Curious thing crunchbase

  The first pedometers were mechanical models that worked much like a pendulum clock. They featured tiny moving parts that would move back and forth along with the motion of the body as you walked. Each time your body moved with a step, the tiny parts would trigger a switch that would add one to your step count. Modern pedometers work in a very similar way but are partly electronic. Open one up and you'll find a metal pendulum (a hammer with a weight on one end) wired into an electronic counting circuit by a thin spring. Normally the circuit is open and no electric current flows through it. As you take a step, the hammer swings across and touches a metal contact in the center, completing the circuit and allowing current to flow. The flow of current energizes the circuit and adds one to your step count. As you complete the step, the hammer swings back again (helped by the spring) and the circuit is broken, effectively resetting the pedometer ready for the next step. The pedometer sh...

Tasers and stun guns are built on the same fundamental concept: both employ a less-than-lethal electrical charge to ward off an attack. While both a stun gun and a Taser are considered the same weapon under the law, making them legal to carry in most states, there are some major differences to consider between these two types of self-defense weapons.  A stun gun generates a high-voltage electrical charge between two small prongs;  when this electrical current makes contact with the body, a painful charge is delivered. The amperage, however, is too low to seriously or permanently injure an individual and yet is typically strong enough to briefly immobilize someone, buying you precious seconds to escape unharmed. Hence, this is a generally safe and effective self-defense weapon to employ. A Taser also delivers an electrical charge between two electrodes; however, these electrodes shoot out from a compressed gas cartridge inserted in the Taser, which launches the two prongs up to...

During launching the main thing is all steps of launching are done on time. that's why all say Rocket Science is very tough. The procedures for each launch are written carefully. A single-degree angle more inclination of Rocket can damage the trajectory that it follows. A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. The purpose of a countdown is to make sure all the engineers know exactly when liftoff should be, and how much time they have to make last-minute adjustments. The countdowns can start from 72 to 96 hours before launch time. There is a long list of things that have to happen to launch a rocket after it gets to the pad. Fueling, engine gimbal tests, sensor checks, computer startups, etc, etc. There's a certain order these have to go in. A countdown provides the backbone for the planning of all this. Don't think of it so much as "time until launch," but rather "progress through the...

In 2016, three fishermen from the middle eastern country of Oman struck "floating gold" in the form of ambergris, traditionally thought to be whale vomit. (Modern science says the waxy substance is more like a whale gallstone, or whale poop.) Although it sounds pretty repellant, ambergris is actually worth big bucks — the chunk that these guys stumbled upon weighed 176 pounds (80 kilograms) and was allegedly worth nearly $3 million. But why was it so valuable? Ambergris (which comes from a French phrase meaning "gray amber") forms in the intestines of a sperm whale. Scientists have found squid beaks in clumps of ambergris, leading many to surmise the ambergris is something of a protective secretion that protects sperm whales' digestive tracts from the scratching of those hard beaks. Traditionally, scientists believed that whales threw it up because they couldn't digest the substance, but many scientists now lean toward thinking that ambergris is passed out j...

The history of pneumatic tube systems can be traced back to the 1850s. The first operating system was built by engineer Josiah Latimer Clark and went into operation at the London Telegraph Office in 1853. Shorter paths for rapid transport were created: Letters, telegrams and even parcels were put in cylindrical containers and sent through the tubes. Colored markings served as identification for the various shipments. Particularly for the stock market, it was an important and, above all, fast method of communication at that time: if messages were not delivered in a timely manner, speculators ran the risk of losing a fortune. More and more pneumatic tube systems were also used in retail trade, banks, and the chemical and automotive industries – mostly to transmit production samples to laboratories. High quality was ensured. In the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, the air system became established in other cities besides London. Mail was sent by the Prague tube network until 2002 – ...

Red-light systems rely on some sophisticated technology, but conceptually they are very simple. The system includes only three essential elements: One or more cameras. One or more triggers. A computer. In a typical system, cameras are positioned at the corners of an intersection, on poles a few yards high. The cameras point inward, so they can photograph cars driving through the intersection. Generally, a red-light system has cameras at all four corners of an intersection, to photograph cars going in different directions and get pictures from different angles. Some systems use film cameras, but most newer systems use digital cameras. There are a number of trigger technologies, but they all serve the same purpose: They detect when a car has moved past a particular point in the road. Red-light systems typically have two induction-loop triggers positioned under the road near the stop line. The computer is the brains behind the operation. It is wired to the cameras, the triggers and the tr...

  An error, flaw, or fault in any computer software or hardware system. It results in unexpected and unwanted results, causing the system to behave weirdly. Put simply, and it is any fault in the computer system that keeps it from performing what it is intended to do. Most bugs take place because of mistakes caused by developers while creating the code or the design. There could be errors in the components or operating systems used by the program in question. Some bugs could result from errors in translation between languages, resulting in illegible or incorrect code. It can be a subtle bug or can result in a system crash or freezing. Some bugs can cause security issues and enable malicious users to obtain unauthorized access to your system. The term "Computer Bug" may be a relatively new word. But it has been used in the formal engineering world for quite a long time. The concept might date back to 1843 when Ada Lovelace, a UK-based English mathematician, and writer, referre...