How Many Times Has The World Ended...So Far?

How many times has the world ended? For virtually as long as mankind has been able to write we have been trying to predict events that have yet to pass, with a really bad track record. That certainly hasn't stopped the predictions however. It seems almost weekly that someone, somewhere, has a new take on when the end of the world will occur, and as you can probably tell, not one of them has been correct so far. The folks over at http://www.onlinepsychologydegree.net have put together a cool infographic detailing some of those predictions that have come and passed. (Special thanks to Allison Morris for directing me to this, thanks for sharing!)

 
Sources/ More Reading
How many Times Has The World Ended (OnlinePsychologyDegree.net)
List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events (Wikipedia)

Toothpaste on Headlights?

Claim- Toothpaste can clean foggy headlights on your car almost as well as expensive products that claim to do the same thing.

The Claim

Verdict- True. (Well, sorta) Over the years ultraviolet radiation from the sun takes its toll on everything it touches, especially on plastics. As well, particles blowing around in the air can help to scratch and dull the finish on your headlight covers over time. The headlights on my 1999 Dodge Avenger look almost like someone had taken a sandblaster to them - full of scratches and chips, and very foggy from all those years outside. I had looked up online how I could possibly remedy this, and found that the common way without replacing the covers was an extensive sanding and polishing with multiple fine grit sandpapers, with expensive sealants applied afterwards to protect them. Definitely worth it over buying new ones, but a lot of work and hassle with no guarantees of a decent job in the end, as you can still mess them up beyond repair if you screw up.. Then I came across an article that claims toothpaste as the answer, that showed the example to the right. Given, my Avenger's lights are worse, and have a lot of scratches in them, but anything would be an improvement at this point so what do I have to lose? I no longer drive the car, so even if I ruined the headlights it really wouldn't matter anyway. The lights on my newer car are much better, but eventually they too will succumb to the powerful forces of deterioration.

Avenger with a little bit of scrubbing

Does it work? The Instructions are simple enough to follow. Start by applying a small amount of toothpaste on a rag, and rubbing in small circular motions, until done. After only a couple quick passes the results are already noticeable. As you can see by the image on the left, it worked on the Avenger, but not as well because of all the deep scratches and scarring it has.  

 Does it last? A little tougher of a question. With the toothpaste, you may get 2-4 months out of it, unless you apply a wax, or something like Opti-coat, clear coat, or another sealant to your headlights to block the UV rays and keep them from getting hazy again. ( Here is one guy's homemade sealant from urethane Try at your own risk)

What kind of toothpaste works? Toothpaste is a mild abrasive, so it naturally works well to polish things, and fill small scratches. Just don't use any kind of toothpaste with cooling crystals or anything like that, as they will scratch the surface badly. I used regular whitening toothpaste out of my medicine cabinet, and it worked just fine. If you are still unsure try in an inconspicuous spot first. 

Nasa Deforestation Image

Claim- "NASA recently released imagery showing the deforestation of America …in just 34 years" with a picture showing two earths, one from 1978 and the other from 2012.

Verdict- False, Misleading

I am not trying to argue about the effects our industrial civilization has had on our planet, or the damage we may or not be causing to it., but when people, if even for the best intentions, make and spread misinformation to further the causes they believe in, it tends to damage the credibility of that cause. Recently circulating around social media sites and blogs is an image (below) that claims "NASA recently released imagery showing the deforestation of America …in just 34 years."

Earth. Going bald, or just a bad case of fleas?

Maybe it looked too exaggerated, or maybe it was the lack of information behind it, but something didn't seem quite right about the image. A Google search turned up a lot of results, but little explanation or information behind it. Searching Nasa's site didn't turn anything recent about deforestation, but i did find the separate images while going through the picture galleries. It wasn't long and all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. It turns out, our planet has an interesting phenomena that some of you may have heard about before called "seasons." As a result, a picture of the earth is only going to be as green as the season it was taken in. An image taken in July for instance will naturally look greener than one taken in January after the majority of trees have shed its leaves,  The picture on the left is claimed to be from 1978, but in reality was taken by a multiple picture process by Nasa from June through September 2001, and was slightly edited to look slightly greener than the original. (Source) The second image on the right was taken by Nasa on January 4th, 2012 ( Hi Res). According to Wikipedia, Most of the Deforestation in North America happened prior to 1910. Since then, forest resources have remained about the same, largely due to planting new trees to replace the ones that were removed.

While there may be no truth to the picture, it may still for a worthy enough cause. Old growth Forests around the world are still getting steamrolled by progress. In North America alone around 10,000 square kilometers (6213 miles) of old growth forests are harvested every year spelling disaster for countless species of plants, animals, and the people that rely on them to survive. Loggers go in and clean out the forests, and tree planters come in behind them and reseed the areas so they can be logged again in the future. In the meantime, all the plants and animals that used to depend on the forest no longer have a home, and many end up being crowded out , or simply dying off.

If We Evolved From Monkeys, Why Are There Still Monkeys?

A simple explanation to the question "If humans evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?" (Infographic courtesy of user "slipperyfish" from reddit.com.)

Sources/More Reading
Understanding Evolution
Why Evolution Is True (Video)
Evolution (Wikipedia)

Microsoft Windows Progression Timeline – The Rise of Windows

Since Microsoft first created Windows, the operating system and computing world has progressed further than we could have imagined over 20 years ago.
Here’s a nostalgic timeline of Microsoft’s operating systems.

Microsoft’s Operating Systems before Windows:

Xenix (Late 1970s) – Unix-based operating system by Microsoft and AT&T.
MS-DOS (Early 1980s) – The main precursor that Windows evolved from.

The Birth of Windows:

Windows 1.0 (1985)

Microsoft’s first attempt at a GUI-based operating system.

Windows 2.0 (1987)

Improved upon Windows 1.0 and was the first version of Windows to run Word and Excel.

Windows 3.0 (1990)

Third major release and rival to Apple Macintosh and Commodore Amiga. Featured significantly revamped GUI. Was the last version of Windows to advertise 100% backwards compatibility with older Windows applications.

Windows 3.1 (1992)

Introduced the TrueType font system, which made Windows a viable desktop publishing platform for the first time.

Windows NT 3.1 (1993)

Microsoft Windows NT 3.5 (1994)

Windows 95 (1995)

Major commercial success. Integrated MS-DOS and Windows. Introduced many new features and an significantly improved GUI.

Windows 98 (1998)

Codenamed Memphis during development, Windows 98 is the second major release in the 9x line featuring improvements to hardware support and web integration amongst other things.

Windows 2000 (2000)

Marketed as the most secure Windows version ever, Windows 2000 was a continuation of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It featured many improvements and new features like Internet Explorer 5.

Windows ME (2000)

Targeted specifically at home users, Windows Millennium Edition was a highly criticised release for being buggy and unstable.

Windows XP (2001)

Windows XP, “XP” being short for “eXPerience”, featured a new task-based GUI and visual effects were introduced.

Windows Vista (2007)

Codenamed “Longhorn” during development, Windows Vista featured many improvements and new features.

Windows 7 (2009)

Windows 7 was built to be a more “focused”, “incremental” update to the Windows line. Windows 7 was pretty much presented as an improved and polished Windows Vista.

Windows 8 (2012)

First operating system designed for use on desktops, laptops, and tablets.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

                                                                  

1)  Founder of Modern Germany is Bismark


2)  Most famous painting of pablo picaso is Guermica


3)  First president of egypt Mohammed Nequib


4)  Independence of India and south korea 15th august


5)  Founder of Singapore  Sir Thomas stamford Staffles

6)  The country also known as "country of copper" is Zambia.

7)  The name given to the border which separates Pakistan and Afghanistan is Durand Line.

8)  The coldest place in the earth is Verkoyansk in Siberia.

9)  The largest Island in the Mediterranean sea is Sicily.

10)Japanese call their country as Nippon.

11)The world's oldes known city is Damascus.

12)The biggest island of the world is Greenland.

13)The biggest stadium(Foot ball) in the world is the Strahow Stadium, Prague

14)The length of the Suez Canal is 162.5 km.

15)The city which was once called the "Forbidden City" was Peking.

INTERESTING THINGS IN MONOLISA PAINTING:-

1)  The famous painting monolisa was painted by Leonardo Davin ci.
2)  In the monalisa painting, It was believed that monalisa has no eye brows. But it is a rumor that Mona Lisa has no eyebrows in the painting because when they were trying to restore the painting, they made an error and removed the eyebrows accidentally. However, there are others think that Da-Vinci never finished the painting because of he was the consummate perfectionist and also because most of Leonardo’s paintings were left unfinished.
3)  It is one of the famous Oil painting which was painted in 16th century.
4)  In 1956, a man named Ugo Ungaza threw a rock at the painting, which resulted in a small patch of damaged paint next to her left elbow.
5)  In monalisa painting.. she kept  both her hands softly in her stomach, which symbolises that she is 
pregnant..
6)  Where ever we go.. If we look at the monolisa painting.. Her eyes follows us.. which seems to that she is watching us..
7)  The unrivaled fame of this work is partially because it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris in broad daylight by an employee in 1911. It was quickly recovered two years later.
8)  The painting now is in the Louvre Museum in Paris and is protected in a climate controlled environment and encased in bullet proof glass which caused seven million dollars to built the room.
9)  The painting is considered priceless and cannot be insured.
10)There are three different versions painted under the presently viewed version