$ direction which is  perpendicular to the interface plane. \cite{Baroni1989book,Baldereschi1988} In the interface models, the asymmetric slabs give rise to finite electric fields across the interfaces under the periodic boundary conditions.
\cite{Bengtsson1999-hv}
To eliminate the effects of the electric fields on the interface lineup, we adopt the extrapolation scheme developed by Foster \textit{et al.\ } \cite{Foster2014} In this scheme, the macroscopically averaged electrostatic potential for each interface component is extrapolated from its bulklike region to the nominal interface position. Herein we take the midway between the surface Ga layer and Al layer as the nominal interface position. The interface lineup is obtained by calculating the difference between two extrapolations at the nominal interface position. This extrapolation scheme has been successfully applied to the $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$/AlN and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$/GaN interfaces. \cite{Lyu2020}

\begin{figure}[ht]
\hspace*{-0.10cm}
\subfloat[$\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ \label{}]{
\includegraphics[width=4cm]{alpha_al2o3}
}
\subfloat[$\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ \label{}]{
\includegraphics[width=4cm]{kappa_al2o3}
} \\
\subfloat[$\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ \label{}]{
\includegraphics[width=3.6cm]{theta_al2o3}
}
\subfloat[$\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ \label{}]{
\includegraphics[width=4cm]{gamma_al2o3_2}
} \\
\subfloat[$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ \label{}]{
\includegraphics[width=4cm]{beta-ga2o3}
}
\caption{Unit cells of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and Al$_2$O$_3$. (a) $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ (hexagonal), (b) $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ (orthorhombic), (c) $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ (monoclinic), (d) $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ (hexagonal), and (e) $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ (monoclinic). The red, green, and grey spheres indicate O, Ga, and Al atoms, respectively.  \label{unitcell}}
\end{figure}
In Fig.\ \ref{unitcell}, we show the units cells of  the four phases of Al$_2$O$_3$ ($\alpha$, $\kappa$, $\theta$, and $\gamma$) and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ studied in this work.
For a structural model of $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$,  the Al cations occupy the octahedral sites and the O anions are in the vertices of octahedrons. Its space group belongs to $R\bar{3}c$. When represented by a hexagonal lattice as shown in Fig.\ \ref{unitcell} (a), $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ contains alternative Al and O layers.
In the case of $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$, the Al cations occupy either octahedral sites or tetrahedra sites surrounded by the O anions. The crystal structure of $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ corresponds to the space group $Pna2_1$ in the orthorhombic class.\cite{Ollivier1997, Yourdshahyan2004}.
Monoclinic $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ has a space group of $C2/m$ with the Al cations on either octahedral and tetrahedra sites.\cite{Zhou1991}
The model of $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ is based on the crystal structure determined in Ref.\ \onlinecite{Zhou1991}.
For $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_2$, we use a 40-atom hexagonal cell comprising eight Al$_2$O$_3$ units. The O anions sublattice is fully occupied and two Al octahedral sites are unoccupied which are farthest from each other.
This model is derived from the cubic spinel structure with a lattice constant of 7.94 $\textrm\AA$ refined in Ref.\ \onlinecite{Smrcok2006}, and for more details of the model construction, we refer to Refs.\ \onlinecite{Yazdanmehr2012,Wolverton2000}. The experimental lattice constants $a$ and $c$ for this hexagonal model are derived to be 5.61 $\textrm\AA$ and 13.75 $\textrm\AA$, respectively.
$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ has a monoclinic crystal structure with the Ga cations belonging to either distorted tetrahedra or distorted octahedra.\cite{Geller1960, Mastro2017} It has the same space group with $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$, i.e., $C2/m$, making it easily form alloys with $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$.\cite{Peelaers2018, Amol2020} The lattice parameters of the bulk $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and the four phases of Al$_2$O$_3$ are obtained through fully geometry optimizations with the GGA functional, which are summarized in Table\ \ref{tablatt}. The corresponding experimental lattice parameters and band gaps are also given.
The band gaps and VBM positions with respect to the bulk reference levels are obtained through PBE0($\alpha$) calculations.

\begin{figure}[ht]
\hspace*{-0.10cm}
\subfloat[$\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interface]{
\includegraphics[width=8cm]{alpha_intf}
}
\\
\subfloat[$\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interface]{
\includegraphics[width=8cm]{kappa_intf}
}\\
\subfloat[$\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interface]{

\includegraphics[width=8cm]{theta_intf}
}
\\
\subfloat[$\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interface]{
\includegraphics[width=8cm]{gamma_intf}
}
\caption{Atomistic models of the Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interfaces obtained from structural relaxations at the GGA level. \label{intf}}
\end{figure}

In experimental studies of the band offsets between $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and gate dielectrics, $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ is commonly taken as the substrate. Here we focus on the technologically important ($\bar{2}$01) surface of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ for which numerous studies have been conducted to find appropriate gate dielectrics.\cite{Pearton2018} Because of the lattice mismatches between Al$_2$O$_3$ and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$,  the in-plane lattice constants of Al$_2$O$_3$ are determined by the $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ substrate. The biaxial strain due to the lattice mismatches causes the Al$_2$O$_3$ epilayer adopt new out-of-plane lattice parameters.
To model the interface between $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, we follow the experimental determined epitaxial relationships of $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ [100] $\parallel$ $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ [102] and $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ [120] $\parallel$ $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ [010].
We construct an orthorhombic supercell comprising a $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ slab with (3$\times$1) in-plane periodicity and a $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ slab with (1$\times$3) in-plane periodicity.
In the interface models, the $x$ and $y$ are parallel  to the [102] and [010] crystal axes of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, respectively. The in-plane lattice mismatches are $-2.2\%$ and $-9.4\%$ along the $x$ and $y$ directions, respectively. The $z$ axis is perpendicular to the ($\bar{2}$01) surface of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ for all the interface models.
When modeling the $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interface, we use the epitaxial relationships of  $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ [100] $\parallel$ $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ [102] and $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ [010] $\parallel$ $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ [010]. The in-plane periodicities for  the $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ slab and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ slab are ($3\times1$)  and $(1\times3)$, respectively.
which gives rises to the lattice mismatches of $-1.9\%$ and $-8.2\%$ along the in-plane
 $x$ and $y$ directions, respectively.
In the case of the $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interface, we adopt the epitaxial relationships of $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ [102] $\parallel$ $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ [102] and $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ [010] $\parallel$ $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ [010]. The orthorhombic interface model contains a (1$\times$3) slab and a (1$\times$3)  $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ slab. The corresponding in-plane lattice mismatches are $-2.4\%$ and $-3.5\%$ for the $x$ and $y$ directions, respectively.
For the $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interface, we consider the epitaxial relationships of $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ [120] $\parallel$ $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ [102] and $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ [010] $\parallel$ $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ [010]. To minimize the in-plane lattice mismatches, our orthorhombic slab is composed of a (3$\times$1) $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ slab and a (2$\times$2) $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ slab.This yields the lattice mismatches of $0.6 \%$ and $-7.4\%$ in the $x$ and $y$ directions, respectively.  For the considered four phases, the optimized lattice constants of the Al$_2$O$_3$ cells strained to the Ga$_2$O$_3$ substrate are listed in Table \ref{tabalstrain}. For $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$, the strained cell is orthorhombic in which the first two lattice constants ($a$ and $b$) are same as the in-plane lattice distances in the corresponding interface model. The obtained band gap of 6.86 eV is in excellent agreement with the experimental value of 6.9 eV measured in Ref.\ \onlinecite{Carey2017}. In the case of $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$, the lattice constant $a$ in Table \ref{tabalstrain} denotes the in-plane distance along the [102] direction rather than along the [100] direction of the unit cell. We also provide the band gaps and the VBM positions through PBE0($\alpha$) calculations in which the mixing parameter $\alpha$ is same as that for strain-free Al$_2$O$_3$ bulk.
\begin{figure}
\hspace*{-0.10cm}
\includegraphics[width=8cm,height=5.2cm]{es_alpha}
\\
\hspace*{0.1cm}
\includegraphics[width=8.4cm,height=5.2cm]{es_kappa}
\\
\hspace*{-0.2cm}
\includegraphics[width=8.6cm,height=5.2cm]{es_theta}
\\
\hspace*{-0.5cm}
\includegraphics[width=8.2cm,height=5.2cm]{es_gamma}
\vskip -0.3 cm
\caption{Averaged electrostatic potential files for the (a) $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, (b) $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, (c) $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, and (d) $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interfaces calculated at the GGA level..  \label{es}}
\end{figure}

In the interface models, O atoms are used to bridge the Al$_2$O$_3$ and the $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ slabs because O atoms can allow flexibility in  bonding patterns. \cite{Lyu2020} For the surface Ga and Al atoms, there are no dangling bonds. Thick vacuum layers ($\sim$ 20 \textrm\AA) are added in the interface model ($\sim$ 60 \textrm\AA) to minimize the image interaction due to the periodic boundary conditions. Our interface models satisfy the electron-counting rule.\cite{Peacock2004,Robertson2011,Lin2011,Zhang2019}   Take the $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interface model as an example, each Ga or Al cation layer contains 12 Ga$^{3+}$ or Al$^{3+}$ ions, respectively, and each O anion layer contains 18 O$^{2+}$ ions corresponding to $-36$ charges. The surface Ga and Al layers contribute $+36$ charges and therefore exactly neutralize the interfacial O layer. The O atoms in the top and bottom layers are passiviated by the hydrogen atoms.
After performing full structural relaxations of the atomic positions in the interface models, we calculate the electronic structures at the GGA level.
The interface models are shown in Fig.\ \ref{intf}, and
the corresponding averaged electrostatic potential profiles are shown in Fig.\ \ref{es}. We then use the alignment procedure to obtain the interface lineups.
The calculated interface lineups are given in Table \ref{taboffset}.
\begin{table*}[ht]
\centering
\caption{Lattice parameters, band gaps (in eV) and VBM positions (in eV) of $\alpha$, $\kappa$, $\theta$, $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$. The band gaps and the VBM positions are calculated at the PBE0($\alpha$) level in which the mixing parameter $\alpha$ for each material is also given.  \label{tablatt}}
\begin{ruledtabular}
\begin{tabular}{lcccccccccc}
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{$\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }&   \multicolumn{2}{c}{$\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }&  \multicolumn{2}{c}{$\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }&  \multicolumn{2}{c}{$\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ } &\multicolumn{2}{c}{$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$}\\ \hline
&Calc. &Exp. &Calc. &Exp. &Calc. &Exp. &Calc. &Exp. &Calc. &Exp. \\
 $a\ (\textrm\AA)$  & 4.80& 4.76\cite{Lucht2003}&4.88 & 4.84\cite{Halvarsson1995}& 11.88 &11.85\cite{Zhou1991}&5.67 &5.61\cite{Smrcok2006} &  12.22& 12.21\cite{Ahman1996}\\
 $b\ (\textrm\AA)$  &   &  &8.43 & 8.31& 2.95 & 2.90 & & & 3.06& 3.03\\
$c\ (\textrm\AA)$  &   13.10 &12.99 & 9.02& 8.94& 5.69&5.62 &13.94 & 13.75& 5.82&5.79\\

$\beta$ &  &  & & & 104.14$^{\circ}$ & 103.83$^{\circ}$ & & & 103.84$^{\circ}$ & $103.83^{\circ}$\\

PBE0($\alpha$)  &0.30 & &0.29 & & 0.29 & &0.39 & &0.27\\
$E_{\textrm {gap}}^{\textrm {direct}}$ (eV) & 8.78&8.8\cite{French1990}&  7.67 & &7.61 &&7.60&7.6\cite{Filatova2015} &4.81&4.76\cite{Matsumoto1974}\\
$E_{\textrm {gap}}^{\textrm {indirect}}$ (eV) & & & & &7.22& && &4.80\\
VBM &4.08  & &3.86&&3.04& &3.20 &&2.94 \\

\end{tabular}

\end{ruledtabular}
\raggedright
\end{table*}

We also consider the situation in which Al$_2$O$_3$ is used as the substrate.
The strain effects on the lattice constants.  and the corresponding band gaps, and the VBM levels of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ have to be accounted for. To achieve this,
We convert the conventional unit cell of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ into a larger monoclinic one with the ($\bar{2}$01) face.  The mathematical relationship between the first lattice vector \textbf{{a}$'$} of the larger cell and \textbf{a} of the conventional unit cell can be represented by the equation: \textbf{{a}$'$}=\textbf{a}+2\textbf{{c}}. The other two lattice vectors remain unchanged and the angle between  \textbf{{a}$'$}  and \textbf{c} is denoted as $\beta'$.
This larger unit cell is strained to the Al$_2$O$_3$ substrate which determines the in-plane lattice constants ($a'$ and $b$). The other lattice parameters ($c$ and $\beta'$) and the internal coordinates are optimized through structural relaxations.
The calculated lattice parameters,
band gaps, and the VBM levels of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ subject to different Al$_2$O$_3$ substrates are given in Table \ref{tabgastrain}. The exchange mixing parameter of $\alpha=0.27$ is the same as that for the unstrained bulk.
The band gaps of the strained $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ cells at compressed volumes are larger than that of the unstrained bulk, which is consistent with the deformation potentials of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$. \cite{Swallow2021} For the $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$/Al$_2$O$_3$ interfaces, we perform structural relaxations and then determine the corresponding interface lineups as summarized in Table \ref{taboffset}.

\begin{table}
\centering
\caption{Lattice parameters, band gaps and VBM positions relative to the bulk reference levels of the strained Al$_2$O$_3$ cells on the $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ substrate. \label{tabalstrain}}
\begin{ruledtabular}
\begin{tabular}{lcccc}

Strained& \multicolumn{1}{c}{$\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }&   \multicolumn{1}{c}{$\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }&  \multicolumn{1}{c}{$\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }&  \multicolumn{1}{c}{$\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }\\
Substrate &  $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$   &$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$    & $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$  & $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$  \\  \hline
 $a\ (\textrm\AA)$  & 4.91 & 4.91 &14.72$^a$ & 9.81\\
 $b\ (\textrm\AA)$  &  9.18  & 9.18 & 3.06 & 12.24\\

$c\ (\textrm\AA)$  &   12.81 & 8.80 & 5.71 & 13.73\\
$\beta$ &  &  & $128.17^{\circ}$\\

PBE0($\alpha$) & 0.30 & 0.29 & 0.29 &0.39 \\
$E_{\textrm {gap}}^{\textrm {direct}}$ (eV) &6.86 & 6.67 & 6.94 & 6.89\\
$E_{\textrm {gap}}^{\textrm {indirect}}$ (eV) &    &        &   6.90       & \\
VBM & 3.57 & 3.35 & 2.97 & 2.56 \\

\end{tabular}
\end{ruledtabular}
$^a$ This is the lattice constants along the [102] direction.
\end{table}

\begin{table}
\centering
\caption{Lattice parameters, band gaps, and VBO levels with respect to the bulk reference levels of the strained $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ on the Al$_2$O$_3$ substrates. \label{tabgastrain}}
\begin{ruledtabular}
\begin{tabular}{lcccc}
Strained &$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$   &$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$    & $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$  & $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$  \\
Substrate & \multicolumn{1}{c}{$\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }&   \multicolumn{1}{c}{$\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }&  \multicolumn{1}{c}{$\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }&  \multicolumn{1}{c}{$\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ }\\ \hline

 $a'\ (\textrm\AA)$  & 14.41 & 14.64 & 14.37 &14.80\\

$b\ (\textrm\AA)$  &  2.79 & 2.81 & 2.95 &2.83\\
$c\ (\textrm \AA)$ & 5.83 & 5.81 & 5.83 & 5.80  \\

$\beta'$ & 56.07$^{\circ}$ &55.73$^{\circ} $ & 54.97$^{\circ}$ &55.33$^{\circ}$ \\

PBE0($\alpha$)  & 0.27 & 0.27 & 0.27 & 0.27\\
$E_{\textrm {gap}}^{\textrm {direct}}$ (eV) &5.35 &5.32 & 5.15 & 5.28 \\
VBM &3.88  & 3.63& 3.42 & 3.46\\

\end{tabular}

\end{ruledtabular}
\end{table}

\begin{table}
\centering
\caption{Calculated inteface lineup (in eV) and band offsets (in eV) at the interfaces between $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and Al$_2$O$_3$. The available experimental and theoretical results are also given.  \label{taboffset}}
\begin{ruledtabular}
\begin{tabular}{lccc}
Interface & Interface lineup & VBO &CBO \\ \hline
$\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ &   -0.33 &0.30 &2.36   \\
Expt.  \cite{Kamimura2014}                                                           &  & -0.70 & 1.50 \\
Expt. \cite{Carey2017}                                                               &  &-0.07  & 2.23 \\
Expt.    \cite{Carey2017}                          & & 0.86 & 3.16 \\
Expt. \cite{Hung2014}                              &  &  &1.7 \\
Calc. \cite{Peelaers2018}              &  & -0.27 & 3.68 \\
$\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$  &  -0.91  & -0.40& 1.46\\
$\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$  &0.55 &   0.54 &  2.63\\
Calc. \cite{Peelaers2018}                                &   & 0.37 &2.74 \\
$\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$  & 0.04& -0.34 & 1.74    \\
Expt. \cite{Hattori2016}   & &  -0.5 & 1.9 \\
\hline
$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$/$\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ &   1.17 & 0.97&-2.46 \\
$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$/$\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ &  0.19 & -0.04 &-2.39\\
$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$/$\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ & -0.24&   0.14&  -2.32\\
$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$/$\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ & -0.23   & 0.03  & -2.29\\

\end{tabular}
\end{ruledtabular}
\end{table}

The calculated band offsets  together with the available experimental and theoretical results at the interfaces between $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and Al$_2$O$_3$ are given in Table \ref{taboffset}. Note the signs of the literature results are adjusted according to the definitions of VBO and CBO in the Methods section. In Fig.\ \ref{figoffset}, we schematically show the calculated valence and conduction band offsets. For $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ on $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, the calculated VBO of 0.7 eV and CBO of 2.36 eV favor the middle of the range of the experimentally measured offsets.\cite{Carey2017, Kamimura2014, Hung2014}  Recently,
Peelaers \textit{et al.\ } calculated a VBO of $-$0.27 eV and a CBO of 3.68 eV between unstrained $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ bulks from the electron affinity rule.\cite{Peelaers2018} The differences from our results partly because that we explicitly consider the strain effects.
For $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, we obtain a VBO of $-$0.40 eV and a CBO of 1.46 eV.
In the case of the $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$/interface, the calculated VBO and CBO are 0.54 eV and 2.63 eV, respectively.
For this interface,
Peelaers \textit{et al.\ } calculated a VBO of 0.37 eV and a CBO of 2.74 eV between unstrained $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ by assuming the electron affinity rule. \cite{Peelaers2018} We suggest this good agreement arises from the fact that the lattice mismatches between $\theta$-Al$_2$O$_3$ and $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ are rather small and the interface model satisfies the electron counting rule.
For $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ on  $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, the calculated VBO of $-$0.34 eV is in good agreement with the experimental value of $-$0.5 eV for $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ on (010) $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ reported by Hattori \textit{et al.\ }\cite{Hattori2016}.  We suggest this  agreement is partly because of  the satisfaction of the electron counting rule in our models despite the fact that the surfaces involved of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ are different.  For Al$_2$O$_3$ on $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, the $\alpha$ and $\theta$ phases form type II heterojunctions.  For $\kappa$-Al$_2$O$_3$ and $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$ on ($\bar{2}01$)$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, there are type I band alignments but the corresponding VBOs are less than 1 eV, thereby indicating not very sufficient barriers for holes.

We then discuss the band alignments of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ on Al$_2$O$_3$. For $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$/$\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$, we obtain a VBO of 0.97 eV and a CBO of $-$2.46 eV. Both the CBO and the VBO are $\gtrsim$ 1 eV, therefore we identify $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ as an appropriate candidate for gate dielectrics on $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ in MOSFETs. For $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ on $\kappa$-, $\theta$-, and $\gamma$-Al$_2$O$_3$, we find that the VBOs are nearly negligible but the CBOs are $\sim$ 2.4 eV indicating sufficient barriers for electrons. Hence, these three phase of Al$_2$O$_3$ can be used as electron blocking layers in $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$-based LEDs. \cite{Lin2020}

\begin{figure}
\hspace*{-0.60cm}
\subfloat[Al$_2$O$_3$/$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ interfaces]{
\includegraphics[width=9.6cm]{align1}
}
\\
\vskip -0.2cm
\hspace*{-0.60cm}
\subfloat[$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$/Al$_2$O$_3$ interfaces]{
\includegraphics[width=9.6cm]{align2}
}
  \vskip -0 cm
\caption{Band alignment diagrams of the interfaces between $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and Al$_2$O$_3$. In (a) and (b), the substrates are Al$_2$O$_3$ and Al$_2$O$_3$, respectively. The signs of the offsets are dropped out for brevity.
\label{figoffset}}
\end{figure}

In conclusion, we studied the band offsets at the interfaces between ($\bar{2}$01) $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and the four representative phases of Al$_2$O$_3$ ($\alpha$, $\kappa$, $\theta$, and $\gamma$) through the state-of-the-art hybrid density functional calculations. The calculated band offsets are in line with the available experimental results.
The modeling procedures in this study can directly be applied to the interfaces between $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and technologically attractive monoclinic (Al$_x$Ga$_{1– x}$)$_2$O$_3$ alloys\cite{Peelaers2018, Amol2020}, and be useful for the study of the interfaces involving (010) $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$.
More generally, the present study shows how to address band alignments at the interfaces between $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ with oxides. The calculated band alignments are essential for the device designs based on $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ such as MOSFETs and LEDs.

\section*{Acknlowledgements}
Sai Lyu would like to thank Prof. Walter R. L. Lambrecht for the fruitful discussions. The author acknowledges financial support from Shandong Normal University. This work is supported by National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou.

\section*{DATA AVAILABILITY}
The data that support the findings of this study are available
from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
THE WRITING OF BEN GILLMAN
Plays & Sketches
Hell Hath No Fury (the play)
Six wildly different women come together for a Surprise Party only to learn the surprise is on them... they've all been sleeping with the same man! It's a terrible discovery that leads to murder and a lot of hilarity.
The Puzzle of Life
In a parody of old detective noir, Detective Zack MacArel confronts femme fatale, Lana O'Shaunnessy, and the ruthless gangster Big Mama, as they try to solve their toughest case - a Rubik's Cube. (10 minute format)
Marching Toward Tomorrow
As the big marching band performance approaches, high-strung Mr. Meister pushes his prized band leader, Bryan, to the limits and they both learn new things about each other. (10 minute format)
On the Corner of Eternity
On the verge of a scientific discovery of immense proportions, Dr. Griffith runs into a homeless woman who could derail everything... or give him a perspective he never saw coming. (10 minute format)
For the past 8 years, Ben has been a member of Fred Willard's Mohos - a sketch comedy group that's been performing all over Southern California for more than 20 years. He's been working alongside writers from SNL, Mad TV, and Adult Swim, as well as comedy legend Fred Willard himself. Below are some of Ben's favorite sketches from over the years:
Romeo & Juliet's Big Ending
It's the ending that Shakespeare always meant to write.
Cowboy Clint's Cowpoke Corral
He's seen a horse literally bite off a man's face.
He's the next big star... along with his hairy little monkey.
The World's Greatest Actress
She can master any accent in the world... except for the one you want.
Charlemagne the Shaper of Balloons
He's the greatest children's entertainer in the entire world... nay, the universe.
The Bank Robbers
A couple of incompetent thieves fail once again.
We Don't Negotiate!
The President of the United States faces his greatest dilemma.
Crosswalk Chris
A Vietnam vet now carries a big, red sign.
The Lampshade (A series of 30 minute one-acts)
Episode 1 - Pilot - Johnny is on a quest to win back Mare (the love of his life). But his bumbling roommate, B, and the hot R.A., Gwen, are going to make everything go wrong before Johnny can make things right!
Episode 2 - Attack of the Big-Ass Phones - Johnny and B reminisce about the crazy night when they first met Gwen, Johnny first kissed Mare, and all their troubles began.
Episode 3 - Once Upon A Time In A Dormroom - Mare comes down with the flu, keeping Johnny and B on their toes watching her while dodging a wrangling cowgirl by the name of Gwen.
Episode 4 - To Catch A Terrorist - B's power of procrastination creates unbelievable consequences when the dorm room is taken over by an inept terrorist holding Johnny, Mare, and Gwen captive.
Episode 5 - Party of Five - Johnny and B decide to throw a party right under Gwen's nose, a feat that is easier said than done especially with a suspicious Mare and an annoying party Guy sniffing around.
Episode 6 - Two Guys, A Girl, and A Stalker - Johnny and Mare try to blow off an annoying neighbor, but B is no help as he goes on the rebound and gets stuck with a crazy chick dogging him around the dorm.
Episode 7 - My Boyfriend's Back... Is Huge - Gwen returns to seek Johnny, B, and Mare's help in freeing herself from a geeky ex-boyfriend who turns out to be anything but meek.
Episode 8 - Back to the Future Rip-Off - Mare sends herself back in time to repair her relationship with Johnny. Be prepared... in this episode, one of the main characters will die...
Episode 9 - Goosebumps: The College Years - A thunderstorm, a shifty friend from Johnny's hometown and a mysterious new neighbor all come together to create unpredictable Halloween hilarity.
Episode 10 - It's A Wonderful Miracle on Lampshade Street - Johnny and Mare can't seem to find a quiet moment alone, and instead sit with B and Gwen and imagine how different their lives could be.
Episode 11 - My Father the Psycho - Johnny finally meets Mare's father, an ex-military man who wants to straighten out Johnny and B and free his daughter. But is he a match for Gwen?
Episode 12 - Revelations - Johnny and Mare's relationship is falling apart as Johnny pursues his possible feelings for Gwen. B attempts to hold everyone together, but will it be enough to save Johnny and Mare?
Ben Gillman
bengillman@gmail.com


I made this bowl on the potter's wheel in my Kansas studio. I applied layers of celadon green slip to the inside and drew through it to reveal white clay underneath. This technique is known as sgraffito. I glazed the outside of the bowl in golden ambrosia glaze and the inside in shiny clear glaze. I then fired it in my electric kiln to almost 2200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Tea bag rest measures .75 inches (1.9 cm) high by 3.25 inches (8.26 cm) in diameter.


text:
Album Review: Wolf Alice – "Blue Weekend"
Bri Lockhart January 1, 2022
Over the course of their eleven years, London-born alt rock band Wolf Alice has proven that they're a band to watch. Their 2015 debut album, My Love Is Cool, was welcomed by fans and critics who celebrated the band's potential, drawing comparisons to the 1975, Radiohead, and ABBA. Their sophomore effort, 2017's Visions of a Life, was met with near universal acclaim, earning the Mercury Prize and NME's label of "Best band in Britain? 100 percent." Their third album, 2021's Blue Weekend, takes what Wolf Alice has built over their past two studio albums and raises the bar further, giving fans even more emotion, more clarity, and more confidence.
The album is framed by "The Beach" and "The Beach II," two tracks that share little in common beyond their names. Evoking Shakespeare's Macbeth with a haunting melody, album opener "The Beach" slowly crescendos, introducing the breakup theme that loosely runs throughout the album with a strong sense of foreboding. The sweeping, gentle guitar and synth of "The Beach II" serve as the final moment of catharsis for the album, closing with a sense of calm contentment amongst a weirdly fitting cacophony.
Within the frame, there's plenty to be found that shows Wolf Alice's range, as well as the versatility of lead singer Ellie Rowsell's vocals. From the softer, pretty performances of the folksy guitar-driven "Safe from Heartbreak (if you never fall in love)" and the Fleetwood Mac-esque sounds of "How Can I Make It Ok?" to the high energy, punk-inspired "Play the Greatest Hits" (a companion to Visions of a Life's "Yuk Foo"), Blue Weekend offers the listener plenty of dimension. Pitting breakup drama against a commentary on fame, the band's confidence shines through their lyrics, with examples like "I am what I am and I'm good at it/And if you don't like me, well that isn't fucking relevant" in the hard rock-tinged "Smile." Lead single "The Last Man on Earth" unassumingly delivers a punch with its commentary on the arrogance and passive tendencies of man, moving from a quiet, calm beginning that works its way up to a piano-heavy rock sound.
Blue Weekend is a rollercoaster of emotions, pulling the listener through a history of relationships of every kind–romantic, to fame, to the rest of the world–taking turns between languishing in and relishing the experiences. There's plenty of their signature combination of shoegaze, grunge, and indie rock, now combined with touches of pop and classic rock. The turns taken on the album may surprise, but they don't shock; Wolf Alice has perfectly melded the different styles of music, crafting an album more akin to an evocative, go-with-the-flow collection of short stories rather than a single linear tale.
With every release, Wolf Alice builds up expectations, and every ensuing release–including Blue Weekend–more than meets those expectations, promising more great things to come in the future. Blue Weekend takes what makes Wolf Alice great and sharpens it into a tighter, more focused piece that explores these relationships, evoking the immediacy of emotion and the wisdom of distance depending on the track. This newfound focus and confidence brings Wolf Alice's music down to Earth without losing that signature edgy shoegaze sound, maturing their sound in the best possible way.
Wolf Alice - "Blue Weekend"
Tags blue weekend Wolf Alice
Bri Lockhart
Bri is a 25-year-old born and raised in the swamps of Jersey. Just kidding, she lives at least twenty minutes from those swamps. She's a publishing professional that moonlights as a writer. She enjoys going to concerts (anything from Rooney to Springsteen to NKOTBSB), roadtripping, and complaining that she truly belongs in the 1950's, the 1920′s, or the 1980′s depending on her mood. She definitely owns more books than she should and reads every chance she gets. If you stop hearing from her, it's because the book piles have fallen over and smothered her to death in the night. You can contact her at bri@theyoungfolks.com. Twitter: @bri_lockhart
Previous Article'Encanto' review: Magic isn't the true magic of Disney's family musical comedy
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Good stuff from Dear Seattle, Retriever, Wolf Alice, and BOY
Randy Radic June 14, 2021
The Young Folks' Top 50 Albums of 2017
Album Review: Wolf Alice – "Visions of a Life"
Bri Lockhart October 14, 2017
2016 Grammy Nominations: Our Thoughts and Predictions
Ryan Gibbs December 7, 2015


Peter Andre and Jordan have been named best couple after more than 20,000 British girls aged 12 to 18 filled in a survey by the website mykindaplace.com.
Woman of the year for the second time was Beyonce.
The Biggest Losers list of 2004 was topped by Rebecca Loos, with other contenders including Abi Titmuss and Britney Spears.
Man of the moment was boyband singer Danny McFly.
Jude Law's new fiancee Sienna Miller was voted most stylish female. In the best TV show category, The O.C. came out on top.


So, the two-way tv sets of Orwell's novel have arrived, over a quarter of a century late!
It just goes to show. Science fiction things like the Star Trek communicator (Motorola flip phones) or the tricorder (some of the enhanced versions of the Newton) or the data Pad (the real world version has an extra 'i') we do pretty quickly, but if its a mainstream novel, the kind of thing that my old Eng Lit teacher would approve of (he snivelled at SF and cringed at its mention) then it seems three isn't the same enthusiasm about replicating its technology.


text:
April 14, 2007 April 13, 2007 by Chicago Boyz Archive
What we currently call the poverty line is so high that only the top 6 percent or 7 percent of the people who were alive in 1900 would be above it.
Robert Fogel (Via Arnold Kling). RTWT.
Categories Economics & Finance, History, Society Post navigation
We are not proud of them
13 thoughts on "Quote of the Day"
I've kept this on hand to remind me the difference between poverty by bureaucratic fiat and traditional poverty. Please excuse any errors in the retyping.
The Specter of Poverty in America
By Robert Rector
Last month, the Census Bureau released annual poverty figures showing that the percentage of Americans who are poor rose from 12.1 percent in 2002 to 12.5 percent in 2003.
It's important to recognize that these figures are a year old. They cover 2003, not the current year. Given current economic conditions, it is extremely likely that poverty fell during 2004, although the official figures won't be available until the fall of next year.
Poverty is a lagging economic indicator. Formal recessions (when the whole economy is shrinking) usually last less than a year. But the poverty rate almost always continues to rise for several years after the recession ends. The last recession officially ended in November 2001, but the poverty rate continued to rise in 2002 and 2003. This is a normal economic pattern that has occurred in most prior recessions.
Compared to prior recessions, the recent recession was mild and had a limited impact on poverty. Overall, the increase in poverty resulting from the recent downturn has been half the increase that occurred in the two last recessions that hit the economy in the early 1980s and early 1990s.
Still, the Census Bureau reports that 35.9 million persons "lived in poverty" in 2003, a number that should cause concern to all. But to really understand poverty in America, it's important to look behind these numbers — to the actual living conditions of the individuals the government deems poor.
For most Americans, the word "poverty" suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing and reasonable shelter. But only a small number of the million persons classified as "poor" by the Census Bureau fit that description. Real material hardship certainly does occur, but it's limited in scope and severity. Most of America's "poor" live in material conditions that would be judged as comfortable or well-off just a few generations ago.
The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:
— Forty-six percent of all poor households own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and porch or patio.
— Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
— Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
— The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens and other European cities. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
— Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
— Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television. Over half own two or more color televisions.
— Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
— Seventy-three percent own a microwave oven, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.
Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family isn't hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, activists and politicians.
Even better news is that remaining poverty can readily be reduced, especially among children. Child poverty in the U.S. is caused largely by low levels of parental work and by the absence of fathers from the home. While work and two-parent families are the surest ladders out of poverty, the welfare system continues to reward idleness while failing to provide support to keep families in tact.
To further reduce poverty, welfare should be overhauled: All able-bodied welfare recipients should be required to work or prepare for work in exchange for the aid they receive. Also, new parents in low-income communities who express interest in marriage (and research tells us there are many) should be equipped with the skills they need to create a healthy marriage, rather than be penalized when they do get married.
Robert Rector is a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
In the UK poverty is calculated by a mathematical formula. Any household with an income less than 60 per cent of the median is officially adjudged to live in poverty. The trouble is that unless there is a huge change at one end or the other, this formula means that the proportion of households in poverty never really changes. Duh! There is no indication whether it is the same households time after time or whether people spend some time being "poor" and then make money. And, of course, the income of those households gets taxed as well, so they have to claim benefits because they cannot survive on what is left.
-Many measures of poverty are flawed because they do not consider income that comes in the form of services or other non-cash means.
-Many measures of poverty are flawed because they look only at income and not wealth. Many people in our society, particularly older, retired people have both low incomes and substantial assets.
-There's a lot of turnover in the population at each income level. Many of the people who were considered poor a few years ago would not be considered poor now. One of the common mistakes is to compare "the poor" in Year X with "the poor" in Year Y without recognizing that these are often not the same people.
veryretired
The constantly repeated "poverty statistics" are a meaningless, politically fashioned number whose sole purpose is to generate a rationale for the establishment, continuation, and enlargement of huge government programs allegedly designed to remedy the situation.
In fact, the various welfare, social security, and other entitlement programs are a huge jobs program for the clients of the statist groups who trumpet these "crises", and the programs themselves have had little or no effect on the numbers of alleged poverty victims. Indeed, during the heyday of the programs' expansion, each increase was met with the claim that more was needed because there were now more impoverished than ever before.
After forty years of the "War on Poverty", a few points are crystal clear.
The trillions of dollars spent on these programs, if simply handed to actual poor people without the creation of an enormous, resource eating beaurocracy which consumed the lions share of the funding, leaving only a pittance to be distributed, would have been more than enough to propel them into the economic middle class, with many of the stabilities and other beneficial effects of that status.
The disastrous destruction of the black family, which can be directly correlated to the imposition of rules requiring that there be no man in the family capable of generating income, in order for the woman and children to be elegible for funding, could have been avoided. Instead, the war on poverty became a war on young black married couples, and in a few generations collapsed a major social stabilizer in lower income and minority populations.
Not inconsequentially, the status of being a ward of the state has done to the minority subcultures just as much damage as it had done to the cultures of the various Native American peoples who were placed in that status during the 18th and 19th centuries. And, just as the NA tribal members were classified by blood into an inescapable status of eternal dependency until some managed to break out in recent years, so too the emphasis on race in various entitlement programs has led minority peoples into the quicksand of claiming race as the quintissential badge of distinction.
Poverty, as has been very clearly demonstrated by the last few decades of economic expansion, is defeated by education, productive work, and the avoidence of several well documented mistakes that short-circuit the achievement of the first two factors. But, as is also clear to any but the deluded, it is not in the interests of members of the statist elite, and those employed and supported by these myriad programs' jobs and benefits structures, to ever actually eliminate poverty as a social condition.
Instead, poverty is a political gold mine whose veins are regularly reinfused with new supplies of tax dollars, few of which, oddly enough, ever end up in the pockets and purses of the truly impoverished.
If something that is supposed to do X continuously and relentlessly produces Y instead, it is legitimate to question whether X was, in fact, ever the actual goal of the process. And a very good argument can be made that poor people are the victims, not the beneficiaries, of the endless supply of anti-poverty initiatives that their compassionate statist benefactors propose.
Several decades of poverty programs have been an abysmal failure, and should be openly examined and recognized as the dangerous mistakes they have been, and are to this day.
elgabogringo
I read somewhere that alot of the poverty numbers were elderly on fixed income (but with savings and no debt) or students (who aren't working. I'm not sure how true that is and/or how well those demographics are filtered out of the final #'s.
relative wealth may be more important than absolute wealth – future pundit has a post on this
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/004181.html
"relative wealth may be more important than absolute wealth"
I am familiar with these arguments.
Politically, maybe, or in terms of perceptions.
Absolute wealth determines things like how long you live, or whether your kids die in infancy, or weather you are damaged for life by disease or injury or being poisoned. All of these things are a function of wealth.
Absolute wealth is more important, absolutely.
There's this thing called inflation. Read about it. Comparing 1900 salaries to today is irrelevant.
vivictius
Which might mean something if they were talking about salaries, but hey, dont let little things like facts get in the way of your politics.
Shawn thinks we here at CB are too stoopid to understand the difference between real and nominal incomes. That I can forgive. But does he really and truly think Professor Robert W. Fogel, The Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of American Institutions and Director of the Center for Population Economics, in the Economics Department at the University of Chicago, and a Nobel laureate, is also too stooopid to get this distinction?
Sure am glad we have someone as smart as Shawn to help clear things up!
Clive Bartley
The American economy should be compared against those of its wealthiest contemporaries. Surely the point of comparing poverty rates today with those of a century ago is purely rhetorical.
Nor should we dismiss "statism" before carefully restricting its meaning. Statism in the economy includes the Federal Reserve, immigration law and trade regimes.
Statist economic arrangements are as complex as the are integral and anyone who asserts they can be dismissed as category is engaging in rhetoric, not analysis.
Many attempts to end poverty through statist means have come to disaster. But some, such as social security, have been largely successful. It's demanding intellectual work to cut through the rhetoric and look at the specifics for poverty programs, but it is essential to understanding them. When we look, for example, at single-payer health insurance as an option, we need to look outside the U.S. to see how the program functions elsewhere in the world. The same goes for farm and industrial subsidies, corporate welfare and public education.
If ending poverty were as simple as eliminating the state's role in economic affairs, the poor would have long ago been banished from the earth.
Lex, I agree, absolute wealth is more important than relative wealth. Even if everyone's wealth were made equal people would still find ways to rank each other based on intelligence, ability, looks, etc, and those of lower status would still be dissatisfied.
Clive, this: "Statist economic arrangements are as complex as the are integral and anyone who asserts they can be dismissed as category is engaging in rhetoric, not analysis." Who are you talking to? What? Seriously, read the article. It has some good stuff in it.
Wade, relative wealth has a huge impact on politics, psychology, all kinds of stuff. It is not irrelevant. It just depends on what you are focusing on. Fogel is talking about things which are much more basic, life-and-death level basic.


Sherry interviews psychologist Dr. Doug Brackmann about the characteristics of driven people. They talk about vulnerability to self-sabotage and discuss strategies for identifying and preventing self-sabotage. They also talk about his unique approach to meditation that involves long range shooting.