CULTURAL QA 07-2022-29 BEING A COMPILATIONTHERE MAY BE ERRORS
Q1 Is it safe to plug UPS on two prongoutlet? A1 Gopala Krishnan, Former AssistantGeneral Manager 1996-2004 at Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now In India most UPS comes with a three pin top.Earthing is a must in the UPS circuit. Q2 What are the requirements to board atrain from Toronto to New York? Can I go into the US without being checked? Steven Haddock, Livesin Toronto, ON (1959–present) Tue Everyone is right. Unlike theairlines, which will make sure all your papers are in order before they let youanywhere near a flight, trainsand buses will just let you on with a ticket. However, when youreach Niagara Falls,New York, the train will be stopped and U.S. Customs and Immigrationwill spend the next ninety minutes going through the train looking ateveryone’s documentation. If you’re not eligible toenter the U.S., they will take you off the train and put you on the next oneback to Canada. The train trip is along one, but the worst part of it is the border check at the U.S. where youhave to stay in your seat, so no meals or washroom. On the way back,Canada Customs and Immigration cleared us all in half an hour, which was animmense relief compared to the trip the other way. I arrived back in T.O.early. As a young brokeperson, I travelled to New York on a chartered bus a couple of times. U.S.customs and immigration has no hesitation in taking people off the bus atLewiston and sending them back to Queenston, where there are no goodtransportation options. My own experience crossing into Detroit on a bus keptme from wanting to go back to the U.S. for nine years. Q3 Are the rivers or canals full of algaegenerally dirtier than normal rivers, or does it mean they have a higherconcentration of organic nutrition or inorganic chemicals than the normalrivers? A3 Ken Saladin, Former professor ofhistology (microscopic anatomy)Sun Algal blooms like that typically are triggered bynutrient abundance, like an unusual concentration of phosphates.In suburban neighborhoods, that sometimes results from the run-off of all thelawn fertilizers people use. A heavy concentration of surface algae blocks out the sun and maycause a lot of anaerobic rot below the surface. It’s not a good idea to go into such water. Such algalblooms can be toxic and dogs have been known to die from swimming in them.Dog owners are advised to keep their dogs out of algae-laden water like this.Would-be swimmers would do well to follow suit. Q4 Where does the immigration check happenwhen travelling from India to the US on a nonstop flight? A4 Arun Visvanathan, Former Marine Supt,DPA, CSO, Head of Fleet Personnel (2004–2007)Tue You will have topass through immigration at your departure airport in India.. The immigration officer willrun your passport through the scanner to check if you're on a no fly list.He will also check your boarding pass and sometimes whether you have visafor the destination. He will then stamp your passport with the airport name anddate On arrival at the first airport in the US, you have topass immigration and customs. This is so even if you are merely transitting toanother foreign country. The immigration officer willcheck your visa and ask how long you are staying. If happy he will be stampyour visa write the visa category and write the allowed duration of stay. In the past you hadto give your fingerprints, but that seems to have stopped. Recently at LAX, the CBP officerasked “are you carrying jeera?” “No.” “Look into thecamera" and that was it. No forms to fill as in the past. PS. Even if you have a valid visa, you can be deniedentry by the CBP officer. I haven't seen this happen atthe airport but have had a seaman with a valid C1D visa denied landingpermission from his ship. No explanation and no appeal Q5 How can a senior citizen survive on onemeal a day? A5 Aishwarya Kher, Scientific Mind |Curious Brain | Optimistic | Vegetarian May 8 There’s a guy Iknow whose grandparents are in their early 90s. To my greatastonishment, I was told that they are perfectly fit and fine. The grandpa evenobliges people with short performances during festivals and occasions. He isinto literature and Indian classical music. When I looked attheir pictures of attending wedding receptions and other events, it really feltlike they must be in their 70s or early 80s. Not at all frail or bent. I suppose they also remainphysically active. My obvious questionto him was, “What do they eat?” To which I was toldthat they have been following a one meal diet since at least last 2 decades. Apart from thisthey consume a lot of seasonal fruits and healthy liquids. So following aone-meal-diet by a senior citizen is possible and not totally unheard of, eventhough it’s probably rare. It does notmean they will eat something only once in 24 hours. It only means that a properbalanced meal will be consumed just once in a day. Listening to theirstory made me realize that it’s * never too late totake charge of our health * never too late tochange our dietary habits * never too late topractise self-control I was watching ahealth documentary where this doctor said that not all of us require to eat afull meal 2 or 3 times a day. This depends on various factors like - Your level ofphysical activity. Your age. Your fitness level. Your existing medication or health status. Your metabolism. Your body’s fat content …among otherthings! Our brains arejust wired to ask for immediate fuel as per the body clock we set. We need totrain it as per our health goals. I am currentlyfollowing a 2-meal diet in my early 30s.A 1-meal-diet along with fruits andnuts is what I am aiming at in a decade or so Q6 Does having a heater core in your cardecrease gas mileage? A6 Steve Baker, Senior Software Engineer(2013–present)Jul 3 Actually, it can IMPROVE gas mileage. When the car’s heater is turned on - the interior of thecar is being heated by the hot water coming out of the engine. By feedingthat heat to the interior, you’re actually improving the quality of the cars’radiator function…so you lose less power to the radiator fan. It’s not going tobe huge - but it’s definitely there. My note- About two years back I was travelling withfamily to Madurai on a winter day earlymorning. MY taxi driver switched on the heater till became quite warm. It was anew experience to me. Q7 If medicine is a noble profession, whydo doctors charge so much? A7 Pallab Roy Chowdhury (GENERAL non Ews),Lives in Kolkata, West Bengal, India Jul 8 The day arestaurant owner provides me free lunch daily ,A real estate owner provides mewith a free house, A car company provides me with a free car, An electricianagrees to work on my electrical appliances for free,The phone company providesa free phone every 2 Years and unlimited data balance for lifetime. My gym trainerstops asking money for membership,School provides free education for mychildren. The lawyer provideshis free service in case of any legal issue and the petrol pump owner providesme with free petrol, I will serve the whole country for free. Batao, hai himmat?Ayega? Ayega? ( read in chatur’s tone) How do you define“so much “? It's the money you are not agreeing to pay right.. So what if, instead of asking the services mentioned above for free, I ask for theamount that I'm comfortable to pay, will they do it? If yes, thensure, I too will provide my services at a rate of your comfort. It's very easy to becomea socialist when you are sitting under the AC and using a brand new phone that yourfather bought working hard. Medicineis a noble profession, but being noble doesn't feed your stomach. Money does. If you think it'snoble, call it noble. If you don't think it's noble, don't call it noble.No onecares what you call it or not! Q8 Why does England have two faucets? A8 Geoffrey Thorndyke, Lived in the UKsince 1944Jul 23 We call them taps!. In the UKthere are many shops selling plumbing supplies. They will have sinks, basins,baths and a variety of taps, single taps, mixer taps, and so forth. We alsohave this idea of “customer choice” whereby each person can buy whatever tapthey like. Some like mixertaps, some like individual taps, some houses have a variety of taps. In my house thereis a tap in the kitchen sink with one outlet and in the bathroom the basin hasseparate taps for hot and cold. The bath has a complicated Victorian lookingthing which can send water out of a single nozzle or up to a shower attachment.Now these were chosen by us because we thought they were right for the job. We could have had a mixer tap inthe bathroom basin, but as I’ve managed for over 70 years with single taps Icouldn’t see the point. Now these sort ofquestions do pose a problem as the questioner seems to assume that ALL sinks,baths and basins in the UK have two taps. This will not be correct, there will be millions ofhouses with mixer taps, millions with individual taps and millions with a bitof both. As to why, well as I hinted at I am not used to a mixer tapin the bathroom so stick with what I am used to. The kitchen tap where I canhave both hot and cold coming out together is not used that way by me when Ithink about it, I use either the hot switch or the cold switch and thus treatit like two taps ! I have absolutelyno idea what is the most common setup in other Countries, but firstly I don’treally care, and secondly I presume that like the UK everyone is able to havewhatever plumbing they prefer and thus houses will differ according to individualpreference. Q9 How can unmixed bags of concrete orcement be stored indefinitely? A9 Ciro Pabon, Lives in Cali, Colombia(2008–present)Jul 22 It cannot. Inshort, two things will happen:It will react with water in the air or in thebag itself.Highly toxic hexavalent chrome will form inside the cement This means that, ifkept in the bag, in three to six months, it is good for non- structural jobs orprivate use in your home where strength is not strictly controlled and you knowit. With extreme precaution in impermeable bags, you can storeit for one year or, if you are in a extremely dry desert, perhaps 5 years. However, wheretoxicity in cement is limited by reducing agents that control the formation ofhexavalent Chrome or Chrome 6, like in the European Union and some othercountries, including where I live, shelf life is limited by this reducing agentreacting with oxygen. Q10 If someone lost his passport in aforeign land, what will he need to do to come back to his own country? A10 Arun Visvanathan, Former Marine Supt,DPA, CSO, Head of Fleet Personnel (2004–2007)Jun 27 The wife of anofficer joining one of my company’s ships at Naples lost her passport when herhandbag was stolen at Rome airport. The ship’s agentwho had received her told her not to report the loss or else the immigrationofficer would not let her sail with the ship and effectively smuggled her onboard. After the shipsailed, the Master reported the lost passport. Her nextport of call was a port in Argentina near Buenos Aires. As the ship would onlybe in port for less than 48 hours, I sent all the details to our agent alongwith a copy of the lost passport and asked him to arrange an appointment with the embassy so that the lady could get a new passportin quick time. He did and reported that the consul asked a verypertinent question viz. “If she lost the passport in Italy, why didn’t shereport to the embassy in Rome?” Explanations about the ship sailing cut no ice. Cyprus is a smallplace with a small Indian community and being the only large Indian ownedbusiness, we were regulars at High Commission functions and parties and knewall the staff from the High Commissioner down. I asked the High Commissioner ifshe could help. She asked if I knew the name of the consular official and Igave it to her. “I know him well. He was my Second Secretary in —. Leave it tome.” A few days laterone of the High Commission officials called me and said “Tell your agent to fixan appointment and take the lady. Her new passport will be ready and she onlyhas to sign a few papers.” When I thanked him he replied “I didnothing. You should thank Madam.” I found out laterthat she had called the individual in BA and told him “I know these partiespersonally. I guarantee that there is no fraud so please issue the passport.”We were lucky. Otherwise, I can’t imagine what would have happened to the ladywith no passport. Would she have been condemned to sail the seas forever likethe Flying Dutchman? All the above QA are from Quora website on 28 -07- 2022. Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers . Compiled and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on 29-07-2022 -- 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]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1175137195.2876922.1659068947284%40mail.yahoo.com.
