Counting the number of miles traveled done by a product is a strange way of trying to tell the true situation of the environmental damage due to industry. Most food is transported around the world on container ships that are extremely energy efficient. It should be noticed that a ton of butter transported 25 miles in a truck to a farmers' market doesn't necessarily use less fuel on its journey than a similar product transported hundreds of miles by sea. Besides, the idea of “food miles” ignores the amount of fuel used in the production. It is possible to cut down your food miles by buying tomatoes grown in Britain rather than those grown in Ghana. The difference is that the British ones will have been raised in heated greenhouse and the Ghanaian ones in the open sun.

    What is the idea of “food miles” doesprovide, however, is the chance to cut out Third World countries from First World food markets. The number of miles traveled by our food should, as I see it, be regarded as a sign of the success of the global trade system, not a sign of damage to the environment.

    My 16-year-old son, Anton, had gone to the local swimming hole． Most of the kids swim there, and there are plenty of rocks for them to use as safe harbors, so I had no fears for his safety．

    Still, the firefighter's first words "You need to come up here to the Stillwater River" made me catch my breath, and his follow-up words gave me relief: “Your son is OK．”

    When I got to the river, I immediately saw the firetruck, ambulance and Anton, wrapped with a towel about his shoulders, sitting quietly on a low platform of the fire engine．I hurried over to him． "You OK?"I asked．

    “Yeah,” was all he said． But my eyes begged for an explanation, I didn't get it from my son, however, who tends to play his cards close to his vest ．

    The story was this: A woman was being swept under water． Hearing the cries, Anton and his friend Tyler, without hesitation, swam out to her, and brought her safely to shore.

    In an age in which the word "hero" is broadcast with abandon and seemingly applied to anyone who makes it through the day, I realized the real thing in my son. The teens are stubborn and self-centered, but that didn't mean they have no desire to do good.

    Still shocked by my son's daring, I drove him home. Along the way, I tried to dig out some more information from him but he had precious little to say. The only words he said were, “What's for supper?”

    I spent some time alone that evening, thinking about the tragedy that might have been. The next morning, when Anton got up, I half expected him to tell me the story. But all he did was toast some bread, pull himself together, and head for the door to start a new day. Watching from the window, I was reminded that still water often runs deep.

    It might be something that you miss unless it's pointed out to you. Next time you go to a public bathroom, take a look before you sit down on the toilet seat. You won't see a circle shape, but something designed not connected in the front part: a U.

    This is an open-front toilet seat, and thanks to the American Standard National Plumbing (水管装置) Technology, it's the go-to for most public restrooms. This technology was created in 1955 and further developed by the Uniform Plumbing Technology in 1973, according to Mental Floss.

    As to the plumbing rules which fit water seats, the first two requirements are as follows:

    Toilet seats shall be of smooth, non-absorbed material.

    All Toilet seats, except those within apartment units, shall be either of the open front type or have an automatic seat cover.

    This part of the rules also clears up why you won't meet fur toilet seats in truck stop bathrooms. The reason for both of these rules comes down to health. With an open front, there's less surface area that can make incidental touch with your private regions. But what about the toilet seat covers you can use? Unfortunately, those don't offer as much protection against bacteria as you think they do.

    They were also designed with women in mind, according to Lynne Simick, the senior vice president of technology development at IAPMO. The open front of the seat is fairly good for women.

Now that you know why the public toilet seat is shaped the way it is, learn which one is the cleanest you can use.

    Hi, everyone! I am Paul Hawking, the trip leader for this weekend's activity.

    It's that time of the year again when the days are long and it is nice to sit outside and enjoy some oysters(牡蛎).

    We plan to head out to the Mission Bay this Sunday for a beach picnic. You can buy fresh oysters at the Mission Bay Oysters Company and you just need to pay $6 to $10 for each dozen, depending on the size. It's on Sunday, June 30.

    We will meet at the Student Center at 9:00 a.m. and all go together. The driving time is one and a half to two hours, and the time of return is still uncertain. Come and join us in what must now be the 4^th or 5^th such trip for the Outing Club.

    The oyster farm has a small picnic area with chairs and barbecue grills(烧烤架). Bring some briquettes(煤球) if you would like to grill. Except for oysters, oysters and oysters, little is available there, so please bring your own food and drinks. And of course, if you have any special oyster recipes(食谱), bring them, make them and share them!

    The weather forecast(预报) says it's going to be sunny and around 26℃ this weekend. My telephone number is 408-896-3228. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions. Remember to finish your homework before we leave for the picnic.

    One of the most famous buildings in the United States is Carnegie Hall, the home of classical and popular music concerts in New York. Carnegie Hall is known not just for its beauty and history, but also for its amazing sound. Carnegie Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction. Construction of Carnegie Hall began in 1890 and the official opening night was on May 5th, 1891.

    The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1924 when it was sold to Robert E Simon. The building became very old and in 1960, the new owner made plans to destroy it and build an office block. Isaac Stem led a group of people who fought to save Carnegie Hall and finally, the city of New York bought it for $5 million. It was then fixed up between 1983 and 1995.

    Advertisements and stories in newspapers about how Carnegie Hall needed help to recover its history led people to send in old concert programmes and information from all over the world. Over 12,000 concert programmes were received and with these it was possible to make a proper record of Carnegie Hall's concert history.

    Carnegie Hall is actually made up of several different halls, but the Main Hall, now called the Isaac Stem Auditorium, is the most famous. The hall itself can hold an audience of 2,804 in five levels of seating.

    Because the best and most famous musicians of all time have played at Carnegie Hall, it is the dream of most musicians who want to be great to play there. This has led to a very old joke which is now part of Carnegie Hall's history. Question: “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” Answer: “Practice, practice, practice.”

    Let us all raise a glass to AlphaGo and the advance of artificial intelligence. AlphaGo, DeepMind's Go-playing AI, just defeated the best Go-playing human, Lee Sedol. But as we drink to its success, we should also begin trying to understand what it means for the future.

    The number of possible moves in a game of Go is so huge that in order to win against a player like Lee. AlphaGo was designed to adopt a human—like style of gameplay by using a relatively recent development--deep learning. Deep learning uses large data sets," machine learning" algorithms （计算程序） and deep neural networks to teach the AI how to perform a particular set of tasks. Rather than programming complex Go rules and strategies into AlphaGo DeepMind designers taught AlphaGo to play the game by feeding it data based on typical Go moves. Then, AlphaGo played against itself, tirelessly learning from its own mistakes and improving its gameplay over time. The results speak for themselves.

    Deep learning represents a shift in the relationship humans have with their technological creations. It results in AI that displays surprising and unpredictable behaviour. Commenting after his first loss, Lee described being shocked by an unconventional move he claimed no human would ever have made. Demis Hassabis, one of DeepMind's founders, echoed this comment:"We're very pleased that AlphaGo played some quite surprising and beautiful moves."

    Unpredictability and surprises are—or can be—a good thing. They can indicate that a system is working well, perhaps better than the humans that came before it. Such is the case with AlphaGo. However, unpredictability also indicates a loss of human control. That Hassabis is surprised at his creation's behaviour suggests a lack of control in the design. And though some loss of control might be fine in the context of a game such as Go, it raises urgent questions elsewhere.

    How much and what kind of control should we give up to AI machines? How should we design appropriate human control into AI that requires us to give up some of that very control? Is there some AI that we should just not develop if it means any loss of human control? How much of a say should corporations, governments, experts or citizens have in these matters? These important questions, and many others like them, have emerged in response, but remain unanswered. They require human, not human - like, solutions.

    So as we drink to the milestone in AI, let's also drink to the understanding that the time to answer deeply human questions about deep learning and AI is now.