Well, parents, surprise! Lots of us are using Twitter and Facebook to thumb rides, and not just to school. It's awkward to be refused when you call a friend and ask for a ride. But with Twitter, you just look for other people heading the same way.

    It may sound risky, so many teens stay within their own social circles to find rides, and don't branch out beyond friends when asking on Twitter just like me, but to some young people, especially those taking longer trips, stranger danger is less of a concern.

    “I think the digital connection of young people is really important, because younger generations grew up sharing things on line, sharing files, photos, music, etc, so they've been very used to sharing,” said Juliet Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College.

    The sharing economy got big during the recession (经济衰退), allowing people to access more goods, services using technology and even to share costs. And that technology, for me, is what the car was for my mom, a gateway to more freedom, like what my friend Earl says, “The symbol of freedom isn't the car any more because there's technology out there connecting you to a car.”

    According to the researchers at the University of Michigan, 30 years ago, eight in ten American 18-year-olds had a driver's license compared to six in ten today. So it's not that surprising that on my 16th birthday I wasn't rushing to get a license but an iPhone.

“Driving, for young people, does mean they have to disconnect from their technology, and that's a negative. So if they could sit in the passage side and still be connected, that's going to be a plus.” Schor continued.

    To me, another plus is that ridesharing represents something, something much bigger than trying to save money. I see it as evidence that people still depend on each other. My generation shares their cars and apartments the way neighbors used to share cups of sugar. For the system to work, some of us still need our own cars. But until I get my own version of the silver Super Beetle, you can find me on Twitter.

    Susan was born as the ninth child in a Catholic family. She suffered from learning disabilities ever since her birth because of her mother's poor health.

    School was difficult for Susan and she was bullied because of her different behaviors. Her siblings, who were much older, had life experiences that were unknown to their little sister. From the time of her birth, Susan was a screamer. The only really safe place that she would use as a repeat was her bedroom. There she would hang posters of her musical idols on the wall and sing popular music into a hairbrush that she pretended was a microphone.

    One by one the siblings moved away from home and then Susan's father died. This left her alone with an aging mother and a cat. The siblings accused her mother of not expecting more out of Susan. She had seen many professionals and remembered hearing the word “borderline” but didn't know what it meant. She tried volunteer work. Her best state of mind, however, was found when she was singing and so she would regularly join others in karaoke or pubs where she could show her skills and receive appreciation from the crowd.

    When Susan announced at Christmas that she was planning to compete in the Britain's Got Talent contest, her siblings tried to discourage her. It was a wonder that she was even able to do the audition considering the troubles she faced just physically getting to the right place.

    “The Woman I Was Born to Be” is a beautiful story written in the simple but humorous voice of the author, Susan Boyle. She tells her story from birth to the present in an interesting and educational manner. The writing is supplemented by photos from her albums.

    I love this book! In fact, I read the whole thing in one day!

There is something in the stories that not only teaches the reader but also inspires us to reach for our dreams — no matter how impossible they may seem to be!

    Here are some of the smartest animals in the world.

Pigs

    Pigs are actually very smart animals. Pigs are one of the cleanest if they are given a choice. If you provide them with enough space, they will make sure they separate their dining area from their living space. Studies have also shown that they can actually be good at video games. To get food, they will follow other pigs and then steal it from right under their noses. The victimized(受害的)pigs will then come out wiser from this. They will change their behavior next time to prevent other pigs from stealing from them.

Crows

    They are smart and creative, with the highest IQ among all birds. Crows have been known to throw nuts and shells on a road so that cars will drive over and open them. They also have the ability to make knives to cut leaves and grass.

Elephants

    They have extremely large brains, even bigger than humans'. They bury(埋葬)their dead families and friends properly, the only other animal to do this besides humans. They also know which leaves are medicinal and will eat specific plants depending on the sickness they are feeling. They also have the ability to recognize themselves in the mirror.

Bottlenose Dolphins

    They actually have the ability to watch television on the their own because of their ability to process acoustic and visual(视觉和听觉)information at the same time. They can also recognize themselves in the mirror, which they use to inspect their own bodies. Their comprehension skills are very high. Studies have shown that they even have the ability to choose the “I don't know” option during difficult tests.

    One night, Pilar was in a deep sleep when she was woken by her cat Inti. Inti was meowing wildly outside Pilar's bedroom and throwing himself against the closed bedroom door. When Pilar opened her eyes, she saw that her bedroom was filled with smoke. As she escaped her house with Inti in her arms, she saw that a fire was burning in her kitchen. Pilar could easily have lost her life, but Inti would not let that happen. Even though Inti could have escaped the house through a cat door, he wouldn't leave Pilar.

    As amazing as this story is, it is not as uncommon as you may think. Take the example of Charlotte Lee and her horse, Thunder. One summer night, the whole family was asleep with the windows open. It was normally very quiet where they lived. Suddenly, there was a loud noise. Charlotte woke up from her sweet dream, and the noise continued. Then she heard a horse running fast towards the house. The next thing she saw was Thunder standing outside her window, neighing(嘶叫) and shaking his head. She knew something was wrong. Charlotte quickly got everyone out of the house before the earthquake hit. Thunder has saved her life.

    There are also stories of wild animals coming to the rescue of humans. One animal known to be a friend of humans is the dolphin. Once, Todd Endris was surfing with his friends when he was attacked by a 13-foot(4-meter) shark. In the middle of the attack, a group of dolphins came to his rescue by forming a protective ring around Endris until he could get safely to shore. Without the help of the dolphins, there is little chance that Todd could have escaped.

    No one is sure why animals have so often come to our rescue. However, it is clear that humans and animals enjoy a close relationship. It is important that we care for them as much as we can.

    Mandara seemed to know something big was about to happen. So she let out a yell, caught hold of her 2-year-old daughter Kibibi and climbed up into a tree. She lives at the National Zoo in Washington D. C.

    And on Tuesday, August 23rd, witnesses said she seemed to sense the big earthquake that shook much of the East Coast before any humans knew what was going on. And she's not the only one. In the moments before the quake, an orangutan（猩猩）let out a loud call and then climbed to the top of her shelter.

    “It's very different from their normal call,” said Brandie Smith, the zookeeper. “The lemurs（monkeylike animals of Madagascar）will sound an alarm if they see or hear something highly unusual.”

    But you can't see or hear an earthquake 15 minutes before it happens, can you? Maybe you can—if you're an animal. “Animals can hear above and below our range of hearing,” said Brandie Smith. “That's part of their special abilities. They're more sensitive to the environment, which is how they survive.”

    Primates weren't the only animals that seemed to sense the quake before it happened. One of the elephants made a warning sound. And a huge lizard（蜥蜴）ran quickly for cover. The flamingoes（a kind of birds）gathered before the quake and stayed together until the shaking stopped.

    So what kind of vibrations（震动）were the animals picking up in the moments before the quake? Scientist Susan Hough said earthquakes produce two types of waves—a weak “P” wave and then a much stronger “S” wave. The “P” stands for “primary”. And the “S” stands for “secondary”. She thinks the “P” wave might be what sets the animals off.

    Not all the animals behaved unusually before the quake. For example, Smith said the zoo's giant pandas didn't jump up until the shaking actually began. But many of the other animals seemed to know something was coming before it happened. “I'm not surprised at all,” Smith said.

    Fourth-grade teacher Tori Nelson allowed one of her students to shave her head in the schoolyard, after bullies（仗势欺人者） teased him about his own buzz cut. Ms. Nelson got the idea after noticing that Matthew Finney, a shy boy from her homeroom at Winlock Miller Elementary School in Washington State, was standing outside his classroom crying and wearing a winter hat.

    Ms. Nelson could see the back of his neck had been shaved, and since Matthew usually had very thick curly brown hair, she realized that he'd had a haircut over the weekend. She asked him what was wrong， and he said he'd gotten a buzz cut for the summer. But this morning, a fifth grader on the bus made fun of him, and he didn't want to come to class and get laughed at by other kids. Ms. Nelson tried to convince Matthew to come inside, but since school rules banned kids from wearing hats indoors he refused—explaining that he was afraid of showing his haircut to the other children in case they also made fun of him.

    "Finally I said, 'If you take your hat off and come to class, I'll let you give me a buzz cut too,' Ms. Nelson told Yahoo Parenting." I figured it's just hair, and mine is already short anyway. I might as well get it shorter in time for the warm weather.

    Matthew excitedly took her up on the offer, and Ms Nelson and another teacher gathered all the fourth graders together during break time. A school employee brought in scissors, which Matthew used to the cheers of his classmates, excitedly watching as their teacher's hair fell away onto the ground in the schoolyard.

    "It was a lot of fun for the kids, and it helped Matthew feel better about himself." said Ms Nelson." You have to do what it takes to reach children. Teaching isn't just about reading and writing: it's about self-worth and accepting differences.