I considered an active social life as basic human necessity. Yet when it dawned on me just how much time I was spending socialising, I realised I may be taking it to an extreme. I calculated that, on average, I was spending 22 hours or more each week on social activities. So, to see what would happen to my work output, health and wellbeing, I decided to try and cut out my social life entirely.

    I knew, at times, I filled my schedule simply out of fear of missing out (FOMO), but also as a way to shift focus away from my work. For one month, I declined all in-person activities with friends: going out for drinks; dinners; parties and non-work related events, to see if it would make me more productive, improve my focus and career prospects.

    On day one of the month-long experiment, I had to fight some anxiety over missing out. But as the days passed, I started to relax. I only had one option to consider for Saturday night—to stay home—and this limitation left me more satisfied in my decision. I felt more content working, reading or watching TV.

    While I found more time to work, I also noticed a change in my overall health. I found myself cooking more at home, doing daily exercise, getting to bed earlier each night, reading, and enjoying moments of rest and boredom throughout the day.

    Having no social life left me more free time than I'd imagine. Such idle moments are vital for creativity, and mind wandering has been linked to creative problem solving. During the experiment I found myself regularly brainstorming new ideas and reimagining existing projects.

    Of course socialising is an important way to build work contacts. While one month of no social life did not impact my relationship with existing clients, if I had continued, it may harm my ability to build new ones.

A

    Daban town is famous for girls and windmills, while Loulan is a myth (神话) in the desert. Two thousand years ago, beside the beautiful Luobu Lake, there lay Loulan ancient city of the Silk Road. Businessmen from every country gathered there with lots of dancing parities. Everything shows that people in Loulan lived a rich life then.

    However, two thousand years later, this rich land suddenly disappeared from the map of China. It became an area covered with sand and dead tree trunks.

    Loulan was first "discovered" by a Swedish man named Sven Hedin in 1900, and people from America, Britain, Japan and Sweden all set foot here. Then in the 1930s, a Chinese named Huang Wenbi came to Loulan for the first time. He visited and studied this area and found many relics that were beautifully and carefully made.

    It is recorded that the ancient city of Loulan was the capital of the Loulan Kingdom during the Han and Jin Dynasties, and covered an area of some 10, 000 square kilometres. Inside the city, there are the ruins of government offices, temples and other old buildings. Outside the city there are some dried-up rivers and much farmland. In the past century many things have been dug up there including Han Dynasty coins, mirrors and many others of Greek and Roman times. All these things show that a lot of business between the East and the West once took place there.

    Lying on the northwest of the Lop Nur area, the Loulan Kingdom is now a lifeless area with endless ＂forests＂ of mounds (小丘) which aren't easily seen in other parts of the world. Its mystery has been attracting many people from many countries.

    A Japanese telecom company has designed a robot that it says has emotions (情绪). But rather than run in fear from it, we've welcomed it into our homes: Pepper, the “emotional robots” sold out within a minute of going on sale.

    Created by Aldebaran Robotics and Japanese mobile giant SoftBaok, Pepper went on sale to the general public in Japan on June 20. It is “the first humanoid (类人的) robot designed to live with humans,” Aldebaran says on its website. Pepper costs about $ 1,600. And like all good mobile products, there's a $ 120 per month data fee, as well as an $80 per month damage insurance fee. According to a news report, Pepper can pick up on human emotions and create his own using a “multi-layer neural (神经的) network.” Pepper's touch sensors and cameras are said to influence its mood, which is displayed on the tablet-sized screen on its chest.

    Pepper will sigh when unhappy, and can go around your house recording your family's daily activity. Aldebaran says Pepper can feel “joy, surprise, anger, doubt and sadness,” but it doesn't say how strongly it can feel these emotions. What happens when Pepper is having a bad day? Will it, like many humans, become uncooperative? Will it ask for some time alone? What happens if it knows that its purpose in life is just to take part in small talk? Thankfully, Pepper is only about four feet tall, with roller balls instead of legs, so if it is angry with and even turns on its owners, you'll be safe if you can make it upstairs.

    Aldebaran says in reality, they're probably quite a few years away from artificial intelligence that could create real emotions. Aldebaran wasn't immediately able to tell when Pepper will be available out of Japan, but additional sales are scheduled for July after the first 1,000 units sell out. SoftBank currently uses the robots in its stores as greeters, and it plans to offer Pepper to other stores in the future. Hopefully “boredom” is not an emotion Pepper can feel.

    The FBI is investigating the disappearance of a visiting Chinese scholar from a central Illinois university town as a kidnapping（绑架）as her whereabouts（下落）have remained unknown since Friday.

    Zhang Yingying, 26, was last seen on June 9 near the north end of the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign（UIUC）, wearing a charcoal-colored baseball cap, a pink and white top, jeans and white tennis shoes and carrying a black backpack. She boarded a Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District bus and exited the West Springfield and North Mathews avenues at 1:52 pm local time（1852 GMT）, police said.

    The FBI has labeled the case as a kidnapping but isn't ruling out anything, said Campus police spokesman Patrick Wade. The suspect appears to be a white male who was in a car and stopped to talk to Zhang on Friday afternoon, the FBI said. Almost one month into a yearlong appointment at the UIUC campus, Zhang's friends told police that she was heading to an apartment complex in Urbana to sign a lease（租约）.

    Security camera footage（连续镜头）on Monday released by university police showed that Zhang talked to the driver of a black Saturn Astra, about five blocks from where she got off a bus in Urbana on Friday afternoon. She entered the car shortly thereafter. Zhang has not been seen or heard from since then and attempts to contact her by phone remain unsuccessful. Authorities have asked the public to help identify that vehicle.

    A massive search has been launched in Urbana in the US state of Illinois since Zhang's disappearance. Police are interviewing with her colleagues, checking local hospitals and coordinating with ride-hailing（打车）companies as part of their investigative efforts.

    In an interview with Xinhua through Wechat on Thursday, Zhang Ronggao, father of the missing visiting scholar from China's Fujian Province, expressed gratitude to all the people involved in the search and asked US police to accelerate the search.

Essentials of Nutrition — Good nutrition VS malnutrition (营养不良)

    Author: Joel Bressler

    Price: $29. 99

Essentials of Nutrition touches important health topics such as: the positive and negative aspects of nutrition; the importance of exercise; the necessity of vitamins, minerals, and water. It also advises how doctors and educators will improve our health in the future.

    Preserve the Best and Conserve the Rest—Memoirs (回忆录) of a US Forest Service Wildlife Biologist

    Author: Hadley B. Roberts

    Price: $19.99

Preserve the Best and Conserve the Rest covers US Forest Service wildlife biologist Hadley B. Roberts' half-century career in wildlife and fish habitat conservation and preservation. It includes his accomplishment, motives and influences behind his actions.

Poodle (贵宾犬) Mistress —The Autobiographical Story of Life with Nine Toy Poodle

    Author: Sandi Latimer

    Price: $22.99

Poodle Mistress is a story of unconditional love and devotion about nine dogs that changed author Sandi Latimer's life. Her memoir (回忆录) details a twenty-seven-year journey as she and her husband cared for and enjoyed the funny behaviors of their toy poodles.

A Professor and CEO True Story—A Fascinating Journey to Success

    Author: Richard T. Cheng

    Price: $13.95

In A Professor and CEO True Story, Richard T Cheng shares how he overcame great odds and transformed from a struggling immigrant to million-dollar CEO and esteemed professor. This is a powerful and inspiring story of success and survival.

    There's so much to see and do in the coolest little capital. Here's our list of the top 5 must dos when you visit Wellington.