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First, make a choice about how to watch the film. It is about 7 minutes. You have a few options.

1. Watch the film before the lesson as pre-study homework.
2. Watch part of the film in the lesson.
3. Watch the whole film in the lesson. 
   • If you choose to watch the film, please do your best to describe and discuss it as you watch. There's almost no dialog, so you can easily talk while watching.

This discussion topic is based on a short film by Pixar, called "Float". It uses metaphor to express a complex truth in simple terms.

What is a metaphor? It's saying one thing is another thing, but it's not literally true. Here are some examples:

Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas has designed a high-tech face mask that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. Called Xupermask, it has three dual-speed fans to keep you cool, and a design to keep you looking cool. The real money-grabbers are noise-canceling headphones, LED lights for nighttime, and Bluetooth capability. You can listen to music, take and make calls, and put on your own light show while wearing this thing. It doesn't come cheap, but at $299, it costs less than a set of Bose headphones, and a lot less than a mobile phone! And you can use the Xupermask for both, with a bonus face mask thrown in.

The look of the Xupermask was designed by Jose Fernandez. He created Elon Musk's spacesuits, and Marvel characters' costumes in the Avengers, Black Panther, and X-Men 2. So you know it's going to look out of this world.

Here in Melbourne, Australia, we are heading into the colder months. 

Daylight Saving has just ended, so we moved our clocks back an hour. On the plus side, we all got an extra hour of sleep over the weekend. But it also means the sun sets an hour earlier. 

If I want to catch the daylight, I have to walk the dog earlier. I also have to put better lights on my bicycle because I'm cycling more often around twilight and dusk.

But as a Canadian, I love this cool weather. I love crisp autumn mornings and wearing sweaters in the evening. I can go for a run without constantly worrying about dehydration. It is all much more familiar than the typical Australian summer with sweltering days and warm nights.

So I'm happy to bid farewell to the summer and start these cooler, shorter days. I know a lot of people feel differently. To each their own!

The English National Opera (ENO) has teamed up with a London hospital to teach breathing techniques to people recovering from COVID-19. One of the common lingering effects of the virus is difficulty breathing. Proper breathing is essential for opera singers, so they're in a unique position to help patients recover. 

When in-house opera concerts were cancelled due to the pandemic, the ENO wanted to find other ways to use their skills to help others. They realized they are experts in breathing, so they created a 6-week program, called ENO Breathe, that uses therapeutic techniques reworked by singers. The techniques help restore lung capacity, as well as lessen anxiety through deep breathing exercises.

An interesting situation has emerged in the American stock market. It has caused the stock of several companies to be extremely volatile.

Hedge funds in the US have opened so many short positions—basically, they have bet that stock prices will fall. Now it is believed that they have short sold more than the number of shares available on the market.

However, savvy retail traders noticed this. They started to buy up these shares in large volumes in the hope to push up the price.

Trading has been so aggressive that the share prices have wildly fluctuated and multiple brokers have been refusing to even allow purchases. The situation has gotten lots of attention, with multiple members of congress showing interest in the behaviors of brokers and hedge funds. Some have called for congressional inquiries.

It isn't clear what the aftermath will be. Only time will tell.

According to The Guardian, a newspaper based in the United Kingdom, Bookshop is a socially conscious alternative to Amazon that allows readers to buy books online while supporting their local independent bookseller.

Bookshop was founded by writer and co-founder of Literary Hub, Andy Hunter. It allows independent bookshops to create their own virtual shopfront on the site, with the stores receiving the full profit from each sale. Customer service and shipping are handled by Bookshop and its distribution partners.

This year has certainly been a rollercoaster. There were highs and lows, not to mention a lot of uncertainty—sometimes all you could do is throw your hands up and hope for the best. 

Looking back on 2020, there are a few things that changed. 

First, since restaurants were closed during lockdown, my approach to home cooking changed. Before COVID, I took an ad-hoc approach to meals. But with limited trips to the grocery store and fewer options for take-out dinner, I started planning and following recipes more carefully. The result was better meals with fewer headaches. That was one takeaway: prepare well and rely on experts to write the recipe. 

Secondly, I've started taking hygiene even more seriously. I wash my hands for longer (20 seconds at least) and I avoid touching things out in public—that includes buttons at pedestrian signals and packages at the supermarket. That's another takeaway: do simple things to avoid getting sick. 

The COVID-19 pandemic forced most professionals around the world to begin working from home in early 2020. Suddenly teams were separated and had to communicate over video call services. It’s hard to feel connected that way. And it’s hard to build relationships and maintain the trust that today’s business depends on. 

CNN reports that according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), providing a single dose of a future coronavirus vaccine to all 7.8 billion people in the world will require the use of 8,000 Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, and that planning needs to begin now.

IATA's director general and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, said in a public statement that "safely delivering Covid-19 vaccines will be the mission of the century for the global air cargo industry."

There are multiple vaccines being tested in human trials simultaneously around the world. Once a vaccine is approved for use, licensing and large-scale manufacturing will take place. However, without proper planning, these vaccines won't be able to fly the skies.