Maddie Messe, 13, has always loved Temple Run, a mobile game that sends her racing through swamps (沼泽) and forests to outrun a pack of crazed monkeys. What she didn't love was being forced to play as a boy — unless she was willing to buy a female version. “I felt like l was being cheated or misrepresented,” Maddie explains．“Girls are just as capable (有能力的) of running away from monkeys as boys are.”

    So last winter, Maddie researched 50 of the most popular iPhone games. What she found was infuriating：90 percent offered free male characters, but only 15 percent let you play as a female for free.

    Armed with those statistics, Maddie drafted a spirited article and fired it off to several major newspapers. The Washington Post agreed to run the piece, which attracted millions of readers around the globe — including the makers of Temple Run! “We realized she had a point,” says Natalia Luckyanova, the game's co-creator. “It was the kick in the pants we needed to say, ' We should fix it．' So we did.”

    Now you can play Temple Run with a female character for free, but Maddie hopes her campaign inspires something deeper.“If you don't see characters that look like you on TV or in movies or games, speak up! Just do your research first,”says Maddie. “One well-supported argument is much more effective than a million angry complaints.”

    Allow me to introduce you to Terry, a window salesman from England. If I could take you back about 20 years, you'd know Terry as a complete green hand, who was wet behind the ears in just about everything he attempted. A person couldn't sell false teeth to his own Granny, let alone he could compete with the other salespeople in the industry. You know, the kind who could sell snow to Eskimos.

    Terry's boss decided to send him out on a practical field trip on his first day. So off he went, but he was extremely nervous. With his hands and his knees shaking, he approached the front door and knocked at it. And an old woman appeared. After dozens of cups of tea and pieces of biscuits, the woman signed a contract and purchased over $7,000 worth of windows.

    The woman had already talked with 6 excellent salesmen that week, all of whom offered her cheaper ones! That's right—Terry's price was the most expensive and he was also the most inexperienced salesman there ever was.

    So, what happened then? Here comes the secret. The woman said she liked the young lad more than the others. That's all there was to it. She didn't care about the extra expense. Even the other salesmen couldn't persuade her to pay less than this young lad was asking for.

    The truth is that the young lad left on the woman the first impression that shone brighter than any of the salesman's talk. First impressions count, not the sales techniques, not the low prices. The actual “personality” the kid honestly gave was all that was required. If you market your own products and services, consider what impression you are giving to others. If you appeal to them, then you've already done half of the work. If this means redesigning your presentation, then so be it. If this means going out of your way to be polite, helpful and giving the best possible shopping experience to your customers, the so be it.

    There's been a lot of talking about white-and-blue collar workers, and you may have even heard of gold collar workers, but lately a new color of collar is making its way into China's urban vernacular(土话)—green. Green collars say no when work is life and life is work. They choose to get out of the fast lane(车道), and explore new ways of living "green".

    Living green doesn't mean someone is working as an environmentalist, biologist or scientist. Instead it is more of a lifestyle choice. A typical green collar is well educated like a white-collar but physically tough like a blue-collar, likely born in the 70s or 80s of the last century and living in one of China's big cities, with a monthly income well above 5,000 yuan(about US $700).

    The life of a green collar may go something like this: Turn off the mobile phone after work, eat only healthy food rich in vitamins, go on hikes every weekend, and like to help the underprivileged.

    Green collars even have their own club. In Beijing, the Green Collar Club is for people who share a "be happy, healthy and helpful" spirit. The club often holds charity parties and uses the donations for environmental protection and poverty relief(摆脱贫困) projects in China.

    "They are successful in their careers, but do not miss the pleasures in life. They have a lot of money, but do not fall slave to it." said Zuo Shiguang, one of the founding members of the club.

    Some people say summer is the time when teachers should get more pay. But not everyone is grateful to teachers for keeping kids occupied (无空闲的) between August and June: Washington state representative Liz Pike has written a Facebook post, titled "A life in the day of a WA state representative," and responded to teachers' complaints of rising costs of living. The post has received criticism for being anti-teacher. After reading her post, I feel that Liz Pike should rethink her criticism of public school teaching and avoid comparing it to the private school.

    Many of us teachers would certainly like teaching to be more like the private school. We see nothing wrong with fair pay for fair performance. In fact, performance is the name of the game. With standardized testing popular throughout K-12 education, teachers are some of the most analyzed and performance-measured employees in the United States. Liz Pike is very angry that teachers want raises even while test scores are dropping. Well, how are we supposed to have discipline (纪律) in the classroom when our hands are tied and we can hardly do anything with naughty students or fail students who are not prepared to move on to the next grade?

    Teachers would love to be able to turn education around and improve student performance. But we can't, and we should not suffer for it. Unlike private school businesses, public schools cannot turn away "customers". A private school business serves customers who walk through the door of their own free will, while public schools have to educate students who only attend because courts say they must.

    She says those who are "uninspired" by a lack of a cost of living increase should give up teaching. Is this the message that she thinks should be sent to the students whose academic performance she claims (声称) to care so much about? That "if you love it you'll shut up and not stand up for yourself"? I think teachers should stand up for themselves and I also think supporting teachers can make teachers teach children how to stand up for themselves.

    Britain's first zero-carbon homes are being built—and they look like something from a science-fiction movie.

    There are 25 eco-friendly homes currently being built in Southmoor, near Abingdon, Oxon. Buyers are able to have the final say on floor layouts，kitchens and bathrooms. One three-bedroom home is on the market for￡801 ,000,with a custom build available to suit your own specification. These eco-friendly houses are powered entirely by electricity from solar panels around the houses. They also have advanced ventilation (通风) systems, making sure that temperatures inside the building don't go beyond 25℃ for more than 10% of hours annually, as well as mini heat pumps to generate (产生) the heating and hot water on-site. Part of the cooling design includes avoiding east-or west-facing windows, and window shading.

    And they're in high demand. Ian Pritchett, of Ssassy Property, thinks the Government should do more to promote the construction of this type of housing. "Unfortunately, the Government relaxed the proposed 2016 zero-carbon targets after being lobbied(游说)by house builders," Ian explained. "At present, the main house-building corporations control the land and only build at the rate they are sure will sell, keeping the UK's housing shortage so that the normal rules of 'supply and demand' don't apply. When there is a shortage of housing, buyers have to purchase what is available rather than what they might want."

    In any sensible society, we would expect the planning system to actively encourage zero-carbon houses, and he tough on anyone failing to deliver the necessary standard. Instead, we have a planning system that focuses on other aspects such as numbers of bedrooms, garden sizes, and parking places. These are important aspects, but they pale into insignificance compared to the catastrophic consequences of climate change.

Anyone keen to view from on high the prosperous cityscape of Guangdong, may soon can do so from the cabin of a flying taxi. On October 13th the Civil Aviation (航空) Administration of China (CAAC) awarded a "type certificate" to the world's first electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL)taxi. And the small two-seater, called the EH216-S, was also permitted to fly without a pilot on board.

The EH216-s is made by EHang, a company based in Guangdong. It looks like a large consumer drone with a passenger bubble installed on top. Propulsion (推动力) is provided by 16 small rotors (转子), installed on the tips of eight arms that fold away when the vehicle is not in use, allowing it to park in small spaces.

The CAAC gave its approval after EHang had conducted more than 40,000 test flights, including with volunteer passengers in 18 cities across China. It also monitored the EH216-s to structural analysis and crash tests, and checked its ability to keep flying if one of its rotors fails. Regulators (监管机构) also inspected the wireless network EHang uses to link its flying taxis to a control centre on the ground. That allows backup pilots to land an aircraft by remote control if there is a problem.

EHang says its pilotless eVTOLs will be quieter than helicopters and much cheaper to operate, thanks to the ability to swap out an expensive pilot for a second paying passenger. The firm also thinks that doing away with pilots will make things safer. A computer's attention never swings, and its reaction operate at a high speed. And it is much easier to automate than driving,for there are fewer barriers and unexpected situations to navigate.

EHang has ambitions beyond China, too. It has carried out demonstration flights in Amèrica and Europe with the aim of obtaining type certificates in both markets. But their regulators both have signalled that they will allow autonomous flights only after the vehicles have proved themselves safe in human hands.