To the school librarian, I am Kyle Thomas, the president of the school's English writing club. I have planned activities that will increase the writing skills of our club members. One of the aims of these activities is to make us aware of various types of news media and the language used in printed newspaper articles. However, some old newspapers are not easy to access online. It is, therefore, my humble request to you to allow us to use old newspapers that have been stored in the school library. I would really appreciate it if you grant us permission. Yours truly, Kyle Thomas

When my mom came home from the mall with a special present for me I was pretty sure I knew what it was. I was absolutely thrilled because I would soon communicate with a new cell phone! I was daydreaming about all of the cool apps and games I was going to download. But my mom smiled really big and handed me a book. I flipped through the pages, figuring that maybe she had hidden my new phone inside. But I slowly realized that my mom had not got me a phone and my present was just a little book, which was so different from what I had wanted.

Some experts estimate that as much as half of what we communicate is done through the way we move our bodies. Paying attention to the nonverbal messages you send can make a significant difference in your relationship with students. In general, most students are often closely tuned in to their teacher's body language. For example, when your students first enter the classroom, their initial action is to look for their teacher. Think about how encouraging and empowering it is for a student when that teacher has a friendly greeting and a welcoming smile. Smiling at students ― to let them know that you are glad to see them ― does not require a great deal of time or effort, but it can make a significant difference in the classroom climate right from the start of class.

When it comes to climate change, many blame the fossil fuel industry for pumping greenhouse gases, the agricultural sector for burning rainforests, or the fashion industry for producing excessive clothes. But wait, what drives these industrial activities? Our consumption. Climate change is a summed product of each person's behavior. For example, the fossil fuel industry is a popular scapegoat in the climate crisis. But why do they drill and burn fossil fuels? We provide them strong financial incentives: some people regularly travel on airplanes and cars that burn fossil fuels. Some people waste electricity generated by burning fuel in power plants. Some people use and throw away plastic products derived from crude oil every day. Blaming the fossil fuel industry while engaging in these behaviors is a slap in our own face.

Information is worthless if you never actually use it. Far too often, companies collect valuable customer information that ends up buried and never used. They must ensure their data is accessible for use at the appropriate times. For a hotel, one appropriate time for data usage is check-in at the front desk. I often check in at a hotel I've visited frequently, only for the people at the front desk to give no indication that they recognize me as a customer. The hotel must have stored a record of my visits, but they don't make that information accessible to the front desk clerks. They are missing a prime opportunity to utilize data to create a better experience focused on customer loyalty. Whether they have ten customers, ten thousand, or even ten million, the goal is the same: create a delightful customer experience that encourages loyalty.

We used to think that the brain never changed, but according to the neuroscientist Richard Davidson, we now know that this is not true ― specific brain circuits grow stronger through regular practice. He explains, Well-being is fundamentally no different than learning to play the cello. If one practices the skills of well-being, one will get better at it. What this means is that you can actually train your brain to become more grateful, relaxed, or confident, by repeating experiences that evoke gratitude, relaxation, or confidence. Your brain is shaped by the thoughts you repeat. The more neurons fire as they are activated by repeated thoughts and activities, the faster they develop into neural pathways, which cause lasting changes in the brain. Or in the words of Donald Hebb, Neurons that fire together wire together. This is such an encouraging premise: bottom line ― we can intentionally create the habits for the brain to be happier.

In modern times, society became more dynamic. Social mobility increased, and people began to exercise a higher degree of choice regarding, for instance, their profession, their marriage, or their religion. This posed a challenge to traditional roles in society. It was less evident that one needed to commit to the roles one was born into when alternatives could be realized. Increasing control over one's life choices became not only possible but desired. Identity then became a problem. It was no longer almost ready-made at birth but something to be discovered. Traditional role identities prescribed by society began to appear as masks imposed on people whose real self was to be found somewhere underneath.

《Percentage of U.S. Students Participating in Culture Activities (2016)》 The graph above shows the percentage of U.S. homeschooled and public school students participating in cultural activities in 2016. With the exception of live performances and sporting events, the percentage of homeschooled students participating in cultural activities was higher than that of public school students. For each group of students, community events accounted for the largest percentage among all cultural activities. The percentage point difference between homeschooled students and their public school peers was largest in visiting libraries. The percentage of homeschooled students visiting museums or galleries was less than twice that of public school students. Going to zoos or aquariums ranked the lowest for both groups of students, with 31 and 23 percent respectively.

Bessie Coleman was born in Texas in 1892. When she was eleven, she was told that the Wright brothers had flown their first plane. Since that moment, she dreamed about the day she would soar through the sky. At the age of 23, Coleman moved to Chicago, where she worked at a restaurant to save money for flying lessons. However, she had to travel to Paris to take flying lessons because American flight schools at the time admitted neither women nor Black people. In 1921, she finally became the first Black woman to earn an international pilot's license. She also studied flying acrobatics in Europe and made her first appearance in an airshow in New York in 1922. As a female pioneer of flight, she inspired the next generation to pursue their dreams of flying.

2021 Camptonville Nature Photo Contest This is the fourth year of the annual Camptonville Nature Photo Contest. You can show the beauty of nature in Camptonville by sharing your most amazing photos! Submission - Upload a maximum of 20 photos onto our website www.camptonvillephotocontest.org. - Deadline is December 1. Prizes ∙ 1st Place: $500 ∙ 2nd Place: $200 ∙ 3rd Place: $100 (Winners will be posted on our website on December 31.) Details - All winning photos will be exhibited at City Hall. - Please contact us at 122-861-3971 for further information.

Willow Valley Hot Air Balloon Ride Enjoy the best views of Willow Valley from the sky with our hot air balloon ride! ∙ Capacity: up to 8 people including a pilot ∙ Time Schedule Spring & Summer (from April to September): 5:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. Autumn & Winter (from October to March): 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. ※ Duration of Flight: about 1 hour ∙ Fee: $150 per person (insurance not included) ∙ Note - Reservations are required and must be made online. - You can get a full refund up to 24 hours in advance. - Visit www.willowvalleyballoon.com for more information.

The reduction of minerals in our food is the result of using pesticides and fertilizers that kill off beneficial bacteria, earthworms, and bugs in the soil that create many of the essential nutrients in the first place and prevent the uptake of nutrients into the plant. Fertilizing crops with nitrogen and potassium has led to declines in magnesium, zinc, iron and iodine. For example, there has been on average about a 30% decline in the magnesium content of wheat. This is partly due to potassium being a blocker against magnesium absorption by plants. Lower magnesium levels in soil also occur with acidic soils and around 70% of the farmland on earth is now acidic. Thus, the overall characteristics of soil determine the accumulation of minerals in plants. Indeed, nowadays our soil is less healthy and so are the plants grown on it.

For species approaching extinction, zoos can act as a last chance for survival. Recovery programs are established to coordinate the efforts of field conservationists and wildlife authorities. As populations of those species diminish it is not unusual for zoos to start captive breeding programs. Captive breeding acts to protect against extinction. In some cases captive-bred individuals may be released back into the wild, supplementing wild populations. This is most successful in situations where individuals are at greatest threat during a particular life stage. For example, turtle eggs may be removed from high-risk locations until after they hatch. This may increase the number of turtles that survive to adulthood. Crocodile programs have also been successful in protecting eggs and hatchlings, releasing hatchlings once they are better equipped to protect themselves.

We don't send telegraphs to communicate anymore, but it's a great metaphor for giving advance notice. Sometimes, you must inform those close to you of upcoming change by conveying important information well in advance. There's a huge difference between saying, From now on, we will do things differently, which doesn't give people enough time to understand and accept the change, and saying something like, Starting next month, we're going to approach things differently. Telegraphing empowers people to adapt. Telegraphing involves the art of seeing an upcoming event or circumstance and giving others enough time to process and accept the change. Telegraph anything that will take people out of what is familiar and comfortable to them. This will allow processing time for them to accept the circumstances and make the most of what's happening.

Not only does memory underlie our ability to think at all, it defines the content of our experiences and how we preserve them for years to come. Memory makes us who we are. If I were to suffer from heart failure and depend upon an artificial heart, I would be no less myself. If I lost an arm in an accident and had it replaced with an artificial arm, I would still be essentially me. As long as my mind and memories remain intact, I will continue to be the same person, no matter which part of my body (other than the brain) is replaced. On the other hand, when someone suffers from advanced Alzheimer's disease and his memories fade, people often say that he is not himself anymore, or that it is as if the person is no longer there, though his body remains unchanged.

Over time, babies construct expectations about what sounds they will hear when. They hold in memory the sound patterns that occur on a regular basis. They make hypotheses like, If I hear this sound first, it probably will be followed by that sound. Scientists conclude that much of babies' skill in learning language is due to their ability to calculate statistics. For babies, this means that they appear to pay close attention to the patterns that repeat in language. They remember, in a systematic way, how often sounds occur, in what order, with what intervals, and with what changes of pitch. This memory store allows them to track, within the neural circuits of their brains, the frequency of sound patterns and to use this knowledge to make predictions about the meaning in patterns of sounds.

Some deep-sea organisms are known to use bioluminescence as a lure, to attract prey with a little glow imitating the movements of their favorite fish, or like fireflies, as a sexual attractant to find mates. While there are many possible evolutionary theories for the survival value of bioluminescence, one of the most fascinating is to create a cloak of invisibility. The color of almost all bioluminescent molecules is blue-green, the same color as the ocean above. By self-glowing blue-green, the creatures no longer cast a shadow or create a silhouette, especially when viewed from below against the brighter waters above. Rather, by glowing themselves, they can blend into the sparkles, reflections, and scattered blue-green glow of sunlight or moonlight. Thus, they are most likely making their own light not to see, but to be un-seen.

Internet activist Eli Pariser noticed how online search algorithms encourage our human tendency to grab hold of everything that confirms the beliefs we already hold, while quietly ignoring information that doesn't match those beliefs. We set up a so-called filter-bubble around ourselves, where we are constantly exposed only to that material that we agree with. We are never challenged, never giving ourselves the opportunity to acknowledge the existence of diversity and difference. In the best case, we become naive and sheltered, and in the worst, we become radicalized with extreme views, unable to imagine life outside our particular bubble. The results are disastrous: intellectual isolation and the real distortion that comes with believing that the little world we create for ourselves is the world.

Roughly twenty years ago, brick-and-mortar stores began to give way to electronic commerce. For good or bad, the shift fundamentally changed consumers' perception of the shopping experience. Nowhere was the shift more obvious than with book sales, which is how online bookstores got their start. Physical bookstores simply could not stock as many titles as a virtual bookstore could. There is only so much space available on a shelf. In addition to greater variety, online bookstores were also able to offer aggressive discounts thanks to their lower operating costs. The combination of lower prices and greater selection led to the slow, steady rise of online bookstores. Before long, the e-commerce book market naturally expanded to include additional categories, like CDs and DVDs. E-commerce soon snowballed into the enormous industry it is today, where you can buy everything from toilet paper to cars online.

Literary works, by their nature, suggest rather than explain; they imply rather than state their claims boldly and directly. This broad generalization, however, does not mean that works of literature do not include direct statements. Depending on when they were written and by whom, literary works may contain large amounts of direct telling and lesser amounts of suggestion and implication. But whatever the proportion of a work's showing to telling, there is always something for readers to interpret. Thus we ask the question What does the text suggest? as a way to approach literary interpretation, as a way to begin thinking about a text's implications. What a text implies is often of great interest to us. And our work of figuring out a text's implications tests our analytical powers. In considering what a text suggests, we gain practice in making sense of texts.

According to top nutrition experts, most nutrients are better absorbed and used by the body when consumed from a whole food instead of a supplement. However, many people feel the need to take pills, powders, and supplements in an attempt to obtain nutrients and fill the gaps in their diets. We hope these will give us more energy, prevent us from catching a cold in the winter, or improve our skin and hair. But in reality, the large majority of supplements are artificial and may not even be completely absorbed by your body. Worse, some are contaminated with other substances and contain ingredients not listed on the label. For example, a recent investigative report found heavy metals in 40 percent of 134 brands of protein powders on the market. With little control and regulation, taking supplements is a gamble and often costly.

In general, kinetic energy is the energy associated with motion, while potential energy represents the energy which is stored in a physical system. Moreover, the total energy is always conserved. But while the total energy remains unchanged, the kinetic and potential parts of the total energy can change all the time. Imagine, for example, a pendulum which swings back and forth. When it swings, it sweeps out an arc and then slows down as it comes closer to its highest point, where the pendulum does not move at all. So at this point, the energy is completely given in terms of potential energy. But after this brief moment of rest, the pendulum swings back again and therefore part of the total energy is then given in the form of kinetic energy. So as the pendulum swings, kinetic and potential energy constantly change into each other.

There is often a lot of uncertainty in the realm of science, which the general public finds uncomfortable. They don't want informed guesses, they want certainties that make their lives easier, and science is often unequipped to meet these demands. In particular, the human body is fantastically complex, and some scientific answers can never be provided in black-or-white terms. All this is why the media tends to oversimplify scientific research when presenting it to the public. In their eyes, they're just giving people what they want as opposed to offering more accurate but complex information that very few people will read or understand. A perfect example of this is how people want definitive answers as to which foods are good and bad. Scientifically speaking, there are no good and bad foods; rather, food quality exists on a continuum, meaning that some foods are better than others when it comes to general health and well-being.

Since the turn of the twentieth century we've believed in genetic causes of diagnoses - a theory called genetic determinism. Under this model, our genes (and subsequent health) are determined at birth. We are destined to inherit certain diseases based on the misfortune of our DNA. Genetic determinism doesn't consider the role of family backgrounds, traumas, habits, or anything else within the environment. In this dynamic we are not active participants in our own health and wellness. Why would we be? If something is predetermined, it's not necessary to look at anything beyond our DNA. But the more science has learned about the body and its interaction with the environment around it (in its various forms, from our nutrition to our relationships to our racially oppressive systems), the more complicated the story becomes. We are not merely expressions of coding but products of a remarkable variety of interactions that are both within and outside of our control. Once we see beyond the narrative that genetics are destiny, we can take ownership of our health. This allows us to see how choiceless we once were and empowers us with the ability to create real and lasting change.

One day a poor man brought a bunch of grapes to a prince as a gift. He was very excited to be able to bring a gift for him because he was too poor to afford more. He placed the grapes beside the prince and said, Oh, Prince, please accept this small gift from me. His face beamed with happiness as he offered his small gift. The prince thanked him politely. As the man looked at him expectantly, the prince ate one grape. Then he ate another one. Slowly the prince finished the whole bunch of grapes by himself. He did not offer grapes to anyone near him. The man who brought those grapes to him was very pleased and left. The close friends of the prince who were around him were very surprised. Usually the prince shared whatever he had with others. He would offer them whatever he was given and they would eat it together. This time was different. Without offering it to anyone, he finished the bunch of grapes by himself. One of the friends asked, Prince! How come you ate all the grapes by yourself and did not offer them to any one of us? He smiled and said that he ate all the grapes by himself because the grapes were too sour. If the prince had offered the grapes to them, they might have made funny faces and shown their distaste for the grapes. That would have hurt the feelings of that poor man. He thought to himself that it would be better to eat all of them cheerfully and please him. He did not want to hurt the feelings of that poor man. Everyone around him was moved by his thoughtfulness.