When milk arrived on the doorstep

    When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr.Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn't take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.

    Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note-"Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery"—and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.

    All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn't freeze. And I remember Mr. Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.

    There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practiced to have a delivery service.

    Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch. Every so often my son's friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.

    To start a conversation about the secret to happiness, ABC News' health editor Dr. Richard Besser hosted a Twitter chat Tuesday.  Experts from the National Institutes of Health, Mayo Clinic, Harvard University and TEDMED, as well as clinicians and people from across the country, joined the one-hour discussion. There are countless ways to measure happiness. With research on the topic increasing, researchers have carried out surveys to study people's sense of well-being.

    Angela Haupt, health and wellness editor for U.S. News and World Report, said, “Happiness indicators include life satisfaction, health and community engagement.”

    @toddkashdan added that, “despite problems with self-reports, there is no better way to measure happiness than focusing on personal thoughts and feelings.”

    While scientists try to find out what caused happiness, others often believe that true joy doesn't exist. Dr Friedman, a psychiatrist at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Hospital, said that “happiness is hard to measure, but easy to recognize.”

    Still, common themes about satisfaction come up in these conversations. Finding meaning in daily work was important. Indeed, researchers have found that having creative and purposeful work to do is a key factor in happiness.  But people were quick to state the importance of balancing work and family obligations.

    Chat participants(参与者) agreed that money does not surely bring happiness. And studies agree once people's basic needs like food and housing are met, higher incomes do little to improve your happiness.  At last, people found value in their connections with others.  Research shows that having support through friends, family, and social networks can bring happiness.  Many agree with @drmommy, who said “I measure my happiness by the loving people that are around me.”

    So, can we increase our happiness?  Expressing gratitude(感激) is a possible way of feeling happiness. Researchers have found that people who regularly write down things for which they are grateful in “gratitude journals” have increased satisfaction in life, higher energy levels, and improved health.  In one study, people who read a letter of appreciation to someone in their lives prove happier almost one month later.  Performing acts of kindness can raise your moods

    Data show that our relationships matter, too. People who are interested in meaningful conversations with friends or family are reported to be happier than those who don't. Close interpersonal ties and strong social support are important for happiness.

    The British Museum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection, numbering some 8 million works, is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.

    The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building.

    Admission and opening times

    Free, open daily 10: 00—17: 30.

    The Museum is open every day except for 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January.

    Museum galleries are open daily 10: 00—17: 30, and most are open until 20: 30 on Fridays.

    Closing starts from 17: 20 (20: 20 on Fridays).

    Tips for your school visit

    It's a good idea to come and see the Museum before your visit. Whatever your plans, please book in advance via the Ticket Desk to make sure you get the most out of your trip.

    Booking your visit

    Contact the Ticket Desk at ＋44(0)20 7323 8181 or tickets @ britishmuseum.org

    Cancellation

    If you are not able to attend a session you must inform the Ticket Desk at least three weeks before the session date. Failure to do so may incur a charge.

    Gallery availability

    Please book at least one term in advance and wait for confirmation before making travel plans. Greek and Egyptian galleries book up quickly. Opening times of some galleries may be limited at short notice—you will be contacted if necessary.

    Access and special educational needs

    The majority of galleries and all special exhibitions are fully accessible. There is a range of facilities for visual, hearing and mobility impaired students.

    Parking

    There is little on-street parking available. The nearest car park to the Museum is located at Bloomsbury Square, WC1A 2RJ. There is limited parking in the Museum's forecourt for disabled visitors only. To make arrangements please telephone＋44 (0)20 7323 8299 at least 24 hours in advance. You will be asked to provide the registration number, make and model of your vehicle and the date of your visit.

    Support us

    Your support is vital in enabling the Museum to fulfill its mission to share its collection with the world. The British Museum relies on funding from a wide range of sources and there are many ways that you can donate to help ensure the display, care and preservation of the collection for future generations.

    Please consider supporting the British Museum today.

    "Mummy, I don't know what to play with." Steve interrupts his mother, who is talking to a friend, for the fourth time. "You've got a room full of toys!" his mother says, impatiently. In fact it is the jumble of toys which is to blame for four-year-old Steve's lack of interest in his dolls, cars and stuffed (packed) animals. Each morning he tips out three washing baskets of toys all over his floor, listlessly pulls out something and shortly after is standing at his mother's desk or following her into the kitchen saying: "Mummy, I am bored."

    A family therapist (心理医生) explains why children lose interest when they have a whole "toy shop" at home: "According to their brain development, little children are not in a position to judge the quality of a variety of things at once. There is always just one favorite toy for the moment. All the rest is left lying about." What can parents do to stop their children from being oversupplied with toys? Under no conditions simply make something disappear without the child's knowledge. If he/she takes no more notice of a toy, a parent can ask if it can be stored or given away. Be warned though the child will always say he/she wants it then! A talk with relatives and friends may also help. Lyn is the mother of four-year-old Jessie, and we like her way. A small set of shelves in her child's room holds the toys and books that are the current (at present) favorites. When it seems to her that her daughter is tired of these toys, they put them away in a box together and select some other toys from a cupboard in another room. The box of "old" toys goes into the cupboard. When her child says she is "bored", they also get something from her cupboard - it may be something she has had for some time but because she hasn't seen it for a while it is almost like a new toy.

    Some favorite toys stay out all the time, and there is collection of dolls which sits in the corner, but in this way Lyn has found that she has fewer toys to put away at the end of the day and her daughter always has something "fresh" to play with.

    We've all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.

    What's the problem? It's possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It's more likely that none of us start a conversation because it's awkward and challenging, or we think it's annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it's an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.

    Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can't forget that deep relationships wouldn't even exist if it weren't for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease(润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. "Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk," he explains. "The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them."

    In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. "It's not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband," says Dunn. "But interactions with peripheral(边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also."

    Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. "Small talk is the basis of good manners," he says.

Steven Stein likes to follow garbage trucks. His strange habit makes sense when you consider that he's an environmental scientist who studies how to reduce litter, including things that fall off garbage trucks as they drive down the road. What is even more interesting is that one of Stein's jobs is defending an industry behind the plastic shopping bags.

Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags every year. So many end up in tree branches or along highways that a growing number of cities do not allow them at checkouts(收银台). The bags are prohibited in some 90 cities in California, including Los Angeles. Eyeing these headwinds, plastic-bag makers are hiring scientists like Stein to make the case that their products are not as bad for the planet as most people assume.

Among the bag makers' argument: many cities with bans still allow shoppers to purchase paper bags, which are easily recycled but require more energy to produce and transport. And while plastic bags may be ugly to look at, they represent a small percentage of all garbage on the ground today.

The industry has also taken aim at the product that has appeared as its replacement: reusable shopping bags. The stronger a reusable bag is, the longer its life and the more plastic-bag use it cancels out. However, longer-lasting reusable bags often require more energy to make. One study found that a cotton bag must be used at least 131 times to be better for the planet than plastic.

Environmentalists don't dispute (质疑) these points. They hope paper bags will be banned someday too and want shoppers to use the same reusable bags for years.