Your Facebook inbox is trickier to manage than you initially believed.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – We all deal with important e-mails that our e-mail provider decides to send to Bulk or Spam, causing to miss it for weeks on end. What if we told you that there is a secret compartment on your Facebook page that does the same thing with your personal messages. Here is how you can check your secret Facebook messages.
Facebook cares a lot about privacy, so the social network implemented a strategy that sends all messages from people who are not friends with the receiver either in the “message requests” category, either in the “filtered” one.
So if you have a Facebook account for a couple of years now and a rainy afternoon with nothing to do, you can check your secret Facebook messages. The procedure is quite easy, but it is recommended to use a laptop or computer for the deal, rather than a smartphone or a tablet.
Once you braced yourselves and decided to spend a couple of hours scrolling through messages like “Hey I know you from that party last week, let’s hang” to the more common “I am a prince and I require your assistance for a business transaction,” to spams from different pages you liked.
For example, if you liked Bon Jovi on Facebook, the page sent you messages with all of his concert dates, but the social platform filtered them. Or if somebody with whom you had no friends in common messaged you, the PM would also go in the “filtered” category rather than in the “message requests” that you might check from time to time.
In order to check your secret Facebook messages, you can go to your Facebook account and click on the message icon. After doing so, you must select the “See All” option that appears on the bottom.
You will then be redirected towards the messages page. On the top, left corner you will find that you have additional columns. The default selected option is “Recent”, if you click on the next one, “Messages Requests”, you will find the messages from all of the people that sent you a PM that didn’t make it to your usual inbox.
Usually, these are the people that also sent you a friend request. But if you really want to make things interesting and check your secret Facebook messages, then you can go to the “More” button and select the option “Filtered.” That is where the fun begins.
Image source: Flickr
Ancient arthropods are the ancestors of modern-day insects, crustaceans and centipedes.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – It seems that maternal instincts are not present only in intelligent creatures. A group of archaeologists unearthed a 430 million years old fossil that appears to have its babies attached to it with long, thin strings. Apparently the Kite Runner kept its younglings close, tied to its body close.
Ancient arthropods are the ancestors of modern day centipedes, millipede, insects, and crustaceans. The specimen that was recently unearthed was among the early forms of life that took the form of an arthropod. But evidence suggests that the insect ancestor had very well developed maternal instincts.
Judging by its shape and by the place where it was found, the Aquilonifer spinosus must have crawled on the bottom of a sea floor that no longer exists. And while crawling in search of food, the Kite Runner, as the archeologists dubbed it, liked to keep its younglings close nearby.
How close? Tied to its body with long, thin threads close. The unusual fossil found in Herefordshire Lagerstӓtte clearly shows a Kite Runner specimen with ten offspring attached to its body. The younglings are enclosed in small capsules shaped like tiny lemons.
Before establishing that the capsules contained the offspring of the Aquilonifer spinosus, the researchers looked into every other possibility. The first thing that crossed their mind was the possibility that the tiny creatures were actually parasites.
But they soon crossed out the option because The Kite Runner has long frontal limbs that could easily have removed the thin strings that attached the creatures to its body. Also, the line was too long and thin for it to be a means through which the supposed parasites fed.
Furthermore, upon close analysis, the team of researchers discovered that the creatures from the capsules were smaller versions of the Kite Runner. This meant that the only plausible explanation for their presence was the fact that the Kite Runner kept its younglings close.
From what the researchers gathered, the Aquilonifer spinosus probably used its long front appendages to feed on what it found on the floor of the ancient sea, while the younglings floated around it, filtering zoo-or phytoplankton.
The threads kept them attached to their parent so that they wouldn’t float away and end up somebody else’s dinner.
The arthropod received the name of Kite Runner because the archaeologists believed that the capsules looked like small kites that surrounded the adult specimen. Moreover, they wanted to pay tribute to Khaled Hosseini’s novel.
Image source: Wikimedia
Google spent some time and resources preparing for April Fools’, and the result was hilarious.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Yesterday was the 1st of April, or the day when nobody believes anything they see on the internet. George Martin is working on a new saga, the Eiffel Tower is closed indefinitely, and many other “breaking news” flooded the internet yesterday. But Google really spent some time preparing for April Fools’ because their videos were elaborate, and actually quite catchy.
Google Plastic Cardboard
Probably one of the best prank videos that Google released this 1st of April was the one about Google Plastic Cardboard. As you can see from the video, the innovation from the company comes in transparent, hard plastic with great features.
Not only can it be used for the ultimate high graphics, stereo sound, intriguing plot video game that is called real life, but it can also be equipped with different additional features. Users can choose between analogue and digital clock, reading mode, cinematic mode, landscape mode and even sleep mode.
And from the looks of the video, Google really spent some time preparing for April Fools’. And it’s good that the company feels so secure about its actual product that it can make fun of it with a video that is basically telling users that reality will be a better experience anytime and anywhere.
New Emoji Search Feature for Google Photo
Google has revolutionized the way in which we search for photos in our folders. And since smartphones are equipped with high-resolution cameras, people tend to store thousands and thousands of pictures on their electronic devices.
But what if you forgot the name of the costume your dog was wearing two Halloweens ago, and you really want to show that picture to your date? Fear no more, because there is a new emoji search feature for Google Photos.
realBooks by Google
Some people prefer to read books in their classical format; others like to store them all on an electronic device and save the forests. But the thing with eBooks is that they can’t be displayed one by one in a custom made bookshelf.
Luckily, Google thought about that, and it created realBooks. The idea is simple, they take an electronic device, strip it of any unnecessary feature and allow the upload of a single book. Now people will be able to fill their bookshelves once more.
Self-Driving Bike by Google Netherlands
The self-driving bike by Google Netherlands is believed to be “the best invention since the bike, itself.”
Because there is still a long road ahead for the self-driving car, the engineers in the Netherlands believed that they must take innovation step by step, exactly how it was designed to in the first place.
The self-driving carriage was already invented a long time ago thanks to the “horse” intelligent feature, so the next logical step was the self-driving bike.
Now, parents in the Netherlands can enjoy some extra time for themselves as children hop on their self-driving bike and roam the city. Unfortunately, the transportation wonder was only available yesterday.
Compressing at X
Google really spent some time preparing for April Fools’, and we can see that from the video that tackles the benefits of compression starring Richard Hendricks of “Silicon Valley,” an HBO original sitcom.
In this video, Hendricks talks about the benefits of compression. He explains that writing has been going through a continuous change and compression from the elaborate Egyptian pictograms to the written words and expressions that we use today.
He also tries to address climate change by proposing to shrink the cows so that they won’t release so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Hendricks even has a solution for the self-driving car which is, yes, shrinking.
And these are not the only pranks that Google pulled this 1st of April. The company also released a video that presents the ultimate app, the missing sock finder available only in Australia. They also created a new app that would send automated emoji replies to your texts, so that users would not bother themselves with the frequent “lol” responses.
Furthermore, they convinced Snoop Dog to take part into a “SnoopaVision” ruse and Japan that they need a new keyboard, the Flick, that feels realer than the impersonal touchscreen.
Google really spent some time preparing for April Fools’ and their hoaxes are more and more elaborate each year. But at least, they have a sense of humor, and they are confident enough of their products to make fun of them once a year.
Maybe next year we’ll see a short video with Atlas destroying humankind in a robot rage episode.
Image source:
Kroger is supporting all of its customers, no matter the trait that makes them unique.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – A Kroger bathroom sign goes viral after the Georgia store displayed an explanation for its decision to implement a unisex bathroom. Most of the people who commented on the post supported the store’s decision and admired its initiative.
A retail food chain that offers a wide variety of services including food, gifts, pharmacy, and savings recently received a lot of attention due to a sign it posted on its unisex bathroom door.
Judging by the phrasing, it’s possible that the managers were assaulted with tons of questions or complaints about the unisex bathroom, so they decided to post a public explanation. The A4 paper taped to the bathroom door read:
“We have a unisex bathroom because sometimes gender specific toilets put others into uncomfortable situations. And since we have a lot of our friends coming to see us, we want to provide a place for our friends who are:
- Dads with daughters
- Moms with sons
- Parents with disabled children
- Those in the LGBTQ
- Adults with aging parents who may be mentally or physically disabled
Thank you for helping us to provide a safe environment for everyone!”
Tonya Owens, a customer at Kroeger, saw the sign and posted a picture of her Facebook account. The caption read “Nice job Kroeger. This is from a Kroger in Athens, Ga.”
Surely enough, the post went viral. It was shared more than 88,000 times on Facebook; it gathered over 2,400 comments and 58,800 likes.
People on Twitter had the same positive reaction when the photo was shared on the social media platform. Even the official Twitter account of the retail store was flooded with overnight followers and positive reviews.
As the Kroger bathroom sign goes viral, Georgia is starting to regain popularity among the LGBTQ community and its supporters.
Recently, a legislation was submitted that would legalize discrimination against the aforementioned community. But when news of the bill was spread, Georgia officials were flooded with complaints and promises from important organizations.
For example, both NFL and Disney promised Georgia state officials that they will never conduct any sort of activity in the state if the bill is passed.
Nathaniel Deal, the governor of Georgia, vetoed the legislation after it reached him because he, too, considered it outrageous.
Upon vetoing the bill, Deal declared that Georgia is a state that supports everybody. And judging by how fast the bathroom post went viral and how many positive reviews it got, it seems that Georgia is not the discriminatory state people were led to believe.
Image source: Flickr
The Pavlof volcano is one of the largest and more active volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – According to the Geological Survey of the United States, the Alaskan Pavlof volcano erupted yesterday, Sunday, the 27th of March at approximately 4:18 PM. This is not the first time the active volcano sends hot ashes high up into the sky.
Many Americans celebrated Easter yesterday. Eggs were hidden and found, children had a good time, families ate boiled eggs and roast lamb, topping everything with Simnel cake. But Aleutian Islands residents were treated with a free show sponsored by Mother Nature.
The Alaskan Pavlof volcano erupted yesterday at around 4:18 PM. The eruption caused the dispersion of ashes up to 20000 feet in the air. Smoke also covered a large portion of the islands system.
The Pavlof volcano is situated in the Aleutian Islands at a distance of roughly 600 miles from Anchorage. The islands system is made up out of 14 large islands and 55 slightly smaller ones, and it is inhabited by approximately 8,000 people.
There are 57 volcanoes on the Aleutian Islands, most of them being active. The area is a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
When the Alaskan volcano Pavlof erupted yesterday, the ground shook, and the tremors were felt from a considerable distance. When the eruption debuted, the USGS emitted a “Red” and “Warning” alert, advising all aircraft to steer clear of the area.
The ashes were thrown as high as 20000 feet in the air, but the authorities say that the previous eruption was even more violent, materials being ejected to up to 27000 feet.
The Pavlof volcano is the most active in the entire Aleutian arc. It has a diameter of roughly 4.4 miles, and it erupted more than 40 times in recorded history.
Fortunately, the intensely active volcano is not situated anywhere near an inhabited location, so no people were harmed during the eruption. The closest human settlement is Cold Bay, a small town situated around 37 miles away from the active volcanoes.
Even though the volcano is no longer showing signs of immediate activity, the USGS is still reluctant on letting planes pass through the area until they are sure that no harm will come to them.
The Alaskan Pavlof volcano erupted yesterday afternoon, and it put on quite a show for the inhabitants of the Cold Bay settlement. Fortunately, there were no reports of people getting injured during the eruption.
Image source: Wikimedia
VR environments will soon take over the market, and gaming will not be the only application.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Next week Guy Godin will launch a VR desktop application alongside the much-awaited Rift. And the new feature will allow people to do a lot more than gaming on their computer. That is why some tech aficionados already tried working while using Oculus Rift.
Jeff Grub over at Venture Beat tried working while using Oculus Rift to see if the desktop feature will be of any use to any VR fans. And it seems that even though the experience was a bit nauseating, at the end he felt like he could pull off an eight-hour work day in the virtual environment.
The Virtual Desktop will be compatible with both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It may be that the creators of the Rift are trying to get ahead on the virtual reality market. Statics show that by 2020, VR will be a $30 billion industry.
And the Virtual Desktop is not the only non-gaming thing connected to the VR headsets that are currently flooding the market. The popular adult content website, Porn Hub, recently announced that its movies will be available for VR rendering. The site is also offering 10,000 free headsets to its users.
But back to working while using Oculus Rift. According to Grubb, it takes a little to get used to the experience, but at the end, it’s worth it. Especially when your job is to play games and write about it at the end of the day.
It seems that the text can be a little blurry, but the Virtual Desktop comes with a lot of settings options so you can adapt the screen to your preferences.
Furthermore, a great feature is the fact that you can play black videos at 360 degrees. Imagine the details that will no longer be lost with such an experience.
Moreover, the virtual screen is able to support multiple monitors so that you won’t lose the widescreen feel. It also features a theater mode, so users will not have to wait around for Hulu or Netflix to whip up a VR app.
Also, the Virtual Desktop comes with a few voice command options, so you won’t have to spin your head around trying to find the mouse.
Grub describes the entire experience as “having a 60-inch screen 2 feet from your face”. That sounds like a dizzying work day, but the eyes adjust to the environment pretty quick.
Working while using Oculus Rift sounds like a unique experience. VR enthusiasts worldwide will be able to check out the Virtual Desktop and the new Rift starting the 28th of this month.
Until then, you can check out the video embedded below for more details on how working while using Oculus Rift really feels.
Image source: Wikimedia
Heroin abuse is killing thousands of people per year only in the United State.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Drug dealers just don’t know how to keep on pushing their products. Security is pretty tight lately on all borders, so they were obligated to get creative when it came to the method of transportation of the illegal substances. Luckily, human resourcefulness came to their aid. Keeping that in mind, doctors removed heroin bags from a man’s intestines.
A 51 years old Lynn resident was the star of the North Shore Salem Hospital this Tuesday. Miguel Rodriguez ended up in the emergency room complaining about food poisoning from a lobster that he previously ate.
But the doctors soon realized that his so call lobster was, in fact, a lethal dose of illegal drugs packed in small bags and hidden in his stomach and intestines. After administering Narcan (a special drug that reverses the effects of an overdose) to the patient, the medical staff called the proper authorities so that they could be present at the removal of the packages from the man’s abdominal cavity.
After a surgery that lasted a little under an hour, the surgeon managed to retrieve 27 bags of illegal drugs from the man’s stomach and his intestines. The packages weighed approximately 163 grams. The street value of such a large quantity of cocaine and heroin amounts to $16,000.
The doctors believe that Rodriguez got ill because of the bags that he ingested ruptured during transportation. The Lynn man was forced to give in his passport, and as soon as he is discharged from the hospital he will be taken into custody.
His bail has been set at $500,000, and he is facing criminal charges. The 51 years old man already pleaded guilty. He may serve a reduced sentence if he continues to collaborate with the police. Rodriguez just returned from a short vacation in the Dominican Republic.
The authorities believe that the “bad lobster” was ingested before he left the country. The MO is consistent with other attempts of drug smuggling.
Other strange places from where TSA agents retrieved illegal substances are the anus and the vagina. Mules, as the carriers are often named, used to insert the bags in their orifices, and remove them once the packages were safe over the US border.
Unfortunately for them, security agents from airports are now performing “cavity searches” that include checking if the suspect is carrying something in his or her anus or vagina.
Now doctors removed heroin bags from a man’s intestines, and it seems that they are running out of places where to hide the merchandise while crossing the border.
Image source: Flickr
Smoothies are not as healthy as they appear to be because they also lots of sugar.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – George Osborne, the British Chancellor, announced that Great Britain will adopt the sugar tax on all such drinks except for fruit juices and smoothies. This means that the British people will end up paying the same amount of money on fruit juice as they pay on soda, but researchers warn them that fruit juice has a high sugar content as well.
After the announcement was made, a team of scientists decided to test the sugar quantities in the exempt drinks. Their discoveries were published in the journal BMJ Open on the 23rd of March.
According to their analysis, smoothies and fruit juices that target children contain absurdly high amounts of the sweet substance. Their tests show that roughly half of the children oriented beverages were filled with sugar. Only one of those drinks was enough to satisfy the daily recommended dose.
A child must consume approximately 19 grams, or roughly 5 teaspoons of sugar in a day. But almost half of the products that were tested by the team contained that amount.
The researchers tested over 200 smoothies, fruit juices and fruit drinks from the British market. They chose their sample from products that were being sold in major supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, Co-op, and Morrisons and Asda.
They searched for naturally and added sugars present in 100 ml of content. The levels of sugar were through the roof.
The average level of sugar in 21 juices was of 10.7 grams in 100 ml of content. But 24 smoothies took the lead with 13 grams of the substance present in 100 ml of juice.
Judging by the fact that the children oriented products are usually sold in small recipients, and an average juice box or smoothie bottle measures around 200 or 250 ml, and comparing with the 19 grams DRD, then it’s quite obvious that only one bottle or box of product was more than enough to satisfy an infant’s sugar crave.
A professor of clinical epidemiology at Liverpool University, and the lead author of the study, Simon Capewell, said that most people simply assume that smoothies and other fruit beverages are automatically healthy because they have a high content of fruit.
But this is not always the case seeing as the beverages contain high levels of either sugar, or aspartame. And while the latter was proved safe for consumption, parents should always consider giving real fruits to their children.
Image source: Flickr
Couples trying to conceive are advised to drink less than 2 cups of caffeinated drinks per day.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – According to the latest studies, too much caffeine can lead to a miscarriage. It seems that coffee and other caffeinated beverages can affect the proper development of fetuses. More than 70 percent of failed pregnancies can be linked to the consumption of more than 2 caffeinated beverages per day.
A new study published in the Sterility and Fertility journal yesterday concluded that too much caffeine can lead to a miscarriage. According to the article, more than 70 percent of miscarriages can be linked to the consumption of more than 2 caffeinated beverages per day.
But the study doesn’t only address women. It seems that coffee and other drinks that contain caffeine can also influence the sperm. So if a couple decides to conceive, they must both regulate the intake of the beverages mentioned above.
The study’s lead author and director of the Health Research of Intramural Population at the Child Development and Health National Institute, Germaine Buck Louis declared that pre-conception consumption of caffeinated drinks in males is as risky as in females.
In order to reach these results, 501 couples in Texas and Michigan who were trying to have a baby were closely monitored. The parents to be were asked by the researchers to keep a detailed journal of their daily activities. This included behaviors like drinking alcohol, smoking and drinking coffee or any other caffeinated beverages.
Those who managed to conceive within a year of the study’s debut were asked to continue to write in their journals until the pregnancy was carried out to term, or until the mother experienced a miscarriage.
344 couples managed to conceive. Out of the total number, 98 women suffered a miscarriage. It seems that the chances of such a thing happening are twice as big in women over the age of 35 than in the younger ones.
From the 98 pregnancies that ended abruptly, 74 percent were linked to a high caffeine consumption in women, and 73 in men.
Furthermore, the research showed that the mothers to be that took a daily supplement of multivitamins before and after getting pregnant were less prone to experience a miscarriage than those who didn’t.
Even though the results point to the fact that too much caffeine can lead to a miscarriage, Buck Louis noted that the study only serves to show a link between the two. Scientists have yet to establish a cause and effect relationship between the two.
Image source: Pixabay
According to the latest research, back pain can be cured by meditation and mindfulness.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – According to the new research, you can ease back pain with mindfulness. Of course, the treatment is recommended to those who have lower back pains that were not explained by their physicians.
Alternative medicine has been a subject of debate for a long time. And for a couple of years now, more and more people are starting to turn to this branch of medicine looking for answers that the traditional approach couldn’t provide.
A team of researchers from the Group Health Seattle Research Institute discovered that almost half of their patients could ease back pain with mindfulness. Daniel Cherkin, the lead author of the study, believes that meditation can help patients where traditional medicine failed them.
Stress reduction based on mindfulness (MSBR) and therapy based on cognitive behavior (CBT) were the two methods used by the team of scientists in order to determine whether or not psychological well-being is linked to a decreased level of back pain in the lower regions.
MSBR is a technique that focuses on the sensations, emotions and thoughts of the patients through meditation and yoga. CBT is a more pragmatic approach to dealing with pain in the sense that it uses a combination of medical and behavioral information. Basically, it teaches the patients what pain is, how it’s related to day to day activities and how it can be managed using individual tools.
The team decided to focus on back pain, notably pain in the lower regions in the back because this type of affliction is often left unexplained by doctors. This causes the patients to feel stressed, tired, afraid and even irritable. They feel like their symptoms are not validated like their doctors left them alone to deal with it.
In order to test the potential of MSBR and CBT treatments, the Seattle researchers gathered a sample of 342 patients and randomly assigned them to three groups. The first was used as a control group, and the participants received the usual pain coping tools, the second was assigned MSBR treatment and the third was introduced to CBT.
After six months in which the patients received regular therapy, the scientists discovered that the MSBR group was faring the best, with 61 percent of volunteers showing meaningful improvement. The BCT group was not very far behind with 58 percent of pain-free participants, and the control group registered a 44 percent success rate.
It seems that you can actually ease back pain with mindfulness, so next time pills don’t work, try striking a yoga pose and clearing your mind.
Image source: YouTube