Dear Guests, Thank you for staying with us. Since our hotel was opened in 1976, we have been committed to protecting our planet by reducing our energy consumption and waste. In an effort to save the planet, we have adopted a new policy and we need your help. If you hang the Eco-card at the door, we will not change your sheets, pillow cases, and pajamas. In addition, we will leave the cups untouched unless they need to be cleaned. In return for your cooperation, we will make a contribution on your behalf to the National Forest Restoration Project. We appreciate your cooperation on our eco-friendly policy. Sincerely, Steven Smith

I thought I knew how to drive. But when I drove out of the parking lot, I doubted whether I could make it. There was a dangerous road with its hairpin turns that twisted back and forth down the mountain. At the first curve, my heart started beating fast. My palms were sweating and slippery on the wheel. I crept along with my foot on the brake, but the road doubled back so sharply and dropped so steeply that even with my foot on the brake, the car was going faster than I wanted it to. When I came out of that curve, I was in the outside lane, the one nearest to the side of the cliff. There was no way I could think of to get out of this risky situation.

Parents may often claim that they spend a lot of time with their children. Actually, what they mean is not with but in proximity of their children. That is, they may be in the same room as their child but watching TV, reading, on the phone, reviewing emails, or conversing with other guests. What is needed is active engagement with children. This implies reading together, playing sports and games together, solving puzzles together, cooking and eating together, discussing things together, joking together, shopping together, building blocks together, and washing dishes together. In other words, it is not simply being in a child's company while simultaneously leaving the child alone but it means being an active participant and partner in activities with the child.

Sometimes, we are fascinated when our assumptions are turned inside out and around. The artist Pablo Picasso, for example, used Cubism as a way to help us see the world differently. In his famous work Three Musicians, he used abstract forms to shape the players in such an unexpected way that when you first see this artwork, you assume that nothing makes sense. Yet when you look at the painting a second time, the figures come together. Picasso's work challenges your assumptions about how space and objects are used. His artwork helps you see the world differently and reminds you there are alternative ways of using shape, objects, and colors. The reward for this is the intrinsic pleasure you get by looking at this work.

The often-used phrase pay attention is insightful: you dispose of a limited budget of attention that you can allocate to activities, and if you try to go beyond your budget, you will fail. It is the mark of effortful activities that they interfere with each other, which is why it is difficult or impossible to conduct several at once. You could not compute the product of 17 × 24 while making a left turn into dense traffic, and you certainly should not try. You can do several things at once, but only if they are easy and undemanding. You are probably safe carrying on a conversation with a passenger while driving on an empty highway, and many parents have discovered, perhaps with some guilt, that they can read a story to a child while thinking of something else.

As the only species that can actually talk, Homo sapiens is the only one that can lie out loud. This capacity gave early human beings a major evolutionary edge. They'd already demonstrated their mastery of the deceptive arts by hunting prey with artfully hidden traps or by tricking them into running off cliffs. As the human capacity to speak developed, so did our ability not only to trick prey and deceive predators but to lie to other humans. This too could be advantageous. Those who could persuade members of a rival tribe that a westward-moving herd of caribou had migrated east won a battle in the war for survival. Verbal deceitfulness gave early humans such a survival advantage that some evolutionary biologists believe the capacity to speak and the ability to lie developed hand in hand.

The above graph shows the favorite TV genres that the people in Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and UAE chose in 2014 and 2016 when they were permitted to select up to three choices. Compared to 2014, in 2016 there was an overall percentage increase in each genre except for news. In both years, the percentage of people selecting comedy as their favorite was the highest of all the genres. In 2014, news was preferred by a larger percentage of people than drama, but the situation reversed in 2016. The percentage point gap between 2014 and 2016 was smallest in sports. The percentage of people selecting daytime talk shows in 2016 was less than half that of the people choosing comedy in the same year.

Elsie Inglis, the second daughter of John Inglis, was born in India on 16th August, 1864. She had the good fortune to have enlightened parents who considered the education of a daughter as important as that of a son. With the support of her father, she began to train as a doctor. Terrified by the poor medical treatment for female patients, she founded a hospital for women in Edinburgh in which the staff consisted only of women. She was also actively engaged in politics and worked for women's voting rights. The outbreak of the First World War turned her attention to helping the troops, and she organized fourteen medical units to send to battlefields throughout Europe. Caring for both soldiers and civilians suffering from sickness, Inglis became ill in Russia and was forced to return to Britain, where she died in 1917. She is still remembered as a wonderful woman of enthusiasm, strength, and kindliness.

《Astronomy Camp》 December 8-9, 2017 This camp is for high school students who want to learn more about astronomy. Content: Camp sessions will cover topics such as: ∙ Astronomical Basics-sky motions, telescope use ∙ Observation of Planets and Stars * The sessions will be directed and taught by the Busselton University Physics and Astronomy faculty. Participation Fee: ∙ $70 per person (T-shirts will be provided as souvenirs.) How to Apply: ∙ Application form can be downloaded from our school website. ∙ Application form must be submitted at the department office or via email to astronomycamp@busselton.ac. ∙ The application deadline is November 23rd. For further information, please contact us at 607-871-2208.

《Victoria Sandboarding Tour》 Enjoy sandboarding on the sand hills near Victoria city! The sand hills are located near the ocean, so you can enjoy sandboarding and the beautiful view of the ocean at the same time. Time & Price: ∙ Full-Day Program: 9 a.m. -5 p.m. ($40 per person including lunch) ∙ Half-Day Program: 1 p.m. -5 p.m. ($20 per person) * Children under 14 can enjoy at half-price. Special Offer: ∙ We will give you a ride to and from your place. ∙ We will provide as much drinking water as you want. ∙ We will prepare boards in a wide range of sizes for rent. Reservation Information: ∙ Reservations are required and must be made on our website (www.victoriasandboarding.com).

Impressionist paintings are probably most popular; it is an easily understood art which does not ask the viewer to work hard to understand the imagery. Impressionism is 'comfortable' to look at, with its summer scenes and bright colours appealing to the eye. It is important to remember, however, that this new way of painting was challenging to its public not only in the way that it was made but also in what was shown. They had never seen such 'informal' paintings before. The edge of the canvas cut off the scene in an arbitrary way, as if snapped with a camera. The subject matter included modernization of the landscape; railways and factories. Never before had these subjects been considered appropriate for artists.

Everyone knows a young person who is impressively street smart but does poorly in school. We think it is a waste that one who is so intelligent about so many things in life seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work. What we don't realize is that schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to draw such street smarts and guide them toward good academic work. Nor do we consider one of the major reasons why schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts: the fact that we associate those street smarts with anti-intellectual concerns. We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic.

When Angela was young, she was always disappointed about her performance despite her efforts. Whenever she felt down, her mom encouraged her by saying that working hard and never giving up is more important. With her mother's encouragement, she remained positive and tried to do her best. Many years later, Angela was awarded a New Directions Fellowship, given to most promising young researchers. The award was for her research on the importance of passion and persistence. She wanted to share her achievement with her mom and express her gratitude. Angela read her research paper to her mom. Her mom was over 80, and she read a bit slower ensuring her mom understood clearly. Still, she seemed to be listening intently, and when Angela was done, she nodded and then smiled. It turns out you were right, mom. Angela said.

Imagine for a moment that your boss remembers all of your children's names and ages, routinely stops by your desk and asks about them, and then listens as you talk about them. Imagine that same boss tells you about a skill you need to develop and opens up an opportunity for you to be trained on that particular skill. Imagine there is a death in the family, and the boss has your company cater meals for your family after the funeral as a gesture of support. All of these are real scenarios, and guess what? All the bosses who engaged in these acts of care and concern have fiercely loyal employees. They have employees who absolutely do not mind going the extra mile for their boss. They enjoy going to work and voluntarily suggest creative ideas that save the company money and increase sales. These bosses influence the behavior of their team not by telling them what to do differently, but by caring.

Music connects people to one another not only through a shared interest or hobby, but also through emotional connections to particular songs, communities, and artists. The significance of others in the search for the self is meaningful; as Agger, a sociology professor, states, identities are largely social products, formed in relation to others and how we think they view us. And Frith, a socio-musicologist, argues that popular music has such connections. For music fans, the genres, artists, and songs in which people find meaning, thus, function as potential places through which one's identity can be positioned in relation to others: they act as chains that hold at least parts of one's identity in place. The connections made through shared musical passions provide a sense of safety and security in the notion that there are groups of similar people who can provide the feeling of a community.

The acceleration of human migration toward the shores is a contemporary phenomenon, but the knowledge and understanding of the potential risks regarding coastal living are not. Indeed, even at a time when human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions were not exponentially altering the climate, warming the oceans, and leading to rising seas, our ancestors knew how to better listen to and respect the many movements and warnings of the seas, thus settling farther inland. For instance, along Japan's coast, hundreds of so-called tsunami stones, some more than six centuries old, were put in place to warn people not to build homes below a certain point. Over the world, moon and tides, winds, rains and hurricanes were naturally guiding humans' settlement choice.

We like to make a show of how much our decisions are based on rational considerations, but the truth is that we are largely governed by our emotions, which continually influence our perceptions. What this means is that the people around you, constantly under the pull of their emotions, change their ideas by the day or by the hour, depending on their mood. You must never assume that what people say or do in a particular moment is a statement of their permanent desires. Yesterday they were in love with your idea; today they seem cold. This will confuse you and if you are not careful, you will waste valuable mental space trying to figure out their real feelings, their mood of the moment, and their fleeting motivations. It is best to cultivate both distance and a degree of detachment from their shifting emotions so that you are not caught up in the process.

In countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, and Kazakhstan, the media are owned by the public but operated by the government. Under this system of ownership, revenue covering the operating costs of newspapers, television stations, and radio stations is generated through public taxes. Because of this system of public financing, regulations and policies in many of these countries are designed to guarantee a diversity of sources of information. For example, Swedish law requires that at least two newspapers be published in every town. One newspaper is generally liberal, and the second is conservative. In cases in which one of the papers is unprofitable, Swedish law requires that the town taxes and donations from the city go to support the struggling paper.

Memory has two types ― implicit and explicit memory. When you learn things without really thinking about it, it's implicit memory or body memory. Knowing how to breathe when you were born is an implicit memory. No one taught this to you. Some of the things you've learned since childhood also become implicit memories. Implicit memories are imprinted in the brain's autonomic portion; that is why even after years of not riding a bike you still know how to ride. Explicit memories, on the other hand, are the memories or the specific things that you consciously try to recall. You use explicit memory every day on a conscious level. Trying to find the keys, trying to remember when an event is supposed to take place, where it's going to be held, and with whom you are going. Explicit memories are the tasks you have written down on your calendar or planner.

For its time, ancient Greek civilization was remarkably advanced. The Greeks figured out mathematics, geometry, and calculus long before calculators were available. Centuries before telescopes were invented, they proposed that the earth might rotate on an axis or revolve around the sun. Along with these mathematical, scientific advances, the Greeks produced some of the early dramatic plays and poetry. In a world ruled by powerful kings and bloodthirsty warriors, the Greeks even developed the idea of democracy. But they were still a primitive people. There were many aspects of the world around them that they didn't understand very well. They had big questions, like Why are we here? and Why is smoke coming out of that nearby volcano? Myths provided answers to those questions. They were educational tools, passing knowledge from one generation to the next. They also taught morality and conveyed truth about the complexity of life. In this way, the Greeks were able to understand right and wrong in their lives.

When we set a plan, we are very excited about it. In this stage, we can even imagine ourselves victoriously dancing on the top of that mountain, feeling successful and ultimately happy. However, when you start putting the plan into practice to achieve your goal, the happiness, excitement, and a lot of fuel suddenly disappear. That is because the road to your goal, the implementation of the plan is not as appealing as the plan. You can easily lose motivation when you face the plain reality of the road to success. The road is paved with grey stones and offers less intense emotions than those imagined at the beginning. When you reach the end and look back at the road, however, you'll realize how much more valuable, colorful, and meaningful it was than you anticipated it to be in the moment.

Although humans have been drinking coffee for centuries, it is not clear just where coffee originated or who first discovered it. However, the predominant legend has it that a goatherd discovered coffee in the Ethiopian highlands. Various dates for this legend include 900 BC, 300 AD, and 800 AD. Regardless of the actual date, it is said that Kaldi, the goatherd, noticed that his goats did not sleep at night after eating berries from what would later be known as a coffee tree. When Kaldi reported his observation to the local monastery, the abbot became the first person to brew a pot of coffee and note its flavor and alerting effect when he drank it. Word of the awakening effects and the pleasant taste of this new beverage soon spread beyond the monastery. The story of Kaldi might be more fable than fact, but at least some historical evidence indicates that coffee did originate in the Ethiopian highlands.

If you want to modify people's behavior, is it better to highlight the benefits of changing or the costs of not changing? According to Peter Salovey, one of the originators of the concept of emotional intelligence, it depends on whether they perceive the new behavior as safe or risky. If they think the behavior is safe, we should emphasize all the good things that will happen if they do it ― they'll want to act immediately to obtain those certain gains. But when people believe a behavior is risky, that approach doesn't work. They're already comfortable with the status quo, so the benefits of change aren't attractive, and the stop system kicks in. Instead, we need to destabilize the status quo and emphasize the bad things that will happen if they don't change. Taking a risk is more appealing when they're faced with a guaranteed loss if they don't. The prospect of a certain loss brings the go system online.

I asked Kenichi Ohmae, a global management consultant, if he could sense whether a company was going to be successful. Was there something he could smell or sense when he was in an organization that suggested this company was going to be a winner? He said, Yes, and added if a company is not afraid to ask questions, if everyone asks questions from the CEO down to the office boy, if they ask questions like 'Why do we do it this way?' then this company will succeed. So the inquisitive mind is an essential ingredient for future success. This is echoed by Susan Greenfield, a British scientist. She confirmed the need to challenge old practices. She wanted to deliver the message to budding young scientists that searching for the new possibilities with the inquisitive mind would be essential to be successful. And she said, Never take anything for granted: always question everything. Always question old practices. Look at the evidence and if you are not satisfied with it, you can see an alternative. You have to question the out-of-date ideas.

Anna, a 9-year-old girl, finished attending elementary school till 4th grade at a small village. For the 5th grade, she transferred to a school in a city. It was the first day of her school and she went to her new school by bus. All students started going to their classes. She also made it to her classroom after asking fellow students for directions. Upon seeing Anna's simple clothing and knowing she was from a small village, some students in the classroom started making fun of her. Ms. Taylor, Anna's new homeroom teacher, soon arrived and introduced her to the class and said that she would be studying with them. Then the teacher told the students to be ready for the surprise test now! She told everyone to write down the Seven Wonders of the world. Everyone started writing the answer to the unexpected test quickly. When everyone except Anna had submitted their answer papers, Ms. Taylor told her, Dear, write down what you know. It's fine. Anna said, I was thinking that there are so many things. I don't know which seven I can pick to write. Eventually, she handed her answer paper to Ms. Taylor. The teacher started reading her students' answers aloud and the majority had answered them correctly such as The Great Wall of China, Colosseum, Stonehenge, etc. At last Ms. Taylor picked up Anna's answer paper and started reading. The Seven Wonders are ― To be able to See, To be able to Hear, To be able to Feel, To Laugh, To Think, To be Kind, To Love! After reading Anna's answer, she was touched and all her students were also deeply moved. Today, a girl from a small village reminded them about the precious gifts, truly a wonder, which they already knew but easily forgot.