2 . Attention! We need to put a stop to parents doing harm to youth sports. It has gotten out of hand.

A recent study showed 26 million American children took part in non-school sports. By the age of 13, about 18.2 million quit.

No wonder kids are quitting. Many parents show no sportsmanship. They often shout happily at an injury if the injured player is on the other team. My brother Mario Widdowson got hit in the face during a soccer game. The parents from the other team were shouting gladly at his pain. All of the players were down on one knee waiting for Mario to get up, out of respect and it was the right thing to do. The kids did much better than these parents.

There are different types of parents. In the book “Parenting with Love and Logic” the authors describe two different types of parents. The first is helicopter parents, who don’t allow their kid to succeed or fail on their own. The other type is lawnmower parents, who clear anything in their child’s path to make life as easy as possible.

I have observed helicopter parents. When my brother was playing club soccer, one of his teammate’s parents shouted at their son. “Shoot the ball”. It was from about half field. He did it and the coach stopped him from playing and asked him to leave the field.

The parents are trying to coach their kids. The players on the field follow blindly and many mistakes happen. It’s not good for kids’ confidence. What is the purpose of youth sports anyway?

Problems happen in youth sports all over the United States. Parents need to behave themselves. Then the number of students who quit at the age of 13 will drop greatly.

3 . New research from the University of Portsmouth has shown a marked increase in shipping in the North East Atlantic. Scientists now warn that more monitoring is required to help protect sea life.

Researchers at the University of Ponsmouth have discovered that rates (率) of shipping in the North East Atlantic area rose by 34 per cent in a five-year period. The research is the first detailed survey of shipping activity in the North East Atlantic. Researchers used data from over 530 million vessel (船) positions recorded by Automatic Identification System(AIS). They looked at the change in shipping between 2013 and 2017 across ten different vessel types. In total the study area covered 1.1 million km², including waters off Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany,Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal. Spain, and the UK.

Lead author, James Robbins said: “This change is likely to put more pressure on the marine (海洋的) environment, and may influence the protection of at-risk species. Renewed monitoring effort is needed to make sure that protective measures are enough to save species under threat in a changing environment.”

Some of the greatest shipping increases were found in areas close to the Spanish coast. The Espacio Marino de la Costa da Morte saw a rise of 413 percent in vessel activity. It is an area used to protect seabirds.

Dr. Sarah Marley, Visiting Researcher at the University of Portsmouth, said: “Shipping is the most widespread human activity in our oceans, carrying a set of threats-from unnoticeable effects like underwater noise pollution to serious results when ships hit whales.”

Professor Alex Ford. from the University’s Institute of Marine Sciences, said: “Given the well-documented effects that shipping can have on the marine environment, it is necessary that this situation continues to be monitored-particularly in areas used to protect vulnerable (脆弱的) species which may already be under pressure.”

8 . Gossip (八卦) has long been considered bad for our mental well-being, but it’s really not. During the Middle Ages, the word gossip evolved to describe women who supported other women during childbirth. Over time and after a number of spelling changes, the term gossip took on the meaning of a familiar person, a friend, and“anyone engaging in idle talk (闲聊)”. There was no derogatory meaning attached to gossip until around the time of the European witch hunts (猎巫运动) in the 16th to18th centuries. At that time, gossip was considered a tool for witches to do something evil. Thus, gossip’s bad reputation began.

At the same time, what was ridiculous and hard to understand was that gossip as men’s talk spread throughout the 17th and 18th centuries in English coffee houses. The learned men and their male students (there is little evidence of women in coffee houses, unless as servants) went there to demonstrate their intellectual talents. However, the myth that women gossip but men have serious conversations was born then. Today, gossipy women are over-represented in popular images of gossip, but research shows that men and women engage in the same amount of gossiping activity.

New research also damages the impression that gossip is inconsiderable or dangerous women’s talk. When interviewed about their experience of gossip at work, men often begin by saying “I’m not one to gossip,but…”, and then go on at length to gossip. They may prefer indirect phrases for gossip, such as “shop talk” and “corridor conversations”. Rather than asking “What’s the gossip?” on your return from holiday, men are more likely to ask “What’s been going on?”. Such expressions may soften the shame associated with being gossipy men. Similarly, words often used to describe people who gossip are “good listeners” and “people with good communication skills”.

There is a lot of material advising gossip to be removed in the workplace. Popular ideas of gossip overemphasize the negative judgement made in gossip, but it can be associated with compassion, empathy and noticing suffering. It does not mean that all gossip is good. There are times when gossip can do harm to the reputation of people and organizations. The decision to gossip or not is always a decision related to someone’s virtue.