1 . Here are the Disney movies recommended by Brandon Dammit for this weekend.

Fantasia 2000

Budget: $80 million

Score: 75%

I remember disliking Fantasia 2000 in theaters as a young child, but I have developed a much deeper appreciation for the fantastic music as an adult. Disney has employed advanced sound tools to produce a movie that was under-appreciated at its first appearance.

Pete’s Dragon

Budget: $65 million

Score: 60%

I love Disney as much as the younger generation. But it’s disappointing to see flavorless remakes like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast harvest billions at the box office while more soulful remakes like Pete’s Dragon is largely ignored.

The Rescuers Down Under

Budget: $38 million

Score: 70%

I won’t lie to you, kind reader. The Rescuers Down Under is the only movie that I’ve never seen here and my honor won’t allow me to pretend otherwise. According to Disney, it’s about the world’s bravest mice, Bernard and Bianca, who race to Australia to save a boy and a rare golden eagle from a cruel hunter. So, you know, normal Disney stuff.

The Great Mouse Detective

Budget: $14 million

Score: 72%

Picture this: a young mouse named Olivia is committed to discovering the truth of her father’s disappearance in 1897 London, and she got the help from his friends, Dr. Dawson and Toby. It’s basically Disney’s Sherlock Holmes.

2 . Study Abroad Scholarships to Apply for in 2024

Found the perfect study abroad program, but don’t know how to pay for it? Fortunately, here are some study abroad scholarship opportunities for students looking to take their studies overseas!

All you have to do is write two 400-word reasoned descriptions: one on a work of art you love and one that you hate. The scholarship, established in memory of Sir Trenchard Cox, awards the winner an Art History Abroad 2-week summer course in Venice.

Requirement: At least 16 and no older than 18 years of age

Deadline: March 1, 2024

Did you know that Arcadia Abroad provides financial aid to around 70% of students who apply for it? It values equity, diversity, and inclusivity when awarding scholarships. Students who apply for scholarships will need to write a 300-word essay.

Requirement: Must be included in an Arcadia Abroad program

Award: $ 500-$ 2,500

Deadline: February 1, 2024

We believe a study abroad experience is an important part of well-rounded university education and we are committed to providing financial help to as many students as possible. AIFS also offers internship (实习期) and study abroad + internship mixed programs to support the development of personal and professional skills.

Award: $ 500- $ 5,000

Deadline: June 1, 2024

The AAUW supports women searching for a variety of graduate academic opportunities. There are no barriers (障碍) to full participation in this organization. Preference is given to those who show great interest in the advancement of girls and women.

Requirement: Women only

Award:$ 2,000- $ 50,000

Deadline: November 15, 2024

3 . How Using A Mood Tracker App Could Help Your Mental Health

You track your nutrition and your workouts, but why wouldn’t you track your mood?    1    They can be used by everyone, from those dealing with mental health conditions such as depression or mood anxiety to those who just want to keep an eye on their stress levels.

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Many of them allow you to record factors that may be affecting your mental health, such as sleep, nutrition, and exercise. You can also see how changes are affecting your mental health. Mood trackers can also keep you honest about your self-reporting bias.

How Does a Mood Tracker App Work?

Firstly, research shows that mood tracker apps can help people better identify their moods and in turn, understand them. Awareness of one’s mood has been linked to better mental health outcome.    3    By recording the data that someone can refer back to during an appointment, apps can also help people feel more empowered rather than be a passive consumer.

Who Should Use Them?

Generally speaking, a mood tracker app can be helpful to most people.    4    Research shows at the mood tracker apps that are the most helpful in reducing symptoms are the ones that provide education on things like cognitive behavioral therapy techniques and tools, rather than ones that only record symptoms.

Mood tracker apps are one of the most popular categories or smartphones app stores, so you have no lack of choices with a simple search for mood tracker.    5    

5 . It has been 100 years since the first Chinese animated work created. The animators living a century ago probably had never imagined that Chinese animation could advance as rapidly as it is today. Since the industry’s start, China’s traditional culture has provided the nutrition the industry has needed to grow. Looking back over the past 100 years, we can discover many characters who were inspired by China’s rich cultural heritage like the Monkey king and Po the kung fu panda.

Back in 1922, an only one-minute-long animated advertising short for the Shu Zhedong Huawen Daziji made its debut. The work used primitive techniques, but became the forerunner of Chinese animation. Over the following decades, more popular Chinese folk stories were adapted into animated films by Chinese animators.

Chinese Generation Z tend to follow cultural traditions and fall in love with ethnic styles, and many find domestic animated series based on Chinese mythology and folklore more interesting than other genres.

The works of Shanghai Animation Film Studio are some outstanding examples of this. The studio established different styles based on folk stories, including water-and-ink animation, paper-cutting animation and puppetry animation. The classic works the studio produced stunned the world and inspired numerous animators overseas, especially in Japan. Japanese animator Osamu Tezuka once said he tasted a great deal from China’s water-and-ink animation.

More and more Chinese animated works have been entering overseas markets, expanding the influence of Chinese culture. According to related data, the total output value of Chinas animation industry surpassed $29.9 billion in 2020. Additionally, major Chinese streaming platforms aired over 60 animated series during the second half of 2021.

Chinese studios have also begun tapping into the huge demand for diverse cultural content on international streaming platforms. For example, the international streaming service Netflix bought the overseas broadcasting rights for the Chinese traditional animated series Scissor seven and other Chinese animation works.

6 . Sleep is a necessary biological(生物的)function that has long interested scientists.

As we all know, most animals sleep. Scientists have studied everything from mice to fruit flies in the lab to get a better understanding of what happens when animals sleep—and why so many do it. However, gathering data on how animals sleep in their natural habitat has always been tricky and hard to do.

But scientists did just that with wild chinstrap penguins(帽带企鹅)in Antarctica. In doing so, researchers found birds in the nesting colony took over 10,000 microsleeps throughout the day-amounting to 1l hours of sleep. The microsleep last only seconds. Researchers think that microsleeps might help the animals avoid enemies that might be more likely to strike if the penguins are asleep for longer—especially when one parent goes out feeding in the ocean for days, leaving the other parent to protect the eggs.

Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, a sleep scientist who was not involved in the study, is excited about this new data. “Most of what we know about the fundamental biology of sleep was obtained in laboratory conditions, which were completely different from conditions where sleep evolved. Context matters,” says Vyazovskiy.

Microsleeps are much shorter than the minutes-long micronaps that have been shown to benefit humans. And study co-author Paul-Antoine Libourel is careful to not mix this insight about the success of microsleeps in penguins with that in humans. “This is not related to human physiology, and won’t tell us more about the function of human sleep.”

To study the penguins, scientists implanted devices into a small group of penguins’ brain and neck muscles. These brainwave and location data coupled with filming these birds in the nest gave sleep data about them. But the equipment had never been used before, so this data collection was only supposed to be a test.

The study is an early insight into a relatively large amount of scientific knowledge about sleep. “Pretty much every study on sleeping birds discovers something new, something we didn’t know before,” says Libourel.

8 . A dog can be a person’s best friend, or so the theory goes. But that relationship can be tested when a dog begins barking at an empty comer of a room, at a door, or anywhere where there doesn’t appear to be any activity at all taking place. Is the dog hallucinating? Is it communicating with ET? Or does it simply want to drive its owner crazy?

According to the American Kennel Club, the most common explanation for dogs’ barking without reasons is that it’s not really unprompted at all. Dogs are, obviously, equipped with superior hearing, including the ability to detect sounds that are higher in pitch. It is said a dog could be reacting to a noise that a person wouldn’t be able to hear. If a dog barks seemingly for no apparent reason at night, it might be because the noise nearby is lessened and some barking of other dogs become more clearly. Because dogs are territorial, one dog barking can turn into many others to guard themselves.

Dogs are also able to see better in the dark than humans thanks to their ability to get more light into their retinas (视网膜). If a dog is reacting to what looks to you like an empty backyard at night, it’s possible that something has caught their attention, be it a wild animal, a leaf, or a stranger.

That’s not to say that dogs only bark because of their cute senses. Some dogs might bark out of boredom in which case more exercise or play time is probably needed. They might also be trying to get their owner’s attention.

The AKC recommends that owners avoid scolding their dogs for barking, since they’re simply trying to remain alert, instead, you can try calming the dog to let them know you’re aware of their concern. If they tend to bark while gazing out a window, you can also try to pull the curtains. If you suspect the source is an audio cue, some white noise, like a television or radio can help.

Less often, chronic barking might be a sign of cognitive issues. If barking is persistent and no fugitive is hiding out in your bushes, then you might consider a trip to the vet.

Does wealth matter more than health?