Dollar facts

$1

The United States one-dollar bill is the most common denomination of US currency, totaling 45% of all bills ($1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100) produced. There are about 2 billion $1 bills in circulation. 

Like all United States money, the $1 note is produced by the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (with the aptly named web address, moneyfactory) in Washington, D.C. and Fort Worth, Texas; they are delivered wrapped in blue straps and has a life span of approximately 5.9 years.

The $1 bill features the portrait of President George Washington.

$2

The $2 bill was discontinued in 1966, but was reintroduced in 1976. Between 1% and 2% of all notes currently produced are $2 bills. They are less used thus it is no surprise that a $2 note lasts up to 15 years.

$2 bills are delivered in green straps.

President Thomas Jefferson is featured on the $2 bill.

$5

Approximately 9% of all United States paper notes are $5 bills. Delivered in red straps, they have an average circulation life of 4.9 years before they are replaced due to wear.

The $5 bill features President Abraham Lincoln, who served as the 16th President of the United States, from March 1861 until his assassination by the well-known actor John Wilkes Booth in April 1865.

$10

Up to 11% of all newly printed U.S. banknotes are $10 bills, delivered in yellow straps. A $10 note is in circulation for about 4.2 years before it is replaced due to wear.

The first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, is featured on the $10 bill. He is the only person featured on U.S. currency who was not born in the continental United States – he was born in the West Indies. His portrait also is the only one that faces to the left on U.S. paper currency in circulation.

In 1804, Hamilton was killed in a duel by Vice President Aaron Burr.

$20

Approximately 22% of all notes printed are $20 bills. They are delivered in violet straps and have a life span of 7.7 years.

The $20 bill is known as “the jackson” because it features the portrait of President Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States (1829–1837).

$50

Approximately 5% of all notes are $50 bills, which are delivered in brown straps. A $50 note is in circulation for about 3.7 years before it is replaced due to wear.

The 18th President of the United States (1869–1877), Ulysses S. Grant, is featured on the $50 bill.

$100

Approximately 7% of all U.S. notes produced are $100 bills. There are an estimated 9 billion $100 notes in circulation. They make up more than 80% of the value of all U.S. currency in circulation. They also are the notes that overseas people mostly want. Roughly two-thirds of all $100 bills are held outside the United States.

The average life span of a $100 bill is 15 years before it is replaced due to wear and tear.

While printed by the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing, most of $100 bills are distributed by the Federal Reserve Cash Office in New York City. According to a NY Fed report (PDF), a typical foreign shipment is a pallet containing 640,000 such notes ($64 million), in bundles bound in mustard-colored straps.

The $100 bill is referred to as a “benjamin” because it features the portrait of Benjamin Fanklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. It is one of the two notes that does not feature a President of the United States; the other is the $10 bill, featuring Alexander Hamilton.

The $100 bill is also called a “C-Note”, based on the Roman numeral for 100.

Series 1996-2003A $100 note, first issued in March 1996

In December 2010, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing announced a printing error on a new design of the $100 bill, affecting as much as $110 billion worth of paper and costing the taxpayers 12 cents apiece, or $120 million. According to Wikipedia -

The Series 2009 $100 bill redesign was unveiled on April 21, 2010, and was to be issued to the public on February 11, 2011, but production was shut down in December 2010 because as many as 30% were unusable due to a manufacturing flaw. A vertical crease in the paper reveals a blank space on the bill when pulled out. In their replacement, and continuing the high demand of this denomination, the Series 2006A was launched retaining the previous design (1996-generation).

A new $100 note design will enter circulation in October 2013.

Women on American money

All the current money notes feature the potraits of males but women have been featured on currency: Martha Washington, wife of George Washington, appeared on the 1886 and 1891 $1 Silver Certificate. She also appeared together with her husband on the reverse of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1896.

Pochahantas (later known as Rebecca Rolfe when she married John Rolfe in 1614) appears on several pieces of currency.

Factoids

In 1929, U.S. bills shrunk from 7.48 x 3.14 inches (190 x 80mm) to the current size of 6.14 x 2.61 inches (155.956 x 66.294mm).

A money note consists of 25% linen and 75% cotton.

The inclusion of “In God We Trust” on all United States currency was required by law in 1955. The national motto first appeared on paper money in 1957.

Big bucks

The $100 bill is the largest denomination that has been printed since July 14, 1969, when the denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 were retired.

“As of May 30, 2009, there were only 336 of the $10,000 bills in circulation; 342 remaining $5,000 bills; and 165,372 $1,000 bills.”

The $100,000 Gold Certificate, printed from December 18, 1934 to January 9, 1935, is the largest note is but was not for public use – they were used only for transactions between the Federal Reserve Banks.

Funny money

1 in 10,000 $100 bills - the most frequently counterfeited note - is a superdollar, a high quality counterfeit. But there is little chance that you’ll find a superdollar within the borders of the United States. In fact, less than 1/100th of one percent of the approximately $1.1 trillion in circulation are counterfeit because it actually is difficult to copy a dollar note.

Sources: WSJ History of $100 bill and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Also see: Where word “dollar” comes from

Many people expect increasing memory loss as they age, but this memory loss can be reduced or stalled with some simple memorization techniques, physical exercise, and a reduction of stress. In fact, impaired memory has more to do with chemicals that are released in the brain when an individual suffers from chronic stress. But, you can reduce the obstacles and increase your memory capacity with the seventy-five tips and resources listed below. In fact, you can go from amnesic to elephantic within a few short weeks. 

Some of the tips you may already know, but we’ve repeated them because they may have slipped your mind. Other tips are from recent news stories that contained information you may not have heard. The links will take you to those news items and to other resources that you can use to increase your capacity to remember anything you deem important.

Be in the Moment

1. You can’t remember something if you’ve never learned it, so focus on learning.
2. You don’t need to enroll in a college to learn – you can learn something from educational television programs, from online courses, from books, or from other individuals.
3. It only takes about eight seconds to process data through your hippocampus into the appropriate memory center, so it doesn’t take long to absorb information.
4. You need to pay attention to your environment so that you can encode this information into your brain.
5. To learn how to stay in the moment, don’t focus on the past or worry about the future while you’re learning.
6. Don’t multitask, as you create a “brain drain” when you focus on more than one activity.

Create a Learning Environment

7. Note the environments that make it easier for you to concentrate and try to replicate those environments for learning. You may be accustomed to background noise (like traffic), or you may need complete silence, depending upon the task and your learning habits.
8. To that end, it would help if you understood your learning style. Once you understand what works for you, you can create an environment that stimulates your strengths.
9. Create a learning environment at home. This is crucial for adult learners who will be taking online courses, while balancing work, family, and other factors.
10. If you plan to learn online, know which computer systems will be required before you can begin this task successfully.
11. If you are a visual learner, make sure you have tools to create visuals that will help you retain information.
12. If you’re an auditory learner, purchase a tape recorder so that you can use it to repeat instructions or information.

Use All Your Senses

13. If you’re learning something, involve as many senses as possible to help retain the experience.
14. Drawing and writing includes the use of motor skills that help you to remember information as you stimulate motor pathways.
15. If you utilize these motor skills in a task, don’t try something new for a few days. Instead, repeat some of the exercises listed immediately below a few times during the first week so that they become ingrained with your learning habits.
16. For instance, if you lack charts and diagrams for your reading materials, create them yourself so that you can add sight to sound to help retain information.
17. Take notes on index cards or in a notebook as you listen to a lecture or a similar presentation so that you can help retain information.
18. Sound includes talking to yourself — although this action may not be appropriate during a lecture, you can read your notes aloud when you’re alone.
19. Talk with another person about the information you’ve gathered. This action will incorporate more than one sense and it will help you to categorize information as well.
20. If you’re studying information that includes models (like a car engine), touch various parts (as long as it’s safe to touch them) to help memorize those parts.
21. Attach your ideas to an inert object for your learning process. For instance, connect the introduction of a speech to the entrance of the house, move on to the next room to connect the introduction to the next idea, and so on throughout a building.
22. Along the same lines, you can attach steps within a learning process to actual stairways or to stairs that you draw.
23. Although taste and smell both evoke strong memories, they aren’t very convenient for organizing or holding information in your mind. But, you can try to remember a difficult task by sucking on a mint or by eating a fruit. The taste and smell may stimulate your thought processes when you try to remember the information that you learned.

Use Mnemonic Devices

24. Mnemonic (the initial “m” is silent) devices can provide clues to help you remember things. For instance, you can use visual images to memorize names, places, and events. If you wanted to remember Tom’s name, think of a tom cat and connect that person to that image. Or, use something more obvious, like Queen Victoria for Victoria. Just place an imaginary crown on Victoria’s head and you might remember that person’s name the next time you meet them.
25. Use positive or amusing images rather than unpleasant ones, as the brain often blocks out distasteful memories.
26. If you make the images colorful and three-dimensional, they’ll be easier to remember.
27. “Every Good Boy Does Fine” is a sentence that many musicians use to remember the lines in a treble staff (E, G, B, D, and F). Medical students use silly sentences to remember anatomical features. Try this tool when you need to memorize a sequence of difficult words or a series like the biological taxonomy (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species): “Kids Played Cards On Furry Gray Skins.”
28. “FACE” is the other tool that musicians use to remember the spaces between the lines on the treble staff (F, A, C, and E). This is called an acronym, or using the first letter of a word to create a new word. Other examples include SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), and HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior – the great lakes).
29. Use alliteration to help memorize certain data. “She sells seashells by the seashore” is one example of alliteration. You can group certain words within a list to create a silly alliterative sentence that will be easy to remember.
30. With that said, use alliteration to remember peoples’ names. When you meet a large man named Stan, you could call him “Substantial Stan” (but not to his face!) so you can remember his name. If he loses weight, however, you might be in trouble.
31. Rhymes also are useful for memorization. You might remember this one: “In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” If you need to remember that your business partner is allergic to peanuts, you could make up a rhyme like this: “I’ll feel like a klutz if I offer him nuts.”
32. “Chunk” information, or arrange a long list into smaller units or categories that will be easier to remember. Your Social Security number, for instance, is easier to remember as three “chunks” of three, two, and four numbers rather than a long string of numbers. Phone numbers, credit card numbers, passwords, and other long sequences can be memorized in chunks as well.
33. When you relate a speech to a house (see #21), you’re using what is called a “Method of loci.” For instance, if you’re learning certain body parts, you can place one in the fridge, one in the oven, and another in the bathroom cabinet. Or, use your route to work to associate learning with various landmarks.
34. Connect new data to information you already know. For example, if you already know how to cook a turkey, use that information to relate to how you might cook a goose. You’re merely building on information you’ve already retained and relating it to a new recipe. The new recipe will be easier to remember.

Organize

35. Disorganized people report more memory problems than those individuals who are accustomed to organization. This ability to organize is external as well as internal…External organization can free your brain up for more creative endeavors. Internal organization requires a less stressful lifestyle.
36. Write things down, but write them down in appropriate places. For instance, write addresses in address books, and write grocery lists in a special notebook that you’ve designated for that list. Accordingly, use specific places in the house for certain items. For instance, if you hang the keys on a hook by the door when you enter, you won’t need to sap your time or brain power to find those keys.
37. Lists are great for handling stress – even if the list is a long one, it will be rewarding to cross items off as you complete them.
38. Learn how to prioritize. Get the small things done first so that your list is shortened quickly. For instance, as you go through your email, reply to the ones that need a response immediately so that they don’t pile up. In that vein, you really don’t need to remember all the names of the individuals you met at that business meeting. Focus on the less than ten names of individuals who you want to meet again.
39. Use online or paper calendars to remember important dates. This will help you to be more social, on time, and employed. Plus, you can free up your mind for more creative endeavors.
40. Use both words and pictures to help retain information about such things as meeting dates and places.
41. Break detailed ideas down into simple thoughts that you can convey to someone else (or to yourself). This effort is similar to ‘chunking’ (see #32), and it will help you to remember complex ideas.
42. Similarly, if you understand basic concepts, this memory will help you to retrieve isolated details about that concept.
43. When you can’t write something down, visualize those ideas as being compartmentalized in your brain, much like you would file information away into a filing cabinet. But, be careful and try to make those lists, as an overstuffed file system in your brain can contribute to memory losses.
44. Keep a pad, pencil and small flashlight by your bed to write down ideas that you have at night. If you forget these tools, just move something out of place so that you’ll remember that idea in the morning (just throw a tissue or book on the floor so you see it in the morning – those items will trigger memories of the previous evening).
45. Increase your scholarly productivity with tools that will help you stay organized online.

Overlearn

46. Spend some time with new material a few hours after you’ve been introduced to it. Review notes and try to consolidate the notes into a broad concept or idea.
47. Review notes and other information at intervals throughout the next few days. This is called “Spaced Rehearsal” or “Spaced Repetition,” and it’s a more effective method for learning than cramming.
48. Review material until it becomes second nature. The best way to accomplish this task is to discuss material with another person.
49. When you use overlearning, you improve recall speed.

Retain a Positive Attitude

50. If you don’t want to learn something, chances are you won’t learn it.
51. Tell yourself that you want to learn and that you can learn and remember the information at hand.
52. If you constantly tell yourself and others that you have a bad memory, this action actually hampers the ability of your brain to remember.
53. A positive outlook and positive mental feedback sets up an expectation for success.

Exercise Regularly

54. Exercise increases oxygen to the brain, and oxygen is important for brain function.
55. Physical exercise reduces the risk for many disorders that relate to memory loss, such as dementia and cardiovascular disease.
56. A mix of programs that involve both aerobic exercise and strength training are of greatest benefit, with exercise sessions lasting at least 30 minutes.
57. Exercise may enhance the effects of helpful brain chemicals and protect brain cells, and it may increase the flow of blood to the hippocampus (see #3), enabling it to function better.
58. The hippocampus is especially vulnerable to age-related deterioration that can affect how well you retain information, so it’s important to maintain an exercise routine as you age.
59. Exercise helps to control blood sugar levels, and studies have found that those with impaired glucose tolerance and/or chronic stress tend to have a smaller hippocampus. Since the hippocampus is vital to memory retention, this is not a good thing.
60. Exercise may increase self-confidence, and may reduce anxiety and depression and help you to retain a more positive attitude about life.
61. If you work at a job that is sedentary, or if you watch too much television, get an exercise bike or take a break to walk around the block. The exercise will help you stay connected and stimulated.
62. Walking is not strenuous (unless you power walk), so your leg muscles don’t take up extra oxygen and glucose like they do during other forms of exercise. If you find yourself stressed, take a few minutes to oxygenate your brain with a leisurely walk.
63. Movement and exercise increase breathing and heart rate so that more blood flows to the brain, enhancing energy production and waste removal. As you increase your strength, you also increase your capacity to remember.
64. Finally, physical exercise can protect your brain and its mental processes, and may even help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Manage stress

65. Cortisol, the stress hormone secreted under stress by the human adrenal gland, near the kidneys, can damage the hippocampus if stress is unrelieved.
66. Stress can produce an enzyme called, “protein kinase C,” which impairs the short-term memory and other functions in the prefrontal cortex, the executive-decision part of the brain. In other words, stress can make it difficult to remember and to concentrate.
67. Physical exercise can help to relieve stress. Even a simple walk can help to clear the mind.
68. Jokes, soothing music, and even a short nap can help to break the stress.
69. On the other hand, arousing, exciting, momentous occasions, including stressful ones, get filed away very readily. If you can remember your first date, your first job, 9/11, or when Kennedy was shot, these examples prove that some stressful occasions can create vivid memories.
70. It has been discovered that people who are more prone to chronic distress are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than their more carefree counterparts.

Other Good habits

71. A good night’s sleep is necessary for memory consolidation. Sleep disorders (especially in aging women) can leave you tired and unable to concentrate during the day.
72. Quit smoking – smoking constricts arteries that deliver oxygen to the brain. Research has proven this memory loss in smokers.
73. Relaxation through meditation, tai chi, yoga, or other techniques that slow respiration, slow metabolism, and release muscle tension can make a huge difference in your overall health and stress levels. Invest about ten to fifteen minutes per day with these techniques.
74. Investigate biofeedback programs or games that provide real-time information and tracking. These tools can help you learn effective techniques for reducing stress.
75. Staying properly hydrated can do more for your body and mind than eating, at times. Drink your recommended 8-10 glasses day.

The Memory Toolbox: 75 Tips and Resources to Go from Amnesic to Elephantic – written by OEDb staff writers. Reposted with permission from the Open Education Database.

The first mobile phones were produced by Bell System for use in cars only, introduced in 1946 on their Mobile Telephone Service in St. Louis, Missouri. The first call on a handheld mobile phone was made on April, 3 1973 by Motorola’s Martin Cooper to his rival, Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs. Nicknamed “the brick” the first mobile phones weighed 2 lb (0,9kg) and cost $3,995. 

As with most inventions, it takes a while (and a lot of teething problems) before a product reaches an acceptable cost factor for both the producer and the consumer. Early mobile networks were patchy and phones were expensive, bulky and less than attractive.

When the 1G network launched in 1983, the phones were still too big for comfort and suffered from short battery life. By the time 2G was introduced, in 1991, the phones were better and the first smartphones were introduced. But it was only after 2001, when 3G cellular technology was launched, that the mobile phone market really took off. Networks were faster and phones were smaller and more affordable. The entry-level Nokia 1100, launched in 2003, was snapped up 1 million times a week to eventually become the world’s most popular cell phone with over 200 million units sold. By 2011, Apple had sold more than 100 million iPhone smartphones.

Introducing Android – a smart move

Android, Inc. was founded in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears and Chris White. Google bought it in 2005 and the Linux-based Android operating system was unveiled in 2007. The rest – as the Google history itself – is a remarkable piece of history. People loved Android.

By 2012, Android enjoyed 1.5 million activations per day. . There are almost a billion Android apps available. Some 25 billion apps have been downloaded from the Android app site, Google Play.

World’s first Android phone

By 2013, mobile phones have replaced watches and cameras as the primary time tellers and for taking photographs and videos.

Many users have more than one phone or mobile device, resulting in more than 6 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, almost half of these being smartphone subscriptions. Android is found on 75% of those smartphones in use.

But do you remember first phone to run on Android?

The world’s first Android phone was the HTC Dream – it came to the market in October 2008 as the T-Mobile G1 in the USA and, when signing a two-year service agreement, sold for $179.

It is something known as 3D printing, which Obama claimed “has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.” 

So what exactly is 3D printing?

The term is actually a colloquial phrase for something called “additive manufacturing” — a process of assembling products by sending a digital file to a machine that stacks layers of plastic, resins, ceramics, metal, or other materials on top of each other.

Engineers and designers in the automotive and aerospace sectors have been using the process for decades to build prototypes. Many complex parts manufactured by 3D printing are present on aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellites.

And in the medical industry, three-dimensional printing has also been used to make hip implants out of titanium and dental prosthetics out of ceramic material.

But just as was the case in the computing industry a generation ago, 3D printing technology is advancing rapidly and its cost is falling dramatically. And this means something that was once restricted to a few elite industries is quickly becoming more widely available and affordable.

Some three-dimensional printers, for example, now sell for as little as $1,000.

Practically Limitless Possibilities

According to Terry Wohlers, president of the U.S.-based Wohlers Associates and a pioneer in the field of 3D printing, the possibilities are practically limitless.

“It’s going to open up so many new possibilities for new businesses, new business models, start-up companies, entirely new types of products that before were very expensive or impossible to produce,” he says. “So there’s a very exciting array of possibilities that are developing as a result of this technology.”

The technology is already catching on in some niche industries, including those producing figurines, smartphone cases, handbags, and lamps.

Fashion designers are also using additive manufacturing to produce jewelry and clothing, employing materials such as nylon.

Architects, meanwhile, are working on ways to use 3D printing to manufacture building components in concrete. There is even a race afoot to construct the world’s first house built entirely with 3D printing products.

Researchers are also seeking ways to use the technology to make body parts with biological material, such as cartilage, bone, and skin.

At the same time, many schools across the United States are already being equipped with 3D printers.

Meeting Consumers’ Specific Desires

Wohlers Associates predicts the additive manufacturing industry will be valued at $3.1 billion worldwide by 2016 and $5.2 billion by 2020.

Futurist Thomas Frey, director of the DaVinci Institute in the U.S. state of Colorado, believes 3D printing will “affect virtually every aspect of society” and enable producers to cheaply and efficiently customize their products to meet the specific desires of individual consumers.

“If you can imagine yourself going into a clothing store in the next few years, the first thing that will happen is that they will scan your body and they will send that information to a machine that can print out the clothing that you want,” he says. “So you can pick out whatever fashion you want, whatever colors you want, and they’ll print it out right there on the spot. And it will not only be your clothing, but it will also be your shoes.”

While the “gee whiz” factor of this emerging technology is certainly high, it could have far-reaching implications for the global economy.

Many see 3D printing as an opportunity for developed economies to reclaim certain sectors of industrial manufacturing from developing countries.

London-based economist George Magnus suggests that 3D printing could “tilt [the] competitive edge” in manufacturing back to the United Sates, Western Europe, and Japan.

“Why manufacture in China — with all the problems from rising labor costs to governance and [intellectual-property] protection, and with all the costs of shipping raw materials in and finished products out — when you can do all this close to your markets and customers much more cheaply?” he says.

With 3D printing, it is no longer necessary to construct complex assembly lines before production can begin. Factories using the technology also require fewer workers and materials, reducing production costs.

But don’t write the obituary for traditional assembly-line manufacturing just yet. Additive manufacturing also has its limitations, according to some analysts.

“Today, 3D printing is less than 0.1 percent of conventional manufacturing in the total services and products made,” says Hod Lipson, an associate professor at Cornell University in the U.S. state of New York and co-author of the book “Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing.” He believes additive manufacturing still “has a long way to go” before it becomes completely commonplace.

3D printing makes sense for manufacturing highly technical products with complex designs, Wohlers says. But it is less efficient for simple goods produced in high volumes, like stadium seats and trash cans.

The impact of the technology will also be felt in the workforce in developed Western economies. It is much less labor intensive than traditional assembly-line manufacturing, but at the same time it will create a market for more high-tech jobs.

“Programmers, designers, software and IT personnel, machine minders, and supervisers are the brains — and the brawn input won’t be as big,” says Magnus.

Legal Gray Areas

As 3D technology spreads, it is bound to raise some important legal issues, specifically regarding intellectual property, copyright, and liability.

“If you print a steering wheel and the steering wheel breaks, who is to blame?” asks Lipson. “Is it the designer, is it the equipment manufacturer, [or] is it the material manufacturer? There are a lot of people in the chain. Responsibilities are not clear.”

Lipson adds that the technology is also not without its dangers. He notes, for example, the possibility of printable firearms.

“It’s not going to be a military-grade firearm, but it can be in a kind of plastic, disposable firearm that can shoot only a few rounds,” he says. “But even that can do damage, especially to the person who is firing the firearm. And that’s something that we need to think about.”

In Texas, a group called Defense Distributed already runs a website from which gun lovers can download the files needed to produce firearm parts using a 3D printer.

The group has also posted videos on YouTube of rifles firing rounds with 3D printed magazines.

By Antoine Blua. April 06, 2013. A New Industrial Revolution: The Brave New World Of 3D Printing. Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

The gear on sale falls into four categories: location tracking of mobile phones and vehicles; hacking into computers and phones to monitor every keystroke; recording and storage of what’s being said on an entire telecommunication networks; and the analysis of vast swathes of data to track individual users. 

Location tracking

A popular mobile phone tracking technology is an IMSI catcher, which allows the user to intercept mobile phones. These highly portable devices – which can be as small as a fist – can mask as a cell phone tower and emit a signal that can dupe thousands of mobile phones in a targeted area.

The user of the catcher can then intercept SMS messages, phone calls and phone data, such as unique phone identity codes that would allow them to track phone users’ movements in real-time, without having to request location data from a mobile phone carrier.

Companies that offer this equipment include Ability in Israel, Rohde & Schwarz in Germany and Harris Corp in the US.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which uses these devices to track suspects, says it can do so without a court order. Many police forces around the world have also bought or are considering buying IMSI catchers – including the Metropolitan Police.

Other companies offer ‘passive’ surveillance devices that can be installed at phone exchanges, or even standalone equipment that can vacuum up all the mobile phone signals in an area without anyone knowing.

Specialised gadgets can be attached to a vehicle to track where it goes. While logistics and trucking companies have long used these devices to ensure on-time delivery of goods, Dorset-based Cobham sells ‘Orion Guardian’ covert devices that can be secretly attached to the bottom of a car. Hidden Technology, based in Essex, sells similar devices.

‘For years, there has been a gentleman’s agreement on how these technologies are used. The US and the UK know that the Chinese and the Russians are using IMSI catchers – but so are we,’ says Chris Soghoian, a Washington DC-based fellow at the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. ‘Each government believes that the benefit of being able to use it abroad outweighs the risk to their own citizens.

‘But today, anyone – a stalker or a private company – can show up in Chelsea or Tottenham Court Road and listen to everyone else,’ adds Soghoian. ‘It is time to switch to more encrypted systems that keep everyone safe.’

Hacking

Several companies offer ‘Trojan’ software and phone ‘malware’ that allow the user to take control of a target’s computer or phone.

The software can be installed from a memory stick, or delivered remotely by disguising itself as an an email attachment or software update. Once in place, a user can rifle through a target’s files, log every keystroke a target makes, and even remotely turn on phone and computer microphones and cameras to spy on the target in real-time.

Hacking Team of Italy, Vupen Security in France, Gamma Group in the UK and SS8 in the US each offer such products, which they variously claim can hack the Apple iPhone, BlackBerry, Skype and the Microsoft operating system.

Hacking Team is probably the most public of these companies, advertising its ‘Remote Control System’ which can ‘monitor a hundred thousand targets’.

California-based SS8 claims its Intellego product allows security forces to ‘see what they see, in real time’ including a ‘target’s draft-only emails, attached files, pictures and videos.’

These types of technologies often rely on software vulnerabilities. While major software manufacturers claim to fix these vulnerabilities as soon as they are discovered, at least one company – Vupen – claims to have dedicated researchers in its ‘Offensive Solutions’ division who are constantly looking to exploit new security holes in popular software.

Hacking systems have recently surfaced in countries with repressive governments. A raid in March by democracy activists on the intelligence headquarters of Hosni Mubarak’s regime in Egypt uncovered contract documents for a hacking program called FinFisher that is marketed by Gamma Group, a company based in Hampshire. FinFisher is also marketed by Elaman, a German company with close links to Gamma.

Gamma Group said it did not FinFisher to Egypt.

A brochure from Elaman says governments can use its products to ‘identify an individual’s location, their associates and members of a group, such as political opponents’.

Massive surveillance

While hacking software is used to target individuals, other companies offer the ability to monitor and censor an entire country’s data or telecommunications network. Massive surveillance of this kind works by capturing everyone’s activities – whether you are a suspect or not – and then sifting through it for valuable information.

For example, US companies Blue Coat Systems and Cisco Systems offer corporate and government buyers the technology to filter out certain websites. This could potentially be utilised for other than commercial reasons, such as as political or cultural repression.

The same technologies can also be used to block social networking websites like Facebook, multimedia services like Flickr and YouTube, and internet phone services like Skype in repressive countries ranging from China to the United Arab Emirates.

An extension of this technology is ‘deep packet inspection’.  This allows the user to scan web and email traffic and to search huge volumes of data for keywords or phrases.

Companies including ipoque in Germany and Qosmos in France offer the ability to peer inside email traffic and block specific users.

Datakom, a German company, sells a product called Poseidon that offers the capability to ‘search and reconstruct… web, mail, instant messaging etc’. The company also claims Poseidon ‘collects, records and analyses VoIP calls’, such as Skype conversations.

Datakom, which offers ‘monitoring of a complete country’, says it has sold two ‘large IP monitoring’ systems to unnamed buyers in the Middle East and North Africa.

South African VASTech sells products including one called Zebra. This gives governments the ability to compress and store billions of hours of phonecalls and petabytes (a billion megabytes) of information for future analysis. In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that some VASTech devices had been installed at Libya’s international phone exchanges.

Data analysis

The ability to capture vast swathes of Internet traffic, the locations of individuals and their phone conversations has also created demand for sophisticated analysis tools by intelligence agencies, the military and the police, to use in criminal investigations and even in the battlefield.

For example, Speech Technology Center, based in Russia, claims to be capable of sifting through these huge quantities of information.

Czech Republic-based Phonexia says it has developed a similar voice-recognition program with the help of the Czech military, while Loquendo, based in Italy, uses ‘voice-prints’ – the unique signature of the human voice – to identify targets and tell you when they are on the phone.

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The Pan-American Highway is a network of roads, each with its twists and turns. Measuring the highway’s distance as the crow flies makes it about 16,000 miles (25,750 km) long.

World’s longest straight road

The world’s longest straight road – thus without any bends – is in Saudi Arabia, connecting the Haradh area with Badha on the UAE border. The road, Highway 85, is about 160 miles (260 km) long.

Australia’s longest straight road is the famous “90 Mile Straight.” It runs between Balladonia and Caiguna on the 1,036 mile (1,668 km) long Eyre Highway across the flat, arid Nullarbor Plain. (The Eyre Highway is the main road that connects South Australia with the south of Western Australia.) The “90 Mile Straight” actually is 91 miles (146.6 km) long; all asphalt without a single curve.

The Nullarbor Plain hosts the “World’s Longest Golf Course”, the Nullarbor Links. Golfers play holes at various roadhouses and roadside stops along the road.

The world’s longest straight section of railway also crosses the Nullarbor Plain, covering a 297 miles (478 km) stretch  between the 797 km post west of Ooldea and the 1275 km post west of Loongana on the Trans-Australian Railway from Perth to Sydney via Adelaide.

The longest absolute straight road in North America is a 31 mile (50 km) stretch, between Beaver Creek and Gackle on North Dakota State Highway 46, which itself is otherwise considered North America’s longest straight road, running for 123 miles (198 km), crossing the Red River Valley, between the cities Oxbow and Streeter.

World’s longest and shortest street

Canada claimed the longest street in the world for a while. But the 1,178 miles (1,896 km) long Yonge Street, which starts in Toronto and runs through Ontario towns and wilderness, is interspersed with Highway 11 and lost its listing in the Guinness World Records.

New York’s Broadway runs all the way up New York State, covering more than 400 miles (650 km) but it is not called “Broadway” all the way.

The longest street in world is in the state of Pará in the northern region of Brazil; it is 311 miles (500 km) long.

The longest avenue in the world is Avenida Rivadavia, Buenos Aires, Argentina – it is 22 miles (35 km) long.

For the record, the shortest street in the world is Ebenezer Place in Wick, Caithness, Scotland – it is only 6 ft 9 in (2,05 metres) long.

Video of the 90 Mile Straight

Also see: World’s longest bridges

The “Wood man” created more than just the famous wood Volkswagen Beetle (pictured); he also crafted a floating Ferrari F50 (pictured), Fiat Topolino, Mercedes Seagull and a wooden coach with wooden horses. But that’s just a small sample of his craft. 

While the wooden watercars might be De Marchi’s most famous creations, he can make just about anything out of wood. Such as this wooden dining set:

And here is the artist known by many simply as the “wood man” amongst some of his creations - Livio De Marchi:

For more “wood man” creations, see the Craftsmanship Museum or the official Livio De Marchi site.