CULTURAL QA06-2021-06 Being a compilation there may be errors
Q1 What are the things CivilEngineers know while others don't? A1 Prathyaksh Shetty UpdatedOctober 3, 2016 MTech from IIT Madras 1. Concrete is the second mostconsumed material on the planet by humans. On an average, three metric tonnes per person is produced annually.(btw, first is water) 2. Concrete is an erraticmaterial. Most of the time, we don't know why it behaves the way it does. But, you don't know that we don't know, so we pretend toknow. (Sorry for bursting the bubble my civil engineering comrades. :p) 3. Soil is fine. Water is fine. Soil+Water is...well, f***! 4. Steel loses most of itsstrength during fire even with a temperature well below its melting point. Thisis one of the main reasons why the World Trade Centercollapsed on 9/11. The 9/11 conspiracy theorists ignore this simple fact andjust babble about the jet fuel fire not being hot enough to have melted thesteel and ignorantly deduce that the collapse was a result of controlleddemolition. 5. The lines you see onconcrete roads are actually cracks created along a straight line by us purposefully so that the concrete doesn't crack onits own elsewhere and look shabby. 6. There are moments atintersections when all the signals are red. This usually lasts for 2 secondsafter every green cycle to facilitate clearing ofvehicles from the junction. In other words, during this all-red phase, you canactually jump the red light without risking a collision, provided, of course,you are the only one doing it. (Disclaimers: 1. Please do not experiment this, it's very dangerous, notto mention an offence; 2. This all-red phase may not be functional at allsignals) 7. While negotiating a curve oran intersection in your car, there is only a short length of roadway that is visually accessible to you. However, we havedesigned that length so that it's adequate to avoid a collision based on yourbody's reaction time. However,this distance is not sufficient if you are listening to music because itincreases your reaction time, meaning you are more likely to crash intothat oncoming vehicle or a tree if you are enjoying your favorite music. HappyJourney! 8. Indians not following lane-discipline is actuallya good thing. It increases the capacity of the road because of more efficientmovement of mixed traffic and hence causes less traffic jams than if they weredisciplined.** 9. Flyovers don't solve congestion, they onlyrelocate it to somewhere downstream. 10. High speeds don't cause accidents, differentspeeds do. To illustrate, a highway with only cars, all moving at 160+ speeds isless prone to accidents as compared to the one with cars, trucks and othervehicles with variable speeds even if the speed does not exceed 100. 11. We would be able to save a lot of tax payersmoney in the construction and maintenance of public sewer systems if people took shit at differenttimes during the day instead of everyone doing it in the morning. Thesewer pipes are currently designed for three times the average flow of sewageto accommodate just that few peak hours of the morning rendering the systemredundant at other times. 12. We can literally treat the sewage to an extentthat it becomes as good as a bottled mineral water. 13. And finally, any building can collapse. Anytime. We don't design buildings to not collapse. We just make them less probable. The ceiling that you stareat while laying on bed, may come crumbling down while you are asleep. GoodNight! ----------------------------------------------------------- **Edit 1: Some people arefinding it hard to appreciate point no. 8 about undisciplined lane manners being a good thing. I respect your opinion.I feel it's a wishful thinking though. We expect something to be true justbecause it's nice. But physical laws do not share our prejudice. It is what itis. Having said that let me elaborate on that point. I am not implying that breakingtraffic laws is good. I'm justtalking about this specific case applicable to countries like India, Thailand,Malaysia etc., i.e. maintaining a lane discipline will cause more trafficdelays. If India, however, had only cars on its roads like in the US, followinglanes systematically would have been beneficial. But, India has a mixed trafficwith enormous volume of two-wheelers. The two-wheelers currently squeeze intothe space between the cars and clear the intersection quickly at green signal.This results is passing of more vehicles per hour i.e. the capacity of a roadincreases and hence the delay decreases. I am not condoning the act. I agreethat we need to incorporate substantial traffic measures that would makepeople's lives better. Thanks. Edit 2:I've grossly exaggerated point 13. Q2 Should I quit my job? Ihave 2 years of employment agreement with my current employer but I'm notfeeling motivated to work there. I'm passionate about programming but I don'tlike those meaningless meetings & sudden changes to the project. A2 Bhuvana Rameshwar marriedfor three decades Thu I gave this advice to my youngerbrother and my son as they both are married with a wife and daughter each. Do not leave a job before youget the next one. Only if sure of the next job think of leaving the current one.Carry on calmly until then. As soon you are sure of the next job, its requirements, your passion inthis field then give a two /three months notice asusually asked by companies and resign with a good pleasant reason. Do notantagonize the previous company when moving to the next. I hear during covid times itis difficult to get a job but easier to be benched or taken out. So be careful. And one more thing do not tell even your shadow you are planning to quithere and take a new job. Chairs,tables and walls, all have ears so keep the quitting and transition a secret.It works for both ways.. that is if you quit or if you change your mind andcontinue here itself. Q3 How was Lord Shiva'sbirth? Who were his parents? A3 Mahesh K Reader at MITVedic Sciences (2020–present)3m ago the supreme triad, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva have origins from Rig Veda..Swayambhu (primal seed of creation or Cosmic Self) became Brahma, Hiranyagarbha(primeval womb or Cosmic Potentiality) became Vishnu and Aum (primordial soundor Cosmic Reality) became Rudra Shiva.. Q4 I had my gallbladderremoved about 15 years ago, but recently someone told me they could see I stillhad one in a scan. How is this possible? A4 Jitendra Mistry ConsultantGI surgeon & founder at Mission Gastrocare, an Institute ofGastroenterology, Liver-Pancreas & GI Cancer Sciences May 30 Once gall bladder is removed, itcan’t reappear again; but thereis a catch here which everyone needs to understand before making anyassumption. When we do laparoscopic gall bladder removal, we apply a clip on cysticduct, a part where it joins with other system and cut and remove. When diseaseis very bad, area around this joint is not clear, anatomy is bad. So, in suchsituations, we do somethingknown as subtotal cholecystectomy where a part of gall bladder, around a cm orso kept inside and sutured. So, such part may be seen in scan. Q5 Do we eat food so as toobey the second law of thermodynamics? A5 Zot Ljungberg, works atIAR Systems Answered July 21, 2020 We usually eat food because we are hungry, or because the food is good. The 2nd law of thermodynamics is, as other natural laws, a descriptivelaw, that describes how nature works. It is not something you can chose to obey or disobey. The 2nd law applies to closedsystems, where no energy is added or removed. Our bodies are not closed systems. When we eat we add energy to the body,which will help to lower the entropy of the body. So you could say that we eatto disobey the 2nd law (but I would rather say that eating counteracts thelaw). Q6 From where did the energythat caused the Big Bang come from? A6 Krister Sundelin April15 E-learning Producer (2020–present) A: We actually don’t know whether there was nothing before the Big Bang,or even if there was a before. Wesimply cannot see that far back. And since we cannot see that far back,the Big Bang theory “only” explains the history of the universe, not the originof the universe. But we can speculate. Options include: An earlier phase of the universe (Eternal Inflation) An earlier universe (Big Bounce, Conformal Cyclic Cosmology, PredecessorBlack Holes) The universe has always been here(Near Miss version of Big Bounce) And of course, nothing. None of the options mentioned (and there are others) violate physics aswe know it. Buteven if you assume that there was nothing before the Big Bang, you can stillhave a valid explanation of where the energy came from. You see, you can regard gravitational potential as negative energy,meaning that you can cancel out matter and energy from the equation. That way,the net total energy of the universe would be zero, and the principle ofconservation of energy is preserved. This hypothesis is aptly called the Zero Energy Universe hypothesis. Likethe others, it does not violate physics as we know it, but it cannot be tested. But the point is not that any of these speculations are true, but that itis possible to theoretically make universes without violating the laws ofphysics. Q7 Why did Ekalavya cut offhis finger and give it to Guru Dronacharya? A7 Kavana N Lives inBangalore, Karnataka.3m ago When Dronacharya and his disciples were roaming in the forest, a dog wasbarking which was thenmade to shut its mouth with some 7 arrows . All were shocked to see arrows coming from somewhere and doing this work. Drona went in thedirection and saw a Princepracticing Archery.Then drona asked Ekalavya, who was his teacher . To this , Ekalavya answeredThat Drona was only his teacher and he used to hide and learn from Drona. So, Drona knowing who Ekalavyawas ,asked his thumb as Gurudakshina. Since, it was compulsory toGive Gurudakshina (fee) ,Ekalavya agreed and cut of his thumb and gave it toDrona. Q8 Have you ever thoughtthat if you had a different parent, life could be better? A8 Ramya Annadurai TechnicalWriter (2007–present) Thu Yes. Many times. My mother was very strict towards me every time. My grandma was my world. I wished my granny to be my mom.My aunt (Usha) loved me a lot.I wished tobe Usha Aunt’s daughter. Once Icame to knew about my mom’s struggles, I decided that “I want to be my mom’sdaughter forever”. Q9 In Mahabharata, all thePandavas were very strong and intelligent. Why did only eldest brotherYudhisthir give the answer of Yaksha where all others failed? A9 Deepak Surana Entrepreneurand Author (2017–present)Fri Yudhishthir was the embodiment of Dharma. Eventhough all his brothers were intelligent they were not as calm as him. They relied more on weaponsthan on intelligence to overcome their enemy whereas Yudhishthir knew how tojudiciously use both at various times. Perhaps he was the only Pandava brother who could come out of a crisissituation repeatedly through his intelligence. (Sahadeva did it once during hisconquest against King Nila). Yudhishthir knew and believed that truth,intelligence and justice are bigger weapons than a bow, mace or a sword. Hence it's understandable thatYudhishthir easily answered the questions while his brothers did not even bother to pay heed to them. Q10 Have you ever witnessed amarriage being called off days before? What was the reason? A10 Bhuvana Rameshwar marriedfor three decades Wed My friend's son's wedding wascalled off just 3 days before the wedding. She was my friend from our days in PG studies in Chennai, Presidencycollege. The groom, her son is a smartdoctor with a MD. My friend’shusband is also a doctor who retired recently from Apollo hospitals. He is a little money mindedand a miser. Add to that a little arrogance. So instead of looking for girls fromIndia, Tamilnadu he chose his Dr. friend's daughter as bride. The girl was a lawyer a second generation UK settled. Theyfixed everything online with a few meetings in the girl’s house in London. This way he planned to get a fat dowry and an easy pathway for his son togo abroad for his future prospects. He kept making demands on the girl’sfamily. One important point he overlooked was that the girl wasa practising lawyer in London. She couldn't tolerate thefrequent dowry and otherdemands by the groom's father. The arguments went on even after their grand engagement in Chennai .Finally the wedding day was coming nearer. The UK people were already stayingin a big hotel in Chennai. But there were a lot of misunderstandings brewing between the parentsof the groom and bride. My friend is very soft spoken but when itcomes to protecting her husband and son she has the choicest of harsh words. Wefriends didn't know the misunderstandings were going on. A common friend of ours who isalso her relative gave me this information. Just three days before the wedding we got a WhatsApp message saying “the marriage stands cancelled”.No reason was given. When I asked my friend after a few months she said the girl loved a boy in UK and sheherself stopped the wedding. My note- Canit be the reason?? The boy is still unmarried because of the covid 19 situation in India. All the above QA are based onQuora digest on 05-06- 2021. Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers Compiled and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on06-6- 2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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