CULTURAL QA 01-2023-06 BEING ACOMPILATION THERE MAY BE ERRORS
Q1 How do humans have such a long lifespan compared to other mammals? Even before modern medicine, our life spanswere an anomaly in the animal kingdom. A1 Claire Jordan, Degree in biology andfolklore; programmer, shop owner, secretary on newspaper Jan 4 You have toconsider that there aretwo different aspects to lifespan. How long you potentially could live, if nothingkills you.Howlong you are actually likely to live. In animalswho are low on the food chain, they generally die quite young because apredator eats them. Even predators with a veryhigh-risk lifestyle also tend to die young. Therefore, they evolve to get theirbreeding done very young, so that they will pass their genes on before theydie. Now, there is nobenefit to having the *potential* to live to great age, if something isprobably going to kill you before you get there, and you already passed on yourgenes. In fact, ifyou live a long time you may end up competing with your own descendants,reducing their chances. So, genes which might make you wither anddie *after* the point at which you’ll probably have been killed by a predatoraren’t weeded out, because there’s no selection pressure to remove them. Geneswhich may be beneficial when young and harmful when old, such as those whichmake you very muscular but eventually give you arthritis, are activelyfavoured, because it’simportant to get your living and breeding in early. This is why small animals usually have short lifespans -because they are low on the food chain and need to get their living in fast. But humans, likeelephants, have very long lives because we have very few predators, and we have a complex socialstructure in which the elderly still have a use as teachers and guardians ofthe young. And we doour breeding quite slowly so as not to over-populate (although modernhumans have screwed this up by not breast-feeding often enough for long enoughto supress ovulation). For other animalswith long lifespans, we can usually see why this happened. Deep-ocean sharks with very longlives have almost no predators. Giant tortoises are almostindestructible as adults, so they can afford to live slow. Perhaps the most interesting ones are naked mole rats.They’re the size of a chipmunk, but have the lifespan of a horse, and we’re noteven sure the little buggers age *at all*, although obviously they can die inaccidents. Tinythough they are, they live underground where almost nothing can eat them,and their tunnels are full of ammonia (from their urine) so they’ve evolvedgood cellular repair mechanisms which protect them from toxins, but also fromcancer. And they getround the overpopulation issue by being eusocial, meaning that there’s only onebreeding female in each pack. My note- Inmiddle school days one of the legends I read comes to my remembrance. Slightlyhigh note. Once being verymuch difficulties in continuinglife the dogs, the oxen/cows met lordBrahma and desired their the long life span they had. Human was an onlooker. Dogs wanted toreduce life span from 25 years to 10 years. Oxen/cows wanted their life span from 40 years to 20 years. Seeingjustification the Lord reduced their life span as desired. The onlooker human,having not much difficulties and had a life span of 60 years, desired thereduced life span of dogs and oxen may be given to him. Brahma thought for amoment. And agreed and give humans the life span of 35 years more. So humans got a lifespan of 95 years. Very few humans live beyond 95 years now also. Q2 Why do the wooden blocks placed underthe railway lines stay long without getting spoiled, yet it's exposed tovarious climatic conditions? A2 David Fairhurst, Life long interest in Railways 1952 –present Updated1y Funny you shouldask this Lesh as I was answering some questions about them only yesterday to arailway interest group (not Quora). My note- Lengthybut very interesting and informative answer. Here in Britain,where the railways began, we call them “sleepers” but over in the United States they callthem “Ties”. Theyare placed on a bed of crushed stone called ballast. This not only provides a level bed tosupport the sleepers but alsodrains any water away and helps keep the sleepers dry. The sleepers havesteel fittings called chairson their upper surface and these are what the steel rails are fixed into. As you say theyhave to face all sorts of climatic conditions and for that reason they are specially treatedbefore they can be used. They are impregnated with a phenolic chemical such as‘Creosote’. This isn’t justpainting them with it or dipping them into a bath of it as that would only givesurface protection. Theyhave to be ‘cooked’ in a giant oven under pressure which ensures that thecreosote penetrates right through the sleeper. The amount they canbe allowed to deteriorate before being replaced depends upon where they areused. On a main line theyhave to be in really good condition but on a siding they need not be so good.Indeed sometimes mainline sleepers which have been taken out of use, butare still in passablecondition, are reused in sidings. The problem is thatphenolic compoundslike creosote are now on the banned list for environmental reasons.The railways have been looking for alternatives for a good few years. Here inthe UK reinforced concretesleepers have been introduced on a big scale, but other alternativesare still being considered. Network Rail(effectively the nationalised rail infrastructure provider in the UK) replaces800 miles of track a year. Anywood sleeper track that still exist is usually replaced with concrete sleepertrack. Metal sleeper track is still very much a minoritytype and plastic is the 'new kid on the block' with mainly only experimentalstretches laid at the moment. Here is acomparison of the materials used . . . . Wood: traditional, only lasts 7 - 12/15 yearsdepending upon loading (sidings last longer than main lines!). Softwood onesare outlawed from 31st July due to the necessary use of a phenolic preservative(traditionally creosote). In the states they can use hardwood instead as asolution (self preserving?), but only because they have lots easily availableacross the nation. It would not be commercially viable to import hugequantities of it over here. My note- Traditionalwood sleeper tracks are almost replaced in India with RCC sleepers. The oldsleepers auctioned are supposed to be unfit, but many furniture are made out ofthem where load bearing is not there. Concrete: Used a lot here in the UK and much ofEurope. The modern reinforced ones last 40 - 50 years. Their problem is theirweight. It increasesthe cost of laying considerably and uses a lot more ballast than wood or steel(not sure about plastic). Materials for making them are available here in theUK. Once life expired they have virtually no scrap value, and indeed withincreasingly strict disposal rules, they may become more costly to dispose ofas time goes on. UPDATE: Jon Joneshas kindly provided the following . . . . “Concrete sleepers are recycled, into aggregate and steelscrap. Land Recovery do it for Network rail at theirsite in SOT- and shift around 4000 tonnes per week of waste ballast. Which isgenerally washed and graded into MOT type one, for Rd building.” My note- Concrete sleeper track being laid withcranes nowadays. RecentlyI found RCC defective(?) sleepers are used for making a platform ina railway station near Kuppam. I noted it in my journey from Bangalore toChennai. Steel: Has some advantages as it is relatively lightand uses 60% less ballast than concrete sleepers and 45% less thanwood sleepers. Life span is 30 - 40 years and, once life expired, areeasy to recycle and have a useful scrap value. Thetwo drawbacks are that there are some questions about their suitability forhigh speed (125mph) lines and theother is that they throw up problems with insulationboth for track circuiting and on 3rd rail electrified lines.(presumably conducting waste falling onto the track can short out the trackcircuit or the power rail and the running track.) My note- Steel sleeper track is seen in many large railwaystations now also- not electrified. Plastic sleepers: As they are sonew, it is difficult to get independent info, most of this comes from theirmanufacturers. Life expectancy 50 years (comparable with concrete). They have steel reinforcing bars in them.Theyare said to be 'virtually maintenance free'. Recycled plastic is used in theirmanufacture and, when life expired, once the steel and plastic are separated both can berecycled and provide revenue to invest in the replacement track. Oneinteresting benefit is that thesesleepers have a very good 'damping' effect reducing noise andvibration to levels significantly lower than the other types. Synthetic hardwoodstyle plastic sleeper track being laid.Turnout/point constructed using longplastic sleepers.Hope that helps explain the current situation. EDIT (1): THANK YOUto all those of you you who have been involved with this answer by upvoting andadding such interesting comments. I’m amazed at how much interest there has been in what I thought wasa fairly obscure topic. I don’t think I’ve ever had an 11% upvoterate* for an answer before !!! (* at the time of writing this comment) EDIT (2) 2ndAugust: I can only reiterate what I said above . . . the response to thisquestion has blown me away. The previous question that had a lot of commentsand upvotes was one I did about hanging in June 2019. That one has been read by317,000 people and has had 3,284 upvotes . . . . but even though the number ofreads of this answer has been much less at 71,600 reads it has had lots moreupvotes at 4,566. I like to recognise all those that have commented byupvoting their comment and giving a brief reply. . . after all if you have taken the time and trouble to contribute a commentthe very least I can do is thank you and acknowledge it. But I’m afraid I’mlosing the battle here and the comments are coming in faster than I can answerthem! So if you haven’t had an upvote and/or reply to your comment pleaseaccept my apologies and be reassured that I, and I’m sure the readers, doappreciate your contribution. My note- I am not sure whether any reinforced plastic isused /manufactured in India. Learnt readers/railway staff can respond which will add to my information.I am not sure some yellow painted sleepers are this type. One of the interesting English class in middle school comesto my remembrance. Once due to sudden flood in the river near a railway station, 30 “sleepers”were drawn in by river current. TheEnglish Newspapers reported 30 sleepers were washed away near the railwaystation. The Malayalam news paper reported, 30 persons sleeping near the railway station were washed away in the river current Q3 What should I absolutely not do whenvisiting the USA? A3 Shaunak Bhattacharjeee, Lives inKolkata, West Bengal, India (1996–present) Wed The United States of America doesn't like anyonebringing any sort of organic matter, especially in the form of fruits,vegetables, seeds etc, from abroad into the US. If you arebringing a fruit with you, nobody else would bat an eye but not the USCustoms. They won't allow you to enter the country with those things. Each airport on USsoil has specialmachinery that chops down these organic materials in fine pieces and disposesthem off carefully, ensuring they don't contaminate the soil. Ifanyone is found in possession of fruits, vegetables, seeds, small plants, thoseare confiscated. Thereason is because there is a chance there could be pests in the organic matterand that could contaminate US soil. Many years ago,someone had brought something from outside the US and had planted it in theirbackyard. It had somepests in it and that infected his backyard, which soon spread out on a massivescale. To prevent that, no organic matter is allowed. So if you are flying to the US, make sure you don't carry any of the aboveitems with you. Moreover, if you have medicine with you, make sure you carry your doctor'sprescription with you.Only medicines supported with proper prescription are allowed to becarried inside the US. If you cannot furnish a prescription for any particularmedicine, those will be confiscated by the customs as well. My note-Carrying betel leaves is banned bypassengers going to Dubai. Q4 What is the lowest railway track? A4 Nicholas Stone,Life long interest intrains. Jan 6 The lowestrailway tracks in the world are 240 metres below sea level.They are in the 54 kmSeikan Tunnel connecting the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. In August 2003, Itravelled through the Seikan Tunnel twice - once in each direction. The tunnelused to feature two passenger stations. I used one of them - Tappi-Kaiteistation - prior to their closure. We booked a passenger train from Aomori (onHonshu) bound for Hakodate (on Hokkaido), which specifically stopped at thisSeikan Tunnel station. Wewere the only two passengers to get off and we were met by a tunnel maintenanceemployee who should us around. Tappi-Kaiteistation in the 54 km Seikan Tunnel, Japan. Nicholas Stone, the author of thisanswer visited in August 2003. The station complex resembles the underground headquarters of avillain in a James Bond film. In 2013, the station closed to passengers and isnow used for emergencies. Tappi-Kaiteistation is located beneath the point were the Seikan Tunnel leaves the mainlandand borrows underneath the Tsugaru Strait. The maintenance employee escorted us in a very longunderground cable car to the surface, where we emerged on the Honshu coastlinecliffs with stunning views across the straits to Hokkaido. Nicholas Stone atTappi-Kaitei station inside the 54 km Seikan Tunnel, Japan - in August 2003,waiting for an afternoon northbound train for Hakodate, on the island Hokkaido. We returned to thetunnel station, to wait for our onward train to Hakodate. As we did,apocalyptic sirens went off. In the distance, we could hear and seethe lights of approaching freight train travelling in other direction.For several minutes there was the bizarre and intense sound of sirens, the roarof an oncoming southbound freight train, while we waited on the northboundplatform. And in a 54 km tunnel, some 15km from the portal. It was, perhaps, the most extraordinaryrailway experience of my life. Q5 How does water in the pipes avoidfreezing in below 0 weather? A5 David Thomas, Professional Engineer,Civil, Alaska Dec 15 Somecombination of: 1) being buried deeply enough as to be below theseasonal frost depth: I buried my ownwater service line 11feet down due to deep frost depths here at 60N in Alaska. The winterbefore we built our house, we had 2 weeks below -20F / -30C and 3 days of -40and a city water main 14 feet under a plowed road froze. 2) being run properly inside the house - not inexterior walls, so that heating the house keeps the pipes well above freezing. 3) by having frequent enough flow to keep warmerwater moving past a frost-prone area. People do this by letting their faucetsdrip during a cold snap if their home’s plumbing was poorly designed/installed: 4) with heat-trace cable electrically heating thepipes: 5) having insulation slow the rate of heat loss. Itwon’t avoid freezing, but will delay it perhaps allowing heat trace or periodicflow to keep up with heat losses: 6) Recirculation of the water in a loop - rarely donefor a single residence, some cities in Alaska use it to keep their city watermains from freezing. 7) Building structures to contain all utilities such asBarrow’s / Utqiaġvik’s “utilidor” system: 8) Adding heat before distributing the water.Anchorage uses cold water to recondense steam at their gas-fired power plantwhich then raises the water temperature and allows it to get to the far ends ofthe system without freezing. Or some combination of the above. My note- Very informative answer All the above QA are from Quora website on 12-01- 2023. Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers . Compiled andposted by R. Gopala krishnan on 13-01-2023. I found all QA in this posting arevery informative -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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