Composed of more than a hundred billion neurons, our brain is one of the most complex parts of our body. It controls our body, actions, speech, and all other functions. But surprisingly, with a few tricks, we can control our brain or more specifically our thoughts and actions. The trick is to know some psychological techniques and use them wisely. Here are 10 such useful tricks which can help you in long run.
Showing posts with label FACTS AND DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FACTS AND DIY. Show all posts
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Thursday, February 22, 2018
12 Things You Didn’t Know Your Smartphone Could Do
Smartphones have truly become the Swiss Army knives of handheld technology. Now that resources like maps and calculators are just a tap away, the need for separate appliances has become almost obsolete. Apple was not kidding around when they conjured up the slogan, “There’s an app for that.”
Smartphones of all brands now have the ability to do more than one person could possibly need. While games and social media platforms may perpetually top the app charts, there are some things your smartphone is capable of that could surprise you. Here are 12 things you might not have known your smartphone could do.
1. Digitize any document. Unless you have a scanner readily available, having to go out of your way to find one can be quite a burden. Luckily, apps like CamScannertransform your phone into a portable scanner. The app allows you to take a picture of any document and will instantly convert it to a high-quality PDF or JPG file.
2. Measure height and distance. Gone are the days of struggling with a measuring tape with apps like Smart Measure Pro (Android) and Dot Measure (Apple). These telemeter apps use the smartphone’s camera and are able to measure the distance, height, width, and area of a target by using trigonometry.
3. Digitize old negatives. You can view and digitize old film negatives by using your smartphone’s camera and applying the negative effect. There are also apps like HELMUT Film Scanner, which use a unique algorithm to automatically color-correct negatives.
4. Mail a postcard. Everyone loves receiving a personalized postcard, but the hassle to send one deters many. However, apps like MyPostcard have cut out the middleman and do the hard work for you. The app allows you to personalize a card with a photo and then send it from your phone to anywhere in the world.
5. Become a makeshift projector. If you’ve got an old shoe box lying around and a few office supplies, you can convert your screen into something much bigger. A number of tutorials online show how you can create your own projector by using your smartphone’s screen.
6. Detect metal. Many smartphones have a built-in magnetic sensor, which apps like Metal Detector utilize so you can measure magnetic field levels. All you need to do is move your device and the magnetic field level will increase when any metal is nearby.
7. Monitor your heart rate. Without any need for external hardware, apps like Instant Heart Rate will give you an accurate reading. All you have to do is place your fingertip on the front camera lens for 10 seconds and the app will give you a real-time chart that shows every heartbeat’s rhythm and pace.
8. Reverse search images and photographs. Most of us are aware how to reverse image search while browsing the web, but apps like Google Goggles allow you to search up information about an image captured by using your phone’s camera.
9. Instantly translate foreign languages. Travel bugs rejoice! Apps like Google Translate, which has this feature for free, use your smartphone’s camera to identify and then translate any printed words. The app covers major languages including French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Ideal for deciphering foreign road signs and menus.
10. Project an augmented reality map on your windshield. It can be more distracting than helpful when you have to continually glance down at your phone screen when using GPS to navigate. HUDWAY has found a way to keep drivers’ eyes on the road by projecting a GPS-enabled map on the windshield without any extra equipment.
11. Control your home’s lighting. Say goodbye to installing dimmers. A variety of specialty light bulbs have hit the market, which allows you to control them from an app on your smartphone. You can set light timers, dim them, and even change the color of the bulb with only a couple of taps.
12. Provide extra security. Location tracking is nothing new, but bSafe has given users the option of extra security when traveling alone. The app audibly sends an SOS message to emergency contacts while tracking your exact location and recording what’s happening (video + audio) in case of a threatening situation.
5 Differences Between Well-Known Products You Never Even Suspected
It is our choices which differentiate us from one another. Whether it be in fashion, television shows, food or hairstyle we all have our own unique tastes and quirks about us. And speaking of tastes, we all have our own go-to foods. But while some of us may prefer Burger King, others will choose McDonald’s. So here are 5 differences between some products that are remarkably similar.
1. Lipton Ice Tea and Nestea. While both drinks are essentially sweetened lemon teas, they are actually incredibly similar. They are both concentrated tea, water, and either sugar or sweeteners. According to the nutrition facts that are available on Google in regards to iced teas, Nestea uses natural flavorings while Lipton chooses to use nature-identical sweeteners. According to Fortune.com, Nestle and Coca-Cola will end their 16-year venture in the iced tea business. Nestea is set to close down their production in most countries in 2018.
2. Coca-Cola versus Pepsi. While these two drinks are often substituted for one another, there is a group that is made up of ardent supporters of one and another group that is a fervent lover of the other. While they are regularly used to replace one another, these drinks are actually mildly different from one another.
According to a Business Insider study that looked at Pepsi and Coke, Pepsi is known to be a tad sweeter with a hint of citrus while Coke has a slight albeit noticeable vanilla flavor. The contents of Coke are written evidently on the can on its label, but Pepsi identifies its additives with codes. For example, Pepsi uses orthophosphoric acid but it is coded as E338 on the label. Moreover, the formula for Coke is a secret whereas Pepsi’s is public.
3. Original Lays vs Original Pringles. According to BBC News, Pringles are actually only 42 percent potatoes and utilize fermented dough in their creation process. Pringles also contains potato flour, corn flour, wheat starch and rice flour. Lay’s, on the other hand, are actual potato chips in that they are deep fried potato slices.
4. Orbit versus Dirol gum. Once again, while both of these gums are generically substituted for one another they actually have some minute differences. According to people who chew gum regularly, Orbit tends to last a bit longer than Dirol and Orbit will tend to crumble apart after chewing for a long time whereas Dirol will usually stiffen and become hard.
5. The age-old question of Burger King versus McDonald’s. The buns on these two fast-food giants are different. Burger King has sesame seeds whereas McDonald’s does not. Burger King burgers come with onions while McDonald’s comes with no onions. And as per their own respective nutritional menus on their websites, a regular cheeseburger at McDonald’s is 300 calories whereas a cheeseburger at Burger King is around 550 calories.
Sunday, February 18, 2018
15 Facts About China That Will Blow Your Mind Away!
The recent dog-meat festival of Yulin and the spectacle that followed thrust China into media glare for reasons that are not exactly positive. If you were one of the people who thought that the dog-meat festival was seriously weird (and seriously inhumane), you really need to read the following facts about China; they are incredible and outrageous, and some of these will make Yulin’s annual (and now, thankfully banned) festival seem tame.
1. 20 million trees are cut every year to meet the Chinese consumption of 80 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks within a year.
If these chopsticks were to be laid out, they can cover Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, which is one of the world’s largest public squares, 360 times! Perhaps because of this, China’s forest cover is one of the lowest among all countries at 20.36 percent.(source)
2. The rich and affluent in China who are sentenced to prison hire body doubles to take their place and serve the time.
If you are rich, you can buy anything you want. However, in China, this privilege extends to escaping prison sentences as well: the rich and powerful of the country have been known to hire “body doubles” to serve their time in prison. In fact, this is so common that the Chinese even have a phrase for it: ding zui, literally, “substitute criminal.”(source)
3. Every day, about 10,000 cats are eaten in the Guangdong province.
This is the Yulin dog-mean festival all over again, except, this time, with cats: each day, over 10,000 cats are consumed in the Guangdong province, infuriating activists and leading to several protests. The cats are apparently kept under abominable conditions, skinned, and cooked alive.(source)
4. The Chinese often dye their pets to have them resemble other wild animals.
Several Chinese people have dyed their pets’ fur in a way that they resemble other animals: take, for example, the golden retriever who was dyed orange and black to resemble a tiger, or the dogs whose fur was dyed to have them look like pandas. Maybe these extravagant dye jobs have something to do with the money spent on pets in China increased by nearly 500 percent between 1999 and 2008.(source)
5. China has WALL-E robot restaurants, with one of them – located in the Anhui province – having around 30 WALL-E robots that take care of the orders, the cooking, baking and delivery of meals.
These robots – costing approximately $10,000 – mainly greet customers and deliver their food to them. However, they also take care of cooking and baking duties in the restaurant – which, by the way, is an unauthorized restaurant.
Similarly staffed restaurants – and there are several in China – are all the rage among the Chinese.(source)
6. Most Chinese people consider cheese barbaric and have never tasted it.
Dairy products are associated with the nomadic people who resided on the outskirts of China and were considered to be barbarians of the first order. Many Chinese people, therefore, avoided dairy products altogether. The consumption has increased in the last few years; despite this, cheese still remains off the table, perhaps owing to its strong odor.(source)
7. All the pandas in the world are on loan from China.
China has been lending pandas to other countries as a sign of goodwill since the Cold War – a tradition that has lived on. A newborn panda is sent back to China according to the agreement, in order to help expand their gene pool; these baby pandas are shipped using FedEx.(source)
8. Over 35 million people in China still live in caves.
Many in China, especially those in the outskirts, live in caves, most of them being concentrated in the Shaanxi province. These caves are called yaodong in Chinese, and most have a long, vaulted room with a semicircular entrance carved into the side of a mountain, and although living in caves might seem primitive, some of these caves can provide for very luxurious living.(source)
9. A “cult” branch of Christianity in China believes that Jesus is still alive and living in China as a Chinese woman.
Also called the “Church of the Almighty God”, this sect preaches that the “second Christ” is a woman who calls herself the “Almighty God”. This group has been cited as a cult and, quite often, as a terrorist organization.(source)
10. Women who remain unmarried in their late 20s in China are called Sheng nu, literally, “leftover women”.
Although the term originated in and is used most extensively in China, it has now spread to describe unmarried women in their late 20s across the rest of Asia and North America.(source)
11. The pin in the picture has been placed just below the chin of a soldier in the Chinese army during training so that his chin remains straight; the pin also prevents the soldier from falling asleep from exhaustion.
The Chinese army’s discipline is legendary, and this picture is testimony to that: the Officers of the People Paramilitary Police have strict training, and, in order to ensure that their posture remains unwavering and perfect, they have pins attached to their collars, along with crosses on their backs.(source)
12. China had the longest traffic jam in history, lasting 12 days and stretching across 62 miles.
The longest traffic jam in history, this 62-mile long jam wound all the way to Beijing’s outskirts. During the traffic jam, vehicles moved less than one mile within a single day; drivers were spotted playing cards and sleeping on the asphalt.(source)
13. Companies in China have been caught making tofu in “gutter oil” and marinating meat in goat urine.
“Gutter oil” is the umbrella term used for cooking oil that has been recycled from waste oil collected from sewers, slaughterhouse drains and grease traps; several Chinese food manufacturers and restaurants have been found using this oil to cook their food in.
Some businesses have also been caught marinating duck meat in goat or sheep urine in order to give it the smell and taste of duck.(source)
14. Breathing Beijing air has the same effect on one’s health as smoking 21 cigarettes a day.
So polluted and toxic is the air in Beijing that a chain smoker would be at lesser risk of developing respiratory diseases than people residing in the capital city of China – perhaps the reason why they are strongly urged to wear surgical masks at all times.
In fact, the country is so polluted that its air pollution is visible from space, while the Great Wall is not.(source)
15. In Dongyang, China, every spring, eggs boiled in the urine of young boys is sold as a delicacy.
Called the “virgin boy eggs”, these are a delicacy that is enjoyed by those in the city, and are cited to have several positive effects on one’s health, such as purifying blood and providing energy. Of course, the fact that they “taste like spring” adds to their appeal.(source)
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