Welcome to the 2017 UK Festival Awards

    The UK Festival Awards & Conference is an opportunity to recognize the hard work, vision and creativity of the nation's beloved festival industry.

    Throughout the day of the event, the Conference invites numerous industry insiders(行家) to discuss the issues most relative to the sector, reviewing its immediate past and portending to the future. The evening's Awards present a wide range of honors across categories that are decided via a combination of public voting and professional judgments. Since launching in 2004 it has evolved into a major event at The Roundhouse in London, giving the industry a chance to collectively celebrate and fondly reflect upon the achievements of the past year.

    With a gourmet dinner, gala awards ceremony and after-show party, it attracts over 1,000 of the most influential people in the business.

    Along with its sister events, the UK Festival Conference and the European Festival Awards, The UK Festival Awards & Conference is owned and produced by Festival Awards Ltd, an independent company founded in the UK.

    Awards include Best Major, Medium-Sized and Small Festival, Best Family Festival, Best Overseas Festival, Best Use of New Technology, and of course – Best Toilets.

    As the festival season is approaching, we thought it'd be a good time to release our free UK Festival Market Report for 2015 / 2016. We gathered the data in our annual census(人口普查)  undertaken in the preparation stage for last year's UK Festival Awards. The latest UK Festival Market Report can be downloaded below.

    Included in the Report is a bunch of related information about festivalgoers: where they're from, how they like to purchase music, what they eat, their attitudes towards ticket prices, how receptive they are to different forms of advertising, why they go to festivals in the first place, where they sleep, and much more.

    We hope you find the information useful.

    Two things changed my life: my mother and a white, plastic, daisy bike basket. I would be a different person if my mom hadn't turned a silly bicycle accessory(配件) into a life lesson I carry with me today.

    It was summer and, one day, my mother drove me to the bike shop to get a tire fixed — and there it was in the window. White, shiny, plastic and decorated with daisies, the basket seemed so appealing and I knew I had to have it.

    "Mom, please can I get it? I'll do extra chores for as long as you say. I'll do anything, but I need that basket. I love that basket. Please, Mom. Please?"

    "You know," she said, gently rubbing my back while we both stared at what I believed was the coolest thing ever, "If you save up, you could buy this yourself."

    "By the time I make enough it'll be gone!"

    "Maybe Roger here could hold it for you," she smiled at Roger, the bike guy.

    "For that long? He can't hold it for that long, Mom. Someone else will buy it. Please, Mom, please?"

    "There might be another choice," she said. My mother bought the beautiful basket and put it safely out of reach in some hiding place I couldn't find. Each week I eagerly counted my growing nest egg earned by extra work here and there (washing the car, helping my mother make dinner, delivering milk around the neighborhood). And then, weeks later maybe, I counted, re-counted and jumped for joy. Oh, I made it! I finally had the exact amount we'd agreed upon.

    Days later, the unthinkable happened. A neighborhood girl I'd played with appeared with the exact same basket fixed to her shiny, new bike. I rode my bike fast home to tell my mother about this disaster, this horrible turn of events.

    And then came the lesson I've taken with me through my life: "Honey, your basket is extra-special," Mom said, gently wiping away my hot tears. "Your basket is special because you paid for it yourself."

    Sharpshooters refer to those who are skilled at firing a gun and accurately hitting what they are aiming at. However, some fish are also called amazing sharpshooters. People wonder how they hit their targets without using tools? By spitting! The fish shoot so accurately that they rarely miss their target.

    These amazing fish are archerfish (印度射水鱼).There are several different types of archerfish living in Southeast Asia. They spit at their dinner to catch it. To catch dinner, a fish first sets itself in a certain place, for example just below the surface of the water. It puts the tip of its mouth so it barely breaks through the water. Then, the fish waits for an unsuspecting insect to land on a leaf or branch hanging over the water.

    When an unsuspecting, or unknowing insect lands, the fish attacks. The fish squeezes its gill (腮)covers very rapidly, which forces water into the fish's mouth. In the roof of its mouth the fish has a groove (槽）. The fish forms the small groove and its tongue into a narrow tube by pressing its tongue up against its groove. The water forced into the fish's mouth is forcefully pushed out of the fish's mouth through the tube. Archerfish have been known to send a stream up to 5 meters (16 feet). However, archerfish can only shoot insects up to 1-2 meters (3-6 feet) away due to their limited accuracy.

    When the unsuspecting insect is hit with a sudden stream of water, it is knocked into or falls into the water. Once in the water, the insect becomes dinner. Archerfish learn how to spit when they are young. They get more accurate with practice. Adult archerfish rarely miss.

    Within a meter, archerfish will often spring out of the water and grab an insect in their mouths.

    As early as 2005, there were a number of new stories about dog cloning(克隆) and cat cloning. Animal cloning had been old news for nearly a decade by then, with the revolutionary (革命的) cloning of Dolly the sheep in Scotland.

    However, Snuppy was the first pet, a dog, to be cloned. Since the cloning of Snuppy, there has been some very successful cloning of pets and other animals. Lou Hawthorne started BioArts while cloning his beloved mixed-breed dog Missy. Hawthorne was very pleased with the results of the cloning, producing three successful clones that were very alike to the original in character and behavior. In January, 2009, a Florida couple, Ed and Nina Otto, announced that they had paid to have their dog cloned by BioArts.

    All new technology is overpriced. For example, personal computers were not very affordable at first. Only after the producing process was improved was it possible for every family to have a computer. How much room there will be for organizations to reduce the price point on pet cloning without broad demand is of course questionable.

    There are many great dogs and cats that can be found at the local dog pound (野狗收容所) or are given away for "free to good homes" in classified ads (分类广告). However, there is no limit to the value people place on a beloved pet. The Ottos are a good example of that. If people can buy a dog or cat with predictable behavior and characteristics, there is value in that. There is a predictable market here, though it may always be limited in size.

    While pet cloning has not taken off as some hoped, it's clear that it will become a bigger market in the future and it will be increasingly possible for people to try this out. With the inevitable (不可避免的) success that cloned pet owners will have, the practice will become more widely accepted and it seems inevitable that there is a future for cloned dogs and cats.

Preparing Cities for Robot Cars

    The possibility of self-driving robot cars has often seemed like a futurist's dream, years away from materializing in the real world. Well, the future is apparently now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles began giving permits in April for companies to test truly self-driving cars on public roads. The state also cleared the way for companies to sell or rent out self-driving cars, and for companies to operate driverless taxi services. California, it should be noted, isn't leading the way here. Companies have been testing their vehicles in cities across the country. It's hard to predict when driverless cars will be everywhere on our roads. But however long it takes, the technology has the potential to change our transportation systems and our cities, for better or for worse, depending on how the transformation is regulated.

    While much of the debate so far has been focused on the safety of driverless cars (and rightfully so), policymakers also should be talking about how self-driving vehicles can help reduce traffic jams, cut emissions (排放) and offer more convenient, affordable mobility options. The arrival of driverless vehicles is a chance to make sure that those vehicles are environmentally friendly and more shared.

    Do we want to copy—or even worsen—the traffic of today with driverless cars? Imagine a future where most adults own individual self-driving vehicles. They tolerate long, slow journeys to and from work on packed highways because they can work, entertain themselves or sleep on the ride, which encourages urban spread. They take their driverless car to an appointment and set the empty vehicle to circle the building to avoid paying for parking. Instead of walking a few blocks to pick up a child or the dry cleaning, they send the self-driving minibus. The convenience even leads fewer people to take public transport—an unwelcome side effect researchers have already found in ride-hailing (叫车) services.

    A study from the University of California at Davis suggested that replacing petrol-powered private cars worldwide with electric, self-driving and shared systems could reduce carbon emissions from transportation 80% and cut the cost of transportation infrastructure (基础设施) and operations 40% by 2050. Fewer emissions and cheaper travel sound pretty appealing. The first commercially available driverless cars will almost certainly be fielded by ride-hailing services, considering the cost of self-driving technology as well as liability and maintenance issues (责任与维护问题). But driverless car ownership could increase as the prices drop and more people become comfortable with the technology.

    Policymakers should start thinking now about how to make sure the appearance of driverless vehicles doesn't extend the worst aspects of the car-controlled transportation system we have today. The coming technological advancement presents a chance for cities and states to develop transportation systems designed to move more people, and more affordably. The car of the future is coming. We just have to plan for it.

    Do's and Don'ts in Whale(鲸)Watching The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has developed guidelines for whale watching in Johnstone Strait, where killer whales are found on a daily basis each summer. It is strongly recommended that vessel (船只) operators follow these guidelines for all kinds of whales.

    Approach whales from the side, not from the front or the back.

    Approach no closer than 100 metres, then stop the boat but keep the engine on.

    Keep noise levels down-no horns. whistles or racing of engines.

    Start your boat only after the whales are more than 100 metres from your vessel.

    Leave the area slowly, gradually moving faster when you are more than 300 metres from the whales.

    Approach and leave slowly, avoiding sudden changes in speed or direction.

    Avoid disturbing groups of resting whales.

    Keep at low speeds and remain in the same direction if travelling side by side with whales.

    When whales are travelling close to shore, avoid crowding them near the shore or coming between the whales and the shore.

    Limit the time spent with any group of whales to less than 30 minutes at a time when within 100 to 200 metres of whales.

    lf there is more than one vessel at the same observation spot, be sure to avoid any boat position that would result in surrounding the whales.

    Work together by communicating with other vessels, and make sure that all operators are aware of the whale watching guidelines.