Counting down is something we like to do. Those of us who were there for the "Space Era" know about "T-Minus" - the countdown to launch.
During countdown:
Aerospace personnel bring the rocket vehicle to the launch site and load it with payload and propellants;
Launch-center computers communicate with sensors in the rocket, which monitor important systems on the launch vehicle and payload;
Launch personnel monitor the weather and wait for the launch window;
Security personnel prevent unauthorized persons from entering the "keep-out" area.
Each mission requires approximately 100 procedure books.
The same generation will remember early Films and their start with a countdown sequence printed on the head leader so that the film could be synchronized with sound. I hadn't realized that the countdown is in units of feet rather than time.
Our implied countdown today is Spring, as we look at spring flowers.
