Most people who live in Seattle, Washington, love their city. There is a never-ending flow of fun things to do. But, people who live there do not always enjoy the day-after-day absence of sunshine during the winter months.

It is a documented fact that sunshine(or lack of it)plays a major role in how each of us greets the day. It also affects how we perform at school or work. When people are deprived of sunlight, they can develop seasonal affective disorder, which makes it difficult for them to feel happy or get things accomplished. No major city in the United States is more affected by the “sunshine factor” than Seattle.

To fight drizzle and fog during the winter months, Steve Murphy created a business that is very popular among the locals. The Indoor Sun Shoppe is more than a little ray of sunshine during the grey days of Seattle’s winter. His shop offers a huge source of plants and artificial lighting for people who are trying to overcome seasonal affective disorder.

Located in Fremont, Washington, The Indoor Sun Shoppe has an amazing collection of exotic(奇异的)plants and “good bugs” in a humid and well-lit environment. At The Indoor Sun Shoppe, you can spend up to $400 for artificial lighting that will chase away the winter blues. It will also keep your plants healthy. You can buy a dawn simulator(模拟器)that will gradually fill your room with a warming wake-up glow. What better way to greet a Seattle morning when real sunshine is nothing more than a happy thought!

Murphy’s in-home waterfalls are also popular with customers. But his plants and lights remain the “main course”. On a cloudy winter day, The Indoor Sun Shoppe is a bright spot in Seattle!

Enjoy a restful day on the water, lying in the comfort of this soft, durable (耐用的), colorful inflatable(可充气的)tube from water product maker Intex. Made of PVC material, it’s as durable as it is soft and comfortable, and has two handles for easy on-and-off. It will bring a lot of fun to both adults and children.

Intex Recreation makes above-ground pools, air beds, inflatable toys, pools and lake boats. The company has been in business for over 40 years, and is a global leader in designing and producing innovative products for indoor and outdoor recreation.

Intex products meet the strictest safety standards, taking testing to ensure years of safety and satisfaction. During the manufacturing process, trained Intex employees continuously monitor a wide range of factors, including quality of raw materials, manufacture of each product, product testing, and careful packaging.

Hello, my name is Mike Smith. I was going to buy the river rat tubes for our trip but there was only one in stock(库存). I bought that one and two of these. They all worked perfectly. These are a great size for adults. We hit many rocks and low tree branches floating down a river, but all the tubes came out safely. This is an excellent tube. It’s durable and floats like it should. Great for both kids and adults.

Roughly 8. 5 billion plastic straws are used in the United Kingdom each year, but as a new ban takes effect next April, that number will decrease to zero. One startup (初创企业) is hoping to capture the chance to make a kind of straws as an alternative by using an unlikely material: pasta (意大利面食).

“It has all the function of a plastic straw that everyone has been using,” says Maxim Gelmann, founder of Stroodles, the startup. The straws, made by an Italian company that also produces regular pasta, are the same shape and size as a standard plastic straw.

Unlike a paper straw, they don’t taste like wet paper; they don’t change the flavor of the drink. They last at least an hour, and longer in colder drinks. If you’re nursing a drink for hours and the pasta eventually softens, you can choose to eat it. The raw straw is also eatable, and Gelmann says that some people snack on them.

A handful of other pasta-straw startups also exist, though Stroodles is hoping to feature itself with a smoother, more plastic-like material and its branding.

It’s more expensive to make than a plastic straw, but at large volumes, it can compete with the cost of paper straws. Because of the coming ban, “No one really compares us with plastic anymore,” Gelmann says. “They compare us with paper straw prices, which makes my argument much easier and my expectation brighter.”

Other alternatives, like bamboo or stainless steel, are more expensive and a less elegant solution; some bars say that customers don’t trust the idea that stainless steel straws can be fully sanitized (消毒). Another option—a plastic-like eatable straw made from seaweed—may be more of a competitor.