Neither rain nor snow nor the dark of night can separate Tennessee postal carrier “Mailman Mike” from his 4-and-a-half-year-old friend Carter Lawson – or keep them from their appointments.

    For the past nine months, the two have teamed up every day in the preschooler's Knoxville neighborhood for a few minutes of delivering mail together and chatting with fellow neighbors. Lawson wants to be a mail carrier when he grows up, and in an inspiring story, his mom told us how mailman Mike Crenshaw has been a role model to her son. “Anyone could just be like 'Go away, kid', but Mike has really gone out of his way to talk with Carter,” said Cassie Lawson of the United States Postal Service carrier. Little Carter even got his own uniform to match Mike's. “It's been really cute. I just couldn't believe he got a full mailman's costume,” the postal service employee said.

    “Every letter carrier has stops he looks forward to and this is the one I look forward to every day,” said Mike. “He's the end of my day, and the best part of my day. Not because it's the end, but because he's such a cute little guy.”

    The man and the little boy's connection isn't a surprise to Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. “Kids respond to mailmen because letter carriers are a friendly, uniformed part of the neighborhood who bring something to their house every day, and are someone they come to recognize and trust,” Rolando said. “It's the same for the elderly, but in addition, letter carriers may be the only person they communicate with all day.”

    No one knows for sure when advertising first started. It is possible that it grew out of the discovery that some people did certain kinds of work better than others did them. That led to the concept of specialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job.

    Let's take a man we'll call Mr. Fielder, for example. He did everything connected with farming. He planted seeds, tended the fields, and harvested and sold his crops. At the same time, he did many other jobs on the farm. However, he didn't make the bricks for his house, grind the wheat for his flour, or cut his trees into boards. He also did not make the plows(犁), the work boots, or any of the other hundreds of things a farm needs. Instead, he got them from people who specialized in doing each of those things.

    Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright. Using what he knew about farming and working with iron, Mr. Plowright invented a plow that made farming easier. Mr. Plowright did not really like farming himself and wanted to specialize in making really good  plows. Perhaps, he thought, other farmers will trade what they grow for one of my plows.

    How did Mr. Plowright let people know what he was doing? Why, he advertised, of course. First he opened a shop and then he put up a sign outside the shop to attract customers. That sign may have been no more than a plow carved into a piece of wood and a simple arrow pointing to the shop door. It was probably all the information people needed to find Mr. Plowright and his really good plows.

    Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were used about five thousand years ago. Even before most people could read, they understood such signs. Shopkeepers would carve into stone, clay, or wood symbols for the products they had for sale.

    A medium, in advertising talk, is the way you communicate your message. You might say that the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio, or sound, although that term is not used exactly in the way we use it today. Originally, just the human voice and maybe some kind of simple instrument, such as a bell, were used to get people's attention.

    A crier, in the historical sense, is not someone who weeps easily. It is someone, probably a man, with a voice loud enough to be heard over the other noises of a city. In ancient Egypt, shopkeepers might hire such a person to spread the news about their products. Often this primitive form of advertising involved a newly arrived ship loaded with goods. Perhaps the crier described the goods, explained where they came from, and praised their quality. His job was, in other words, not too different from a TV or radio commercial in today's world.

    The UN refugee agency (难民署) is heaping pressure on Europe to help Italy defuse (平息) the “unfolding tragedy” of tens of thousands of migrants flooding its shores. Italy needs more international support to deal with a growing number of migrants who have braved a risky Mediterranean crossing to reach Europe this year, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Saturday.

     “What is happening in front of our eyes in Italy is an unfolding tragedy,” Grandi said in a statement. “In the course of last weekend, 12,600 migrants and refugees arrived on its shores, and an estimated 2,030 have lost their lives in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year.” Italy, he said, was “playing its part” in taking in those rescued and offering protection to those in need. “These efforts must be continued and strengthened. But this cannot be an Italian problem alone.”

    Separately, a source in Paris said the interior ministers of France, Germany and Italy would meet in the French capital on Sunday to discuss an approach to help Rome.

    Violence in Calais

    Europe has been dealing with the worst migration crisis since the end of World War II with the arrival of large numbers of people fleeing the wars in Syria and Iraq while others from Africa are seeking an escape from poverty or political persecution (迫害).

    In the northern French port city of Calais, police stepped in over the past two days to break up fighting among African migrants armed with sticks and rocks. Calais has for years been a magnet (磁铁) for migrants and refugees hoping to cross the Channel to Britain.

    Last October, France broke up the disreputable tent camp known as “the Jungle” transferring thousands of migrants to centers around the country. But hundreds remain near the port, mostly Africans and Afghans, who fight sporadically with police as they make nightly attempts to stow away (偷乘) onto trucks heading across the Channel to Britain.

    Binge-watching (刷剧) is when a person watches more than one episode of a TV show one after another. With developments in the speed and connectivity of the Internet, increases in technology and the rise of on-demand entertainment companies, people can now watch their favorite shows directly on the Internet at their convenience.

    This behavior is nothing new. In fact, “binge-watching” has been officially listed in dictionaries since 2015. The entertainment companies recognize this behavior and many take steps to encourage it. Often, instead of releasing each episode on a week-by-week basis, an entire series will become available at the same time. Once the episode finishes, many platforms will display pop-ups with “you might like” suggestions, or will automatically play the next episode.

    However, this wonderful gift may in fact be poisonous. Recent research from British media Ofcom suggests that this behavior may have become a hindrance (障碍). Out of the more than half of British adults who watch more than one episode of a show in a row, almost a third have admitted missing sleep or becoming tired as a result; and one quarter have failed to do their household chores. Next well be missing work!

    Bingeing has other connections—binge eating, binge drinking and binge smoking, all of which are often associated with compulsive (强迫性的) behavior, a lack of control and possible route to addiction. Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director at Ofcom, said, “The days of waiting a week for the next episode are largely gone, with people finding it hard to resist watching multiple episodes around the house or on the move.” If people find binge-watching hard to resist, coupled with the fact that it has shown to lead to negligence (疏忽) in many, are we witnessing the birth of a new type of addiction?

    The large amount of information and entertainment that television and online media can bring us is, many would say, a good thing. It offers us opportunities to better understand the world we live in, educate ourselves and enjoy much needed downtime. However, like any behavior done to an extreme degree, it can become dangerous. And when the activity begins to bleed into other areas, causing us to stop functioning-then it becomes a problem. So, what's the answer? Neither a tiny amount, nor too much. After all, as the old proverb says, a little of what you fancy does you good.

    In the US, people prefer waiting for a table to sitting with people they don't know. This means a hostess may not seat a small group until a small table is available, even if a large one is. If you are sitting at a table with people you don't know, it is impolite to light up a cigarette first asking if it will disturb them.

    At American restaurants and coffee shops you are usually served tap water before you order. You may find the bread and butter is free, and if you order coffee, you may get a free refill.

    Most cities and towns have no rules about opening and closing time for stores or restaurants, though they usually do make rules for bars. Especially in large cities, stores may be open 24 hours a day.

    Serving in restaurants is often large, too large for many people. If you can't finish your meal but would like to enjoy the food later, ask your waitress or waiter for a "doggie bag". It may have a picture of a dog on it, but everybody knows you're taking the food for yourself.

    Supper and dinner are both words for the evening meal. Some people have "Sunday dinner". This is an especially big noon meal.

    Tips are not usually added to the check. They are not included in the price of the meal, either. A tip of about 15% is expected and you should leave it on the table when you leave. In some restaurants, a check is brought on a plate and you put your money there. Then the waiter or waitress brings you your change.

Students, teachers, and local community members are strongly encouraged to register online to receive real-time information of emergency events from Columbia University.

Text message warnings will only be used in rare cases where ongoing events cause an immediate threat or have a significant influence. Possible situations include severe weather conditions, emergency campus closures, crimes in progress that may endanger the community, and major transportation interruptions.

Read instructions on how to sign up for emergency notifications (通知).

Columbia students

Columbia students can easily register for text message notifications. Simply enter Student Services Online, click on "Text Message Enrollment" and add your cellphone number. Students can register parents or family members by following the instructions for the public below.

Columbia teachers

Columbia teachers can register for text message notifications by following the step by step instructions below:

● Register with your UNI and password at my. columbia. edu.

● Select "Faculty & Staff" at the top of the page.

● Select "Contact Details".

● Click the "+" under "Phone".

● Select "Campus Alert 1".

● Enter your mobile number.

To receive emergency information on additional mobile phones, you may follow the above instructions for "Campus Alert 2" and "Campus Alert 3" for a total of three.

Community/General Public

Community/General Public interested in receiving emergency information from Columbia can sign up by clicking on the "Register" button on the registration page and entering their email and mobile number. Users will receive confirmation code (密码) on their phone and will need to confirm their account via email.

Users can choose not to use the Emergency Text Alert System at any time by texting STOP to 226787, calling 226789 or sending an email to lr27682@. cumc. columbia. edu.