Augusto Esquivel is a sculptor who, in his own words, is “crazy with comparisons of reality and potential and the balance between them.” Perhaps the best example of what he's talking about are his most famous creations: the suspended(悬挂的) button sculptures.

    Made entirely from buttons hanging on various lengths of string, Esquivel's sculptures are made to look like common objects: a piano, a gumball machine, and even a toilet. If it wasn't for the clear string hanging above, these objects, these sculptures, would look solid, yet you can put your hands right through them. The process starts with him deciding on a subject and setting the acrylic （丙烯酸树脂）from where the buttons are being suspended. He buys buttons of different shapes and sizes, paints them with spray paint, and carefully hangs them. After that, it's a manner of hanging each individual button, which takes a lot of time. For his piano, for example, he individually hung over 60 pounds worth of tiny buttons.

    Esquivel's sculptures, while mostly housed inside art galleries, perfectly capture one of the main principles of street art: something that is eye-catching and something that invites interaction. Often the best sculptures outside the art galleries aren't the ones behind guards and fencing, but the ones people can go right up to and touch. In Vancouver, a series of laughing old men are attracting people for pictures and to just generally hang around, but the people who simply walk by and see the sculptures almost always leave with a smile on their face. That's good street art: it draws the viewer in rather than relying on a gallery to draw in an audience and point them to certain pieces.

    Esquivel's art is not only a presentation of talent, something that mentions larger philosophical questions, like the ones he stated above, but also just the right combination of interesting idea and painstaking work. One can look at his work in a critical way, or simply appreciate his idea and execution(艺术品的制作).

    Some students prefer a part­time job after class to earn some money and improve their working and communication abilities. Here are some good companies for you to choose.

    In­N­Out Burger

    It's the best hamburger shop in the west of America. Thought as one of the best employers, it offers flexible working hours and the highest starting part­time salaries (薪水). Above all, the company treats its workers the way they would like to be treated: like family.

    Position: selling assistant (experience required)

    Website：www.in­n­out.com

    Starbucks Coffee

    Starbucks has been a leader of the United States' coffee. Working hours are flexible. There is also a 30% discount and a free pound of coffee or box of tea every week.

    Position: coffee waiter (experience required)

    Website: www.starbucks.com

    Whole Foods Market

    Whole Foods Market is the world's largest natural and organic food selling company. With its focus on organic food, Whole Foods Market is all about health. Working hours are not fixed. You can get a 20% discount. There are also training courses on health and food every week.

    Position: secretary

    Website: www.wholefoodsmarket.com

    Lands' End

    Lands' End is a Wisconsin­based clothing retailer(零售商). Working hours can be changed easily to suit any new situation. Workers (even part­time workers) have the chance to go to a company­owned centre and get a 25% discount, and an invitation to the yearly company picnic.

    Position: salesman

    Website: www.landsend.com

    For the business traveler who is all about efficiency: Check out these hotels that will get you in and out with a minimum of trouble. When you are pressed for time on a business trip, nothing can infuriate you more than a slow hotel check-in process. On your next trip, try these hotels that offer a speedier check-in process.

⒈Yotel New York

    The self-service kiosks at this high-tech New York hotel work just like the ones you'd see at an airport. There are just five-steps to register and obtain your card key. There is even a robotic luggage bellboy. You tap in the number of bags you are carrying and sizes, then wait for a robot arm to swing down and store your luggage in a locker (say, for a day trip). This also speeds up the check-in process if the first thing you need to do, like me, is head to a series of meetings.

⒉Marriott Detroit Airport

    Another option for business travelers in a hurry: Marriott is rolling out its mobile check-in app to 325 hotels this year, including the Marriott Detroit Airport hotel. (I've tested the app itself but not for a real visit quite yet.) Here is the basic idea: you download the iphone or Android app. The night before, you can “check-in” virtually. When you arrive, you get an alert that the room is ready and your key, which is already tied to your reservation, is waiting for you at the desk.

⒊Hyatt Regency Minneapolis

    I happened to stay at this hotel recently and liked how fast the kiosk check-in works. Like the Yotel, the kiosk asks you to insert your credit card, similar to an airport terminal. The whole process took about three minutes, when I left, I was equally impressed with the fast check-out. An agent meets you in the lobby with an ipad and asks for an email to use for a receipt. The big advantage: you never have to wait in line.

⒋Radisson: LaCrosse

    The Radisson is trying to make the kiosk process even faster, at a few select hotels like the Radisson Lacrosse in Wisconsin, you use a mobile app to register and then receive a barcode by email or text. When you get to the kiosk, you scan the barcode to get your key without any other steps required. It's super fast. You can find this new check-in system at the Radisson hotels in Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Phoenix as well.

Live in Cave

    Kokopelli's Cave Bed &Breakfast, Farmington, New Mexico.

    The idea may seem very stone age, but this lone unit, which was carved into a 65-million-year-old sandstone rock, is filled with modern amenities(便利设施). The Travel Channel says these “cave comforts” include a comfortable bedroom, large fire circle, and rainfall shower. Plus, the views of the La Plata River and nearby mountains are breathtaking.

    $260/ night; bbonline.com

    Sleep below the Surface

    Jules' Undersea Lodge, Key Largo, Florida.

    This hotel, which is named after20,000 Leagues Under the Sea author Jules Verne, is the world's only underwater hotel. Lonely Planet says that this former research station has been turned into a pleasant hotel. Guests must make the 21-foot dive to its two rooms, fully stocked kitchen, and showers. Don't want to cook? The staff will dive and bring your food to you.

    $400/night; jul.com

    Sail into History

    The Queen Mary, Long Beach, California

    Wish you could experience the greatness of a ship like the Titanic? According to CNN Travel, here's your chance. Book a room to get a taste of a bygone time on this ship-turned hotel. You may not be able to sail into the sunset like Kate and Leo, but you can enjoy onboard attractions like original 1930s artwork and tours of strange and mysterious hot spots.

    $129/night;queenmary.com

    In recent years, a growing body of research has shown that our appetite and food intake are influenced by a large number of factors besides our biological need for energy, including our eating environment and our perception（感知）of the food in front of us.

    Studies have shown, for instance, that eating in front of the TV (or a similar distraction) can increase both hunger and the amount of food consumed. Even simple visual clues, like plate size and lighting, have been shown to affect portion size and consumption.

    A new study suggested that our short-term memory also may play a role in appetite. Several hours after a meal, people's hunger levels were predicted not by how much they'd eaten but rather by how much food they'd seen in front of them—in other words, how much they remembered eating.

    This disparity (新旧研究的差异）suggests the memory of our previous meal may have a bigger influence on our appetite than the actual size of the meal, says Jeffrey M. Brunstrom, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Bristol.

    "Hunger isn't controlled individually by the physical characteristics of a recent meal. We have identified an independent role for memory for that meal," Brunstrom says. "This shows that the relationship between hunger and food intake is more complex than we thought."

    These findings echo earlier research that suggests our perception of food can sometimes trick our body's response to the food itself. In a 2011 study, for instance, people who drank the same 380-calorie milkshake on two separate occasions produced different levels of hunger-related hormones （荷尔蒙），depending on whether the shake's label said it contained 620 or 140 calories. Moreover, the participants reported feeling more full when they thought they'd consumed a higher-calorie shake.

    What does this mean for our eating habits? Although it hardly seems practical to trick ourselves into eating less, the new findings do highlight the benefits of focusing on our food and avoiding TV and multitasking while eating.

    The so-called mindful-eating strategies can fight distractions and help us control our appetite, Brunstrom says.

    While the start of a new school year is always exciting, this year was even more so for some elementary school students in Auckland, New Zealand. They became the world's first kids to be "taught" by a digital teacher. Before you start imagining a human-like robot walking around the classroom, Will is just an avatar that appears on the student's desktop, or smartphone screen, when ordered to come.

    The autonomous animation platform has been modeled after the human brain and nervous system, allowing it to show human-like behavior. The digital teacher is assigned to teach Vector's "Be sustainable with energy" — a free program for Auckland elementary schools.

    Just like the humans it replaced, Will is able to instantly react to the students' responses to the topic. Thanks to a webcam and microphone, the avatar not only responds to questions the kids may have, but also picks up non-verbal cues. For instance, if a student smiles at Will, he responds by smiling back. This two-way interaction not only helps attract the students' attention, but also allows the program's developers to monitor their engagement, and make changes if needed.

    Nikhil Ravishankar believes that Will-like avatars could be a novel way to catch the attention of the next generation. He says, “I have a lot of hope in this technology as a means to deliver cost-effective, rich, educational experience in the future.”

    The program, in place since August 2018, has been a great success thus far. Ravishankar says, " What was fascinating to me was the reaction of the children to Will. The way they look at the world is so creative and different, and Will really captured their attention." However, regardless of how popular it becomes, Will is unlikely to replace human educators any time soon.