What is vampire power?

Though it has nothing to do with vampires. Read on to know why it is a cause for concern Vampire Power, also known as Standby Power or Phantom Load is the electricity consumed by electronic gadgets when they are switched off or kept un-standby mode Printers TVs and computers are said to be electricity vampires because they suck power in the standby mode. Similarly, cell phone chargers and other adapters continue to draw power even when nothing is plugged into them, although the amount of power consumed in standby mode and switched-off state is less, the total electricity used by all appliances is a cause for concern as it generates a hefty bill and leads to wastage of power.

The best way to fight impure power is to unplug devices from the switchboard when they are not in use. Another alternative is to use a power strip (a common strip having many sockets) for plugging in devices that are used together like computer, printer etc. This way you could turn them off simultaneously by simply switching off the strip.

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What is the origin of barcode?

 

It has been 50 years since barcode, a series of parallel bars or lines of varying width printed on various products, was invented. Over the years, the barcode has transformed the way the retail industry functions globally. It is now used to speed supermarket checkout lines, parcel deliveries. Airline check in, etc.

Origin

The barcode was invented by Drexel University students Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver in 1948 and patented in 1952. However, the first barcode was drawn in sand in Miami Beach, U.S. by Woodland, decades before technology could bring his vision to life.

The incident that led to the invention of this technology was when a local food chain store owner in Philadelphia requested the dean of then Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) to come up with a way to get shoppers through the billing faster. Though the dean shrugged it off. Bernard Silver and Woodland teamed up to develop a solution.

The first barcode was called Bull's Eye barcode, a series of concentric circles. It was a linear representation of Morse code, the well-known character-encoding scheme in telecommunications, defined by dots and dashes. However, the idea could not be developed into a system due to expensive laser and computing technology.

Later, US engineer George Laurer implemented Woodland's idea using less expensive laser and computing technology. He developed a rectangular scanner with strips called the Universal Product Code.

On April 3, 1973 big retailers and food companies agreed to use barcode to identify products. On June 26 in 1974, the barcode technology was used for the first time in the US. State of Ohio to scan a pack of chewing gum. The gum is now in the National Museum of American History in Washington.

The original barcode carried an 11-digit formula-six identifying the manufacturer and five identifying the product a 12th digit was added later as a check.

How do they work?

The bars are black strips on a white background. Their width and numbers are, however, different on each product. The bars are used to represent the binary digits 0 and 1 sequences of which represent numbers from 0 to 9 and be processed by a digital computer. Barcodes display the printed 12-digit number typically underneath the product as a backup in case of possible complications.

Barcode scanners use an incandescent light bulb or laser to shine light through the barcode. While the black lines on the barcode absorb light, the white parts shine through and get reflected. While scanning a barcode, the amount of light is detected, which then gets translated into a set of digits or data. Information can be retrieved from a computer database using this data.

Problems

While barcodes have indeed revolutionised the way of registering and selling products, there are several problems as well. With barcodes, there is high probability of misreading the product due to misorientation, obstruction by dirt, mist, protrusions, and damage. Besides, the barcodes can be scanned only from a particular distance - one metre. Also, barcode scanners are delicate and expensive

It has been 50 years since barcode, a series of parallel bars or lines of varying width printed on various products, was invented. Over the years, the barcode has transformed the way the retail industry functions globally. It is now used to speed supermarket checkout lines, parcel deliveries. Airline check in, etc.

Origin

The barcode was invented by Drexel University students Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver in 1948 and patented in 1952. However, the first barcode was drawn in sand in Miami Beach, U.S. by Woodland, decades before technology could bring his vision to life.

The incident that led to the invention of this technology was when a local food chain store owner in Philadelphia requested the dean of then Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) to come up with a way to get shoppers through the billing faster. Though the dean shrugged it off. Bernard Silver and Woodland teamed up to develop a solution.

The first barcode was called Bull's Eye barcode, a series of concentric circles. It was a linear representation of Morse code, the well-known character-encoding scheme in telecommunications, defined by dots and dashes. However, the idea could not be developed into a system due to expensive laser and computing technology.

Later, US engineer George Laurer implemented Woodland's idea using less expensive laser and computing technology. He developed a rectangular scanner with strips called the Universal Product Code.

On April 3, 1973 big retailers and food companies agreed to use barcode to identify products. On June 26 in 1974, the barcode technology was used for the first time in the US. State of Ohio to scan a pack of chewing gum. The gum is now in the National Museum of American History in Washington.

The original barcode carried an 11-digit formula-six identifying the manufacturer and five identifying the product a 12th digit was added later as a check.

How do they work?

The bars are black strips on a white background. Their width and numbers are, however, different on each product. The bars are used to represent the binary digits 0 and 1 sequences of which represent numbers from 0 to 9 and be processed by a digital computer. Barcodes display the printed 12-digit number typically underneath the product as a backup in case of possible complications.

Barcode scanners use an incandescent light bulb or laser to shine light through the barcode. While the black lines on the barcode absorb light, the white parts shine through and get reflected. While scanning a barcode, the amount of light is detected, which then gets translated into a set of digits or data. Information can be retrieved from a computer database using this data.

Problems

While barcodes have indeed revolutionised the way of registering and selling products, there are several problems as well. With barcodes, there is high probability of misreading the product due to misorientation, obstruction by dirt, mist, protrusions, and damage. Besides, the barcodes can be scanned only from a particular distance - one metre. Also, barcode scanners are delicate and expensive.

 

Picture Credit : google

 

What did Lee De Forest discover?

Exactly 100 years ago, on March 12, 1923, American inventor Lee de Forest conducted a public demonstration of his Phonofilm at a press conference. Even though it wasn’t a great financial success, it heralded on era in movie production as it synced sound with the moving image.

When we think about successful inventors whose inventions have heralded a new era, we imagine that they would have enjoyed considerable personal financial success from it as well. This, however, isn't always the case as some of them turn out to be bad at business. American inventor Lee de Forest was one of them. Even though he contributed immensely to the broadcasting industry and had plenty of scientific successes, he gained little from it all personally.

Unusual upbringing

Born in lowa, the U.S. in 1873, de Forest had an unusual upbringing for his time. Following his family's move to Alabama, they were avoided by the white community. This was because his father had taken the presidency of the Talladega College for Negroes and was involved in efforts to educate blacks.

Despite his unusual circumstances, de Forest grew up as a happy child unaware of the prejudices he was being meted out making friends with the black children in the town. He was drawn towards machinery and by the time he turned 13, he was already making gadgets at will. This is why he took the path towards the sciences, rather than become a clergyman as planned by his father.

Invents first triode

Even though education wasn't easy as he had to do odd jobs to meet expenses in addition to those covered by his scholarship and allowance from parents. de Forest completed his Ph.D. in physics in 1899. By 1906, he presented the audion - the first triode - and it went on to become an indispensable part of electronic circuits.

For several decailes, Inventors including American great Thomas Edison, had been trying to bring together the 3 phonograph (a device for recording and reproducing sound) and the moving picture. De Forest, working alongside fellow inventor Theodore Case, first became interested in the idea of sounds for films in 1913.

The patented system that he called Phonofilm began as a drawing in 1918. Over the next couple of years, he earned a number of patents pertaining to the process as he perfected it along the way. On March 12, 1923, he conducted a successful demonstration for the press and presented his Phonofilm.

Sound on film

The technological advance that de Forest brought about was to synchronise sound and motion. He did this by placing the sound recording as an optical soundtrack directly on the film. This meant that sound frequency and volume were represented in the form of analog blips of light.

In the weeks that followed, a number of short films premiered using the Phonofilm. As synchronising the sound of human voice with the lips that moved on screen was still rather difficult, the first sound films that the public viewed still haut dialogue titles, but were accompanied by music.

Below-par fidelity

While de Forest did equip nearly 30 theatres around the world with Phonofilm, he couldn't get Hollywood interested in his invention. De Forest had a solution for the sound-sync issue with his Phonofilm, but the fidelity (how accurately a copy reproduces its source) on offer didn't meet the expectations of the age.

 In the following years, the motion picture industry shifted to talking pictures and the sound-on-film process was similar in principle to that used in de Forest’s Phonofilm. De Forest, however, was a failed businessman who was bad at judging people. He was defrauded by his own partner, had to pay for lengthy legal battles for his patents, and even had to sell many of these patents, which were then employed profitability

For all his efforts, de Forest at least finished as an Oscar winner. In 1959, two years before his death in 1961, the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences awarded de Forest an honorary Oscar for the "pioneer invention which brought sound to the motion picture”.

Picture Credit : Google 

How was the invention of the zip made possible?

In 1918, the United States Navy began using zip fasteners in the clothing and other gear of its men during World War I. By the 1920s, zips could be found in all kinds of clothing, footwear, bags and suitcases. The zip finally arrived on the world scene when fashion designers began using it for haute couture.

The zip was the creation of American inventor Whitcomb Judson. He liked wearing high boots that were all the vogue in 1893, both among men and women. The boots had long shoelaces which took ages to do up. Judson designed a fastener which he called a ‘clasp locker’. It had a slider to link hooks and rings but was clumsy and frequently jammed. The invention was not a success.

It was only 20 years later, in 1913, when Judson employed Swedish engineer Gideon Sundback that the zip took on its present form-two fabric strips with metal or plastic teeth that locked when the zip was pulled closed and unlocked when it was opened.

Judson did not live to see the success of his invention. He died in 1909.

Picture Credit : Google

Did you know that most of the products that are part of our lives are inventions that happened by chance?

Behind all of these inventions are incredible stories. Let's take a look at some of these inventions that eventually became an integral part of our lives. Here we trace the story of products from lab to lifestyle!

Plastic

Nothing is as ubiquitous as plastic. In fact, this man-made material has become so ingrained into our lives that we interact with one or the other form of plastic every day. But how did its journey begin? It all started with polyethylene, which is more familiar to us as polythene. It is one of the first plastics that was ever used. It was discovered by chance not once, but twice! The first one was sometime before 1900 when German scientist Hans von Pechmann came across a residue in his test tube. He thought that the waxy resin couldn't have any practical applications and failed to check further. The second time was when scientists Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson came across this by accident in 1933. When experimenting with ethylene, one of the vessels leaked. The presence of oxygen led to it acting as an initiator, leading to the formation of a white, waxy residue. Thus polythene came to be. The company the duo worked with saw the immense potential of the product and patented it. However, it took a few years until they were able to produce it with perfection. The first product they created out of polythene was a cream-colored walking stick. It was later used widely during World War II as an insulating material for radar cables. The low cost and highly versatile nature of the material were tapped into and the innovation turned into something that permeated into every walk of our lives. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Sticky notes

These canary yellow notes have been around for the past several years. They are universal products and indispensable in offices. Available in a multitude of shapes and colours, these notes are used by not just office-goers but students as well. So how did these sticky notes come to be? This office organising tool was discovered by chance. Spencer Silver was a scientist at the company 3M. He researched adhesives in the laboratory. Over the process, he discovered an adhesive that would stick lightly to surfaces but it wouldn't bond tightly. Silver was trying to develop new adhesives that were stronger and tougher. But this new adhesive was anything but strong or tough. What Silver had discovered was microspheres that would retain their stickiness but had the characteristic of removability. Meanwhile, there was another scientist going through a dilemma. During his practice at the church choir, Art Fry, another 3M scientist, would use little bits of paper to mark the music notes because they would always fall out of the hymn book. He was in search of a bookmark that would stay but not damage the pages. And once he attended the seminar on Silver's microspheres, he had his "Aha" moment. The two scientists partnered and began developing a product. The new adhesive notes proved to be helpful in communication and they could see its immense potential. The notes were supplied to the staff at the company and were later launched to the masses. Thus was born the sticky notes. With it, the duo had forever changed the way people communicate!

Corn flakes

What's for breakfast? Is it corn flakes? It is quite likely that you would have had cornflakes at some point in your life. The Kellogs corn flakes is a known breakfast brand. Did you know that the cereal was developed accidentally? It was in the 1890s that the com flakes were designed. The story starts at the Battle Creek Sanitarium health spa in Battle Creek, Michigan. It was run by brothers John Harvey Kellogg, a doctor, and Will Keith Kellogg who wanted to provide healthy food to the inmates. One night John Kellogg accidentally left a batch of wheat-berry dough midway. This was normally used to produce a type of granola. Rather than throwing it out the next morning, the dough was sent through the rollers. Instead of normal long sheets of dough, they obtained delicate flakes. These were then baked and they discovered a new type of cereal. Will Keith saw the potential of this new cereal and started his own company although John Harvey, who was a proponent of biologic" living, was not interested in making it a business. The Kellogg Company started producing corn flakes for the wider public. It was the start of a whole new cereal breakfast industry.

Lab-grown meat

What's on your plate? Soon it can be lab-grown meat! The farmed meat is getting replaced by meat from the laboratory as meat products are grown from animal cells for human consumption. Recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared lab-grown meat for human consumption as safe. Here, instead of meat reared from livestock, meat is grown in a sterile environment in a laboratory. The living cells from chicken are first taken and then grown in a laboratory. Thus the required meat product is created. Cultivated meat is dubbed green meat as it does not lead to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. The absence of the use of antibiotics in animals and a humane way of growing meat are some of the pros of lab-grown meat over traditional livestock production. Seen here is a cooked piece of cultivated chicken breast.

Battery

It powers almost everything. But do you know how it all began? The story behind creating the leakproof battery is quite an interesting one. Back in the day, the battery that was popular was the zinc-carbon battery. But they came with a problem. The zinc would swell and burst. It would cause leakage and short circuits and render the device inoperable. The problem was solved by Herman Anthony, an engineer with the company Ray-O-Vac, which was in the battery business. He used a better grade of manganese in the battery. This reduced the swelling. He then used steel to encase the battery. The battery was the first to solve the problem of leakage. In 1939, it was showcased to the public but the patent was received only in 1940. When World War II happened, batteries were rationed out to civilians. Like most companies at the time, Ray-O-Vac started supplying batteries to the military. The battery sealed in steel was widely used in flashlights, radios, walkie-talkies, mine detectors, and so on. After the war, it was used by the masses to power a plethora of devices.

Strikeable matches

Fire has been humankind's greatest discovery. And so have been the discovery of strikeable matches that we use now. It gave us the ability to light fires quickly and made life easier. But did you know that the strikeable match was invented by chance? The story takes us back to 1826. It was an English chemist John Walker who invented it. He was working on an experimental paste that can be used in guns. He noticed that the stick he was using burst into flames when he scraped it. He observed that it was the coating of chemicals on the stick that led to the wooden stick catching fire. That was how the first friction match was invented. He started selling his "friction lights", which became a huge success. While the first friction matches were made of cardboard, he soon started replacing it with wooden splints. However, he never patented his work and Londoner Samuel Jones copied the idea and launched his own matches as "Lucifers" in 1829.

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What was invented by DF Arago in 1820?

On September 25, 1820, French physicist Francois Arago announced his discovery of an occurrence of electromagnetism. This was just one of Arago's many contributions as he spent a lifetime for the progress of science.

It isn't often that we come across a person who contributes significantly to a number of different fields. Such polymaths - individuals whose knowledge encompasses a wide range of subjects - have always been rare. Frenchman Dominique Francois Jean Arago was one such person in this world, as he donned the hat of a physicist. mathematician, astronomer, and politician in an eventful life.

Born in 1786 in Estagel, Roussillon, France, Arago was one of 11 children. Educated at the Municipal College of Perpignan, Arago was drawn towards mathematics from a young age. He was admitted to the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, where he succeeded French mathematician Gaspard Monge as the chair of Analytic Geometry at the young age of 23.

Love for optics

He made his first major contributions to science in the decade that followed. Working with French engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel, Arago was able to show that while two rays polarised in a plane can interfere with each other, two beams of light polarised perpendicular to each other cannot interfere with each other. This research led to the discovery of the laws of light polarisation.

In 1820, Arago briefly interrupted his optical work to significantly expand on electromagnetic theories. Having been invited to Geneva to witness the experiments of Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted linking electricity to magnetism, Arago was instantly converted and developed a huge interest in the subject.

Apart from repeating the Geneva experiments at the Paris Academy, Arago also experimented on his own. He was able to demonstrate that by passing an electric current through a cylindrical spiral of wire, it could be made to behave like a magnet. The temporary magnetisation allowed it to attract iron filings, which then fell off when the current ceased. He announced this occurrence of electromagnetism on September 25, 1820.

Electromagnetic induction

Soon after, Arago discovered the principle of the production of magnetism by rotation of a nonmagnetic conductor. He was able to show that the rotation of a nonmagnetic metallic substance like copper created a magnetic effect as it produced rotation in a magnetic needle suspended over it. It was another decade before English scientist Michael Faraday explained these using his theory of electromagnetic induction in 1831.

Arago served as the director of the Paris Observatory from 1830. As an astronomer, he was among the first to explain the scintillation of stars using interference phenomena. He was also able to provide vital stimulus to young astronomers, including Frenchman Urbain Le Verrier.

"With the point of his pen"

In 1845, Arago suggested to his protege that he investigate the anomalies in the motion of Uranus. These investigations resulted in Le Verriers discovery of Neptune in 1846, and Arago best summed it up when he called Le Verrier the man who "discovered a planet with the point of his pen". Arago backed Le Verrier in the dispute between Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams over priority in discovering Neptune and even suggested naming the planet for Le Verrier.

Amidst all his scientific endeavours, Arago also found time to back the ideas of others. Even though French photographer Louis Daguerre was struggling to sell his daguerreotype process, he was able to catch the attention of Arago, who served as the permanent secretary of the French Academy of Sciences.

Advocate for photography

Arago arranged for the first public display of daguerreotypes in January 1839 and used the buzz it created for his lobbying. He was able to get the French Parliament to grant pensions to Daguerre and Isidore Niepce, son of French inventor Nicephore Niepce, so that they could make all the steps of the photographic process public. Arago stated that "France should then nobly give to the whole world this discovery which could contribute so much to the progress of art and science" and the technical details were made public on August 19, 1839 (hence celebrated as World Photography Day).

Optics and the study of light remained close to Arago's heart and he devised an experiment to prove the wave theory of light. In 1838, he described a test for comparing the velocity of light in air and in water or glass. The elaborate arrangements required for the experiment and his own failing eyesight, however, meant that it wasn't performed. Shortly before Arago's death, French physicists Hippolyte Fizeau and Leon Foucault demonstrated the retardation of light in denser media by improving on Arago's suggested method.

For a man who spent so much of his time pursuing science, he was also able to devote to other causes as a politician. Following the July Revolution of 1830 and up until his death in 1853, Arago was active as a politician, delivering influential speeches regarding educational reform, freedom of press, and the application of scientific thought for progress. After the February Revolution of 1848, he served as the Minister of War and the Navy and used his power to abolish slavery in French colonies. Arago's influential life highlights the fact that he always possessed the faculty to inspire and stimulate those around him and the public at large, both in the realm of science and in politics.

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Did you know the first antibiotic penicillin was discovered by accident?

Penicillin was discovered by chance by British scientist Alexander Fleming in 1929. Fleming was growing colonies of staphylococcus bacteria, the cause of a number of diseases from boils to pneumonia, in culture plates in his laboratory. One of the plates had not been covered and airborne spores settled in it and formed a mould. Fleming was about to throw away the contents when he noticed that the mould had destroyed the bacteria in the area around it.

He realised that the mould was producing a substance that was lethal to the bacteria. He also realised that the substance could be used to cure diseases caused by the bacteria. As the mould was called Penicillium notatum, he named the unknown substance 'penicillin'. Ten years later in 1940, Howard Florey and E. B. Chaim managed to isolate penicillin in the laboratory and showed that it could be safely administered by mouth, by injection or applied directly to wounds.

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DID YOU KNOW THAT BONDAGE HAD ITS BEGINNINGS IN AMERICAN EARLE DICKSON’S KITCHEN?

When American Earle Dickson married in 1917, he discovered that his new bride Josephine was so clumsy in the kitchen that she cut herself umpteen times a day. Being a solicitous husband, Dickson I would rush to her aid with gauze and sticking tape. Soon, Dickson thought of a better idea. He placed small strips of gauze in the centre of the pieces of sticking tape and then lined the tape with crinoline (a stiff fabric) so that it wouldn't stick to itself. He re-rolled the tape so that Josephine could unwind and cut off whatever she needed. Dickson worked at Johnson & Johnson, which produced cotton and gauze bandages for hospitals and the military. They were impressed with his idea, but the first versions of the bandage they made did not sell very well because they were too big.

Eventually Band-Aid was popularised by distributing them free to Boy Scouts. The company also began machine-cutting them in different sizes in 1924. By 1939, Band-Aid was sterilised, and in 1958, a completely waterproof version was in the market. Today, the company sells millions of dollars worth of the little sticking plasters every year.

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Who was the first bionic man?

Rex is the world's first bionic man, comprising artificial organs, synthetic blood, robotic limbs and a human face. And as if that's not enough, he can speak and listen, too. In science fiction books or films, a bionic person is someone who has special powers, such as being exceptionally strong or having exceptionally good sight, because parts of their body have been replaced by electronic machinery.

Unveiled at London's Science Museum as part of the “How Much of You Can Be Rebuilt”? exhibition, the artificial human is valued at a whopping $1 million. Researchers say they wanted to test scientific boundaries and demonstrate how modern science is beginning to catch up with sci-fi in the race to replace body parts with man-made alternatives.

Rex's 6'5" 'body' built with currently available bionic and prosthetic technology, includes a prosthetic face, hands, hips, knees and feet as well as cochlear implants which enable him to hear and retinal implants that allow him to sense objects in front of him. Speech synthesis technology means Rex can make sense of simple statements and even respond to some questions. Artificial blood pumps through his artificial organs, which include a heart, kidney and pancreas. He also has a spleen and trachea.

Picture Credit : Google 

Who created the first talking doll?

The first talking doll was made by the acclaimed American inventor Thomas Alva Edison in 1890. It was embedded with a small phonograph enabling it to recite a nursery rhyme.

Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, and when he imagined the uses for his new machine, he speculated that, beyond serving as a means of preserving dictation, it might animate toys. His idea took form in a talking doll, manufactured briefly in 1890.

In 1887 Edison had licensed W. W. Jacques and Lowell C. Briggs of Boston to make and sell talking dolls as the Edison Toy Phonograph Company. The Edison Phonograph Works, in West Orange, N.J., manufactured the phonographs, inserted them into dolls, and packaged them for sale. The talking dolls work imperfectly, sold poorly, and proved a costly mistake for Edison. By 1896, all remaining unsold phonographs for dolls were reportedly destroyed.

Credit : Smithsonian

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Where were the first scissors found?

The earliest scissors known to exist appeared about 3,000 or 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia (today's Iraq, mostly, but also parts of modern-day Iran, Syria and Turkey). Known as spring scissors, they consisted of two bronze blades connected at the handles by a thin, flexible strip of curved bronze. This strip served to bring the blades together when squeezed and to pull them apart when released.

The ancient Egyptians used a version of scissors as long ago as 1500 B.C. They were a single piece of metal, typically bronze, fashioned into two blades that were controlled by a metal strip. The strip kept the blades apart until they were squeezed. Each blade was a scissor. Collectively, the blades were scissors, or so rumor has it. Through trade and adventure, the device eventually spread beyond Egypt to other parts of the world.

The Romans adapted the Egyptians' design in 100 A.D., creating pivoted or cross-blade scissors that were more in line with what we have today. The Romans also used bronze, but they sometimes made their scissors from iron as well. Roman scissors had two blades that slid past each other. The pivot was situated between the tip and the handles to create a cutting effect between the two blades when they were applied to various properties. Both Egyptian and Roman versions of scissors had to be sharpened regularly.

Credit : Thought Co. 

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When was snakes and ladders invented in India?

The game Snakes and Ladders was invented in India in the century by the poet saint Gyandev, and was called Moksha Patam. The ladders represented the virtues while the snakes indicated vices. The game was designed around the concept that good deeds take you to heaven while bad deeds take you to hell.

Our favorite Snakes and Ladders was earlier known as Mokshapat, Moksha Patamu, or Gyan Chaupar (the game of knowledge). It was not just a game but a way of understanding life and its values. 

Its origin is still unclear, but some historians believe that the game is as old as the 2nd century BC, while others believe that it was invented in the 13th century by an Indian poet, Saint Gyandev.

The game served as a teaching tool to embrace and reinforce the Hindu philosophies of Karma and Samskara in students. Unlike the snakes and ladders we know now, the original game had squares in the range of 72-124 that symbolized the journey of life. Every square enlightened a positive or negative aspect of life. 

Mokshapat had more snakes than ladders representing various evils on the path to attaining salvation. It also depicted that the path to salvation is more difficult than the path to evil. 

The squares that contained the bottom of the ladder symbolized a good deed or good karma, and the top of the ladder symbolized a heavenly place. The squares where the mouth of the snakes was placed were a sign of evil or bad karma. The goal was to reach the end square that signified salvation or Moksha.

The astounding fact about the old version of the game is that the game focused on developing the necessary values in people rather than focusing on competition.

Credit : ED Times

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Which are the amazing discoveries that were made quite by accident?

Boing boing!

Have you ever played with a semicircular spring toy that gracefully bounces into position even when it falls down? Navy engineer, Richard James, was seriously engaged in the task of fitting springs on sensitive instruments to prevent them from rocking. When a piece of spring crashed onto the floor, it didn't roll away. Instead, it sprang downward and righted itself back into an upright position. That spring got a cool name - Slinky- and went on to become a popular toy that even found a place in USA's National Hall of Fame.

Magnetron magic

Every anxious 'snacker' who loves to have popcorn or brownies ready in minutes has Percy Spencer and his magnetron-fiddling curiosity to thank. Who would have thought that in 1945, Spencer would be studying microwave radiations from a magnetron while keeping a bar of chocolate in his pocket? A sizzling sound and the melting of chocolate was a dramatic moment for the scientist - he realized that hidden in microwave radiation was the power to bring smiles on food lovers worldwide!

A sweet surprise

In 1879, chemist Constantin Fahlberg forgot to follow every Mom's golden rule: 'Wash your hands before you eat! Had he been handling dangerous chemicals, he might have ended up in major trouble. As it turned out, he'd only been dealing with saccharin and so he was simply in for a pleasant surprise the food tasted oddly sweet. It also opened the door for saccharin, 'an artificial sweetener', to make it into the market.

Vacations are good

How did the most popular antibiotic in the world come to be? It's thanks to the fact that Alexander Fleming decided to go on holiday. When Fleming returned from his holiday, he noticed a green fungal mould growing in one of the unwashed petri dishes in which bacterial cultures were being grown. He was about to throw it away when he noticed something odd: there was a clear circle around the mould where the bacteria didn't grow. Was it some chemical compound in the mould that stopped bacterial growth? You bet! Had Fleming been less excited about going on a vacation, he'd have cleaned the petri dish before making the fabulous discovery. So the moral seems to be: rush, when it's time for your vacation. Everything else can wait!

Make a note of this...

Spencer Silver was asked to make a super-strong adhesive for the aerospace industry. What he invented was a weakling that could barely stay stuck. The only saving grace was that the adhesive was decent enough to work even after peeling and sticking back many times. Nobody seemed to want it until another gentleman, Stephen Fry, cut a bunch of yellow papers and coated the glue at the top and handed out free samples to people - the Post-It sticky notes became an instant hit.

When an idea struck

We will never know who the first person to discover fire was, but we do know that matches made a glowing entry into this world. John Walker was stirring a medley of chemicals in a pot when he noticed a dried lump sticking to the stirring stick. How do you remove dried gob from something? Walker rubbed the stick on a surface, trying to scrape it off when suddenly it ignited. That was all he needed to patent and sell matches in a box along with a piece of sandpaper.

Picture Credit : Google

Which were the clever geniuses who came up with most brilliant inventions?

Empowering your nose

Exactly how important is it for you to type a message when you're in the bathtub? Or to play Angry Birds while holding a cup of coffee in one hand and toast in another? The 'nose stylus', designed by Dominic Wilcox, satisfies the need to go 'hands-free' at the minor cost of looking a little silly. The nose stylus doesn't seem to be on sale, but it's a given that hardcore tweeters and texters would make it a bestseller once it does come into the market.

For those who like a purpose in everything

You may be one of those people who hate going for a stroll on the beach without a purpose. Maybe you need these amazing metal detecting sandals, capable of finding metallic treasures up to two feet below the ground. You may not look utterly cool wearing an electronic unit strapped to your feet but imagine how you could be the most useful person on the beach if you can find out where someone's ring has dropped on the sand...

Now muggles can work magic

How many of us, want to be like those supercool wizards and wave a wand to achieve a wish? How fantastic would it be to control the TV and electronic gadgets at will? Remote controls are old; magic wands are in vogue now. Just because you're a muggle is no reason not to possess a wand. Get your own 'magic wand remote control' that can learn 13 commands from your old remote control and map them to particular motions of your hand. Chuck the remote control, wave your wand and show your gadgets who's the boss!

Take toast to the next level

For some of us, there's hardly time to gulp down a coffee or drain a bowl of cornflakes in the morning. But a lucky few have all the time not only to enjoy a classy breakfast but also prepare an awesome one. We're talking about those who own the 'scan toaster'. Doesn't sound familiar? It's a toaster you can connect to the computer with the help of a cable and burn an image of your choice onto toast! Imagine how awesome it must be to print the news on the toast, read it and then eat it up! That's innovation!

Comfort matters more than looks, right?

Is it a hood? Is it a pillow? Is it a gigantic garlic bulb? Nope, it's the ostrich pillow! This amazing invention was designed to offer quality snooze time to the sleep-deprived souls wandering around in airports or travelling in trains looking for an undisturbed spot to sleep. Many who've used it believe that it has championed the sleep revolution like never before. If ever there's a minus point, it's how people stare at you when you put it on.. Don't worry, it's plain jealousy, nothing else!

The best pets ever!

Last, but definitely the best, meet the 'pet rocks', a bold venture by aspiring advertising executive genius, Gary Dahl. Now what's the number one concern of parents when kids want a pet at home? Cleaning up the mess, right? Which parent is going to say no to a pet rock that's as quiet as a mouse, fit as a fiddlestick (forever!) and maintenance free? A nice cardboard box and a whacky instruction manual on training the pet rock helped Dahl sell a cool 1.5 million pet rocks!

Picture Credit : Google

How did the Teddy Bear get its name?

It might be the perfect cuddle partner and companion for children of all ages; and come in various colours and sizes, but not many know the story behind the Teddy Bear. It is actually named after Theodore Roosevelt, the late United States President.

Roosevelt and the bear

Theodore Roosevelt was a game hunter. One day, he went on a bear hunting trip with a group of people on invite from Andrew H. Longino, the Governor of Missisippi. While others in the group managed to spot bears, Roosevelt did not locate even one.

To ensure the President didn't feel dejected, his assistants cornered and tied an old black bear to a willow tree. They suggested Roosevelt shoot the bear, however, the President refused to shoot the bear as it would be very unsportsmanlike of him to shoot a bear he had not even located.

Newspapers were quick to publish this event and the word quickly spread across the whole country.

A cartoon and an idea

Seeing the detailed pieces in the newspaper, Clifford Berryman, a political cartoonist, decided to create a satirical cartoon of Roosevelt's refusal to shoot the bear. His cartoon appeared on November 16, 1902 in the Washington Post. Then, upon seeing the cartoon, Morris Michtom, a candy shop owner in Brooklyn, had an idea. He and his wife used to make stuffed animals, so Michtom decided to make a stuffed toy bear and dedicate it to Roosevelt. He called it Teddy's Bear.

Michtom then sought permission from Roosevelt for using his name to mass produce the stuffed bears. Once he received the same, he founded the ideal Toy Company and started producing Teddy's Bears that we all fondly call today as Teddy Bear.

Picture Credit : Google