Fixies go to Fixie schools And study to be masters.
There's so much they need to learn To save us from disasters.
There isn't one appliance That they don't know about.
But if you meet a Fixie, please, Don't let their secret out!
The Bar Code
And so, what do we do if we happen to see humans?
Hide from them, right?
And what if you've got nowhere to hide?
Then we turn ourselves into screws!
That’s correct.
Where could it be?
Were on Earth could I have put it?
I'm such a scatter brain!
Ah! It's Professor Eugenius!
There's no need to hide from him. He’s our friend.
Where has it gone?!
Did you lose something again, Professor?
Yeah, how did you guess?
It's just awful. Yesterday I started testing a new iron...
and today it's totally disappeared into thin air!
Where could you have put that thing?
I've got it down to two places. It could be in the warehouse, or…
not in the warehouse.
Yeah. That information will help us find it.
Or not help us find it.
Class, follow me!
To the warehouse!
Wow! Look at all these boxes!
If we have to look inside each one of them, it'll take us two days.
Maybe we’ll get lucky! Let's look in this one.
No! Inside there is a fan.
A fan?!
Wow, it's a fan!
And what's inside this one?
A mixer!
Yeah! Amazing!
And what's in this box?
An electric kettle!
Made in Germany, by the way!
He is right, there is a kettle in there!
Professor, is this some trick? I don't get it.
Grandpus, how do you do it?
It’s gotta be magic! What else?
Here's how I think he's doing it. I think the professor has glasses made to see through the boxes.
Of course not. I only know how to read the barcode that you can see on each of those boxes!
- Oh, that. - Exactly.
If you look at the printing on packages and boxes,
you will often find a symbol with a lot of black lines and numbers.
These symbols are called bar codes.
Each bar code has all sorts of information:
what the item is, what country it came from, and even in which factory it was made.
With the help of a special reading device - a scanner,
it's possible to read all the information the bar code holds.
It really is an excellent system for stores to know what they've got!
You don’t even need a scanner to do it?!
I can figure out barcodes without one.
I'll teach you if you want.
Class!
Let's see, we are looking for a box with an iron.
There!
Well, bring in the professor!
Today on almost everything that is sold, there is some kind of mark.
For instance, this kind of mark is called a bar code,
and this one - a QR-code.
These marks help us find out a lot of information.
Suppose you walk by a building and see a QR code on it.
Just point the camera on your mobile phone at it
and information about who built it and when it was built will appear on the screen.
Isn’t that great?
It's a shame not every phone can do this yet.
And that's not all. There are also marks that work without pictures.
There are electronic chips that can hold information.
These chips can be put inside of ID cards or travel passes,
and all you need to do is press the card near a reader so it can check if you're allowed to go on through.
You just made my day! You found it so quickly!
What would I do without you?
Is something wrong?!
This... is not an iron.
- Whose sandwich is that? - Mine.
Yesterday I wanted to put into the fridge, only I guess I put it into my…
I just get distracted so easily.
Look, we need to think this through logically.
If you went and placed your sandwich into the box where the iron should have gone,
then you must have put your iron…
In the refrigerator!
Oh, here you are! Here you are, my new iron!
I looked everywhere for you.
Thank you, my friends, once again!
There's no need to thank us at all. You're always there when we need help.
You've even let us open our own school here in your laboratory.
And we don’t have to hide ourselves.
Yeah! That's because you’re so kind and you love Fixies.
Fixies!
We're the little people that live inside of machines and appliances and take care of them:
fixing them, cleaning them and oiling them.
Humans never suspect us.
They think if something breaks and then suddenly starts working again,
that it happened all by itself.
Well nothing happens by itself.
It happens because we, the Fixies, are living inside!
Yes, without the Fixies, humans would have so many more problems with their machines!
We’re missing something here.
I can tell you what.
You mean confidence?
Calculations?
Elegance?
I know! Speed!
What's missing here is teamwork!
Simka, you're right. It's one for all and all for one!
Then here's what we gonna do.
We got it!
Attack and check, don't lose control. A line change on the fly.
The puck is zooming towards the goal To score and break the tie.
It's one for all and all for one! Great teamwork is a must!
Let's go and show them how it's done! This game was made for us!
Hockey's our game! Hockey!
Hockey's our game!
Tell me again what's the name of our game?!
I can't hear you!
Hurrah!
If we take a look at a digital disc through a powerful microscope,
we can see rows of tiny valleys of different lengths.
These valleys are actually a code for the cartoons, games, or music recorded onto the disc.
Inside a disc player, a laser beam reads the code and helps turn it back into pictures and sounds.
But if you scratch the disc or smudge the disc with dirty fingers, the laser can’t read it and the disc won't play.
That’s why you need to keep discs clean and stored in cases!
Can you believe that Fixies are Such itty-bitty creatures?
Even when they’re magnified It’s hard to see their features.
They’re tiny, infinitesimal, So small it makes you doubt.
But if you meet a Fixie, please, Don’t let their secret out!
The Compass
Pipe all hands on the deck!
Ay-ay, maties! Shiver me timbers!
Simka, Nolik, what are you doing here?
We’re not Simka and Nolik.
We are courageous pirates!
Yeah, pirates!
And today we leave home for the sea! Are you with us?
- Yes I am! - Hurrah!
You mean no? No hurrah?
Oh, yeah!
You can't join us without a test!
Go and find a special thing.
Something no sailor should ever sail the sea without!
I can do it! But how?
With a map!
And it’s over... there!
I've never seen a map that's this puny!
What are you talking about puny?!
That took us a half hour to make!
From where you're standing now…
Uh-huh! From here you mean!
He guessed it right!
First head to the North
until you will find...
Hold on! But where is the North?
It’s where the North Pole,
ice, and polar bears are!
But how do I know which direction that North Pole is?
By compass, of course!
A compass is a special tool that helps sailors and pilots know in which direction they’re traveling,
whether in the air or on the sea.
Our planet is like a big magnet that has two poles –
the North Pole and the South Pole.
These magnetic poles help the needle in the compass find its way.
The needle is magnetized so one of its ends will be attracted to the North magnetic pole and point at it,
while the other end will always points towards the South.
That I know, but there is no compass around here.
Then let's make one by ourselves!
Out of what?
We can use a needle! We just have to magnetize it.
And how is it supposed to turn around?
In a saucer of water.
Well, there you go!
Now one end is pointing in the direction of North and the other - to the South.
But which points where? Well, there is the window.
So that can't be the right way. Then North is there!
I'm really liking this sharp little fellow we've got here!
You're calling me a little fellow?
No, it's just the way us pirates talk.
Alright then. North we go!
First head to the north until you see…
… a sleeping monster.
Maties, ahoy! Monster on the horizon!
Let him do it himself!
Now turn to the left and go three hundred paces more.
- Three hundred!? - Exactly! I counted them myself.
OK. Then that means I'll go…
One,
two,
three.
Now straight ahead until you get right up to the giant tree.
You call that a tree?
Wow, amazing!
I can't believe my eyes! It's a real ship compass!
It's also called a marine compass.
The first compass was invented more than a thousand years ago in ancient China.
With its help, the Chinese were able to travel across the desert.
And about two hundred years later the compass appeared in Europe.
Whether the Europeans came up with the idea for the compass themselves
or took it from the Chinese isn't clear.
But one thing's for sure - we Fixies remember how those early compasses were built.
The first compasses were made with a magnetized needle on top of a floater inside a bowl of water.
Later the needle was put on top of a pin that let it spin freely.
And it started to look like the ones we use today.
Since the needle of a compass always points to the north,
a sailor can easily figure out which direction he needs to turn his ship.
If he wants to go north, he follows the needle north.
If he wants to go south he goes in the opposite direction.
Your dad brought it home with him late last night from his work.
You were asleep.
Hold on!
I want to check something.
What's up?
Yeah! They line up together!
Of course, they line up.
If not, how else would you have gotten here?
We're done with the needle. It has to go back.
First head south six hundred paces!
Six for you, matie!