The idea of getting a tattoo(纹身) copy popped into Prue's head when he noticed that his 8-year-old son refused to take his shirt off in the swimming pool. Prue realized that his son was starting to be aware of his birthmark, which covers a huge part of his chest.
Prue secretly went to a tattoo shop. The tattoo he wanted had to be identical to his son's birthmark, so they had to do it in nine sessions. "The first sitting was close to four hours. And I didn't really look to see what was going on," said Prue. "'So I thought at the end of four hours it was done. So I asked, 'Is it almost done?' and he said, 'I'm almost done the outline. "
It has been a bit of a process for Prue as well as painful experience. Because of the size and the position of the birthmark he was trying to copy, he had to suffer a lot of pain. Tony Gibert, the tattoo artist, said that the area has very sensitive nerve endings which gave Prue so much discomfort and undesirable sensations. Pain hours added up to nearly thirty hours in total.
In a video where the son saw his dad's tattoo, he can be heard saying, "that's cool. " This time, without any hesitation, he took off his shirt and jumped in the swimming pool. Apparently, his dad's action changed his perspectives, which made him feel confident again. As expected, his son was so happy to see it but also a little confused, not expecting his dad would do it.
Despite all the pain and long hours of waiting, Prue never felt discouraged. What mattered to him was to make his son happy and help bring back his self-confidence.
A new survey method is invented to count wild species. African elephants are the first animals to be successfully counted from space while moving through a complicated landscape that range from open grasses to forests.
Typically, conservationists do this from low-flying planes in order to count and monitor African elephants, a method that takes many hours. With the new technique that combines satellite imagery with artificial intelligence, up to 3,100 square miles can be surveyed on a single blue-sky day in minutes. Then, the deep-learning computer analyzes those images and pick out individual elephants.
The new technique is a key part of ensuring the survival of the endangered species. Due to illegal hunting and habitat destruction, just 415,000 African elephants are living in the wild. "Accurate monitoring is essential if we're to save the species," said Olga Isupova, a computer scientist at the University of Bath in theUK. "We need to know where the animals are and how many there are."
What really makes this study stand apart from other satellite-tracking projects is how successful the computer program is at picking out the elephants from their complex backgrounds, including grasslands and partially tree-covered landscapes. Satellite imagery is also a much more efficient survey method than the current flyover surveys carried out, which is faster and avoids double-counting the same elephants. The remote survey also reduces the impact researchers have on the animals and allows them to count individuals moving between countries.
"Although this is a proof of concept, it's ready to go," said professor Duporge, a zoologist at the Oxford University. "And conservation organizations are already interested in using this to replace surveys using aircraft. As satellite imaging improves, other smaller species may soon be able to be counted in greater detail from space too. "
The green movement is catching on in many pockets of the world. This is especially true in the construction industry. Today's buzz words, which include global warming and zero emissions(排放), are causing everyday people to look for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Purchasing an environmentally-friendly home is a good investment for those who care about their own health and the well-being of our planet. Based on this trend, entire districts, known as eco-communities, are being designed with the concept of green in mind. One of these communities is Dockside Green in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its goal is to become the world's first zero-emission neighborhood.
Dockside Green is a mostly self-sufficient community along the harbor front of Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. The community is home to around 2,500 people and it includes a variety of environmental features, some of which can't be found anywhere else.
The planners and builders of Dockside Green have the environment in mind with every choice they make. They ensure proper ventilation(通风) and guarantee residents clean air indoors. Building materials, such as paints and wood, are natural and green.
Energy efficiency is attached great importance to in eco-communities like Dockside Green. Not only do energy-efficient appliances reduce the environmental impact of heating, cooking and lighting, they also save residents money. Dockside Green claims that home owners use 55% less energy than the average Canadian.
Eco-communities also take the future into account by recycling waste and reducing carbon emissions. At Dockside Green, waste water is treated and reused on-site for flushing toilets, and a gas plant changes waste wood into a renewable form of gas for hot water systems, stoves and gas heaters. The community also reduces carbon emissions by using local suppliers for all their transport and maintenance(维修) needs, and residents are encouraged to join the community's car share program.
Does your mouth water when you think of cookies, burgers and French fries? Many people prefer junk food like this to healthy food because they develop a taste for it. Processed, baked, and fried foods often contain a high amount of trans fats.
Trans fats raise bad cholesterol(胆固醇) and lower the good cholesterol that your body needs. Fatty foods do more than cause people to gain too much weight. Trans fats build up in the body and block blood flow to the heart. People whose diet contains a high percentage of trans fats are at risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke.
Food companies and restaurants choose to use trans fat oils because they're cheap and they make food like crackers and baked goods last longer. They also improve the taste of food. Trans fats became very popular in the second half of the 20th century. This is around the time butter got a bad name for its cholesterol levels. People were told to use margarine(人造黄油) containing trans fats instead because it was "healthier", but we now know that butter is actually the healthier option.
We all need some fat in our diet. There are three different types of fats: saturated(饱和的) fats, unsaturated fats and trans fats. Doctors recommend that we get most of our fatty calories from unsaturated fats. Neither butter nor margarine fit this category, though other spreads like peanut butter do. Reading the list of ingredients on the label is a good way of avoiding dangerous ingredients like trans fats. Another way is to avoid eating out, especially in fast food restaurants. Also, when shopping try to buy the majority of your food in the fresh-food section and limit the amount of processed and packaged food you buy. You might not think this is important if you're young, but the choices you make now will affect you for the rest of your life.
Driverless cars coming soon
You are driving to school. You look up to see a pretty, hot air balloon. Whoa! You almost went through a stop sign! In a driverless car, you can look at the balloon. Car makers and others are already testing driverless cars or AVs (automated vehicles) in the U. S. and other countries. Driverless cars may be for sale by 2025!
When a car is slipping on an icy road, the ABS can tap the brakes quickly. The wheels turn slowly but do not stop. The driver can then steer the car to safety.
Many cars also have parallel parking technology. These cars can park themselves along a street. No driver is needed. As cars get more driverless technology, they will be safer than cars with a driver. Driverless cars can move closer together on the road than cars with drivers. This may make driving on busy roads safer. Google's driverless cars have been on the road since 2009 without a major crash.
A driverless car can see the road better than people with the help of radar, cameras, and lasers. Radar helps the car see things up to 100 meters away even in darkness or rain. Lasers that work like radar, called lidar, spin on the roof and build a 3D model of the world around the car.
Automated vehicles use a GPS to find the best way from one place to another. All the information from the radar, cameras, lasers, and the GPS goes to the Controller Area Network bus. A bus is a network that lets all those devices talk to one another.
A. Also, AVs don't get sleepy or text on their phones while driving.
B. Most cars already have some driverless technology like the Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS).
C. Google (USA) and Nissan (Japan) are making their own driverless cars.
D. The CAN bus uses the information to steer the car and to tell the car to go or stop.
E. Cameras help the car see objects that are close.
F. The car sees the stop sign without your help and stops the car.
G. AV trucks may roll along highways without a truck driver.
Creative Home Engineering is the world's most famous company devoted to making hidden rooms and1doors. From would-be superheroes, to2businessmen looking for a3space for their prized art collections, they all4this particular company when they want one of those fancy hidden doors that you see in the movies.
The5for Creative Home Engineering was born in 2003, when6Steve Humble was working as a mechanical engineer7surgical instruments for a medical device company. He had8been crazy about hidden doors and passageways, and that year he9he wanted one for himself, but10there was no one to build it for him. "I was renting a11house with a bunch of my friends at the time, and we had some extra rooms that we weren't using. I thought it would be12to have a secret door like I had seen in the movies, 13when I did a little research I was surprised to learn that there was no company anywhere that specialized in hidden passageways," he14. Soon after, Steve15his job and started building motorized secret passageways for people out of his parents' garage in Arizona.
Trade is a very important way for any country to earn money and create jobs. People and countries have traded for thousands of years, but in today's (globe) economy, information, goods and money can be moved around the world at unbelievable speed. Companies aim to make the best product at the (low) price.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is responsible for (negotiate) international trade agreements. Most rich countries want a free trade system in the prices of goods are determined by the amount that people want to buy and sell. But many people believe such a system favours richer countries like the USA and Japanand want the WTO to be reformed. They argue that world trade must (manage) so the poorest countries benefit more. other words, they want world trade to become "fair trade".
Fair trade is trade that is good for the producer, a system that ensures more of the price consumers pay (go) to the producer. Fair trade staff would be paid a fair wage, have good working conditions and be allowed (form) trade unions to defend their rights.
Fair trade campaigns, such as the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), have drawn (attend) to the working conditions of workers all around the world.
