Engineering

” ஒன்று ஏன் ஒரு கோடு வடிவில் உள்ளது …” ?

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ஒன்று என்பது ஏன் ஒரு கோடு போட்டது போல ஒரு வடிவத்தில் இருக்கிறது? அது ஏன் வேறு வடிவத்தில் இருந்திருக்க கூடாது?

இப்படி எல்லாம் குண்டக்க மண்டக்க கேள்வி கேட்கக் கூடாது என்கிறீர்களா?

எண்கள் இல்லா காலம்

பல்லாயிரக்கணக்கான வருடங்களுக்கு முன்னால் வாழ்ந்த மனிதர்களுக்கு ஒண்ணு, ரெண்டு, மூணு என எண்ண வேண்டிய தேவை ஏற்படவில்லை. சாப்பிட என்ன கிடைக்கும் என அலைவதே அவர்களுக்கு முழுநாள் வேலை.

வயிற்றுக்குப் போதுமானதாக இல்லாமல் இருந்தாலும் கிடைத்ததைச் சாப்பிட்டு, வாழ்ந்த காலம். அந்த காலம் வரைக்கும் மனிதர்களுக்கு எண்கள் தேவைப்படவில்லை. தேவைக்கும் மேலாக மிஞ்சிப்போனால்தான் கூடுதலாக இருப்பதை எண்ணிப் பார்க்க வேண்டும்? அதற்கான அவசியம் அவர்களுக்கு ஏற்பட்டதாகத் தெரியவில்லை. ஆனால், காலம் மெல்ல மாறியது.

கால்நடைகளை வளர்த்து தங்கள் பிடியில் வைத்துக்கொண்டால் அவற்றால் கிடைக்கும் பொருள்களைச் சேமித்து வைத்திருந்து சாப்பிடலாம் என மனிதர்கள் தெரிந்துகொள்ள ஆரம்பித்தனர். சேர்த்து வைத்துள்ள கால்நடைகளை எண்ணிப் பார்க்க வேண்டிய நெருக்கடி வந்தது.

எண்களின் பிரசவம்

அப்போது மனிதர்களின் மூளையிலிருந்து எண்கள் பிரசவமாக வேண்டிய அவசியம் ஏற்பட்டது. மனிதரின் மூளையிலிருந்து கைவிரல்கள் வழியாக எண்கள் பிரசவமாகின.

கைவிரல்களைப் பயன் படுத்தித்தான் மனிதர்கள் ஒன்று, இரண்டு, மூன்று என எண்ணிப் பார்க்க தொடங்கி னார்கள்.

அதனால்தான் ஒன்று என்பது ஒரு விரலின் வடிவத்தில் இருக்கிறது.

குண்டக்க மண்டக்க கேட்கிற கேள்விகளுக்கு உள்ளேதான் விஞ்ஞானம் இருக்கிறது.

எழுதப் படிக்கத் தெரியாத பால்காரம்மாக்கள் இன்னமும் கூடப் பால்கணக்கைச் சுவரில் ஒத்தை ஒத்தை விரல்கள் மாதிரி கோடு கோடாகக் கீறி வைத்து கணக்கிட்டுப் பிறகு மொத்தமாகக் கூட்டிக் கணக்கு பார்ப்பதை நாம் பார்த்திருக்கலாம்.

பத்துக்களின் ஆரம்பம்

கையில் உள்ள பத்து விரல்கள்தான் உலகின் முதல் கால்குலேட்டர். பத்து வரைக்கும் எண்ணிப் பார்த்த பிறகு அடுத்து என்ன செய்யலாம் என முட்டிக்கொண்டு எண்கள் நின்றன.

ஆரம்ப எண்களைப் பிறந்த குழந்தையாக நினைத்துக் கொண்டால் 10- களின் ஆரம்பத்தை எண்களின் தவழும் காலகட்டமாக வைத்துக்கொள்ளலாம்.

பத்து விரல்களையும் எண்ணி முடித்த பிறகு ஒரு பத்துக்கு ஒரு கூழாங்கல் எனக் கற்களை வைத்து பழங்கால மனிதர்கள் கணக்கை அடுத்த கட்டத்துக்கு நகர்த்தினர். முதல் பத்து, இரண்டாவது பத்து, என எண்ணி எண்ணி பத்து பத்துக்கு நூறு எனப் பெயர் வைத்து எண்கள் மேலும் வளர்ச்சி அடைந்தன.

இன்னமும்..

ஆங்கிலத்தின் கால வழக்கில் ஒரு பத்தாண்டு என்று பேசப்படுவதை கவனியுங்கள். என்ன காரணத்தாலோ இந்திய கால வழக்கில் ஒரு பத்தாண்டு எனும் முறை ஆங்கில கால வழக்கு அளவுக்கு அவ்வளவு ஆதிக்கமாக இல்லை. ஆனால் பத்து பத்தாகக் கூட்டும் முறை இன்னமும் நவீன கார்கள் உள்ளிட்ட எல்லா தானியங்கி வாகனங்களிலும் தொடர்வதைப் பாருங்கள்.

அபாகஸ்

ஒரு பத்துக்கு ஒரு கல் என்று எடுத்து வைத்த முறைதான் ஒரு மரச்சட்டத்தில் கற்களுக்குப் பதிலாக மணிகளைக் கோத்து அவற்றைக் கொண்டு கணக்கிடும் அபாகஸ் மணிச்சட்டக் கருவியாக வளர்ந்தது.

ஒன்று எனும் எண்ணுக்கும் முன்பாகவும் பின்பாகவும் பல எண்களைக் கொண்ட பெரும் பிரபஞ்சமாய் கணிதம் வளர்வதற்கான மையமாக ஒன்று எனும் எண் நிற்கிறது. அதனைப் பெற்றெடுத்த விரலை நினைவுபடுத்தும் விதமாகவே ஒன்று விரலின் வடிவத்தில் இருக்கிறது.

Source:::: த.நீதிராஜன்  in The Hindu…Tamil
Natarajan

Image of the day…. Image sent by MANGALYAAN on 7 Oct 2014 !!!

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India’s maiden spacecraft to Mars—Mangalyaan—has send another image of the Red Planet, captured by the camera on board.

“Another full disc image of Mars, taken by the Mars Color Camera, from an altitude of 66,543 km. Dark region towards south of the cloud formation is Elysium – the second largest volcanic province on Mars,” the facebook page of Isro Mars Orbiter said on Tuesday.

The spacecraft had beamed its first photos of Mars’ crater-marked surface a day after India successfully put the probe into the red planet’s orbit.

Just after that Isro had uploaded the regional dust storm activities over northern hemisphere of Mars – captured by Mars Color Camera.The image was taken from an altitude of 74500 km from the surface of Mars.

India joined an exclusive global club of deep space explorers on September 24 when the indigenously-made spacecraft successfully slipped into the orbit around Mars after a 10-month journey on a relatively shoe-string budget.

Source:::: http://www.hindustantimes.com

Natarajan

” New York Times Apologises for the Offensive Cartoon on MANGALYAAN …”

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Days after The New York Times published an offensive cartoon mocking India’s successful Mars mission, the leading US daily today apologised following readers’ complaints.

The cartoon showed a farmer with a cow knocking at the door of a room marked ‘Elite Space Club’ where two men sit reading a newspaper on India’s feat. On September 24, India made history by successfully placing its spacecraft in orbit around Mars, becoming the first country in the world to succeed in such an inter-planetary mission in the maiden attempt itself.

At just USD 74 million, the mission less than the estimated 100 million USD budget of the sci-fi blockbuster “Gravity”. Only the US, Russia and Europe have previously sent missions to Mars.

Andrew Rosenthal, editorial page editor of the New York Times, wrote in a Facebook post that a “large number of readers” had complained about the cartoon. “The intent of the cartoonist, Heng Kim Song, was to highlight how space exploration is no longer the exclusive domain of rich, Western countries,” Rosenthal said.

“Mr Heng, who is based in Singapore, uses images and text – often in a provocative way – to make observations about international affairs. We apologise to readers who were offended by the choice of images in this cartoon.” Rosenthal said Heng “was in no way trying to impugn India, its government or its citizens”.

“We appreciate that readers have shared their feedback, which we welcome,” he said.

After India’s successful arrival at the Red Planet with the low-cost Mars Orbiter Mission(MOM), US space agency NASA has lauded it. “It was an impressive engineering feat, and we welcome India to the family of nations studying another facet of the Red Planet. We look forward to MOM adding to the knowledge the international community is gathering with the other spacecraft at Mars,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.

Source:::: http://www.dndindia.com

Natarajan

 

Kindly CLICK the following link wherein I have published a Blog on the subject on Sep 30 …

Natarajan

” No Need for India to Knock at the Doors of Elite Space Club …” !!!

 

 

 

Image of the Day…Comet 67p as Captured by Rosetta Spacecraft !!!

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Rosetta’s comet is spouting jets

Wow! The Rosetta spacecraft is now seeing jets from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as the comet draws in closer to the sun.

View larger. |

As Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko gets closer to the sun, it’s becoming more active. The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft – which has been flying in tandem with the comet since August 6 – captured the images to make the above montage on September 26, 2014, when Rosetta was 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the comet. The montage shows jets of dust and gas escaping from the neck of 67P/C-G.
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Rosetta spent 10 years on a deep-space chase of this comet, which will reach its perihelion, closest point to the sun, in July 2015.

This November, the Rosetta spacecraft will send a probe down to land on the surface of this active comet!

Posted by   in earth sky news

Natarajan

This 24 years old is Empowering Rural Bihar …. How ?

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An internship experience in West Champaran inspired University  Of Pennsylvania graduate   Zubin Sharma to take up the cause of educating the less privileged. 

 

He realised that the kids in India’s villages have the potential to change the world. 

In the last four years, Sharma’s team of volunteers and teachers have impacted thousands of lives and changed their futures. Find out how!

The future of India lies in its villages.”

This famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi is being threatened today with India looking towards a shining future in its cities and skyscrapers.

However Zubin Sharma , a 24 year-old graduate of University of Pennsylvania, took Gandhi’s words to heart.

Zubin Sharma '09

After starting an organisation called SEEKHO India in 2013 to introduce a culture of education in Bihar, Zubin realised that bringing together the existing strengths of a community could help increase its collective well-being.

That’s how Project Potential was born, with a vision to help people and communities everywhere reach their potential.

Here, Zubin talks about his inspiration behind the initiative and how it is changing and empowering the lives of people in rural India.

From U Penn. to Bihar, how and when did the idea of empowering Indian villages begin?

I landed in rural Kishanganj District in Bihar during a gap semester from U Penn that I took to test a hypothesis I had – that people everywhere have potential and that this potential can be used to create change.

I was working with an NGO there, and while the NGO was doing a good job, they weren’t able to reach a lot of small hamlets, so I wanted to see what else could be done.

SEEKHO was formed out of a village meeting in one of these small hamlets, in which the community was asked, “What are our shared goals for the future?”

Everyone said, ‘education,’ so we worked to provide education.

We’ve provided education to over 4,000 people since February 2013 through local people, who we trained as teachers.

What was your most surprising observation when you first came to Bihar?

The first time I came to Bihar was in 2010 on an internship with Husk Power Systems in West Champaran.

What surprised me was how much potential I saw; all anyone would ever say about Bihar was how backward it was, which made no sense to me, since I saw a lot of innovation and movement happening.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you can’t be backward if you’re moving forward!

The second important point is how adaptable human beings are to their material environment.

With Husk Power Systems, I lived in a one room mud hut during my internship, and adjusted to the living conditions within 24 hours.

In Kishanganj, I had it a little better, sleeping on the floor with a building, so that was even easier.

Many people say, ‘OMG, I could never do that,’ to which I say, ‘yes you can! Just give it a try!’

Zubin with Project Potential volunteers Project Potential focusses on the existing resources and strengths of a community. Tell us more about how that notion evolved.

While we have accomplished a lot in the past few years with SEEKHO, we saw that a lot of other systemic challenges, like poverty, health, and communal strife often hold children back from getting educated.

Many of our local teachers were picking up on this fact and actually started providing services in other areas, like Ganesh, who trained the community in sanitation practices.

Seeing this, we felt like our teachers could do much more than just teach — they could change the underlying systemic issues that were blocking students from learning.

So we did a three-month pilot and saw amazing results — two villages getting electrified, a pre-school getting built, new associations built, new learning centres opened, etc, all using locally available individual, community, or institutional resources.

Most importantly, we saw the community coming together in a way that it hadn’t before.

These findings led me to found Project Potential.

A poster for empowerment of girl child released by Project PotentialHow does Project Potential work?

Take 19 year-old Razia for example, who is what we call a Village Visionary.

She mobilised women in the community to build an association.

The association then set their goals:

• Learn basic literacy

• Get their kids educated

For basic literacy, she trained A LOCAL GIRL to teach the women.

The main obstacle to get kids educated was flooding in the rainy season.

So she organized A MEETING with the block educational officer, who then set up a bridge school for them to get educated.

Finally, FOR EARNING MONEY she worked with local businessmen to get them jobs and then also helped them get job cards. So this is the kind of work we do.

As you can see, it’s all about using local, available resources to help the community achieve their self-defined goals.

We discuss it in three steps:

1. Building an army of Village Visionaries

2. Connecting the dots

3. Getting stuff done

We have six Village Visionaries in the field right now, and will have 24 more beginning in January.

The Project Potential ‘family’ have people from various backgrounds, countries and most certainly different strengths. Was it difficult finding people who would readily leave what they were doing to come and work in Bihar?

Project Potential is an international family of people, who are connected by a belief in the potential of people, a commitment to action, and an understanding that our RELATIONSHIPS matter over all else.

Take Jason House, for example, an ACQUAINTANCE from college and a Wharton graduate.

He read an article I wrote on some mindfulness work we had done in Nepal, and then told me he wanted to quit his job and work with us in India.

Now he’s adopted an Indian name — Sanjay bhai — and wears a gamsha and a lungi.

He fits in so well, and wherever we work, everyone in the community knows and loves him.

So, in short, it’s not tough — there are lots of people for whom Project Potential was their calling and exactly what they were looking for — a community and family built on super strong values and 110 per cent committed to its people.

Is there any parting message you’d like to give our readers?

Gandhi only had 24 hours a day. Same goes for you. No excuses. Start making moves!

Photos Courtesy: Seekho India and Project Potential’s Facebook Pages

 

SOURCE::::rediff.com

Natarajan

Image of the Day… This Date in Science…Launch Of SPUTNIK…

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This date in science: Launch of Sputnik

sputnik-1-technician-cp
Sputnik’s unassuming beep was a symbol not only of Russia’s remarkable accomplishment, but also of what many believed was Soviet superiority in space.

October 4, 1957. On this date, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth. According to many space historians, the Space Age began on this date.

It was a polished metal sphere, made of aluminum alloy. It was 58 centimeters (23 inches) in diameter – about the size of a beach ball – and weighed just 184 pounds. Its four external radio antennae were meant to broadcast radio pulses. And broadcast they did. For 21 days in 1957, people around the globe heard Sputnik’s unassuming beep beep on the radio.

Photo credit: NASA

The pressurized sphere had five primary science objectives: test a process for placing an artificial “moon” into Earth orbit; provide information on the density of Earth’s atmosphere, calculated from Sputnik’s lifetime in orbit; test radio and optical methods of orbital tracking; determine the effects of radio wave propagation though Earth’s atmosphere; and check principles of pressurization that could be used on Earth-orbiting satellites. Clearly, the next step was to place living things in space.

Sputnik’s beeping was a symbol not only of Soviet Russia’s remarkable accomplishment, but also of what many immediately assumed was Russia’s superiority in space. The American public feared that the Soviets’ ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S.

This historic image shows a technician putting the finishing touches on Sputnik 1, humanity's first artificial satellite. The pressurized sphere made of aluminum alloy had five primary scientific objectives: Test the method of placing an artificial satellite into Earth orbit; provide information on the density of the atmosphere by calculating its lifetime in orbit; test radio and optical methods of orbital tracking; determine the effects of radio wave propagation though the atmosphere; and, check principles of pressurization used on the satellites. Image Credit: NASA/Asif A. Siddiqi

Then the Soviets struck again. On November 3, 1957, they launched Sputnik II, this time carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika.

Sputnik I and Sputnik II sent shockwaves around the world. American political leadership scrambled to catch up. Ultimately, that extra push resulted in the United States sending the first astronauts to walk on the moon, on July 20, 1969.

Bottom line: On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite into Earth orbit, and the Space Age began.

SOURCE::::: earth sky news

Natarajan

 

How The City KOROMO in Japan was Renamed as TOYOTA City !!!

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Toyota
Japan

Toyota Predicts First-Ever Operating Loss For Fiscal Year 2009

Cities are more often named after mythological beings, local terrain features, or historical figures. Very rarely do cities get named after actual companies. One hilarious story involves Topeka, Kansas, which changed its name to “Google” during March 2010 in an effort to bring the company’s fiber-optic technology to the city. Google, of course, jokingly renamed itself “Topeka” for one day—April 1, naturally.

The story of the town of Koromo is neither a spur-of-the-moment decision nor an April Fools’ joke; rather, it shares a long history with the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. Koromo had been an agricultural village for centuries. During the late 1800s, Koromo had seen a boom in the silk manufacturing industry. When the MARKET for raw silk collapsed during the 1930s, Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. bought 2 million square meters (21.5 million ft2) of undeveloped land in Koromo to build factories for their NEW BUSINESS venture—automobiles.

The plants in Koromo manufactured vehicles under the “Toyoda” brand and family name. However, some found that a change was necessary. The Toyoda family agreed to rename its company “Toyota”—which, when written in Katakana, would require eight brush strokes (the number eight was considered lucky). Similarly, “Toyota” just sounded a lot more modern than “Toyoda” (which meant “fertile rice paddies“). Business boomed for the company despite the devastation of World War II. As a result of their local and nationwide contributions, Koromo was renamed “Toyota City” on January 1, 1959. A year later, owing to its place in the industry, Toyota became a sister city to Detroit.

SOURCE:::: listverse.com

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Thanks to Elizabeth Holmes…Blood Tests in Future Would be Totally Different !!!

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The next time you get a blood test, you might not have to go to the doctor and watch vials of blood fill up as the precious fluid is drawn from your arm.

No more wondering to yourself – “ah, how much more can they take before I pass out?”

Instead you might be able to walk into a Walgreens pharmacy for a reportedly painless fingerprick that will draw just a tiny drop of blood, thanks to Elizabeth Holmes, 30, the youngest woman and third-youngest billionaire on Forbes’s newly-released annual ranking of the 400 richest Americans.

Theranos Chairman, CEO and Founder Elizabeth Holmes

Revolutionizing the blood test is a golden idea.

Because of new testing methods developed by Holmes’s startupTheranos, that LONE drop can now yield a ton of information.

The company can run hundreds of tests on a drop of blood far more quickly than could be done with whole vials in the past – and it costs a lot less.

A Billion Dollar Idea

Holmes dropped out of Stanford at 19 to found what would become Theranos after deciding that her tuition MONEY could be better put to use by transforming healthcare.

Traditional blood testing is shockingly difficult and expensive for a tool that’s used so frequently. It also hasn’t changed since the 1960s.

It’s done in hospitals and doctor’s offices. Vials of blood have to be sent out and tested, which can take weeks using traditional methods, and is prone to human error. And of course, sticking a needle in someone’s arm scares some people enough that they avoid getting blood drawn, even when it could reveal life saving information.

Holmes recognized that process was ripe for disruption.

It took a decade for her idea to be ready for primetime, but now it seems that her decision to drop out was undoubtedly a good call. Last year, Walgreens announced that it will be installing Theranos Wellness Centers in pharmacies across the country, with locations already up and running in Phoenix and Palo Alto. And Holmes has raised $400 million in venture capital for Theranos, which is now valued at $9 billion (Holmes owns 50%).

The other two 30-year-olds that are just a little bit younger on Forbes’s List, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his former roommate, Facebook CEO Dustin Moskovitz, also have access to a wealth of information about people – but their data is less likely to save a life.

elizabeth holmes theranos

Courtesy Theranos

How It Works

One closely-guarded secret is what MedCityNews calls “the most interesting part of [the Theranos] story”: how exactly the technology behind its blood test works. The company’s methods are protected by more than a dozen patentsfiled as far back as 2004 and as recently as last week.

In an interview with Wired, Holmes hinted at some of the key ideas behind Theranos.

“We had to develop… methodologies that would make it possible to accelerate results,” she explained. “In the case of a virus or bacteria, traditionally tested using a culture, we measure the DNA of the pathogen instead so we can report results much faster.”

While we can’t yet assess independently how well that method works when compared to traditional blood tests, it already seems to be upending the old way of doing things.

Why Blood Tests?

Holmes told Medscape that she targeted lab medicine because it drives about 80% of clinical decisions made by doctors.

By zeroing in on the inefficiencies of that system, the Theranos approach completely revolutionizes it.

The new tests can be done without going to the doctor, which saves both MONEY and time. Most results are available in about four hours, which means that you could swing by a pharmacy and have a test done the day before a doctor’s visit, and then the results would be available for the physician.

Quick tests that can be done at any time are already a total change, but the amount of data the company can get from a single drop of blood is amazing.

Blood samples have traditionally been used for one test, but if a follow up was needed, another sample had to be drawn and sent out – making it less likely that someone would get care. The Theranos approach means the same drop can be used for dozens of different tests.

It’s cheap too. One common criticism of the healthcare system is that the pricing structure is a confusing disaster of a labyrinth that makes it impossible to know how much anything costs. Theranos lists its prices online, and they’re impressive.

Each test costs less than 50% of standard Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates. If those two programs were to perform all tests at those prices, they’d save $202 billion over the next decade, according to an interview with Holmes on Wired.

Plus, people get access to their own results.

source::::: KEVIN LORIA  in  http://www.businessinsider.in/

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As an example of how helpful that can be, Holmes told Wired that Theranos charges $35 for a fertility test, which is usually paid for out-of-pocket and costs up to $2,000.

But she also explained that this data could be useful for anyone looking to gain a better understanding of their health.

“By testing, you can start to understand your body, understand yourself, change your diet, change your lifestyle, and begin to change your life,” she said.

Image of the Day…” Sunset …”

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Sunset in Glacier National Park

Beautiful sunset in northern Montana’s Glacier National Park by Sashikanth Chintia Photography.

Photo credit: Sashikanth Chintia Photography

Sashikanth Chintia contributed this photo of a sunset at Glacier National Park, in the U.S. state of Montana on the Canadian border. He wrote:

We wanted to go to Grinnell Lake and shoot a time-lapse. Weather was not co-operative. After hiking 2 1/2 miles, we got rained out and we had to return back. When we hiked back we were offered with a beautiful sunset.

By the way, Glacier National Park encompasses over 1 million acres (4,000 square kilometers) and includes parts of two mountain ranges. The park contains a dozen large lakes, 700 smaller ones and 200 waterfalls. And glaciers? In 1850, the area now comprising the national park had 150 glaciers. There are 25 active glaciers remaining in the park today.

 

Source:::::: earth sky news

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Why Cell Phones are Called so ? ….

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 Fascinating Cell Phone Related Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

martin-cooper1) The Name: “Cellular phones,” or more common today “cell phones,” get their name from the fact that areas served by towers are divided up into “cells.”  The first use of the word “cellular” in this fashion was in 1977.  The first documented use of the word “cell phone” was in 1984.

2) The First: On April 3, 1973, a Motorola employee, Martin Cooper, publicly demonstrated the world’s first handheld mobile phone by placing a call to Joel Engel, the head of research at AT&T’s Bell Labs using the phone.  Engel and his team were Cooper’s chief rival and had also been attempting to make the world’s first handheld mobile phone. As Cooper stated, “As I walked down the street while talking on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call. Remember that in 1973, there weren’t cordless telephones, let alone cellular phones. I made numerous calls, including one where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter – probably one of the more dangerous things I have ever done in my life.”

3) The Phone: This first handheld cell phone weighed 2.4 pounds and was 9 x 5 x 1.75 inches in size. For reference, the iPhone 6 is 5.44 x 2.64 x 0.27 inches and weighs just 129 grams (0.28 pounds) This first handheld cell phone also had only 20 minutes of battery life when talking, but as Martin Cooper stated “that wasn’t really a big problem because you couldn’t hold that phone up for that long.” Once the phone battery was drained, it took approximately 10 hours to charge back up fully.

4) The Fanboys: Although Apple’s iPhones generally receive the most hype and publicity, world-wide approximately 88.3% of all mobile phones in use today are not iPhones.  Further, Android is king by far in terms of OS used on smart phones with a whopping 84.7% market share according to Business Insider (August 15, 2014).

5) The Fear: The fear of having no cell phone signal or otherwise being unable to make or receive cell phone calls is called Nomophobia.

texting6)  The Phalanges: The fingers you use to interact with your cell phone don’t actually contain any muscles, at least not ones used to move fingers. (Technically fingers contain many tiny arrector pili muscles, but these have nothing to do with movement of fingers, but rather are attached to hair follicles and can make the hairs on your fingers stand out straight.)

So if there are no muscles in our fingers to move them, how do they move? Short answer: magic… err, tendons and ligaments. Longer answer: Each finger consists of three bones (phalanges). In our bodies, tendons generally connect muscle to bone, and ligaments generally connect bone to bone. The tendons that control the bones in our fingers are attached to 17 muscles in the palm of your hand and 18 in your forearm, with none of the muscles extending into the fingers.

7) The Texts: Over 9 trillion text messages were sent in 2013.  That equates to about 1,200 text messages per person on the planet per year. However, text messaging numbers are starting to decline as people more and more use apps like WhatsApp, iMessage, etc. to communicate. Further, the number of text messages still pales in comparison to the number of emails sent per year, which is estimated at over 100 trillion.

8) The Fastest: According to the Guinness World Records, the current fastest texter in the world is Sonja Kristiansen of Norway who was able to text the following message in 37.28 seconds (fastest to date):  “The razor-toothed piranhas of the general Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality, they seldom attack a human.”  If you can beat that time, you might want to give Guinness World Records a call.

9) The Antiques: A type of car based non-handheld mobile phone has been around since the 1940s, but was more a novelty item than practical and generally needed significant enough power that you could only use one with the engine running.

cell-phone-hospital10) They Myth: Contrary to popular belief, cellphones used in a normal way do not create enough electromagnetic interference to cause problems with hospital equipment. It was once thought that they created false alarms, incorrect equipment readings, and subsequent errors in treatment.  This myth was based on a highly publicized study done in 1993 that offered no actual direct evidence that this was happening, just several doctor’s suspicions that it was happening.  An actual scientific study by the Mayo Clinic in 2005 busted this myth, as did another done in 2007.  Not only this, but, funny enough, according to a survey of anesthesiologists, having a cell phone to use while treating patients resulted in about 22% fewer medical errors than when they had to delay communicating with someone about something pertaining to their patient.

11) The Most: The top 5 countries in the world with the most currently active cell phones are: China: 1.2 billion phones; India: 904 million phones; U.S. 327 million phones; Brazil: 276 million phones; and Russia: 256 million phones. That said, the highest number of active phones per person for a country is Montenegro at 192.5% or nearly two phones per person.  The runner up on that list is Hong Kong at 187.9%.

ambulance12) The Problem: Cell and VoIP phones have introduced some new problems to the old 9-1-1 and Enhanced 9-1-1 system, namely trying to figure out where the person in question is making the phone call from. For cell phones, the FCC requires very strict location parameters either via GPS tracking of the cell phone or by cell network location. In the former case, it needs to be accurate to within 150 meters for a minimum of 90% of the 9-1-1 calls and within 50 meters for a minimum of 67% of the calls.  In the latter network location case, it needs to be accurate to within 300 meters for 90% of the calls and 100 meters for 67% of the calls.  It is expected that over time the FCC will continue to require these systems to be more and more accurate.

A shift to cell phone usage has introduced the possibility of texting 9-1-1 to receive help. While the system is still being rolled out, many carriers such as AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon now support this and it is expected that all will support it by December 31, 2014.  To get around the problem of the individual sending the text knowing whether the texting 9-1-1 system is available in their area, if you send one where this isn’t available yet, you should receive an automatic response text message telling you it’s not available.

13) The Gap: It was a full 10 years after public demonstration of the first handheld cell phone in 1973 before the first commercial handheld cell phone, the DynaTAC 8000x (“Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage”), hit the market on March 6, 1983.  This phone weighed “only” 1.1 pounds, had 30 minutes of battery life (8 hours of standby), and was initially priced at $3,995, which is about $9300 today. It took another seven years to reach one million cell phone subscribers, hitting that figure in 1990. Today, billions of phones are currently in use and there are far more handheld mobile phone subscribers than there are wired phone subscribers.

coopers-law14) The Law: Martin Cooper also has a “law” named after him.  Cooper’s Law states that our technology is advancing at such a rate that the number of different wireless communications possible in one location, at the same time will double every 30 months.  This “law” has held true since the first transmission by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895.  To illustrate, due to the method of transmitting this first signal, with a spark gap transmitter, it took up most of the radio spectrum to send this signal.  So the technology at that time more or less just allowed for one signal to be sent at any given time at a certain location.  Further, given the number of square miles Marconi’s first transmitter blanketed, only about 50 separate signals could have been sent at one time on the entire planet without interfering with one another. Since then, every 30 months, the number of signals that can be transmitted at one time in one location has approximately doubled.

droid15) The Droids You’re Looking For: The word “droid” is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. Shortly before Verizon launched their “DROID” line of mobile devices, Lucasfilm Ltd. swept in and filed a trademark on October 9, 2009 for the term “Droid”.  Specifically claiming the term for: “Wireless communications devices, including, mobile phones, cell phones, hand held devices and personal digital assistants, accessories and parts therefor, and related computer software and wireless telecommunications programs; mobile digital electronic devices for the sending and receiving of telephone calls, electronic mail, and other digital data, for use as a digital format audio player, and for use as a handheld computer, electronic organizer, electronic notepad, and digital camera; downloadable ring tones and screen savers; cameras, pagers and calling cards.” As a result of this, Verizon pays Lucasfilm Ltd. an undisclosed sum for the rights to use this word as a brand name.

SOURCE:::::today i found out.com

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