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Did You Know? (Part 6 – Technology)

By Technology, The WebNo Comments
did-you-know

Did You Know?

 This is the sixth and final in a series of Did You Know? blog posts. Each blog post gives fascinating facts on a particular topic. In part 1 the topic was science. In part 2 the topic was history. In part 3 the topic was geography. In part 4 the topics were art & music. In part 5 the topic was animals.

Today, I give you ten facts about Technology:

1. The first mobile phone call was made by Martin Cooper in 1973.

2. The first iPhone was released in the UK in 2007. Today there are more than 682m iPhones in the world.

3. Alan Turing is most well-known for being an excellent code-breaker in World War 2. He happened to be gay and was castrated by the UK state for his sexuality. But he also proposed founding theories about how to make computers work and computer science.

4. The World Wide Web (WWW) was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. Today £1.7trillion is spent online in a year, 3m emails are sent every second (mostly SPAM) and there is countless amounts of data on the internet.

5. The X-ray was invented by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1895. The idea for the CT (Computed Tomography) scanner was first imagined by Godfrey Hounsfield in 1969. Hounsfield presented his idea to Dr. James Ambrose and they worked together to make his idea a reality. The MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner was developed by a number of people. The X-ray, CT scanner and MRI scanner have all revolutionised medicine, by allowing doctors insight to what it going on in a patient’s body, without the need for invasive surgery.

6. Google deals with 1 billion searches a day.

7. Someone using a computer will blink 7 times a minute, rather than the normal 20 times a minute. This is because they are concentrating more on the screen.

8. Technology of Sci-Fi TV shows and films is now becoming a reality. For example, in Star Trek computers respond to verbal commands and its responses were relatively intelligent. Today we have Siri (Apple), Alexa (Amazon), Contina (Windows) and Android Voice Commands (Google/Android).

9. The operating system Linux is huge across servers, computers, tablets and smartphones. The chances are you use it without even realising. Linux is on every Android device, along with being on most serves (computers that host websites) in the world. Facebook, Google and Pinterest all run on Linux servers.

10. The people at Wired.com were the first to come up with banner advertisements, which are now used on most commercial websites.

Write soon,

Antony

References
Know Your Mobile – The History of Mobile Phones From 1973 To 2008: The Handsets That Made It ALL Happen
BBC News – Apple iPhone debuts in UK stores
{Life} Buzz – 25 Things You Didn’t Know About Technology… Almost No One Knows About #7.
Alan Turing: The Enigma
The Daily Beast – The Castration of Alan Turing, Britain’s Code-Breaking WWII Hero
Computer Hope – When was the first computer invented?
World Wide Web Foundation – History of the Web
Sunday Express – Top ten facts about…the internet
How Stuff Works – Science – Who invented the X-ray?
Eureka – When Hounsfield Met Ambrose, The Invention of Computed Tomography
Thought Co. – Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI
Did you know? Technology fast facts
Techlila – 32 Computer Facts and Interesting Facts About Technology
The Guardian – Technology – Voice Recognition
WIRED – Linux Took Over The Web. Now, It’s Taking Over The World

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Monday 21 August 2017

Christmas Card Letter: 2012

By Books & Authors, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, TechnologyNo Comments


Contact Me

Monday 19th November 2012

Dear Reader,

Another year passes us by, time flies by so quickly doesn’t it? For me this year has been a mix of passive times with periods of immense activity. In January I bought myself an iMac (see iMac Part 1 & iMac Part 2), promising myself to write creatively more often. In April I went to watch Steps to relive my youth with mum, Ian & Jodie.


(Above left to right: Ian, Mum & Jodie. Steps Logo on MEN screen. Jodie & Mum.)

In May I had two weeks of annual leave and celebrated my birthday at Alton Towers. If you’ve never been to Alton Towers…you must go; it’s a brilliant day out. During my time off I also visited Chester Zoo for Steve’s Birthday and visited Steve’s family in Hastings.


(Above left to right: Steve in Giant Turtle Shells. Two Cheetahs sunbathing. Me, Steve’s Friend & Steve in Masks at the gift shop.)

My Degree in Nursing results were released in June and I got a Upper Second (2:1) Honours. I felt a sense of achievement and a sense of relief that it was finally over after I previously had to put the final module back a year.

Sye came to stay in July for the Summer. With his arrival I felt a renewed level of motivation to get things done. He returned to Uni. in Salford in the Autumn, it was good having him to stay but I am glad that he’s back where he wants to be.

I had a day trip to Liverpool in August with my good friends Chrys & Simon. Chrys being a proper scouser (minus the accent) showed us round the beautiful city and for the first time I understood why people love the city: the architecture, the culture (music) and the seemingly relaxed nature of the people.

Just before the day trip to Liverpool I started experiencing some severe back pain. After seeing my GP I had an x-ray, was given some painkillers and was referred to Physio. My back’s still causes me some grief now, but the combination of co-codamol and physio exercises have massively reduced the amount of pain I experience.

Having continued to blog throughout the year including several book reviews, I was surprised in September when I had caught the eye of a Publicist (who works for several publishers). This Publicist, from Publishers Group UK asked me if I would review one of their books. I had a bit of a confidence crisis, as I had absolutely no confidence in my writing but Sye encouraged me to go for it. So I did…

The Publicist was that pleased with my review that he sent me another five books to read and at one point stated “a career as a book reviewer beckons!” This was a huge complement and has given me a little more confidence around my writing.

About a week or so ago, I was approached by a Publicist Manager for Headline publishers who have asked me to review a copy of Fuse the second book in a trilogy.

Among my plans for next year is to develop my writing further. But for now I’m focusing on Yule and Christmas. Things are changing this Christmas; for the first time ever Mum is working on Christmas Day, I am off work for the whole Christmas period and I am going to attempt (with Steve) to make Christmas Dinner. Ha ha should be fun at the very least.

Have a joyful festive period,

Antony, Dylan & Russell (the cats)

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Sunday 9 December 2012

Ouch…Severe Lower Back Pain

By HealthNo Comments

About a month ago I started suffering a sudden onset of severe back pain. It got so bad that paracetamol and ibuprofen wasn’t touching the pain and I couldn’t find any position to sit or lie in that would relief the pain so I went to see my GP. The pain was so bad that I felt constantly nauseous meaning I wasn’t eating, which is not good for a diabetic.

My GP thought it might be crushed vertebrae and gave me co-codamol with an appointment for an x-ray of my spine. The Co-Codamol was effective at relieving the pain but made me really drowsy. This mean’t that I was off work as wasn’t safe to drive.



(Some of the tablets I was taking.)

I didn’t agree with the doctors diagnosis of a crushed vertebrae as it is usually associated with trauma. While waiting for the x-ray results and being off work I rested my back as much as possible and the pain eased, meaning that I had to take the pain killers less often. I even managed to start getting out in the car and getting to the supermarket which was a major achievement as I had been house bound for nearly two weeks.

When the results of the x-ray came back it was revealed that my spine was fine so the GP diagnosed me with a muscle spasm. She gave me some Diclofenac as well as the co-codamol and referred me to a physio.

I’m still getting twinges of pain somedays, especially if I do a lot of walking or other physical activity. I am trying to rest my back as much as possible and be careful about not putting too much pressure on my back muscles. The whole experience has made me really appreciate my back, feel thankful of not having any spinal damage and made me more aware of the physical pain some people face in their day to day lives.

To anyone who suffers pain on a day to day basis, you are brave and I hope one day that medical advancement can lead to completely curing you of your pain.

Take Care,

Antony

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Friday 3 August 2012
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