During the holiday season, many of us feel pressure to find our loved ones the “perfect” gift. Why? Because gift-giving has long been considered a prime way to express love. However, recent research suggests that small acts of kindness, like a kind word, hugging a child or receiving sympathy, make people feel most loved and supported.

    In the study, 495 men and women between the ages of 18 and 93 completed a questionnaire evaluating 60 possible ways that people can feel love. The storyboards included situations like spending time with friends, receiving gifts, and spending time in nature. The survey also included negative interactions, like being controlled and criticized (批评) by others.

    The findings highlight the psychological benefits that close relationships can offer. In fact, study participants ranked human interaction as a more significant expression of love than receiving material items, like presents. Connecting with others was also rated more highly than getting positive feedback on the Internet, indicating that people get the most support from personal human contact.

    “ During the holidays，anxiety rises, making it harder to remain present with ourselves and others. However, the power of spending time with another person is a gift we can give at any moment,” says Dr. Carla Naumburg, a mindfulness coach and social worker in Newton, Mass. He suggests balancing party planning and online shopping with moments of human connection. Activities like reading to a child, meeting a friend for a walk, or taking a moment to call a family member, are ways to express love and care and can keep us emotionally grounded.

    While the idea of offering loved ones the gift of our time may pale in comparison to giving them a generous present, recent research shows shared human experiences can tighten social bonds. Despite personality differences，most people agree on what makes us feel loved—the presence of our loved ones.

    It's been said that honesty is the best policy．It sounds like the simplest thing in the world，but being truly honest with others and with yourself can be a real challenge．Most of us learned to be dishonest as children．Remember that dishonesty is rooted in fear，so you must look for and face those fears．By listing areas where you have a problem，and then working to deal with them，you can battle these habits．If you find yourself lying because you fear disapproval from someone，for example，perhaps you need to learn how to stop being a people pleaser and be yourself．Most importantly，admit your errors so that you can forgive yourself and use those experiences to reinforce your determination to do better．

    If you feel guilty for having been dishonest in the past，apologize to the person you lied to or find a creative way to make things right．If you've lied to a person who plays an important role in your life （a significant other，relative，or friend），the best （but most difficult） thing to do is to come clean．

    Think honestly．This may sound silly，but if you don't think honestly，you won't be honest．

    If you're pushed into a corner and don't know how to respond，you have the right to remain silent or say"Can we talk about this another time?"or"I really don't feel comfortable talking about this．"Don't say"I don't know．"

    Practice being honest on the simple things．Abraham Lincoln became famous for going to great lengths to return a few cents that did not belong to him，hence the nickname"Honest Abe"．By applying honesty to the little things，you will get in the habit of being honest in general．

    Despite what so many people would love to believe, NASA hasn't discovered any evidence of past or present intelligent life on Mars. So, when the Curiosity rover (好奇号探测器）found something suspicious on the Red Planet's surface, they were not only surprised but also a little bit worried.

    The thin fragment (碎片）was suspicious enough to guarantee its own name, with NASA's Curiosity rover team calling it the “Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris,” named for the location where it was discovered. With no idea what it was or where it came from, the rover s handlers began to worry that it might actually be a piece of the rover itself, suggesting some unseen damage or other issue with the robot. Thankfully, those concerns seem to have been unfounded.

    In a new update from NASA the object has now been identified as a natural piece of rock rather than a piece of any man-made craft or vehicle. The team analyzed the bizarre object with a tool called the ChemCam RMI. The instrument uses a laser (激光器）t0 sniff out the makeup of anything it's pointed at, and the results for this particular piece of debris revealed that it's actually just a very thin piece of rock.

    NASA describes the inspection： The planning day began with an interesting result from the previous plan's ChemCam RMI analysis of a target that was referred to as “Pette Point Foreign Object Debris” （PPFOD),and speculated to be a piece of spacecraft debris fact was found to be a very thin flake of rock, so we can all rest easy tonight-Curi0sity n0t begun to shed its skin!

    How this particularly thin sliver of rock got to where it is—and why it seems to be a different colour than the surrounding sand and debris-remains unexplained, but at least the rover falling apart.

Urban Transportation in Canada

Public transportation & Transit passes

    All cities and most major towns in Canada have a public transportation system with one or more modes of transportation (bus, subway, train, etc.). The bus is the most common form of urban transportation in Canada. To use public transportation, you must purchase a ticket or a transit pass. Transit passes allow you unlimited use of public transportation for a specific period (one month or more). They are usually cheaper than buying many tickets if you plan to use public transportation often.

Transportation for people with disabilities

    Public transportation often has features to assist people with disabilities. In many cities and towns, there are also transportation services available specifically for people with limited mobility, such as specially equipped buses. You can find out about these services in the same way you would learn more about other public transportation options.

Etiquette on public transportation

    When taking public transportation such as a bus or train, it is important to understand the unspoken rules of conduct in the shared space. Here are a few things to note:

    ◆ Be polite and respectful to others around you. For example, maintain an appropriate noise level when talking or making a phone call.

    ◆ If you are carrying a backpack or a large shoulder bag in a crowded public transit vehicle, keep it close to you, preferably at your feet to avoid hitting people with it as you walk by.

    ◆ Avoid pushing or touching others in order to make more room for yourself. Sometimes public transit can become very crowded, but it is important to keep calm and give others appropriate personal space.

    ◆ Have your proof of payment accessible in case you are asked to show it.

    Taking your pulse during physical activity allows you to measure how hard you are exercising. You should exercise to stay within your target heart range.

    Increasing your heart rate is a key part of exercise but it is important that your heart rate is not too high or too low. If you are a beginner, you should also be able to breathe comfortably while exercising. This will ensure that you are exercising at a level that is safe and effective for your body.

    The chart below illustrates target heart rate ranges for exercise based on the maximal heart rate for selected ages. Here are the steps for using the chart:

When it comes to sitting properly, we all know the correct way even if we don't do it to the letter. No crossed legs, bottoms touching the back of the chair and feet on the ground. But even if you're doing it right, sitting for long periods is shockingly bad for you. It has been described as the new smoking, linked to heart disease and even cancer. There is no doubt we should all try to do less of it. But perhaps we could also do it better.

A classic survey, published in 1953, described 100 different sitting postures adopted by 480 cultures around the world. Among the most common were sitting cross-legged, kneeling and the deep squat (深蹲), with feet flat on the ground and bottoms resting on or just above it. Even in Western cultures, these are preferred sitting positions among young children. But Westerners tend to prefer chair use from an early age, insisting children sit on seats in school.

One big problem with this desire for chairs is that they make sitting so, well, sedentary (久坐不动的). Consider the Hadza, a group of hunter-gatherer people in Tanzania. They spend around 9 hours a day sitting. However, they squat and sit on the ground in various positions, and this involves high levels of muscle activity. The supportive nature of chairs, with their high backs and armrests, removes this effort perhaps the reason that people love them.

So what's the best way to sit? Josette Bettany-SaItikov at Teesside University, UK has found that kneeling can help keep the spine in a better position as does squatting. We might also take inspiration from traditional cultures like the Hadza. "Use a variety of postures and preferably not just still postures but some which allow movement," says Bettany-Saltikov.

Bettany-Saltikov believes that we should be rethinking what it means to do a desk job. "We still need to design workplaces that enable people to be productive while being lightly active, like with under-table cycling or walking desks," she says. For now, if your job is sedentary, don't forget to stand up regularly and move around.