CULTURAL QA04-2022-11 BEING A COMPILATION THERE MAY BE ERRORS
Q1 How did people keep coolin the desert without swimming pools or AC in the Old West? A1 Ernest W. Adams Schooltaught me to hate history, but now I love it. Apr 6 People who couldn't hack itdidn't go there in the first place. The population of Arizona has exploded since the invention of airconditioning. In my father's time, Phoenix was just a wide spot in the road. Now it's thesixth largest city in the United States. It couldn't exist without airconditioning. Ditto Las Vegas and Texas. People got up early, worked until lunchtime, took a break during the hotpart of the day, and worked again during the evening. The Hispanic tradition ofthe siesta was a practical necessity. They made copious use of handkerchiefsdipped in water and wore big shady hats when they had to go out. Q2 What are the benefits ofprinting polymer currency over paper, and why is RBI not doing it? A2 Prasanna Bhalerao M. Sc.in Electronics & Physics, Fergusson College, PuneApr 3 I first came across polymerpaper currency in Australia way back in 1995. At that time only the AU$ 50 notes used polymer. By the time I leftAustralia, I think all notes were in polymer form. I couldn't but help marvelat the idea. The advantage is obvious: Long lasting currency No more soiling Water proof And best of all,extremely difficult to fake/counterfeit Why is India/RBI not doing it?The cost obviously. Thepolymer substrate, the minting machines, etc. are very expensive. Polymercurrency is nearly 3 times more expensive to mint in the beginning and thengradually reducing to 1.5 times over the passage of time. UK has just adopted polymercurrency starting with £5 in early 2019, then £20 in late 2019, and£10 in early 2020. I suppose £50 now is also polymer but it is rare to see a£50 note. The USA is stillto switch and I don't know if they are even thinking about it. It is notjust the cost of minting machines and actual minting. The entiresystem including cash counting machines, ATMs, vending machines, etc., willhave to change. Another reason perhaps?Basically, the world is moving to digital cashless (notes-less) mode. If you will believe it, I have not visited the ATM sincemy return to India in Jun, 2020. The last ATM withdrawal was at Mumbai airport on 30-06–2020 when I neededIndian currency for incidental expenses after return back to India. All mytransactions have been cashless since then. So, if that is thedirection, then spending on cash minting technology upgrade may not be worthit. RBI is going on a parallel track — switching to coins for lower valuecurrency. But who knows? Maybe thegovernment and RBI is thinking about it (polymer currency). But it has to be fine carefully and after proper planning. Thelast demonetisation exercise was a disaster of sorts. A huge amount was spentto bring in new notes. So it may be a while. It doesn't have to be a suddenswitch like the DeMo exercise. Q3 How did Sri Lanka'seconomy end up in this crisis? A3 Aashish Kumar Dimri One who loves India Sat Poverty : According to Srilankanpolitical and economiccommentators; Srilanka faces acute economic crisis. Nine out of ten citizensreside in villages without basic amenities. Imbalance : Only western provinceis far more developed than therest of this island nation. It suffers from social (Sinhalese versus Tamil) andeconomic imbalance. Agricultural crisis : Majority ofcitizens are dependent onagriculture for livelihood. Alas, its ambitious organic farming experimentgravely failed. Tourism deficit : Its economyheavily depends on tourism .But, internal (civil war, unrest) and external issues (Corona virus) impactedits tourism industry. Poor Infrastructure :Unlike bigcities like Colombo (capital); this beautiful nation lacks strong infrastructure. Politics :Srilanka is allegedlyafflicted with years of nepotismor family led politics. Civil war : Alas, Srilanka is yetto get over wounds inflictedby decade old civil war. According to experts; it had caused an economic lossof around $200 billion.Inshort, it is a sad sight to watch a nation rich in natural resources goingbankrupt. Hopefully, it will be back to basics. Q4 What are some differencesbetween alligators/crocodiles and dinosaurs? I have been trying to find thisanswer but can only find similarities. A4 Claire Jordan Degree inbiology and folklore; programmer, shop owner, secretary on newspaper Sat Dinosaurs are warm-blooded,have feathers (even though the really big ones had probably lost them) and holdtheir legs straight under the body. There were some extinct crocodilians who were fairly straight-legged andprobably semi-warm-blooded, but that was unusual for the group, and theyweren’t feathered, whereas*all* dinosaurs had their legs held straight under the body, and sofar as we know all were and are warm-blooded. It’s also quite likely that all dinosaurs had the one-way respiratory system that birdshave, where air is taken in and passed around a one-way system of air sacs,rather than simply pulled in and out of the lungs. This increases theefficiency of oxygen uptake. Q5 How, why, and when do weeat flowers? A5 Ken Saladin I think,therefore I am, I think. Apr 3 Capers, artichokes,cauliflower, and broccoli are among the flowers we commonly eat. Others are a bit more exotic and used in special dishes, such assquash blossoms. My wife used to grow nasturtiums and use those flowers in oursalads once in a while. Q6 An electric appliance isconnected by wires to a 240-volt source of voltage. If the combined resistanceof the appliance and wires is 12 ohms, how much current is flowing through thecircuit? A6 Gopala Krishnan, formerAssistant General Manager 1996-2004 at Department of Telecom(1966-2004)Answered just now It may appear very simple question. Ohm’s law states I= V/R. So 240/12 =20 Amps How thick should be the conductor to carry 20 amps without heating? Whichequipment has such very low resistance ? Q7 Why were medievalnoblewomen expected to marry incredibly young? A7 Matt Riggsby AArchaeological Studies, Boston University Apr 5 They weren’t. Minimum age for marriage tended to be younger than what we have now, butit was still in the mid-teens, and the church frowned very strongly on earliermarriage than that. That said, marriage politics put significant demands onaristocratic families and required them to come up with someone, anyone, tosecure an alliance, and while a girl couldn’t marry at the age of, say, eightor ten, she could be betrothed at any age. That is, little girls weren’tformally married, but the could be committed to a marriage. And even those wereextreme cases. Most noblewomen married in their late teens and early 20s. Q8 Is it necessary forrailway employees to apply for NPS? Can't they try for other options like SIPs,mutual funds or crypto? A8 Prasanna Bhalerao Experienceof investing in Stocks and Mutual FundsThu NPS was made mandatory for allnew recruits to the Central Government service (except the armed forces) from 1st January,2004. Since IR is a Central Government employer, NPS is mandatory. However, IR employees can always invest in any other investmentsincluding Direct Equity, Mutual Funds and Crypto. I personally do not likeCrypto investment but if someone wants to invest there, it is up to theindividual. Q9 What can be theapproximate electricity bill in Delhi, for a couple; general approximation withone A/C and other home appliances? A9 Partha Barman, lives inNew DelhiAnswered Jan 17, 2016 The below is what it comes fora 1 BHK with Government meter which in our home. We don't use electricity on weekdays from morning to eveningsince we go office. Also we run AC in summer, wholenight as well. Below is the data: In summer: Approx INR 3000 - 4000 per month. In Winters: Approx: INR 600 - 900 per month. 2nd answer-Zeeshan AliKhan, lived in New Delhi Answered Feb 21, 2017 This totally depends on how you use the AC. Someone might prefer to use it only during intenseheat and keep the thermostat at 25, run for 4-5 hours and switch off,some might keep running almost continuously day and night at 18. Anyhow, by a normal usage you canexpect atleast around thousand rupees per month on your bill. Assuming that you know what your appliancesconsume, I will give you a breakup: If you have a 3kW connection, you will be charged 100 per month asrental. Over and above this you will be charged Q10 Who was thescientist that postulated the theory of man evolved from apes? A10 Claire Jordan Degree inbiology and folklore; programmer, shop owner, secretary on newspaper 6mo Well, the 14th century Tunisianpolymath, Ibn Khaldun, in his work the Muqaddimah, was probably the first tostate formally that humans camefrom “the world of the monkeys", but people had known for thousands ofyears that humans were apes. Only they saw it the other way round - they sawnon-human apes, and even baboons, as odd types of human. That’s why “orangutan”means “man of the woods”. All the above QA are from Quora website on 11-04- 2022. Quoraanswers need not be 100% correct answers Compiled and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on 12-04-2022 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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