Dear Lauren Baker, We thank you for agreeing to play the music for my daughter's wedding on September 17. Unfortunately, her fiancé, who is in the military, has received orders which make this date impossible, so we are moving the wedding date forward two weeks to September 3. Would it be possible for you to accommodate us on this date instead? All the other aspects of our agreement will remain the same. We would be most grateful if you could make this change and I really hope to see the extra touch of elegance added to my daughter's wedding. Will you be gracing us with your presence? If you are unable to, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can make other arrangements. Sincerely, Bill Gibson

As with memorizing anything, the simple method of repetition will be of help when remembering names. A powerful application of this principle is to repeat it in conversation. In this case you could simply say, Tom. It's nice to meet you, Tom. Saying this short phrase repeats the word twice aloud. Saying something aloud creates a more powerful memory than only thinking it. The choice to say the word, mouthing it and hearing yourself say it, makes up a series of small events that increase memorization more than if you simply repeat the word in your mind. Continuing to repeat the name throughout conversation will further cement it in your memory. Say it whenever you have the opportunity to do so naturally.

When Lucas joined the Navy, his duty station was near Panama City Beach. One day, his friend, Julia, decided to swim out to a sand bar about 150 yards off the beach. As he watched Julia swim away, he had a sense that things might not go well for her so he decided to swim after her. The current was strong that day. She made it about seventy yards before there was trouble. Thankfully, he soon caught up with Julia who was struggling in the water. Every time he got close enough to help, she pulled him under. Lucas tried reasoning with her, but she couldn't hear him. Finally, he let her wear herself out to the point that she was so tired, she couldn't stay above water. Lucas had to let her drown to help her. When she was completely exhausted, he tried to grab her.

How can we access the nutrients we need with less impact on the environment? The most significant component of agriculture that contributes to climate change is livestock. Globally, beef cattle and milk cattle have the most significant impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions(GHGEs), and are responsible for 41% of the world's CO2 emissions and 20% of the total global GHGEs. The atmospheric increases in GHGEs caused by the transport, land clearance, methane emissions, and grain cultivation associated with the livestock industry are the main drivers behind increases in global temperatures. In contrast to conventional livestock, insects as minilivestock are low-GHGE emitters, use minimal land, can be fed on food waste rather than cultivated grain, and can be farmed anywhere thus potentially also avoiding GHGEs caused by long distance transportation. If we increased insect consumption and decreased meat consumption worldwide, the global warming potential of the food system would be significantly reduced.

Do you have trouble locating your computer screen amid the jungle of old coffee mugs and scattered papers? Or is your workspace a minimalist's dream? Whether you're neat or messy, your workspace may reveal a lot about your personality. Every office worker has a particular type of desk they keep. And a number of studies suggest that the state of your desk might affect how you work, from the idea that disorderly environments produce creativity — to the idea that too much mess can interfere with focus. Deliberately or not, we're constantly making statements about ourselves through our personal presentation of the desk. One of the reasons physical spaces, including our office desks, can be so revealing about us is that they're essentially the crystallization of a lot of behavior over time.

Numbers were invented to describe precise amounts: three teeth, seven days, twelve goats. When quantities are large, however, we do not use numbers in a precise way. We approximate using a 'round number' as a place mark. It is easier and more convenient. When we say, for example, that there were a hundred people at the market, we don't mean that there were exactly one hundred people there. And when we say that the universe is 13.7 billion years old, we don't mean exactly 13,700,000,000; we mean give or take a few hundred million years. Big numbers are understood approximately, small ones precisely, and these two systems interact uneasily. It is clear nonsense to say that next year the universe will be '13.7 billion and one' years old. It will remain 13.7 billion years old for the rest of our lives.

The above graph shows the percentages of the most wanted features of smartphone by female and male adult users in the United States. As a whole, longer battery life is the most wanted feature for both females and males. Females put higher priority on shatter-proof screens, water resistance, and best camera available than their counterparts. The percentage gap of response between females and males for water resistance is the same as that for best camera available. The proportion of females who want hands-free technology the most is 5%, which is less than half the percentage of the females who want water resistance the most. Finally, the percentage of males who want best camera available most is less than 10% but is slightly higher than that of males who put top priority on hands-free technology.

《Family Movie Night》 Brooklyn Elementary School is holding its annual family movie night! Spend some time with your family watching the movie, Despicable Me 2. Date: June 10 (Saturday) Time: 7 p.m. (The movie starts on time!) Place: Auditorium on the 2nd floor Price: $10 per family (up to 4 persons) -If your family has more than four, please pay $2 extra per person. Notes: ∙ Outside food and beverages are allowed but make sure to take your trash with you. ∙ There will be no chairs to sit on, so bring your own cushions and/or blankets. For more information, contact us at 123-555-7890.

《Special Tour with The Sound of Music》 Come and join us on a wonderful ride with breathtaking views! Our fantastic tour will lead you to Salzburg's best filming locations! On this guided bus tour you will see 6 locations featured in the movie The Sound of Music. ∙ Schedule: daily at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. ∙Duration: 4 hours ∙Meeting Spot: Mirabelplatz Bus Terminal ∙Price: general (aged 13+) $50 children (aged 5-12) $25 pre-schoolers (under 5) free -Travel insurance is NOT included. ∙ Cancellation Policy: Cancellations received at least 1 day prior to the departure date can be fully refunded. (Day of Departure – No Refund) Note: Booking is essential. Please make reservations at www.salzburgtours.com.

Xia Gui is known today as one of China's greatest masters of landscape painting. He painted rapidly, using short and sharp strokes of the brush. Most of his landscapes were done in shades of black, but a few had light washes of color added to them. Xia was probably the official court painter to either the emperor Ningzong or the emperor Lizong. Together with his friend and fellow artist Ma Yuan, Xia founded the Ma-Xia school of painting. This group followed a tradition of very simple landscape painting, with little happening in the landscape and few details. By showing only selected features, such as mountain peaks and twisted trees, they aimed to create a feeling of unlimited space and quiet drama. The Ma-Xia school had a great influence on later artists.

Cutting costs can improve profitability but only up to a point. If the manufacturer cuts costs so deeply that doing so harms the product's quality, then the increased profitability will be short-lived. A better approach is to improve productivity. If businesses can get more production from the same number of employees, they're basically tapping into free money. They get more product to sell, and the price of each product falls. As long as the machinery or employee training needed for productivity improvements costs less than the value of the productivity gains, it's an easy investment for any business to make. Productivity improvements are as important to the economy as they are to the individual business that's making them. Productivity improvements generally raise the standard of living for everyone and are a good indication of a healthy economy.

The overabundance of options in today's marketplace gives you more freedom of choice. However, there may be a price to pay in terms of happiness. According to research by psychologists David Myers and Robert Lane, all this choice often makes people depressed. Researchers gave some shoppers 24 choices of jams to taste and others only 6 choices. Those who had fewer choices were happier with the tasting. Even more surprisingly, the ones with a smaller selection purchased jam 31% of the time, while those with a wider range of choices only purchased jam 3% of the time. The ironic thing about this is that people nearly always say they want more choices. Yet, the more options they have, the more paralyzed they become. Savvy restaurant owners provide fewer choices. This allows customers to feel more relaxed, prompting them to choose easily and leave more satisfied with their choices.

Three teens slipped into their sleeping bags and zipped them up. A few hours later John woke up and was thirsty. Paul was still furiously snoring as he got up and went to find his water bottle in the dark. He stumbled on Bill's sleeping bag, but it didn't feel right to him. Bill, he called quietly. No answer. John bent over to feel his friend in the sleeping bag, but he couldn't find him. He found the lantern and switched it on. Bill was not in his sleeping bag. Paul, he called loudly. Paul, he shouted again. What do you want? Paul said very sleepily. Bill's gone. Get up and help me find him. He said he couldn't sleep with your snoring, said John. It's not morning yet, Paul mumbled. Then he gradually sat up in his bag. Where is he? Paul asked. I don't know. That's why we have to go look for him. John was visibly worried.

There are countless examples of scientific inventions that have been generated by accident. However, often this accident has required a person with above-average knowledge in the field to interpret it. One of the better-known examples of the cooperation between chance and a researcher is the invention of penicillin. In 1928, Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming went on a vacation. As a slightly careless man, Fleming left some bacterial cultures on his desk. When he returned, he noticed mold in one of his cultures, with a bacteria-free zone around it. The mold was from the penicillium notatum species, which had killed the bacteria on the Petri dish. This was a lucky coincidence. For a person who does not have expert knowledge, the bacteria-free zone would not have had much significance, but Fleming understood the magical effect of the mold. The result was penicillin — a medication that has saved countless people on the planet.

Honeybees have evolved what we call swarm intelligence, with up to 50,000 workers in a single colony coming together to make democratic decisions. When a hive gets too crowded in springtime, colonies send scouts to look for a new home. If any scouts disagree on where the colony should build its next hive, they argue their case the civilized way: through a dance-off. Each scout performs a waggle dance for other scouts in an attempt to convince them of their spot's merit. The more enthusiastic the dance is, the happier the scout is with his spot. The remainder of the colony votes with their bodies, flying to the spot they prefer and joining in the dance until one potential hive overcomes all other dances of the neighborhood. It would be great if Congress settled their disagreements the same way.

Confident leaders are not afraid to ask the basic questions: the questions to which you may feel embarrassed about not already knowing the answers. When you don't know something, admit it as quickly as possible and immediately take action ― ask a question. If you have forgotten who the governor is or how many hydrogen atoms are in a molecule of water, quietly ask a friend but one way or the other, quit hiding, and take action. Paradoxically, when you ask basic questions, you will more than likely be perceived by others to be smarter. And more importantly, you'll end up knowing far more over your lifetime. This approach will cause you to be more successful than you would have been had you employed the common practice of pretending to know more than you do. To make good leaders, effective teachers encourage, invite, and even force their students to ask those fundamental questions.

We are extremely responsive to what we perceive people around us to be doing. This unconscious function has helped us make quick and good life-saving decisions throughout history. A study has shown how powerful this factor is. One practical experiment was an experiment conducted where a hotel wished their guests to reuse the towels in their rooms. They decided to put out a few signs. The first sign cited environmental reasons and the second sign said the hotel would donate a portion of end-of-year laundry savings. The third sign showed the majority of guests reused their towels at least once during their stay. To their surprise, guests responded most positively to the third sign. If you want to influence people to act a certain way, there are few more powerful methods than to give the impression that others are doing the action you desire them to do.

Suppose that the price of frozen yogurt falls. The law of demand says that you will buy more frozen yogurt. At the same time, you will probably buy less ice cream. This is because ice cream and frozen yogurt are both cold and sweet desserts, satisfying similar desires. When a fall in the price of one good reduces the demand for another good, the two goods are called substitutes. They are often pairs of goods that are used in place of each other, like hot dogs and hamburgers. Now suppose that the price of chocolate topping falls. According to the law of demand, you will buy more chocolate topping. Yet, in this case, you will likely buy more ice cream as well, since ice cream and topping are often used together. When a fall in the price of one good raises the demand for another good, the two goods are called complements.

Most habits are probably good when they are first formed. That is, for many of the habits that you do not create intentionally, there must have been some value to performing that particular behavior. That value is what causes you to repeat the behavior often enough to create the habit. Some habits become bad, because a behavior that has rewarding elements to it at one time also has negative consequences that may not have been obvious when the habit began. Overeating is one such habit. You may know conceptually that eating too much is a problem. But when you actually overeat, there are few really negative consequences in the moment. So you do it again and again. Eventually, though, you'll start to gain weight. By the time you really notice this, your habit of eating too much is deeply rooted.

The world can be a different and better place if, while you are here, you give of yourself. This concept became clear to Azim one day when he was watching television at an airport terminal while waiting for a flight. A priest was sharing a story about newborn twins, one of whom was ill. The twins were in separate incubators, as per hospital rules. A nurse on the floor repeatedly suggested that the twins be kept together in one incubator. The doctors finally agreed to try this. When the twins were brought into contact with each other, the healthy twin immediately put his arms around his sick brother. This instinctive exchange gradually helped the sick twin to recover and regain his health. The babies' family and the doctors witnessed the intangible force of love and the incredible power of giving.

It is vitally important that wherever we go and whatever we do the body temperature is maintained at the temperature at which our enzymes work best. It is not the temperature at the surface of the body which matters. It is the temperature deep inside the body which must be kept stable. At only a few degrees above or below normal body temperature our enzymes cannot function properly. If this goes on for any length of time the reactions in our cells cannot continue and we die. All sorts of things can affect internal body temperature, including heat generated in the muscles during exercise, fevers caused by disease, and the external temperature. We can control our temperature in lots of ways: we can change our clothing, the way we behave and how active we are. But we also have an internal control mechanism: when we get too hot we start to sweat.

Food shortages caused by global warming could force as many as 1 billion people to leave their homes by 2050, according to the Earth Institute, a New York-based aid agency. Hardest hit may be Africa, which could lose two-thirds of its cropland due to desertification, which occurs when the land loses its ability to produce vegetation and turns into deserts. Although many scientists expect climate change to result in more rainfall, some areas could experience droughts because rainfall is sporadic or falls in concentrations in some places but misses others. Also, desertification could occur because warmer temperatures draw moisture out of the soil. When regions can no longer produce food, people will be forced to move to other areas, making them climate refugees.

The self is formed by social forces, by looking outwards as well as inwards. One way in which other people shape who you are is described by Leon Festinger's theory. Simply put, imagine that you feel like you're good at math because you came top of your class. But you feel that you're bad at dancing after seeing other people at the school disco. These facts aren't objective, of course. If you happen to be placed in a classroom of future professional statisticians, inevitably you feel relatively bad at math. On the upside, you may feel like you're better at dancing. Festinger realized that these social comparisons aren't entirely accidental. Humans actively seek out particular people and select particular skills or attributes for comparison.

My buddy and his wife were in constant conflict over when the housework should get done. He wanted to work in spurts and take frequent breaks to watch a TV show or make a nice meal. She wanted to get it all done at a time and have the rest of the day to hang out and relax. I was able to point out to my buddy that his wife wasn't trying to be a strict trainer; she was just more of a sensing, thinking, judging sort of person, and he was more of an intuition, feeling, perceiving sort of person. Neither of them were wrong; they just had different preferences. Once they realized this, they were able to compromise regarding the housework. When they needed to get a lot of chores done in a short period of time, they used her method, but they agreed to always take a meal break at the appropriate meal hour. When they just had a few things to get done in no specific time frame, they used his method but agreed that they would see the specific task to completion before taking a break. This way, both of them could feel productive, and the housework no longer had to be a huge sore spot between them.

When I was 8 years old, I decided to run away from home. With my suitcase packed and some peanut butter sandwiches in a bag, I started for the front door of our bungalow in Wantagh. My mom asked where I was going. I'm leaving home, I said. Billy, what's that you're carrying? she asked. Some clothes and food, I replied. If you want to run away, that's all right, she said. But you came into this home without anything and you can leave the same way. I threw my suitcase and sandwiches on the floor angrily and started for the door again. Wait a minute, Mom said. You didn't have any clothes on when you arrived, and I want them back. This annoyed me. I took my clothes off — shoes, socks, underwear and all — and shouted, Can I go now? Yes, my mom answered, but once you close that door, don't expect to come back. I was so angry I slammed the door and stepped out on the front porch. Suddenly I realized that I was outside, completely naked. Then I noticed that down the street, a neighbor friend was walking toward our house. Looking for a place to hide, I spotted the big spruce tree that took up half our yard. Hoping he hadn't seen me, I hid under the low-hanging branches. A pile of dried-up brown needles had accumulated beneath the tree, and you can't imagine the pain those sharp spruce needles caused to my body. After I was sure he had passed by, I ran to the front door and banged on it loudly. Who's there? I heard. It's Billy! Let me in! The voice behind the door answered, Billy doesn't live here anymore. He ran away from home. Glancing behind me to see if anyone else was coming down the street, I said, Aw, Mom! I'm still your son. Let me in! The door inched open and Mom's smiling face appeared. Did you change your mind about running away? she asked. What's for supper? I answered.