Best waterproof Android phones for 2015 and the Ingress Protection Marking

The IP Code, International Protection Marking, IEC standard 60529, sometimes interpreted as Ingress Protection Marking, classifies and rates the degree of protection provided against intrusion (body parts such as hands and fingers), dust, accidental contact, and water by mechanical casings and electrical enclosures. It is published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

It helps to measurably understand the degree of water-proofing or water-resistance of devices.

P.S. If your phone fell in water or became wet in some other way, READ THIS FIRST to know how to fix a wet water-damaged phone

To prevent your non-waterproof phone getting wet while in the rain or near the swimming pool or while riding a bike, you could use this cover instead ( https://amzn.to/3cXAMfS - Amazon Affiliate Link) It is quite cheap and allows you to use the phone including touchscreen safely.

Liquid ingress protection

The second digit of the IP Code indicates the level of protection that the enclosure provides against harmful ingress of water.

Level	Protected against	Effective against	Details
0	Not protected	—	—
1	Dripping water	Dripping water (vertically falling drops) shall have no harmful effect.	Test duration: 10 minutes Water equivalent to 1 mm rainfall per minute
2	Dripping water when tilted up to 15°	Vertically dripping water shall have no harmful effect when the enclosure is tilted at an angle up to 15° from its normal position.	Test duration: 10 minutes Water equivalent to 3 mm rainfall per minute
3	Spraying water	Water falling as a spray at any angle up to 60° from the vertical shall have no harmful effect.	Test duration: 5 minutes Water volume: 0.7 litres per minute Pressure: 80–100 kPa
4	Splashing of water	Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect.	Test duration: 5 minutes Water volume: 10 litres per minute Pressure: 80–100 kPa
5	Water jets	Water projected by a nozzle (6.3 mm) against enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects.	Test duration: at least 3 minutes Water volume: 12.5 litres per minute Pressure: 30 kPa at distance of 3 m
6	Powerful water jets	Water projected in powerful jets (12.5 mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects.	Test duration: at least 3 minutes Water volume: 100 litres per minute Pressure: 100 kPa at distance of 3 m
6K	Powerful water jets with increased pressure	Water projected in powerful jets (6.3 mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction, under elevated pressure, shall have no harmful effects.	Test duration: at least 3 minutes Water volume: 75 litres per minute Pressure: 1000 kPa at distance of 3 m
7	Immersion up to 1 m	Ingress of water in harmful quantity shall not be possible when the enclosure is immersed in water under defined conditions of pressure and time (up to 1 m of submersion).	Test duration: 30 minutes Tested with the lowest point of the enclosure 1000 mm below the surface of the water, or the highest point 150 mm below the surface, whichever is deeper.
8	Immersion beyond 1 m	The equipment is suitable for continuous immersion in water under conditions which shall be specified by the manufacturer. However, with certain types of equipment, it can mean that water can enter but only in such a manner that it produces no harmful effects.	Test duration: continuous immersion in water Depth specified by manufacturer, generally up to 3 m
9K	Powerful high temperature water jets	Protected against close-range high pressure, high temperature spray downs.	Test duration: - Water volume: 14–16 litres per minute Pressure: [8000–10000 kPa / 80–100 Bar] at distance of 0.1–0.15 cm Water temperature: 80 °C

Let's get started with the phones :

Sony’s Xperia Z3

Sony started the ball rolling for high-end water resistant smartphones when it announced the Xperia Z back in 2013. Since then, almost all its top-of-the-range Xperia Android phones have been able to survive a dunking. The Xperia Z3 is the current flagship phone from Sony, and it scores highly on the ingress protection scale, attaining a rating of IP65/IP68. According to Sony, the reason it gets two ratings is because it complies with both the waterproofing standards. The Xperia Z3 Compact has the same IP rating, but comes with a smaller 4.6-inch, 720p screen.

Xperia Z3V and older Z phones

The Xperia Z3 is joined by the Xperia Z3V, a spin-off that’s exclusive to Verizon. It has the same specifications, just operates on a different network. There are several older Sony options out there, and if you’re after a water resistant bargain, the T-Mobile IP55/IP58 Xperia Z1S can still be purchased as a pre-owned phone through the network. It has the same ratings as the Xperia Z2, but a slightly smaller 5-inch, 1080p screen, and a Snapdragon 800 processor.

If you’re not worried about your new watertight phone being bang up to date, the Z1 and the Z1 Compact are also possibilities, while the Sony Xperia Z Ultra is the only big smartphone we know of with IP55 and IP58 ratings. You’ll struggle to find any of them new though.

Xperia M4 Aqua

Looking for a phone that looks normal, but still works if it gets a soaking? The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua could be for you. Like other Xperia phones, it has an IP65/IP68 rating, making it more effective at keeping dust and water than most other devices on our list. The 64-bit, octa-core processor, 5-inch 720p screen, and 13-megapixel camera makes it even more attractive. What’s more, it has Android 5.0 installed as standard, and the battery should be good for two days. It was announced in March, and the on-sale date is expected in the near future.

Xperia Z4

Sony has announced the Xperia Z4, but so far only for Japan. The 2015 flagship Android phone continues with tradition, and the body holds an IPX5/IPX8 rating, which puts it in the same category as the Xperia Z2, but not quite as impressive as the Z3. The phone isn’t released until later this year, when it should also see a wider release.

Samsung’s Galaxy S5

Samsung’s flagship phone for 2014, the Galaxy S5, scores a rating of IP67. That means it can be submerged up to 1 meter in depth for up to 30 minutes, and no dust particles are able to enter the phone at all. You will need to make sure that the plastic flap that covers the USB port is securely closed and, since you can open the back, double check that the cover is firmly in place.

The trouble is, Samsung’s newest flagship phone, the Galaxy S6, is terrified of the water. The Galaxy S5 is still available to buy new, and also as a pre-owned smartphone through networks such as AT&T, but it won’t be around for ever now it has been superseded.

How to dry and fix a phone or mobile that fell in water with rice, cat litter or silica gel

Mobile phones have become a part of modern life and so much information is stored on these devices. But as people have started carrying these everywhere, the chance of these getting wet and damaged is more and more.

Best option is to get a waterproof phone or get a Liquipel waterproof coating for your non-waterproof phone.

This is a list of best Android phones of 2015 which are waterproof.

But often that is something that  is kept for tomorrow.

Today we shall see the best and easiest ways you can dry and (hopefully)fix a wet phone or tablet or any other electronic device.

Fix water damaged cellphones with rice or silica gel

First and foremost tip : DO NOT turn the device ON immediately.
This can short out the electronics of the device.

FIRST, we dry the device and THEN we see if it is working or not.

QUICK Life Pro Tip : If you want to use Silica Gel Packets, these cheap ones work very well !

• Take the phone out of the water as soon as possible. Ports for hands free kit, tiny hole for microphone, charging, usb cable connectivity and the plastic covers on cell phones even though tight can freely allow water to enter the phone in a just a few seconds of time. Grab your phone quickly, and turn it off immediately, as leaving it on can cause it to short circuit – if it has been in water, assume it is waterlogged whether it is still working or not.

• Your phone may not be too damaged if you take it out of the water right away. A longer period of immersion, such as being in the washing machine cycle, is more cause for alarm. It is still worth trying the following steps to attempt saving the phone, before giving up.
• If the phone is connected to a wall charger and is also submerged in water, do not attempt to remove it from the water. Seek a professional immediately to ask the proper steps to do this safely (as in turning off a main power switch, or similar action). Electricity and water do not mix and can result in electrical shock. However, if your phone was NOT connected to a wall charger but fell into water, remove the phone from the water as quickly as possible, and proceed with the next few steps.
• Acting quickly can make all the difference in being able to save your phone from water damage, however don't panic. Maintaining a level head is key to working more efficiently under pressure.

How to go to blogspot.com and What website ccTLD addresses does my Blogger blogspot.com address have ?

What website addresses does my blogspot.com address have ?

Google's blogger has many different country level domains for each single blogspot domain.

How to stop blogspot from redirecting to a country domain ?

If you type /ncr just after the domain name for example- http://johndasfundas.blogspot.com/ncr , then it will not redirect to your local domain. 

Anyway, as a blog master your shouldn't let the visitors follow any boring way to prevent redirection. Because you can control the redirection by the code below! Okay let's try: 

1. Make sure you're signed in to your blogger's control panel I mean design or dashboard.
2. Now go to the template option. (Backup your template if necessary)
3. Click on Edit HTML. Now you can see the code of your template. 
4. Hit on the template box and Press Ctrl+F to enable search within the code box.
5. find the of your template and then copy the code below and place it just below the head tag. (Look at the image below)
6. Save the template. Done! 

BUT Why do this ?

The ccTLDs were made by Blogger to make country specific censorship easier.

Some countries are quick to censor content posted on blogs and since many such governments do not know much about how the internet works, they simply ask the ISPs to blobk the whole domain.

They issue the order, block blogspot.com, and POOF ! All blogspot blogs are blocked.

What happens when Blogger is banned in a country ? 

Naturally when blogger is banned by the Govt. of a country the visitors from that country will not be able to see your site. But they will be able to visit the .com version of your site by  using /ncr just after the domain. But if you use the above code in your site, visitors will automatically be able to visit your site!

I think now you understand the importance of using this code

Here is a list of blogspot domains.

August 2015 Whatsapp Updates - Mark Unread, Google Drive, Mute Contact, Low Data

Latest updates in Whatsapp

1. Mark as Unread

With the upcoming update, Android users will soon be able to mark messages as unread even after reading them.

To be clear, this feature does not make it appear as if you have not read the message yet, and your messages will appear as read to senders even after you mark them as unread.

Instead, it can be used to highlight messages so you can get back to them later. Also, marking a message as unread will not change the order of conversations on the app.

2. Custom notifications

WhatsApp is bringing its whole set of custom options, which are available only for the whole app at present, for individual contacts.

For example, if you want to set a specific ringtone for a contact, you can select any song from your playlist, so you know the messages and calls are from that particular person even without looking at your smartphone.

Similarly, you can set notification light colours, separate call and message ringtones, enable or disable vibrations and pop-up notifications for each contact.

3. Mute individual contacts

'Archie' comics cartoonist Tom Moore dies in El Paso, Texas - Also how does Archie Andrews die ?

Tom Moore, the Archie creator who brought to life the escapades of a freckled-face, red-haired character, has passed away in El Paso, Texas at the age of 86.

Moore, who began drawing cartoons while in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, died early Monday morning while in hospice care in his hometown of El Paso, his son Lito Bujanda-Moore told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He said his father was diagnosed with throat cancer within the past week and chose not to undergo treatment.

Moore drew Archie Andrews and his friends on and off from 1953 until he retired in the late 1980s. Annual sales of the comic regularly surpassed half a million during the 1960s, according to the El Paso Times.

Get your Archie Comics here online.

“I did one comic book a month,” Moore told the newspaper in 1996. “I did everything. We always worked six months ahead. I’d be doing Christmas issues in June and beach stories with a foot of snow outside my window.”

After the war, Moore used funding available through the GI Bill to attend a school in New York for cartoonists. He studied under “Tarzan” comic strip illustrator Burne Hogarth.

Unicellular Eye found in a Dinoflagellate Warnowiid - iCell

In an article/letter published in the Journal "Nature" on July 1st, 2015(paywalled), Gregory S. Gavelis, Shiho Hayakawa, Richard A. White III, Takashi Gojobori, Curtis A. Suttle, Patrick J. Keeling & Brian S. Leander explain that they found a single celled eye in the already complex unicellular Warnowiid Dinoflagellate.

If you want to see microorganisms at home with your own microscope, these inexpensive microscopes from Amazon deliver to India. ( https://amzn.to/3giF3wr )

Another option is the smartphone connected digital microscopes which can be plugged in. ( https://amzn.to/2Xqeih4 )

Warnowiid Dinofalgellates are plankton have been previously been studied for their highly elaborate ultrastructural systems: pistons, nematocysts, and ocelloids in a single celled eukaryote. (free full text)

But that is nothing compared to the complexity of an eye. The human eye is very complicated, but the octopus eye is even more so, and more efficient. Come to think of it, Octopi can actually sense light with their skin !

Single celled organism with an EYE (Ocelloid)

This Dinoflagellate Warnowiid is a single-celled sea orgaism that has fashioned itself an eye with a basic lens, cornea and retina. That is incredibly complex for a single cell.

In fact, the ‘ocelloid’ within the planktonic predator looks so much like a complex eye that it was originally mistaken for the eye of an animal that the plankton had eaten.

The warnowiid is found off the coast of Canada and Japan, but only in tiny numbers. Researchers first stumbled across one more than a century ago, but studying the creature proved difficult because it rapidly disintegrates after being taken out of seawater.

To catch his own warnowiid, Gregory S. Gavelis searched seawater samples under a microscope for a year. When he eventually found one he froze it in plastic resin, preserving it like a fly trapped in amber. He then made a 3-D model by taking snapshots of the warnowiid under an electron microscope – and was stunned by what he saw.

While other single-celled creatures can detect light using “eyespots” – simple structures that allow an organism to tell dark from light – the warnowiid seemed to have repurposed its internal organelles to form what resembled the lens, cornea, iris and retina of a complex eye.

The “cornea”, for example – the transparent outer layer at the front of the eye – was made of mitochondria, the bits of the cell normally responsible for energy production. The mitochondria in the warnowiid interlocked to form a sheet-like layer around the lens, curved to concentrate incoming light on to the “retina”.

(Left : Electomicrograph Right :Schematic ) of the Eye of the Warnowiid

The light-sensing “retina” at the back of the eye was made up of plastids, structures normally involved in photosynthesis. The team extracted genetic material from inside the plastids and found it rich in algal DNA. The team suspects that at some point during evolution, a warnowiid ancestor gobbled up some algae and adopted its photosynthetic equipment. When the organism later abandoned photosynthesis for the predatory life, it repurposed its light-capturing plastids into a light-sensing organ.

What is the Warnowiid Eye used for ?

It is not clear how warnowiids use their “eye”, but the authors believe they’re used to hunt. Warnowiids spiral through the water as they swim and Gavelis thinks the eye lets them see flashes of light as it bounces off the single-celled organisms that are their prey. The lens likely concentrates incoming light to increase sensitivity – rather than projecting an image as our own eye does.

Solution to A0A1A0A1A0C1 A0B1A0A1C0 A0B1D0A1 A0C1A0A1B0 B0A1E0 riddle - Spoiler alert

There was a secret code puzzle posted on reddit a few days ago. In the days before internet, that meant days and days of looking for a solution and finally somebody figures it out.

And then, someone else figures it out. Very very slowly.

But now that we are in the age of the internet, collaborative puzzle solving is the norm.

So, here is the puzzle :

And Spoiler alert : the solution is also posted below it.

The code: A0A1A0A1A0C1 A0B1A0A1C0 A0B1D0A1 A0C1A0A1B0 B0A1E0 A0B1A0A1B0A1 A0C1B0B1 B0A1E0 A0D1B0A1 A0B1A0D1 A0C1A0A1A0A1 A0C1B0A1A0 B0A1E0 A0C1A0C1 A0B1A0D1 A0C1B0A1A0 A0C1B0B1 A0C1A0A1B0 B0A1E0 A0B1A0C1A0 A0B1A0A1B0A1 A0B1B0C1 A0B1A0A1C0 A0C1A0A1B0 A0B1A0B1A0A1 A0B1D0A1 A0C1B0A1A0 A0B1B0A1A0A1 B0F1 B0A1E0

A hint has been given: "There are thirty blocks of code. Each 'block' of code needs to be translated into an intermediate code, which can be translated into English"

P.S. Those are zeroes, not the letter O.






WARNING : SPOILER: SOLUTION BELOW !


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STOP SCROLLING IF YOU WANT TO TRY TO SOLVE IT YOURSELF FIRST

GIF of Aerial Mid air refuelling of a fighter jet - Super Hornet

Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one military aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) during flight.

The procedure allows the receiving aircraft to remain airborne longer, extending its range or loiter time on station. A series of air refuelings can give range limited only by crew fatigue and engineering factors such as engine oil consumption. Because the receiver aircraft can be topped up with extra fuel in the air, air refueling can allow a takeoff with a greater payload which could be weapons, cargo, or personnel: the maximum takeoff weight is maintained by carrying less fuel and topping up once airborne. Alternatively, a shorter take-off roll can be achieved because take-off can be at a lighter weight before refueling once airborne. Aerial refueling has also been considered as a means to reduce fuel consumption on long distance flights greater than 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi). Potential fuel savings in the range of 35-40% have been estimated for long haul flights (including the fuel used during the tanker missions).

The two main refueling systems are probe-and-drogue, which is simpler to adapt to existing aircraft, and the flying boom, which offers faster fuel transfer, but requires a dedicated operator station.

Usually, the aircraft providing the fuel is specially designed for the task, although refueling pods can be fitted to existing aircraft designs if the "probe-and-drogue" system is to be used. The cost of the refueling equipment on both tanker and receiver aircraft and the specialized aircraft handling of the aircraft to be refueled (very close "line astern" formation flying) has resulted in the activity only being used in military operations. There is no known regular civilian in-flight refueling activity. Originally employed shortly before World War II on a very limited scale to extend the range of British civilian transatlantic flying boats, and then after World War II on a large scale to extend the range of strategic bombers, aerial refueling since the Vietnam War has been extensively used in large-scale military operations for many different military aircraft operations. For instance, in the Gulf War and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Iraq War, all coalition air sorties were air-refueled except for a few short-range ground attack sorties in the Kuwait area.

Two cases of Anterograde Amnesia : UK man & Woman with rare amnesias wake up thinking every day is March 14, 2005 or October 15, 2014

Yes, 2 separate cases of Anterograde Amnesia.

Reverse Groundhog Day: U.K. man wakes up every day thinking it’s March 14, 2005 and doctors have no idea why

Groundhog Day: Woman with rare amnesia wakes up thinking every day is October 15, 2014

Like in the RomCom movie 50 first dates with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymoore, these two people in UK have memory loss making them stuck in time.

It is easy to confuse that with Groundhog Day like these two newspaper articles did, but its NOT a time loop. It is a memory loss like in "50 first dates".

50 First Dates is a 2004 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Segal and written by George Wing. The film stars Adam Sandler as a lothario veterinarian and Drew Barrymore as an amnesiac, along with Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Lusia Strus, Blake Clark, and Dan Aykroyd.

Most of the film was shot on location in Oahu, Hawaii on the Windward side and the North Shore. Sandler and Barrymore won an MTV award.

The fictitious memory impairment suffered by Barrymore's character, Goldfield's Syndrome, is similar to short term memory loss and Anterograde amnesia.

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 44% based on 172 reviews, and the site's consensus states [that the] "Gross-out humor overwhelms the easy chemistry between Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, who bring some energy and yucks to this tale of a girl with short-term memory loss and the guy who tries to get her to love him."

How to identify a flower from a photo - Pokedex for flowers

Previously, I had written about how to identify a bird from a photo or its birdcall. It was in its early stages and could not identify birds well enough.

This time around, let us tackle a simpler problem.

How to identify a flower or plant from a photo ?

There's of course an app for that. Dozens of apps for that actually. And many of them are paid apps too. And a few free ones.

Well, let us first see the websites that allow us to freely identify a flower from a photo.

USDA: Plants Database

A comprehensive state-by-state flower identification guide.An essential website is the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Plants Database.  This huge database includes a search function utilizing a common name or scientific name, photos and illustrations, geographic distribution maps, and links to other resources with even more information about a specific plant.

Invasive Riparian Plant Identification Guides

An appendix of invasive alien plants.

Go Botany : Simple Key

NewEngland Wild's Simple Key

My Wildflowers: Identify

An interactive flower identification tool.

Garden.org's plantfinder

Helps to identify plants from the garden

Family Guide to Wildflowers

An interactive guide to known flower characteristics.

Better Homes and Gardens: Plant Encyclopedia

Pick the best plants for your garden.

National Park Service: Vegetation Inventory

Check out an inventory of vegetation throughout US National Parks.

Random Access Identification Key

Enter habitat and growth information for flower identification in Washington.

Plant Identification: Examining Leaves

Learn how to distinguish plants by their leaves.

AQUAPLANT: Plant Identification

Photos and descriptions to help with aquatic plant identification.

Plant Identification Pictionary (PDF)

A lesson plan to help children with flower identification.

Aquatic Invasive Species Monitoring (PDF)

Learn to identify aquatic species in Indiana.

Wildflowers of New England

Identify wildflowers by family, color, or leaves.

House Plant 411

Identify and learn to care for house plants.

Field Identification of the 50 Most Common Plant Families in Temperate Regions (PDF)

A comprehensive flower identification tool for this region.

Diphelleia grayi is the Skeleton Flower that turns transparent when it rains

Diphelleia grayi(scientific name), more commonly known as the Skeleton Flower, can be found in only three parts of the world. The plant grows on moist, wooded mountainsides in colder regions of Japan, China and the Appalachian Mountains in the United States, and is instantly recognizable by its large, umbrella-like leaves.

When the the leaves dry out, they turn back to being white.

Diphylleia grayi is a little-known relative of the more popular mayapple (podophyllum) and fairy wing (epimedium). Diphylleia grayi is native to moist wooded mountainsides in colder regions of China and Japan, where you'll find the large fuzzy green, umbrella-like, bold foliage topped by small clusters of white, may apple-like flowers in late spring. In late summer, the stalks of eye-catching cobalt blue fruit replace the faded flowers. Diphylleia grayi does not like hot summer temperatures, so plant it where in a cool moist woodland site.

Secret magic of induction cooking - How does it work ?

Induction cookers suddenly appeared on the market a few years back and stealthily replaced all other electricity based stoves like heater coils and nichrome alloy stoves.

Induction cookers are notoriously energy efficient and safer compared to these older technologies.

So, the question is How does an Induction cooker work ?

The answer, like any magical technology is MAGNETS.
Yes, magnetic fields.

Watch this video explain how Induction cooking uses magnetic fields to concentrate energy exactly where you need it.

Bill from Edison explains :

Electrical Engineer Bill Kornrumpf describes how it works. AC power is converted to DC by a rectifier, then it is converted into high frequency AC power by an inverter. EE W.P. Kornrumpf invented better control circuitry for this and other appliances, reducing the size and amount of raw material used.

Sharks and Fanged Fishes live in a Volcano, for real (underwater volcano) - Australia and Solomon Islands

Sharks in a volcano !

Sharkcano - Scientists filming unexplored depths of the South Pacific have observed a surprising range of animals—including sharks, rays, and jellyfish—living inside Kavachi, a highly active undersea volcano near the Soloman Islands, a remote archipelago east of Papau New Guinea. The animals seem unruffled by what were presumed inhospitable temperatures and acidity.

Scaleless Blackfish, Australia

The more we learn about undersea volcanoes, the more we realize that life can thrive almost anywhere. Now, an Australian research vessel has discovered a new kind of fish living in volcanoes off the coast of the continent. It’s called a scaleless blackfish and it’s adorably ugly.

Cochlear Implant - Emotional videos of deaf people hear sound for the first time

Cochlear implants are medical marvels that help those whose inner ear is damaged beyond repair. They give a very dramatic improvement in quality of life to those deaf people who are eligible to it, meaning their inner ear is damaged but auditory cortex is unaffected.

Here are some videos :

Mother hears 8-year old son's voice for the first time

Piff the Magic Dragon Comedic Magician Tricks Heidi Klum And Kiss Her On The Lips

Comedic Magician Tricks Heidi Klum And Kiss Her On The Lips In America's Got Talent

Heidi Klum helps a comedic magician and his dog, Mr. Pipple during their act. Watch him steal a kiss from Heidi Klum and get the Golden Buzzer from Neil Patrick Harris, earning a spot at Radio City Music Hall!

John van der Put (born 9 June 1980), known as Piff the Magic Dragon, is a magician and comedian from the United Kingdom. He currently lives in Las Vegas with Mr Piffles, his magic performing Chihuahua.

Van der Put grew up in South East London. After University, Van der Put began his career in IT before moving into magic. After many years of corporate gigs, he developed Piff the Magic Dragon.

4D Ultrasound Echocardiogram now available from GE Healthcare - Realtime non-invasive 3D imaging of the heart

Doctors have long discussed the pros and cons of a CT scan image over an Ultrasound and MRI.

 

While USG(Ultrasound) imaging is non-invasive and radiation free(thus safe even in preganancy), the images were always a slice or cross-section.

Crude attempts to use software to stitch multiple cross-sections into a 3D image were made, but were not very successful until recently. That led to 4D USG imaging of pregnant women to see what the babies look like.

Whereas CT scan images were easily made into 3D reconstructions with much better resolution of the structures. The problem being that CT scans were X-ray based and the radiation had a risk of causing cancer or damaging a developing embryo. Thus it was not safe for pregnant women to take a CT scan. Not to mention that CAT scans were expensive and required a huge machine.

MRI is also radiation free, BUT required much more precautions of removing all metallic and paramagnetic materials away. So they were not safe for anybody with a metallic implant or an accident or trauma patient with suspicion of a metal foreign body. No dental braces, no heart valves, no pacemakers, no screws, no artificial joints. Also, they were large machines, expensive and made a lot of scary noise due to the superconductors and supercooled magnets.

Ultrasound machines are small, portable and radiation free.

Now, GE has come up with an Ultrasound machine where the software can actually do 4D reconstruction(meaning 3D reconstruction in real time)

This is awesome as it helps the doctor to see the actual required image in 3D, withiut any of the risks of radiation and for much cheaper than a CT or MRI.

Vivid E9

Capture the entire heart in a single beat and integrate 4D imaging and advanced quantitative analysis into your daily routine.

From Pluto with Love - Confessions of a dwarf planet

Pluto's heart

Discovered in 1930, Pluto has remained a distant enigma for 85 years. Now, we’re getting our first close look at the last planet(dwarf planet) .

Why is Pluto not a planet now ?

Because a team of scientists decided that Pluto was not really a planet because of its size and location in space. Basically, it is not big enough to clear a path for its orbit.

IF PLUTO was closer to the sun, it could have been a planet.

IF PLUTO was bigger, it could have been a planet.

Conversely, if Mercury was in Pluto's orbit, it would also be depromoted to dwarf planet.

So Pluto and objects like it(Ceres) are now called dwarf planets. Pluto is also called a plutoid. A plutoid is a dwarf planet that is farther out in space than the planet Neptune.

First, it wasn't just one scientist that made the decision to take Pluto off of the planet list. After studying over a group of 40 bodies in our solar system similar to Pluto, researchers attended a meeting of the International Astronomical Union where they overwhelmingly voted that Pluto fit the description of dwarf planet better than planet. This was after they spent a year figuring out the definition of what constituted a planet.

Just before the meeting that resulted in Pluto's demotion, scientists discovered an object in the Kuiper belt that was the same size as Pluto: Eris. If Pluto stayed a planet, Eris, too, would be a planet. But it isn't. So therefore, neither is Pluto.

There are sound astronomical reasons for such a pitiless verdict. Pluto’s elliptical, sharply inclined orbit — not to mention its icy, rocky anatomy — clearly mark it as a rogue object, gravitationally lassoed from the Kuiper Belt. This is an entirely different origin from the eight true planets, which swirled into life from leftover dust as the sun itself was forming, and for that reason orbit neatly in the solar plane. 

The New Horizons Spacecraft just passed Pluto today.

At the time of the spacecraft’s closest approach, New Horizons was almost 3 billion miles from Earth.

No data were beamed home during the encounter period. Because of the way it’s designed, New Horizons has to choose between collecting data and talking to Earth—and observations trump phone calls during the close encounter.

25 facts about Pluto

French cook Julia Child made "Shark repellent" recipe for CIA like Batman's Oceanic Repellent Bat-Spray

Batman had a lot of gadgets and stuff because he never had superpowers. His superpower was money,which he used to make or buy the best of what is possible. Same with Iron Man.

Some of those things are on the edge of belief, but some things do exist. The Oceanic Repellent Bat-Sprays are used to repell barracudas, whales, manta-rays, and sharks.

Batman used the shark repellent in the duration of the series during the famous scene of the Batman (1966 Movie) when an exploding shark got a hold of Batman's leg and he used the repellent to get it to let go. Another time he used it against a shark when he had the surfing contest against the Joker. The sprays are kept on The Batcopter.

The US CIA collaborated with French master Chef Julia Child to develop Shark Repellent.

It was the height of World War II and reports of shark attacks consumed the media. At least twenty US Naval officers had been attacked by sharks since the start of the war, raising alarm amongst sailors and airmen who increasingly found themselves conducting dangerous missions over shark-infested waters. To boost morale, the Joint Chiefs of Staff requested the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, CIA’s predecessor) to lead the hunt to find a shark repellent.

Julia McWilliams (better known by her married name, Julia Child) joined the newly-created OSS in 1942 in search of adventure. This was years before she became the culinary icon of French cuisine that she is known for today. In fact, at this time, Julia was self-admittedly a disaster in the kitchen. Perhaps all the more fitting that she soon found herself helping to develop a recipe that even a shark would refuse to eat.

Searching for Shark Repellent:

The search for a shark repellent began in July 1942, just a month after the OSS was formed. The Emergency Rescue Equipment (ERE) coordinating committee was created to keep the Armed Services and various government agencies from duplicating efforts when developing equipment to help rescue military members from dangerous situations.

Housed within the OSS until late 1943, the ERE Special Projects division was headed by Captain Harold J. Coolidge, a scientist from the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Dr. Henry Field, Curator of the Field Museum of Natural History. Both men were avid explorers, having led expeditions into arctic, desert, and tropical regions. Coolidge had previously organized and accompanied the well-known Kelly-Roosevelt expedition to Indo-China and had a strong working-knowledge about the necessary equipment for survival in the arctic, while Field had led several anthropological expeditions into the deserts of the Middle East.

Coolidge and Field sent a memo to OSS Director General “Wild Bill” Donovan and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, proposing a plan for “unifying and coordinating the work of different agencies in the field of rescue.” Thus the ERE was born, and one of its several projects was the development of shark repellent.

Julia Child worked for Coolidge for a year in 1943 as an Executive Assistant.

“I must say we had lots of fun,” Julia told fellow OSS Officer, Betty McIntosh, during an interview for Betty’s book on OSS women, Sisterhood of Spies. “We designed rescue kits and other agent paraphernalia. I understand the shark repellent we developed is being used today for downed space equipment—strapped around it so the sharks won’t attack when it lands in the ocean.”

Shark Repellent Found:

After trying over 100 different substances—including common poisons—the researchers found several promising possibilities: extracts from decayed shark meat, organic acids, and several copper salts, including copper sulphate and copper acetate. After a year of field tests, the most effective repellent was copper acetate.

According to several memos from mid-to-late 1943, bait tests showed copper acetate to be over 60% effective in deterring shark bites. Other field tests showed even more promising results. Unfortunately, the copper acetate was deemed completely ineffective in deterring attacks from the other carnivorous fish of concern to the Armed Forces: barracudas and piranhas.

To create the repellent, copper acetate was mixed with black dye, which was then formed into a little disk-shaped “cake” that smelled like a dead shark when released into the water. These cakes could be stored in small 3-inch boxes with metal screens that allowed the repellent to be spread either manually or automatically when submerged in water. The box could be attached to a life jacket or belt, or strapped to a person’s leg or arm, and was said to keep sharks away for 6 to 7 hours.