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Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can't make us tired. It sounds absurd. But years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue (tiredness). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we would find it full of fatigue toxins (毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.

So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired?   

Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional attitudes. One of England's most outstanding scientists, J.A. Hadfield, says, “The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares, “One hundred percent of the fatigue of sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”

    What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated—those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.

    Recently, I learned firsthand why it's a bad idea to judge people prematurely (过早地).

    I'm a nursing supervisor, and my job is to evaluate workers' performances at the hospital.

    Kenny was a new employee. After weeks' probation (试用), I had to admit that he was clean, punctual and efficient.

    But he had this self-assured and energetic presence. He was a large man, both physically and socially — he was independent and strong. I worried that our hospital, which demanded teamwork, was not right for such a personality.

    We had a patient named Mary. At 94 years old, Mary was weak. She had outlived her husband and sisters.

    Mary had an obsessive (强迫性的) belief that someone had taken her purse. She searched for it all the time. Unless tied to her wheelchair, she would go through the door onto the street mindlessly searching and never giving up. She was often sitting in her wheelchair in the hallway, where she stopped everyone who came near.

    “Can you lend me a comb?” she would ask. “I've lost mine. It was in my red purse. Where is my purse?”

    Every day it was the same. We all knew Mary didn't have a purse, but we would answer: “Sure, if I see your purse I'll bring it back.”

    One afternoon, I saw Kenny walking down the hall with a grocery bag. He walked toward Mary in her wheelchair. He pulled out a red purse.

    Mary's old hands flew up to her face in a gesture of wonder and joy, and then flew out hungrily like a starved child taking bread. Mary grabbed the red purse. She held it for a moment, and then pressed it to her breast, rocking it like a baby.

    Kenny leaned over, unzipped the purse open and showed Mary a comb inside. Tears of joy poured down Mary's face.

    Instead of paying lip service like the rest of us, Kenny had made Mary's problem his problem. I had been wrong about Kenny.

    It is commonly believed that the earliest Chinese paper-cuts appeared during the sixth century. Some scholars believe it was even earlier. Legend has it that during the Western Han Dynasty(206BC-AD24), Emperor Wudi was very sad after one of his favorite concubines, Madame Li, died. A Taoist priest, Li Shaoweng, cut a piece of hemp paper in the shape of Madame Li. When evening fell, the emperor's servants lit candles in his bedroom; the reflection of that paper-cut on the wall made the emperor think about his beloved concubine.

    The Yuxian paper-cut is different from most paper-cuts produced in other regions of China. Paper-cuts from other regions are mostly cut with scissors or knives from single-colored paper, such as red or black paper.

    There are four major procedures to making the Yuxian paper-cut: First, sketch the pattern on the draft paper; second, fasten the draft to the paper to be cut; third, use a knife to carve out the pattern; and fourth, dye (染色) the paper-cut with various colors.

    Precise cutting skills are needed to make a piece of the Yuxian paper-cut, which highlights the craft maker's artistic taste and dyeing skills. That explains the following saying: "The successful making of a Yuxian paper-cut is 30 percent dependent on the maker's cutting skills, and 70 percent on the maker's dyeing skills."

    The traditional Yuxian paper-cut highlights two themes: flowers and characters in Chinese operas. The paper-cut is particularly known for its vivid description of characters in various traditional Chinese operas. In October 2009, the art of Yuxian's paper-cut was added to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (非物质文化遗产) established by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization).

For some people, walking or running outdoors is a great way to work out. What may not be so pleasant is seeing trash all over the ground. Well, some people are doing something about it. They are plogging!

"Plogging" began in Sweden. The name combines the Swedish word "plocka", which means "to pick up", and the word "jogging", which means "to run slowly". A Swedish man named Erik, started the movement in 2016. On the World Environment Day website, Erik says that he moved to Stockholm from a small community in northern Sweden. Each day he would ride his bike to work. Concerned about the amount of trash and litter he saw each day on his way to work, he took matters into his own hands. 

Plogging, by that term, may have officially begun in Sweden. But many people who exercise outdoors have been doing this for years. Take Jeff Horowitz for example. He is a personal trainer in Washington, D.C. He often picks up trash while running outside. He even has turned it into a game; he will try to pick up the trash without stopping. "I didn't know it was a thing really. This is just my personal ethics____(道德标准), where I go for a run and if I happen to see a piece of garbage lying around and it's within reach—it is a kind of a little test for me to see if I can grab it and throw it in a near trash can without stopping. And that way, I think, it gives me a little exercise and a little focus for my run. And it helps clean up the neighbourhood," he announced. 

Today, plogging is an official activity, one that is becoming increasingly popular. Cities around the world now hold plogging events. "I would just hope people would think twice before dropping garbage on the ground. We have containers on every block. So, it's easy to put your garbage in the trash cans. I just think people should think about it a little bit more. I do hope one day there will not be a need for plogging," said an interviewee. 

If there was one good thing to come out of lockdowns, it was improve book sales and rates of reading, especially among children. A survey of 70,000 children and young people by the National Literacy Trust, however, has found this gain is now gone: figures are now equal to just before the pandemic (疫情), when the trust recorded the lowest levels of reading enjoyment (just under 50%) since it first asked the question 17 years ago. Another study of 8,000 five-to eight-year-olds at the same time found that nearly one in five did not have a book at home.

These questions are not about basic literacy (读写能力) but about the habit of reading: the children surveyed spoke of books giving them subjects to talk about; of entertainment and information; of reading helping them to understand people unlike themselves; of finding in books a place of escape; of aid in dealing with difficulty. "It helps me in learning about what I'm feeling. That .That is because I have a hard time expressing my emotions and would rather not bother anyone," as one child put it.

Children who read at home are six times more likely to be able to read above expected levels, while one study of 160,000 adults from 31 countries found children whose homes held least 80 books, books, but whose schooling ended at 13 or 14, were as literate, numerate and technologically intelligent in adulthood as university graduates who grew up with only a few books. Another found these children also went on to earn more.

It is not that most parents and carers don't understand this. A reason often cited for the lack of books at home is the cost of living. Almost a fifth of Britain's public libraries have closed in 10 years, while one in eight primary schools in England, rising to one in four in disadvantaged communities, do not have a s, do not have a library or designated (指定的) reading space. Compared with other problems this country faces, providing varied reading materials relatively straightforward to fix. We owe it to children to do so.

Emerald Coast Science Center Field Trips

Bring your group or class to explore our hands-on Science Center now which provides wonderful learning opportunities for students all along the Emerald Coast!

To book a field trip, please call Lisa at 850-664-1261. Please choose your preferred date and two alternate dates you would like to book before calling. We will email you a confirmation of your booking.