NOW human urine will charge smartphones

~Scientists develop technology to charge smartphones using human urine~

In this day and age of smartphones, the biggest issue users face is battery life. Bluntly put, battery technology has not kept up with smartphone technology. The Bristol Robotics Laboratory in the UK has reportedly devised a way to charge phones using human urine.

As disgusting as this may sound, the breakthrough technology harnesses power from urine by passing it through a cascade of microbial fuel cells. Microbial fuel cells are basically converters that turn organic power into electricity via metabolism of live microbes. Using this the scientists have found a way to harness the energy from human urine.

The scientists behind the technology claim that it is entirely eco-friendly, as one is using human waste to generate electricity.

Dr Ioannis Ieropoulos from the University of West of England claimed that the current microbial fuel power stack only holds a limited amount of juice. It can only enable SMS messaging, web browsing and a just enough power to make a brief call.
Making the call consumes the maximum amount of power, but the scientist believes that eventually the technology will be developed to a certain degree where the phone can be charged for longer periods. 

The world's first virtual shopping store

NOW, THAT’S PROGRESS! The world's first virtual shopping store can be found in Seoul, South Korea. All shelves are in fact LCD screens. The user chooses their desired items by touching the LCD screen and the ordered items are even delivered home! Homeplus, the nation’s second largest discount chain, offers food, electronics, office supplies and toiletries at its ‘store’ at Seolleung station in the south of the city of 10 million.

Boy Who Was Born Without Arms

Ali Srour, a Jordan boy who was born without arms. But he is full of life and tries to do the best of it.
He trained his feet so they could replace his arms to do some daily activities. He learned how to eat and to play computer gamers with feet. After being born, doctors didn't find any cause for his deformity but said that it was most likely due to genetic and hereditary factors.

Computer mouse inventor Doug Engelbart dies at 88

In this April 9, 1997 file photo, Doug Engelbart, inventor of the computer mouse and winner of the half-million dollar 1997 Lemelson-MIT prize, poses with the computer mouse he designed, in New York.

The inventor of the computer mouse, Doug Engelbart, has died aged 88.

Engelbart developed the tool in the 1960s as a wooden shell covering two metal wheels, patenting it long before the mouse's widespread use.He also worked on early incarnations of email, word processing and video teleconferences at a California research institute.

The state's Computer History Museum was notified of his death by his daughter, Christina, in an email.

Her father had been in poor health and died peacefully on Tuesday night in his sleep, she said.

Doug Engelbart was born on 30 January 1925 in Portland, Oregon, to a radio repairman father and a housewife mother.

Paintings by a 3-year-old girl

These paintings by a 3-year-old girl have the art world enchanted

 Iris Grace Halmshaw's colorful, impressionistic watercolor paintings have an ethereal, glowing, floral beauty, prompting comparison to Monet. Halmshaw, who lives in Market Harborough, England, is 3 years old, autistic and does not speak. Her parents first handed her a paintbrush hoping to help her connect with others; their hopes were more than realized. "When she started doing art therapy we thought it was amazing, but we're her parents so we think everything she does is amazing," her dad, Peter-Jon Halmshaw, said. Others thought so, too – and now Iris Grace’s paintings are selling for almost $1,300. Her first painting was sold at a charity auction. Profits from other sales of her paintings go toward her art supplies and therapy. Go through the images to see examples of her work.

Two interesting Churches I've seen in South India

1. Nellyady, St. Stephen's Church !

 

St. Stephen's Knanaya Church, Nellyady.

What makes it interesting is the structure, with open arms Jesus Christ welcomes you into the Church!

2. St. Philomena's Church, Mysore

 St. Philomena's church is a church built in the honour of St. Philomena in the Diocese of Mysore, India. It was constructed in 1936 using a Neo Gothic style and its architecture was inspired by the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.

Saint Philomena is a Latin Catholic saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic Church. She was a young Greek princess martyred in the 4th century. The remains of a teenage girl no older than 14 were discovered on May 24, 1802 in the Catacombs of Saint Priscilla at the Via Salaria in Rome. Accompanying these remains were a set of tiles bearing a fragmented inscription containing the words LUMENA PAXTE CUMFI, words of no known meaning in that order. The letters were rearranged to read PAX TECUM FILUMENA, which in Latin translates to Peace with you, Filumena. also some symbols of her martyrdom and a vessel, containing dry blood, was also found in the tomb. From these discoveries, it was concluded that a Christian named Filumena (Philomena) was buried in the tomb and the vessel containing blood was thought to be her relic, an evidence of a martyr's death.
A church at the same location was built in 1843 by the then Maharaja Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar. An inscription which was there at the time of laying the foundation of the present church in 1933 states: "In the name of that only God - the universal Lord who creates, protects, and reigns over the universe of Light, the mundane world and the assemblage of all created lives - this church is built 1843 years after the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Enlightenment of the World, as man". In 1926, T. Thumboo Chetty who was a secretary to the Maharaja of Mysore, Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar obtained a relic of the saint from Peter Pisani, Apostolic Delegate of the East Indies. This relic was handed over to Father Cochet who approached the king to assist him in constructing a church in honour of St. Philomena. The Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone of the church on October 28, 1933. In his speech on the day of the inauguration, the Maharaja is quoted to have said: The new church will be strongly and securely built upon a double foundation — Divine compassion and the eager gratitude of men.. The construction of the church was completed under Bishop Rene Feuga's supervision. The relic of Saint Philomena is preserved in a catacomb below the main altar. This church is a good example of blending of local culture. Some of the female statues are dressed with local traditional dress, Saree.