A living thing that lives more than 400 years.

ocean quahog(image source: wikimedia commons)

These are called ocean quahog found in North Atlantic Ocean live more than four hundred years. It is also called by the names such as black clam, mahogany quahog etc. The size of these species is around 50mm. The longest reported age is 507 years and is collected in 2006. Previously it was a 374 year old was collected in 1868.

Longest living species. Longest life span

A robot will teach coding to kids

 A robot has been developed to teach kids of all ages the coding. 

The robot named Root looks just like a smoke detector but is actually a sophisticated robot. A magnetic surface, wheels, and an impressive arsenal of sensors allow it to navigate a classroom whiteboard. But Root isn't actually programed to do anything. Its tasks and functionality lies on a child's imagination. 

The robot is capable of driving and drawing as well as playing music, but Root needs instructions to operate, a line of code. Zivthan Dubrovsky of Harvard's Wyss Institute recalls testing out Root with kids for the first time.

Using a tablet connected wirelessly to the robot, level one introduces kids to the principles of programing using an interface of simple commands and pictures. As they become more adept, they jump to levels 2 and 3, at which point writing computer code becomes second nature, according to Dubrovsky.

The team hopes to partner up with education companies to develop curriculums based around Root with the hopes of enticing schools to add the robot to classrooms.

"By adding a robot into the classroom you are actually adding a third agent into the classroom and you enable a new interesting way of teaching where the students can become the teachers, teaching the robot to do things," Dubrovsky said. While at the same time learning a new skill, one that is increasingly important in a digital world where knowing how to code could become just as important as knowing to read and write.

(Source: Reuters)

Do know what can happen to Social network accounts after your Death, Have a look at this…

Facebook

• After 10 years, Facebook will have 30 million dead users.
• About 8,000 Facebook account users die daily.
• There are ways to memorialize them on-line through some of the networks after death
• The privacy laws of social network companies as well as email providers mean no one is allowed to log in as you.
• If tried, they may force a shutdown of the account and lose what they were trying to preserve.
• Facebook has arranged users to choose what they want to happen to your account after death.
• Facebook tells users that they can say in advance whether they’d like to have their account memorialized or permanently deleted from Facebook in the event of their death.
• Facebook has also offered a way for surviving family and friends to head off afterlife issues - by adding a 'legacy contact' who will have limited control of the account should you pass on.
• After the legacy contact has posted a final message Facebook makes the profile into a memorial, where friends will not change but messages of sympathy and remembrance can be posted.
• Any which are deemed unsuitable can be moderated by the legacy contact.

Twitter

• Twitter allows people to request a shutdown of dead person's accounts
• In the event of the death of a Twitter user the company says it can work with a person authorized to act on the behalf, or with a verified immediate family member of the deceased, to have an account deactivated.
• There are also choices to request the removal of a deceased user's account, which will require you to provide information about the them, a copy of your ID, and copy of the death certificate.
• They are clear on one thing, though - they are unable to provide account access to anyone regardless of his or her relationship to the deceased.

Instagram

• Instagram also memorializes accounts like Facebook but there are some differences.
• Instagram doesn’t allow anyone to log into a memorialized account, and they cannot be changed, including changes to likes, followers, tags, posts and comments.
• Posts the deceased person shared stay on Instagram and are visible to the audience they were shared with, but memorialized accounts don't appear in public spaces like searches.

Email

• Gmail lets you elect to shut down your account automatically after a period of inactivity
• Gmail, as owned by Google, will allow you to apply to obtain the contents of a deceased person's email.
• You can also set it to have an " Inactive Account Manager ," which either shares or delete your account after a set period of inactivity.
• Yahoo also lets loved ones apply to close the account provided that they have the necessary documentation.
• Apple's iCloud email and iTunes accounts are of different rules.
• The corporation says: "You agree that your Account is non-transferable and that any rights to your Apple ID or Content within your Account terminate upon your death.
• "Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate your Account may be terminated and all Content within your Account deleted."

(Source: mirror)

sniffer dogs at UK, good at finding sausages rather than drugs

Sniffer dogs team set up at a British airport with a cost of 1.25 million pounds have proved that they are good at discovering small amounts of cheese and sausages but not so good at finding smuggled drugs.

In an inspection of border security at Manchester Airport in northern England, It was found that during a seven-month period, the six dogs had failed to find any illegal and dangerous Class A drugs such as drugs such as heroin or cocaine.

According to a report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, this represented a low return on investment, given 1.25 million spent on new kennels and the costs of operating the unit.

Each dog has its own specialty in detecting goods such as drugs, tobacco, cash and meat being illegally brought into the airport by the 22 million passengers who use it annually.

However the report found that although the sniffers had helped customs seize 46 kg of cigarettes and 181 kg of meat, they had uncovered no class A drugs between November 2014 and June 2015 even though this was a "very high" priority.

It said one dog trained to find smuggled animal products had made "multiple accurate detections, but most were of small amounts of cheese or sausages, wrongly brought back by returning British holidaymakers and posing minimal risk to UK public health".

Managers are now examining how better to deploy the dogs, the report said.

(source: Reuters)

Underdogs become top dogs as they train to fly a plane, revealing their unique qualities

Twelve abandoned dogs from across the UK will attempt to become the first dogs to fly a plane in a new television series. The dozen canines were chosen by experts from the 120,000 in UK rescue shelters each year and were taken to a Sussex mansion for exercises designed to prepare them for their challenge. During a 10-week training period, scientists looked at their communication, empathy, memory and reasoning skills and the six-episode series follows their journey as they blossom under the care of trainers, behaviour specialists and vets. Among those putting the canines through their paces are Mat Ward, a clinical animal behaviourist who acts as an expert witness in dog-related court cases, and Cath Phillips, a police dog trainer. A chosen few will then be sent to flight school to be trained in flying a single-engine aircraft. At the end of the series each dog will be given a loving new home. Presenter Jamie Theakston said the series would show how unique and talented each dog is. "People give up on them too easily and this series will show us why we shouldn’t. They are just as deserving and just as intelligent," he said. Theakston added that he had been surprised by each dog's ability to show empathy, despite the difficult circumstances they had grown up in. "Even if a dog has been deprived of human contact or has been badly treated, it is just as able and motivated to initiate a new relationship with a human very quickly." Stanley Coren, professor of canine psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, was not convinced the dogs would be able to manage the challenge. "Given that we would not expect a human three-year-old to be able to fly a plane, I would not expect that a dog could do so either," he told The Independent.

A spanish man skipped six years work and unnoticed.

A Spanish man was fined after his employer discovered that he had been absent from work for six years without notifying anyone. Joaquin Garcia, a 69-year-old is an engineer at a municipal water company in Cadiz. He was fined more than $30,300 after his employer discovered that he hadn't reported for work for six years while attempting to present him an award for 20 years of service. The maximum fine represents only sightly less than one year of his annual salary of almost $41,600. His employers at the water company believed he was being supervised by local authorities while deputy mayor Jorge Blas Fernandez thought the opposite to be true. "We thought he had been supervised by the water company but that was not the case," he told Spanish news outlet El Mundo. According to the BBClocal newspapers have given Garcia the nickname "el funcionario fantasma" or "the phantom official." Garcia said a combination of office bullying related to his family's politics and a lack of work for him to do at the water company ultimately caused his extended absence. He did not report these condition for fear of losing his job. He did occasionally report to work for brief periods of time but spent his days at the office studying philosophy. Garcia wrote to the mayor and requested to not pay the fine and is seeking a review of the court's ruling.

Amazing and Interesting Facts about Televisions

1.      Baird the inventor of television, before using a real person he experimented with a ventriloquist’s dummy called Stooky Bill.

2.      Most people dream in color, but some people those grew up watching black and white television often dream in black and white.

3.      British Top Gear is the most watched TV show which is seen over 170 countries with an estimated weekly viewer ship of about 350 million.

4.      The inventor of the television would not let his own children watching the television. He also once said to his son that here is nothing on it worthwhile and we’re not going to watch it in his house hold.

5.      An average person in UK watches just over four hours television a day.

6.      After President kennedy’s death in 1963, the television networks aired four days of commercial free coverage of his funeral, burial and other proceedings, costing them around $100 million in lost advertising revenue.

7.      The children’s television show Arthur is the second longest running animated series in US just behind the Simpsons.

8.      It has been calculated that an average American child sees about 13,000 deaths on television during the age of 5 and 14 years.

9.      In 1997 a monkey was also arrested for stealing a television aerial in the African state of Benin.

Interesting facts about Valentine’s day

1. Based on retail statistics, about 3 percent of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their own pets. 2. About 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year making them the second largest seasonal card sending time of the year. 3. During the Medieval Times girls would eat unusual foods on Valentine’s Day. It was believed that it made them have dreams about their future husband. 4.The oldest known Valentine’s Day card is being displayed at the British Museum in London. It’s dates back to the 1400’s. 5. In Finland Valentine’s Day is called Ystävänpäivä, which in english means “Friend’s day”. It's more about remembering your buddies than your loved ones. 6. In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear this name pinned onto their sleeves for one week to let everyone to see. This was the origin of the expression "to wear your heart on your sleeve." 7. More than 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for the Valentine's Day. 8. 73 percent of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are only men, while only 27 percent are women. 9. Women purchase the most valentines day gifts approximately 85 percent of the gifts are bought by women

Amazing and Weird jobs in The World

These are some of the world’s most weird jobs in the world that you will be surprised to know.

1.    Professional line-standers: You don’t have enough patience to stand in queue? These professionals are there to stand in a line for you. These are busy especially during big sales and product launches. Rates may vary from one to other.

2.    Oshiya: These people work in japan railway stations. As the Trains in Japan are fully crowded the japan railways came with solution called oshiya (People onto train pushers) , these people push the people into the trains to get the doors closed in time.

3.    Professional mourners: The professional mourners are there to attend funerals and grieve for the deceased. This is an ancient practice and is found in China, Africa and the Middle East. There is also a company called Rent A Mourner in England which offers mourners.  The cost is around $70 for two hours.

4.    Car Plate Blockers: In Iran some local authorities place restrictions on number of cars allowed on road by allowing the cars whose numbers ends with even or odd on a given day. So drivers hire some people to walk or stand behind their cars to cover the number plate.

5.    Dog surfing instructors: There are people who teach your dog how to surf. They can be found at some ocean resorts. Some even offer classes strictly for dogs.

6.    Professional Ear Cleaners: There are a few professional ear cleaners found in streets of India. They clean the wax and dust in the ears of the people.

7.    Cuidacarros: This is a profession in Brazil, these people watch your car while you left. Some of them accept whatever given on your return, while others have a strict prices ranging from 1 to 10 dollars.

8.    Face feelers: These are trained to use their hands and judge the effectiveness of products like lotions, facial cleansers, and razors. Face feelers work part-time, but they can earn up to $25 per hour. They are also called as 'sensory scientists,'

9.    Ash portrait artists: They get creative with the remains of once loved ones. Following cremation, some people hire these artists to create a token of remembrance, like a necklace or glass sculpture.

10. Dog food tasters: They test the quality of the pet foods and are hired by pet food companies to test the quality of their products. They also evaluate the nutritional value.

11.Snake milkers: They extract venom from most dangerous snakes in the world like rattlesnakes and cobras. The venom which is extracted is often used to create anti venom and it can costs up to $1,000 per gram.