In a natural disaster: a hurricane, flood, volcanic eruption, or other catastrophes. Minutes and even seconds of warning can make the difference between life and death. Because of this, scientists are working to use the latest technological advances to predict when and where disasters will happen. They are also studying how best to analyze and communicate this information once it is obtained.

    On September 29,1998, Hurricane Georges made landfall in Biloxi, Mississippi, after damaging Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and several islands of the Caribbean badly with heavy rains and winds up to 160 km per hour. Few people lost their lives along the Gulf Coast of the United States, although hundreds died in the Caribbean. This was a very different result, when a powerful Gulf Coast hurricane made an unexpected direct hit on Galveston, Texas, killing at least 6,000 people. Vastly improved hurricane warnings explain the different circumstances at either end of the 20th century—residents of Galveston had no advance warning that a storm was approaching, while residents of Biloxi had been warned days in advance, allowing for extensive safety precautions (预防).

    At the same time that people in Biloxi were thankful for the advance warning, some residents of New Orleans, Louisiana were less satisfied. A day before Georges made landfall, forecasters were predicting that the hurricane had a good chance of striking New Orleans. Emergency management officials must begin evacuations (疏散) well before a storm strikes. But evacuation costs money. The mayor of New Orleans estimated that his city's preparations for Georges cost more than 50 million. After Georges missed New Orleans, some residents questioned the value of the hurricane forecasts in the face of such high costs.

    The different views on the early warnings for Hurricane Georges show some of the complexities (复杂) related to predicting disasters. Disaster prediction is a process of providing scientific information to the government officials and other decision makers who must respond to those predictions.

    If you want to convince the boss you deserve a pay rise or promotion, the solution could be simple—eat the same food as they do.Psychologists have discovered managers are much more likely to instantly trust us if we choose the same dishes as them.

    During experiments, discussions over wages and work conditions were much more successful if both sides chose to snack on the same treats.And shoppers were much more likely to buy a product advertised on TV by someone eating a similar food to them at the time.

    The reason is thought to be so­called similarity attraction theory—where people tend to like others who have similar tastes or habits to themselves.But this is believed to be one of the first studies highlighting the role of food in this relationship.Researchers at Chicago University in the US conducted a series of experiments to examine food's role in earning trust.

    In a test, participants were told to watch TV—where someone pretending to be a member of the public praised a certain product.The volunteers were given Kit Kat bars to nibble, while the TV people ate either a Kit Kat or grapes as they talked.

    The results showed viewers were much more likely to express an interest in buying the product if the TV showed the other person eating a Kit Kat too.

    The researchers added, “Although similarity in food consumption is not a sign of whether two people will get along, we find consumers treat this as such.They feel more trusting of those who consume as they do.It means people can immediately begin to feel friendship and develop a bond, leading to smoother transactions from the start.”

    Harley Street psychologist Dr.Lucy Atcheson said it was already known that wearing similar clothes could instantly create trust.But this was the first report that food had the same effect.She said, “This is really interesting.It makes sense as people feel they have common ground and can trust the other person.That means negotiations are more likely to be successful.”

    Google's new camera, called Clips, is a small, smart device. It comes with a case that has a clip (夹子)，but it's not designed to be worn on your clothing. Most interestingly, it uses artificial intelligence to take photography out of your hands so it can capture moments on its own.

    This roughly 2-inch by 2-inch camera, with a three-hour battery life and Gorilla Glass for toughness, is intended for candid moments, like when a child does something cute that may happen too quickly for you to pull out your smartphone.

    Onboard the Clips device, it uses machine learning algorithms (计算程序) to help capture scenes. Those algorithms include face recognition. "Once it learns that there's a face you see frequently, it'll try to get nice photos of those faces," said Juston Payne, the device's product manager. And they also want it to recognize facial expressions, which involved "training it to know what happiness looks like". The Google team also trained it to recognize what not to shoot — like when a child's hand is over the lens, or if it is tossed in a dark purse.

    The only way to see the images is by connecting the camera with your phone, as it has no screen for viewing or editing.

    Were people concerned it could seem strange? Yes, Payne admitted. But they said they addressed that by making it obvious what it is. A green light on the front signals that it is on. Besides, unlike a camera meant to monitor your home, it is not connected to the Internet.

    "This product is only possible because of the way that silicon has advanced" Payne said, noting that it was only in the past year or so that they could squeeze the technology down into a device this size. Going forward, we're likely to get more assistance from the artificial intelligence packed into our apps and gadgets.

    USAW and USAPL Super Total Weekend

Murder of Crows Barbell and Crow Hill CrossFit are proud to present a Super Total Weekend on Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, 2nd at Crow Hill CrossFit! Athletes can sign up for one or for both competitions. BUT you must be a member of USAW to compete in both competitions.

    Registration will be limited to the first 60 entries. Athletes must be present USAW members and must compete in an event shirt.

    Medals will be awarded to First, Second and Third best totals in each open weight class for both men and women. We will also be awarding a prize cup for Best Male and Best Female Lifting in the Open Division and in the Masters Division. Youth lifters are welcome and we will be giving away medals for the top three finisher in each weight class and age group(11 & Under, 13 & Under, 14—15, 16—17).

    Entry fee will be $60 for the USAW competition. Event shirts can be preordered only for $20 before November 1st. $5 for spectators. Two coaches per athlete will get in free for the day.

    Tentative Schedule：

    Session 1: WOMEN YOUTHS & WOMEN 45, 49, 55, 59

    7：00 am Weigh In

    9：00 am Lift

    Session 2: MEN YOUTHS & MEN 55, 61, 67, 73

    9：30 am Weigh In

    11：30 am Lift

    Session 3: WOMEN 64, 71, 76, 81, ＋87

    12：00 pm Weigh In

    2：00 pm Lift

    Session 4: MEN 81, 89, 96, 102, 109, ＋109

    2：30 pm Weigh In

    4：30 pm Lift

    REFUND(退款) POLICY: Athletes may receive a 50% refund up to November 1. No transfers. NO REFUNDS OR TRANSFERS OF REGISTRATION AFTER 11/1.

    Nowadays women appear to have a positive image of themselves as safer drivers than men.

    In a survey done for insurer MetLife, 51% of women said they drive more safely. The evidence is on their side: Men are 3.4 times more likely than women to get a ticket for careless driving and 3.1 times as likely to be punished for drunk driving. "Women are on average less aggressive and more law abiding (守法的) drivers, which leads to fewer accidents," the report says. However, not all male drivers share the same opinion. Of the men surveyed by MetLife, 39% claimed male drivers were safer. The findings did back them up on one point: automotive knowledge. The report showed that more men are familiar with current safety equipment such as electronic stability control, which helps prevent rollover accidents.

    Auto safety unavoidably matters to money. Insurance companies focus on what classes of drivers have the lowest dollar amounts of claims, and for now, that mainly includes women. In general, women pay about 9% less for auto insurance than men. A study by the website Insweb also showed that auto insurance rates are lower for women in most states. Among individual states, women get the greatest advantage in Wyoming (where they pay 20% less), South Dakota and Washington, D. C. where their insurance costs are 16% lower.

    "More than 11, 900 male drivers died in U. S. traffic accidents in 2009, compared with just under 4, 900 women drivers," according to the study. "Based on miles traveled, men died at a rate of 2.5 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, VS 1.7 deaths for women."

Everyone wants to be happy, but sometimes it can be difficult to feel happiness. That's because we have misunderstandings (误区) about happiness that can get in the way. The good news is that changing the way you think about happiness can help you to feel more joy each day.

Dr. Williamson from the charity Action for Happiness says, "Happiness is not about denying (拒绝承认) terrible feelings or being joyful all the time. It's about making the most of good times and learning to deal with bad times". Dr. Green believes that happiness comes when we feel good about who we ate and where our life is going.

Noticing when you feel happy and what you're doing or what's happening at that time can help you to find more happiness. For example, you may realize that working out a difficult puzzle makes you feel better than watching a favorite TV show. What helps you to feel happy might be different from what makes someone else happy.

Start a list of things that make you happy and keep adding to it as you discover new ones. Make time to do what you know makes you happy and remember that joy isn't only found in what you do for yourself—being kind and thoughtful to other people helps you feel happier, too.

There are misunderstandings that can make it hard to feel happy. One is that it's selfish (自私的) to be happy when other people are sad. However, stopping yourself from being happy doesn't make other people less sad. In fact, research has shown that happy people spread happiness to others. Another thing is thinking that you need lots of money and things to be happy. Studies have shown that when people win the lottery (彩票), they feel a short burst of happiness but they soon return to feeling the same as they did before they won. So it's important to notice the simple things that make you feel happy.