Today I went to Berkeley, near our old neighborhood. I was a bit surprised by the increased number of homeless (alternatively housed) people walking around. I remember there are more in certain areas. So the first man who asked me for money got all my single bills. So when the second man asked me two minutes later, I said I was out because I gave all I had to the previous person.

    I was headed to the grocery store for a coffee and after I left the store I walked out to find him as he had asked me for something because he was hungry and I invited him to go into the grocery store with me.

    When I asked him what he wanted to eat, he just asked for vegetable and rice. He talked about how much better the vegetables were as we waited for our number to be called. While we waited he told me that he had slept outside last night on the sidewalk, that it was not good, and that he had come from Rwanda and was alone.

    He was a gentleman. When I asked if he wanted more he said, this bowl of food would last him the whole day.

    I don't know what his circumstances were before he came to California, and wandering and begging on the streets could somehow be better because you just never know what had happened to him. He seemed like a kind soul who just needed some help like we all do. I am grateful I did a little to help him today.

    A drunken burglar（盗贼） in the Orrell Park area of Liverpool, ended up leaping out of a window after a 10-year-old girl asked him to prove he was a superhero.

    The drunken thief who pretended he was Superman to stop a child raising the alarm has been caught after he leapt from the apartment building in his pants to make the girl convinced.

    Thief Ethan Adamson, 25, told police that he had broken into a fifth-floor flat after a drinking session, believing it was empty.

    But he was horrified when the owner's 10-year-old daughter woke up while he was there.

    From his hospital bed, the thief told reporters, “To keep her quiet, I told her I was really Superman and I'd soon be flying off back to my secret headquarters.”

    “She called my bluff (吓唬) and told me, 'If you're Superman, show me you can fly or I'll scream'.

    “I had no choice so I stripped to my pants to look more like a superhero and went to the window. I saw another roof below and I thought I could make it but it turned out to be a lot further down than thought. I know it doesn't make sense but it did to me when I was drunk.”

    Police later found him on the roof in just his yellow pants, covered in cuts and bruises after a baffled neighbor heard his cries of pain.

    He now faces seven years behind bars for burglary.

    Police spokesman Frank Amado said, “He was in quite a serious state and couldn't move until we got up there using ladders. He was treated for his injuries and we got him some fresh clothes, before taking him to hospital where he is being kept under guard until he is well enough to be arrested.”

    Christopher Thomas, 27, was a writer by night and a teacher by day when he noticed he was always tired and was losing weight fast. Diagnosed with diabetes (糖尿病), Thomas would need to inject himself with insulin (胰岛素) three times a day for the rest of his life or risk nerve damage, blindness, and even death. And if that weren't bad enough, he had no health insurance.

    After a month of feeling upset, Thomas decided he'd better find a way to fight back. He left Canton, Michigan for New York, got a job waiting tables, nicknamed himself the Diabetic Rockstar, and created diabeticrockstar.com, a free online community for diabetics and their loved ones—a place where over 1,100 people share personal stories, information, and resources.

    Jason Swencki's son, Kody, was diagnosed with type diabetes at six. Father and son visit the online children's forums (论坛) together most evenings. “Kody gets so excited, writing to kids from all over,” says Swencki, one of the site's volunteers. “They know what he's going through, so he doesn't feel alone.”

    Kody is anything but alone: Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, with 24 million diagnosed cases. And more people are being diagnosed at younger ages.

    These days, Thomas's main focus is his charity (慈善机构), Fight It, which provides medicines and supplies to people—225 to date—who can't afford a diabetic's huge expen­ses. Fight－it.org has raised about $23,000—in products and in cash. In May, Thomas will hold the first annual Diabetic Rockstar Festival in the Caribbean.

    Even with a staff of 22 volunteers, Thomas often devotes up to 50 hours a week to his cause, while still doing his full­time job waiting tables. “Of the diabetes charities out there, most are putting money into finding a cure，” says Bentley Gubar, one of Rockstar's original members. “But Christopher is the only person I know saying people need help now.”

    While your pet fish may appear to be unaware of your presence, chances are that it knows you extremely well and can probably even identify you from a crowd of human faces!

    To test if this was accurate, some scientists decided to study archerfish（喷水鱼）. These animals don't have a sophisticated（复杂的）brain that is necessary to recognize the slight differences between human facial features.

    They began by presenting four archerfish with images of two human faces. Initially, the fish spit at both. However, they soon learned spitting water at the one selected by the researchers earned them a food treat. After that, they focused primarily on that image. The researchers then took the experiment one step further by introducing 44 other human faces to the mix.

    To the researcher's astonishment, the trained archerfish were able to recall the learned image almost 81% of the time. And this accuracy improved to 86% when the researchers made the identification even harder, by replacing the colored photos with a set of black and white images and hiding the shape of the head.

    The results of the study suggest that though having tiny brains, archerfish may have developed high visual discrimination abilities. While it is contrary to the previous theory that a sophisticated brain is necessary to recognize human faces, the researchers believe they do not recognize faces by recalling complex facial information like gender and identity, but more likely by discriminating between detailed  patterns. Even so, the fact that these archerfish could “remember” those faces demonstrates that they have an impressive memory for details that lasts much longer than the originally-thought 3 seconds!

    This is not the first time researchers have realized how “smart” fish are. Previous studies have shown that fish can recognize those fish they have “socialized” with previously, and even recall complex three-dimensional maps of their surroundings.

    Three men traveling on a train began a conversation about the world's greatest wonders.

    "In my opinion, "the first man said, "the Egyptian pyramids are the world's greatest wonder. Although they were built thousands of years ago, they are still standing. And remember: the people who built them had only simple tools. They did not have the kind of machinery that builders and engineers have today."

    "I agree that the pyramids in Egypt are wonderful," the second man said, "but I do not think they are the greatest wonder. I believe computers are more wonderful than the pyramids. They have taken people to the moon and brought them back safely. In seconds, they carry out mathematical calculations that would take a person a hundred years to do."

    He turned to the third man and asked, "What do you think is the greatest wonder in the world?"

    The third man thought for a long time, and then he said, "Well, I agree that the pyramids are wonderful, and I agree that computers are wonderful, too. However, in my opinion, the most wonderful thing in the world is this thermos."

    And he took a thermos out of his bag and held it up.

    The other two men were very surprised. "A thermos?" they exclaimed. "But that's a simple thing."

    "Oh, no, it's not," the third man said. "In the winter you put in a hot drink and it stays hot. In the summer you put in a cold drink and it stays cold. How does the thermos know whether it's winter or summer?"

    I was shopping in the supermarket when I heard a young voice.

    "Mom, come here！There's this lady here my size！"

    The mother rushed to her son；then she turned to me to apologize. I smiled and told her, "It's okay."

    Then I talked to the boy, "Hi, I'm Darryl Kramer. How are you?"

    He studied me from head to toe，and asked, "Are you a little mommy？"

    "Yes, I have a son," I answered.

    "Why are you so little？" he asked. "It's the way I was born," I said. "Some people are little. Some are tall. I'm just not going to grow any bigger." After I answered his other questions, I shook the boy's hand and left.

    My life as a little person is filled with stories like that. I enjoy talking to children and explaining why I look different from their parents.

    It takes only one glance to see my uniqueness. I stand three feet nine inches tall. I was born an achondroplasia dwarf(侏儒). Despite this, I did all the things other kids did when I was growing up.

    I didn't realize how short I was until I started school. Some kids joked on me, calling me dwarsf. Then I knew. I began to hate the first day of school each year. New students would always stare at me as I struggled to climb the school bus stairs.

    But I learned to smile and accept the fact that I was going to be noticed my whole life. I decided to make my uniqueness an advantage rather than a disadvantage. What I lacked in height, I made up for in personality.

    I'm 47 now, and the stares have not diminished as I've grown older. People are amazed when they see me driving. I try to keep a good attitude. When people are rude, I remind myself, "Look what else I have－a great family, nice friends. "

    It's the children's questions that make my life special. I enjoy answering their questions. My hope is that I will encourage them to accept their peers(a person of the same age, class, position, etc.), whatever size and shape they come in, and treat them with respect.