Dear Seth,

    You're only three years old, and at this point in your life you can't read, much less understand what I'm going to try to tell you in this letter. But I've been thinking a lot about the life that you have ahead of you, about my life so far as I reflect on what I've learned, and about my role as a dad in trying to prepare you for the trials that you will face in the coming years.

    You won't be able to understand this letter today, but someday, when you're ready, I hope you will find some wisdom and value in what I share with you.

    You are young, and life has yet to take its toll on you, to throw disappointments and heartaches and loneliness and struggles and pain into your path. You have not been worn down yet by long hours of thankless work, by the slings and arrows of everyday life.

    For this, be thankful. You are at a wonderful stage of life. You have many wonderful stages of life still to come, but they are not without their costs and perils.

    I hope to help you along your path by sharing some of the best of what I've learned. As with any advice, take it with a grain of salt. What works for me might not work for you.

    Life Can Be Cruel

    There will be people in your life who won't be very nice. They'll tease you because you're different, or for no good reason. They might try to bully you or hurt you.

    There's not much you can do about these people except to learn to deal with them, and learn to choose friends who are kind to you, who actually care about you, who make you feel good about yourself. When you find friends like this, hold on to them, treasure them, spend time with them, be kind to them, love them.

    There will be times when you are met with disappointment instead of success. Life won't always turn out the way you want. This is just another thing you'll have to learn to deal with. But instead of letting these things get you down, push on. Accept disappointment and learn to persevere, to pursue your dreams despite pitfalls. Learn to turn negatives into positives, and you'll do much better in life.

    You will also face heartbreak and abandonment by those you love. I hope you don't have to face this too much, but it happens. Again, not much you can do but to heal, and to move on with your life. Let these pains become stepping stones to better things in life, and learn to use them to make you stronger.

    But Be Open to life Anyway

    Yes, you'll find cruelty and suffering in your journey through life … but don't let that close you to new things. Don't retreat from life, don't hide or wall yourself off. Be open to new things, new experiences, new people.

    You might get your heart broken 10 times, but find the most wonderful woman the 11th time. If you shut yourself off from love, you'll miss out on that woman, and the happiest times of your life.

 You might get teased and bullied and hurt by people you meet … and then after meeting dozens of jerks, find a true friend. If you close yourself off to new people, and don't open your heart to them, you'll avoid pain … but also lose out on meeting some incredible people, who will be there during the toughest times of your life and create some of the best times of your life.

    You will fail many times but if you allow that to stop you from trying, you will miss out on the amazing feeling of success once you reach new heights with your accomplishments. Failure is a stepping stone to success.

    Life Isn't a Competition .You will meet many people who will try to outdo you, in school, in college, at work. They'll try to have nicer cars, bigger houses, nicer clothes, cooler gadgets. To them, life is a competition — they have to do better than their peers to be happy.

    Here's a secret: Life isn't a competition. It's a journey. If you spend that journey always trying to impress others, to outdo others, you're wasting your journey. Instead, learn to enjoy the journey. Make it a journey of happiness, of constant learning, of continual improvement, of love.

    Don't worry about having a nicer car or house or anything material, or even a better-paying job. None of that matters a whit, and none of it will make you happier. You'll acquire these things and then only want more. Instead, learn to be satisfied with having enough — and then use the time you would have wasted trying to earn money to buy those things … use that time doing things you love.

    Finally, know that I love you and always will. You are starting out on a weird, scary, daunting, but ultimately incredibly wonderful journey, and I will be there for you when I can. Godspeed.

Love,

Your Dad

    The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand—a system of rapid handwriting, and now it's threatening to finish off handwriting as a whole. When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2012, just 15% of the most1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive(手写体). The rest? Block letters.

    And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of US students who no longer get much handwriting instructions in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive.

    There are those who say the culture is at a crossing, turning from the written word to the typed one. If handwriting becomes a lost form of communication, does it matter?

    It was at University Virginia that researchers recently discovered a previously unknown poem by Robert, written in his unique script. Handwritten documents are more valuable to researchers, historians say, because their authenticity can be confirmed. Students also find them more fascinating.

    The loss of handwriting also may be  a cognitive(认知的) opportunity missed. Several academic studies have found that good handwriting skills at a young age can help children express their thoughts better—a lifelong benefit.

    It doesn't take much to teach better handwriting skills. At some schools in Prince George's County, elementary school students use a program called Handwriting Without Tears for 15 minutes a day. They learn the correct formation of manuscript (手写的)letters through second grade, and cursive letters in third grade.

    2018 FIRST Robotics Competition Game—FIRST POWER UPSM

    The adventure begins on January 6, 2018. Play for real! Combining the excitement of sport with the rigors(严酷)of science and technology. We call FIRST Robotics Competition the ultimate Sport for the Mind. High-school student participants call it “the hardest fun you'll ever have”.

    Team Basics

    The really cool thing about FIRST Robotics Competition is that all skill levels are welcomed and needed, technical or non-technical. Read more about team basics, time frame, commitment, and skills required.

    Cost & Registration

    What does it cost to participate? There are costs involved with forming a FIRST Robotics Competition team and they can vary from team to team and region to region depending on what level of participation the team chooses.

Here are some basic cost standards:

    There are never any “per student” fees; all costs for individual team members are assumed by the team as a group.

    The annual fees for team registration, a robot kit of parts, and event participation are $5,000—$6,000. Additional costs for travel, food, team shirts and other optional items will vary.

    Scholarships

    A big advantage of participating in FIRST is gaining access to millions in college scholarships made available by colleges, universities, and corporations who support FIRST. This is exclusive financial help open only to FIRST team members, giving them a competitive leg up on other students seeking educational funds.

    Many people don't consider their breakfast without a glass of milk. Right now, cows, buffalos, goats and sheep provide most of the world's milk. But soon, people could get milk from roaches(蟑螂).

    That isn't as crazy as it might sound. New research shows this “milk” is super-nutritious. What's more, some scientists have already begun referring to a lot of insects as source of milk.

    In 2004, Subramanian Ramaswamy started studying milk crystals found inside the roach. At the time, he was teaching biochemistry at the University of Iowa City.

    To learn more about the milk crystal from roaches, the scientists used X-rays to look at the atoms in it. The data basically revealed the chemical recipe of the roach crystal. They showed that roach milk is a “complete food”. It contains sugar with a fatty acid stuck to it. Fatty acids are the building blocks of fats. The protein in the milk is also full of essential amino(氨基的) acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Since our bodies can't produce the “essential” ones, we need to get them from our food. And so do baby roaches.

    Barbara Stay, a biologist at Iowa University, also worked on the new study. She says the new data show that the roach milk is “three times more nutritious than cow's milk and four times more nutritious than buffalo's milk”.

    Ramaswamy would like to see roach milk turned into a protein supplement to feed hungry people. But not everyone is confident that it can be done.

    Marcel Dicke studies insects as a potential source of human food at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Dicke says this is a “sound study”. However, in his opinion, “Extracting(提取) milk from roaches can only likely be done in a destructive way with only small quantities”. That means you'd have to raise and kill many bugs to get even tiny quantities of the milk.

A Cappella Competition

    Do you love to sing?

    Come and show off your talents at the Chilton Youth A Cappella Competition！

    October 20th, 11: 00-17: 00

    Edward Greatcoat Theater, Sealey Road, Chilton

    Rules

    Please remember that this is an cappella competition!

    No instruments or recorded music will be allowed.

    Competitors may sing published or original songs in any style.

    Competitors must be between eight and 15 years old.

    There are four categories (类):

    ⑴Solo (8-11 years old)          ⑵Solo (12-15 years old)

    ⑶Group (8-11 years old)         ⑷Group (12-15 years old)

    Competitors under 12 years old must stay with a parent or other adult at all times.

    Each competitor must pay an entry fee of $10.

    Winners will receive $500 and a course of 20 lessons with famous voice coach Vickie Leonard.

    Winners will be decided by three judges from the Chilton School of Music. Their decision is final.

    Additional information

    Please arrive at the Edward Greatcoat Theater between 09: 00 and 10: 00 to register (登记), as the competition will start at 11: 00. The parking lot has limited spaces so you are advised to come as early as possible.

    Shared dressing rooms with showers will be provided for all competitors. 

    Tickets for the competition are available at the theater from October 1st. There is no charge for these, but again, spaces are limited.

    UK-based swimming pool manufacturer (制造商) Compass Pools has announced plans for the world's first 360-degree infinity (无限) pool. Titled Infinity London, the pool would contain 600,000 liters of water, and would sit at the top of a 55-story hotel.

    According to Compass Pools' plan, the pool would feature transparent (透明的) walls and floor, offering views across London's skyline and down into the hotel below. These walls would be made of cast acrylic, a material chosen to make sure that the material is completely clear.

    The main problem with designing the pool was how to make sure entry or exit from the pool without affecting the view. Speaking about this design, Compass Pools' technical director and designer Alex Kemsley explained，"Normally a simple ladder would suffice, but we didn't want stairs on the outside of the building or in the pool as it would spoil the view – and obviously you don't want 600,000 litres of water running down through the building either. The solution is based on the door of a submarine, coupled with a rotating spiral (螺旋的) staircase which rises from the pool floor when someone wants to get in or out."

    Take a look at early models of how the pool might look in the gallery above. At present, no contract has been made but building work could begin as early as 2020.