【推荐1】We, modern humans, spend 90% of our time inside, traveling between homes and offices, schools and apartments, restaurants and gyms. I’ve been hearing this statistic so much that I started to wonder if it was an urban legend. It’s not! The best reference for the statistic appears to be The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS).

The survey was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “EPA’s main purpose for collecting the NHAPS data was to provide diary records that could be used as inputs for computer-based human exposure models,” says the study. In other words, in order to understand how humans might be impacted by pollutants in our various indoor and outdoor environments, scientists needed to know how much time we spend in different locations.

The survey was conducted by the University of Maryland’s Survey Research Center. The survey used telephone interviews to collect 24-hour retrospective (回顾的) diaries from each respondent (调查对象). Between 340 and 1, 713 respondents were interviewed in each of the ten EPA regions across the 48 neighboring states. Respondents were generally representative of the whole nation for gender, age, race, and educational attainment.

Americans spend 87% of their time indoors and an additional 6% in an enclosed vehicle. These proportions (比例) are also fairly constant across various regions of the United States and Canada. The finding that emerges is that we are basically an indoor species. In a modern society, total time outdoors is the most negligible part of the day, often so small that it barely shows up in the total.

Is the study accurate? Probably not. It may not take into account some populations that spend a high proportion of time outside. As the study states, “Those who were away from a home for extended periods were not included in the survey. These individuals may be more likely than those who were at home to spend large quantities of time outdoors.” Also, the survey methodology also doesn’t account well for bits of time spent taking out the trash, walking to the car, or taking a smoke break outside.

【推荐3】Who is a genius? This question has greatly interested humankind for centuries.

Let's state clearly: Einstein was a genius. His face is almost the international symbol for genius. But we want to go beyond one man and explore the nature of genius itself. Why is it that some people are so much more intelligent or creative than the rest of us? And who are they?

In the sciences and arts, those praised as geniuses were most often white men, of European origin. Perhaps this is not a surprise. It's said that history is written by the victors, and those victors set the standards for admission to the genius club. When contributions were made by geniuses outside the club—women, or people of a different color or belief—they were unacknowledged and rejected by others.

A study recently published by Science found that as young as age six, girls are less likely than boys to say that members of their gender(性别)are “really, really smart.” Even worse, the study found that girls act on that belief: Around age six they start to avoid activities said to be for children who are “really, really smart.” Can our planet afford to have any great thinkers become discouraged and give up? It doesn't take a genius to know the answer: absolutely not.

Here's the good news. In a wired world with constant global communication, we're all positioned to see flashes of genius wherever they appear. And the more we look, the more we will see that social factors(因素)like gender, race, and class do not determine the appearance of genius. As a writer says, future geniuses come from those with “intelligence, creativity, perseverance(毅力), and simple good fortune, who are able to change the world.”

【推荐2】The Sahara Festival is a celebration of the very recent past. The three-day event is not fixed to the same dates each year, but generally takes place in November or December. It is well attended by tourists, but even better attended by locals.

During the opening ceremonies, after the official greetings from the government leaders, people who attend the festival begin to march smartly before the viewing stands, and white camels transport their riders across the sands. Horsemen from different nations display their beautiful clothes and their fine horsemanship. One following another, groups of musicians and dancers from all over the Sahara take their turn to show off their wonderful traditional culture. Groups of men in blue and yellow play horns and beat drums as they dance in different designs. On their knees in the sand, a group of women in long dark dresses dance with their hair: their long, dark, shiny hair is thrown back and forth in the wind to the rhythm of their dance.

…

【推荐3】Lacrosse (曲棍球) is a popular sport in Canada. The Indians in Canada invented it. They used it to train for war. They invented this game before Columbus arrived in the New World.

People play lacrosse outdoors. The lacrosse field is seven meters long. At each end of the field there is a goal. The goal is a net. There are ten players on each team. Each player has a stick called “ cross”. The player hit a ball into the net as many times as possible. Lacrosse is a very fast game because the players can catch and pass the ball at a high speed with their sticks. Players often get great fun it playing lacrosse.

There are many lacrosse clubs and lacrosse teams all over Canada. Every night Canadians can watch the lacrosse games on TV or listen to the lacrosse games over the radio.

At one time lacrosse was the national summer sport in Canada. Today it is still popular with Canadians.

【推荐3】George Prochnik would like the world to put a sock in it. He makes his case in a new book, listenning for Meaning in a World of Noise, here he explains himself (using his indoor voice):

“We’ve become so accustomed to noise, there’s about almost a deep prejudice against the idea that silence might be beneficial. If you tell someone to be quiet, you sound like an old man. But it’s never been more important to find continuing quiet. Silence focuses us, improves our health, and is a key to lasting peace and satisfaction.”

“We need to excite people about the sounds you start to hear if you merely quiet things down a little. During a Japanese tea ceremony, the smallest sounds becomes a kind of art—the spoons making a light ringing sound on a bowl, the edges of a kimono(和服)brushing against the floor.”

“Dear people are very attentive(专注的)in almost every aspect of life. If two deaf people are walking together, using sign language, they constantly watch out for each other and protect each other by paying steady attention to the other. They are connected yet also fully aware of their surroundings. Even deaf teenagers! We in the hearing world can learn from them. If we remove the powerful blasts(一阵阵)of noise, we become aware of an extraordinarily rich world around us—of little soft sounds and the sound of footsteps, of bird songs and ice cracking(开裂声). It’s astonishing how beautiful things sound when you can really listen. ”