I tried not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His social worker assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee. He was short, a little fat, with the smooth facial features and thick-togued speech of Down's Syndrome（唐氏综合症）. I thought most of my customers would be uncomfortable around Stevie, so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.

    I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my regular trucker customers had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished.

    Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home.

    That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a heart surgery. His social worker said that people with Downs Syndrome often had heart problems at an early age and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.

    A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine. Frannie, my head waitress, did a little dance when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at her and asked, “Okay, Frannie, what was that all about?”

    "We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay."

    "I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?"

    Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed: "Yeah, I"m glad he is going to be OK," she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they"re barely getting by as it is."

    Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables.

    After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand.

    "What's up?" I asked.

    "I cleared off that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting after they left, and I found this. This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup."

    She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "something For Stevie".

    That was three months ago. Today is New Year's day, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement worker said he had been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. I took him and his mother by their arms. "To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me.”

    I led them toward a large corner booth. I could feel and hear truck customers and the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups and dinner plates, all sitting slightly on dozens of folded paper napkins.

    "First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said.

    Stevie looked at me, and then pulled out one of the napkins. It had 'something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed on it.

    I turned to his mother. "There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. Happy Thanksgiving!"

    While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.

    Entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla and Space X, Eldon Musk may have a little more time on his hands, as he's leaving his position on the board of the Open Al, according to a blog post.

    The departure is likely the result of Tesla's moving into the field of Artificial Intelligence(AI)，which he said in 2017 would be the “best in the world”and would even be able to “predict your destination, ”Musk will continue to “donate and advise the organization,” Open AI said in a blog post on Feb. 20, adding that “As Tesla continues to become more focused on AI, this will avoid a potential future conflict for Eldon.

    Musk and Y Combiner CEO Sam Altman co-founded the nonprofit enterprise in December2015, its mission is to develop safe artificial general intelligence and ensure those developments are made public. Open AI researchers published a paper on the site ArXiv, org, detailing the possible secure threats that come with“malicious”AI. In fact, Musk has heard the “evil AI”alarm several times, On Aug.11，2017, he warned that artificial intelligence poses a bigger threat to humanity, and he told a gathering of state governors that the government needs to regulate Al before robots start “killing people. ”

    Musk's departure from the Open AI board could mean big things for Tesla. As Eton Goodbye, a financial reporter, noted on Futurism, the move “could signal that Tesla is more deeply committed to their own AI projects than we thought. ”He added, “Those who have had their ears to any rumors (谣言)that Tesla is ready to deliver vehicles capable of Level 5autonomy could take this new Open Al development as a sign that the company is inching closer to that unapproachable goal, ”No company has reached that level of autonomy, which means that a driverless car could navigate any road under any conditions and that all the human “driver” would need to do is to input a destination.

    English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world's books and three quarters of international mail are in English. Of all languages, English has the largest vocabulary — perhaps as many as two million words.

    However, let's face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

    We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoes (探索它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.

    And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, should't the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese — so one moose, two meese?

    How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?

    English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of human beings. That's why, when stars are out, they are visible (能看见的); but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.

    WIPO is the global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation. We are a self﹣funding agency of the United Nations, with 191 member states.

    Our mission is to lead the development of a balanced and effective international intellectual property （IP） system that enables innovation and creativity for the benefit of all.

    Our mandate, governing bodies and procedures are set out in the WIPO convention, which established WIPO in 1967.

    We run workshops and seminars throughout the year. The presentations and meeting documents are made available for downloading wherever possible here.

Current and upcoming

    Case Study Workshop on Support for Intellectual Property Management in SMEs （IP Advantage）

    National Workshop on Intellectual Property Policies for Universities and Research Institutions

    Consultation meetings with the Industrial Property Protections Directorate of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and supply and the main relevant institutions

    National seminar on collective management

    In our twenties, we find it funny when we can't remember our neighbor's cat's name or a handsome actor who starred in a famous movie. In our thirties, we jokingly call it "brain freeze". In our forties, we laugh it off as a" senior moment" and follow up with one of these old age jokes. But the reality is that there comes a point when being forgetful stops being funny and starts to seem a bit dreadful. You think, "Am I losing it？"Or worse, "Is this a sign of Alzheimer's disease（老年痴呆症）？"

    Well, don't worry. The fact that you recognize your own forgetfulness may be a very good sign, at least in terms of the possibility of your developing Alzheimer's disease（AD）. The researchers in a new study show that it's not forgetfulness but not being aware that we're forgetful that we should fear.

    The researchers began with the assumption that one common feature of Alzheimer's dis-ease is a damaged awareness of illness. And they wanted to prove their theory that the lack of awareness can be used to predict whether someone with" mild cognitive（认知的）damage" will progress to full-on AD. For the study, "mild cognitive damage" was defined as someone whose mental state was considered healthy but who had either complained of memory loss or had suffered objective memory loss.

    The researchers used existing data for 1, 062 people between the ages of 55 and 90 that had been recorded over a 12-year period. The data included brain scans, which the researchers used to look for visual signs of reduced glucose uptake（葡萄糖吸收）.It is an objective marker of the sort of reduced brain function that goes along with AD.As expected, glucose uptake was reduced in those with AD. What the researchers also discovered was that glucose uptake was reduced in those with mild cognitive damage who also showed evidence of reduced illness awareness. Finally, the researchers found that those who had reduced illness awareness were more likely to develop AD than those without.

The wonders of ancient Egypt have drawn visitors for thousands of years. Astonishing temples, pyramids and legendary pharaohs are its timeless legacy. Smithsonian Journeys will be your best choice if you want to visit Ancient Egypt. It would be a great tour as you would be viewing the only remaining structure of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. The Pyramids, Temples and Tombs are amazing works that make you wonder just how these magnificent structures were built thousands of years ago! However, there is so much more with Smithsonian Journeys！ Join us on this new tour to discover Egypt's mysteries.

What Is Provided With Your Tour

Pre-tour information, including a reading list;

Luggage handling for one bag per person;

All on-tour transportation, unless otherwise noted;

All accommodations and meals during the tour;

All sightseeing and visits.

A Note about Costs

This journey will cost you about ＄5000. All prices are based on two persons sharing a room. All prices are quoted in U.S. dollars. Tour costs are based upon current airfares, tariffs, currency values. While we will do everything possible to maintain the listed prices, they are subject to change. Due to fluctuations in oil prices, a fuel surcharge may be added to your tour fee (e.g. internal flights, cruises, etc.). Details will be advised prior to departure.

Registration

To submit a reservation request, please use our secure online system at Smithsonian Journeys. Org or contact a Cultural Travel Specialist, at 1-855-330-1542 Mon—Fri 9 am—6 pm. Submitting an online request does not guarantee space on a tour. You will be notified by a Reservation Specialist of your status once your request has been received and processed.