Inside the Rain Room

    The Rain Room has arrived and local art lovers are taking notice. Is it worth the wait? Yes, I assure you it is. Once inside, visitors find a long, dark room with a high ceiling. A single bright light shines through heavy rain falling around visitors. The mist. The damp air. The noise. It feels like a mighty storm is pouring down. But the storm is inside. And visitors aren't getting wet. Instead, visitors wander in awe, admiring the rain and the artists who created it.

    The Rain Room was created to highlight the connection between humans, nature and technology. With a tracking system that senses movement and stops the rain wherever visitors move, it does just that. Light and sound produce an experience that feels both natural and foreign. The exhibit is moving on to Atlanta next month. I urge you to visit before then. It's time to experience the Rain Room for yourself!

Welcome to the Rain Room

• The Rain Room features falling water. Please be aware you may get slightly wet. However, visitors wearing raincoats will be turned away.

• This exhibit features advanced technology. To ensure its effectiveness, please avoid wearing dark or reflective clothing.

• Visitors are welcome to take photographs of the exhibit.

• Children must be accompanied by an adult.

• For the convenience of all guests, visits are limited to 10 minutes.

    While it may seem like everyone surfs the web these days, there is fine line between casually checking your social media pages and having a full blown Internet addiction. If you fear that you may lose interest in other aspects of your life because you prefer to be on the Internet, you may be on your way to an Internet addiction. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Admit you are at risk of an addiction.

    More and more people in the world are becoming addicted to the Internet. You are not the only one with this problem; it is becoming more and more common and more and more well known. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

Set aside limited time for computer use.

    Make sure not to turn it on too many times a week. If you have a laptop, make sure to put it somewhere that you can remember but not somewhere that you see every day. Try keeping the lid closed when you are not using it; {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you have a desktop PC, try not to go near it or put something over it like a sheet.

Call people instead of sending instant messages or texts.

    If you are free on weekends, call friends and ask them to go outside. This will distract you from the computer. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Use an alarm clock or timer.

    Before using your computer, decide on a time limit such as 30 minutes. Set the clock or timer and make sure that you get off the computer when the time is up. Alternatively create a shutdown timer on your desktop. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. Make a small list of what you want to do within that time.

B. When the computer is not looking at you, you are less likely to use it.

C. This can be programmed to shutdown your computer after the set time

D. Luckily, there are ways to avoid living your life in front of the computer.

E. This will stop you from using the Internet so often or going on to another page.

F. If you have a problem on weekdays, phone your friends or ask for help in person.

G. Do not be embarrassed; find others with the same problem and help each other beat it.

     “Sugar, alcohol and tobacco,” economist Adam Smith once wrote, “are commodities which are nowhere necessaries of life, which have become objects of almost universal consumption, and which are, therefore, extremely popular subjects of taxation.”

    Two and a half centuries on, most countries impose (征税) sort of tax on alcohol and tobacco. With obesity levels putting increasing pressure on public health systems, governments around the world have begun to toy with the idea of taxing sugar as well.

    Whether such taxes work is a matter of debate. A preliminary review of Mexico's taxation found a fall in purchases of taxed drinks as well as a rise in sales of untaxed and healthier drinks. By contrast, a Danish tax on foods high in fats was abandoned a year after its introduction, during claims that consumers were avoiding it by crossing the border to Germany to satisfy their desire for cheaper, fattier foods.

    The food industry has, in general, been firmly opposed to such direct government action. Nonetheless, the renewed focus on waistlines means that industry groups are under pressure to demonstrate their products are healthy as well as tasty.

    Over the past three decades, the industry has made some efforts to improve the quality of its offerings. For example, some drink manufactures have cut the amount of sugar in their beverages (饮料).

    Many of the reductions over the past 30 years have been achieved either by reducing the amount of sugar, salt or fat in a product, or by finding an alternative ingredient. More recently, however, some companies have been investing money in a more ambitious undertaking: learning how to adjust the fundamental make-up of the food they sell. For example, having salt on the outside, but none on the inside, reduces the salt content without changing the taste.

    While reformulating (再制定) recipes is one way to improve public health, it should be part of a multisided (多边的) approach. The key is to remember that there is not just one solution. To deal with obesity, a mixture of approaches, which include reformulation, taxation and adjusting portion sizes, will be needed. There is no silver bullet.

    Photography（摄影） is a very popular art form. Anyone with a camera – or a mobile phone – can practice it. A picture communicates in a way that words often can't. As the photographer Destin Sparks put it, “Photography is the story I fail to put into words.” And there's no better chance to practice the art of photography than during our vacation time.

    Holiday photos have been a part of the culture of travelers for a long time. For decades, vacationers have made sure they've packed a camera along with bathing suits, Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses. A camera is an important holiday item. But over the last 10 years, photography has become much more popular. It's easy to capture ( 捕捉 ) still and moving pictures of places of interest, and it's also easy to show off these pictures on social media. Armed with their smart phones, tourists, this year more than ever, are capturing the beauty of our planet.

    Of course, travel companies have caught on to this. Trekksoft has an example of photo-tourism from the United States, a land with a vast choice of beautiful locations. Antelope Slot Canyon Tours in Arizona specializes in tours of the state's famous canyons（峡谷）, which gives photographers the chance to capture them on camera.

    Most of the tourists are able to make beautiful images with just their mobile phones. Still, help is on hand from the tour guide for those who aren't great at using their cameras. These tour guides have taken a course in photography in case the skills they've learned would help their customers.

    When a laptop or smartphone battery starts losing its power, the only options are to buy an expensive replacement, or just keep it plugged in all the time. But a woman Mya Le Thai may have found the answer to this problem.

    Thai was frustrated that the batteries for her wireless devices degraded(降级)over time, until they failed to charge fully. She did not like having to keep her laptop connected to an electrical outlet to keep it powered on. So, she decided to do something about that problem. At first, she and her team at UC Irvine thought about inventing a new battery. But as they experimented, Thai discovered something that might permit lithium—ion(锂离子)batteries to last forever.

    Lithium-ion batteries power most wireless devices. Over time, the batteries lose the ability to hold a charge. Most of these batteries have a life span of about 7,000 charging cycles before they die. One of the reasons lithium—ion batteries degrade is their use of nanowires to carry electricity. Nanowires are extremely thin. A human hair is thousands of times thicker, for example. Nanowires are extremely efficient carriers of electricity, which makes them useful in batteries.

    But, Thai had a theory—the nanowires might last longer if covered with a gel(凝胶). She and her team tested this theory. "It was a long process and a lot of work, "Thai said. The team tried many coverings for the wires. PMMA, a type of plastic, was one of them. The nanowires were coated with PMMA and cycled through charges 200, 000 times. The PMMA-coated nanowires showed no evidence of damage. The results suggest that batteries could last forever, without losing charging ability.

    Thai hopes to continue her research to understand why this gel works so well and to see if any other gel could create better results and she is enjoying the publicity about her discovery. She said she never expected her research to get media coverage. "It's kind of cool," she said. "I'm really glad people are showing interest in my work and not just in the work itself, but also in technology and energy."

    Every day has just 24 hours -- and this applies to all people. Some people are constantly pushed for time. This article is about how we can learn to manage our valuable time more effectively.

    In reality, we cannot manage time. We can only manage ourselves and our relationship with time. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} And habits are not that easy to change.

    Below here are tips that can help you manage your time better.

    Organize your goals.

    Organize your goals based on two criteria: degree of urgency and importance: a. Should be done today, tomorrow, etc. b. Should be done at "that date". c. Can be put off for so many days. d. Can ask someone else to do it. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Clean up your list.

    Make a list of everything you think that is not helping or benefiting you and do not do them!

    Focus on one goal.

    Concentrate only on one goal at a time. Otherwise, if while dealing with something you think about everything you can do later, most likely you will get bored and disappointed.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} The boredom is guaranteed with this way of thinking.

    Identify your deadlines.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Divide the activities per day/week and long-term goals to get a clear picture of what you have to do and when.

    Find suitable work environment.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Be realistic.

    Make sure that your goals are realistic and do not try for the impossible.

    Say "NO".

    Learn to say "no" to other activities, requests and people who eat your time (unless indeed at that very moment it is necessary for you to help them).

A. Allow time to adjust your list if necessary.

B. After all, how we use our time is largely a matter of habit.

C. Create a suitable environment to work, one that fits your style.

D. Check the list of what you should do and when it must be completed.

E. After organizing your goals, start with the most important and urgent.

F. It is like every time you eat you think all the meals you must eat in your life.

G. Do not let boredom discourage you if what you have to complete is boring.