CULTURAL QA 09-2021-30 Being a compilation there may be errors
Q1 How come no electrical engineerwants to work in the power systems/power production and distribution industry? A1 EricMeier Power Systems Engineer at ERCOT (2017–present)December 25, 2017 Four years ago Iwas a young man just beginning my electrical and computer engineering major incollege. Not knowing any better I would have looked straight in the eye andsaid that power was an old field with nothing new and exciting in it, essentiallythat it was boring. Fast forward to today and I now work at a system operator,managing and operating the grid. What happened in between? In college I wasinitially interested in analog design, signal processing, and RF and microwavecircuits. My sophomore year I was looking for internships and was walkingaround the career fair giving out resumes, but I hardly had any experienceother than working as a janitor. I was applying to any company that would takean intern as I knew I needed experience. A few months later I got a called tosubmit another application to a utility near where I lived. I did and a fewmonths later they called me with an offer to work at their transmission anddistribution utility. I went on to intern there for two summers doing mappingusing geographic information systems and then in distribution planning. Myjunior year I signed up for power classes, intrigued by what I saw during myfirst internship. Then havingexperienced the distribution side of the business I decided I wanted to work onthe transmission side. To me it was more interesting and was the place wherepower systems really lived. Work on the distribution side tends to be moreproject work, field work, and not as technical except for distribution planningor protection and control. Through the internships, my own reading, and classesI learned that the power industry was actually really exciting and right now isin the midst of a huge upheaval with the advent of renewables, distributedresources, and climate change. We face many challenges in integrating andoperating the new grid and it will only get harder. I now work at ERCOT, thesystem operator for most of Texas where we operate and plan the grid, and runthe wholesale electric markets. We don’t own anything but rather manage thegrid between many different companies. The grid is a huge real time system thatrequires precise coordination and long term planning. Our primary mission is toensure the reliability of the grid, no matter what happens. In general, here inthe US, the power industry (on the engineering side) is primarily not seen as anew innovative (read sexy) field for undergraduates in college. But it is afield where especially at the system level, there is immense technical work andinnovations occurring daily. It is the backbone of modern society and is oftennot in the direct public eye. We’re like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.The industry offers a place to work where public policy and regulatory matters,finance and trading, and engineering converge. There can be a sense of serviceto the public too as we work to maintain a public service for the common good. Q2 What are some interesting retirementplans? Rather than sitting at home and living on pension, how can one make thebest use of this 'holiday'? A2 PrasannaBhalerao Please do not share my answers on monetised spaces. Tue The best thing todo during retirement is to take up some hobby. The term “hobby” is often notunderstood properly. A “hobby” does not mean collecting stamps/coins,photography, etc. It could be anything that passes your time, keeps oneoccupied and perhaps even earn money: Take up gardening, if you own a garden. Even ifyou don’t but have a community space, plant a tree and nurture it (a lemon treefor example). Take up communityservice. If nothing else, be an active member in housing society affairs (I amdoing this). Good at subjects?Start tuitions, maybeeven for free. Travel once in awhile (but check finances first). Do not forgetmoderate exercise. Go for long walks in the morning and in the evening. At 60+,walking 8000 steps daily is good enough. Help in the kitchen(if you are a man). Buy daily fresh vegetables. Preferably go walking to thevegetable monger. Really, the ideascan be limitless only restricted by our own mind. Q3 What are some high proteinvegetables? A3 LuciaGarcia Worked at Hospitals September 10 The protein contentof broccoli is much higher than other vegetables.The protein content ofordinary vegetables is between 1% and 2%, while the protein content of broccoliis as high as 3.5% to 4.5%. The nutrientcomposition of broccoli is not only high in content, but also verycomprehensive, mainly including protein, carbohydrate, fat, minerals, vitaminA, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin C and carotene. In addition,broccoli contains calcium, zinc, phosphorus, potassium, iron, manganese andother minerals, and its mineral content is much higher than other vegetables. Broccoli is alow-calorie vegetable, 100 grams of broccoli contains only 30 calories. Eatingbroccoli will not gain weight. Many nutritionistscall broccoli the "King of Nutrition". Q4 What is okra? A4 LuciaGarcia Worked at Hospitals Sat Okra is a vegetablewith very high nutritional value. In recent years,okra has become a popular and best selling nutrition and health care vegetable.It has become the first choice for athletes in many countries, and it is also ahealth food for the elderly. Okra is rich in protein,fat, carbohydrates, vitamin A, B vitamins, and minerals such as calcium, iron,potassium, zinc, and selenium. Okra contains aviscous liquid that contains substances such as hemicellulose, cellulose,lignin, pectin and polysaccharides. This viscous liquidis an important feature of okra. It can accelerate gastrointestinal motility,enhance metabolism, strengthen the immune system, and avoid the risk of variousdiseases. Okra is alow-calorie vegetable, 100 grams of okra contains only 30 calories. Eating okrawill not make you fat. Regular consumptionof okra is very beneficial to health. Q5 Does Saudi Arabia have any naturalarable land? A5 RashadPollardFormer 50-years as Consultant,International Development (1964–2011)September 23 Saudi Arabia has asurprising amount of agricultural land for such a desert country. They areself-sufficient in vegetables and other crops. They have anestimated 3.4 million hectares (8.5 million acres) of agricultural land inSaudi Arabia, some natural land and other land created by irrigation andgovernment programs. This adds up to39,000 square kilometres (13,000 square miles). Here is a photo oftypical agriculture in the most productive area in North Saudi Arabia, inAl-Jouf. Q6 Which birds are more strange thanmost people realize? A6 RosalindMitchell Glaswegian lesbian and Quaker who's livedand seen a lot.Updated Sun Most corvids. Theygive the lie to the old insult ‘bird brain’. See that crow onyour lawn? You doit any harm and it will remember you for the rest of its life.So what, you may say, that’s true of a lot of birds and other animals. But withcrows, you can be sure that henceforth every other crow in the district willknow all about you and your aggressive ways, and they won’t be forgiving. Q7 How does the Earth hang in the air? A7 PaulMontgomery Retired Electrical Engineer(Metrology & Control Systems)August 15 Earth does not hang in the air, the air hangs to theEarth. Here, I can proveit. This is a picture of Earth taken from just outside the earth’s atmosphere. You can see theclouds in the atmosphere below. The bands of blue is the atmosphere. Above thatin the top left corner, you can see how it ends and space begins. You can evensee the stars. The air clings tothe earth because of gravity. Without gravity, the air would just float offinto empty space. Q8 How good is it to store rain waterfor future use and save water? A8 3Answers Hitul Agarwwal , lives in Surat,Gujarat, India Answered Tue Saving rainwaterfor future use is a great way prevent it from becoming wastewater and an easyand effective water conservation technique. Harvesting rainwater not only savesthe environment by greatly reducing dependence on treated water from the mains,it also helps to reduce your water bill. 2ND ANSWER- Cyril Deons Vithali, SeniorSub Editor Answered Tue It ensures wateravailability and resultant anxiety arising from lack of water. Water is such avery valuable resource without which we can’t live. 3RD ANSWER- Akber Ayub , B.E.Mechanical Engineering & MarineEngineering, National Institutes of TechnologyAnswered Tue Excellent idea.With proper sand and charcoal filtration and hygienic storage, the stored watercan be used in the washrooms. Otherwise it can definitely be used forgardening, cleaning etc. Q9 Which country would you prefer tomigrate to forever? Why? A9 MahiI love history and geographyUpdated September21 I’m from Sri Lanka.I would like to migrate to a country like Sri Lankan weather Friendliness andwarmth of Sri Lankan people But Have Indian cuisine, Indian culture, Indianarchitecture, Indian cost of living and Hindu majority or no religiousrecognition. And Purchasingpower and passport of USA. I also like it’s governance and politicians thanboth India and Sri Lanka. I also respect the equal rights given to both Womanand LGBT community there. This explanation would fit for most of the firstworld countries but my preference are only Australia and USA for climate andgeographical diversity as well as language. Such country doesnot exist. So I remain within Sri Lanka for it’s climate and morality ofpeople. But of coz I likeboth India and USA/Australia for respective reasons but still Sri Lankan peopleand it’s beauty is too good. Q10 How can I take care of my laptopbattery (Li-ion) while I have to work on the laptop at the desk most of thetime every day? Should I use plugged in all the time or any other way? A10 AshokPandey Manager at CyberMedia India (company)(2014–present)August 6 The best way tocare for your laptop's battery is to keep your laptop plugged while using it.If you don't, then it will run on battery, which will actually reduce itsbattery life. That's because all batteries have a certain number of charge anddischarge cycles. The more you use it on battery, the more cycles are used up,which ends up reducing battery life. If you're looking for a laptop with longbattery life, then check out some of the HP business notebooks. They not onlyoffer long battery life, but have a Fastcharge technology that can recharge thebattery upto 50% in just 30 minutes. Q11 Do humans and apes have a commonancestor? A11 ClaireJordan Degree in biology and folklore; programmer, shop owner, secretary onnewspaper September 12 Absolutely true -in fact, we *are* apes. All our ancestors have been apes for over 20 millionyears, including your mum (since humans are a type of ape). Our last sharedancestor with the chimps and bonobos lived about 7 million years ago. Withgorillas, a few million years further back, with orangutans another few millionyears back, and with gibbons and siamangs, about 20 million years. Q12 What causes some materials to be goodinsulators of electricity? A12 AmarNath Mishra, BE Electrical Engineering & BEECertified Energy Auditor, National Institutes of Technology (1981)Answered 1hago Higher forbiddenenergy gap between valance bond and conduction band in comparison to conductorsand semiconductors. All the above QA are based on Quora digest on 29-09- 2021. Quora answers need notbe 100% correct answers Compiled and posted by R. 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