In London's art gallery six or seven men, mostly in their 30s, are busy painting the walls with new designs in colorful lettering and clever tricks. Tins of spray paint and beer stand on the ground. The atmosphere is not unlike that of a golf course: a mix of concentration and relaxation.

    Graffiti(涂鸦) painting is traditionally a daring hobby. Teenagers avoid security guards to put their names on trains and buses. But over the past decade that has almost disappeared from Britain's cities. Between 2007 and 2017 the number of incidents of graffiti recorded by the British Transport Police fell by 63%. A survey by the environment ministry shows that fewer places are damaged by tags(绘名) than ever. Graffiti are increasingly limited to only a few walls. In time the practice may die out entirely.

    The most obvious reason for the decline in tagging and train-painting is better policing, says Keegan Webb, who runs The London Vandal, a graffiti blog (博客). Numerous cameras mean it is harder to get away with painting illegally. And punishments are more severe. A generational change is apparent, too. Now teenagers prefer to play with iPads and video games. Those who do get involved tend to prefer street art to graffiti. And the internet helps painters win far more attention by posting pictures online than they can by breaking into a railway yard.

    Taggers and graffiti artists mostly grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. Those men are now older and less willing to take risks. "We can't run away from the police any more," says Ben Eine, who turned from tagging to street art. The hip-hop culture that inspired graffiti in the first place has faded. Video games and comic books provide more inspiration than music.

    Graffiti may eventually disappear. But for now the hobby is almost respectable. Mr Eine says he has lots of friends who used to paint trains. Now with wives and children, they paint abandoned houses at the weekend. It has become something to do on a Sunday afternoon—a slightly healthier alternative to sitting watching the football.

    For most people, Christmas is a time to relax in the company of family and friends. But for Santa Claus, and the thousands of fake Santas who impersonate（模仿） him every year, the Christmas season is time to get to work.

    Although Santa Claus waits until Christmas Eve to take his famous sleigh (雪橇) ride, Santa impersonators can be found at shopping malls around America throughout the six weeks leading up to December 25. "When you see Santa talking with kids at your local mall, that's when you know Christmas really is on the way," says Mary Lewine of New York City.

    With the excitement of Christmas, people often forget about the real people behind the red robes （长袍) and white beards, but being a mall Santa. is a tough job. "There is more to it than just sitting in a chair. There is more to it than just a red suit," said Timothy Connaghan, who has worked as a Santa for.38 years. "Children can really put the wear and tear on you.”

    A recent survey showed some of the challenges that mall Santas face every year. About 90 percent of Santas claimed that children pulled their beards to see if they were real, and 60 percent said that up to ten kids cough or sneeze on them every day. Even more disturbing, one-third of the Santas admit to having children wet themselves while sitting on their laps.

    So why would anyone take this job? For Ben Brauch, a retired high school teacher who has worked as a Santa for the last six years, the answer is simple-the children. "I see maybe 12,000 kids in a six-week period.

    It's hard work, but it's worth it because you get to play with kids." In fact, Brauch loves his job so much that he keeps his white beard long all year.

    Astronauts on shorter shuttle missions（使命）often work very long days. Tasks are scheduled so tightly that break times are often used to finish the day's work.  This type of schedule is far too demanding for long missions on the International  Space Station（ISS）.  ISS crewmembers usually live in space for at least a quarter of a year. They work five days on and two days off to mimic the normal way they do things on Earth as much as possible . Weekends give the crew valuable.  Weekends give the crew valuable time to rest and do a few hours of  housework.  They can communicate with family and friends by email , internet phone and through Private video conferences.

    While astronauts cannot go to a baseball game or a movie in orbit, there are many familiar activities that they can still enjoy . Before a mission. The family and friends of each ISS crewmember put together a collection of family photos, messages, videos and reading material for

    The astronauts to look at when they will be floating 370 kilometers above the Earth.  During their mission, the crew also receives care packages with CDs, books, magazines, photos and letters . And as from early 2010, the internet became available on the ISS , giving astronauts the chance to do some “web surfing （冲浪）”in  their personal time.  Besides relaxing with these more common entertainments, astronauts can simply enjoy the experience of living in space.

    Many astronauts say that one of the most relaxing things to do in space is to look out the window and stare at the universe and the Earth's vast land mass and oceans.

    Johnny Jennings is 86 years old, but he first visited the Georgia Baptist Children's Home when he was 18, and the visit changed his life forever.

    A child ran up to Jennings, begging to be adopted, and it was at that moment that Jennings realized his life's mission. From that day forward, Jennings did everything he could to help, and that turned out to be quite a lot. Since he wasn't ready to adopt a child of his own, he decided to contribute financially. Since he wasn't wealthy, he did so by collecting paper and aluminum (铝) products and cashing them in for money. That may not sound like it would amount to much, but Jennings has donated more than US$400,000 over the past 30 years. That's a lot of paper products.

    Over those 30 years Jennings has become a cornerstone of the children's home.

But how does he get all that paper? Now that people know about his efforts, the paper pretty much comes to him. People drop it off at his house after collecting it through churches, organizations or in their own lives. Jennings also collected pennies, and as they say: A penny saved is a penny earned. Well, he's saved 24 miles' worth of pennies. It's the truth. "84,480 is a mile of pennies," Jennings said. "We finished 24 miles. We had most people from church collecting pennies." Each and every mile was a donation to the church.

    One of Jennings' favorite events is the church's annual meeting, which is when he presents his check each year. During this time, the kids who live in the children's home are also in attendance and he loves the opportunity to spend time with them. Jennings has served on the board for 45-year terms. "I've been a trustee for 20 years," Jennings said. "I'm just part of the family." And what a special family it is, thanks in large part to Johnny Jennings.

    Imagine a small group of people with a shared passion for the same craft. They all have different skills and approaches, but they come together to share skills, share stories, and share in the joy of making something.

    Modern maker culture is filling headlines and lab spaces all over the world. The way makers communicate with each other has changed over time. In the past, skills mainly came from personal sit-downs with members of the group. But sometimes a teacher wasn't available, or the one available didn't know how to do the skill others wanted to learn.

    Today a teacher doesn't even have to be in the same country or occupy the same decade as the students. Thanks to the work of people who take the time to break down and share the details of their craft, an interested individual can learn anything. Guides may range from videos to diagrams and text. Regardless of the media, maker resources are meant to be shared.

    One of the features of the maker movement is the crossover between different interests. Perhaps a passion for cars and for leather craft can result in a truly custom interior (定制的内饰). Perhaps a love of knitting (编织)and robotics will result in a tiny ——but very mobile ——robotic furry cat.

    And once you have started your creation, finding a community to share with is no longer limited to the people nearby. Modern makers have been sharing videos of their progress online for years, contributing greatly to the rapid spread of the maker movement. As different as the participants might be, they share enthusiasm, support, and a willingness to try.

    Imagine making a ping-pong table together with your makers' team. One group builds the basic frame. Another group takes on the responsibility of painting. You knit the net. There is joy in just giving it a try. It will remind you of childhood creations. Whether you are an experienced programmer or just picking up a hammer for the first time, it is never a bad time to come up with an idea, try something, and share the results.

    Most Americans see their pets as family members, surveys show. Those with dogs are more likely to call themselves pet "parents" than pet "owners". There are more of these parents than ever. In big cities such as San Francisco and Seattle,(owned) dogs outnumber children.

    The ways in which companies are profiting from the trend are also becoming various. Kinds of dog food and various pet mattresses (垫子) are always in hot sale. And it is not surprising that, for pets, Americans spent more than $400 million only on Halloween costumes this year. Overall, annual spending on pet food and products in America has risen by around 40% over the past ten years.

    Now a pack of startups have sensed a fresh opportunity.

    Much as Airbnb has offered travelers another choice instead of staying in a hotel, two firms, Recover and DogVacay, want to give pet owners an alternative to kennels (养狗场) when away from home. The cost is around $30 a night, with the majority of that going to the sitter, who takes care of the dog, and around a fifth to the company﹣much less than you would spend to check your dog into a kennel.

    The other big sellingpoint is that pets will receive better treatment. There are ways, apparently, to vet (审查) dog hosts to the real pet lovers: only around 15% of those who apply to serve as sitters are passed. Besides offering more attention and room, Rover has launched a feature that helps customers to see how far their dog has been walked via the GPS in the host's phone. Like Airbnb, both DogVacay and Recover insure stays against accidents.

    Another advantage of the model is that consumers often use dog-sitting services many times a year, and they tend to be loyal. That has helped DogVacay and Recover attract a lot of money﹣around $140 million between them.

    But firms that connect pets with hosts will face great competition as they try to go global. Companies offering homestays for dog rapidly appear in many different countries, including Australia, Brazil and Britain. And unlike Airbnb, which pulls in customers thanks to its presence in lots of markets that people want to travel to, the network effect for services like DogVacay is local.

    Despite having predicted the trend early, such firms may never achieve the same scale as an Airbnb. But then no one ever said it was easy to be top dog.