Equipment facts and facts about equipment.
12 facts on this shelf
Replacing an electric water heater with a solar model can reduce water heat costs by 50 to 80 percent every year - and over the 20-year life of the equipment, more than 50 tons of carbon dioxide emissions will be displaced.
It is claimed that 13 ancient crystal skulls have been found with mysterious properties.
The Mitchell-Hedges family loaned the skull to Hewlett-Packard Laboratories for extensive study in 1970. Art restorer Frank Dorland oversaw the testing at the Santa Clara, California, computer equipment manufacturer, a leading facility for crystal research. The HP examinations yielded some startling results.
Researchers found that the skull had been carved against the natural axis of the crystal. Modern crystal sculptors always take into account the axis, or orientation of the crystal's molecular symmetry, because if they carve "against the grain," the piece is bound to shatter -- even with the use of lasers and other high-tech cutting methods.
To compound the strangeness, HP could find no microscopic scratches on the crystal which would indicate it had been carved with metal instruments. Dorland's best hypothesis for the skull's construction is that it was roughly hewn out with diamonds, and then the detail work was meticulously done with a gentle solution of silicon sand and water. The exhausting job -- assuming it could possibly be done in this way -- would have required man-hours adding up to 300 years to complete.
Note: 5/08, crystal skulls find themselves in the lates Indiana Jones movie!
Dachshunds were bred with long bodies and short legs so they could dig into badger burrows and chase the animals underground. Their shape is basically a piece of hunting equipment, not just a cute design.
An official volleyball weighs between 260 and 280 grams.
Table tennis balls grew from 38mm to 40mm in 2000 to slow the game down and make it easier to watch on TV.
Japan's Hiroji Satoh won the 1952 world championship with a sponge-covered paddle, which changed the game.
Table tennis switched from celluloid balls to plastic balls in 2014, partly because celluloid is flammable.
A Major League baseball has 108 double stitches.
Footballs are nicknamed "pigskins," but they're actually made of cowhide.
Rugby balls are oval because they were originally made from pig bladders.
B.K.S. Iyengar popularized yoga props like blocks, straps, and ropes.
Gutenberg lost a lawsuit to his investor Johann Fust in 1455 and had to hand over much of his printing equipment, so he never got rich from his invention.