Inside the Rain Room

    The Rain Room has arrived and local art lovers are taking notice. Is it worth the wait? Yes, I assure you it is. Once inside, visitors find a long, dark room with a high ceiling. A single bright light shines through heavy rain falling around visitors. The mist. The damp air. The noise. It feels like a mighty storm is pouring down. But the storm is inside. And visitors aren't getting wet. Instead, visitors wander in awe, admiring the rain and the artists who created it.

    The Rain Room was created to highlight the connection between humans, nature and technology. With a tracking system that senses movement and stops the rain wherever visitors move, it does just that. Light and sound produce an experience that feels both natural and foreign. The exhibit is moving on to Atlanta next month. I urge you to visit before then. It's time to experience the Rain Room for yourself!

Welcome to the Rain Room

• The Rain Room features falling water. Please be aware you may get slightly wet. However, visitors wearing raincoats will be turned away.

• This exhibit features advanced technology. To ensure its effectiveness, please avoid wearing dark or reflective clothing.

• Visitors are welcome to take photographs of the exhibit.

• Children must be accompanied by an adult.

• For the convenience of all guests, visits are limited to 10 minutes.

    Philo Farnsworth is not a name most people know. But his work changed the way we learn, the way we live, and even the way we think. Philo Farnsworth is responsible for one of the 20^th century: television.

    Philo Farnsworth was born in America in 1906. He was interested in science and technology at an early age. When he was twelve years old, he built an electric motor for his family's washing machine. When he was fourteen, he was already giving a lot of thought to electrons（电子）. As he was driving the family's horse-drawn plowing machine, he noticed the evenly spaced rows of the potato fields. This sight gave him the idea that electrons could scan（扫描） an image one row at a time—an idea that was the key to electronic television.

    By the time he was twenty-one years old, Farnsworth had started his own company and had managed to build the world's first electronic television. It was a very simple device（设备）. But after years of hard work, Farnsworth was able to introduce the kind of television we now use.

    Farnsworth was a great inventor, but lived an unhappy life. He had a legal battle with the company, Radio Corporation of America (RCA) over who the real inventor of the TV was. He won the case, but the government stopped companies from making TVs during the war, so Farnsworth didn't make much money from the invention.

    When Farnsworth was young, he imagined television as a convenient way for distant audiences to enjoy lectures by famous professors, or entertainment by the best symphonies（交响乐） and ballets. When he was older, television became much more popular, but he was very disappointed in the silly programs on TV. He even told his own son, “There's nothing on it worthwhile, and we're not going to watch it in this household.”

    Whether in the home or the workplace, social robots are going to become a lot more common in the next few years. Social robots are about to bring technology to the everyday world in a more humanized way, said Cynthia Breazeal, chief scientist at the robot company Jibo.

    While household robots today do the normal housework, social robots will be much more like companions than mere tools. For example, these robots will be able to distinguish when someone is happy or sad. This allows them to respond more appropriately to the user.

    The Jibo robot, arranged to ship later this year, is designed to be a personalized assistant. You can talk to the robot, ask it questions, and make requests for it to perform different tasks. The robot doesn't just deliver general answers to questions; it responds based on what it learns about each individual in the household. It can do things such as reminding an elderly family member to take medicine or taking family photos.

    Social robots are not just finding their way into the home. They have potential applications in everything from education to health care and are already finding their way into some of these spaces.

Fellow Robots is one company bringing social robots to the market. The company's “Oshbot” robot is built to assist customers in a store, which can help the customers find items and help guide them to the product's location in the store. It can also speak different languages and make recommendations for different items based on what the customer is shopping for.

    The more interaction the robot has with humans, the more it learns. But Oshbot, like other social robots, is not intended to replace workers, but to work alongside other employees.“We have technologies to train social robots to do things not for us, but with us,” said Breazeal.

    World leaders from nearly 200 countries have signed an important historic agreement to fight global climate change. The agreement came after two weeks of talks between the leaders at the 21st Conference in Paris, France.

    As part of the Paris agreement, countries said they would cut down on pollution However, according to the terms of the deal, countries that don't do this will not be punished, or fined. Instead，the document is meant to show that governments around the world take climate change seriously and are willing to work together to fight global warming.

    World leaders have met many times to discuss climate change. But, the 21st Conference of Parties, or COP21, which began on November 30 in Paris, was the first time they agreed on a global, legal pact (协定).

    Before the conference, each nation was asked to create plans on how to reach the shared goal. The pact that was signed allows countries to decide the best way to cut down their gas pollution. No matter how they decide to go green, each country must report honestly on all of their efforts. Every five years, nations must look at the work they've done and submit new plans on how they will improve over the next five years.

    In the pact, the countries pledge（承诺）to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted（排放） by human activity to the levels that trees，soil and oceans can absorb naturally. It urges countries to spend trillions of dollars on creating new energy sources, like solar and wind power. It also requires countries to raise at least $ 100 billion each year to help developing countries.

    However, critics of the pact say it is not detailed enough, and doesn't include specifics about how the plan will be enforced and how improvements will be measured. The pact does include one large, specific goal: how countries will aim to keep global temperatures from rising more than 3.60℉(20℃) by 2100.

    Nonetheless，the agreement is considered by many world leaders to be a major victory. The U. N. has been working more than two decades to convince governments to work together to reduce man-made emissions.

    “History will remember this day,” U. N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said. “The Paris agreement on climate change is a monumental success for the planet and its people.”

    Katie was in big trouble. She was such a sweet kid; a third­grade teacher always dreamed of having a classroom filled with Katies; she has never had a discipline(纪律) problem. I just couldn't imagine why she had made her parents so angry.

    It seemed that Katie had been running up sizable charges in the lunch room. Her parents explained that Katie brought a great homemade lunch each day, and there was no reason for her to buy school lunch. They assumed a sit­down with Katie would solve the problem, but failed. So they asked me to help them get to the bottom of this situation.

So the next day, I asked Katie to my office."Why are you charging lunches, Katie? What happened to your homemade lunch？" I asked. "I lose it，" she responded. I leaned back in my chair and said, "I don't believe you, Katie." She didn't care." Is someone stealing your lunch, Katie？" I took a new track. "No. I just lose it." she said. Well, there was nothing else I could do.

The problem was still unsolved the next week when I noticed a boy who was new to the school sitting alone at a lunch table. He always looked sad. I thought I would go and sit with him for a while. As I walked towards him, I noticed the lunch bag on the table. The name on the bag said " Katie " .

    Now I understood and I talked to Katie. It seemed that the new boy never brought a lunch, and he wouldn't go to the lunch line for a free lunch. He had told Katie his secret and asked her not to tell anyone that his parents wanted him to get a free lunch at school. Katie asked me not to tell her parents, but I drove to her house that evening after I was sure that she was in bed. I had never seen parents so proud of their child. Katie didn't care that her parents and teacher were disappointed in her. But she cared about a little boy who was hungry and scared.

    Katie still buys lunch every day at school. And every day, as she heads out of the door, her mom hands her a delicious homemade lunch.

    Pure Yoga is devoted to serving the yoga community in Asia and beyond, offering a wide variety of classes such as Hatha Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yin Yoga and Vinyasa Yoga, etc. Our yoga classes are offered and taught by nearly 200 professional yoga teachers. Private Yoga is also available for learners of all levels. Pure Yoga constantly invites world-known teachers to lead guest teacher workshops.

    Class Bookings

    Class bookings can be made 2 days in advance of the class. It is important that you book your class in advance since some classes are more heavily attended than others.

    We also limit our class sizes so that they are not overcrowded. If the class you wish to take is full, we will place you on the wait list and inform you of an opening as soon as possible. To create the best experience for yourself and others, please follow these guidelines：

    No talking

    The yoga studio is a silent room. Please do not talk while in the studio and studio corridors.

    No eating

    Do not eat in the studio.

    No shoes

    Remove your shoes before entering the practice rooms. Keep your shoes in your locker. Shoe lockers are also available for rental.

No mobile phones

    Turn your mobile phones off or to "vibrate"(震动)mode. Do not take phones into the practice rooms.

    Personal Belongings

    Daily lockers are not for overnight use. Locks from any daily lockers that are kept overnight will be cut.