CULTURAL QA 12-2022-06 Q1 What are the rules for using phoneswhile traveling by Indian Railways?
A1 Prashant Tiwari, Indian RailwaysEnthusiast Jul 24 There is norestriction on using your personal mobile phone while travelling in an Indiantrain but there are some precautions which we should keep in mind whiletravelling in Indian trains. 1 . Always keepyour phone in your pocket or pouch when you are not using it. Note: Wear pants,shorts, etc. which has chain in pockets. 2. Avoid usingphone while boarding the train or when you are standing near gates. 3. If you aretravelling in a non-ac class then keep your phone at a safe distance fromwindow. 4. Be careful ifyour berth is at extreme ends of the coach as these berths are nearest to thegates and are always on target. Note: keep an eyeon gates, close them if they are open after departure from any station. These are the fewmajor points which I have noticed during my train journeys. My note- The general rule is to talk in a low voice. Itis ethic to use the phone only when urgently required. Reduce the use of phonefrom 10 AM to 6 AM, while most passengers sleep. Keep the visual scenes private. Q2 If whales can breathe oxygen, why canthey die if they are washed up on a beach away from water? A2 Claire Jordan, Degree in biology andfolklore; programmer, shop owner, secretary on newspaper Nov 28 Large whales are extremely heavy, so they can be crushedunder their own weight and find it difficult to move their ribs and breathe outof water. Also they caneasily dry out/get sunstroke, and they have usuallybeached because they were sick to begin with. Q3 Howdeep is the sand of the Sahara? What is below it? Is it a gradual transition,or is it like pure sand dumped directly on some previous flat surface? A3 John Flavin, Professional Geologistand Engineer Updated 3y The Sahara, Arabicfor desert, stretches across North Africa. The Sahara is the world's largest non-polar desert, over9,000,000 km² (3,500,000 mi²), which is about the same size as the United States. Although the Saharais famous for sand-swept dunes, the majority of the surface is comprised of hamada or rocky plateau.The Sahara's fabled dunefields cover only about 15% of the entire desert's surface and lie primarily inthe north-central region. In the dune laden sections of Algeria and Libya, the sandthickness varies because dunes can pile upto a height of several hundred meters, but then change as the sand moves. The desert expanseis dominated by rocky barren stretches with arid hills and valleys. What many do not realize is the Sahara was once a fertilearea that supported thriving human communities.A study of cores revealed that North Africa's ancient climate underwent swiftdesertification and a climate shift transforming the region from a humid,subtropical landscape to desert within a matter of years. This occurred around 4200 B.C. It returned to the samedesert conditions that dominated the area 13,000 years earlier. When the climatebegan to change, the Sahara region became parched and the vegetation died away.With nothing to hold thesoil, wind action was able to remove all of the fine sediment until only sand,rocks, and bedrock remained. PROBABLE CAUSE The change from the mid-Holocene climate to that of todaywas initiated by changes in the Earth's orbit and the tilt of Earth's axis. Some 9,000years ago, Earth's tilt was 24.14 degrees, as compared with the current 23.45degrees, and perihelion, (the point in the Earth'sorbit that is closest to the Sun), occurred at the end of July, as comparedwith early January now. At that time, the Northern Hemisphere received moresummer sunlight, which amplified the African and Indian summer monsoon. The changesin Earth's orbit occurred gradually, whereas the evolution of North Africa'sclimate and vegetation were abrupt. German researcher Claussen and hiscolleagues believe that various feedback mechanisms within Earth's climatesystem amplified and modified the effects touched off by the orbital changes.By modeling the impact of climate, oceans, and vegetation both separately andin various combinations, the researchers concluded that oceansplayed only a minor role in the Sahara's desertification. FUN FACT Wadi El Hitan,(Whale Valley), inEgypt contains the fossilized remains of an extinct sub-order of whales.Evidently, the valley was part of a shallow marine basin 40–50 million yearsago. The desertification helped both preserve and reveal atremendous hoard of fossils. My note- Very informative answer. Recently I readelsewhere in certain areas human settlements are there in Sahara desert. Q4 What are the reasons that some oldpeople live very long and healthy lives? A4 Bhuvana Rameshwar, married for threedecades 10h Yes. Many people I see live ripe old age say easily touching 90thbirthday. This is especially true of women.GenerallyI found them to be thin people. They carry less weight, so are physically active and independent. They eat less food, have proper meal timings and they donot like junk foods. They prefer fruits and vegetables over non vegetarian andfried foods as their digestive system is weak. They had nostress as most lived either with adult children who took care of the house orwere healthy and economically well - off to live on their own.They avoided arguments and opinions thrust on others. They seemedleast bothered about others and happenings around. A strange detachment whichcomes with age and experience! Most didn't haveany life style diseases. Some were so old and traditional that theydidn't even know about diabetes or blood pressure as they never had anyprecautionary blood test or the hospital annual check ups. As longas there was no major issue they never visited doctors. It was simple householdcures like herbs and diet changes. They didn't get any diseases from their parents genes.Healthy parents gave them good genes. This ruled outarthritis, dementia and alzhemier’s etc. These three are the worst of all tospoil old age mobility and independence. They were happy people who didn't complain. Ifound them to be friendly with everybody. They are genuine. Not fake. They have forgiven and forgotten all the betrayals in life.Some have even forgiven disloyal adult children andsiblings. Q5 What is the maximum size of abacteria? Why can't they get bigger than that? A5 Ken Saladin, Former professor ofhistology (microscopic anatomy) Nov 29 Thiomargaritamagnifica is about 1 cm (0.4 in.) long and is lately lauded as the biggestbacterium ever discovered (on June 23, 2022). It seems to meI recently read of the discovery of an even larger one, but I may misremember,and this might still hold the record. Q6 What was the biggest design flaw toever occur in history? How was it fixed if it was? A6 John Carlton, Naval Architect, retd. pastmember R.I.N.A. and S.N.A.M.E. Sun Whether thiswas a design flaw is arguable. To a modernengineer, failing to do adequate ground studies would certainly not constitutedue diligence, although, maybe at the time what they did was the best that theycould have done. The solution, however was a triumph, effective and absolutelybeautiful. Here is thebuilding: Wells Cathedral, commenced in 1175, and finished,consecrated, in 1239. Over the next hundred or so years, and an earthquake, thecentral tower was starting to sink and crack, as the ground under it could nolonger support its weight. To throw the weight onto solid ground either side of it, abrilliant master mason, William Joy, designed two scissored pillars thattransferred the load. They have heldsince then, and are stunningly beautiful as well. Q7 Is there actually any more safe coachin Indian trains in case of derailment? A7 Prasanna Bhalerao, Nov 16 LHB coaches are anti-roll, anti-collapse andanti-telescopic. What does it mean? Anti-roll: Thecoach won’t roll like a cylinder topsy-turvy and res upside down. See picsbelow: At most the LHBcoach may tip and rest over on its side. Anti-roll alsoprevents one coach going over another coach as seen below with ICF rake: Anti-collapse andAnti-telescope: In case of an impact, one coach won’t collapse and crush. Onecoach won’t intrude into another coach like a collapsing telescope. Toillustrate, I will show the pic of ICF coaches which have telescoped: Q8 Why does Indian Railways rarely use2S coaches for long journey trains? It may benefit intermediary stationtravelers for short journey. A8 Ramesh S,BA degree in Economics fromMaharaj's College, University of Mysore. (Graduated 1982)22h Yes people think so, but in practice long journey travelinvolves quite number of hours physically humans can't beat the burden. More over longdistance trains carry sleeper class coaches, and different Class of Ac coaches.They have certain quota for such stations. More over railway fare in long distance, and mediumdistance are more affordable. There areconnection between medium distance like intercity express and for shortdistance. All long distance trains mail/Express do have few secondcompartments For short distance traveller. More over longdistance trains have limited stops. Hence the present system looks ok.Where ever such demand exist they can demand for services as required. Q9 Do any cats come close to the powerand speed of a tiger or lion? A9 Anita Brown, Worked at family petshop. Sold cat & dog supplies and food Nov 26 Pound for pound,your common house cat is as powerful and as fast as a tiger.Cats would also equal a lion for power. The house cat ismore agile than the tiger or lion because of a more flexible spine. A cat has a better success rate at hunting, about 32%versus a tiger at 10%. Lions have a success rateat hunting in packs of 30%. An individual lion's success rate is about 16%. If your cat was as large as a tiger or a lion, he wouldbe a fierce hunter. He would beat out a tiger and a lionfor most powerful and successful hunter. It is almosthard to believe that a cutie like Marley could be such a ferocious predator. Q10 Which among Andhra, Karnataka, TamilNadu, and Kerala has the best dosa? A10 Raiza Syed, Amatuer astronomy &Generalist Sat Historians attribute the origins of Dosa to the Tulunaduregion of Karnataka. The most famous dosa imitated across India in fast foodchains is the Masala Dosa from Karnataka. If someone fromMumbai pictures a Dosa its always the Masala Dosa, Set Dosa. The standardchutney and the Mangalorean sambhar Now that doesn’tmean there is no regional innovations, outside of the fast food chains if onewere explore street foods or ever savor home made preparations, there is a seaof difference. Home made dosas/small food joints are quite simple withlittle oil(groundnut/sun flower) (Butter rarely used as itcloys the experience) served with 1 out of 4 variants of chutney (Ground nut,Onion, Coconut or Mint) preferably shuffled along with potato palya ordifferent Sambhars we do try many other combos like tomato sauce, chilli sauce,kimchi, p Typically people eat 2–6 dosa’s if it is home made. Ieat atleast 3 dosas, 4 if my grandma is the chef my brother used to consume 6.The batter is spread with moderate thickness (depending on the pan size). itsmostly soft dosa with this slight thin uneven crust not too soggy. In HMD we let batter to ferment 4–6 hours, Oftensetting an alarm to check past 6 hours mark to see if the batter is fermentedand refrigerate it asap. Weuse it in morning as needed +/-30 minutes of thawing + 20 minutes preparationthen keep it fridge again. Once prepared batter refrigerated rightafter use(>40 minutes in the open) would last 4–5 days. If kept at roomtemprature the batter starts ferment more than needed increasing the ph itbegins to get tart incrementally. Preferred utensilsare cast Iron skillet>stone Slab>Non-stick/ceramic. Its a tradition thatcooking material enhances the flavour. Restaurant Dosas Restaurant posh dosas may taste perfect. but the caveat isthey add some preservative like maida(fine flour)/other additive to mitigatetartness in the dosa batter while trying keep the batter fresh for hoursata stretch at room temperature ready to be made into a Dosa at the drop an orderwith dollops of butter. *Notice thatmany can’t eat more than one. Some people prefer masala dosa ‘roasted’ so that thecrust breaks to pieces like that of oil fried samosathat’s a acquired taste its tweaked with a request to the service staff. Thesides such as Palya/Chutney/Sagu/Sambhar are usually monotonous in 4/5 of fastfood joints in Bangalore. I find comparingfast food restaurant made dosa is an art, its as good as comparing which KFC orMcD joint tastes better or how coo-cola tastes different from Pepsi. Dosai in Madurai/Salem/Thirunelveli IMO is among the bestin TN. They serve different varieties of Chutney’s/ at thesame time. There is no monotony in main dish or the sides. Pesarautu from Coastal Andhra is one unique variety I foundto be good it close to adaai dosa. TN plain dosais taste better(its my personalpreference). Specifically I would rate the dosa I had at the Gopu iyengar, Karidosa in Madurai and Thirunalvelli nameless shop outside railway station Most of the restaurant I had been to in TN specialize insoft medium thick dosais similar to home made generallynot too crisp or too soft, some of them being generally large in size. Itseasier to chew/eat. People usually order atleast 2 dosa’s in some places, Theseestablishments do not function for more than 3–4 hours in the morning, forinstance there was a shop near my home that would shut doors by 10 usually by9:30 due to large crowd. As the batter starts to become tart (depending onweather) they either run out of stock or sell left over batter to a restaurantto be used as Rava dosa. I would go with popular opinion Karnataka’s Dosa is thebest. The word ‘dosa’ is synonymous with Masala Dosa inrest of India. CTR, Vidyarthi Bhavan, Samrat, Vinayaka Mylari and Kamatrestaurant make the best masala dosas in Bangalore/Mysore. If one needs toexplore different types head to Thindi Beedhi(Food street) in VV Puram and dotry avarakallu Dosa. All the above QA are from Quora website on 05-12-2022 Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers . Compiled and posted by R. 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