CNN 10: Inventions

As school children, we learned the names of famous inventors from history: Alexander Graham Bell, Eli Whitney, Thomas Edison. Ask someone to name a famous modern-day inventor, though, and you’ll probably get a blank look. Today's heroes are celebrities: Actors, athletes, singers.

But where would we be without the Post-It Note, the smartphone, the luggage with wheels that rolls through the airport? Somebody invented each of those things, and we owe them all a debt for making our lives easier.
The best inventions make us wonder what we ever did without them.

As part of our focus on innovation, CNN is honoring 10 new inventions in technology and related fields. These are gadgets or prototypes with big, game-changing potential: to power villages in the developing world, to assist search-and-rescue teams in responding to disasters, to restore some vision to the blind.
Some are available now, while others won’t come for a year or two, if ever. But all of them are ingenious in their approach to solving problems. And someday, the names of their inventors may be spoken by future schoolteachers.
May we present The CNN 10: Inventions.

Source: www.cnn.com

I will post the ten of them in details as time progresses. Do not be in a haste, just sit tight!
Visit the blog every day and you'll see the intriguing inventions of the year! In details!!!
*I'm elated*
 

 

GULSHAN ESTHER

Early life

Esther was born in 1952 to a wealthy and prominent family of Jhang in the Punjab, Pakistan. She claims that at the age of six months she became ill with Typhoid Fever and as a result became paralyzed on her left side. At the age of 14, in the search for a cure for her paralysis, her father brought her to England to see a specialist, who allegedly declared her beyond healing and recommended prayer.^{[citation needed]} From England, Esther proceeded directly on a pilgrimage to Mecca with her father and two maids. Esther later stated that despite not being healed while on Hajj she did not initially lose her Islamic faith.^{[citation needed]}

Conversion

In her book, Esther claims that beginning after her father's death when she was 16 years old, she began to hear the voice of Jesus, encouraging her to read about him in the Quran. At the age of 19, she had a vision of Jesus and twelve other radiant beings in her bedroom at 3 A.M., just before morning prayers. At that time, her limbs were instantly and completely healed. At the same time as he healed her, Esther claims that Jesus said, "What you have seen now with your eyes you must take to my people," then he taught her The Lord's Prayer and told her one more time before departing, "I want you to be my witness." As a result of her healing, Esther immediately became a local celebrity.
Later, in light of some hostility from Muslims who didn't like her claim that Jesus had healed her, Esther began to wonder why he was considered an unimportant or peripheral character by Muslims. She further began to question why, if Jesus could heal the sick and raise the dead, he was considered less important than Prophet Muhammed, who could not perform these feats. She also puzzled over the fact that the Quran contained almost no information or teachings about Jesus, even while stating that he was a noble and favored prophet. Esther wrote that The Lord's Prayer taught her that Jesus has primacy over any prophet, and is proof of the kingship of Jesus, since it was he who taught her the prayer and who will establish the earthly kingdom of God upon his return from heaven.
Following her conversion she was punished under the Pakistani law against apostasy, including the loss of a large inheritance and being jailed for a month, and also received death threats from two of her brothers.

Today

Gulshan Esther now lives in Oxford, England. She travels widely on speaking tours, on which she discusses her book and answers questions about her faith^. Her book has sold over 200,000 copies.

Source: www.wikipedia.com

Kimani Ng'ang'a Maruge

 Kimani Maruge (1920 - August 14, 2009) holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest person to start primary school—he enrolled in the first grade on January 12, 2004, aged 84. Although he had no papers to prove his age, Maruge believed he was born in 1920.

Maruge attended Kapkenduiywo Primary School in Eldoret, Kenya; he said that the government's announcement of universal and free elementary education in 2003 prompted him to enroll.
In 2005 Maruge, who was a model student, was elected head boy of his school.
In September 2005, Maruge boarded a plane for the first time in his life, and headed to New York City to address the United Nations Millennium Development Summit on the importance of free primary education

Maruge's property was stolen during the 2007-2008 post-election violence, and he contemplated quitting school During early 2008 he lived in a refugee camp, where he was reportedly a minor celebrity, four kilometers from his school, but still attended classes every day.In June 2008, he relocated to the capital Nairobi
In June 2008, Maruge was forced to withdraw from school and relocate to a retirement home for senior citizens. However, soon after, on June 10, 2008, Maruge enrolled once again into grade 6 at the Marura primary school, located in the Kariobangi area of Nairobi.

A feature film about Kimani Maruge, starring Oliver Litondo and Naomie Harris titled The First Grader, was released on May 13, 2011. The British-produced film was shot on location in the Rift Valley in Kenya, despite earlier reports that it would be filmed in South Africa.
Director Justin Chadwick said: "We could have shot it in South Africa, but Kenya has this unbelievable, inexplicable energy - inherent in the children, and the people we were making the film about"

On Sunday May 24, 2009, Maruge was baptised at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Kariobangi and took a Christian name, Stephen.
Maruge was then using a wheelchair.
Maruge was a widower, and a great-grandfather (two of his 30 grandchildren attend the same school). He was a combatant in the Mau Mau Uprising against the British colonizers in the 1950s.

 Maruge died on August 14, 2009 of stomach cancer, at the Cheshire Home for the Aged in Nairobi.He was buried at his farm in Subukia

Source: www.wikipedia.com

How old are you that you cannot get educated?

'Vampire therapy' could reverse ageing, scientists find...

A transfusion of youthful blood may halt or even reverse the ageing process as two studies find that the chemical make-up of younger blood has surprising health benefits

It may seem the stuff of gothic horror novels, but transfusions of young blood could reverse the ageing process and even cure Alzheimer’s Disease, scientists believe. 

Throughout history, cultures across the globe have extolled the properties of youthful blood, with children sacrificed and the blood of young warriors drunk by the victors.

It was even rumoured that the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il injected himself with blood from healthy young virgins to slow the ageing process.

Now scientists have found that young blood actually ‘recharges’ the brain, forms new blood vessels and improves memory and learning.

In parallel research, scientists at Harvard University also discovered that a ‘youth protein’ which circulates in the blood is responsible for keeping the brain and muscles young and strong.
The protein, known as ‘GDF11’, is present in the bloodstream in large quantities when we are young but peters out as we age.
Although both the discoveries were made in mice, researchers are hoping to begin human trials in the next two to three years, in studies which could bring rapid improvements for human longevity and health.
“This should give us all hope for a healthier future,” said Prof Doug Melton, of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology.
“We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young, and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer.
“There seems to be little question that, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function.”
Last year the team discovered that the protein could repair damaged hearts. But the new study showed that that raising the levels of the GDF11 protein in older mice improved the function of every organ in the body.
Harvard stem cell biologist Prof Lee Rubin added: “We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein.
"It isn't out of question that GDF11, or a drug developed from it, might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease.”
It is likely that the protein is at least partly responsible for the parallel finding by Stanford University that young blood can reverse the signs of ageing.
In the study, the blood of three-month-old mice was repeatedly injected into 18-month-old mice near the end of their natural life span.
The "vampire therapy" improved the performance of the elderly mice in memory and learning tasks.
Structural, molecular and functional changes were also seen in their brains, the study published in the journal Science found.
If the same were seem in humans, it could lead to new therapies for recharging our aging brains and novel drugs for treating dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease.
“We’ve shown that at least some age-related impairments in brain function are reversible. They’re not final,” said Dr Saul Villeda, of Stanford’s School of Medicine.
Ageing mice given eight infusions of young blood over three weeks improved their performance in mental tests of fear condition and locating a hidden platform in a water maze.
Evidence was seen of new connections forming in the hippocampus, a brain region vital to memory and sensitive to ageing.
Dendritic spines - finger-like extensions from the branches of neurons that are thought to play a role in memory formation - also became more dense.
Infusions of blood from other elderly mice had no effect, the study, published in the journal Nature, found.
“This could have been done 20 years ago,” said lead researcher Dr Tony Wyss-Coray of Stanford.
“You don’t need to know anything about how the brain works. You just give an old mouse young blood and see if the animal is smarter than before. It’s just that nobody did it.”
"Our data indicate that exposure of aged mice to young blood late in life is capable of rejuvenating synaptic plasticity and improving cognitive function.
"Future studies are warranted in aged humans and potentially those suffering from age-related neurodegenerative disorders."
Dr Eric Karran, from the dementia charity Alzheimer's Research UK, said: “This technically complex study looks at the effects of exposing old mice to blood-borne factors from young mice on age-related cognitive decline.
“Although the treatments tested here rejuvenate certain aspects of learning and memory in mice, these studies are of unknown significance to humans.
“This research, while very interesting, does not investigate the type of cognitive impairment that is seen in Alzheimer's disease, which is not an inevitable consequence of ageing.”

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

POLICE COMMENCES DIGITAL VEHICLE REGISTRATION SCHEME

 The Nigeria Police Force on Monday said it was moving from analog to digital motor registration using the new Digital Biometric Central Motor Registration (BCMR) system.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said the change of registration processes of vehicles, tricycles, and auto-bikes from the old analogue CMR to the new digital BCMR system will take effect from September 16.

Mr. Mba said introduction of the BCMR comes against the backdrop of contemporary security challenges bordering on terrorism, high incidence of car theft, carjacking, kidnappings and other acts of crimes and criminalities in our society.

“Unlike our hitherto analogue based procedures, the BCMR operates on smart-cards and portable hand-held receiver and is a specially developed technological means of attaching automobile owner’s unique traits and personal data to their vehicles for proper identification and protection purposes.” Mr. Mba said
He further stated that the police BCMR are designed to be used for forensic analysis; fingerprints can be matched or verified against registered finger prints collected during registration.

It is also designed to match 20 million fingerprints per seconds (the speed depends on the size of registered prints) 20 million fingerprints is equivalent to 2 million people (10 prints per person).

He also explained that facial Matching can also be achieved with Police BCMR; saying the police’ database can be matched with still pictures and frames from a video stream.

“The system can match 500,000 pictures per minute (if you have a registered database of 150 million, the likely match time for facial recognition is about 300 minutes (5hrs),” he said. Mr. Mba said that as a huge store for information, the BCMR will provide a one-stop information data base for all vehicle owners and serve as a strong forensic base for all manners of investigations which will greatly enhance policing operations particularly in the area of tracking down and locating positions of missing vehicles, preventing crimes, arresting criminals guaranteeing safer and a more secure use of our roads and other sundry crimes.
The BCMR has three means of registration which could be either through designated Banks, on-line, or at some Police Commands.

The designated banks are Eco Bank, Keystone bank and Nigeria Police Force BCMR centres.
Car owners are to pay registration fees at the banks, collect their pin numbers and proceed to the registration points for their registration, “a process that does not take more than ten minutes,” the police said.

“You can also pay on-line, get your registration pin, commence the pre-registration by yourself, filling the details of your vehicle and personal data but the registrant would still have to get a designated registration to complete the registration process where his bio-data, photo and fingerprints would be captured. In the Police Commands and other designated formations, registrants would purchase a scratch card which would give pins to be used for registration.

“Vehicle owners are expected to pay N3, 500.00, while tricycles popularly called “Keke Marwa” or “keke Napep” and auto-bikes go for N1, 500.00,” he said.

Mr. Mba also said that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, calls for the understanding, cooperation and support of all Nigerians towards ensuring the success of the scheme.


So if you are an automobile owner, get involved while it’s still early. A deadline might be fixed soon, which would introduce long queues, you know what I mean.

To start up, simply click https://www.policebcmr.org

What are your views of graphic arts...

The Last Triad of the Year

With the year running,

A time comes when trees become skinny,

At this time you never feel queasy,

Because the atmosphere is really breezy.

Here in school,

I think of the year one evangelism,

It is a way to counter all other isms,

Though many absent themselves for various reasons.

In this time of the year,

All I think of are the “-mber” months,

Which end with December in everyone’s mouth,

You could fathom to what joy these would amount.

Come to think of it,

Rapture could occur in a time like this,

Though many would want to play a worldly disc,

They could be saved if they consider the risk.

Bringing this to an end,

Shocking wonders never end,

A naughty boy going to hell,

For disobeying parents on what he was sent.

This piece was written on the 7^th of September 2013 as I looked through the window of my school hostel observing the harmattan breeze.