Recently there has been a discussion on a website about “what would you miss most and least if you were stuck on a desert island?”

    Here are some of the answers:

Post 1

    Steve USA—Hi, everyone. What would you miss most and least if you were stuck on a desert island? For me, it would be the changing seasons in New England. I guess this will sound stupid but I'd probably miss the rain, too. I wouldn't miss getting up at six every day to go to work, though! What about you?

Post 2

    Tomas Germany—Good question. Steve, I think I'd miss different types of bread, and shopping at the supermarket. I'd miss the food most. What would I miss least? My mobile phone—I'd like to be completely quiet—at least for a little while.

Post 3

    Paola Italy—I would miss the company of people because I know I'd like to have someone to share experiences with. I'd go mad on my own. And I sure wouldn't miss junk mail—I hate coming home every evening and a pile of junk mail in my post box.

Post 4

    Miko Japan—Hi, I would miss Manga cartoon, the Internet and Japanese food, like sushi. I'd also miss TV shows and shopping for clothes… In fact, I'd miss everything.

Post 5

    Roger UK—I would miss my daily newspaper and listening to the news on TV and radio. I'd feel very cut off if I didn't know what was happening in the world. What I'd miss least would be traffic jams in the city, particularly my journey to work.

Post 6

    Jayne Russia—Why hasn't anyone mentioned their family? I'd be lost without my husband and two kids. They're the most important for me. And I can't get started in the morning without a cup of black coffee. I wouldn't miss doing the housework!

Post 7

    Jaime Mexico—It would have to be music. I couldn't live without my music. I wouldn't miss going to school at all or doing homework!

    Philo Farnsworth is not a name most people know. But his work changed the way we learn, the way we live, and even the way we think. Philo Farnsworth is responsible for one of the 20^th century: television.

    Philo Farnsworth was born in America in 1906. He was interested in science and technology at an early age. When he was twelve years old, he built an electric motor for his family's washing machine. When he was fourteen, he was already giving a lot of thought to electrons（电子）. As he was driving the family's horse-drawn plowing machine, he noticed the evenly spaced rows of the potato fields. This sight gave him the idea that electrons could scan（扫描） an image one row at a time—an idea that was the key to electronic television.

    By the time he was twenty-one years old, Farnsworth had started his own company and had managed to build the world's first electronic television. It was a very simple device（设备）. But after years of hard work, Farnsworth was able to introduce the kind of television we now use.

    Farnsworth was a great inventor, but lived an unhappy life. He had a legal battle with the company, Radio Corporation of America (RCA) over who the real inventor of the TV was. He won the case, but the government stopped companies from making TVs during the war, so Farnsworth didn't make much money from the invention.

    When Farnsworth was young, he imagined television as a convenient way for distant audiences to enjoy lectures by famous professors, or entertainment by the best symphonies（交响乐） and ballets. When he was older, television became much more popular, but he was very disappointed in the silly programs on TV. He even told his own son, “There's nothing on it worthwhile, and we're not going to watch it in this household.”

    Some of the world's most significant problems never hit headlines. One example comes from agriculture. Food riots（暴动）and hunger make news. But the trend lying behind these matters is rarely talked about. This is the decrease in the growth in production of some of the world's major crops. A new study by the University of Minnesota and McGill University in Montreal looks at where, and how far, this decline is occurring.

    The authors take a vast number of data points for the four most important crops: rice, wheat, corn and soyabeans. They find that on between 24% and 39% of all harvested areas, the improvement inproduction that took place before the 1980s slowed down in the 1990s and 2000s.

    There are two worrying features of the slowdown. One is that it has been particularly sharp in the world's most populous countries, India and China. Their ability to feed themselves has been an important source of relative stability both within the countries and on world food markets. That self-sufficiency (自给自足) cannot be taken for granted if productions continue to slow down.

    Second, production growth has been lower in wheat and rice than in corn and soyabeans. This is problematic because wheat and rice are more important as foods, accounting for around half of all calories consumed. Corn and soyabeans are more important as feed grains. The authors note that "we have preferentially focused our crop improvement efforts on feeding animals and cars rather than on crops that feed people and are the basis of food security in much of the world."

    The report also states the more optimistic findings of another new paper which suggests that the world will not have to dig up a lot more land for farming in order to feed 9 billion people in 2050, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation has argued.

    Instead, it says, thanks to slowing population growth, land currently ploughed（犁）up for crops might be able to revert (回返) to forest or wilderness. This could happen. The trouble is that the prediction assumes continued improvements in productions, which may not actually happen.

    Developed by researchers and designers specializing in typography(印刷术)and behavioral science, Sans Forgetica is a new font(字体)designed to help readers better remember the information they read by forcing them to spend a bit more time on each word.

    The design of Sans Forgetica is based on a font called Albion, but with substantial  modifications(修改)to reduce familiarity and attain its goal of engaging the brain more and helping the reader retain(保留) more information. It was developed by scientists at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, who believe it could help students studying for exams.

    “We believe this is the first time that specific principles of design theory have been combined with specific principles of psychology theory in order to create a font, ”Behavioral economist Jo Peryman told DW.

    If fonts are too familiar, readers often glance over them without their brain creating may  memories of what was read. At the same time, if a font is too outlandish, the brain has to struggle too much to decipher(破译)it while neglecting the retention of information. According to its developers, “Sans Forgetica lies at a sweet spot where just enough obstacle has been added to create that memory retention.” Its modifications force readers to spend more time, but not too much time, reading each word, allowing the brain to engage in deeper cognitive processing.

    So does Sans Forgetica actually work? Does it help readers better remember the information they read? So far, studies have shown that it can make a difference, although not a significant one.

    One experiment had 96 participants recall word pairs presented in three different fonts. They remembered 69 percent of the word pairs written in Sans Forgetica, compared to 61 percent for the other fonts. In a different experiment, 303 students took a mock(模拟)multiple-choice exam, and whenever the text was presented in Sans Forgetica, they remembered 57 percent of the text, compared to only 50 percent of the surrounding text written in Arial font.

    So Sans Forgetica won't give you the memory of an elephant, but if you're the kind of person who believes every little bit helps, it might be worth a try.

    ⒈TrueCar.com

    Top dealers compete for your business by offering lower prices. TrueCar spends a lot of money and resources on making sure the entire car renting experience is simple and straightforward. If you're in the market for a new car, give this site a try first.

TrueCar's network checks many of the prices in your area and gets you the best price for the car you're looking for.

    ⒉Carvoy.com

    It offers more control by allowing you to “build your car” and select your rental plan. The “build your car” option is one of the better options for those looking to add on features to their car. If you're looking for cars with options like a sunroof or navigation (导航), it's Carvoy that makes it very easy to get started with the process.

    ⒊CarsDirect.com

    They have a large collection of new and used cars, and also provide resources for car comparisons. In the business for many years, they are one of the first online car outlets. They have a staff that can usually help you if you give them a call. Their phone support is very good and they are mostly located in the United States.

    ⒋CarRent.com

    It delivers your rental car to the door, which is actually a huge selling point. Many people don't like to go to a dealership or even drive somewhere to pick up a car. Imagine renting a car and having it delivered right to your doorstep, no driving necessary!

    ⒌CostcoAuto.com

    It offers member-only savings, many car selections and an easy sign-up process. The deals through Costco are great and unique. Many times they have deals with General Motors cars like Chevrolet. There are a lot of deals to be done, but the one thing that Costco does not do is negotiate the price.

    Brian Hamilton's life changed in a prison when he was accompanying his friend, Reverend Robert J. Harris, who often went to local prisons to do his work. During the visit, Hamilton started talking to one of the prisoners and asked what he was going to do when he got out.

    "He said he was going to get a job," Hamilton recalls(回忆). "I thought to myself, wow, that's going to be difficult with a criminal background."

    The conversation made Hamilton consider how prisoners could benefit from entrepreneurship, something he thought about for years. Finally in 2008, 16 years after that initial conversation, Hamilton created Inmates to Entrepreneurs, a nonprofit organization that helps people with criminal backgrounds start their own small businesses. "Harris and I taught our first course at a prison called 'How to Start Your Own Business When You Get Out'," he recalls.

    At the time, Hamilton was building his own company, Sageworks. As Sageworks grew, so did Hamilton's time spent teaching at prisons throughout North Carolina.

    Eventually, Hamilton decided it was time to change his focus to his true passion. In May 2018, he sold his stake(股份) in Sageworks, focusing his commitment on Inmates to Entrepreneurs.

    "Now, anyone is able to access the curriculum, either to become an instructor to go into prisons to teach it or to access it for themselves as a prisoner or part of the general population," Hamilton explains. In addition, he visits middle schools and presents the curriculum to at-risk students as a preventative measure against crime.

    The free curriculum is funded by the recently established Brian Hamilton Foundation, which offers assistance to military members as they adjust to civilian life and provides loans to small businesses. "We're giving prisoners something they can do independent of a system that isn't working for them. If you can let people know that other people care about them, it makes a difference."