Obama, Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs—what do they have in common? They are, of course, all Americans. And according to a survey by social networking site baidu. com, they all best illustrate(举例说明) the word “cool”.

    But just what does it mean to say someone is “cool”? Most would answer that it is something to do with being independent-minded and not following the crowd.

    Yale University art professor Robert Farris Thompson says that the term “cool” goes back to 15th century West African philosophy. “Cool” relates to ideas of grace under pressure.

    “In Africa,” he writes, “coolness is a positive quality which combines calmness, silence, and life.”

    The modern idea of “cool” developed largely in the US in the period after World War II. “Post-war 'cool' was in part an expression of war-weariness (厌战情绪), . . . it went against the strict social rules of the time,” write sociologists Dick Pountain and David Robins in Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude.

    But it was the American actor James Dean who became the symbol for “cool” in the hugely successful 1955 movie Rebel without a Cause. Dean plays a tough guy who disobeys his parents and the authorities. He always gets the girl, smokes cigarettes, wears a leather jacket and beats up bullies. In the movie, Dean showed what “cool” would mean to American young people for the next 60 years.

    Today the focus of “cool” has changed to athletics (体育运动) stars. Often in movies about schools, students gain popularity on the athletics field more than in the classroom. This can be seen quite clearly in movies like Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die.

    But many teenagers also think being smart is cool. Chess and other thinking games have been becoming more popular in schools.

    “Call it the Harry Potterization of America—a time when being smart is the new cool,” writes journalist Joe Sunnen.

    Living in a modern society has its advantages and disadvantages. One disadvantage is that you often have to live closer to other people than you would like to. Sometimes, your neighbors make a noise that you are not comfortable with.

    The best way to solve this problem is to talk with your neighbor first. You should be very polite and ask your neighbor if he knows how thin the walls of your homes are. This way doesn't criticize (批评) his behavior; it simply points out that he may not realize how far his sound travels. Tell him that you know that sometimes you make noise as well, but that you do your best to keep it down. Often this will solve the problem right away, but sometimes the neighbor may become angry.

    If your neighbor becomes angry with you, there are some more steps you can take. You might write a letter to the neighborhood committee（居委会）. Make sure you write down the source of the noise and the time in the letter. They will review the situation and decide whether your neighbor is out of line. Some noise is considered to be reasonable, even if it bothers you. So you may prepare a good pair of earplugs (耳塞).

    Even if your neighbor makes too much noise, you don't have to live your life in discomfort. It's always a good idea to be friendly with your neighbors. You may clean the rubbish in front of his door. He's sure to appreciate behavior like this and be more open to your suggestions about noise level.

    Did you know that Albert Einstein could not speak until he was four years old, and could not read until he was seven? His parents and teachers worried about his mental ability.

    Beethoven's music teacher said about him, "As a composer (作曲家) he is hopeless." What if this young boy had believed it?

    When Thomas Edison was a young boy, his teachers said he was so stupid that he could never learn anything. He once said, "I remember I used to never be able to get along at school. I was always at the foot of my class ... My father thought I was stupid, and I almost decided that I was a stupid person." What if young Thomas had believed what they said about him?

    When the sculptor (雕刻家) Auguste Rodin was young, he had difficulty learning to read and write. Today, we may say he had a learning disability. His father said of him, "I have an idiot (白痴) for a son." His uncle agreed. "He's uneducable," he said. What if Rodin had doubted his ability?

    Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper editor because he was thought to have no "good ideas". Enrico Caruso was told by one music teacher, "You can't sing. You have no voice at all." And an editor told Louisa May Alcott that she was unable to write anything that would have popular appeal.

    What if these people had listened and become discouraged? Where would our world be without the music of Beethoven, the art of Rodin or the ideas of Albert Einstein and Walt Disney? As Oscar Levant once said, "It's not what you are but what you don't become that hurts."

    You have great potential. When you believe in all you can be, rather than all you cannot become, you will find your place on earth.

    Passenger pigeons (旅鸽) once flew over much of the United States in unbelievable numbers. Written accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries described flocks (群) so large that they darkened the sky for hours.

    It was calculated that when its population reached its highest point, there were more than 3 billion passenger pigeons—a number equal to 24 to 40 percent of the total bird population in the United States, making it perhaps the most abundant bird in the world. Even as late as 1870 when their numbers had already become smaller, a flock believed to be 1 mile wide and 320 miles (about 515 kilometers) long was seen near Cincinnati.

    Sadly the abundance of passenger pigeons may have been their undoing. Where the birds were most abundant, people believed there was an ever-lasting supply and killed them by the thousands.

    Commercial hunters attracted them to small clearings with grain waited until pigeons had settled to feed, then threw large nets over them, taking hundreds at a time. The birds were shipped to large cities and sold in restaurants.

    By the closing decades of the 19th century, the hardwood forests where passenger pigeons nested had been damaged by American's need for wood, which scattered (驱散) the flocks and forced the birds to go farther north, where cold temperatures and storms contributed to their decline. Soon the great flocks were gone, never to be seen again.

    In 1897, the state of Michigan passed a law prohibiting the killing of passenger pigeons but by then, no sizable flocks had been seen in the state for 10 years. The last confirmed wild pigeon in the United States was shot by a boy in Pike County, Ohio, in 1900. For a time, a few birds survived under human care. The last of them, known affectionately as Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden on September 1, 1914.

    Bright Side did some research on many places throughout the world where you can buy a house for 1 dollar or for free!

    Roubaix, France

    If you like France, Roubaix located in the north of France is just for you. The local authorities want it to be populated and attractive. You can buy a small house in the industrial district for just $1. The buyer is supposed to live in this house for 3 years.

    Buffalo. USA

    Buffalo offers whoever qualifies to buy a house for $1. All you need is to be a lawful citizen of the city and invest amount of money into its decoration. Doing this, the authorities are hoping to make the city beautiful again without spending money.

    Liverpool, Great Britain

    In Liverpool, most of houses were abandoned (遗弃)by the working class during the years of unemployment. The government is trying to sell the houses for just $1. If you want to buy such a house, it has to be your first deal on buying property(房产).

    Candela, Italy

    If you still have any doubts about spending $1 on a house, you should know: the government will pay you some money, if you move to Candela. In order to be paid, you need to become a permanent(永久的)citizen and have an income of $7500 per year. If moving alone, you will get $800, and if you are going with your family, the pay can be four times as much as only one person.

    For more information of other cities, please Click Here.

    The Internet has completely changed the workplace over the past three decades. Artificial Intelligence is now all set to do the same, and businesses that don't take advantage of the technology risk being left behind.

    Global tech giants (巨头) like Amazon have been leading the change, and businesses of all sizes are now using the technology for employing and managing their staff.

    Among them is L'Oreal. With about a million applicants for roughly 15,000 new positions each year, the company is using AI to hire.

    “We really wanted to save time and focus more on quality, diversity and candidate experience. And AI solutions were the best way to go faster on these challenges, said Eva Azoulay, global vice-president of L'Oreal's Human Resources Department.

    The company uses Mya, a chatbot, to save employers' time during the first stage of the process. It handles routine questions from candidates, and checks details such as availability and visa requirements. Should candidates make it to the next round, they'll run into Seedlink, an AI software that scores applicants based on their answers to open-ended interview questions. These scores don't replace human judgment, said Azoulay, but they do pick out candidates who might not seem like obvious choices.

    Early results have been promising. For one internship program, where 12,000 people apply for about 80 spots, employers claim they saved 200 hours of time while hiring the most diverse group to date.

    Other businesses have gone beyond employment and are using AI to help manage employees. Some UK firms have started using Isaak, a system designed by the London-based company StatusToday, to track how many hours staff spend online and the number of emails they receive. London real estate agent JBrown has been using this system since March. CEO James Brown said it helps the firm understand employees' habits and prevent them from overworking. "It enables us to solve bottleneck problems and relieve overburdened employees," he said.

    Despite these examples of good practice, there is still a long way for AI to reach its full potential (潜力), and the technology comes with risks. Another AI danger could be its impact on jobs through automation (自动化). McKinsey predicts AI could add $13 trillion to the global economy by 2030, with early adopters doubling their cash flow over that period. But the demand for repetitive (重复的) or digitally-unskilled jobs could drop by around 10%, the consulting firm said in a 2018 report.