The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on well with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly-held image of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.

    An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it had ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive today's young people seem to be about their families,” said one member of the research team. “They're expected to be rebellious(叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds: they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There's more negotiation(商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don't want to rock the boat.”

    So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-year-old Daniel Lazall. “I always tell them when I'm going out clubbing. As long as they know what I'm doing, they're fine with me.” Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I'd done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”

    Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion(反抗) is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, “Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over. ”

Classis Book Club for Home-schooled Teens

★ Sign up at Librarian's 1st Floor Reference Desk.

★ Free books for first 15 teens who sign up for each title. If you are unable to attend the activity, please return the book to Teen Librarian so she can give the book to another teen.

Classics for Home-schooled Teens

Fridays, 1:00~2:00 pm, Library Room 215

January 23: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

February 20: Antigone by Sophocles

March 20: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

April 24: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

For information contact Teen Librarian Elise Sheppard, elise.i.sheppard@lonestar.edu, 281-290-5248.

5th Annual Prom-dress Give-away

Lone Star College — CYEAIR BRANCH LIBRARY'S PROM CLOSET

Your dress is free for you to keep.

If you Need a Prom Dress

Contact the Youth Service Specialist at your school/ Contact Prom Closet organizers directly:

LSC-CF Teen Librarian Elise Sheppard at 281-290-5248, elise.i.sheppard@lonestar.edu

LSC-CF Friends of the Library President Nancy Flanakin at meaford8510@vahoo.com

Saturday dates to get a dress:

(Other dates by appointment only — contact Elise or Nancy)

Prom Dresses Needed!

Dresses & accessories needed: All dress sizes 0 — 26

Accessories: Shoes, handbags, jewelry, hair pieces, shawls, etc.

Perfect condition: Clean, undamaged, beautiful

Delivery instructions:

Take donations to Lone Star College — CyFair Branch Library Circulation/Customer Service Desk anytime the library is open.

Favorite Books for Kids

    Climate change has had a number of effects on cities around the world, including rising see levels. And, this has become an especially big problem for coastal cities. City officials must now prepare for higher tides on their coasts. The American city of Miami is one example. Located in South Florida, Miami is home to nearly 3 million people and billions of dollars in land and buildings.

    Miami is one of the cities in America most at risk for rising sea levels. The waterfront is central to Miami's culture and economy. But as the seas rise with climate change .the water will not stay put. Large parts of South Florida are in danger of being under water in the coming years. Across Biscayne Bay, the City of Miami Beach is making improvements - raising streets, adding water pumps and more.

    It is costing the city a lot of money. Local communities will spend 500 million dollars for the improvements. Thankfully, the residents, the folks that are paying the bill for this work, realize that the cost of doing nothing is much greater. A possibility officials are discussing with residents is for city to buy homes in some places where flooding has been a problem. The city would then turn that land into parks of grassland that could hold the water.

    Over time, the city may need to take bigger risks. Miami's future depends largely on how much, and how fast, the oceans rise.

    Caroline Lewis leads the climate activism group, the CLEO Institute. She says cities cannot avoid the need to move inland. But, she says，a well-planned withdrawal (撤退) could include measures to keep people safely in place for as long as possible. And, she says, the world could learn from such a model. In these two Florida cities built on wetlands, there remains a lot of hopefulness.

    Griffith Observatory (天文台) is a national leader in public astronomy，and one of the most popular attractions in Los Angeles. It is located on the southern slope (山坡) of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park at 1,134 feet above sea level.

    Visitors may drive to the observatory and park in its parking lot or on nearby roads. No reservation (预订) is required to visit. Parking is limited，and the busiest time is weekends. Buses，taxis，and car pools are welcome. LADOT provides weekend public bus service from the Sunset/Vermont Metro Red Line Station.

    Griffith Observatory is open six days a week. Admission and parking are free.

    Hours of Operation

    Tuesday—Friday    12 noon—10 p．m.

    Saturday—Sunday      10 a．m.—10 p．m.

    Monday  Closed

    Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day Closed

    Samuel Oschin Planetarium

    The Samuel Oschin Planetarium theater offers 8 to 10 live，half-hour presentations each day. There are usually four different shows from which to choose.

    Shows are presented every 60 to 90 minutes. Check the website，information desks，or the box office for each day's show time. Being seated late is not permitted.

    Samuel Oschin Planetarium tickets must be purchased at the observatory and are only available on the day of the show. The ticket prices for shows are：

    Adults (13—59 years old)      $7.00

    Children (5—12 years old)         $3.00

    Seniors (60 years and older)        $5.00

    Students                        $5.00

    Children under 5 years old will be admitted only to the first show each day.

    Hearing assist devices are available on request.

    Public Telescopes

    Free public telescopes are available each evening the observatory is open and skies are clear.The Zeiss telescope on the roof is generally open by 7 p．m.All observing must be completed by 9：45 p．m.

    Angad Rekhi, a graduate student and an assistant professor of electrical engineering, has developed a wake-up receiver. This wake-up receiver has many potential applications, particularly in designing the next generation of net worked devices, including so called "smart" devices that can communicate directly with one another without human intervention (介入).

    Once attached to a device, a wake-up receiver listens for a unique ultrasonic（超声波）pattern that tells it when to turn the device on. It needs only a very small amount of power to maintain this constant listening, so it still saves energy overall while extending the battery life of the larger device. A well-designed wake-up receiver also allows the device to be turned on from a significant distance.

    Given the increased interest in networked devices, researchers and industry organizations are starting to define what features and techniques will become standard. Regardless of whether this ultrasound wake-up receiver is among these standard designs, it is likely wake-up receivers of some kind will be combined into commercial applications soon.

    By comparison, the ultrasound wake-up receiver requires a battery but has much greater range than the wirelessly powered devices, while still maintaining a long lifetime due to extremely low power draw. These two technologies-wireless power and wake-up receivers-would likely serve different purposes but both indicate at a turning point in devices that make up the Internet of Things.

    "In light of a long-promised future where interconnected, autonomous, widespread and unremarkable technologies make life easier, the networked devices available now, like video doorbells and app-enabled lights, seem like rather slight advances." the researchers said. They believe technologies like theirs could help cross the gap between the Internet of Things as we know it and the Internet of Things at its best-whatever that may be.