Nancy Young, Author at Argyll Free Press

Lift Presents the Multi-Stop Feature

August 9, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Lift announced that it would introduce the new multi-stop feature

Lift announced on Monday that it would soon introduce the new multi-stop feature. This new option will give users the possibility of adding multiple stops during their trip.

The novelty of the feature is that users can inform their driver of the multiple stops they want to make before being picked up. Whether they want to give a lift to another friend or stop for a cup of coffee, for example, on the way to their destination they can now inform their driver in advance. If the friend they were supposed to pick up cancels the meeting, Lift allows them to modify the trip and remove the pick-up destination at any time.

Adding this new feature is just another move to encourage people to carpool and to make the journey more convenient for the users.

Previously, if more customers wanted to share the same ride and had distinct drop-off destinations, they’d have to inform the driver ahead of time or modify the final destination once they arrived at their first destination. The multi-stop feature simplifies this process.

Hundreds of thousands of customers are manually modifying their final destination after their first step, a Lift spokesman admitted, and this might be an inconvenient for the users.

The San Francisco-based company announced that this new feature would be available soon but did not give any exact indications of when this new command will be rolled out.

Asked whether Lift can survive the global dominance of Uber, a source close to the company said that customers want diversion and choice.They want to be able to open both apps and decide which alternative is cheaper or closer. Many experts also agreed to this opinion and said that they played the two services against each other themselves.

Both companies seriously spend on incentives to attract drivers and riders. The network effect which is familiar to both companies is two-sided: the more drivers the company has, the faster they can pick-up passengers; the faster they can pick-up passengers, the more drivers they will need to hire.

Lyft is known to have paid more attention to collaborating with public transit while Uber’s ubiquity creates comfort for far-flung customers who do not have to worry how they will travel from the airport to their hotel.

Image source:Flickr

America’s Largest Gun Maker Posts Record Sales, Worries about Clinton

August 6, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

America’s largest gun maker Sturm Ruger reported record sales in a second quarter earnings call but expressed its concerns over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s tactics to actively campaign against a “lawful commerce.”

The gun maker’s chief executive Michael Fifer was asked on Wednesday whether the politician’s campaign has spurred the rise in demand for guns. Clinton’s efforts to outlaw gun sales in the U.S. has recently led to numerous background checks.

Fifer declined that there was a link between Clinton and a growing demand. He added that the current situation cannot be traced back to the words or actions of a single politician. He did say that we live unique times when a presidential hopeful with “a real likelihood” of getting into the Oval Office publicly said that the nation’s highest court ruled wrongly in the Heller case.

In District of Columbia v Heller, the Supreme Court rejected the state’s ban on firearms arguing that it would violate the residents’ constitutional right to own a gun for self-defense. Dick Anthony Heller was a body guard who was allowed to carry a handgun at work, but was denied the same right at home.

A few months ago, Clinton said in an interview that the case was “wrongly decided.” She argued that municipalities and states should be allowed to draft “commonsense laws” to prevent unfortunate gun-related incidents from happening in America’s homes.

Fifer described Clinton’s comments as “unprecedented” and expressed his disbelief that her remarks haven’t impacted sales. Under the current administration, both Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger saw record demand for handguns and ammunition.

Stock prices reached record highs after each mass shooting as the resulting scandals have prompted gun owners to stockpile firearms in case they get banned. In the last quarter, the gun maker’s sales were $167.9 million. This represents a 19 percent or $27 million increase from last year’s same period.

Profit in the first half of the year soared 30 percent and by the end of the second quarter Sturm Ruger raked more than $115 million in gross profit, a consistent gain from last year’s $89.9 million.

Fifer zoomed in on gun sales in the wake of the Orlando mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub, where 49 people were slaughtered. He said that the impact on sales couldn’t be measured. He said that distributors got some calls but demand “quickly died down.”

Image Source: Wikimedia

Perseid Meteor Shower Will Be Seen in August

August 5, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

The Perseid meteor shower is something that astronomers are looking forward to seeing this August.

The Perseid meteor shower is something that astronomers are looking forward to seeing this August. Stargazers will be astonished by over 200 shooting stars an hour that will surely light up the night skies over Essex.

It is one of the most active cosmic events with two times more chances of shooting stars entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The meteor shower takes place every year between mid-July and late-August. There will be one disadvantage this year because the moon will grow from quarter to full during the peak of the meteor shower. This can only mean that with this growing moonlight, the smaller meteors won’t be observable.

NASA recommends going outside on the morning of the 12th of August, allowing our eyes several minutes to adjust to the light and then just enjoy the show. You can watch the meteor shower with the naked eye from everywhere, but it is desirable to avoid the city lights; the farther you are from the urban area, the more likely you are to see a greater show.

A Perseid is one of the most colorful and speedy meteors, so, when observing the night sky, you should be very careful not to miss the painted explosion.

A Perseid meteor shower is caused when the Earth is passing through the remains of the Swift-Tuttle Comet. We effectively go through a dust cloud from this comet. Swift-Tuttle left a gas and dust path on its orbit that the Earth’s orbit intercepts. The Earth quickly goes through it, and so, these particles built up in the atmosphere seem to be coming from Perseus’s direction.

NASA representatives said that this year the meteor shower would surpass the recent ones because of Jupiter’s gravity that will attract the particles closer. This way, Earth will go through the middle of the comet’s dust trail instead of just passing close to it.

Specialists assure us that the comet represents no threat to humanity. Because it is in its own orbit, a crossing with the Earth is less likely to occur for the next thousands of years.

The Swift-Tuttle comet was last seen close to Earth in 1992.

Image source:Wikipedia

Almost 20 Percent of Alzheimer’s Cases Are Misdiagnosed

July 27, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Alzheimer’s is a disease difficult to diagnose. According to two new studies, the neuro-degenerative condition is often misdiagnosed, causing unnecessary distress to those who are told they have the disease when they don’t.

Misdiagnosing Alzheimer’s is also a factor that delays treatment for others who do need it. Even though medical research has yet to find a cure or effective treatment, it’s vital to give a correct diagnosis because Alzheimer’s progress can be delayed and the patient’s quality of life can be preserved for as long as possible.

Experts also agree that an early diagnosis gives patients the necessary time to plan for their end-of-life care. Dean Hartley, head of science initiatives, scientific and medical relations at the Alzheimer’s Association, said that some drugs can temporarily boost memory if given at a very early stage.

A correct diagnosis can also offer people the chance of being enlisted into clinical trials to test the efficiency of new drugs. At the moment, Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed based on symptoms.

There’s no method available to physicians so they can diagnose the condition with 100 percent accuracy; no imaging test or blood test has that kind of ability, which is the reason why misdiagnoses occur sometimes.

To make matters even more difficult, Alzheimer’s turned out to be a much more complex disease than it was once believed. However, medical research makes progress each year, looking for more accurate ways to diagnose the condition.

According to the results of the first study – conducted by the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. – men are more prone to be misdiagnosed than women.

Leading researcher Melissa Murray, an assistant professor of neuroscience, explained that one of the reasons leading to this higher rate is the fact that men develop more aggressive forms of Alzheimer’s at a younger age than women.

While Alzheimer’s onset occurs in men in their 60s, the condition develops in women only in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. The symptoms also differ, both in the location in the brain and the physical effects.

In the second study, the Keenan Research Center for Biomedical Science at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, found that the inconsistencies between clinical and autopsy diagnoses rose to nearly 20 percent.

Image Source: Imaging Economics

Behavioral Activation Could Treat Depression

July 25, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Depression is a mental disorder that hangs above the patient like a dark cloud. Fortunately, various treatment options are available, including therapy and medication.

According to a recent study, behavioral activation is a simple therapy that has been proven efficient and affordable for people looking to treat their depression.

Oftentimes, depression treatments are either too expensive or there are too few qualified therapists to sustain the growing number of patients in the U.S. The new study found that people can access something cheaper than the gold standard treatment and still find a cure.

At the moment, the most recommended type of treatment for depression is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). As explained by study author David Richards, a professor of mental health services research at the University of Exeter in the UK, CBT is a treatment that looks to analyze the depression from the inside out.

While cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on the way people think, behavioral activation is a therapy from the outside in, one that wants to help people who struggle with depression change the way they act.

The premise of this kind of depression treatment suggests that people’s mood and behavior are tightly connected and that depression can be battled by encouraging the patient to increase engagement in the activities they find most meaningful.

At the same time, people fighting depression are also urged to reduce the behaviors that may cause them isolation, which can worsen the condition.

Beyond the fact that the behavioral activation was found efficient in patients, the study’s authors also highlighted the fact that practicing it on a wide scale could lower healthcare costs without reducing the quality of treatment.

The use of behavioral activation could improve the patients’ access to talk therapy treatment (the main feature of CBT), while also reducing long waiting lists.

Behavioral activation treatment is a less complex depression treatment that costs significantly less than CBT – $1,277 and $1,618 per person on average, respectively. According to the study, this is a 20 percent in the cost of savings.

It’s also easier to train people to deliver this type of therapy. However, that doesn’t mean that behavioral activation therapy should replace CBT. Instead, the study suggests that more people with depression could be treated if health workers are trained to deliver it.

Image Source: Square Space

Scientists Spot More Humpback Whales In the Pacific Northwest

July 18, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Researchers with whale-watching boats have reported an unprecedented number of humpback whales coming from Bellingham to British Columbia this summer, reaching the Pacific Northwest.

The past twenty years were rough for humpback whales, which are almost extinct due to the rise of commercial whaling. No whale has been spotted in the area during this time, according to Michael Harris, the executive director of Pacific Whale Watch Association.

However, according to a new study published in the Association Press, researchers have started spotting more of the distinctively shaped whale during the past couple of years. The can be seen in groups of 15 or 20 specimens swimming together in the Salish Sea this summer.

In Harris’ own words, “it’s humpback heaven out there right now.” Reports of whale sightings show that they migrate from Central America, Hawaii, and Mexico to Alaska.

In order to avoid hunters – one of the leading causes of their population downfall – the whales have altered their route to go through an inside passage and reach the north in spring.

The Salish Sea is somewhat of a pit-stop for the humpback whales, a place for them to rest before continuing the migration. Scientists have noticed a pattern that shows the mammals migrating to north waters to feed during spring, and to southern waters to breed in the fall.

What contributes to the increasing numbers of humpbacks?

According to Rhonda Reidy, director at Prince of Whales Whale Watching in Victoria, British Columbia, the conditions in the ecosystem and the ocean, in general, are affecting the food chain. In turn, this forces the whales to search for food in southern waters, leading to more sightings.

Usually, humpbacks look for small fishes (anchovy or sardine) and krill for sustenance; however, researchers have yet to discover what exactly they feed on during their time in the British Columbia and Washington waters.

The latest estimations show that there are roughly 85,000 humpbacks worldwide, with more than 21,000 specimens living in the eastern North Pacific.

According to Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, some 1,600 whales are feeding around the west coast of North America at the moment, with around 500 localized in Washington and British Columbia.
Image Source: Pixabay

There’s a Dark Hole Growing On Our Sun

July 16, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

there is a black spot growing on our sun

Even though there is a dark hole growing on our sun, NASA says there is no reason to worry.

A spacecraft belonging to NASA managed to capture a photo of the sun that sends shivers down the spine of viewers. It seems that there is a dark hole growing on our sun. While the photos are grim, researchers reassure people that there is no cause for alarm just yet.

The dark hole growing on our sun is in fact an astronomical event that occurs regularly on the atmosphere of the sun. Data shows that there is no reason for alarm, the phenomenon being normal, and no chance of immediate death was detected.

The coronal hole indicates the location of the areas with low-density where the magnetic field of the star opens up, communicating directly with the interplanetary space.

The dark hole allows the sun’s hot material to escape from the corona, speeding outward towards open space. This results in dimmer areas compared to the bright ones where a higher density of plasma brightens up the star.

“Coronal holes are the source of a high-speed wind of solar particles that streams off the sun some three times faster than the slower wind elsewhere,” NASA declared.

According to the Space Agency, the dark hole growing on our sun can even last for a couple of months. In some instances, the hole can actually end up covering 25 percent of the surface of the Sun.

A professional animator, Tom Yulsman, made a short animated video of the massive dark hole growing on our sun. He did this by using the photographs released by the Space Agency.

At first, the video is distressing because it shows the sun being slowly swallowed by the dark hole. Some viewers were under the impression that our star is shutting down, transforming itself into a black hole. However, scientists are advising people not to lose sleep over the phenomenon because it’s a natural phenomenon that does not affect the density of our star.

The only influence that the dark hole can have is the fact that the solar winds that result from the corona of the sun can lead to the formation of solar storms. These kind of storms are dangerous because they can create significant damage to the satellite and radio communication systems.

Image source: Wikipedia

New Jersey Ocean Waters Unusually Clear and Green

July 14, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Satellite view of NJ coastal waters on July 7. Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz/NASA

Beachgoers are startled by the unusual change in ocean water along the South Jersey shoreline. Usually, coastal waters in the area are of murky grayish color, but this time waters have gained a much tropical tint that makes them resemble the Carribbean.

Tourists noted that waters are also so clear that they can spot details they haven’t been able to do such as enjoying the sight of dolphins.

Scientists explained that a fresh influx of cold ocean water earlier this month has prompted coastal microalgae to bloom off. So waters borrowed the greenish hue of the chlorophyll in the aquatic plants.

However, algal bloom does not explain why the waters are so transparent during this time of the year. Researchers have another hypothesis: a prolonged drought in the Northeast seems to be the culprit.

Some business owners operating ocean excursions said that they have been on the waters their entire lives, but they weren’t able to recall a time when the water looked so tropical and clear. Cruise operators said that tourists are very impressed with the curious phenomenon since they can now easily spot dolphins even at several feet below the waves.

Yet, beachgoers and tourists alike are the most puzzled with the green waters. Marine scientists explained that marine upwelling has led to an explosion in the growth of phytoplankton along the Jersey shoreline.

Phytoplankton are microscopic plants which thrive when they are inundated with nutrient-rich waters coming from the colder subsurface layers down below. Researchers explained that the tiny plants are as small as a dot made by a pencil on a sheet of paper and they cannot be observed without a microscope. Yet, when they bloom so explosively, their presence cannot be missed.

Scientists said that the greenish hue of the waters is due to the chlorophyll in the marine plants. When sunlight reaches the plants, chlorophyll emits aquamarine wavelenghts through the ocean waters.

Biologists noted that there are billions of microscopic plants within the algal bloom. In a small soda can, you can fit about 500,000 microscopic plants.

Authorities reassured beachgoers that the microalgae are not a threat to their health. In fact, the plants are essential for the ocean ecosystem as they provide a rich source of food for many marine animals.

Image Source: NASA

Thumb-Sucking May Actually Help Your Child Develop Strong Immune System

July 12, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Many babies use their hands to relieve stress or soothe themselves. But thumb-sucking and nail biting are two ‘bad’ habits parents try to correct. Yet, a recent study shows that children naturally use these habits to boost their immune systems.

So, don’t get mad if your kid would rather suck his or her fingers than a pacifier. The good news is that children who engage in these habits are 30 percent more likely to build an immune system strong enough to stave off most allergies.

Professor Malcolm Sears, lead author of the study and researcher with McMaster University School of Medicine, explained that it is essential for kids to get in contact with pets, house dust mite, and dirt.

The latest study, which was recently published in Pediatrics, confirms the hypothesis that being too clean may prevent kids from building strong immune systems. It is widely known that children who have parents obsessed with cleanliness are more prone to develop allergies or catch colds.

Prof Sears recommend parents to let their kids get exposed to dirt from their infancy. He explained that when a kid is biting his or her nails or sucking thumbs, he or she is also exposed to various types of bugs and bacteria which helps them stimulate their immune system.

However, researchers don’t advise parents to encourage the two habits in their children. Instead, they should just let kids be kid. For instance, researcher Salima Milliot recommends allowing kids play in the dirt and grass.

“That’s what kids should do.”

Milliot said.

Yet some parents may argue that thumb sucking could ruin their kids’ tooth development. Researchers explained that the habit can have a negative impact only when the child develops permanent teeth which happens around the age of 5. Nevertheless, you should take advise from a dentist in your kid’s case.

Still, researchers by no means encourage nail biting in adults as a way of boosting their immune systems. According to a separate study, this habit doesn’t have the same positive outcomes in adults as it has in toddlers.

An adult who is frequently biting their nails does not only ruin their manicure, but he or she also introduces zillions of pathogens in their mouths. So, the risk of catching a cold or developing a disease multiplies.

An adult can also develop a hard-to-treat skin infection called paronychia which affects the skin around the nail, researchers said.

Image Source: Flickr

BlackBerry to No Longer Manufacture its Classic Smartphone Model

July 6, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

On Tuesday, BlackBerry announced that it would no longer produce the ‘Classic’ model as it would focus more on the BlackBerry 10 line and Android devices.

The announcement was made in a blog post by the company’s chief operating officer Ralph Pini who admitted that in some cases it is very hard to let go. Pini added that both the company and customers will find it hard to let go the old model but “change makes way for new and better experiences.”

The Canadian smartphone maker rolled out the Classic model in 2014 as an attempt to win over plastic keyboard aficionados and smartphone users that are not on good terms with touchscreens.

Pini didn’t say whether BlackBerry OS would be discontinued but other models featuring the system were still displayed on the company’s website as of Tuesday. Pini added that some customers may still stick to the Classic shape of the smartphone despite the phone maker’s decisions.

Pini advised fans to look for the smartphone on their carriers’ sites. He also said that the company still had some on sale on its own website.

The Classic model is powered by BlackBerry 10 operating system, which was supposed to be another asset designed to lure more customers in. Recently, however, the company said that it would focus more on Android-powered devices.

The company wouldn’t unveil whether BlackBerry Classic was a hit as it is in its policy not to disclose sales figures. Yet, it is now known that the company is hemorrhaging money and struggling to cut costs.

In June, the phone maker announced a $670 million loss for the last quarter, which is thrice the amount of loss a quarter prior. Analysts believe that the plunge may be due to the wading popularity of the company’s phone business.

Moreover, the sales of its Priv phones were not as high as expected, and analysts don’t predict the situation to improve as the phones become internationally available. BlackBerry has tried to revive sales with price cuts and rabid advertising on Verizon’s network.

Despite all efforts, hardware sales plunged in this fiscal year and revenue dropped $38 million from $269 million during the same period last year. Investors had expected more than $470 million revenues, and were quite disappointed with the $424 million BlackBerry managed to pull off.
Image Source: YouTube

What contributes to the increasing numbers of humpbacks?

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