Men are spending more and more time in the kitchen encouraged by celebrity (名人) chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, according to a report from Oxford University.

    The effect of the celebrity role models, who have given cooking a more mainly picture, has combined with a more general drive towards sexual equality and men now spend more than twice the amount of time preparing meals than they did in 1961.

    According to the research by Prof. Jonatahn Gershuny, who runs the Centre for Time Research at Oxford, men now spend more than half an hour a day cooking, up from just 12 minutes a day in 1961.

Prof. Gershuny said, “The man in the kitchen is part of a much wider social trend. There has been 40 years of sexual equality, but there is another 40 years probably to come.”

    Women, who a generation ago spent nearly two hours a day cooking, now spend just one hour and seven minutes—a great fall, but they still spend far more time in the kitchen than men.

    Some experts have named these men in aprons as “Gastrosexuals (men using cooking skills to impress friends)”, who have been inspired to pick up a kitchen knife by the success of Ramsay, Oliver as well as other male celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Marco Pierre White and Keith Floyd.

    “I was married in 1974. When my father came to visit me a few weeks later, I was wearing an apron when I opened the door. He laughed,” said Prof. Gershuny. “That would never happen now.”

    Two-thirds of adults say that they come together to share at least three times a week, even if it is not necessarily around a kitchen or dining room table. Prof. Gershuny pointed out that the family meal was now rarely eaten by all of its members around a table—with many “family meals” in fact taken on the sofa in the sitting room, and shared by family members. “The family meal has changed a lot, and few of us eat—as I did when I was a child—at least two meals a day together as a family. But it has survived in a different format.” 

    The universe looks like a pretty quiet place to live. But the universe is filled with dangerous things, all struggling to be the one to wipe us off the planet. Happily for us, they're all pretty unlikely, but if you wait long enough, one of them is certain to get us. But which one?

1). Death by Asteroid (小行星)

    Of all the ways we might meet our untimely death, getting wiped out by an asteroid is the most likely. Why? Because we sit in a universal shooting gallery, with 100 tons of material hitting us every day. The problem, though, occurs every few centuries when something big this way comes. If you could ask a dinosaur, I'd imagine they would tell you to take this seriously.

2). Death by Exploding Star

    When a huge star ends its life, it does so with a bang, which sends death spreading across space in the form of high-energy radiation. Many studies show that the bang would have to be closer than about 75 light years to do us any harm. The good news: no stars so close are able to do the deed.

3). Death by Dying Sun

    The sun is important to us; without it, we'd freeze. But the sun is also middle-aged, already halfway to running out of fuel, expanding into a red giant, and cooking us to a fine crisp. Even long before then, it'll warm up enough to raise our average temperature and cause a runaway greenhouse effect, boiling our oceans. Happily, that's a long time from now.

4). Death by Black Hole

    Black holes are misunderstood. They don't wander the galaxy looking for tasty snacks in the form of planets and stars; they turn around the Milky Way just like the hundreds of billions of other stars do. But it's possible that one could wander too close to us. If it did, planetary paths would be disturbed, causing the Earth to drop into the sun or be thrown out into deep space.

    Given that it could be trillions of years or more before even that happens, we don't have to worry too much about black holes.

    My advice? Go outside, look up, enjoy the sun, the moon, and the stars. They may be there forever as far as any one of us is concerned...and forever is a long, long time.

    The announcements that follow inform you of various First Presbyterian Church programs and events to which you are invited. Please save this publication, take it home and keep it for easy reference.

    Summer Musikgarten—Today

    Musikgarten is for infants (VL) through three years old, but if you have older children, bring them with you during the summer. We don't want to leave anyone out! We'll meet for Summer Musikgarten classes in Room 307 at 9:20-9:50 AM today, and on June 25, July 9, 16, 23, 30, August 13 and 20. If you have questions or for more information, please contact Kathy Middleton (kmidd@mchsi.com; 563-505-0471).

    BTC Book Club Bonus—Monday

    Join us for dessert and a discussion of the book, The Traitor's Wife, by Allison Pataki, led by Lois Boyer-Fitzpatrick. We will meet Monday, June 19 at 12:30 PM in the Parlor. For more information, contact Carol Phoenix (563-332-0980).

    Performing Arts Series—Saturday

    The twenty-fifth anniversary season of the Performing Arts Series concludes with two performances of the classic Broadway musical, My Fair Lady. Lerner and Loewe's most successful collaboration, My Fair Lady has delighted audiences for decades, and we look forward to producing it for you. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students, and can be purchased on the church's website or by calling the church office.

    Tabitha's Circle—Sunday

    All those who sew and make some simple dresses and shorts can join us in Fellowship Hall. The clothes we make are sent to children in Africa, Guatemala, Cambodia and Haiti. Please bring your own sewing machines and invites others who would like to participate. We will have refreshments. Contact Rosen Paulsen (563-355-3165) for questions about this outreach project.

    Being sociable looks like a good way to add years to your life. Relationships with family, friends, neighbours, even pets, will all do the trick, but the biggest longevity(长寿) boost seems to come from marriage or an equivalent relationship. The effect was first noted in 1858 by William Farr, who wrote that widows and widowers(鳏夫) were at a much higher risk of dying than their married peers. Studies since then suggest that marriage could add as much as seven years to a man's life and two to a woman's. The effect holds for all causes of death, whether illness, accident or self-harm.

    Even if the odds are stacked against you (the conditions are not favourable), marriage can more than compensate. Linda Waite of the University of Chicago has found that a married older man with heart disease can expect to live nearly four years longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. Likewise, a married man who smokes more than a pack a day is likely to live as long as a divorced man who doesn't smoke. There's a flip side, however, as partners are more likely to become ill or die in the couple of years following their spouse's death, and caring for a spouse with mental disorder can leave you with some of the same severe problems. Even so, the odds favour marriage. In a 30-year study of more than 10,000 people, Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School describes how all kinds of social networks have similar effects.

    So how does it work? The effects are complex, affected by socio-economic factors, health-service provision, emotional support and other more physiological mechanisms(机制). For example, social contact can boost development of the brain and immune system, leading to better health and less chance of depression later in life. People in supportive relationships may handle stress better. Then there are the psychological benefits of a supportive partner.

    A life partner, children and good friends are all recommended if you aim to live to 100.The best social network is still being mapped out, but Christakis says: “People are interconnected, so their health is interconnected.”

    China's box office numbers continue to grow rapidly. It is estimated that the revenues(收入) may pass the U. S. market's as soon as this year. However, this cinematic party could be over just as it's getting started. Some companies are working to convince consumers that the ultimate viewing experience is not on the big screen.

    Instead, it's on the small ones that are already in their pockets-thanks to the technology of virtual reality.

    Already, VR experience centers are popping up in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. They give customers the opportunity to watch VR movies or play VR games for about the same price as a discount movie ticket. Online video sites, meanwhile, are also moving into the VR field. Some of them, like Youku, have launched(推出) their own VR apps and channels.

    China has more than 700 million smartphone users. A large percentage of them are already more than willing to download and watch TV shows and even full-length movies on their handsets. This potentially makes them more likely to embrace VR content than Americans and Europeans.

    But in fact, it's not just Chinese companies and video websites that believe VR will pull viewers away from movie theaters. International production companies that, for years, have made block busters (大片) for cinema audiences are also warning that disruptive change is around the corner.

    Maureen Fan, chief executive of the Silicon Valley VR start-up Baobab Studios, after bringing her company's animated VR short Invasion to the Shanghai International Film Festival last year, concluded that the field had been evolving much more rapidly than she expected. "What I thought would take ten years has happened in one or two," she said. However, she also noted that the industry needs more people who can create great stories to move VR beyond a niche product(小众产品 ) and into the mass market. "The technology is already there. What continues to be lacking is good content," Fan said. "There's a certain amount, but we would love to see more."

    Situated in the heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City－now called the Palace Museum－covers an area of 1,120,000 square meters. During nearly six hundred years, the palace served as the residence and court of twenty-four emperors. It consists of various structures built in accordance with the traditional Chinese architectural hierarchy(层次、结构)and designed to reflect imperial power and authority.

    Entering from the south, visitors will see a succession of halls and palaces spreading out on either side of the central axis. The magnificent architectural complex and the vast holdings of paintings, calligraphy, ceramics, and antiquities of the imperial collections make it one of the most prestigious museums in China and the world. In 1987 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

    The Palace Museum can be approached through the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Immediately to the north of the Palace Museum is Prospect Hill, while on the east and west are the Wangfujing and Zhongnanhai neighborhoods. Visitors will be excited to find various historic sites, scenic parks, shopping malls, museums, and theatres in the vicinity of the Forbidden City. Conveniently located bus stops and subway stations provide easy access to transportation.

    Free admission for children under 1.2 meters in height.

    Concessions (减价票) for elementary, middle school, and undergraduate students on production of valid student I.D. or certified letter from the school administrator (excluding graduate and adult or continuing education students): 20 yuan.

    50% discount on concessions for seniors 60 years old and older with valid certificate or proof of age (passport, etc.)

    Women's Day: Half-price admission for female visitors.

    Children's Day: Free admission for children 14 years old and younger; 50% discount on admission for one accompanying parent, legal guardian, or adult.

Regulations & Suggestions:

    The online booking system (http://gugong.228.com.cn) allows visitors to purchase tickets 10 days beforehand.

    Receipts will be available for pickup at a designated office in the quadrangle (四方形院)between the Gate of Correct Deportment and the Meridian Gate(午门) within thirty days from the date of intended visit (including date of visit).

    Photography is permitted for private, non-commercial use outdoors throughout the Forbidden City, except for sites or areas with "No Photography" signs. For special photography, please contact the Director's Office (Fax: (8610)8500-7415, gugong@dpm.org.cn).