CULTURAL QA 10-2022-21 BEING A COMPILATIONTHERE MAY BE ERRORS
Q1 How does solar hot water heater workduring winter conditions? A1 BalaSenthil Kumar, Entrepreneur at Large in Two Countries 8y With good insulation, sunlight will be able to heat the waterquite well in a solar water heater even in winter.The heating is caused by the radiation energy of the sun, which can comethrough glass and heat up enclosures, even if the outside temperature is wellbelow freezing - providinggood insulation can ensure very small heat loss. However,diffused sunlight, sometimes a feature on cloudy days, reduces the heatingcapacity of most solar water heaters. There is nospecific technology to "suck out" so to speak, more heat from thesun's rays during winter. However, I suspect one can enhance the amount of light hitting theright area usingmirrors, especially concave ones, so that the fewer hours of direct sunlightavailable in winter can be better utilized. It still comes down toquality of insulation, and how much heat can be kept in the system, withoutlosing it to the environment, all the way from the heating area to theutilization area. The use of an anti-freezeliquid and the ensuing heat exchange process will make it less efficientoverall, but inevitable in freezing conditions. Solar Hot WaterHeaters During Winter Conditions Once again, theissue is insulation. Even a drain back system can freeze, only if the waterbeing pumped to the collection area is allowed to lose its heat to theatmosphere. An Organic RankineCycle can work well downstream of the heated water passage, but since the focus of the solar water heaterwill be to insulate as much as possible and retain heat, I'm notsure what exactly your intention is with a heat recovery system that isessentially intended to work on wasted heat. If the situation is one of heatedwater quickly ending its usefulness, like in a shower, then the water drainingout can definitely donate its heat to an ORC, in which case, you can recover orproduce some useful work out of it. My note- Ihave added this QA since I too have doubt about ability of solar water heaters when sunlight is least on acloudy rainy day. Q2 Is it possible that we are descendedfrom more than one species of hominin? A2 ClaireJordan, Degree in biology and folklore; programmer, shop owner, secretary onnewspaper Wed Of course. There are a fewpeople in central Africa who are pure Homo sapiens, but the rest of us are the result of hybridisationbetween sapiens and one or more of Neanderthals, Denisovans, two orthree “ghost” groups we haven’t named yet, and possibly even Homo erectus. If you mean, did any human ethnicities evolve from aseparate group of pre-humans from the rest then no- unless we find living specimens of Homo floresiensis, which is unlikely butnot impossible, we are allat least mostly Homo sapiens, who came from Homo heidelbergensis, who came fromHomo antecessor, who came from Homo erectus, and all or most of thegroups we interbred with were also offshoots of either heidelbergensis orantecessor. Homo floresiensis was an offshoot of erectus. Q3 Should the Integrated Coach Factoryreplace all traditional ICF coaches with Train 18 sets to make Indian Railwayslook modern? A3 UnciNarynin, experienced rail traveller and enthusiast 2y The lifespan of arailway carriage is 30 to 40 years, sometimes more (a refurbishment taking careof rust and degradation, replacing worn out parts, modernizing outdated systems and adding newly requiredfeatures can significantly expand the lifespan and be considerably cheaper thanbuying completely new rolling stock and scrapping the old). This here is aGerman coach originally built in the 1960s for express trains, when built newit looked like this (painted dark green). Regular top speed was 140 km/h then. It was rebuilt andmodernized multiple times: in the 1980s for InterRegio trains, raising the topspeed to 200 km/h, later taken out of service by DB when new trains such as theICE took over, and nowrebuilt again for the low-cost operator Flixtrain. Experts will easilysee that components such as the doors, windows and bogies aren’t of the sametype that would be used today in new rolling stock. You definitely see theirage (and feel it when opening a manual folding door by that quaint littlehandle). But apparently it’s still good enough for low-cost, open-accesstrains. I assume the development in India could be similar: New,fast premium trains will be equipped with new rolling stock such as Train 18(as I understand newer types are already indevelopment, based on the experience with Train 18); the existing rollingstock, as long as it is technically in a good state, can be refurbished tooperate in slower, cheaper trains. Replacing all trains by the latest high-techunits would be very costly and probably not a wise move economically when theolder trains are still useful. Q4 Why does Indian Railways use non-ACcoaches for some long distance trains? A4 PradipShah, B.S.M.E from Chicago Tech (Graduated 1973)21h I rememberdays when they were running non AC 1st class coaches on long distance whenMumbai to Amritsar took 2night and one day on coal fired steam engine driven Frontier mail. Only reliefwas large ice blocks one could buy to keep in the cabin for traversing thereally HOT Rajasthan section. After all very large section of the societycan’t afford the higher fare of AC coaches, regardless of distance. Railwayscaters to them more than the neo riche class Q5 Why are vegetarians in Keraladeclining? A5 AravindVarier, Teacher (2011–present)Oct 14 Majority of peoplein Kerala eat meat expect few people belonging to the Namboodiri community, Iyercommunity and the Ambalavasi community. As far as I know,these three communities together constitute around 3% of the total populationof Kerala and the question of decline in vegetarians doesn't arise because mostof them are vegetarians. That being said, you can find numerous vegetarian hotels inall the towns of Kerala and the only thing you need todo is to open your Google Maps and search for it. My note- Recently Ihad been to a temple visit at Palakkad. I was staying in a good lodging cumvegetarian restaurant. When we went for breakfast on three days consecutivelywe found more than 60% who ate breakfast as Muslims. Our taxi driver was a Muslimand when I enquired he laughed and said- Sir, believe me, 90% Muslims there don’t knowto prepare vegetarian snacks. Q6 In what ways do you get conned in Goa? A6 ManojSoni, Director at Innvito Digital Pvt. Ltd. (2021–present) Updated 1y Hello people, so Ialong with a few of my friends been to goa on this valentines week (2021). Wehave booked a hotel nearby to Calangute beach and were enjoying the vibes ofgoa. Since most of you know that Goa is famous for liquor,nuts, and clothing so, I decided to buy 5KG Kaju and 5Kg Almonds from thereitself. On the last day, Ihad a return bus scheduled for 5 Pm from Mapusa so at 10:30 I woke up gotready, and went around the beach and enquired about prices of Kaju and Almond’s they were roughly around550/- and 650/- per Kg respectively. I have enquiredabout 10–12 shops and concluded that almost all the shops have similar pricesand have decided will buy at any shop after having my breakfast. As soon I finishedmy breakfast, Opposite it, there was a shop named Patel Kaju I entered the shopand asked him for the Kaju and Almonds he told Kaju 550/- kg will make it 500/- Kg. So, I decided totake 5Kg Kaju and 5Kg Almonds. Below is the imageof a 500G Kaju airtight packing you see the Kaju visible from the transparentarea are pure white and the same size. I did not bother to open the packing andbought other 5Kg Almonds at 600/- Kg. He packed all the Kaju and almonds in acarry bag and handed it over to me. Photo source: Mygallery I made him thepayment and moved on to the room. I had my lunch in the room packed my luggageand left Mapusa for my Hyderabad departure. The next day bynoon I reached home and unpacked the Kaju and this is how they were. All the 10packages had the same type of black(Rotten) Kaju and they were also tastingbad. Upon cleaning them and separating good Kaju from them, Wegot only 650 grams and have wasted the rest of it. Morel of the story. : Never buy anythingpacked from the State/City/Country we don’t belong to. Always open the packagethen and there. Thank you forreading. Hope this post saves at least a few people from getting scam in such away. My note- Recently I have been to a supermarket to buycashew nut packed and valued 100-00 rupees. I found afew halved ones in the first packet. I searched about ten, I came to understandit is a tactice to addabout 5-10 broken pieces in all packs, so that halved ones are alsocharged to full size ones. No alternative, I purchased one pack, but cashews were freshly packed. Q7 What is the Tirupati Balaji Temple? Isit compulsory to visit when you go to Tirumala? A7 KanthaswamyBalasubramaniam, Lawyer Tue Er…Tirumala existsentirely due to the Temple This is not likeChennai Or even Tiruchi where you can spend 10 years without going to SrirangamTemple Why else wouldanyone go to Tirumala? Tirupathi is atown, proper town now with Colleges and Residents.However Tirumala is entirelymade up of Tourists and Staff. Sure you can go to Tirumala, stay in a Cottage, haveLunch in some restaurant, dinner in some other restaurant, take evening walksand return back.But it wouldbe Super Weird It would be likegoing to Mecca and not following the Haj ritual but spending a few daysenjoying date pudding and goat rice and coming back home. Sorry didn't seePart one The Tirumala Templeworships Lord Venkatachalapathi Or Balaji Or Givindarajaswamy, believed to beLord Vishnu Or a Non Avatar form of the Lord The Lord borrowedmoney from Kubera to marry Padmavathi (His wife believed to be a form ofGoddess Lakshmi) The Amount he borrowed was ASTRONOMICAL and it isbelieved that the day he pays the debt , the world will end or something(Unclear on this) Every rupeedonation made is regarded payment of this debt. Every donation is given to helpthe Lord Square his debt with Kubera. Anyway they say despite the Temple collecting Crores andCrores every day, not even the Interest has been paid back. Like the IndianBanking System. Namo Venkatesa(Someone in the comments suggested this) Q8 Which train is better, Rajdhani expressor Duranto express? A8 AmolSagar, Indian Railways Enthusiast5h Both Rajdhani and Duronto have their own Positive andNegative views. If we talk aboutcomfort and value for money, then Rajdhani will be my first priority. In case of foodquality and ticket cost, both are almost at same place. Bangla means Duronto is Non-Stop. Hence nostoppages in case of Duronto except few technical stoppages but in case of Rajdhani majorstoppages are present. In case ofpunctuality and time travelled no doubt Rajdhani is better. Duronto can oftenovertake Rajdhani in the case of a conflict. Although Duronto is punctual too but in comparison toRajdhani, Duronto is not as punctual as Rajdhani. Rajdhani haveall AC coaches while Duronto have some Non-AC coaches also. In my opinionRajdhani is better than Duronto. You can decidebased on above points which train is better for you.Answer is based on mypersonal experience. Hope it helps. Q9 What is the difference between blackand white pepper and their usage? A9 LuciaGarcia, Worked at Hospitals Oct 13 One of the mostpopular spices in the world, pepper is native to India. As early as 3,500 years ago, Indians havebeen picking and eating pepper. Black pepper andwhite pepper come from the small berries of the same pepper plant, the maindifference being when they are picked and whether they are peeled or not. Black pepper is picked unripe, green berries that arethen dried, causing the skin to wrinkle and turn black. White peppercomes from fully ripe, red berries that are fermented by soaking in water.Finally, the outer layer is removed, leaving only the white inner seeds. Since the skins of the unripe berries are preserved, theflavor of black pepper is much stronger than that of white pepper, which has astrong pungency. White pepper ismuch milder than black pepper and tastes slightly floral and earthy with alittle touch of spice. Pepper contains 8%to 9% piperine, 1% to 2% volatile oil, as well as crude fat, crude protein,lavonoids, lignanoids and aromatic compounds, which have the functions ofremoving fishy smell, degreasing, and helping digestion. Q10 What is unique about Diwalicelebration like in Tamil Nadu? A10 GauthamSampath; Knows Tamil Updated 4h Diwali is Tamil Nadu is actually called as DeepawaliPandigai and it's the 2nd biggest festival after Pongal for Tamils.(Only for two festivals, people visit home towns without fail one is Pongal andthe other one is Deepawali in TN) History of Deepawali celebration in Tamil Nadu - Origins ofDeepawali celebrations dates back to Pallava and Chola era in Tamil Nadu! Tamils celebratefestivals which are divided into two sets- I mean old ancient festivals thatare celebrated in the regions of Tamilakam from unknown times and finds the mentions in old Sangambooks Festivals likePongal(Indra Vizha), Tamil Putthandu, Maasi Magam, Thai Poosam,PanguniUtthiram, Adi Kiruthigai, Adi 18, Onam, Purattasi Sani, Thiruvadhirai,etc arevery old and ancient festivals.(These festivals are seasonal and Nakshathiram based festivals as per TamilSolar calender- These festivals have been taken into Puranic system fromDravidian system) Similarlythere are puranic festivals which was adapted during the Pallava and Chola erafrom Tamil Brahmin communities like Vaikunta Ekadashi, KrishnaJanmashtami,Mahalaya Amawavasyai, Ayudha Pooja, Vinayagar Chaturthi,Deepawali,etcasall these festivals have Puranic origins.( These festivals are Thithi basedfestivals- These festivals are adopted into Dravidian beleif system fromPuranic System) As Deepawali doesn't get mentioned in Sangam books( Idid search in google and didn't any reference in Sangam books), I guess itshould be celebrated from past 1500 years and it's said that Pallavas andCholas have taken this festival and introduced in the Shores of South EastAsian countries too.( Thai Chulyas who are descendantsof Thai Royals and Chola Royals celebrate this festival in Thai land). Celebration Part Deepawali iscelebrated for 2 days in Tamil Nadu and arrives during the North East Monsoonseason and hence there is difference in the celebration part with respect toother parts of India. The celebration ismore family bonded and is different with respect to the beliefs of other parts. First day is called as Deepawali by Normal Tamils butTamil Brahmins call it as Naraka Chaturdashi (Also called as Choti Diwali in Northern parts of Deepwali). Hence the Puranicstory of Deepawali as per the Vaishnavite belief is that Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhamakills Narakasura who was torturing people of that times and laterNarakasura asks for people to celebrate his death by having a festival. Krishna andSatyabhama visits Subhadra after the slaying demon and she welcomes Krishna byproviding an oil bath with the new dress and first sweet and whole Dwarakabursts crackers. Hence its believedsweets have to be prepared and offered to God's on Deepawali day so peoplestart preparing sweets 1 to 2 days before itself Hence Tamilstoo start the day by taking oil bath and wearing new dress. This new dressalong with sweets are offered to Lakshmi Devi in the morning and we burstcrackers. Later people visitTemples in the morning itself , after coming home people have non vegdelicacies( mainly mutton) with Idlies, Dosas and Rice ( Idlies and Dosas werefestival dishes in the past unlike now which has become a daily breakfast inTamil homes). This offering up of various sweets and temple visit inthe morning is mainly observed in the Chola regions of Tanjaoreand also by Sri Lankan Tamils which makes my analysis to go strong on theorigins of Deepawali during Chola era and later spread to all of Tamil regions In theevenings we don't light any lamps because it's very breezy and as it's monsoontime, lighting upoflamps is a waste thing as it will put off all the lights but we burst all thecrackers with families. (once I tried to light the lamps outside my homes and itall went off with in 5 mins due to breeze and hence Ijust limit myself within home unlike during Karthigai Deepam we light lampseverywhere around the house and in fields indivating the end of monsoons). Deepawali, Pongal and all is associated with theinviting up of relatives, friends to homes andexchanging sweets in Tamil Nadu just like elsewhere in India. Also newlymarried couples are invited and given Deepawali Seer Or Deepawali gift withgold, money and new dress. 2nd Day Celebration - Deepawali Nombu /Amavasyai/KedaraGowri Vratham In other parts ofIndia this is the main day of festival and this day in TN it's called asDeepawali Nombu This Nombu is mainly celebrated by some Tamilcommunities like Vanniyars, Mudaliars, etc and also by Telugu communities inTamil Nadu.It's believed that Parvathi Or Gowri Devi United with LordShiva after a fight and thus this festival is celebrated by couples. After the Gowripooja in the evening ( same like Lakshmi pooja cobducted in the evening inNorth) , people visitthe nearby rivers and lakes and perform a small pooja to rivers( Asthis is monsoon season in TN) and leave the holy flowers in the rivers. After coming back home, people burst crackers and haveveg feast in dinner. Nowadays fewfamilies have started to observe Lakshmi Kubera Pooja for good health andwealth. ( Recent phenomenonfrom past 10 years). All the above QA are from Quora website on 20-10-2022 Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers . Compiled and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on 21-10-2022 -- 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/1993000569.1054113.1666347738826%40mail.yahoo.com.
