CULTURAL QA 01-2024-10 All the BELOW QA are from Quora digest to me on 10-01-2024.
Quora answers need not be 100%correct answers .Compiled and posted byR. Gopala krishnan, on 11-01-2024 Q1 Whyis Buddha not a Hindu even though he believes that Brahma created the universe? A1 Rami Sivan, Priest, Dharma teacher,counsellor, Gov. Advisor (1998–present) 11mo Because 2500 years ago the term HINDU did notexist. It is an administrative categorythat was coined by the British as HINDOO. The earlier colonialists - thePortuguese used the term GENTOO to describe the non-Abrahamic inhabitants ofIndia. Belief in Brahma isnot a qualification for being considered a “Hindu”. So Buddha was not a “Hindu” but he was born into afamily of “Brahmanists” or followers the Vedic religion according to hisbiographers. For example in theLalita Vistāra chapter 5 we have the following:- “Hearing this, the Bodhisattva (Buddha prior to birth)manifested himself as one versed in the Vedas and theŚastras of the Brāhmans,and endowed with the thirty-two marks which he was afterwards to bear.” And in chapter 12it gives the Buddha’s academic qualifications (NB - note his philosophicalqualification):- “The Bodhisattva was learned in revealed scripture, ancient stories,history, the Vedas, grammar, etymologies, phonetics, metrics andcomposition, rules for conducting rituals, astrology, the Sāmkhya philosophicalsystem, the Yoga philosophical system, ceremonies, the art of courtesans, theVaiśeṣika philosophical system,economics, ethics, hydraulics, knowledge of demigods, knowledge of gameanimals, knowledge of bird sounds, logic, hydromechanics, beeswax crafts,sewing, wickerwork, leaf cutting, and perfume making.” Q2 Whyis the color/pigment blue so rare in nature? I can only think of a few thingsin nature that is colored blue (besides the sky)? A2 Cassia Black, Science Nerd2y That’s a very goodquestion, one I was interested enough to research myself a while back. I must confess I am not a biologist, so I don’tknow exact specifics, but here’s a surface-level answer:Blue is a difficult color to evolve. Redand yellow pigments have been evolved hundreds of times, but blue, for somereason, is trickier. Therefore, rather that evolving blue pigment, animals andplants evolved certain cellular structures which reflect blue light. In otherwords, it’s not a pigment, more like a sort of iridescence. In fact, manyanimals developed these blue structures alongside yellow pigment, to becomegreen — all the better to blend in with green plants, which get their colorfrom chlorophyll. You cansee this in action in creatures like green snakes, which use bluestructures in their scales plus yellow pigment; whenthey die, the yellow pigment degrades first, making them look blue. For another thing,most animals with blue-reflecting structures use it either as display of somekind (like blue flowers, peacocks, blue-bellied lizards, and so on) or in combowith yellow for camouflage purposes. There aren’t a lot of reasons to be blue,because nothing else is; it makes you stick out, and thus you become a target.That’s generally a bad survival strategy; even birds are usually attacked fromabove, so blending with the sky doesn’t work. If all plants were blue, more animals would be blue dueto evolutionary pressure. The reason plants aren’t bluehas to do with the mechanics of light. Plantsphotosynthesize, which means they need to be able to efficiently absorb light.When something appears to be a certain color, what’s actually happening is thelight wavelengths of that color are bouncing off and entering your eye, whileall the other wavelengths of light are absorbed by the object. Plants absorb all the colors ofthe rainbow that they’re not. Ever heard of RGB? It stands for Red Green Blue,the color wheel of light (it’s weird and behaves differently than pigment colorwheels). That means, when aplant is green, it’s primarily absorbing the Red and Blue wavelengths.If a plant is purple or dark red, it’s primarily absorbing the Greenwavelengths. So that’s whyplants are generally green, with a few purple or red outliers. Animals oftenneed to blend with that most common of plant colors to camouflage, so for mostit would be silly to be blue. Q3 Whatis the longest distance between any two places on earth? A3 Rachna Sharma,Teacher Aug 4 The longest distance between any two places on Earth isknown as the antipodal distance. It represents thedistance between two points on opposite sides of the Earth, passing through thecenter of the planet. The antipodal distance is approximately 20,037 kilometers(12,429 miles), and it occursbetween two points that are directly opposite each other on the globe.For example, one such pairof antipodal points is a location in Argentina and a location in China, or alocation in Spain and a location in New Zealand. Keepin mind that this distance is a straight line through the Earth's interior,not taking into account the actual travel distance over the Earth's surface,which would be longer due to the curvature of the planet and the paths oftransportation. Q4 Whatis the funniest joke you've been told that you still think about to this day? A4 Steve Best, Former Retired11mo A HEART WARMIMGSTORY A man had lost an arm from an accident. He became verydepressed at this because he loved to play golf. One day in his despair, he decided to commit suicide. Hegot on an elevator and went to the top of a building to jump off. As he stood on the ledge looking down, he saw a manskipping along the sidewalk, whooping and kicking up his heels.Taking another look, he also noticed that the man belowhad no arms at all. While still on theledge, he started thinking, 'What am I doing up here feeling sorry for myself?I still have one good arm. There goes a man with no arms skipping down thesidewalk, so happy, and going on with his life.' Giving up the thought of suicide, he hurried down to thesidewalk. And when he caught up with the manwith no arms, he thanked him for saving his life. Because he lost one of hisarms, he felt useless and was going to kill himself. He now knew he could makeit with one arm if someone could go on with no arms, and be happy too. At this, the man with no arms began dancing, andwhooping, and kicking up his heels again. Curious, the manwith one arm asked, "So,tell me, why are you so happy anyway?" He said, "I'm NOT happy. My balls itch!" Heart-warmingstories like this just make one want to cry. Q5 Whydo you not eat at buffets in hotels or restaurants anymore? A5 Shaunak Bhattacharjeee, SoftwareEngineer | Traveller | Foodie Aug 26 There was a time when I had stopped going to restaurantsserving a-la-carte meals. I was a big fan of buffetrestaurants because it not only felt value for money but I could eat a lot,without any limit. I usedto skip my breakfast, dive into the appetizers, have a glance through the maincourse and relish the desserts. I could give my friends toughcompetition at these buffet places because of my appetite. I could eat a lot! However, those days are long gone.Gradually, I realised that at these buffet restaurants, I had been eating foodone after the other. I wasn't enjoying it. I wasn't appreciating any particularmeal but was on the lookout for what was next on the buffet spread. I wouldprobably eat six different types of kebabs without knowing which one was whatand would immediately look for another refill. I would decorate my plate nicelywith tarts, mousse, pastries and cheesecake and would find half of them too dryto take a second bite. Theworst was the quantity of food that I consumed. I would probably gain at least2 kilos from a single sitting. Then I realised buffet restaurants may not always be the best thing. Iam not saying that I have stopped eating at buffet restaurants completely,but dining at a nice restaurant and ordering from the menu has its own charm. Imight see an exquisite item on the menu and would love to try that. When it isserved, I enjoy it without caring for the world. I wouldn't have to hurry andfinish it up and worry about another refill to get my money's worth. My money's worth is in sittingat the table, enjoying the ambience and tasting the food that I had orderedmyself. -- 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/1226778650.279138.1704983416550%40mail.yahoo.com.
