On October 31st, 2009, Chinese famous scientist Qian Xuesen, died in Beijing when he was 98 years old. He is famous as “the country's father of space technology and king of rocketry”.

    Qian was born in 1911 in Hangzhou. He left for the United States after winning a scholarship to graduate school in 1936. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later at the California Institute of Technology.

    Qian began his career in the US and was regarded as one of the brightest minds in the new field of aeronautics（航空学) before returning to China in 1955.

    After he returned, Qian set up the first missile（导弹）and rocket research institute（学院) of China. The institute later helped start Chinese space program. He led the development of China's first nuclear-armed ballistic missile (弹道导弹) and worked on its first satellite.

    He retired in the year before Chinese manned space program was launched in 1992. But his research formed the basis（形成基础）for the Long March CZ -2F rocket that carried astronaut Yang Liwei into orbit in 2003.

    In August, 2009, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Qian and praised him for devoting his life to Chinese defense technologies. Qian told him, “I'm trying to live to be 100 years old”.

    Sidewalks in Chicago were packed during the rush hour. I marched along as quickly as I could. If I didn't get to the station fast I would miss the early train out of the city. That meant even less time to spend at home with my baby.

    On my left was Saint Peter's Church. I'd passed it on the way to the station many times, but today I stopped. Other commuters (使用月票乘车者) rushed around me. I knew I should follow them since my train wouldn't wait. But I had the strangest compulsion to go into the church instead. I hesitated for a moment, but the feeling was strong. I went inside.

    I sat down in a comer. It seemed like ages since I'd sat down to think. Mary Ellen had been born in October, on the very date of her due date, in fact, October 16. A month before my husband, Rick, had lost his job. I often worked as a designer, but I'd planned on taking time off after the baby was born. With Rick out of work, I didn't have the choice. One of us had to find a job fast. I was lucky to find the job I had now. Unfortunately, it wasn't one I could work on at home. Every day I had to take the train into Chicago, a two-hour commute in both directions. I left the house so early and came home so late, so I felt like I barely got to see my baby.

    I was grateful that Rick was at home caring for her, but it was not her mother. Every minute away from her I felt like I was abandoning her.

    Looking around at the windows, I remembered when Rick and I bad first decided to try for a baby. My friend Renee was almost as excited as I was when I told her about it.

    “I've got something for you,” she said one afternoon when I her for lunch. She pulled a medal out of her purse.

    “Fix this to your clothes every day,” she said. “You'll have a baby in no time.”

    Not long after I learned I was pregnant, I was thrilled at first. But little by little I started to worry: Was my baby okay? What if something happened? The doctor assured me things were going smoothly. My family gave me support. Rick tried to encourage me. I even continued to wear my medal. But no matter what anyone said, I couldn't shake off my worries.

    Now that Mary Ellen was born I had new worries about motherhood. Is this how life was going to be from now on, with every stage of my child's life bringing new fears and anxieties?

    I thought of Renee and her gift of the medal, feeling hopeful. On my way to the door I stopped at the gift counter. I'd missed the early train, so there was time to look around. I went over to a box full of angel cards, thinking of Renee. So many things could happen in the future as Mary Ellen grew up, went to school and went out on her own. So many things to worry about. It would take an army of angels to cover them all.

    I saw a familiar face in the box. It almost felt like I was looking at a friend, someone who cared about my baby as much as her father and I did: On the back of the card was a date. “October sixteenth?” I said, not believing my eyes.

    “That's the angel's birthday,” the woman at the counter told me. I nearly burst out laughing right there. Mary Ellen's birthday! Maybe I couldn't be with Mary Ellen every minute. But never again would I worry that she was out of the angers protection, or doubt that she had a special friend.

    Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.

My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome successful man devoted to his work and family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult I feared him and felt bitter about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A's and unhappy with my boy- friends if their fathers were not as "successful" as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.

    On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father's friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe. We walked around that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son's funny facial expressions. Gone was my father's critical air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?

    The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him than at that moment. After so many years, I'm at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I'm delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.

    There exist cruel wars, fighting and sadness in the world today, so it's not only necessary, but also essential to have a good sense of humor just to help us go through difficult times in out lives. Putting a smile on someone's face when you know they are feeling depressed, as the saying goes, makes me feel good and warms my heart.

    How would you feel if you could not joke around with wife, husband, child, co-worker, neighbor, close friend, or even just someone that you are standing in line with at your corner store? I am always saying things that make others smile or laugh, even if I don't know the person I'm joking around with. My Grandma always found humor in everything she did, even if it was the hardest job anyone could imagine. This not only relieves stress in any situation, but also is a common manner to speak to others that are around you.

    I know of a few people that don't have a funny bone in their bodies, as they say. Everyone around them could be rolling on the floor after hearing a great joke and they would sit there without the slightest smile on their faces. They don't get the joke that makes others laugh. I am, busting a gut while they just sit there, looking at me as if I were from outer space. How can people not get a really funny joke?

    Laughing is essential to keep your stress levels under control. Without humor, we would find ourselves with a lot of psychological problems, or on a lot of medications to keep us from going crazy. There is too much sadness and bring a little light into our lives.

    Therefore, I believe our best medicine is to get together and tell some jokes and have some fun laughing together.

    One of India's top engineering schools has restricted Internet access in its boarding houses, saying addiction to surfing, gaming and blogging was affecting students' performance, making them lonely and even suicidal.

    Authorities at the best Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai said students had stopped socializing and many were late for morning classes or slept through them. "Now, a student doesn't even know who lives two doors away from him because he is so busy on the Internet," said Prakash Gopalan, dean of Student Affairs. "The old dormitory culture of companionship and socializing among students is gone. This is not healthy in our opinion."

    IIT-Mumbai, with about 5,000 students, is one of the seven IITs across India which are considered to be among the finest engineering schools in the world. They are also a talent pool for global technology giants. But their hard courses, tough competition and lonely campus lifestyle have taken an effect on students. Depressive and dysfunctional lifestyles are known to be common among IIT students, and at least nine have committed suicide in the past five years. Students have unlimited free Internet access in their boarding houses to help them in their studies, but many also use it to surf, chat, download movies and music, blog and for gaming.

    "Starting Monday, Internet access will be banned between 11 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. at IIT-Mumbai's 13 boarding buildings to encourage students to sleep early and to try and force them out of their shells." Gopalan said. But the move has not gone down well with students who say they hate their lives being regulated. "Now they will say we need to listen to a lullaby (摇篮曲) to go to sleep." said Rajiv, an electronics student.

    Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson. Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.

My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult I feared him and felt bitter（仇恨的）bout him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A's and unhappy with my boy friends if their fathers were not as "successful" as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.

    On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father's friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe. We walked along that afternoon, did some shopping ate on the street table, and laughed over my son's funny facial expressions. Gone was my father's critical(挑剔的)air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?

    The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I'm at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I'm delighted with my new friend. My dad in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.