The O. Henry Museum

    The aim of the O. Henry Museum is to collect, preserve, and interpret artifacts，works and archival (档案的) materials relative to the author, for literary» educational, and historical purposes that are accessible to the public. The museum was set up in 1934, under the authority of the City of Austin, and is both a National Register Property and a National Literary Landmark.

    The O. Henry Museum is open from Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 5:00 pm. Admission is free. Tours are also available for free. Please contact the museum at least one week in advance to schedule a tour for a group of 10 or more. Metered parking is available on the street in front of the museum. The museum's gift shop has for sale T-shirts, coffee mugs, DVDs, and an array of books by and about O. Henry.

    Group tours:

    We ask for one-week advance notice of groups more than 10 people, including schools, church groups, and organizations.

    Donations:

    Donations greatly benefit the museum and its programs. Inquire about contributing.

    Volunteer:

    Contact us about volunteering at the museum. We are currently in need of a gardener and a volunteer docent (讲解员).

    Staff:

    Valerie Bennett, Curator valerie. bennett@ci. austin. tx. us

    Michael Hoinski, Culture & Arts Education Specialist michael. hoinski@ci. austin. tx. us

    Elizabeth Taylor, Docent

    Location: 409 East Fifth Street, Austin, Texas 78701

    What happened to that brilliant idea that you once had? Did you ignore it because you thought that it was just a little thought? Have you ever considered what that little thought would have become if you had acted on your instincts(本能) or if you had paid more attention to it?

    Imagine a scene, where you are sitting at home watching television or reading a book, suddenly a light bulb is turned on in the dark tunnel of your mind as a thought or an idea crosses your mind. The thought catches your attention but seems so meaningless and you are tempted to abandon it, but wait a minute!

    That thought could be the potential beginning of the success you have so much wished for. As the thought crosses your mind, your senses become alert and you suddenly see a possibility, a solution, or find the answer to a problem whose solution has long escaped you.

    It is almost as if a wise man has whispered the perfect solution into your ear or awakened your senses to a reality, thereby bringing light to your life. It is like finding the last piece of jigsaw puzzle(拼图游戏). This becomes an amazing moment and everything freezes around you as you excitedly try to grasp the practicality of that little but powerful thought.

    Your self-confidence and enthusiasm increase as you become conscious of the great possibilities that can arise if that little thought is acted upon. This becomes the moment to build upon that thought and to put down any ideas that are streaming from that little thought for later review.

    Seemingly meaningless little thoughts or ideas when acted upon have a potential to explode into great projects.

    Many successful projects have been born from the little positive thoughts that were carefully protected and recognized as tickets to great things.

You may have heard people say many times that it just came to me in a flash moment, a small idea or seemingly meaningless thought may cross your mind about something you have been planning to accomplish.

    Don't waste an opportunity to act on a potentially brilliant idea. You don't have to wait for a major idea, or approval from your peers in order for you to act on that little thought. That little thought or idea is the beginning of great things if you decide to follow it through.

Yellowstone Weather

    Yellowstone National Park is at lofty height. Height. Most of the park is above2,275meters.

    Yellowstone's weather is unpredictable. In summer, it may be warm and sunny with temperatures in the high 70s. At night in any given month, the temperature may drop close to freezing. So it is best to come prepared for cold evenings and mornings,especially if you are camping or hiking. When you leave your campsite,please leave it prepared for possible thundershower and wind.

A sunny warm day may become fiercely stormy with wind, rain, sleet and sometimes snow. Without enough clothing, an easy day hike or boat trip can turn into a battle for survival.

    We all know that listening to music can soothe emotional pain, but Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys can also ease physical pain, according to a study of children and teenagers who had major surgery.

    The research was carried out because of a very personal experience. Sunitha Suresh was a college student when her grandmother had major surgery and was put in intensive care (重症监护). This meant her family couldn't always be with her. They decided to put her favorite music on an iPod so she could listen around the clock.

    It was very calming, Suresh says. “She knew that someone who loved her had left that music for her and she was in a familiar place.”

    Suresh could see that the music relaxed her grandmother and made her feel less anxious, but she wondered if she also felt less pain. That would make sense, because anxiety can make people more sensitive to pain. At the time Suresh was majoring in biomedical engineering with a minor (兼修) in music cognition (认知) at Northwestern University where her father, Santhanam Suresh, is a professor of pediatrics (儿科).

    So the father and daughter decided to do a study. And since Dr Suresh works with children, they decided to look at how music chosen by the children themselves might affect their tolerance for pain.

    It was a small study, involving 60 patients between 9 and 14 years old. All the patients were undergoing big operations that required them to stay in the hospital for at least a couple of days. Right after surgery, patients received narcotics (麻醉药) to control pain. The next day they were divided into three groups. One group heard 30 minutes of music of their choice, one heard 30 minutes of stories of their choice and one listened to 30 minutes of silence via noise canceling headphones.

    After a 30-minute session, the children who listened to music or books reduced their pain burden by 1 point on a 10-point scale. Sunitha Suresh says it's equal to taking an over-the-counter pain medication like Advil or Tylenol.

    The findings suggest that doctors may be able to use less pain medication for their pediatric patients. And that's a good thing, says Santhanam Suresh, as children are smaller and are more likely to suffer side effects. So the less pain medication, he says, the better.

    The insects are important to farmers. When a honeybee lands on a flower in plant, pollen (花粉) sticks to its legs. When the bee lands on another flower, some of the pollen falls off and fertilizes the second plant.

    The act of spreading pollen is responsible for many fruits, vegetables, nuts and other crops. Yet about 30 percent of honeybees in the United States and other areas have died in recent years.

    Mike Leggett is a researcher at the University of Maryland. He wants to learn why so many bees are dying. “The number of colonies (蜂群) that die every winter has been one in three. So on average 30 percent of the colonies have died every winter over the last six winters. And that's a huge number.” His research team examined the pollen that honeybees carried to their homes. They found that the pollen contained high levels of 35 different pesticides (杀虫剂), which are chemicals used to protect plants. “Pesticides are used, and have been used, pretty widely, for centuries, to protect plants from diseases,” says Mr Leggett.

    Keith Oh linger, a farmer and beekeeper in Maryland, has watched many of his bees die every winter. Mr Ohlinger thinks widespread bee death is caused by several things happening at once. But he does not feel sure that pesticides are a part of the problem, “I felt it was the result of a lot of little things. I didn't feel that there was probably one smoking gun. But there's a division (分歧) there, some people feel that it is just one thing.”

    Honeybees are important to agriculture. This makes the search for an answer to their death very important for Mr Leggett's team. As he knows, one in every three bites of food we eat is somehow pollinated by honeybees.

    There is a very long list of rules for the New York City subway. Don't put your feet on a seat, don't carry open cups of coffee or soda, don't take more than one seat... Those are just a few of the rules. There are hundreds more.

    With so many rules, why is it still unpleasant to ride the subway?

    Some people think that the problem is that no one enforces the rules. Other passengers sometimes try to enforce rules. But you can't rely on them because New Yorkers have unwritten rules against talking to strangers and making eye contact with strangers. How can you tell someone to take her shopping bags off the seat and throw away her Coke without talking to her or looking at her? It is difficult.

    There are other New Yorkers who think that the subway is unpleasant because there are not enough rules. One rider wrote a letter to The New York Times a couple of weeks ago suggesting a few more subway rules. Here are some of the rules that she would like to see:

    —Don't lean on the poles. You prevent other people from holding on. They can fall down.

    —Talk quietly. The trains are already too noisy.

    —Give your seat to elderly passengers or to parents with small children.

    If those unwritten rules of etiquette are written down, will the rude people be more likely to follow them? It doesn't make sense to make more rules that no one will enforce.

    The real problem is that we are forgetting how to be nice to each other. It is embarrassing that we need a rule to tell us to give our seat to elderly passengers. Nobody should need to be reminded to do that.

    I say we stop talking about the rules and try to remember our manners. Let's be nice to each other not because a police officer might tell us to get off the train, but because it is the right thing to do. Then New York City would be more civilized —both above ground and below.