Every so often, mankind comes up with really good inventions that have changed our daily lives. However, the U.S. Patent Office has issued over 7. 5 million patents, and not all of them are quite so celebrated. Some good, some bad, and some crazy! The following lists some of the more unusual ideas that have come along.

    Snake Leash

    In 2002, a patent was issued for a snake-walking leash. There are at least two major problems with this idea.  1) Dog leashes fit securely between the head and shoulders. A snake does not have shoulders; so it might slither away. 2) Dogs are OK for public places because they are social animals, and people like them. Snakes are not OK for public places because they are not social, and some people are terrified of them.

    Stadium Helmet

    Americans are known for our love of sports. Unfortunately, good tickets to games are expensive, and some fans have to sit in the nosebleed sections. This invention, patented in 2000, is designed for these fans.  Featuring a built-in radio, binoculars(望远镜) , a cooling fan,  and a helmet for falling litter, this design transforms the stadium experience.

    Bacon Alarm Clock

    When you think about it, waking to the dreadful, blaring noise of an alarm clock is a terrible way to start the day. However; this clock could change that. You simply put a piece of frozen bacon in the alarm clock, set the alarm, and go to sleep. The clock gently wakes you up with the mouthwatering smell of bacon the next morning, just like waking up on a Sunday morning to the smell of Mom cooking breakfast. Who said there's no time to eat breakfast?

    Toilet Lock

    In 1969, a patent was issued for a really bad idea – the toilet seat lock. First of all, fishing for your keys when you have to go seems very unpleasant. Then there is the possibility of losing the key altogether. What about guests? Just think that you would have to ask permission for the bathroom. Of course, there is the ultimate question: Why would you lock it in the first place?

    Humana Bird Feeder

    People have always admired the gracefulness and beauty of birds, and bird watching is a popular hobby. Unfortunately, getting up close and personal is a challenge. That is, until now.  In 1999, a patent was issued for a helmet with birdfeeders attached to it. Although there may be a design flaw (缺陷) (turning the head to see the birds would probably frighten them), this invention could change the way of bird watching.

Protect Children from Cyber-bullying

    When you think about bullying, you might think of a child being bullied by another in the schoolyard. As more young people have access to computers and cell phones, traditional bullying has gone digital, which has not yet gained awareness in Chinese parents.

    Cyber-bullying, first invented by Canadian educator Bill Belsey, is the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in an intentional, repeated, and unfriendly manner. It involves threatening text messages, the spread of online rumors on social networking sites, and intentionally keeping someone out of an online group. Cyber-bullying is at an all-time high in the US. According to a study from the US Department of Justice, more than 43% of teenagers report being victims（受害者）of cyber-bullying.

    Compared to face-to-face bullying, cyber-bullying is considered to have a worse emotional effect on the victims, and kids could feel more desperate and depressed. Severe, long-term or frequent cyber-bullying can leave victims at greater risk for anxiety, depression, and other disorders. Research says that cyber-bullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youths who had not experienced it.

In traditional schoolyard bullying, at least home is a safe place for the victims. But cyber-bullying is endless—it could happen anytime. Moreover, in the digital world, bullying is much easier, as a bully can pick on people with a much lower risk of being caught.

    Actually, cyber-bullying has become a worldwide issue. In the US, as several teens committed suicide because of cyber-bullying, some schools set rules to punish cyberbullies. Laws to punish cyber-bullying have been introduced in some states. In China, cyber-bullying is still considered by many parents and educators as a problem that involves physical contact. However, as cell phones and laptops are becoming common equipment for teenagers, social interactions have increasingly moved from personal contact to virtual contact. Cyber-bullying is spreading faster than expected.

    For schools and parents, safety rules should be set in the virtual world for kids, such as telling them not to let out anything to a stranger. Active steps should be taken to make the public aware of the seriousness of this problem, because it would be too late to take measures after tragedy strikes.

    Cheating is nothing new. But it's becoming a lot more sophisticated. Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was caught out once. A photo taken after the speech she'd given on a "return to conservative principles" showed her left hand covered with crib notes. These included the words "energy, budget cuts, tax" and "lift Americans' spirits". The word "budget" had been crossed out. Video footage also showed her reading from her hand when asked what top three things a conservative-led congress should do. Writing notes on your hand is one way to cheat in an exam. But these days, it's a lot easier ... especially with the Internet.

    Anyone who wants to cheat in an exam can probably find the answers online. There are hundreds of sites offering solutions to all sorts of tests. And it's a lucrative business. One operator in Oregon made $700,000 in about nine months before his arrest. The owner of a website in Ohio pocketed more than $300,000. And a famous overseas site is estimated to sell about 146,000 sets of answers and take in about $10 million per year. Actually, getting hold of the exam answers isn't that hard. Some do the exam themselves and use button cameras or document-scanning pens to copy the tests. Others organize for a group to take tests repeatedly until they can memorize the entire exam between them. Others simply bribe exam administrators.

    At the moment, such business is booming. More and more companies now require their employees to take professional exams. And hundreds of businesses and trade organizations have introduced formal certification programs to measure employee skills. In the US alone, at least 2 million exams are taken every year for information technology certification. But employees also have to take exams for all sorts of professions from crane operators to court reporters to school bus drivers and financial planners. Test officials estimate that hundreds of thousands of test-takers have used the Internet to buy answers for professional tests. And a recent survey found that 28 percent of test centres had at least one cheating incident over the last five years. In one incident, tens of thousands of soldiers obtained answers to tests in a range of military skills.

    Many see this as a cause for concern. Many tests are for work in sensitive areas such as defence installations and hospitals. Now, how would you feel if you knew that the people in charge of the computers controlling nuclear weapons might have cheated in their tests, and may not really know what they're doing?

    Minutes after the last movie ended yesterday at the Plaza Theater, employees were busy sweeping up popcorns and gathering coke cups. It was a scene that had been repeated many times in the theater's 75-year history. This time, however, the cleanup was a little different. As one group of workers carried out the rubbish, another group began removing seats and other theater equipment in preparation for the building's end.

    The film classic The Last Picture Show was the last movie shown in the old theater. Though the movie is 30 years old, most of the 250 seats were filled with teary-eyed audience wanting to say good-bye to the old building. Theater owner Ed Bradford said he chose the movie because it seemed proper. The movie is set in a small town where the only movie theater is preparing to close down.

    Bradford said that large modem theaters in the city made it impossible for the Plaza to compete. He added that the theater's location (位置) was also a reason. "This used to be the center of town," he said. "Now the area is mostly office buildings and warehouses."

    Last week some city officials suggested the city might be interested in turning the old theater into a museum and public meeting place. However, these plans were given up because of financial problems. Bradford sold the building and land to a local development firm, which plans to build a shopping complex on the land where the theater is located.

    The theater audience said good-bye as Bradford locked the doors for the last time. After 75 years the Plaza Theater has shown its last movie. The theater will be missed.

    For most of her life, Suanne Laqueur's passion for storytelling was shown on the dance floor.

    Although Laqueur began writing at a young age, dancing always took center stage. She majored in dance and theater at Alfred University and taught at her mother's dance studio in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, for years. But when her mother was ready to retire and an opportunity opened for Laqueur to take over the studio, she realized she had no interest in taking on the business side of her art: “Owning a studio is a lot of work—financially, logistically. I love the teaching, the choreographing(编舞), the staging, but I didn't want to own it.”

    Yet Laqueur's disinterest in running the studio changed when she became a self-published author. In the fall of 2013, she decided to pursue Self-publishing as a way of sharing her first completed novel with friends and family. During the process, she realized that following her true passion—telling stories through writing—made the business of the art worthwhile, and owning that business meant she could direct her writing career however she chose.

    Starting with her second self-published novel, she began investing more time in marketing and building her audience. Her investment paid off. Since 2014, Laqueur, now 49, has self-published six novels, which collectively have hundreds of ratings and reviews on Good reads. Her 2016 novel An Exaltation of Larks stole the show at the 25th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards, topping more than 2,300 entries to win the grand prize.

    “You have to write the most truthful story to you, and I think self-publishing allows that freedom,' she says. “If you work with traditional publishing, it's more about what's marketable, There are trade-offs, which everyone will tell you, but by self-publishing I have control of the book, I have control of the story, and I'm cool with that.”

Gorman is the youngest poet in U. S. history. She became the youth poet laureate (获奖者) of Los Angeles at age 16 in 2014 and the first national youth poet laureate three years later. She has recently completed her studies at Harvard University.

Her mother, Joan Wicks, teaches middle school in Watts. Shuttling among the neighborhoods gave Gorman a window to the world. Her like for poetry dates at least back to the third grade when her teacher read Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine to the class.

Gorman is a lot better at it now, but still working on her confidence as a public speaker. "Until two or maybe three years ago, I couldn't say the letter 'r'. Even to this day sometimes I struggle with it. I'd want to say 'girls can change the world', but I can not say so many letters in that statement, so I'd say things like 'young women can shape the globe'."

For Gorman, writing became a cure. "I used writing as a form of self expression to get my word on the page. So the more I recited out loud, the more I was able to teach myself how to pronounce these letters which for so long had been my greatest impediment." Gorman said she also used a song from Miranda's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Hamilton to help with her speaking. "But I don't look at my disability as a weakness," said Gorman. "It's made me the performer that I am and the storyteller that I strive to be."

In September, Gorman will release Change Sings, the first of two children's books. The poet says she desires to publish a book "in which kids could see themselves as change-makers in history, rather than just observers".