You can love them or hate them, but no matter which tourist destination you visit, chances are you'll see someone with their head buried in a Lonely Planet guidebook.

    Lonely Planet is one of the world's largest travel guide brands, publishing more than 500 different guides in eight languages. The popular brand also produces television shows, websites and podcasts (播客) all devoted to travel.

     Some people praise Lonely Planet books because they make traveling easy and affordable. They also save time and make sure you don't miss the best things.

    They also provide the reviews of hostels, hotels, restaurants and ticket information about your destination.

    This can be great if you're a nervous traveler, or if you haven't traveled by yourself before. If you're in a country where you don't speak the language, sometimes there's nothing better than getting into a taxi and opening up a guidebook. You simply point to a map that directs the taxi driver to a hostel that's cheap and clean, with friendly staff and cold beer.

    But others criticize Lonely Planet and other travel guide publishers like them. They say guidebooks take the fun and spontaneity (自发性) out of traveling, and that part of the enjoyment of travel comes from the fact that anything can happen. They also regret that if you follow a guidebook, you'll end up doing the same thing and having the same experience as everyone else. You might end up seeing the same group of people over and over, because everyone is reading the same book and following the same route.

    Another criticism of travel guides is that they have a large impact on local communities. For example, some locals devote their lives to behaving in ways that attract tourists. They pretend to live a traditional lifestyle, wear traditional clothes and live in traditional houses in order to attract the tourist dollar.

    Electric devices can seem like a “third party” in some relationships because some partners spent more time on them than with each other.

    When Amanda Gao, a 26-year-old white collar worker in Beijing, went to a hotpot restaurant with her boyfriend on Friday night several weeks ago, she expected that they would have a good time together. To her disappointment, however, it did not turn out that later. As soon as they were led to their seats and she began to order dishes, he buried himself in his mobile phone.

    “It seemed that his phone was making its way between us. A date that should have belonged to us turned into one where my boyfriend dated a third party and I felt left out.” Gao said. Some people, like her, have found electronics have been sabotaging(破坏) their romantic relationships.

    A study, published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture, in April, 2017, questioned nearly 200 college aged adults who were in committed(真诚的) relationships to report on their and their partner's smartphone dependency. The results showed people who were more dependent on their phones were less sure about their relationships, and people considered their partners excessively(过度地) dependent on their devices were less satisfied in their relationship.

    Lin Yuan, a relationship advisor in Beijing, noted that as more and more electronics come out and spice up people's lives, they are at the same time becoming a third party in relationships, especially for young people.

    Lin said she knew of some people who suggest that electronics should be kept out of bedrooms, which she considered challenging and hard to be put into practice for most couples. She recommended that if people are feeling neglected in their relationship, they need to respectfully let their partners know their feeling. “Communication is always the best and the most efficient way.” she said.

    Humans are social animals. They live in groups all over the world. As these groups of people live apart from other groups, over the years and centuries they develop their own habits and ideas, which are different from other cultures. One important particular side of every culture is how its people deal with time.

    Time is not very important in nonindustrial societies. The Nuer people of East Africa, for example, do not even have a word TIME that is in agreement with the abstract thing we call time. The daily lives of the people of such nonindustrial societies are likely to be patterned around their physical needs and natural events rather than around a time schedule(时间表)based on the clock. They cook and eat when they are hungry and sleep when the sun goes down. They plant crops during the growing seasons and harvest them when the crops are ripe. They measure time not by a clock or calendar(日历),but by saying that an event takes place before or after some other event Frequently such a society measures days in terms of "sleeps" or longer periods in terms of "moons." Some cultures, such as the Eskimos of Greenland measure seasons according to the migration of certain animals.

    Some cultures which do not have a written language or keep written records have developed interesting ways of "telling time". For example, when several Australian aborigines want to plan an event for a future time, one of them places a stone on a cliff or in a tree. Each day the angle of the sun changes slightly. In a few days, the rays of the sun strike the stone in a certain way. When this happens, the people see that the agreed-upon time has arrived and the event can take place.

    In contrast(成对比), exactly correct measurement of time is very important in modern, industrialized societies. This is because industrialized societies require the helpful efforts of many people in order to work. For a factory to work efficiently (well, quickly and without waste), for example, all of the workers must work at the same time. Therefore, they must know what time to start work in the morning and what time they may go home in the afternoon. Passengers must know the exact time that an airplane will arrive or depart. Students and teachers need to know when a class starts and ends. Stores must open on time in order to serve their customers. Complicated(复杂的)societies need clocks and calendars. Thus, we can see that if each person worked according to his or her own schedule, a complicated society could hardly work at all.

    More than great drinks, great rewards

    Enjoy all the benefits and more with your membership to our Loyalty Program!

    Whenever you pay with your membership account, you'll earn a Star.

    Collect more Stars, earn more rewards.

    Three ways to join us

    Buy a Starbucks Card handy to create an account

    Track your Stars online or through the mobile app, and we'll send an email when you've earned a reward.

    You can also join from your phone.

    Download the Starbucks App.

    One of the most exciting benefits of being a member is using our mobile app to: pay for purchases; view your Stars and rewards; access iTunes Pick of the Week; see current offers.

    Or you can join with specially marked coffee purchased at the grocery store.

    Enter your Starcode (limit: 2 per day)

    Look for the Starcode symbol on specially marked Starbucks products where you buy groceries.

    Three levels with increasingly greater rewards

    To reach each level in our Loyalty Program, you need to collect more Stars. (Remember: to earn a Star, you must pay with a registered Starbucks Card.)

    Welcome level

    To earn your first rewards, just register a Starbucks Card.

    Birthday drink or treat on us, birthday coupon (优惠券) for 15% off a purchase at StarbucksStore.com.

    Green level

    Collect 5 Stars within 12 months and you'll be in the Green level.

    What is included in the Welcome level plus

    Free in-store refills (续杯) on hot or iced brewed coffee or tea

    Gold level

    Collect 30 Stars within 12 months and you'll be at the Gold level.

    What is included in the Green level plus

    A free food or drink item after another 12 Stars earned

    Personalized Gold Card

A study of 500,000 songs released in the UK between 1985 and 2015 showed that pop music had decreased in happiness and increased in sadness.

In a report published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers at the University of California examined hundreds of thousands of songs and classified them by their mood. "‘Happiness' is going down, 'sadness' is going up, and at the same time, the songs are becoming more 'danceable' and more 'party-like'," co-author Natalia L. Komarova told The Associated Press.

The study found songs in 2014 like Stay With Me by Sam Smith, Whispers by Passenger and Unmissable by Gorgon City have a "low happiness" trend. However, tracks from 1984 like Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen, "Would I Lie To You?" by Eurythmics and "Freedom" by Wham had a "high happiness" trend. "The public seems to prefer happier songs, even though more and more unhappy songs are being released each year," the researchers wrote.

Apart from the emotional trends, researchers discovered that dances and pop were the most successful styles of music and that there was a "clear downward" trend, with the popularity of rock beginning in the early 2000s. "So it looks like, while the overall mood is becoming less happy, people seem to want to forget it all and dance," Komarova wrote in an email.

It was also found that the "maleness" of songs—the frequency of male singers in popular music-had decreased during the last 30 years. "Successful songs are characterised by a larger percentage of female artists compared to all songs," they wrote.

This discovery appears at a time when the conversation around sex equality in the music industry is at its height, with more male artists and songwriters.

About Byron

Whether you're in Byron for fun or work, there are plenty of things to do to fill your spare time.

Byron, Georgia makes travel sweeter with its slower pace and breathtaking attractions. It's full of historic sites, museums, shopping malls, and more. In this city at the center of Georgia's peach industry, you can take a vacation that leaves you rested, not annoyed.

Events

Georgia Peach Festival-June 

Fall Market Days-September 

Georgia National Fair-October

Byron Christmas Parade-December

Local attractions

Byron Welcome Center

Located in the Peach Shops, the Byron Welcome Center is your first stop in our area. The Byron Welcome Center is ready to help you make the most of your stay in Byron, Georgia. 

North Peach Park

North Peach Park is the place for traditional festivals, movies in the park, and many other events. The park has picnic shelters, playgrounds, football fields and soccer fields all year round. North Peach Park also has an indoor, climate-controlled multi-purpose room. 

The Big Peach Shopping Mall

One of Georgia's major shopping malls, and Central Georgia's biggest and best variety of goods, the Big Peach has something for everyone! Open seven days a week and located directly off I-75, the Big Peach is Central Georgia's favorite shopping destination.

Party Playground Indoor Fun Center

Let the kids work out some energy with an hour or two at the Party Playground Indoor Fun Center. This room full of safe and soft play equipment will let your little ones run, jump and play, rain or shine. It's also a great place to have a birthday party.

Contact us

For more information, contact us at (478) 956-2409 

Email: byronwelcomecenter@gmail. com