Recently some articles claims the word "selfie" as one of the most annoying words. But I'd like to offer that maybe it is not so bad.

    The “selfie” is used to describe the self-taken photo, often from a smart phone. Women and men decorate their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts with these pictures, sometimes with puckered (翘起) lips or large smiles. In fact, the selfie has become so widely known that over 31 million photos on Instagram are taken with the selfie.

    Let's think about it. Someone takes about 10 selfies each time they do, and they only end up posting one or two of those. They pick the one that they feel makes them look the best. Isn't that beautiful? In that one picture, someone has given himself or herself confidence. Self-image is important. In society today, we are often so consumed with the feeling that what society tells us is perfect. But maybe, with that one selfie, we feel that we fit that bill. We feel handsome, beautiful, confident, smart, happy and content. For that moment, everything bad or terrible that has ever happened to us is erased (消除), because that smile or that pucker is what gives us the determination to love ourselves.

    I saw a spoken word poem recently and the young man said: If I ask you what you love, the answers will most likely roll off your tongue. You love to read. You love to write. You love birds, music, your mom, your brother, your sister, your daughter, your best friend, your dog. How long do you think you can go on and on before you say “I love myself”.

    That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. I've struggled with confidence all of my life. I still do. And in no way am I saying that taking a selfie is a gateway to that confidence. However, the selfie does deserve some credit for allowing individuals to express themselves. Pamela Rutledge agrees, stating, “There are many more photographs available now of real people than models.”

Attractions in Wisconsin

    Wisconsin Historical Museum

    30 N. Carroll Street on Madison's Capitol Square

    Discover Wisconsin's history and culture on four floors of exhibits. Open for public program. Admission is free.

    Open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 am—4:00 pm.

     ( 608) 264-6555  www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum

    Swiss Historical Village

    612 Seventh Ave., New Glares

    The Swiss Historical Village offers a delightful look at pioneer life in America's heartland.14 buildings in the village give a full picture of everyday life in the nineteenth-century Midwest.

    Tue. —Fri., May 1st —October 31st, 10:00 am—4:00 pm. Admission is $20

     ( 608) 527-2317  www.swisshistoricalvillage.com

    Artisan Gallery & Creamery Cafe`

    6858 Paoli Rd., Paoli, WI

    One of the largest collections of fine arts and crafts(手工艺品) in Wisconsin. Over 5000 sq. ft. of exhibition space in a historical creamery. While visiting, enjoy a wonderful prepared lunch at our cafe` overlooking the Sugar River. Just minutes from Madison!

    Gallery open Tue.—Sun., 10:00 am—5:00 pm

    Cafe` open Wed.—Sat, 11:00 am—3:00 pm

    Sun. brunch with wine, 10:00—3:00 pm

     ( 608) 845-6600  www.artisangal.com

    Christopher Columbus Museum

    239 Whitney St., Columbus

    World-class exhibit —2000 quality souvenirs marking Chicago's 1893 World Columbus Exhibition. Tour buses are always welcome.

    Open daily, 8:15 am—4:00 pm

     ( 608) 623-1992  www.columbusantiquemall.com

    My high school life has been filled with many ups and downs, whether it was social or academic. Even though my current high school was not my first choice, I never regretted attending Southside High School. “Since you have chosen it, then it is the best for you,” said my parents.

    Up until the junior year I did not realize my capabilities (能力) as a student. Being in the IB Program, I was told that my junior year would be the toughest in all the years of high school. With this “little” piece of information, I walked into my junior year, scared of my grades. As weeks went by, I started to believe that the junior year was not as hard as everyone had said, but I was wrong. My grades were rapidly declining(下降) and by the end of the first term I had five Cs in seven of my classes! I could not believe it — I did not want to believe it. I tried my best to get my grades up myself without any help from anyone, but my pride just made my grades worse. And I had to miss out on one of the most important speech and debate competitions all year: States. I was heartbroken. I realized that I could not survive my junior year on my own, so I had to get help fast.

    Once I got a tutor, my grades went from Cs, Ds, and even some Fs, to nothing but As and Bs. I slowly started to gain my confidence back in all of my classes and even myself. By the time the third and fourth quarter came around, I had been on the honor roll twice, and I was receiving awards from speeches and debates, tennis and school.

    Southside has taught me to always keep my head up and never give up on myself no matter what life throws at me. I am proud to be a Southside Tiger.

    A few years ago, bubble tea(奶茶) exploded as a popular drink for Internet foodies(吃货) everywhere. Many take this Taiwanese drink as a guilt-free snack similar to juice or a cup of coffee. After all, it has the word "tea" in it, so it has to be healthy…right?

    Not quite. Like coffee, bubble tea's ingredients(成分，配料) might not be so bad on their own, but when they're loaded with sweetener(甜味剂) and artificial flavor(人工香料), they lose their nutritional (营养的) value fast.

    It all starts with those "bubbles" found at the bottom of your drink, which are actually round pieces of tapioca(木薯淀粉). Called "tapioca pearls(珍珠)," they're actually made from a vegetable that grows in South America. And as it turns out, those little balls are loaded with sugar—and not the nutritious, fiber-rich(富含纤维) kinds found in whole grains(全麦类), either.

Cooking tapioca pearls only makes it worse. They're typically fried in hot water, along with even more added sugar, for up to three hours. By that point, these balls could have nearly 160 calories per ¼ cup.

    And don't even get us started on what comes in the extra syrups(糖浆). Thanks to all those processed(加工的) ingredients, the average bubble tea can easily reach 300 to 400 calories per cup!

    On top of being an unhealthy habit, bubble tea could even shorten your life. In 2012, a group of German researchers from the University Hospital Aachen reportedly found aspolychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in tapioca ball samples. These cancer-causing chemicals have also been shown to have other bad effects on the immune(免疫), reproductive(生殖), and nervous systems.

    You might want to lay off your bubble tea addiction. Thankfully, we have a few choices for low-calorie, healthier drinks, instead.

    You are given many opportunities in life to choose to be a victim or creator. When you choose to be a victim, the world is a cold and difficult place. “They” did things to you which caused all of your pain and suffering. “They” are wrong and bad, and life is terrible as long as “they” are around. Or you may blame yourself for all your problems, thus internalizing(内化)your victimization. The truth is, your life is likely to stay that way as long as you feel a need to blame yourself or others.

    Those who choose to be creators look at life quite differently. They know there are individuals who might like to control their lives, but they don't let this get in the way. They know they have their weaknesses, yet they don't blame themselves when they fail. Whatever happens, they have choice in the matter. They believe their dance with each sacred moment of life is a gift and that storms are a natural part of life which can bring the rain needed for emotional and spiritual growth.

Victims and creators live in the same physical world and deal with many of the same physical realities, yet their experience of life is worlds apart. Victims relish (沉溺)in anger, guilt, and other emotions that cause others—and even themselves—to feel like victims, too. Creators consciously choose love, inspiration, and other qualities which inspire not only themselves, but all around them. Both victims and creators always have choice to determine the direction of their lives.

    In reality, all of us play the victim or the creator at various points in our lives. One person, on losing a job or a special relationship, may feel as if it is the end of the world and sink into terrible suffering for months, years, or even a lifetime. Another with the same experience may choose to first experience the grief, then accept the loss and soon move on to be a powerful creative force in his life.

    In every moment and every circumstance, you can choose to have a fuller, richer life by setting a clear intention to transform the victim within, and by inviting into your life the powerful creator that you are.

A living robot has been created out of frog skin cells. Xenobots, named after the frog species Xenopus laevis that the cells come from, were first described last year. Now the team behind the robots has improved their design and demonstrated new capabilities.

To create the xenobots, Michael Levin at Tufts University in Massachusetts and his colleagues obtained tissue from 24-hour-old frog embryos after very small physical operation. Where the previous version relied on the contraction of heart muscle cells to move them forward by pushing off surfaces, these new xenobots swim around faster. They also live between three and seven days longer than their previous generation, which only lasted about seven days, and have the ability to sense their surroundings to some extent, turning red when exposed to blue light.

"The fundamental finding here is that when you free skin cells from their normal context, and you give them a chance to build other things than what they normally build," says Levin. "To me, one of the most exciting things here is that they are plastic. This idea that even normal cells, not genetically modified, are in fact capable of building something completely different."

Because they are created from cells, the xenobots eventually break apart and are totally biodegradable, says team member Douglas Blackiston, also at Tufts University. He therefore hopes that they can be used for biomedical and environmental applications.

Previous attempts at creating living robots, such as a wirelessly controlled cockroach, have involved dealing with live animals, raising ethical concerns. Xenobots differ from these because they are made entirely of living cells. "The approach here is maybe ethically the least problematic because everything starts with cells. They have no neurons, so it's not an animal," says Auke ljspeert at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne, who wasn't involved in the research. "It's really cells, so I find it maybe the cleanest way."