You never played the video dance game? Now such games are used to help lose weight!

    Like many other teenage boys, Jones loves sports. But at 5 feet, 175 pounds, he found his weight in trouble. His doctor wanted him to lose 50 pounds so that he may be a good football game player by the end of the summer.

    Jones chose the popular Dance Revolution video game at home to increase his activity. He had lost about 10 pounds by changing his diet. Now, after two weeks' playing the game, he has lost another 10!

    A health study is being done by an insurance company. The company hopes that the game will lead to better health and lower costs. “Obesity claims last year cost us $ 77 million. We have to cut those costs,” said a member of the insurance group. The company provides a game console (游戏主机), a dance mat and software for the six-month, $ 60,000 study.

    The study is more than a commercial thing of an insurance company. It is widely supported by physical education and health professionals.

    In West Virginia, 43% of the nearly 6,000 children examined for heart disease risk were considered over-weighted; more than 25% were too fat. “We are in a crisis of childhood obesity not only in West Virginia but in America,” said a researcher.

    Researchers are now looking at the potential for improving effects by using the game. A teacher in West Virginia has been using the video games in her classes since last fall. She reported that the game does improve heart health as well as eye-hand coordination (协调能力), and her students take the video game as a great alternative to jumping rope or ball games.

    The US Education Department is putting the game in 20 schools to control childhood obesity. Well, are you going to try such to dance away your extra weight?

    A few years ago, Darla Hoff painted a pumpkin face onto a round straw bale(捆)at A1 and Karen Goldman's farm in Idaho Palls to advertise her U-pick pumpkin field. While Darla has stopped growing pumpkins, the annual tradition of straw bale art lives on at the farm and has drawn friends and neighbors to participate in it. Past creations have included an owl, Minions, tractors and a teddy bear.

    To make the tractors, A1 baled round straw bales in two different sizes smaller ones for the tractor's front tires and larger ones for the rear(尾部). Large square bales made up the bodies. Jerry Kienlen used his farming equipment to arrange the bales in the shape of two tractors. Then it was time to bring the tractors to life. Karen and her daughter. Lana Hedrick, secured some green paint, and A1 got some red paint. Darla's husband, James, sprayed the creation with a paint gun. For the finishing touches, Steven donated two shiny exhaust stacks (排气管),and A1 and Karen donated two steering wheels from their farm parts.

    The farm's annual straw bale art projects have now become a way for everyone to celebrate the end of another growing season. It's just something fun to do together after harvest. This neighborhood has always been close. Generations of these families have grown crops in this soil. Raised on the farms where they live now, they grew up together as their elders did before. A1 and Karen are truly super neighbors. Every year they also grow about two acres of corn to give away. Anyone can pick some, or A1 and Karen will even deliver. And during long Idaho winters, everyone gathers at the farm to enjoy fresh coffee and cookies.

    This year's straw hale creation theme is Straw Wars. And all eyes will be on A1 and Karen's farm as their creation takes shape.

    Having a job is great, I have learned. It means I can afford things such as a place to live and daily meals. And with an above-average job, I can afford a car and occasional overseas vacations.

    However, I also understand how difficult it is to have a below-average job, having had many of them before. It's frankly pretty awful. Owning a car was out of the question – I could barely afford to ride the subway.

    So, I decided to go to university and get a degree.

    Later, I emailed my details to every company and government institution with an online careers page. I even printed my resume and handed it out in what seemed like hundreds of office buildings.

    One summer during university, my cousin and I helped out at my uncle's business, fixing roofs, although the only thing I got out of that was back problems.

    That same year, I got a job at a plumbing(管道工程) company, which I was terrible at. It was no surprise when I was asked to leave that job after only four days.

    A lot of people today believe the problem of unemployment in my generation is our fault. Some accuse us of being lazy or feeling too entitled(有资格的). At the same time, some people accuse members of my generation of having a sense of “specialness” that has led us to believe we can all be astronauts, movie stars or singers if we put our minds to it. Also, a few of them think that we would all be happily employed if we would only learn trades or become software engineers, because those people make the most money.

    I realize that not everyone can go into space, star in Hollywood movies or fill stadiums with fans, however. I also think not everyone can make a good electrician or design advanced computer software – I know I can't. Everyone is good at something, but no one is good at everything. It took me hundreds of rejection emails to realize that I had to focus on finding a job where I could actually be successful.

    And now, I finally have that job. All it took was several years of desperation, failure and an honest assessment(评估) of my personal value in the job market.

    It's not the best start, but it's not bad for a start too.

    James Cleveland Owens was the son of a farmer and the grandson of black slaves. His family moved to Cleveland when he was 9. There, a school teacher asked the youth his name.

    "J.C. "he replied.

    She thought he had said "Jesse", and he had a new name.

    Owens ran his first race at age 13. After high school, he went to Ohio State University. He had to work part time so as to pay for his education. As a second year student, in the Big Ten games in 1935, he set even more records than he would in the Olympic Games a year later.

    A week before the Big Ten meet, Owens accidentally fell down a flight of stairs. His back hurt so much that he could not exercise all week, and he had to be helped in and out of the car that drove him to the meet. He refused to listen to the suggestions that he give up and said he would try. He did try, and the results are in the record book.

    The stage was set for Owens' victory at the Olympic Games in Berlin the next year, and his success would come to be regarded as not only athletic but also political. Hitler did not congratulate any of the African American winners.

    "It was all right with me," he said years later. "I didn't go to Berlin to shake hands with him, anyway."

    Having returned from Berlin, he received no telephone calls from the president of his own country, either. In fact, he was not honored by the United States until 1976, four years before his death.

    Owens' Olympic victories made little difference to him. He earned his living by looking after a school playground, and accepted money to race against cars, trucks, motorcycles and dogs.

    "Sure, it bothered me," he said later. "But at least it was an honest living. I had to eat."

    In time, however, his gold medals changed his life. "They have kept me alive over the years, "he once said." Time has stood still for me. That golden moment dies hard."

    A new high tech mirror, designed specifically for cancer patients, will only become reflective when a user smiles into it. The plug-in device, which exactly looks like a tablet, comes equipped with a mirror, a built-in camera, and a smart material triggered(触发)by some software. Facial recognition technology captures the face and instructs the surface of the mirror to change when a smile is detected. It can hang on a wall or sit on a table, much like a conventional mirror. Unlike a regular mirror, however, the price is currently standing at a surprising $2000—$3000.

    After witnessing a close family member struggle through cancer treatments, Turkish industrial designer Berk Ilhan decided to focus his work primarily on products that would cultivate joy and benefit cancer patients directly.

    “She told me in the first days after her diagnosis, it was difficult for her to look in the mirror and acknowledge she had cancer.” he said.“ Our facial expressions affect how we feel. If we flex(绷紧)our facial muscles to smile, our brains think that something good happened and as a result, we feel happiness.”

    After earning his master's degree at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Ilhan spent several weeks visiting cancer hospitals in Turkey, speaking to both patients and doctors. He spent two years designing and developing the mirror. The idea behind it is that smiling, even when forced, can make us feel better, according to research known as the facial feedback hypothesis. Laughter is linked to improved immune system function, and some researchers claim it can even increase our lifespans.

Ilhan is currently producing the mirror in limited quantities at the previously mentioned price. The product, however, will soon be launching a campaign in which Ilhan hopes to raise enough funds to bring the price down to $500.He also intends to donate the mirror to hospitals when it is financially possible to do so.

    Like a lot of health-care professionals, Dr. Brian Goldman finds it extremely difficult to draw boundaries between his work and personal lives. "There's this view that you should suck it up and do one more thing," says the ER physician and host of CBC's White Coat, Black Art. But that "one more thing" often comes at Goldman's expense.

    "You're exhausted and a patient or their family look at you with begging eyes," he says. "So you have this dilemma: say that your shift is over or give until you're totally spent?" Goldman's work stress combined with family tension after his mother was diagnosed with dementia 20 years ago. Caring for her over a decade was difficult, as was dealing with his father's grief. "When someone else is drowning you, you have to grab a life preserver and save yourself," says Goldman.

    Setting boundaries isn't just important for busy professionals; everyone can benefit from managing situations that cause undue stress or pain. Here are some tips.

First, "If someone's behavior makes you unhappy — and it could be anything from the way they speak to you to repeatedly failing to stick to their promise — then there's room to set limits," says Patrick Keelan, a Calgary psychologist. We often avoid setting limits because we prioritize the happiness and comfort of others over ours. In order to control this impulse, Goldman suggests framing the development of boundaries as a form of self-kindness. When facing an overwhelming situation like the one he was in with his father, Goldman suggests reflecting on what is making you feel uncomfortable, unhappy or unappreciated. "You can't relate to others or be kind to others if you aren't kind to yourself," he says.

Second, once you've become aware of your needs, setting and maintaining boundaries requires clear verbal communication. There are three obstacles to enforcing boundaries in a relationship: fear, guilt and self-doubt, says psychologist Nicole MaCance. We often fear that if we set limits, the other person will reject us, or we feel bad claiming our needs. Keelan proposes setting ground rules before relationships become tense. Start by cooperatively listing values — like mutual respect, support, and loyalty — and then building the guidelines from these values. If you're struggling to reach a consensus, Keelan recommends engaging a third party, such as a therapist, to help.

    Now, if you want a boundary to stick to, you can't enable someone in breaking it. As such, it's crucial to establish consequences for  transgressions (越轨). Otherwise, McMance says," you're giving them permission to violate that boundary." If they won't respect your boundaries, you have to do some soul- searching about the value of the relationship. "When you feel bad more than you feel good in this person's presence, and when the relationship is impacting your self-worth and happiness, it's time to reassess," says McCance. Saying no is hard, but she suggests framing it as saying yes to healthier relationships. "We're all better mothers and partners and brothers when we have boundaries."