Emerging Technology

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these hyperlinks are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

Defining Emerging Technology

The words “Emerging Technology” suggests that it would mean technology recently coming out. This is partially true, as it usually does refer to a new technology, but it can also refer to the continuing development of an existing technology. The electric vehicle sector is a fine example of this. Though many would think of electric cars as luxurious, plush, and ultra modern, the first electric car debuted back in 1832. Though it was a very rough and impractical vehicle, it was still a real electric vehicle. Fast forward to the 21st century, the technology becomes immensely popular during the late 2010s, with the 2020s causing major legacy brands to drastically increase their electrification strategies. There are many technologies and ideas that can be explored, but the following shall be the focus for this write-up:

• Biometrics
• Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment
• Lyme Disease Vaccine
• 3D Printed Houses
• Air Fryer
• Plastic-eating Organisms
• Solid State Batteries
• Recycling Car Batteries 
• All-electric Aircraft
• 5G
• Linux Smartphones
• Solar-powered Smartphones

Biometrics

Fingerprint scanning, eye scanning, hand ID, and voice unlock all have something in common: they are all biometrics. For a long time, passwords or keys have generally been the way of safeguarding accounts, smartphones, and other confidential properties. Biometrics are biological characteristics that can be used to identify individuals. These can be biological biometrics such as blood or DNA; Morphological biometrics like fingerprints, eyes, and the shape of a person’s face; or behavioral biometrics like how a person may speak, walk, or type. Authentication by biometric verification is becoming increasingly common in corporate and public security systems, consumer electronics, and point-of-sale applications. In addition to security, another major reason for the use of biometric verification has been convenience, since there are no passwords to remember or security tokens to carry.

Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that destroys brain cells, causing thinking ability and memory to deteriorate over time. This in turn affects thinking, behaviour, and the ability to carry out tasks. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, accounting for 60 to 80% of all diagnoses. However, this does not mean that if a person has dementia, that they have Alzheimer’s. Dementia is an umbrella term for a set of symptoms caused by physical disorders affecting the brain. Though Alzheimer’s has been in existence for a while, it has only been the last 20 years that science is finally making serious discoveries towards dealing with the disease. In 2021, two notable drugs are being examined: A vaccine involving Protollin and Aducanumab.

On November 17, 2021, researchers at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital have been given permission to launch clinical trials into a nasal vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease. The new vaccine uses Protollin, which activates the immune system, and is being created to prevent and slow the disease progression. Made of proteins drawn from bacteria, Protollin activates white blood cells in the lymph nodes in the neck, and sends them to the brain to clear beta-amyloid plaques. The single ascending dose (SAD) trial will involve 16 subjects aged between 60 and 85 years with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.

On June 07, 2021, The US Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of Aducanumab (Aduhelm). The drug was approved under the Accelerated Approval pathway, one of the alternative drug approval pathways. However, this drug is controversial given that not all Dementia experts agreed on its unproven benefits. The accelerated process allows Biogen to sell the drug, but must agree to design and carry out a study to prove that there is a clinical benefit. The federal agency’s decision was based on the biomarker changes showing that the monoclonal antibody reduced amyloid-beta from the brain. It could take years to accumulate concrete data, and if it does not have a clinical benefit, the FDA can withdraw approval of the drug.

Lyme Disease Vaccine

On December 21, 1998, the FDA approved LYMErix, a vaccine created to help prevent Lyme Disease: an inflammatory disease characterized at first by a rash, headache, fever, chills, and later by possible arthritis and neurological and cardiac disorders, caused by bacteria that are transmitted by ticks. Unfortunately, the vaccine had 5 major problems:

1. The vaccine efficacy of <80% meant that 20% of fully vaccinated individuals could still get Lyme Disease
2. Achieving full protection required three vaccine doses given at the time of the initial dose, and 1 month and 12 months after the initial dose.
3. The vaccine safety and efficacy database lacked tests in young children, a population at high risk of developing Lyme Disease.
4. The vaccine was only effective against the predominant North American Borrelia strain without necessarily conferring protection against international subspecies.
5. Within a year of licensure, reports of adverse reactions occurring after vaccination started to appear. This continued for the next few years and involved numerous high-profile complaints.

On July 09, 2003 the pharmaceutical giant settled the class action suits with Sheller, Ludwig & Bailey as well as several other smaller law firms. The Lyme Disease vaccine was then pulled off the market. 

 In April 2020 Valneva and Pfizer entered into a collaboration agreement to co-develop the multivalent protein subunit candidate VLA15. The program had earlier been granted Fast Track designation by the US FDA in July 2017.The vaccine covers six serotypes that are prevalent in North America and Europe. It attacks the outer surface protein A (OspA) of Borrelia, an established mechanism of action for a Lyme disease vaccine. OspA is one of the most dominant surface proteins expressed by the bacteria when present in a tick. Valneva and Pfizer say that VLA15 has demonstrated ‘strong immunogenicity and safety data in pre-clinical and clinical studies so far,’.

3D Printed Houses

The concept of 3D printing has been thought of since the 1970’s. It was not until 1981 that the first experiments began. Since then, there has been hundreds of different objects that have been 3D printed including cups, tools, instruments, and more. One particular area that is still very young with the potential of immense benefits is 3D construction. The great benefits of 3D printing houses can be particularly seen in developing countries, where transporting expensive materials may be cost-prohibitive. With 3D printing, it can allow them the build houses using locally sourced materials to reduce the impact of shipping, handling, and other logistical issues. It is not only developing countries interested, however. Countries like Canada and the United States have been interested, too. The United States has even gone as far as to announce that it will be building the world’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood in Austin, Texas in 2022.

While it may sound exciting to some, there a still caveats involved like the fact that there are several parts of the house that cannot be 3D printed: Windows, toilets and fixtures, are some of several. Then there is also the issue of structural stability and durability of the 3D printed components, hence why 3D printed houses may face legal issues in areas with strict building codes.

Air Fryer

An air fryer is a small countertop convection oven designed to simulate deep frying without submerging the food in oil. A fan circulates hot air at high speed, then produces a crispy layer. The reason the popularity of these types of ovens is surging is because of the health benefits and claims they bring: the flavour of fried foods without all the calories and fats of found in deep fried food. While the amount of fat and calories reduced will vary from food to food, it has been consistently proven that they do noticeably reduce fat and calories. While air fryers may have taken off greatly since their creation in 2010, they have a few main drawbacks: costlier, smaller, and thus require more space to prepare larger quantities of food. It should be also noted that air fried foods do not taste exactly the same as deep fried foods. Some people will even go as far to say that if flavour is top priority, that air fryers may not be the best choice. Despite these setbacks, they remain a growing popularity.

Plastic-eating Organisms

There are bacteria and fungi that can break down plastic. The problem is which species? Which types of plastic? And how fast can these organisms dissolve voluminous amounts of plastic? Not all plastics are made equal as some are tougher to break down, due their more industrialized compositions that are not found in nature. Ideonella sakaiensis, is only able to eat a particular kind of plastic called PET. Pestalotiopsis microspora and other fungi species are capable of breaking down polyurethane plastic. As concerns for the environment and waste reduction have grown immensely in recent years, the research for the best plastic-eating organisms has, too. Given that there are numerous organisms in nature that have been proven to be able to break down numerous plastics, it would be safer for scientist to go stick with the route of using existing species as opposed to trying to re-engineer bacteria with unintended consequences. This is a concern some have expressed, but even that too, needs to proven if it is true that the excessive use of re-engineered bacteria to eat plastics would truly cause problematic resistant bacteria to occur.

Solid State Batteries

The batteries present in most electronics and automobiles today are lithium-ion batteries. Unlike the lead-acid and nickel-metal hydride batteries of the past, lithium-ion batteries are made with a liquid electrolyte to control the flow of energy between the cathode and anode. The advantages of a lithium-ion battery include longer battery life, greater performance in varying temperatures, recyclable components, and higher energy density. Despite the many benefits, there are drawbacks to lithium-ion batteries. Though lighter than older battery technologies, the liquid inside still make lithium-ions rather heavy. They also perform better when in stackable packs, which adds more bulk and weight. The electrolytes are also flammable, can be unstable in extreme temperatures, and lead to explosions or fires if damaged or improperly charged.

Solid State Batteries are the hot pursuit in battery technology for the 2020s. This is because Solid State Batteries use solid electrolyte, have higher energy density than a Li-ion batteries, faster charging, no fire or explosion risks, all while being smaller and more compact by default. With all the immense benefits that SSB offer, why then has it not found its way across smartphones and electric cars, yet? The answer is cost. Scaling up production to the level needed for usage in electric vehicles and other devices is presently extremely expensive. Despite the challenge, many companies including Ford, Volkswagen, Samsung and others have announced plans for the investment and development of this game-changing technology.

Recycling Car Batteries 

For some reason, some critics insist that electric vehicle batteries cannot be properly recycled and re-used. This is false. Tesla, Volkswagen, Nissan as well as several other third parties, have successfully managed to both recycle or extract components from batteries. As the race for electrification surges in the 2020s, there has been understandable concerns of what will happen to all the batteries from millions, eventually billions of vehicles across the world. Manufacturers are certainly aware of this, and are working to do their part to ensure that old batteries will not become useless, problematic pieces of waste.

All-electric Aircraft

Land vehicles are not the only machines going all-electric. Aircrafts are also heavy polluters, hence why there is a lot of effort also going towards making aircrafts zero-emission vehicles. While the automotive industry is moving faster, the aviation industry has not been asleep in regards to electrification. On September 15, 2021, Rolls-Royce announced through a Tweet about their all-electric airplane, Spirit Of Innovation, taking its first flight. 2 years before this, the world’s first commercial all-electric plane, the six-seater Harbour Air ePlane, performed a 15-minute trial flight in Richmond, British Columbia, on December 10, 2019. The development and production of zero-emission aircrafts is continuing strong.

5G

5G Ultra Wideband began rolling out on April 3, 2019. Though the technology to use it is available in many handsets released then and now, it has still yet to reach many places around the world to the extent that 4G currently has. 5G has been deployed in 60+ countries and counting, though not all cities in these countries have it, yet. What exactly is 5G and what makes it much more special than 4G? 5G is the 5th generation mobile network. It is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. 5G enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect nearly everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices. The benefits?

• 5G is significantly faster than 4G
• 5G has more capacity than 4G
• 5G has significantly lower latency than 4G
• 5G is a unified platform that is more capable than 4G
• 5G uses spectrum better than 4G

Linux Smartphones

At one point there were 4 major mobile operating systems: BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone, iOS, and Android. Microsoft halted active development of Windows 10 Mobile back in 2017, before entirely discontinuing it on January 14, 2020. Similarly, BlackBerry has not developed BlackBerry 10 since 2017, and will be ultimately decommissioning the BlackBerry OS network on January 04, 2022. Where does this lead consumers who want an offering outside of Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS? Linux. While the present major contenders do not have handsets suitable for hard-core daily use, they exist for basic use: PinePhone from Pine64, and Librem 5 from Purism.

The first PinePhone was released in July 2020, with pre-orders for the newest PinePhone Pro available October 15, 2021. The Librem 5 released November 18, 2020. What makes these two handsets exciting, and potentially game-changing for consumers is their emphasis on privacy and the speed at which their operating systems are developing. The handsets both have physical hardware for shuttering their microphones, cameras, and Wi-fi, while their operating systems are open-sourced. In addition to all of this, both handsets also have headphone jacks, MicroSD card slots, and removable batteries — 3 features that have disappeared alarmingly fast from Android handsets, whose makers used to previously include these features in their past handsets. The displays on the PinePhone and Librem 5 also do not have notches or holepunches; a trait that a number of consumers strongly dislike.

Solar-powered Smartphones

Fingerprint scanning, iris scanning, vein reading, wireless charging, zooming lenses, 8K recording, and rapid charging are just some of the many advancements smartphones have seen in the last 5 years. One notable advancement not widely seen yet would be a solar-powered smartphone. While the idea of solar-powered smartphone sounds intriguing on paper, its usefulness would be limited in reality for a number of reasons: cost, complexity, and fragility.

Solar panels are still not inexpensive yet, and applying them to millions of smartphones would be extremely expensive. Durability and reliability would be the next points to be concerned about. Because a smartphone is used very often, and oftentimes dropped, bumped, and scuffed, the solar panels would have to be sturdy enough to withstand daily abuse, which is a complex challenge in its own right. The solar-powered phone’s body and internal components would also have to have high heat-resistance to withstand sunrays in case a user wants to charge their device in direct sunlight for an extended period of time. For this reason alone, it would be far more sensible to wait until Solid State Batteries become mainstream in smartphones before making mass produced smartphones with solar panels. Certainly not all smartphone should, nor do they need to have solar panels. However, offering models that have them is a good offering for outdoor consumers that would love this feature.

Are Zoos Animal Cruelty? Yes

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored. Lastly, the opinion in this essay does not necessarily reflect Millennium River’s beliefs on the subject being discussed.

Animals Intriguing Humans Is Nothing New

Humans have been fascinated with animals ever since they came into existence. That is nothing new, nor should it be even remotely surprising. It is this same fascination that has led mankind to keep some species very close. Close enough that it led to their domestication. Some of them, that is. Domestic cats from North African wildcats, dogs from grey wolves, cattle from aurochs, chickens from red junglefowls, and goldfish from Prussian carps for notable examples. Other species are nowhere near domesticated, nor should they even be attempted to be kept in a captive scenario. Whales are a notorious example of this. Enter the zoo: a facility with usually indoor and outdoor settings where living, typically wild animals are kept especially for public exhibition.

There has been much controversy as to whether zoos are animal cruelty or not. Some people will argue that zoos are an excellent way to see animals and learn more about them. Others will argue that they are unnecessary and cruel to wild animals. The truth? Yes, Zoos are can be considered animal cruelty for several valid reasons:

1. Zoos are actually mostly about profit.
2. Almost no one goes to a zoo to learn more about animals.
3. Zoos have an excessive history of shock and disaster that continues to this day.

More Interested In Money Than Animals’ Lives

Maintaining a zoo is not cheap. It takes a lot of time and money to maintain a large inventory of exotic animals with equally exotic needs. Zoos know that animals are deeply fascinating to people. This is why they are very successful with bringing in lots of visitors. The more visitors a zoo gets, the more more they make.

The babies many animals produce are very cute. Zoos know this, and have been known to breed excess animals that results in a surplus. What do they do with the surplus they cannot house? They will  use surplus management strategies. In 2014, the world reacted with disgust and outrage when a healthy 2-year-old giraffe named Marius was killed and hewed in front of visitors at the Copenhagen Zoo. Marius’ body was then fed to lions.

Unprofitable? Old? Zoos also frequently trade and relocate animals who they consider to have outlived profitability or who no longer fit into breeding programs. Trading animals with other zoos can be very stressful for the animals who are relocated, as they leave behind social connections and environments they have grown accustomed to.

Some zoos do make small contributions to conservation projects. However, majority of the animals kept in zoos are not even species at risk, nor do they help to repopulate threatened species. Where zoos really spend most of their money is on exhibits, opening more unnecessary areas, and marketing to lure in more visitors. There are thousands of zoos in the world. If they all care about conservation as much as they claim they do, then why are there still so many threatened animals and habitats?

People love looking at all sorts of animals. Seeing them in-person is even better than online, hence leading to zoos successful manipulation of getting lots of visitors and money in return for it. Even if the zoo does not take the best care of its animals, people still go anyway, as proven numerous times in history. Why? Because it is a good social and recreational experience.

People Visit Zoos To Talk And Stare

Considering all the books, videos, and online articles that are rich in educational topics on animals, this begs a thought-provoking question: why do people still go to zoos? To talk and look at animals.

 A study of visitor behaviour at 4 zoos in the United States found that only 6% of visitors said they visit zoos to learn more about animals, while 86% of visitors said they went to a zoo for “social or recreational purposes”. This would be great if all those people visiting were in it for the education, but because they are not, zoos happily give visitors their social and recreational fix.

Lions, tigers, cheetahs, bears, pandas, elephants, wolves, giraffes, meerkats, primates, large reptiles, and exotic birds are a guaranteed appearance at almost any zoo. Why these animals? While there are thousands — millions really, of animals that are captivating in their own right? Animals such as lions, tigers, and pandas have been cultural icons for millennia. This in turn successfully draws many people to come and see these wild icons in-person to look and talk about them.

The claim that zoos make about environmental education is particularly false. Take polar bears for example. This is a species that normally roams kilometers a day across the arctic. How can visitors properly observe polar bears living in a humid subtropical climate zone? The answer: they cannot. On a highly related note, species have been actually known to die for this very reason. 

People love seeing animals in-person. Especially if its a large, fearsome, exotic predator that they would normally not be able to get close to. It does not concern most visitors that a lion living in a temperate city such as Toronto or Washington DC should not be there.

Zoos And Their Disasters

The history of displaying animals to the public for exhibition dates all the way back to ancient Egypt. The first public zoo opened on July 1, 1874. It would be unrealistic to expect zoos to be absolutely perfect. However, if there is one thing they should have near perfected is disaster management. The prevention of animals escaping, killing or harming people, and the prevention of animals dying from hunger, thirst, or poor climate are 3 areas that should be fixed already. Sadly, they are not, and incidences continue even into the 21st century.

The killing of Harambe is one of many high profile 21st century events. This iconic 17-year-old gorilla from Cincinnati Zoo was shot dead out of fear that he would have killed a 4-year-old human boy that had fallen into his enclosure. There were highly divided opinions on this event. Those that stood by it say that the way the child was being dragged around was too rough for a human to handle. Had the zoo staff not intervened, the boy could have been fractured or dead. Others believe that the gorilla was doing the best he could to care for the boy as his own, and that the boys parents should have been held accountable for not watching their child closely enough. Regardless of whether or not people believe the gorilla should have been shot, both sides can agree that if the enclosure did not allow people to fall in there to begin with, none of this would have even happened.

Tilikum, was a killer whale that was caught off the coasts of Iceland before being transferred to captivity. This whale lived to be 35 years old, and killed 3 people during his lifetime. Dawn Brancheau, Keltie Byrne, and Daniel Dukes are the names of the lives Tilikum took. Naturally, questions were raised about what drove Tilikum to kill his trainers, and why the whale was still kept around. It is perfectly understandable that releasing him directly into the ocean would not allow Tilikum to survive after being captive for so long. Activists at that time rightfully said they should have released the whale into a coastal sanctuary. This would have allowed the whale to have the natural space he deserves, without being completely perplexed about how to survive in the unlimited ocean. The zoo instead chose to keep the animal around because people really liked him, and insisted they would review safety protocols.

On the topic of safety protocols, not all zoo disasters involve the death, injury or potential death of humans. In a number of cases, it is the animals that are the victims. In 2017, Government inspectors found that almost 500 animals had died in less than 4 years at South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria, United Kingdom. “Overcrowding, poor hygiene, poor nutrition, lack of suitable animal husbandry and a lack of any sort of developed veterinary care” were the things cited when they visited in January.

People killing animals, animals killing people, or animals dying from poor care are persisting problems that should not be happening in the first place.

Views And Money

Views and money are what most zoos care about most. An impressive, rich collection of wild animals has been guaranteeing visitors since the founding of public animal exhibits. It may be intriguing to see such colourful, rare, or predatory animals in-person, but it is also important to remember that zoos are not the best way to learn about about wild animals, due to their greater concerns for profit, impressibility, and long history of highly preventable disasters.

The best way to see and learn about wild animals is by visiting a sanctuary or observing them in the wild with wildlife experts. Additionally, numerous books and media exist online for further, safer education.

 

Corning Gorilla Glass

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

Familiarity

What does the Samsung Galaxy S10+, Sony Xperia 1, LG V50 ThinQ 5G, OnePlus 7 Pro, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, and Asus ZenFone 6 all have in common? All of these smartphones are equipped with Gorilla Glass 6, 5, or 3 (in the case of the Asus Zenfone 6’s back) on their back or front panels. Most consumers would likely be quicker to point out that these smartphones demand high price tags, but what about the durability of their glass panels? Does glass matter to consumers? Why do most manufacturers seek Corning’s Gorilla Glass? All of these questions, plus more, shall be explored in this article.

History Of Corning

Founding

The history of Corning dates all the way back to 1851, in the New England region of the United States. The Houghtons, creators of Corning, were looking for ways to stand out from the steep competition with rival glass makers. The Houghtons decided that they would make Corning stand out with expert knowledge in the make up, chemistry, and physics of glass: an inorganic, transparent, amorphous, material that is used in numerous applications.

Edison’s Interest

In 1879, American businessman Thomas Edison reached out to Corning with his idea for improving the light bulb. Edison needed the correct glass to encase the fragile filaments that made the light bulb. This glass needed to be stronger and more resistant to damage than glass typically used in other objects such as windows and jars. By 1880, Edison had chosen Corning as his exclusive supplier for the glass bulbs he needed to bring improved lighting to places all over the world.

Railroad Troubles

In 1912, American railroads encountered a dangerous problem: cracking glass. The glass globes of signal lanterns, crucial to the railroads operation, were occasionally shattering due to the thermal expansion caused from the country’s variable climate and seasons. To address this problem, Corning developed heat-resistant, low expansion glass that is capable of handling abrupt jolts of heat and cold. Their glass performed very well, which resulted in the railroads doing fewer replacements. Despite the success, Corning did not stop there, and had its scientists investigate new applications for the material.

The Creation of Pyrex

In 1913, Corning physicist Jesse Littleton, requests for his wife to bake a cake on a piece of heat resistant glass developed in 1908. The glass endured the entire baking process. Inspired from this, Corning creates an improved glass formula in 1915, and brands it as Pyrex — a line of cookware that still exists up to this day in 2019.

The Corning Plant

In 1952, Corning opens a manufacturing plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. This is the same plant that would later become the birthplace of Gorilla Glass. The Harrodsburg plant originally manufactured glass pressings for numerous military, academic, consumer, and scientific applications. During the mid-1980s, the plant shifted into developing glass substrates for the LCD market.

Apple’s Calling

In 2006, Apple approached Corning with a major request: make glass for their first iPhone that was scheduled to be released in 2007. Having only six months to make it, the company had to act quick, but maintain their quality and standards. Sending the wrong message, would be the last thing Corning would want to do. Thanks to the deep knowledge of glass that Corning had with experts at Sullivan Park, as well as the expertise they have with the manufacturing process in-house, they were able to produce the first version of Gorilla Glass within 6 months. The glass was then used on the first iPhone in 2007. Oddly, many of Corning’s clients now have nondisclosure agreements from Corning before they use Gorilla Glass on their mobile devices. Apple is a notable example of this. Others such as Samsung, LG, and Sony for instance, openly tout their use of Gorilla Glass on their specification sheets.

How It Is Made

Fusion Process

Corning touts its trademark fusion manufacturing process as the heart of their leadership in glass technology, and the cover glass sector. This exceptionally precise, highly automated, draw process creates a narrow sheet of cover glass with fresh surface quality, fantastic optical clarity, and dimensional stability. These attributes are essential for cover glass used in consumer applications.

The process starts when raw materials are mixed into a glass composition, which is melted and conditioned. The molten glass is fed into an isopipe, overfilling until the glass flows uniformly over both sides. The glass then rejoins, or fuses, at the bottom, where it is drawn down to form a continuous, extremely thin sheet of flat glass. The glass is not touched by human hands or other things that would bring flaws into the glass’ surface. The same fusion process is used in Corning’s LCD glass. The structure of Corning Gorilla Glass allows a deep layer of chemical strengthening through on ion exchange process. In this process, individual glass parts are cut from the main sheet and go through an ion exchange process.

Ion Exchange Process

Ion exchange is a chemical strengthening procedure where large ions are pushed into the glass surface, forming a state of compression. Gorilla Glass is specially designed to boost this behavior. The glass is placed in a hot bath of molten salt at a temperature of about 400 °C. Smaller sodium ions exit the glass, while larger potassium ions from the salt bath take their place. These large ions take up more space and are pressed together when the glass cools, creating a layer of compressive stress on the surface of the glass. Gorilla Glass’ composition allows the potassium ions to disperse far into the surface, making high compressive stress deep into the glass. This layer of compression produces a surface that should be more damage-resistant.

Corning’s Research Facilities

Being a major producer and researcher of glass, Corning continues to explore new glass compositions and process innovations at their three major research facilities: Sullivan Park in Corning, New York; Corning Technology Center in Shizuoka, Japan; and Corning Research Center Taiwan in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Gorilla Glass 6

Tests And Claims

With the LG V50 ThinQ 5G and Samsung Galaxy S10+ having thicknesses of 8.3mm and 7.8mm respectively, and both devices boasting a screen size of 16.2cm, it is clear manufacturers favour very thin devices with huge screens. Not to mention that many also feature glass backs, too. To deal with the increasing sizes and material choice, Corning states that its scientists engineered the tougher and more durable Corning Gorilla Glass 6, surpassing Gorilla Glass 5 to address it. They go on to further mention that Gorilla Glass 6 was subjected to a new and rigorous test methodology within their labs. On average, Gorilla Glass 6 survived 15 consecutive drops from 1 meter onto rough surfaces and is twice as strong of the former Gorilla Glass 5. Corning also said that competitors did not even survive the first drop.

Glass Still Breaks

As tough as Gorilla Glass 6 may be, it will still break if it faces enough damage. In fact, some sources have even pointed out that while Gorilla Glass 6 is more drop-resistant than its former iterations, it scratches just as easily as they do. This is due to the internal stress in the manufacturing process that makes the thinner glass just as scratch prone. It also does not help that some consumers do not bother with screen protectors or rugged cases to minimize the impact of a fall or blow. This leads to the next point of discussion: Does glass durability matter to consumers?

Does Glass Durability Matter to Consumers?

Yes, for many consumers broken glass is a very inconvenient, painful thing to deal with. Most shoppers probably do not go out their way to look for smartphones featuring a specific iteration of Gorilla Glass. But even then, manufacturers know that smartphone durability is very important.

Why Do Most Manufacturers Seek Corning’s Gorilla Glass?

Corning’s longstanding reputation of making and researching glass is naturally what attracted other manufacturers to buy their glass. As noted earlier, an unknown number of clients have nondisclosure agreements. This strongly suggests that these clients must buy from Corning if they wish to remain anonymous, at least until their contracts expire.

Inspiration Behind This Post: Compilation And Explanation March 2018 – May 2019

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

What Happened?

Between Uropygial Gland: What is it? and up to Webpages: Laurentian Wireless, they all originally had an “Inspiration Behind This Post” section. From Webpages: Red Maple Greater Toronto Area Home Renovation Group and onward I stopped putting it in. Now, I have decided to remove it from all of my writings. Why? As time went on, it began to look increasingly unprofessional in my eyes. This was especially true for articles. I was originally going to officially launch my services back in January or February this year, with the latest being March. I then put it off to take a little more time to properly finish the remaining parts of the portfolio project. Also, to get a few additional blog posts done.

With me planning to finally launch my services this month, I need the website to reflect the professionalism my brand touts. Having that section in articles, webpages, and other categories, detracts from the nature of the post. Maybe some might disagree, and think that it was a nice, unique touch. Either way, I have now decided to compile them all into this post from the first to the latest published on May 03, 2019. For the ones that did not have any, I will create it here. For all posts published after May 03, 2019, I will not post their inspirational sections here, but probably within another compilation. No guarantee, though. For now, enjoy my source of motivation for 40+ writings.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Welcome to Millennium Creek!

Ah, this was my very first post on the website. The creek had been silent and lifeless for two years, before it started flowing with life. How things have changed between then and now! I posted this as a sign of interest towards developing the website, but was not exactly sure when do it. This leads right up to the next post: Rediscovering its Purpose

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Rediscovering its Purpose

This post was created as an affirmation to turning Millennium Creek into a professional website focused on various types of write-ups. It goes into detail about why I came back to it, what I planned to do it, and more.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Uropygial Gland: What is it?

I have been aware of the basic functions of a bird’s oil gland for quite some time. However, I have not really thought much about this subtle gland. This has changed when I had handled a budgerigar some time this year (2018), and noticed that its gland looked odd for a small bird. This then prompted me to go and learn more about this seemingly simple orifice. I wanted to learn more about the function, appearance, and diseases of the uropygial gland.

Inspiration Behind This Article: 2018 All-electric Cars Canada

For this blog entry, my motivation stems from my love for vehicles, particularly all-electric ones. Electric car offerings are truly getting more exciting, as we go further into the future.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Alto Clef: Does it Have Any Real Use?

As anyone would be able to tell from the way I went into such passionate detail with parts of this post, I am really into band instruments. So much, that it was only natural that I would create this post as part of the Millennium Creek restoration effort for this week. Why the alto clef? It is an underrated clef that it grossly misunderstood.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Will America Eventually Ban All Chinese Smartphones?

I wanted to do a post on smartphones, but could not decide what exactly I wanted to write about. The latest flagship available? iOS?  LG’s plummeting smartphone sales? I then thought about Huawei and ZTE with the legal troubles they are going through. I thought that this would make an excellent, interesting, informative, provocative subject matter to discuss. Do I personally think that the United States will eventually ban all Chinese smartphones? If by ban, we are talking about a total ban as in no importation, forbidding sales, and blocking them off from American cellular towers, then no.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Racism in Canada 2018: Getting Better or Worse?

This week, I knew that I wanted to do a post on racism/multiculturalism on Friday. In fact, I had that determined before I even knew which topics I precisely wanted to cover for the previous blog posts. Racism is a serious issue that must not be ignored and swept under a rug. It is a problem that prohibits prosperity and safety. We must acknowledge that it exists, talk about it, and seek to eradicate it whenever we can. Canada may fare better than many other places in the world, but there is still much work and improvement that needs to be done.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Keystroke logging

Cybersecurity is not a glamorous topic, but is very important. I felt that this article deserved to be resurfaced, since it contains enough valuable information in a manageable format.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Encrypting Your Smartphone’s MicroSD Card

Despite being originally written in 2016, microSD card slots are still a valuable component in phones that support them. This article contains a lot of valuable information, majority of which is still relevant in 2018. For this reason, it deserved to be polished, reformatted and uploaded onto Millennium Creek, giving it a far better chance to flow and get the views it deserves.

Inspiration Behind This Article: China Dress: Simply a Dress or More Than That?

Keziah Daum. Who is that you may ask? Perhaps you are well informed about this story already, but maybe not. Keziah is a regular 18-year-old, American citizen from Woods Cross High School, Utah, United States of America. She is a Caucasian person that decided to wear a qipao for her 2018 prom. Why? She personally thought it would be a beautiful, unique dress to wear for the special event. Unfortunately, after posting photographs on social media, a Twitter user tweeted, “My culture is NOT your ****amn prom dress” Now based on what you already might know, or what you have recently read from this blog post: are there any restrictions for foreigners wearing a qipao? No, none at all. There is a reason why YesStyle, Modern Qipao, and Chinese Clothing Online ship to plenty of non-Asian countries. Even Amazon. This story has since caused a debate on whether or not, it was really cultural appropriation. Most have sensibly agreed that it was not. Even though the criticism was uncalled for, this story inspired me to research and learn more about what I simply always called the “China dress“.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Starbucks Anti-bias Training Day

I did not have plans to write such a blog post today. But when the headlines came up about Starbuck’s official anti-bias training taking place across over 8,000 American outlets, it inspired me to do another blog post on racism. Though the incident was very unfortunate and should have never happened, the story, follow-ups behind it, and all the media surrounding it, have been very interesting. It has sparked a lot of debate over the lingering presence of racial profiling, especially towards Black people.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Fiat Chrysler Automotobiles: June 2018 Discussion

When I heard that Fiat Chrysler was announcing a new five-year plan on June 1st, I knew that I was definitely going to do a blog post on it. I wanted to take a look at what was said, the rumors, and of course my opinions on this. The latter, not-so-surprisingly, ended up being the longest section of this entry. Which Fiat Chrysler brand is your favourite? How do you feel about their new five-year plan? The departure of Sergio Marchionne in April 2019? Comment down below and share your thoughts.

Inspiration Behind This Article: The Tokay Gecko

This post was originally supposed to be my unpublished 200-worded piece “Are Tokay Geckos Too Violent For Beginners?” But it did not happen. The original piece was not complete garbage, but was also not up to Millennium Creek standards and quality. I figured that if I were going to put up an information piece on tokay geckos, that I should expand it and include much more useful information. Why tokay geckos in particular? I wanted to do an article on an exotic animal of the sort. The tokay gecko’s stunning colours and feisty personality made it a good choice.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Indigenous Peoples of Canada

A little bit back, I created a rough notepad titled “Millennium Creek Upcoming Topics May-June 2018” There, I brainstormed a list of topics and types of writings I wanted to do over the summer. It has since been moved to a word file titled, “Ultimate Millennium Creek Writing Plan For June-July-August 2018” On this word file, I have laid out all the posts and different types of writing styles I plan to do. Since I had the topic of Indigenous Canadians in the notepad for some time, I decided to go with it. Writing about Indigenous Canadians has been an interesting, eye-opening, refresher about the people I live among. The people that have inhabited this country long before foreign settlers from other continents have arrived.

Inspiration Behind This Article: Health Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

As mentioned in the previous post, a summer plan was created for the types of writings and topics I wanted to do. While it did not explicitly state which topics or types of writing I was going to do, extra virgin olive oil was one that was planned for quite some time. Why this topic? I was searching around the Internet one day, and stumbled across a post that went into the lengthy health benefits of extra virgin olive oil. I then decided that I definitely wanted to do my own post on this topic. I wanted to add my take on it, and include information and tidbits that the others have failed to mention.

Inspiration Behind This Article: What is SaaS?

While I have been seeing the term “SaaS” for quite some time, it was not until more recently that I would do something more about it. I decided to add it to my writing plan of future topics. Now here it is on the Internet. Writing and researching it has given me a much better understanding of what it is, and more awareness of the companies that use or offer it. It probably should not come as a surprise, that I do prefer one-time purchases over subscription models when it comes onto computer software. I can see why businesses go with SaaS for the benefits discussed earlier. For me, one-time purchases suit my needs. What about you? Do you prefer subscription models or one-time purchases?

Inspiration Behind This Article: The Difference Between Nationality Versus Ethnicity

Aside from it being a planned summer article, I wanted to do this post to clarify the difference of these terms. There are many articles on the Internet that either have them mixed up, or written entirely inaccurately. This is not to say that mine is the best, and only one worth of reading. It is not. But, at the same time, it was thoughtfully and factually put together to give it credibility and quality. Found this article helpful, informative or interesting? Drop a comment below or share it with your friends and relatives.

Inspiration Behind This Critique: Royal Bank of Canada Website Critique

A continuation of the plan summer plan to put up various categories of writings on Millennium Creek. If you read the beginning of this critique, you will know that Canadian Tire and Havelaar Canada will be appearing on Millennium Creek to join RBC as part of the portfolio for non-endorsed website critiques.

Inspiration Behind This Critique: Canadian Tire Website Critique

This write-up is the second out of the three non-endorsed website critiques, being done for a portfolio project. Why did I choose Canadian Tire of all online retailers? Well, there were a lot of other online retailers that I could have went with. For the second critique, I wanted to choose an online retail that was based in Canada, that also has a physical store. For those two reasons, it should be no surprise that Canadian Tire was one of the first places that came to mind, so I went with it. Readers, what are your impressions of these critiques so far? Comment and share your thoughts.

Inspiration Behind This Critique: Havelaar Canada Website Critique

This write-up is the third and final out of the three non-endorsed website critiques, being done for a portfolio project. If you have read my previous articles pertained to automobiles, then my inspiration behind this post should be very clear: my love all-electric cars. As such, I originally thought about doing a critique for Tesla. But then, I thought that the Tesla already has enough press and attention surrounding them, so I thought about doing Jaguar. Now Jaguar may only have one all-electric vehicle in the lineup, but the company as whole was attractive enough to make me consider it. I was then torn between Tesla and Jaguar. I then decided to do neither of those two, and went with the lesser known, Canada-based, Havelaar Canada. Turned out to be a good choice. If it does make it to production, I hope there will be a 4-door crew cab option.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is It Acceptable For Women To Breastfeed In Public? Yes

Upon finishing the articles and website critiques for the Summer Project, now Autumn Portfolio 2018 Project, the next part of it is argumentative essays. Seeing as though I had already done this particular topic originally on May 30, 2016, I figured that it made lots of sense to upload it as the first choice for this part of the project. For the argumentative essays I cover in this project, I do plan to cover both “For” and “Against” *insert topic*. I plan to do three topics, bringing it to six essays, or six sides depending on how you look at it. For those of you that hated doing argumentative essay in school, you would probably think this is madness. Truth is, as long as the subject matter is not complex, and you understand the format of argumentative essays, they are actually quite easy to do. Or am I just saying that because I am an experienced writer? Either way, drop a comment on this topic and let me know what you think of public nursing.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is it acceptable for women to breastfeed in public? No

This essay serves as the voice against public nursing. For the side that supports public nursing, click here. Now that both sides of this subject matter have been explored, I am almost certain that you must be wondering how do I, Millennium Creek, feel about women breastfeeding in public? Well, it should not come as a surprise, but it surprises me that this is even a debate in the first place. As far as I am concerned, I do not know of any mother that would flagrantly expose their entire chest with the intention of creating shock and disgust. Virtually nobody would want to put themselves and their child in unnecessary danger. A mother nursing her infant should be treated as casually as somebody drinking from a water bottle to satisfy their thirst.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Should Canadians Be Required To Know Both French And English Upon High School Graduation? Yes

I honestly do not remember why I chose this as one of the subjects I wanted to cover for the essays part of the portfolio. I do remember going through lists of good topics to do for an argumentative essay. I do not recall specifically seeing anything titled “Should Canadians Be Required to Know Both French and English Upon High School Graduation?” I believe that I did run into something that had to do with language and bilingualism. From there, I decided to go with this one. Do you also agree that Canadians should know both languages by the time they graduate? Type your comments and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Should Canadians Be Required To Know Both French And English Upon High School Graduation? No

This essay serves as the voice that is against forced bilingualism on high school students. For the voice that supports it, click here. Do you agree with the points in this essay? I strongly suspect that most people would side with this voice, but I might be wrong? Let me know by leaving a comment. “Should Bilingualism Be A Graduation Requirement In Canada?” Perhaps would have been a nicer sounding title for these essays.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is Technology Limiting Creativity? Yes

This is the 3rd and final topic for the argumentative essay part of the portfolio project of 2018. I came around to choosing this topic by browsing a list of good essay topics. Why this one in particular? Though you may very well know at this point that I am into electronics, it is also because of how interesting and thought-provocative it is. In fact, I honestly feared that I would not know how to go about writing this. Thankfully, it came through and I managed to get this side of the topic done. Do you agree that technology is limiting creativity? Comment and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Essay: Is Technology Limiting Creativity? No

Now that the “No” voice of this essay topic is complete, this marks the completion of the essay part of my 2018 portfolio project. As explained on the “Yes” voice, my inspiration behind choosing this topic for an argument, was the result of two things:

1. Browsing through a list of topics to do for an argumentative essay
2. My love for technology

With that said, it is obvious that I believe technology is not limiting creativity. The problem is people themselves not knowing how to be creative, and where to draw their sources of inspiration. My own website, Millennium Creek, is a good example of creativity that would not have been possible without the appropriate technology in place. Do you also agree that technology is not limiting creativity? Or have you sided with the “Yes” voice? Comment and let me know. While some people would love a world without smartphones, computers and televisions, our lives would be significantly harder in too many ways.

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: Speech: Let It Become A Legal Requirement To Label Genetically Modified Organisms In Canada

I do not think I have ever written any speech of the sort before. Whether it be intended for school, work or business. The idea of writing a speech definitely brought feelings of uncertainty, but I still did not cancel the idea. The completion of this speech marks the first write-up of the Creative Writing part of my portfolio part. Why a speech? Why this topic? As to why I would want a speech, it is because I thought it would be a valuable, challenging write-up to have in my portfolio. As for my topic of choice, I simply searched around for good speech topics. Interestingly, what happens to be a good topic for persuasive essays, also happens to be an excellent topic for speeches. For that reason, it is no wonder I have seen some people go as far to call speeches “spoken essays”. What do you think? How do you feel about this topic? Comment and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: Beautiful Blue Creek (Haiku)

A Haiku was originally going to be the first write-up for the Creative Writing part of my portfolio project. Instead, I opted to write a speech first, making this the 2nd writing in the category. Why a Haiku? The last time I have written a Haiku probably dates back to elementary school. Yes, that is indeed a frighteningly long time!

Much of the content on Millennium Creek tends to be articles or writings that often tip 1,000 words. Doing a short Haiku on creeks, felt refreshing and very different. I am quite a fan of the simplicity and beauty of Haiku. I may create more of them in 2019. For now, I will proceed to working on the next creative piece.

For those of you that absolutely love Haiku, I recommend you have a look at Basho: The Complete Haiku, On Haiku, and maybe this mug? Have you ever written a Haiku? Perhaps you frequently write Haiku? Comment and let me know.

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: Walk of the Wilderness

Is this a story? Or is it a poem? A poetic story? Those are the questions that frequently came up in my mind while I was writing this. Truth be told, this is supposed to be a “long poem”. It probably might not look like it to some, but that was the intention. It is neither a fictional or non-fiction story. Now because poetry admittedly is not my specialty, there may be some debates on how good it is, or how you might personally disagree with my classification of it this work. Walk of the Wilderness marks the 3rd creation of the Creative Writing part of my portfolio project. It was supposed to be the 2nd, but if you already read the “Inspirational” section of my Haiku, you will have the answer to why it is not.

So aside from creating this as a “look what I can do” sort of thing, you must be wondering about what the actual inspiration of this particular poem is, right? It happened when I tasked myself with the objective to complete a third Creative Writing piece. It was originally going to be a write-up of one of my real dreams. I could not decide which dream to write about. I did not want to waste too much time on it, because 2018 was coming to an end very soon. I wanted to get the Creative Writings done before Christmas. I then decided to just write one massive, story-like poem about a brief dream belonging to no one, themed around walking through the wilderness. I did not plan, nor even look at other poems for inspiration. I just threw myself in front of the keyboard, brainstormed the title, and wrote whatever came to my mind.

As anyone can tell, it is advisable to plan and get inspiration when writing poetry. It makes it more organized and refined. Or at least I think so. Well, I suppose writing whatever floats up also has its perks, too. Particularly, if you are trying to really flex that originality muscle. What did you think about this long poem? Think it does not deserved to be called such? Feels more like a story?

Inspiration Behind This Creative Piece: What Love is This?

This long piece falls into the same category of my previous Walk of the Wilderness, classifying as a long poem. If you view it as a series of short poetic stories, I will not blame you for seeing it that way. Now that aside, What Love Is This? is the 4th and final creation of the Creative Writing part of my portfolio project. What you will not know about this write-up, is the fact that it was not supposed to even come into being. In fact, I was originally going to stop the Creative Writing portfolio after writing #3. But suddenly, I felt a strong desire to create just one more long poem, before calling it complete. I am quite glad I did.

Why love? I figured that if I was going to write poems, that I had to do at least one love theme. Sounds like such a cliché thing to do, but the urge was strong. Very strong. Like Walk of the Wilderness, What Love Is This? was written in the same manner: placed myself in front of the keyboard, brainstormed a little, and just let my fingers do the rest. As a result, you may either find the poem adorable or creative, or very uncool.

Inspiration Behind The Product Descriptions From an Old Portfolio

I was originally going to start the 2019 portfolio project with the following writing categories: Blog posts and copywriting. I then had a change of heart and revised it to be product descriptions and copywriting, while making the blog posts optional. The reason is because I am going to be officially selling my services in the coming weeks. Likely in February, but possibly March. While my services have already been available for some time, I have never posted them officially and openly on social media.

Back in 2018, I completed articles, website critiques, argumentative essays, creative pieces, and the occasional blog post. Blog posts are nice and all, but they have not been a focus on Millennium Creek. I believe that getting product descriptions and copywriting into my portfolio sooner, would make it look far more attractive than common, regular blogs posts.

Seeing as though  I had already completed a write-up of original descriptions a few years ago, it made sense to tidy them up, and publish them as the first for this category. And yes, I am aware that writing product descriptions is a form of copywriting. By “copywriting” I have web pages in mind for the next category.

Inspiration Behind The 2019 Product Descriptions: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS Max Accessories

The completion of this makes it the 2nd write-up of the Product Descriptions part of the portfolio project. The 1st was Product Descriptions From an Old Portfolio. Creating these names and descriptions from scratch was no easy task. I took a look at Google Maps and other products to get an idea for names and certain technical details. Even then, it still took some work. Nevertheless, completing this gave me some valuable experience and insight about product copy.

Why the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS Max? Those two are among the most recognizable high-end devices in the world, making them a sensible choice to write portfolio descriptions for. Of course, there are many other fantastic devices out there. Some of which you can argue are even better. And finally, I would love to know what your top three picks would be if these products were real. Comment down below.

Inspiration Behind The 2019 Product Descriptions: Kaskawulsh Men’s Fashion

Fashion is a big deal because you have to wear clothes. You have to protect your body from the elements of the outdoors. And most obviously, you do not want to violate laws of indecency. Some people care greatly about looking stylish. Others value comfort, while some prefer to just buy whatever is affordable and necessary. The world of fashion is truly, very broad. I could have done men’s luxury fashion, women’s fashion, children’s fashion, ethnic fashion, and many more. For this portfolio piece, I decided to go with an imaginary, upscale brand that is not too expensive for the masses, but is not very cheap either.

Which of these products would you buy if they were real? Comment down below and share your interests.

Inspiration Behind The 2019 Product Descriptions: Cielistellati Fine Musical Instruments

My love for musical instruments. That is the driving reason behind choosing this as the 4th and final subject for the Product Descriptions category of the portfolio project. Woodwinds, brass, orchestral strings, percussion, keyboards — they all have their unique strengths and voices. If Cielistellati instruments were real, and money were no barrier, which of these instruments would you buy? I have a deep feeling that 95% of population would pick piano or violin. Prove me wrong by commenting on what your choice would be. Even if it is piano and violin, there is certainly nothing wrong with that. Both are beautiful when played by musicians who have been trained properly.

For those of you who are Italian, or at least understand the language, Cielistellati comes from the Italian words “cieli stellati” meaning starry skies. Your eyes would indeed be starry with the craftsmanship and sound quality of these instruments, if they were real.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Laurentian Wireless

Every website obviously has webpages. Does every website have good pages? Unfortunately, they do not. I wanted to have a knack at writing webpages. I went ahead to test my webpage content writing skills with this category of the portfolio project. The reason why I chose a wireless carrier, will not be a surprise to any readers who have read most of my write-ups. (Love for smartphones and other electronics!)

Now finally, if Laurentian Wireless were a real company, would you subscribe to them? Or would you prefer to stick to Telus, Koodo, Rogers, Fido, Bell, Virgin Mobile or Freedom Mobile? Comment down below and let me know. I would also like to know what you think of this write-up. Should I have included certain details within pages that I missed? Your constructive feedback is very important to me.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Red Maple Greater Toronto Area Home Renovation Group

Red Maple Greater Toronto Area Home Renovation Group (Red Maple GTA HRG) is the second write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. We all need a good, clean, peaceful house to dwell in. Therefore, this makes home renovation an extremely big industry. So big, that it was only natural that I would include it as one of the 5 webpage topics to go with. And because I am based in Ontario, I chose to go with an Ontarian-themed, imaginary example company.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Wonder Food of 6 Worlds Restaurant

Wonder Food of 6 Worlds Restaurant (WF6WR) is the third write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. Not only is the hospitality and tourism industry interesting, it is a huge sector of commerce. When coming up with an imaginary example company, I knew I wanted to include a restaurant, but was not too sure of which theme to go with. Thinking of all the ethnic restaurants around me, I decided to go with a unique, multi-ethnic theme. A little challenging, but I like how it turned out.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Seaforth Serpents

Seaforth Serpents is the fourth write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. People love their pets, particularly cats and dogs. While cats and dogs are popular and all, I wanted to go with something a little more niche for the 4th write-up of this area: reptiles, particularly snakes. I originally expected this piece to be quick and easy to type, but it proved me wrong. Animal shop websites actually have a lot of important text that needs to be on their webpages, or you risk numerous complications. Still, I personally love reptiles, so writing this was not uninteresting.

Inspiration Behind The Webpages Of Thunder Things Automotive Group

Thunder Things Automotive Group (TTAG) is the fifth and final write-up within the webpages category of the portfolio project. As mentioned in earlier automotive writings, I love all-electric vehicles, making this a very alluring choice to go with. TTAG may be an imaginary example company, but I really would like to see Canada create its own home-grown brand soon.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: “Maseromeo” What If Maserati And Alfa Romeo Merged Into One Brand?

As mentioned within the first paragraph of this post, this was originally intended to be a blog post written shortly after completing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: June 2018 Discussion. Why did I still bother with it? Because it was too interesting of a discussion to throw off. Both Maserati and Alfa Romeo are internationally recognized brands that can stir up a variety of emotions.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: The Truth About Alfa Romeo’s Logo Surprised Me Greatly

My inspiration for this blog post is summed up perfectly within the first paragraph of this post: stumbled across an image with text about the logo, thus leading to me creating an entry all about it.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Do I Believe There Is Life On Other Planets?

Without a doubt, the other celestial bodies around us are extremely fascinating. Some believe there is, or was life at some point on them. Others, such as myself, believe they never had or will ever be capable of supporting life. As such, I wanted to create a blog post entirely dedicated to this, and why they cannot support life.

Inspiration Behind This Blog Post: Remote Work Is Not Nonsense; It Is The Way

This blog post may very well be the most passionate-driven entry posted on Millennium Creek. Being someone who believes strongly in remote work, I felt as though I was called to do this when I saw someone write remote work off as nonsense on Twitter. Within the post, I go into plenty of detail about what remote work is and is not.

Feeling Inspired?

This was a ton of text to go through, but I do hope that you managed to read it all. And most importantly, I hope it left you feeling inspired to take some action of the sort. Whether it be reading the write-ups they link to, or creating a write-up inspired from them.

Do I Believe There Is Life On Other Planets?

Disclosure: Millennium River is an independent website that uses hyperlinks. Some of these links are affiliate links. When you click and purchase a product(s) through these links, I may earn a commission on qualifying sales. This is done at no extra expense to you. You may also support this website via PayPal. Unless it is clearly stated, the content is not sponsored.

What I Believe

Back in the days, pre-2006 that is, there were 9 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. In August 2006, Pluto was demoted to something called a “dwarf planet”. In my view, I still see Pluto as a planet. Nevertheless, according to the book of officials, there are 8 planets. Out of all these planets, there is only one that is teeming with life: Earth. What about the others? Do they have life, too? No, I do not think there is life on other planets besides Earth. Why? Because all the other planets are either too close or too far from the sun, lack water, and other forms of protection. As a result, this makes them severely hot or cold, and not to mention how inhospitable their terrains are. Planets like Uranus cannot even be landed on due to its gas composition. Venus would be like entering a volcano with intense pressure and fumes, enough to kill you in a matter of seconds.

What Science Says

Science has discovered icy crusts on certain planets or their moons, which leads to the possibility of there being an ocean beneath their crusts. Keyword: possibility, meaning that it is all, but confirmed. Even with Jupiter’s moon Europa, scientists are still not 100% certain about whether or not the geysers are even legitimately geysers. If they are, they believe that there must be an ocean beneath its surface. The only problem is proving it. At best, only simple organisms such as single celled microbes have been allegedly found on Mars. More on that later in this post.

The Basics Needs of Living Things

While the modern human requires quite a bit of things to survive and thrive in an urban environment, they too, like all other forms of life, require five vital things: sunlight, water, air, nutrition, and an appropriate habitat.

Sunlight

The sun plays an extremely important role in the sustenance of life. Without it, Earth would be a lifeless planet of ice crusts — a similar scenario to the other planets. The sun prevents massive ice crusts from forming across the entire planet, warms the oceans, moves the atmosphere, generates weather and seasons, and allows plants to grow, which provide food and oxygen for Earth’s lifeforms.

Water

All organisms on Earth are composed of water. The human body for example, is between 50-75% water. Not only is water crucial for biological functions, but it also serves as a habitat for many plants and animals such as fish, whales, and seaweed.

Air

Animals need oxygen to breathe. An element that is either absent, or extremely minimal on other planets. Earth’s atmosphere is composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, and the rest is trace amounts of carbon dioxide, neon, helium, methane, krypton, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, xenon, ozone, iodine, carbon monoxide, and ammonia.

Nutrition

All animals are heterotrophs. This means that they are incapable of producing their own food. They are dependent on the intake of nutrition from other organic sources, be it another animal or plant. Even autotrophs such as plants, require nutrients to survive and serve as food or shelter for the heterotrophs that feed or live on them. Nutrition is needed to function biologically: move, grow, cellular repair, reproduce, and other functions.

Shelter/Habitat

All living organisms need a shelter or environment to live in. Their habitats must be able to provide safety, and be of the correct temperature to survive. A tropical saltwater fish for instance, needs to be in an aquatic environment that is not only consistently warm, but also of the right salinity. The modern, urban-dwelling human, requires a safe, clean shelter to not only house their belongings, but also serve as a place to keep them safe from extreme weather and rest.

How Hard Could Life Be In Another World?

Life would not be easy or hard on another planet; it is straight up impossible. I will discuss the extreme conditions of the other planets that prohibit life from living on them.

Mercury

It has been an extremely long time since I have revisited the topic of planets. Therefore, I was under the impression that with Mercury being so close to the sun, it would naturally be the hottest planet. False. It is actually Venus that is the hottest. Similarly to Venus and Mars, Mercury has a rocky, solid, cratered surface, making it a terrestrial planet. Now what makes Mercury uninhabitable? It does not have an atmosphere, rather it has an exosphere; a thin atmosphere-like volume that surrounds a planet. This means that there is no protection from intense solar radiation. The weather is also extreme with daylight temperatures going up to 430°C, while nighttime temperatures can plunge down to -180°C. Breathability? Mercury’s exosphere is made mostly of oxygen, sodium, hydrogen, helium and potassium. Some sources say that oxygen is actually almost non-existent on the planet. Either way, Mercurian air is too thin to breathe.

Venus

Venus differs from other planets, in that rather than having an extremely thin or non-existent atmosphere, it has a thick atmosphere. It is largely made up of carbon dioxide. Venus’ atmosphere traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, resulting in making it the hottest planet in the solar system. Here, the surface temperature is 430°C — hot enough to melt lead. If you were to come as you are to Venus, you be crushed by the extreme air pressure, suffocate from the carbon dioxide, be scorched from the heat, and be dissolved by the acid. Indeed a morbid mental image. Living a Venusian life is impossible.

Mars

The fourth planet from the sun. It is often called the red planet, due to the iron minerals that oxidize or rust in Martian soil, attributing to its red-orange appearance. This planet is one of the most explored places (in terms of equipment sent there). It is also the only one that had rovers sent there to roam and gather details about the Martian landscape. However, there are two major obstacles preventing life from living on Mars: too cold and unbreathable. The average Martian temperature is -60°C, while temperatures near the poles can plunge down to an even lower -125°C. Near the equator, temperatures can reach 20°C during summer, but then they can consequently dive down to -73°C at night. As for the atmosphere, it is virtually non-existent. Since the Martian atmosphere is so thin, it cannot retain heat. And speaking of atmosphere, it is 95% carbon monoxide and less than 1% oxygen, rendering it impossible to get a breath of fresh Martian air. There has been some talks and theories about how we could make Mars a more breathable place. I personally do not believe that there will ever be a way to breathe on Mars. We have not been able to figure out how to even get humans to safely land there, yet alone get creative with whatever ice or vapors Mars has to offer.

As promised from earlier, I would touch on the discovery of life on Mars. According to an article that took place this month, fossilized bacteria was found in a meteorite from Mars. But what about Mars itself? What the articles do not mention, is whether or not the meteorite could have been contaminated from Earth. To date, life has never been found on Mars proper, despite all the speculations and theories about it possibly once being a lush, supportive planet long ago.

Jupiter

The fifth and largest planet in our solar system. It is so big, that using the basketball and grape analogy, Earth is the grape and Jupiter is the basketball. Unlike basketballs, Jupiter is not a solid sphere. Jupiter, like Uranus and Neptune, does not have a solid surface which is also why we have not been able to get space probes to land there. The planet is made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. As for temperature, Jupiter averages -145°C. Attempting to live on Jupiter would result in being suffocated, crushed from atmospheric pressure and frozen. A rather similar scenario to Venus, only with severe cold and no acid.

Saturn

The sixth planet and also the second largest planet within our solar system. Saturn’s signature feature is its large, beautiful rings. These rings make it stand out from all the other planets. Similarly to Jupiter, Saturn is also almost entirely made of hydrogen. 94% hydrogen, 6% helium and traces of other gases. This of course, means that it is impossible to set a foot on the planet, without sinking in, freezing and getting destroyed. Speaking of freezing, the average temperature of Saturn is -178 °Celsius. Saturnian living is impossible.

Uranus

The seventh planet from the Sun. In like manner to Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus is also largely made up of hydrogen and helium, but also has one major difference: methane. The methane scatters blue light, contributing to Uranus’ pale blue appearance. The lack of a solid surface, average temperature of -214 °C, and no oxygen means life is impossible on Uranus. I should also mention that because this planet rotates on its side, its north pole gets 21 years of nighttime in winter, 21 years of daytime in summer, and 42 years of day and night in the spring and fall. Not something anything on Earth would ever get used to.

Neptune

Neptune is the eighth and furthest planet from the sun. Despite being further from the sun than Uranus, it oddly happens to have an average temperature of -214 °C just like it. Some sources do state the average is actually -220 °C. Either way, it is not terribly off and both are severely cold. Unlike Uranus which consists of 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane, Neptune is 80% Hydrogen, 19% Helium, and 1.5% Methane. This explains why Neptune is a darker blue than its close counterpart Uranus. Aside from being extremely cold and having a poisonous atmospheric composition, Neptune has two other major problems that will forever stop anyone from becoming a Neptunian: Firstly, it has no solid surface to land on, meaning that you would sink into its 5000°C core. That is, if you somehow managed to go deep enough without being crushed and frozen from the surface. Secondly, winds push clouds of frozen methane across the planet at speeds of more than 2,000 km/h. The most powerful winds on Earth only top 400 km/h. This effectively means that winds are five times more powerful on Neptune than they are on Earth. This makes Earth’s hurricanes and tornadoes look like a child blowing out candles on their birthday cake.

Honourable Mention: Pluto

Do you remember the days when Pluto was our 9th planet? I do. For anybody that does not know why it lost its planetary status, it is because the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officialized the definition of what a planet qualifies as:

1. A planet is a celestial body that is in orbit around the Sun.

2. Has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape

3. Has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

Pluto meets all, but the third requirement, thus resulting in its dwarf planet status. Now Pluto, as with Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars does happen to have a solid surface. Is it liveable? No. Its distance from the sun results in a temperature range of -223 °C to -233 °C. It also lacks an atmosphere majority of the time, making cosmic radiation a threat. Even when an extremely thin atmosphere periodically forms, it is comprised mostly of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide, making it impossible to get a breath of fresh Plutonian air.

Confined To Earth Forever

The summary for all of this? The other celestial bodies are either too cold, too hot, have intoxicating atmospheres that offer no protection from cosmic radiation, have little if any oxygen, and majority of them have atmospheric pressure that is far too hard on living things. That said, if the other planets were to become hospitable, money were no boundary, and technology made it possible to visit planets quickly and safely, what would be the first planet you would like to explore? Comment and let me know. I suspect that most people would choose Mars. Perhaps Venus or Mercury might be a surprising first choice?