Vulcanized Rubber Invention, An Accident!

In the 1830s, natural rubber was a popular substance for waterproof shoes and boots, but its inability to withstand freezing temperatures and extreme heat soon left consumers and manufacturers frustrated. That led some to say rubber had no future, but Charles Goodyear disagreed. After years of trial and error trying to make rubber more durable, the scientist stumbled upon his greatest discovery by complete accident. In 1839, when showcasing his latest experiment, Goodyear

accidentally dropped his rubber concoction on a hot stove. What he discovered was a charred leather-like substance with an elastic rim. Rubber was now weatherproof.

Goodyear would never reap the benefits of his discovery and died $200,000 in debt. His surname and legacy live on, however, in the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, which was named after him nearly 40 years after his death.

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Facts About Health Insurance Reform

1. For most people, the cost of health insurance premiums will exceed the cost of health care services required.

2. The relatively sick will find it easier and less expensive to obtain health insurance beginning January 1, 2014. The healthy will pay more as a result.

3. Younger people will pay higher premiums than in the past. Older people will pay less.

4. The cost of insurance for men and women will be much more comparable.

5. Mandated prevention coverage will increase the cost of health care, at least in the short-term.

6. Those who purchased “skinny” coverage in the past will pay more in the future.

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How Waitress Found Her Stolen License

Brianna Priddy, a waitress at an Applebee's in Lakewood, Colorado, lost her wallet one night. She began the laborious process of replacing its contents and ensuring that her identity wasn't stolen. Alas, someone used it to write hundreds of dollars in bad checks in Priddy's name. Fortunately, her driver's license came back to her when she asked a

customer who wanted to buy an alcoholic drink to show a photo ID. The patron handed Priddy her own missing driver's license."But I didn't say anything. I handed it back to her and said sure I'll be right back with yourmargarita. I went straight to the phone, and called the cops," Priddy said. Priddy acted like nothing was wrong. Lakewood police arrived in minutes.

The woman accused of using Priddy's stolen ID faces felony charges including theft, identity theft, and criminal impersonation

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Google Has Developed A Self-Driving Car!

There were 2.24 million injuries due to motor vehicle accidents in the United States in 2010, with human

error largely to blame. Alcohol, distracted driving (texting/eating/talking), and driver decision error (speeding/driving aggressively/misjudgment of road conditions) account for over 85% of all accidents. A total of 35,332 lives were lost that year due to motor vehicle accidents, which is more than triple the amount of people lost to homicide involving a firearm. Google is hoping to make the streets a bit safer by introducing a car that can drive by itself. Initially, 100 prototype subcompact vehicles will be released and they could be ready to hit the road in less than a year.

The vehicle looks very similar to two-passenger subcompact “smart cars” currently on the market, but there are some distinct noticeable differences: no steering wheel or pedals to accelerate/decelerate. Human drivers actually play a very small role in operating the vehicle. To operate the car, the passenger merely presses a button to start the car and then inputs the destination into the car’s computer that utilizes Google Maps. The car does the rest. However, there is an emergency break available, to be used if necessary.

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In 2008 McDonald’s Saved $278,850,000

In 2008 McDonald’s management made a decision that was publicly criticized by all of the Dollar Menu enthusiasts. The fast food company decided to remove that second extra slice of cheese from the infamous fan-favorite Double cheeseburger. They have also experimented in various markets what the reaction would be when they introduce the McDouble burger with only one slice of cheese versus the Double cheeseburger.

                       

This decision of theirs resulted in a staggering global reduction of costs calculated to be nearly $279 million for 2008.

After all their tests of the Double Cheeseburger changes the McDonald’s global management discovered that most of the consumers prefer to keep the second slice of cheese and pay more cash for it.

All in all, it has been calculated that one piece of cheese would save the franchise about 6 cents per burger.
Evidently by just making a simple change removing a slice of cheese, the mega corporation was able to boost the cash flow globally by nearly $15,000 a year per restaurant.

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The Discoverer of Penicillin was Opposed to It!

Alexander Flemming accidentally discovered and isolated penicillin in September of 1928. This marked the start of modern antibiotics—everything before that were just hunches and rumors that molds and penicillin could inhibit bacteria growth. This hard evidence was great news for the sick and bacteria-ridden masses, but Flemming also saw something else interesting.

He noticed that the bacteria quickly developed antibiotic resistance when too little was used or it wasn't used long enough. Though he was revered for his discovery of penicillin, he often spoke out in his speeches against using it unless extremely necessary. And when it had to be used, he insisted that patients must not skimp on it or stop before the infection is gone, or the bacteria could grow to resist even the strongest stuff!

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Top 5 Gadgets of 2013

1. Leap Motion Controller

This pint-sized USB accessory for Windows PCs and Macs is an $80 preview of where man-machine interfaces may be headed. Plug it in, plop it on a flat surface, and you can perform tasks — from playing games to reading New York Times stories — by waving your hands in the air. It can even detect the angle your palms and how many fingers you’re sticking out.

2. Apple iPhone 5s
The iPhone 5s introduces two of the best smartphone features which Apple or anyone else has ever come up with. The Touch ID sensor lets unlock your phone with a quick press of your finger or thumb. And the camera sports a unique dual-LED flash which provides subtle, custom lighting for an array of picture-taking scenarios.

3. Pebble Smartwatch

The $150 wearable gizmo acts as a satellite for your iPhone or Android handset, receiving snippets such as text-message notifications via Bluetooth and displaying them on its power-efficient E Ink display. Third-party developers can write programs to let it do everything from playing games to tracking your fitness. Did we mention that it tells time?

4. Oculus Rift Development Kit

Oculus Rift is only available in a $300 kit aimed at game developers. But once you strap on this virtual-reality headset onto your noggin and experience it in action, you’ll get itchy for the consumer release, which is scheduled to release this year. Used with a PC or Android device, Rift will let games create 3D worlds which surround you — you can even look over your shoulder for enemies lurking behind. If the games live up to the hardware’s potential, it could be an epoch-shifting landmark.

5. Google Chromecast

Purchase price of $35, plug it into one of your TV’s HDMI ports, and you can fling videos and other content from your laptop, tablet or phone to the big screen, no wires involved. Lots of companies have built devices to do this; Chromecast is the first one that gets it right.

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Antibiotic Resistance Now A Global Threat

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a report that serves as a stark wake-up call to the growing worldwide problem of antimicrobial resistance. The report highlights the need for a concerted effort from both governments and society as a whole to tackle this ongoing issue which poses a “global health security threat.”

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when organisms such as bacteria and viruses evolve mechanisms to evade therapeutic agents, for example antibiotics, rendering them ineffective. We’re all familiar with the “hospital superbug” MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), but that just scratches the surface on this now incredibly widespread problem.

Not only does AMR make infections more difficult to treat, it also means that relatively minor injuries and common infections have the potential to become life threatening. If we don’t step up our game, the achievements of modern medicine are seriously at stake.

In order to compile this report, the WHO gathered and analyzed surveillance data from 114 countries which detailed resistance rates amongst common disease causing pathogens. Amongst the findings was the worrying fact that the bacterial species K. pneumoniae, which commonly causes infections in hospitals and the community, is becoming increasingly resistant to last resort antibiotics, and drug resistance was found in every region surveyed.

Other bacterial species demonstrating both widespread and high levels of drug resistance were E. coli and S. aureus, which can cause urinary tract infections and blood stream infections. Around 20% of tuberculosis cases were also found to have multidrug-resistant TB.

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You Wont Believe These Foods are Eaten

                                                      1. Rats

Rats are surprisingly common food in some parts of the world. In North Korea they are eaten because there is often little else to eat in the villages. They are generally field rats rather than the city rats that most of us are familiar with. They are described as being tough and stringly with a taste like chicken (surprise!)

2. Monkeys Brains

In parts of China, the monkey’s brain is eaten raw. While it is most likely an urban legend, some people claim that monkeys’ brains are, or were, eaten from the head of a live monkey

                                                       3. Spiders

They are bred in holes in the ground especially for eating and are deep fried. The texture is described as crispy-chewy and some say it tastes similar to crab. Like Tarantulas, these spiders can bite. They were a regular survival food of the Khmer Rouge. The photograph above is an actual photo of one of the spiders ready to be eaten.

4. Balut – Duck Fetus

Balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. They are considered delicacies of Asia and especially the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors at night in the regions where they are available. They are often served with beer.

                                                      5. Snake Blood and Bile

This is less a food than a medicine, but it is so disgusting that it warrants a place on the list. In Central Jakarta, a man who calls himself the Cobra man specializes in preparing blood and bile for medicinal uses. Typically, he cuts off the head and drains the blood into a glass of arrack. He adds the bile and serves the drink as a treatment for respiratory ailments, skin problems, aches or indigestion.

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King Umberto I Co-Incidence

In Monza, Italy, King Umberto I, went to a small restaurant for dinner, accompanied by his aide-de-camp,  eneral Emilio Ponzia- Vaglia. When the owner took King Umberto's order, the King noticed that he and  he restaurant owner were virtual doubles, in face and in build. Both men began discussing the striking resemblances between each other and found many more similarities.
a) Both men were born on the same day, of the same year, (March 14th, 1844).

b) Both men had been born in the same town.
c) Both men married a woman with same name, Margherita.
d) The restauranteur opened his restaurant on the same day that King Umberto was crowned King of Italy.
e) On the 29th July 1900, King Umberto was informed that the restauranteur had died that day in a mysterious shooting accident, and as he expressed his regret, he was then assassinated by an anarchist in the crowd

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New Device Could Help Gunshot Victims in Seconds!

The average adult has about five liters of blood, depending on size and weight. Gunshot wounds can cause a person to hemorrhage and die in fairly short order, particularly if the would is in a difficult place manage. A new invention could change that by packing and putting pressure on a gunshot wound in just 15 seconds. 

     

The product is called XStat, developed by RevMedx.

XStat is a clear syringe-like container that applies dozens of 12-millimeter-wide sponges directly into an open wound. Once the sponges contact the blood, they quickly swell up and cling to the wound, ensuring that they stay in place. Enough pressure is placed directly on the laceration to stop bleeding so the victim can be transported for surgery. 

One of the developers for this new device is John Steinbaugh, who retired from the U.S. Army as a Special Operations medic. Traditionally, battlefield wounds from bullets or shrapnel are packed tightly with gauze, which is incredibly painful and doesn't always work. Hemorrhages are the top cause of military deaths, and this could save lives.

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The Bullet Did Reach Its Destiny

A man named Henry Ziegland broke off his relationship with his girlfriend in the year 1883. In depression, his girlfriend committed suicide, leading to violence and anger in his elder brother. The girl’s brother was furious and was out to seek Henry’s blood. He found Henry and shot him with his gun, but the bullet did nothing much except for just scrap his face and went and stuck into the bark of a tree. Well, fate seemed like being generous on Henry and thus he dodged the bullet. 

Years later, Henry wanted to cut down a tree. But as the tree had grown really old, he decided to blow the tree up with a few sticks of dynamite. When he did that, the same bullet which had failed to kill him years before, just popped out and propelled into Henry’s head, thus killing him instantly. That was the destiny of Henry and the bullet!

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Surprising Facts About How Our Brains Work

1. Your brain does creative work better when you’re tired
2. Stress can change the size of your brain (and make it smaller)
3. It is literally impossible for our brains to multi-task. When we think we’re multi-tasking, we’re actually quickly switching back-and-forth between different tasks
4. Naps improve your brain’s day to day performance
5. Your vision trumps all other senses
6. Meditation can rewire your brain for the better
7. Exercise can reorganize the brain and boost your willpower

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Google Glass

It is just like that instead of wearing your glasses you are wearing a smartphone. And amazingly your all works are done by just tapping or clicking with your fingers.
Google Glass is Android based with in-built apps. You can:

Take pictures, check emails, answer texts and listen to music without carrying a heavy gadget in your hands. You can even search and shop through different apps like Trulia app, Fancy app etc. You would get updates on your timeline through Google Glass while the world would be passing by the same way. It is a little expensive but true tech lovers would love to spend their savings on this fabulous invention.

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Weird and Dumb Laws

1. In Thailand, it is illegal to leave your house if you are not wearing underwear.

2. In Philippines, cars whose license plates end with a 1 or 2 are not allowed on the roads on Monday, 3 or 4 on Tuesday, 5 or 6 on Wednesday, 7 or 8 on Thursday, and 9 or 0 on Friday from 7:00 A.M.

3. In Switzerland, Clothes may not be hung to dry on Sunday.

4. In Mexico, according to law, bicycle riders may not lift either foot from the peddles, as it might result in a loss of control.

5. In Sweden, you may only own half a meter down in the ground of any land you own.

6. In Singapore, Failure to flush a public toilet after use may result in very hefty fines.

7. In UK, excluding Sundays, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow.

8. In Italy, a man may be arrested for wearing a skirt.

9. In Cambodia, water guns may not be used in New Year’s celebrations.

10. In Finland, all people in Finland must pay a TV tax whether or not they own a TV

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USA Flag History

Robert G. "Bob" Heft (January 19, 1941 – December 12, 2009), born in Saginaw, Michigan, was the

designer of the current American 50-star flag. Heft designed the current U.S. flag in 1958 while living with his grandparents. He was 17 years old at the time and did the flag design as a high school class project. He un-stitched the blue field from a family 48-star flag, sewed in a new field, and used iron-on white fabric to add 100 hand-cut stars, 50 on each side of the blue canton.

Heft originally received a B- for the project. After discussing the grade with his high school teacher, Stanley Pratt, it was agreed that if the flag was accepted by the United States Congress, the grade would be reconsidered. Heft's flag design was chosen and adopted by presidential proclamation after Alaska and before Hawaii were admitted into the union in 1959. According to Heft, his teacher honored their agreement and changed his grade to an A for the project.
Heft has also stated he had copyrighted designs for American flags with 51 to 60 stars.

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5 Reasons to Believe Moon Landing was a Hoax!

1. The Waving Flag

Conspiracy theorists have pointed out that when the first moon landing was shown on live television, viewers could clearly see the American flag waving and fluttering as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted it. Photos of the landing also seem to show rippling in a breeze, such as the image above which clearly shows a fold in the flag. The obvious problem here is that there’s no air in the moon’s atmosphere, and therefore no wind to cause the flag to blow.

                                                                                   
2. Multiple Light Sources

On the moon there is only one strong light source: the Sun. So it’s fair to suggest that all shadows should run parallel to one another. But this was not the case during the moon landing: videos and photographs clearly show that shadows fall in different directions.

3. The Unexplained Object

After photographs of the moon landings were released, theorists were quick to notice a mysterious object (shown) in the reflection of an astronaut’s helmet from the Apollo 12 mission. The object appears to be hanging from a rope or wire and has no reason to be there at all, leading some to suggest it is an overhead spotlight typically found in film studios

4. Lack of Stars

One compelling argument for the moon landing hoax is the total lack of stars in any of the photographic/video evidence. There are no clouds on the moon, so stars are perpetually visible and significantly brighter than what we see through the filter of Earth’s atmosphere.

5. The Duplicate Backdrop
The two photos from the Apollo 15 mission shown above clearly have identical backdrops, despite being officially listed by NASA as having been taken miles apart. One photo even shows the lunar module. When all photographs were taken the module had already landed, so how can it possibly be there for one photo and disappear in another?

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8 Mind Blowing Facts About Space

1. Neutron stars can spin at a rate of 600 rotations per second.


2. All of space is completely silent. Sound waves need a medium to travel through. Since there is no atmosphere in space, space will always be eerily silent.

3. There is an uncountable number of stars in the known universe.

4. The Apollo astronauts' footprints on the moon will probably stay there for at least 100 million years.

5. 99% of our solar system's mass is the sun.

6. More energy from the sun hits Earth every hour than the planet uses in a year.

7. If two pieces of the same type of metal touch in space, they will bond and be permanently stuck together.

8. The largest asteroid ever recorded is a mammoth piece of space rock named Ceres. The asteroid is almost 600 miles in diameter.

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Amazing Facts About The Human Body

1. The stomach’s digestive acids are strong enough to dissolve zinc. Fortunately for us, the cells in the stomach lining renew so quickly that the acids don’t have time to dissolve it.

2. The lungs contain over 300,000 million capillaries (tiny blood vessels). If they were laid end to end, they would stretch 2400km (1500 miles).

3. Human bone is as strong as granite in supporting weight. A block of bone the size of a matchbox can support 9 tonnes – that is four times as much as concrete can support.

4. The largest organ in the body is the skin. In an adult man it covers about 1.9m2 (20sq ft). The skin constantly flakes away – in a lifetime each person sheds around 18kg (40 lb) of skin.

5. The average person in the West eats 50 tonnes of food and drinks 50,000 liters (11,000 gallons) of liquid during his life.

6. Each kidney contains 1 million individual filters. They filter an average of around 1.3 liters (2.2 pints) of blood per minute, and expel up to 1.4 liters (2.5 pints) a day of urine.

7. The focusing muscles of the eyes move around 100,000 times a day. To give your leg muscles the same workout, you would need to walk 80km (50 miles) every day.

8. In 30 minutes, the average body gives off enough heat (combined) to bring a half gallon of water to boil.

9. When you sleep, you grow by about 8mm (0.3in). The next day you shrink back to your former height. The reason is that your cartilage discs are squeezed like sponges by the force of gravity when you stand or sit.

10. Each finger and toenail takes six months to grow from base to tip.

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Pyramids Mystery Solved!

Ancient Egyptians had to pull massive statues and pyramid stones weighing 2.5 tons on large sleds across the desert -- without any modern mechanical device. Now, new research shows how adding a small amount of water to sand significantly reduces the sliding friction -- a clever trick that allowed the Egyptians to cut the number of workers needed by half.

To make a good sandcastle, you don’t use dry sand. By adding water, the grains stick to each other, and your castle holds its shape. Same thing with sand transportation: Adding water reduces the sliding friction of any object moving over the sand. With the right amount of dampness, water droplets bind the sand grains together.
An international team led by Daniel Bonn from the University of Amsterdam tested the sliding friction of dry and wet sand by pulling a weighted sled across the surface in a tray. With dry sand, a heap would form in front of the sled, hindering its movement. And as they added water, both the force needed to pull the sled and the amount of friction decreased.

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Constrained Ball

Attach Constrained Ball to any ball point pen, this device can help draw straight lines without the use of a ruler. It's supposed to prevent winding lines by helping the pen move only in one direction. It also measures the length of the line using the small wheel. It’ll be the smartest tool in your pencil boxes.

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Earth 'Deforming' Faster as Ice Melts

The threat is looming large, at 400 km below the earth and you can clearly blame climate change for this.

The mantle below the earth's crust in Antarctica is flowing much faster than expected owing
to ice melting at a greater speed on the surface, research has shown. "Seeing this sort of deformation of the earth at such a rate is

unprecedented in Antarctica. What is particularly interesting here is that we can actually see the impact that glacier thinning is having on the rocks 400 km down," explained Peter Clarke, a professor of geophysical geodesy at Newcastle University.

At the surface, Antarctica appears to be a motionless and frozen landscape.

The new study explains for the first time why the upward motion of the earth's crust in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula is currently taking place so quickly.

The GPS data collected by an international research team has revealed that the land in this region is actually rising at a phenomenal rate of 15mm a year - much greater than can be accounted for by the present-day elastic response alone.

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Co-Incidence

The twin boys were separated at birth, being adopted by different families. Unknown to each other, both families named the boys James. And here the coincidences just begin. Both James grew up not even knowing of the other, yet both sought law-enforcement training, both had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry, and each had married women named Linda. They both had sons whom one named James Alan and the other named James Allan. The twin brothers also divorced their wives and married other women - both named Betty. And they both owned dogs which they named Toy.

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Hovercraft Coming To Market in 2017

No matter what anyone tells you, it is never too early to make your Christmas list for 2017. California-based tech company Aerofex has developed the Aero-X hovercraft that is slated to undergo flight tests in 2016 and—assuming no setbacks—they will hit the market in the US in 2017. They are expected to go for about $85,000. If you would like to be one of the first to get your hands on the Aero-X you can reserve yours now for only $5,000 down. 

The Aero-X hovercraft rides like a motorcycle and allows two riders with a combined weight of 140 kgs (310 lbs) to ride in tandem. After completing a vertical takeoff, riders can cruise at speeds of 72 km/h (45 mph) up to 3 meters (10 feet) off the ground. The rotary engine uses standard automotive gasoline and runs for about 1.25 hours per tank. That might seem a bit low, but gas mileage was the tradeoff for carbon fiber rotors that are easier to control and much cheaper than traditional aircraft rotors.

Safety is an obvious concern with this vehicle and Aerofex has covered all the bases. The rotors are shrouded in ducts that permit airflow while preventing accidental contact with property or body parts, and it also contributes to a boost in lift. Redundancies in the controls and engine allow the vehicle to keep running smoothly and come to a controlled stop, even if something goes wrong during flight. Sway bars will give added stability and resist rolling while making tight maneuvers, while computerized sensors will automatically adjust the rotors when faced with strong gusts of wind. For an added layer of protection, there is an option to add airbags throughout the vehicle.

The Aero-X will not require a pilot’s license, though individual states may require certification, similar to the process required for boats and other off-highway vehicles like quads, dune buggies, or snowmobiles. As the Aero-X is unique in that it needs to be controlled in three dimensions, there is a bit of an adjustment period for the pilot to fully handle the vehicle with confidence.

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