Since the mid-1990s, tourists have paid storm-chasers to take them to places in the American Great Plains where they expect to see tornadoes. Why, a reasonable follow-up question might go, would anyone want to get so close to something so disruptive? These tourists, a study found, characterized their relationship to severe weather as a "passion", describing their feelings about tornadoes using words like "enjoyment" "fascination" and "love". Some people seem spiritually moved by tornadoes—one tourist called the storms "humbling"-but the main motivator seemed to be simple: Twisters are cool. 

America has many more, tornadoes than any other country, and its people have long regarded twisters with a mix of fear, awe and thrilled pleasure. Fast-moving-and dramatic, tornadoes have been irresistible parts for popular entertainment. One needn't be an extreme-weather enthusiast, however, to take a brief and far-less dangerous tour: of culture tornadoes have inspired and of the transformation of American society's feelings about these storms from fear to excitement. 

European colonists in the future United States were fascinated—and sometimes horrified—by their new land's weather. In the Early Republic, the influence of romantic ideas about the terrible and wonderful power of nature became clearer in American tornado culture. Some people began to write about tornadoes in terms of awe, and to produce art that explored the phenomenon's natural beauty, while also moralizing about its meaning. Since the 1930s, American tornadoes have been less deadly: the country has much better early-warning systems, fewer people live in rural areas and tornado activity has largely shifted from the southeast to the thinly-populated Great Plains. 

Storm-chasing—a scientific, thrill-seeking activity that most Americans found out about via the 1996 blockbuster film Twister, is still incomprehensible to many who don't practice it. "I find it difficult to explain to someone who hasn't chased what forces us to seek pleasure from risk," wrote Jennifer Henderson, a scholar and crazy storm-chaser, characterizing her feelings while chasing as "a sense of exposure and revelation tightly coupled". 

Stan Lee, co-founder of the Marvel Universe(漫威宇宙) and co-creator of many of its most popular superheroes, died at the age of 95.

Lee was born Stanley Martin Lieber in New York in 1992.  As a son of working-class Jewish immigrants from Romania, times were hard and he lived with his family in a shabby single-bedroom apartment. After graduating from high school at 16, Lieber landed a job as an assistant at Timely Comics. By the early 1940s, he was a temporary editor for the company. It was at this time that he began using his pen name--Stan Lee. In 1947, two years after returning from serving for the U.S. Army, Lee married his wife, Joan. The two began their 70-year marriage and had two children.

In the late 1950s, DC Comics breathed new life into its classic superhero and experienced a significant success with its updated version of the Flash, and later with super-team the Justice League(正义联盟) of America.

To compete against DC Comics, Lee was given the task of creating their own group of superheroes. In 1961, Timely Comics changed its name into Marvel Comics after Atlas Comics, and that November saw the debut(首次亮相) of the Fantastic Four. Lee's later famous and lasting creations of comic-book superheroes included Spider-Man, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and the X-men.

Over the course of his career, Lee was an icon of Marvel Comics. As a writer and editor and, at various points, both the publisher and vice president of Marvel Comics, Lee not only introduced interesting characters to the industry, but changed the way that comic books came together. He also created a cooperative workflow between writers and artists, which became known as the "Marvel Method". Lee received a National Medal of Arts in 2008 for his innovations that revolutionized (=completely changed) American comic books.

As we enter a period of profound economic uncertainty, shown by recent well-known layoffs and a culture of "quiet quitting", thinking about the future of work might well seem a scary prospect.

 Indeed, an ever-increasing digital skills gap threatens to stop businesses adopting the game-changing technologies that will help to power growth in the months and years ahead. For instance, with each exciting new technology comes a growing concern about whether we have a digitally skilled workforce ready to take advantage of it. After all, keeping the workforce up to speed with the latest advances is a key element of the digital transformation process, which will prove essential if we hope to improve business productivity and efficiency alongside our efforts to achieve sustained growth. 

Likewise, at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, the cybersecurity skills gap was named as one particular area of concern. There's good reason for this focus: if businesses can't protect themselves against external threats, they risk going backwards. And that's before they even start thinking about achieving growth. This is why we need to address the digital skills gap urgently.

 Well, we should change in order to help attract and keep a more diverse pool of talent, giving businesses a far better chance of finding the up-to-date digital skills they need. And, when it comes to engaging and empowering the current workforce, learning and development opportunities will be key, helping employees to enhance their skills for the benefit of both themselves and their employers. 

 To make this all happen, leaders and employers must demonstrate a commitment to teaching their workforces digital skills by setting clear expectations and providing all the resources required. One approach, for example, would be to focus on the potential in the existing talent pool by identifying those already skilled in digital capabilities and supporting them to upskill their colleagues. Creating a culture of learning, with an emphasis on personal growth, can be an impressive motivator in the workplace. 

Of course, it's all well and good saying that digital skills are paramount, but a workforce with purely hard skills will not future-proof a business. There's a need for soft skills that support the broader goal, so as not to ignore the other competencies required in a digital transformation: communication, critical thinking, creative design skills, and leadership. To exploit the technology to its full potential, such qualities are equally important.

 Fundamentally, getting the interaction right between humans and technology will be vital if businesses are to succeed. As a result, human skills must not be underestimated. Every business will need a range of people with a variety of skills — not only those experts in math, engineering, and science, but also those with creative minds and leadership qualities.