CULTURAL QA 02-2023-01 BEING A COMPILATIONTHERE MAY BE ERRORS
Q1 Whycouldn't platinum become a popular currency in ancient times like gold andsilver? A1 Matt Riggsby, MA ArchaeologicalStudies, Boston University Fri It wasn’tavailable and even if it were it couldn’t be used as currency. Platinum was essentially unknown to the coin-usingcultures of the Old World. It was vanishingly rarehistorically, to the point where many societies hadnever even seen it. Europeans started encountering platinum in SouthAmerica during the colonial era, and to this day the vast majority of theworld’s platinum comes from that continent. And when they did encounter it, they couldn’t do anythingwith it. It was nicely shiny (platinum means “little silver,” so called by theSpanish for its resemblance to silver), but they couldn’tmake anything with it. Silver melts at1763F, which wasn’t a difficult temperature to reach. Iron melts at around2800F, a temperature which waterwheel-driven blast furnaces were just gettingpowerful enough to develop when the Spanish ran into it. But platinum melts at3215F, far beyond the technology of even early modern furnaces to generate. From the point of view of anyonein antiquity, it would have been impossible to use for currency. One of the important requirements of a metal for use in coinage is theability to melt it down and re-coin it, dividing and recombining it asnecessary. Rather, it would have remained as hard lumps rather thanusefully melting. The colonial Spanish discarded it as a waste product. Q2 Whydo some people travel in 1A (first class) train instead of taking a flight,which has almost same or slightly more fare? A2 Sagar Gandhi, Software ConsultingEngineer @ Cisco 2021 at Cisco (company) (2021–present)22h People might chooseto travel in first class on trains instead of taking a flight for severalreasons, including: Convenience: Train travel may be more convenientfor some people, as it allows them to avoid the hassle of airport security,baggage checks, and delayed flights. Comfort: First-class train travel can offer morecomfortable seating, more legroom, and better views compared to flights. Scenic Routes: Train travel can offer scenic routes,which are not possible in flights. This could be an advantage for people whoenjoy scenic views and scenic travel. Cost: While airfares may be similar or slightly moreexpensive, the cost of travel on a train may be lower when factoring in additional expenses like airport parking, groundtransportation, and food. Preference: Some people may simply prefer theexperience of train travel over air travel, as it can be more relaxed, lessrushed, and less stressful. Ultimately, thechoice between first-class train travel and air travel comes down to personal preference,budget, and travel needs. My note- Still many have fear complex in travel by air.However for emergency whatever the cost, if flight is available, many preferit. Q3 Whathappens to an extremely obese person when they die? I.e how are theytransported to the morgue. I know they can't be cremated because of the risk ofa fire happening from all the fat, so do they have to get a special casketmade? A3 Susanna Viljanen, Works at AaltoUniversity Sat In Finland, theweight limit for cremation is 130 kg. Most of Finnish crematoriumsare old, and have been built in the era when people in generally were shorterand smaller than today. The coffins simply do not fit in the old retorts. This leaves the inhumation as the only option, since cremation on a funeral pyre isillegal, and the sky burial is also illegal. My very long timehistory re-enactment friend lost his wife some years ago. She was morbidly obese due tohormonal issues, and weighed 230 kg when she passed away. She was buried in a double-width grave, and her casket was lowered in thegrave by using a small mobile crane as it was too heavy for the pallbearers.The good thing is that the parish will allow him to be buried in the same gravewithout extra cost once it is his time to leave his earthly shell. The fat fire is areal risk. Fat contains extremely lot of energy - 37MJ/kg (aviation fuel Jet-A contains 43.5 MJ/kg) - and yes, crematories have burned down because of the fat fires from obese deceased. My note- Probablynever thought before the QA is veryinformative and new to me Q4 Isit safe to touch an electric socket if the power is off? A4 Gopala Krishnan, Former AssistantGeneral Manager 1996-2004 at Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now Present day powersockets are controlled with switch. If the socket is three point, there can be rarepossibility of leakage current on earth lead. But present day switches have metal parts at least 3 mm below thesurface. Sounless the metal part is tampered and came up, there is no possibility of shock Q5 Whydo most Indian doctors have a bad temper in OPD? A5 Rumi, Doctor, Jan 23 I joined agovernment hospital in Mar'22-, after a gap of 10 years of working in privatehospitals. The last I was working in a corporate hospital in Delhi. In private hospitals, even though not less, but we haveto see manageable number of patients in OPD. Whicheverpatient wants or required, can get easily admitted. We have a nurse to help usout, proper examination room, clean sanitized instruments, gloves. There will a reception guy whomanages patients. On an average, there will be 30 patients per OPD,max 50 on few days. When I had first joined in govt hosp, first month I wastrying my best to be calm & composed…..but then… I was the 1st oneto reach OPD. First 15–20 mins, it takes me to enter the files in register. Thesecurity guard standing in front of OPD, will vanish the moment I'll enterinside, to have his morning tea & cigarette. The reception girl will enterby 10.45am. The nurse will come come at 10.30am, but go for changing dress,then at 11am for snacks, then at 12pm for tea, then at 1.30pm for lunch, 4pmagain for tea…….. There was no proper examination room.We had to pull a curtain in that crowdy OPD to examine patients, which is veryuncomfortable especially while examining private parts. Gloves, lignocainejelly, syringe, emergency injections……..we have to run in between examinations. We ask for an X-ray, date will be given after 1week…..patient comes to us to shout. Patients coming on follow up telling withprevious medicines pain wasn't relieved, but they don't have any prescriptionto show……. Oh… I forgot to tell…..there will be on an average 100 patients per OPD. Many patients wantadmission either because of poor health or their home is too far & theycan't stay in hotels. Butwe don't have enough beds to admit even the needy ones. In a month, I hadtransformed from a calm, soft spoken doctor to a strict one…….. Some patients need genuinescoldings to follow the medical advice. Actually not patients, theirrelatives……..they keep the patients in very unhygienic conditions, don't do thetests, don't give the medicines on time……. If you see in OPD, the doctor won't shout on allpatients. Why unnecessarily we'll waste our energy??? Also, ambienceplays a big role in mental peace of both patients & doctors. In government hospitals, there won't be proper chairs,wheel chairs, stretchers for patients. So, their relatives will be irritatedwhich often leads to heated arguments with doctors. This is how a govthospital ward looks like……how can you expect the patients to be calm &composed here. This is how aprivate hosp ward looks….. less patient doctor ratio is good for both. Evendoctors can also give full attention to each & every patient & no needto shout on anyone……. My note- Doctor tells some hard truths of North Indianhospitals. South India is not much different, if onewatches News items regarding government hospitals. In ZEE Malayalamthere is a serial “MizhiRandilum” where a staff nurse takes responsibility of a young girlbeaten at head and unconscious and brought to hospital having no body asrelatives or friends. Shetells the doctors, the operation charges can be cut from her salary, and thegirl survives. Very good to watch but such things canhappen only in story serials…!!! Q6 Whatis something electrical engineers know that others don't? A6 Shashank Sharma, Engineer in themaking. Updated 4y 1. Did you evernotice gravel beneath and around large transformers (like in the pic)?jelly/granite pieces. One ofthe reasons for this practice is actually "snakes". Yes, you read itright. Largetransformers produce substantial vibrations due to magnetostriction which gettransmitted to ground. Due to this effect the transformers placed on solid groundattract snakes. To preventthis, transformers are surrounded by gravel which prevents snakes from comingnear it. 2. A common ceiling fan (not the BLDC ones) can actuallyrotate in either direction. It is the capacitorthat makes it run in a specific direction (clockwise or anticlockwise). If youjust remove the capacitor and complete the remaining circuit you can make itrun in either direction by giving it a gentle push. 3. You canestimate the transmission voltage in overhead lines by merely counting thenumber of insulator disks used to support the wires. Eachof such disks can withstand 11 kV of voltage. So in caseyou see 3 disks then you can safely deduce that the transmission voltage can bearound 33 kV. My note-Details of the discs is a new information to me. 4. If you look attransmission line you might find small devices like the one in the image below. They arecalled Stockbridge Dampers. They are usually present asa pair on either side of a pole/suspension point. They are used to dampen out vibrations produced intransmission lines. 5. Zebra, Dog, Peacock, Moose, Dog, Hen are alsonames for transmission line conductors. They differ from each other in terms ofsize, number of strands, material used, etc. 6. About 70% of the electricity produced in the world isactually consumed by Induction Motors. Their ruggedness,easy speed control, nil maintenance requirement makes them the mostcommonly-used motor. 7. Hydro Power Plants are actually a necessity in today's electrical grid network. In theirabsence, the electrical grid will become highly susceptibleto load variations and collapse on occurrence of a moderate load variation onthe consumer end. It isbecause these hydro turbines increase the inertia of the power system whichprotects it from sudden jerks due to load variations. EDIT 1 : 8. Magnetic field strength developed inside a transformercore ranges from 1.5 to 1.6 tesla. It is very large incomparison to the magnetic field strength of Earth or the Sun. Earth'smagnetic field is of the order of a microtesla. Whereas the Sun's magneticfield ranges from 0.1 to 100 milliteslas. 9. You must haveseen that overhead transmission lines are laid with a sag in them. Thesag is not introduced instinctively. It is mathematically calculated todetermine the height of the middle point of the conductor from the groundkeeping in mind the effect of wind, temperature, frost, and other types ofcondensation. EDIT 2 : 10. Electromagnetic isolation for a device can beachieved by placing it in a metallic enclosure.Same principle works in a Faraday's Cage to protect a person from highvoltages. Sometimesline maintenance workers have to work on active transmission line toprevent loss of power. Theworkers are directed to wear Faraday's Suit then to prevent electrocution frominduced currents in their tissues due to high strength electrical and magneticfields. Thesuit is in effect a wearable Faraday cage, which equalizes the potential overthe body, and ensures there is no through-tissue current. The strong electricfield surrounding charged equipment is enough to drive a current ofapproximately 15 μA for each kV·m−1 through a human body. To prevent this,hot-hand workers are usually required to wear a Faraday suit. -WIKIPEDIA : Live-line working - Wikipedia EDIT 3: 11. The shaft of a 2pole 3 phase synchronous generator, in power stations, operating at 60 Hz canspin at 3600 rev/min. The blades of yourhumble kitchen juicer & grinder rotate at a whopping 20,000 rev/min. Theyutilize either a DC or a Universal motor. So it goes without saying that youmust keep your fingers out of them. As an interestingcomparison, the cricketing legend Shane Warne is able to spin the cricket ballat around 5000 rev/min. I bet he can make one hell of an orange juice. PS: Reducing StepPotential and Touch Potential are the main reasons for using gravel beneathtransformers. The use of gravel grants us many other benefits too. Deterringsnakes is ONE OF THEM. REFERENCES :WIKIPEDIA My note- A veryvery informative QA for persons like me. Many things- why soareanswered in the QA. Snake information is quite new to me. Q7 Whatare the best habits in night? A7 Rohit Pawan Kumar, Jan 4 Always brushingyour teeth. Drink a warm glassof water 5–10 minutes before sleeping. You could even keep a water bottle nearyou. Switching off yourphone/ laptops/ any digital devices 1 hour before sleeping. Wishing good nightto your family. Pack your thingsand bag, for the next day. It really helps me be relaxed instead of rushing forthings at the last minute. Taking out, yourclothes for the next day. So that you ensure they are clean, ironed and yah itseasier to choose when you are not in a hurry. Reading 1–2 chapterof a book. Making a to-do list. Follow a night timeskin regime. Also people having long hair should tie it before sleeping. Reflection, quietand meditation. Q8 Whichis the most underrated thing in Tamil Nadu? A8 Kaarmukilan S.P.Badminton | Cricket |Football | TennisUpdated 2y Tamil Nadu is oneof the states in India where it is viewed as a benchmark in many sectors likeMedicine, Education, Religious harmony, Transport, Employment, Industries, ITSector, etc. Among these, Road Transport in Tamil Nadu isthe most underrated sector. People of TamilNadu take the transport system for granted. If we look at the North and North East Indiathere are no guidelines for transport and it is mostly privately owned. Thereare no fixed guidelines and theycharge more for tourists and outsiders. I myselfexperienced this in Guwahati. I live in a place called Bongora, a small villageabout 5 km from the airport. It’s a typical village and you won’t find manyfacilities there. So Ihave to take a Magic taxi (Similar like share taxi) to go to VIP Chowk (entrypoint to the airport) for the purchase of goods, print outs, etc. They usuallycharge Rs.7 for locals and Rs.10 from me. I came to know thisthrough my local friend. From then I used to give Rs.7. Let’s look at thebig picture of Road transport in Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu has an extensive road network. Thestate road network covers about 153 km per 100 sq.km area, which is higher thanthe country's average road network coverage of 103 km per 100 sq.km area. Aseparate Highways Department (HD) was established in April 1946 and the samehas been renamed as Highways and Minor Ports Department (HMPD) on 30 October2008. HMPD of Tamil Nadu is primarily responsible for construction andmaintenance of roads including national highways, state highways and majordistrict roads in Tamil Nadu. It operates through 7 wings namely NationalHighways Wing, Construction & Maintenance Wing, NABARD and Rural RoadsWing, Projects Wing, Metro Wing, Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project Wing,Investigation and Designs Wing geographically spread across the state in 31districts with about 120 divisions and 450 subdivisions. TAMIL NADU ROADNETWORK MAP National Highways /Expressways - 4,873 km State Highways -9,384 km Major DistrictRoads - 11,288 km Other DistrictRoads/Sugarcane Roads - 36,096 km Panchayat Roads -1,37,399 km So, in total,approximately 2 lakh kilometer roads are in use in Tamil Nadu. Some important roadprojects in Tamil Nadu include IT Expressway, East Coast Road CoimbatoreBypass, Ennore - Manali Road Improvement Project, Chennai Port - MaduravoyalProject, Outer Ring Road Project, Chennai Peripheral Ring Road. Here is a short info on TNSTC TNSTC is a publictransport bus operator in Tamil Nadu. It operates within and outside Tamil Nadu It has a fleet of 22,203 buses as of 2016.But it increased in recent years. It is fully ownedby the Government of Tamil Nadu. It employeesapproximately 1.5 Lakh people. It has8 divisions and 321 depots. There are fixedguidelines on the ticket fares and there is a dedicated portal for booking thetickets. There is a separateministry in the state government known as the “Transport Ministry”. TNSTC is thelargest government bus transport corporation in India also the biggestcorporation in the world after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh State RoadTransport Corporation (APSRTC). Types of busesinclude Town Buses (InterCity Buses), Moffussil Buses (Intertown Buses), UltraDeluxe Buses (Important commercial centers to major cities), Deluxe Buses(Operated between major Cities). TNSTC owns amedical college and an engineering college with a 50% reservation for the employeesof TNSTC Corporation. Instituteof Road and Transport Technology (IRTT) in Chitode, Erode and IRT PerunduraiMedical College in Perundurai, Erode. They introduced Amma Kudineer, a water bottlepriced at Rs.10/- per liter for the passengers traveling on the buses. Though thestate-run transport is not in good shape of late the kind of service itprovides cannot be neglected in the development of the state. It highly helpsthe people in moving to places so that they can do business. Almost all the villagesare connected by road and most importantly buses are being in service to thosevillages so that people and farmers over there can sell their stuff in thetowns and cities directly. Tamil Nadu is theforefront in many sectors for other states in India. But among these our RoadTransport is one of the most underrated sector in India. I personallysuggest this model of Road Transport should be implemented in other Indianstates especially in North and North East India where the commutation of peopleis so less.Courtesy Wikipedia My note- I do not know of other cities, inChennai ladies are given free tickets inGovernment transport buses painted rose in front and back for easy recognition. Even Bangalore hasnot done such a thing. The lowest transport charge is in Tamilnadu. Q9 Doany animals have no red blood cells in their body? If so, what are they andwhere do they live? A9 Ken Saladin, Former professor ofhistology (microscopic anatomy)22h Most animals, innumber of species and population sizes, are invertebrates. Two groups thatfigure highly in this are roundworms(nematodes) with no blood at all, and insects, with “blood” (hemolymph”) but noblood cells. Q10 Whatare the most disturbing facts about Ancient Egypt that most people do not know? A10 Korede Wise Akinleye, Studied ComputerScience Updated 3y You probably don’tknow about this read on!! 1 In Ancient Egypt, both men and women woremakeup. They believed that makeup had healing powers 2. Ancient Egyptian Children didn't wear clothesuntil they were teenagers 3. Egyptians believed that the Earth was flat,circular, and that the Nile flowed right through the middle. 4. During mummification, the brain was pulled outthrough the nostrils. 5.The only organ left in the body aftermummification was the heart because it was believed to contain the soul. 6. Many ancient tombs were found to containtoilets. 7.The world's oldest dress was found in Egypt and isestimated to be 5,000 years old. 8.Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of Egypt was actuallyGreek 9.The Ancient Egyptians shaved their eyebrows off tomourn the deaths of their cats 10. Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made ofstone (only for the decease) All the above QA are from Quora website on 31-02-2023 Quora answers need not be100% correct answers . Compiled and posted by R. Gopala Krishnan, 79years, on 01-02-2023 -- 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/1090920834.1432645.1675208015485%40mail.yahoo.com.
