The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place

    Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

    Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale(秤)instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.

    On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don't have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

    The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

    Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.

    Apple announced its new iPhones last week, but competitors' mobile phones can do many of the same things for less money.

    The new iPhone 8 and X have wireless charging, edge-to-edge glass screen and double cameras. But all of these features are already available in smart phones from China's Huawei and Oppo, and Korea's Samsung. While Apple asks buyers to pay $1,000 for its high-end model, some Asian phone makers can offer similar features for less.

    At one time, Chinese manufacturers copied features and designs from others to produce low-cost phones. But they have now added high-end features to their phones and they control nearly half the global mobile phone market.

    Media MarktSaturn is Europe's biggest electronics seller. A spokesperson for the store told Reuters that,“Huawei is seen as a relevant competitor to Apple and Samsung by covering all major price points and placing big investments in marketing and sales. '' She also said that the Chinese companies Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo and TCL were among the top-10 best-selling smart phones in its stores.

    Chinese manufacturers' fast growth has been fueled by strong sales in China. But they now export 40 percent of their smart phones. That is almost double the number from just three years ago, according to the Hong Kong investment company CLSA.

    Huawei is currently the world's third largest phone maker behind Samsung and Apple. According to research company Canalys, the Chinese company is getting closer to second-place Apple and might overtake it later this year.The Chinese company even made fun of Apple's new facial recognition feature with a Facebook video called "Real AI phone." Huawei plans to show its top-of-the-line Mate 10 phone on Oct. 16. The phone will have artificial intelligence features such as instant translation and image recognition and will cost less than $1,000.    Other Chinese companies are looking to enter the high-end smart phone market.

    According to new research from the University of Cambridge in England, sheep are able to recognize human faces from photographs.

    The farm animals, who are social and have large brains, were previously known to be able to recognize one another, as well as familiar humans. However, their ability to recognize human faces from photos alone is novel.

    The recent study, the results of which were published in the journal Royal Society: Open Science. Show the woolly creatures could be trained to recognize still images of human faces, including those of former President Barack Obama and actress Emma Watson.

    Initially, the sheep were trained to approach certain images by being given food rewards. Later, they were able to recognize the image for which they had been rewarded. The sheep could even recognize images of faces shown at an angle, though their ability to do so declined by about 15 percent – the same rate at which a human's ability to perform the same task declines.

    "Anyone who has spent time working with sheep will know that they are intelligent, individual animals who are able to recognize their handlers," said Professor Jenny Morton, who led the Cambridge study. "We've shown with our study that sheep have advanced face-recognition abilities, comparable with those of humans and monkeys."

    Recognizing faces is one of the most important social skills for human being, and some disorders of the brain, including Huntington's disease, affect this ability.

    "Sheep are long-lived and have brains that are similar in size and complexity to those of some monkeys. That means they can be useful models to help us understand disorders of the brain, such as Huntington's disease, that develop over a long time and affect cognitive abilities. Our study gives us another way to monitor how these abilities change," Morton said.

    Sometimes people add to what they say even when they don't talk. Gestures are the "silent language" of every culture. We point a finger or move another part of the body to show what we want to say. It is important to know the body language of every country or we may be misunderstood.

    In the USA, people greet each other with a handshake in a formal introduction. The handshake must be firm. If the handshake is weak, it is a sign of weakness or unfriendliness. Friends may place a hand on the other's arm or shoulder. Some people, usually women, greet a friend with a hug.

    Space is important to Americans. When two people talk to each other, they usually stand about two and a half feet away and at an angle (角度), so they are not facing each other directly. Americans get uncomfortable when a person stands too close. They will move back to have their space. If Americans touch another person by accident, they say, "Pardon me" or "Excuse me". Americans like to look at the other person in the eyes when they are talking. If you don't do so, it means you are bored, hiding something, or are not interested. But when you stare at someone, it is not polite.

    For Americans, thumbs-up means yes, very good, or well done. Thumbs-down means the opposite. To call a waiter, raise one hand to head level or above. To show you want the check, make a movement with your hands as if you are signing a piece of paper. It is all right to point at things but not at people with the hand and index finger (食指). Americans shake their index finger at children when they scold them and pat them on the head when they admire them.

    Learning a culture's body language is sometimes confusing. If you don't know what to do, the safest thing to do is to smile.

    Everyone at Pacsafe is always eager to get out in the world and enjoy new cultures, food, and experiences. With that in mind we asked a few of our top travel bugs for their best travel destination recommendations for 2019. They also included their favorite Pacsafe bag to take on the trip. Enjoy and hopefully get some ideas for your own globe - trotting adventure.

    Sri Lanka - Alison Hanko, Global Marketing Director

    I'm going to Sri Lanka this summer holiday and can't wait. It's close to Hong Kong where I live and I've always wanted to go. The food is supposed to be amazing. It seems really relaxing and I really want to do the Kandy to Badulla train ride, which looks just stunning. We've booked a good mix of beaches, some time in a safari tent to hopefully see elephants in the wild.

    For my bag, I'll most likely take the Quiksilver 40L Pack because it has the built-in wet pack for my bikinis. It's also a great size for a week-long trip in a warm climate.

    Japan - Ben Barras, Creative Director

    Japan is definitely my best travel destination recommendation. The culture, the streets, the architecture, the inspiration you get from all of that is amazing. The food is also fascinating. It's where I'm most planning to go. Tokyo obviously, but also visiting the mountains. You can go snowboarding, which I haven't done for years.

    I have a Vibe 25L Backpack which you can pack a lot in. The thing I like most about it is that it's compact, but still fits plenty in. I'll pair that up with a larger travel bag for the rest of my things and use the backpack to get around day to day.

    Berlin - Phil Hayes, Executive VP of Global Design

    For me, it's definitely Berlin. I'm particularly excited about the fashion, which I hear is pretty full on. Also the art galleries and history. Food, nightlife. Everything I've heard about Berlin is pretty cool, so I'm going to suck as much as I can out of it. World's Global Style Network had the Berlin shopping list that came out recently, so I'm going to follow that through as well.

    Bag wise, it will be the Quiksilver X Collab Bag. It's the 25L Anti-theft Backpack. It's normally my go-to bag for city trips because it's super easy to lock on the plane and in bars, and it's just the right amount of space.

I didn't go to Santiago, Chile to look for friendship. In fact, Chile was not even on my wish list.

A mid-life crisis woman, I got a chance to study abroad. I only wanted to learn about global business, taste South American cuisine, and check "study abroad" off my wish list.

On the fifth day, I joined a group for a neighborhood work project aided by the anti-poverty (扶贫) organization. Our tasks were to build a water tower and paint the community center. Upon arrival, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like a scene out of a horrible film. That moment redefined poverty for me because I had never seen such terrible living conditions. As advised, I showed no signs of the motional battle going on inside me.

Just as I was about to start work on painting, a request came through for a few volunteers to help Nadia, a local resident who volunteered to cook for us. I raised my hand to help because I wanted spend time with the people of the neighborhood despite my shortage of Spanish speaking skills.

Nadia had a sincere smile but not overly friendly. Even without speaking each other's language we started to learn about one another. We chatted about our children, our upbringing, shared picture of our family, struggled to instruct each other to communicate in the other's language, and laugh many times.

After we fed everybody and the dishes were washed, my day was over. But I found myself hesitant to leave. It was as if I had known her my entire life. I had not predicted the unselfishness heart I would encounter, and it was moving.

As we were waiting for the car to pick us up, Nadia showed me her plants that are well-maintains. I could see that despite the hard conditions she was passionate about life. She made me long to be stronger person. She showed me that poverty was external, but happiness was internal. I was seeking to give 100 percent for a well-intentioned cause, but I left receiving 200 percent from her.