Summer Holiday Fun 2015!

    The summer holidays are upon us again. Here is our guide to summer holiday fun in Peterborough!

Peterborough Museum

    The Age of the Dinosaurs is the museum's main attraction this summer. Get up close to prehistoric creatures via some great hands-on exhibits！Watch out for monsters lurking around every ember！The museum is open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Saturday，and from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Sundays in August.

Call 01733 864663 for details.

    School holiday fun：Young people aged 13—19 will be able to produce their own music，compete in sports activities，or try their hand at cooking at Saxon Youth Club，Saxon Community Centre，Norman Road，Peterborough every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00 pm. PLUS an aero ball tournament will take place on Thursday,12th August between 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm.

Call 01353 720274 for details.

Houghton Mill

    Through the Looking Glass—a new production of the family favorite on Monday 30th，August. Bring rugs or chairs to sit on and a picnic if you wish to eat during the play. Gates open 5:30 pm，performance 6:30 pm—8:30 pm. Tea room will be open until the end of the interval. Adult ￡ 10. Child ￡7. Family ￡20.

Booking advisable on 0845 4505157.

Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey

    Farmland Games：From Wellie Wanging to Pretend Ploughing matches，come and join the Farmland Team. Collect your sporting stickers and create a colorful rosette that is fit for a winner！No need to book，just turn up between 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Thursday,19th August. Suitable for children aged four and above，each child should be accompanied by an adult and all activities are included in the normal admission price. Tickets Cost：￡ 7 per child.

For further information，call 01223 810080.

    The U. S. Postal Service (USPS) is losing billions of dollars a year. The government company that delivers "small mail" is losing out to email and other types of electronic communication. First-class mail amount fell from a high point of 104 million pieces in 2000 to just 64 million pieces by 2014.

    Congress permits the 600.000-empIoyee USPS to hold a monopoly (垄断) over first-class and standard mail. The company pays no federal, state or local taxes; pays no vehicle fees; and is free from many regulations on other businesses. Despite these advantages, the USPS has lost $52 billion since 2007, and will continue losing money without major reforms.

    The problem is that Congress is preventing the USPS from reducing costs as its sales decline, and is blocking efforts to end Saturday service and close unneeded post office locations. USPS also has a costly union-dominated workforce that slows the introduction of new ideas or methods down. USPS workers earn significantly higher payment than comparable private-sector workers. The answer is to privatize the USPS and open postal markets to competition. With the rise of the Internet, the argument that mail is a natural monopoly that needs government protection is weaker than ever.

    Other countries facing declining letter amounts have made reforms Germany and the Netherlands privatized their national postal companies over a decade ago, and other European countries have followed suit. Britain floated shares of the Royal Mail on its stock exchange in 2013. Some countries, such us Sweden and New Zealand, have not privatized their national postal companies, but they have opened them up to competition.

    These reforms have driven efficiency improvements in all of these countries. Additional number of workers have been reduced, productivity has risen and consumers have benefited. Also, note that cost-cutting measures—such as closing tone post offices—are good for both the economy and the environment.

    Privatization and competition also encourage new changes. When the USPS monopoly over "extremely urgent" mail was stopped in 1979, we saw an explosion in efficient overnight private delivery by firms such as FedEx.

    The government needs to wake up to changing technology, study postal reforms abroad and let businessmen reinvent our out-of-date postal system.

    “To another little girl.”

    That's what 3-year-old Ariana of Winterport, Maine, said when her father Josh Smith asked where her donated (捐赠的) hair was going to go. It was then that the dad of two realized his young daughter had a heart that was too big for words.

    “I run a charity called Extra Life where I play video games to help raise money for kids,” he said. “Ariana happened to be sitting next to me when a video was playing, showing a little girl who was bald(秃顶的), lying in a hospital bed with tubes in her.” When their daughter got curious, Smith and his wife Crystal explained how medicine was what made the child in the video lose her hair.

    “Without a second thought, Ariana said, 'She can have some of my hair,'” Smith said. “That's when my wife told me that there are many organizations that we could donate it to.” The Smiths chose “Locks of Love” to send Ariana's generous gift to a child with medical hair loss.

    A week later, Ariana was taken to the family hairdresser where 10 inches was cut from her hair.

    “It was her first haircut,” Smith told ABC News. “She can be so selfless like that. Her first reaction is 'How about me giving up something that I have, so a little girl can feel pretty?'” Smith posted his daughter's moving gesture on his personal webpage, where it has received almost 645,000 views in just two days.

    “She'll take an adult-like approach and it's really amazing,” Smith said. “She is just a little kid, but if she sees somebody in need, she certainly cares for them. This made Ariana feel special and she'd definitely like to do it again.”

    I believe in the power of science fiction, not just for its capacity to transform dreams into reality, but also for its power to bond together those who share a common vision of the future. For me, that's true for my relationship with my dad. Some fathers and sons bond over sports, fishing or hunting, but my dad and I bond over Star Trek. We tried a trip to Disney World, but one of my earliest memories wasn't Mickey, but a Klingon battle cruiser(巡洋) on the screen.

    Over the years, nearly every setting and situation has become far away for my dad and me. When it's warm at night, we're not driving along some dark streets in Indiana, but going at a slow speed with stars dimly shining. Both of us are thinking of them, without needing to say a word. All these visions of other universes have together created a private universe for my dad and me.

    Gene Rodenberry, creator of Star Trek, once said, " Science fiction is a way of thinking, a way of logic that bypasses(绕过)a lot of nonsense. It allows people to look directly at important subjects. "A lifetime of science fiction has influenced more than just my relationship with my dad, but has also helped me shape my own hopes for the future. I'm now a science writer.

    Yes, science fiction has made me into a "nerd"(书呆子), and it also has been a source of joy for my family, making me an optimist while enabling me to think critically about the danger of technology. Thank those authors who have shared their visions; the world and my family are better for it. Thank my dad, who is both the best storyteller and the best man I have ever known because he helped me realize the truth of Tennyson's words," Since I dipped into the future, I saw the vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be."

    Scientists have been studying how people use money for long. Now they're finding some theories may apply to one group of monkeys.

    Researchers recently taught six monkeys hos to use money. They gave the monkeys small metal disks (圆片) that could be used like cash and showed them some yummy apple pieces. The monkeys soon figured out that if they gave one of the disks to a scientist, they'd receive a piece of apple in return.

    If you think that is all the monkeys can figure out, you are wrong. Two researchers, Jake and Allison, acted as apple sellers in the experiments. The monkeys were tested one at a time and had 12 disks to spend in each experiment. Jake always showed the monkeys on apple piece, while Allison always showed two pieces. But that's not necessarily what they gave the monkeys. The number of apple pieces given for a disk was determined at random.

    Experiment One: Allison showed two pieces of apples but gave both piece only half the time. The other half, she took one piece away and gave the monkey just the remaining piece. Jake, on the other hand, always gave exactly what he showed: one piece for each disk. The monkeys chose to trade more with Allison.

    Experiment Two: Allison continued to sometimes gave two pieces and sometimes one piece. But now, half the time, Jake gave the one apple piece he was showing, and half the time he added a bonus. Guess what? The monkeys chose to trade more with Jake.

    In the first experiment, the monkeys correctly figured out that if they traded with Allison, they'd end up with more treats. In the second one, when a monkey received two pieces from Jake, it seemed like a gain. When Allison gave the monkey only one piece instead of the two she showed, it seemed like a loss. The monkeys preferred trading with Jake because they'd rather take a chance of seeming to win than seeming to lose.

    We also sometimes make silly business decisions just to avoid the feeling that we're getting less, even when we're not. Would you have made the same choices?

It's not hard to be poetic about the broad and deep benefits of spending time in natural spaces,from amazing national parks to the simple loveliness of a walk around a city park or tree-lined neighborhood street, and some time working in the dirt of your own garden.

A new study from researchers at Clemson University has found another benefit to simply putting your body in a natural space: it can lower the amount of money you spend on health care.

"The mechanisms linking nature and health are very diverse," said Matthew H. E. M. Browning, the principal investigator on the study, "but the benefit is believed to be in part because being in green space can decrease stress, promote healthy behaviors and enable you to breathe fresh air."

Browning and his team used satellite data to investigate how much green space was within 250,500 and 1,000 meters(820,1,640,and 3,280 feet) of five million northern California residents who were insured by Kaiser Permanente. They then determined the costs the insurance company paid out to those same members over a two-year period. They took into account age,gender,race and a number of neighborhood characteristics including population density and education levels.

Even with all these factors included into their analysis, the researchers found that those who lived near the most green space had an average of $374 less per year in health care expenses compared to those who lived farther from natural spaces.

The researchers hope their findings will support public policies that prioritize(优先考虑) natural elements in residential areas. For you, maybe this learning will inspire you to plant a tree or a potted flower today-or create a beautiful garden to enjoy, with a view of some health-giving, green goodness.