Phone Area Codes Based on Dialing Speed
By Chad Upton | Editor
Telephones have been around in some capacity since the mid to late 19th century, depending on who you credit with the invention.
Early dialing was accomplished by rotating a spring loaded dial until your finger matched the number you wanted, then you would release the dial and it would rotate back to its default position. Each number it passed on its way back would induce a pulse — a short variance in current — on the phone line. This pulse communicated the number to the phone system. (more…)
Why Watches are Set to 10:10 in Adverts
Once a fundamental tool, the wrist watch is now an accessory more than necessity.
The ubiquity of cellphones eliminated the need for watches on most people’s wrists. However, smart watches that accompany smartphones may catalyze a revival in wrist watches. Although these new fangled smart watches can emulate the analog hands of a traditional timepiece, they lack verisimilitude.
If you’re looking for the real thing, you may notice almost all analog wrist watches are photographed with a time of 10:10. The time doesn’t have any special meaning, it’s just aesthetics. The manufacturer’s logo is typically below 12 o’clock and the hands at 10 and 2 frame the logo proportionally and draw the readers eyes toward the logo itself.
One exception is chronograph watches. Since they often have multiple dials, the logo may not be top and center and/or the hands may be moved to a position that doesn’t block other dials.
Chocolate Can Improve Blood Flow and Brain Function
By Chad Upton
The Kuna Indians of the Panama Islands consume large quantities of cocoa, even when compared to those living on mainland Panama.
A study by Norman K Hollenberg, MD and PhD of Harvard Medical School, found that the islanders have astonishingly low occurrences of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. In fact, death from heart disease is a 1280% higher risk for mainlanders. What is in the chocolate the islanders are consuming? (more…)
The Sun is Green
By Chad Upton
I know, the sun doesn’t look green. But, keep in mind the sky looks blue and we know it’s not really blue. The sky appears blue for the same reason some people’s eyes look blue – an optical illusion known as the Tyndall effect.
When scientists measure the wavelength (color) of the sun, the peak output is in the transition area between blue and green (about 500 nanometers). So, technically, the sun is green-blue. But, why doesn’t it look green? (more…)
Netflix Accounts for 29% of North American Internet Traffic
By Chad Upton | Editor
YouTube was once the king of online video bandwidth. They still make a significant dent, especially in Europe where they account for more than 20% of peak downstream mobile traffic.
In North America, Netflix is the largest single consumer of bandwidth. At peak, they’re tasked with 33% of downstream internet traffic. Off peak, they’re responsible for about 28.8% of downstream bandwidth.
As Netflix continues to expand into South America and Europe, they will certainly impose a bigger footprint on networks in those regions. Interestingly, they may also have a calming effect on other local internet traffic. Analysis shows that bit-torrent traffic, sometimes used to pirate movies and tv shows, actually decreases when Netflix is introduced into a market.
Since some Internet Service Providers slow down the internet for users running bit-torrent clients, Netflix may be something they’re willing to pay for.
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sources: sandvine.com, wikipedia (Netflix), torrentfreak.com
Bananas Emit Antimatter Almost Every 75 Minutes
By Chad Upton
Potassium-40 is a fairly unstable isotope, although the half life is nearly a billion years.
Because bananas have so much of this isotope, there is enough decay to generate one positron (approximately) every 75 minutes.
A positron is basically the opposite of an electron. It has the same mass as an electron, but a positive charge instead of a negative one. It is the electron’s antimatter doppelgänger.
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photo: keepon (cc)
sources: tertiarysource.net, wikipedia (positron, gamma ray)
YouTube Keyboard Shortcuts
By Chad Upton | Editor
The youtube.com video player only has a few buttons on it, making it hard to freeze a video on a specific frame. But, using the keyboard shortcuts, you can control the video frame-by-frame or quickly expand it to fullscreen mode.
My favorite is probably the fullscreen shortcut; it’s much easier to hit the F key than move the mouse and click the fullscreen button. Here is a list of some other shortcuts:
Playback Controls:
- K – Play/Pause (spacebar does the same)
- J – Jump back 3 seconds when playing / jump back one frame when paused (Left Arrow Key does the same)
- L – Jump forward 3 seconds when playing / jump forward one frame when paused (right arrow key does the same)
- 0 – Jump to beginning
- 1-9 – The number keys can be used to jump to a relative point on the timeline. For example, 5 jumps to the 50% mark on the timeline, half way through the video. 1 jumps to the 10% mark and 9 jumps to the 90% mark.
Volume Controls:
- M – Mute
- Up Arrow – Increase Volume 5%
- Down Arrow – Decrease Volume 5%
View Control:
- F – Fullscreen (ESC to exit fullscreen)
This is great if you’re trying to spot a secret in a video or just cue up a clip to show a friend. From my testing, these keys work in Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
