---------- Forwarded message --------- From: 'N Sekar' via iyer123 <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Jan 1, 2024, 8:42 PM Subject: [iyer123] Re: [KeralaIyers] CULTURAL QA 01-2024-01 To: <[email protected]>, Iyer <[email protected]>, Gopa4411 <[email protected]>
Thanks. Re Q 2: Our new year is different in different states and the Gregorian calendar is the one common calendar we all follow as a country. But our new year: For people in T N, it starts on Chithirai 1 which falls on 14 April. In order to further divide the Hindus Karunanidhi changed it to January 14 or 15 (because he said Chitirai is the invention or imposition of the Brahmins) the start of the Tamizh month Thai, but Jayalalitha reversed it. Even today the DMK Govt is clandestinely trying to avoid saying April 14 as the Tamizh new year day mainly because Annamalai will make it a big issue but all attempts are being made to fall in line with Western (Christian) policies and practices. For Kerala, the new year is Vishu and for the Kannadigas and Telugus it is Ugadi and so on and so forth. Problem is, as a u tube speaker pointed out, Keralites wish Happy Vishu and not Happy Malayalam Vishu; likewise Telugus say Happy Ugadi and not Happy Telugu Ugadi. But come to the Tamizhians - we wish Happy TAMIZH New Year on April 14 but say Happy New Year on Jan 1st. After hearing him, I also changed and hence wished you all " Happy English New Year" yesterday. We must learn to take pride in our culture and traditions. Somehow we as a Nation, particularly the supposedly educated English speaking crowd knowtow to anything English and Western and decry our own customs and practices. Yes, let Knowledge and Noble Thoughts come to us from all sides (including the West), as the Rig Veda says but let us not discard our own values and principles in the process. Some in my own circles pass snide comments when I wish Happy English New Year. While we can learn their language and follow other good Western Concepts like Punctuality Dignity of Labour Civic sense ( don't spit or urinate at public places, don't talk loudly at public places etc.) etc. we need not abandon our own core values. As Satguru put it so beautifully - some of us still live in G M T and not in I S T. One example of this is how a few write to my personal mail Id but would not dare cc the group. They have stopped writing to my personal mail address also after I told them that if they feel that it is beneath their dignity to be seen writing to me because of my pro Hindu posts, they better stop writing to me. I want even appreciation to come from men of steel and not of straw, the sicular brigade. They lack the spine to be seen to be openly supporting me as it will spoil their carefully cultivated secular image. N Sekar Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android <https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&af_sub1=Acquisition&af_sub2=Global_YMktg&af_sub3=&af_sub4=100000604&af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_> On Mon, Jan 1, 2024 at 7:52 PM, 'gopala krishnan' via KeralaIyers <[email protected]> wrote: *CULTURAL QA 01-2024-01* *All the BELOW QA are from Quora digest to me on 01-01-2024.* *Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers * *.Compiled* *and posted by R. Gopala krishnan, on 01-01-2024* *Q1 What are some interesting facts about physics?* *A1 Deepaktopzone, Dec 4* *#1 The myth of an apple falling on Newton is wrong.* *We’ve all heard the story of an apple falling on Isaac Newton's head, but few know it was a myth. In reality, Newton drew inspiration from apples, not because one hit his head, but because they fell straight down and not sideways. This observation helped him develop the theory of universal gravity.* *#2The higher you are (building-wise), the faster time will go.* *Time is a hard concept to understand when you look at it through the lens of physics. A couple of seconds while standing on the ground will go slower than for someone who sits on a high building, like the Empire State building. It is best explained by Einstein and his famous theory of relativity.* *#3 The screens of smartphones work thanks to the electric charges leaving our fingers.* *Touch phones work thanks to the physics behind the human body itself. When we touch the screens with our fingers, we let out a small number of electric charges that register with the mechanics and allow us to interact. For this reason, things like rubber, fingernails, and others don’t register* *#4 It’s nearly impossible to sink in the Dead Sea.* *The Dead Sea is popular for the number of tourists that visit it, but also for having a large amount of salt in it. Salt is not only good for food, but also a good way of making the water much denser. There is so much of it in that sea that people who swim there have little to no chance of drowning. Of course, it is still important to keep things safe.* *#5 Wind casts an invisible shadow.* *Shadows are not always cast by objects, and winds can do it too. The only problem? We can’t see them with the naked eye. Wind, a movement of a gas that varies from a small gust to full-on thunderstorms, can cast a small shadow only visible with the help of machines and physics.* *#6 Light gets much slower in water.* *Water is not only a refresher at the end of the day, but also a great stopper for the wavelengths of light. Light travels through air at a very high speed, and that is thanks to its small density. Water, however, is thicker. Since every molecule has surface tension, light gets distorted due to the amount of energy needed to pass through.* *My note- Refraction studied and performed experiment about refractive index of materials in Physics class* *#7 Galileo Galilei proved his theory of free fall with the help of the leaning tower of Pisa.* *While Galileo Galilei might have created the theory of free fall, he had to prove it by experimenting. He did it by throwing two cannonballs of the same material, but different masses, from the leaning tower of Pisa. His theory would be further supported by missions to the moon.* *#8 The universe is growing every second.* *The universe is already a vast space full of planets, stars, and other celestial bodies. But it is still not big enough. The universe is growing at a high rate every second, expanding in every direction, getting colder and faster at the same time. This expansion has been going on for billions of years.* *#9 Water can boil and freeze at the same time.* *At the same temperature, water can either boil or freeze. A triple point is a point where the temperature, pressure, and pressure value all coincide. The fact that all three states—liquid, ice, and water vapor—are present at this time allows water to boil and freeze at the same temperature.* *Q2 Is it strange that I don't think of January 1st as the start of my new year?* *A2 Gopalkrishna Vishwanath, I am not the partying type 4h* *No. It is not strange.* *Many Indians do not feel that January 1st should be celebrated as the New Year festival at least in India.* *A comment was posted in Hindi by Sobhachand Dugar in one of my answers yesterday. This a condensed translation of what was mentioned in that comment.* *Why do we observe Jan 1st as the beginning of the new year? We Indians should think this over.* *The season did not change.* *In school or college, the class did not change and neither did the term.* *The harvest did not change and neither did the crop.* *Neither did the colors of the trees and plants change.* *Neither did the direction of the sun and stars change.* *Let us consider a comparison of the New year per the Gregorian Calendar and the traditional Indian New year day.* * Nature:* *There is no difference between December and January in the Gregorian Calendar while in the Indian new year, flowers bloom, new leaves appear on trees. There is greenery all around.* *Clothes:* *We wear the same warm clothing in December and January* *But when the Indian new year begins, there is a change in clothing due to change in weather.* *New terms in school.* *There is nothing new in the Gregorian Calendar, while in the Indian new year the academic session closes and results of exams are declared.* *New Financial year:* *Our account books don’t close in December-January* *New accounting is opened during the Indian new year.* * Farmers:* *There is no difference between December and January for farmers in the Gregorian Calendar.* *But on Indian New year season the crop is harvested and there is a celebration on this occasion.* *For these reasons we need not celebrate January 1 as a New year festival in India.* *My note- Generally January is told as the English new year. We follow English 99% in computer, office files, and common language medium in India. All regional calendars and diaries also printed from January. So we may consider English New year with equal importance to regional new year avoiding* *Meaning less things like lighting lamp at midnight in pooja roometc.* *Q3 If an elephant’s brain is bigger than ours, why are they not smarter?* *A3 Gary Meaney, author of Zoology's Greatest Mystery (2022)Nov 2* *This is a good question, because the answer teaches us a lot about the nature of intelligence itself* *The average human brain weighs about a kilogram and a half, which is remarkably small really**. The sum of all consciousness is housed within that little scoop of nervous tissue. On the other hand, within the cranium of an African bush elephant sits a brain well over twice the size of ours.* *It’s clear that there’s more to intelligence than just brain size. The baleen whales of the oceans have brains weighing 7 kilograms, well over quadruple the mass of ours. However, their behaviour is much less complex and sophisticated than that of humans, or indeed of elephants. Baleen whales aren’t stupid - their songs are a rich and advanced form of communication, and they’ve been known to display altruism - but their intelligence definitely isn’t proportional to their massive brain size.* *This is of course because their brains are tiny relative to their bodies**. A blue whale’s brain makes up as little as 0.005% of its total body mass! Our brains, by comparison, are about 2.5% of our bodyweight. So is brain-to-body mass ratio the true decider of intellect? It’s certainly a better metric to compare between animals, but still one which is deeply flawed.* *It turns out that, all else being equal, brain mass does not scale linearly with body mass. After all, there is a minimum number of neurons an animal needs to function, a concept known as the “grey floor”. Smaller animals tend to have much higher brain-to-body mass ratios, without necessarily seeming any more intelligent. A humble shrew, for example, has a brain which constitutes one tenth of the size of its body! If the metric were reliable, the shrew would be taming us!* *While we’re on the topic, I should mention that the species with the lowest brain-to-body mass ratio of all vertebrates on this Earth is the magnificently named bony-eared assfish. Brains consume huge amounts of precious energy, so in the incredibly barren environment of the deep sea, the bony-eared assfish has done away with most of its grey matter.* *For a fish with such an unflattering name, it is hauntingly beautiful!* *Anyway, it’s clear that raw brain-to-body mass ratio is far from a perfect measure of intelligence; it is too harsh on big animals, and too kind to small animals. Scientists have studied the relative brain sizes of mammals, and come up with a formula that adjusts for this problem. Applying this formula gives a new, more refined metric: encephalisation quotient, or EQ for short.* *In other words, EQ is the ratio of actual brain size to predicted brain size. When we compare different animals’ EQ values, the results line up a lot more with what we would expect, intelligence-wise. * *Humans have the highest score of any animal, at about 7.6.* *The tucuxi, a very interesting type of freshwater dolphin from the rivers of South America, takes second place**. It measures only 1.5 metres in length, and has a bright pink underbelly!* *anta rays have one of the highest EQs among fish, octopuses triumph among invertebrates, and corvids outperform their feathered friends. These results are all exactly what we would predict based on behavioural signs of intelligence. So, is encephalisation quotient really the answer? Probably not. Once again, this method seems to fall short of being perfect.* *On average, birds have much lower EQs than mammals, but there is ample evidence to suggest that birds are incredibly smart**. In fact, all the dinosaurs, not just birds, have surprisingly low encephalisation values. If estimated EQ is to be believed, Tyrannosaurus rex was less intelligent than a slug. Believe it or not, the sauropod dinosaurs have the lowest score of any animal in history ever measured, at as low as 0.01!* *There are several likely reasons for this. The formula for encephalisation quotient was based only on data from mammalian species, so in general it probably shouldn’t be used to compare mammals to non-mammals. Bird/dinosaur cells are much smaller than mammalian cells. For its size, a typical avian brain has twice as many neurons as a standard mammal brain!* *Raw brain size, brain-to-body mass ratio, EQ… all these metrics share a fundamental problem: they’re all based on overall brain mass in some way, and there’s a lot of stuff inside brains that has nothing to do with intelligence. For example, a large portion of whales’ and dolphins’ brain mass is just insulating blubber! There are all kinds of factors like this that really muddy the waters. Perhaps it’s better to just focus on the part of the brain that actually does the thinking.* *The cerebral cortex is thought to be the seat of intelligence in mammals**. This grooved and convoluted outer layer of tissue is responsible for processing our senses, finely controlling our movement, abstract thought, and much more. Non-mammal animals don’t have a cerebral cortex per se, but they always have an equivalent brain region - for example, birds have their dorsoventricular ridge, or DVR.* *So far, the single best predictor of intelligence we have found is the number of cortical neurons; that is, the total number of nerve cells within the cerebral cortex (or equivalent area). Humans have at least 16 billion, which is exceptional! Elephants, despite having a brain twice as large, have about a third as many cortical neurons. However, the real world champion is the orca, believe it or not, with an absolutely astonishing 43 billion cortical neurons!* *In fact, by this measure, humans sit at humble fifth place**. There are four species of dolphins with more cortical neurons, the most of all belonging to the orca. Some might be quick to discredit this method as soon as they hear that it doesn’t put humans on top, and I would encourage those people to keep an open mind. If we’re so, so sure that orcas are less smart than us, perhaps we’re looking at intelligence in the wrong way.* *But that’s a more philosophical discussion for another answer. Anyway, for centuries, humans have been trying to put a number on intelligence, to find some way to quantify it**. None of the metrics we’ve come up with are perfect, but for now, the best we have is the number of cortical neurons. It doubtless has its discrepancies, but overall it seems to be an extremely useful way of comparing animal acumen.* *So, going back to your question, if an elephant’s brain is bigger than ours, why isn’t it smarter? Because the size of a brain, as we’ve seen, has little to do with intelligence. Apologies if this answer was long-winded, though I think we visited some interesting places on our journey through animal minds! Thank you everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and have a great day.* *Q4 Why was the old calendar changed?* *A4 Steve Baker, Senior Software Engineer (2013–present)Sun* *The problem is that the Earth orbits the Sun in 365.2422 days (an “astronomical year”).* *The older calendars used 365 days per year - with a leap day every four years.* *So that’s: 365 + 1/4 = 365.25 days* *But that 365.25 is a little too long - it should be 365.2422.* *Without some kind of a fix - the calendar was slowly slipping away from reality**. The solstices and equinoxes were drifting slowly - but measurably.* *Although the error wouldn’t bother most people - it bothered the Catholic Church A LOT - because they’d gone to a LOT of trouble to formally establish the date of Easter.* *Easter is defined as: The first Sunday after the full Moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox. If the full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday.* *But if you have the date of the equinox wrong - by even just one day - then you could have Easter an entire week away from when it should be…and that would evidently displease God and “Very Bad Things” would happen.* *So it was decided to skip the leap day every 100 years.So - for example - the year 1900 - despite being a multiple of 4 years was NOT a leap year.* *That gave a year to be 365 + 1/4 - 1/100 = 365.24 days - which is pretty close.* *But the next rule is that a century year that’s an exact multiple of 400 years IS a leap year - which is why the year 2000 was a leap year - despite being a multiple of 100 years.* *So now we have:* *356 + 1/4 - 1/100 + 1/400 = 365.2425* *So we’re still not 100% perfect - but the error of a single day every few thousand years is actually OK* *because the length of our orbit does change a tiny bit each year depending on the location of Jupiter - so going for more accuracy than that is over-kill.* *Q5 What is the craziest domesticated animal to ever exist?* *A5 Gary Meaney, author of Zoology's Greatest Mystery (2022)4y* *In my opinion, that honour goes to the domestic pigeon**. In the 10,000 years since their domestication, the birds have been selectively bred into countless bizarre forms, collectively known as “fancy pigeons”.* *Ever wondered if there was a pigeon with the** erectile fan-shaped tail of a turkey? Probably not, but check.* *What about a pigeon with a huge puffy crop? Check.* *Pigeons with curly feathers on their wings? Check.* *Pigeons with huge feathers on their feet and powdery down? Check.* *Pigeons with fleshy, flower-like wattles all over their faces? Check.* *Pigeons with that, plus scrawny giraffe necks? Check.* *Flightless pigeons that look and act like chickens? Check.* *Pigeons with enormous ruffs like parka hoods? Check.* *Pigeons with virtually non-existent beaks? Check.* *Bug-eyed pigeons? You guessed it, check.* *In a way, it saddens me that we’ve practically engineered these natural creatures to suit our strange desires. At least they’re not unhealthy,** though - unlike so many poor dogs, especially purebreds.* -- On Facebook, please join https://www.facebook.com/groups/keralaiyerstrust We are now on Telegram Mobile App also, please join Pattars/Kerala Iyers Discussions: https://t.me/PattarsGroup Kerala Iyers Trust Decisions only posts : https://t.me/KeralaIyersTrust Kerala Iyers Trust Group for Discussions: https://t.me/KeralaIyersTrustGroup --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "KeralaIyers" 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/keralaiyers/1730095884.3333233.1704118911639%40mail.yahoo.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/keralaiyers/1730095884.3333233.1704118911639%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> . -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "iyer123" group. 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