CULTURAL QA06-2022-15 BEING ACOMPILATION THERE MAY BE ERRORS
Q1 What type of kitchen sink is easiestto keep clean? A1 Gopala Krishnan Former AssistantGeneral Manager 1996-2004 at Department of Telecom (1966–2004)Just now After using formore than 15 years, myvote is for high quality stainless steel sink. Not only inside,outside of sink also to be cleaned either covered by cabin door or not covered.Otherwise stains may occur outside. Just like cleaning vessels, outside alsohas to be cleaned at least once a fortnight. Servants may fail to clean, it is for the home makersto ensure it. Q2 Why are some roads made withconcrete and some with asphalt? A2 Ciro Pabon B.S. in Civil Engineering& Highway Engineering, Universidad La Gran Colombia (Graduated 1984)UpdatedMon Capital cost. As a general rule, concrete lasts twice but also costtwice as much as asphalt so you need capital to pay upfront for that durability. In the end mostroads are made of asphalt, for example in the US 94% of roads are made ofasphalt simply because they need less capital Transportationcosts from nearest plant. Small changes in this durability/cost balance,specially when concrete plant is farther than asphalt or viceversa forces youto pick one or another material. Also, decisions areinfluenced by small price changes in raw materials, specially when oil goes upor down because asphalt comes from oil. Every meter of thisroad requires to move approximately 70 tons of materials and ground. Costs fortransportation add up very quickly Speed. Believe itor not, asphalt flows at low speed or under parked vehicles. It’s common to seeconcrete at parking lots and toll plazas, even when other parts of the road aremade with asphalt My note- I have heard from auto drivers after rainthey cannot run the auto with speed in cemented roads, skidding is morecomparing to black top. Q3 How did scientists decide how longa metre will be, how much mass a kilo will have, or how much a second shouldlast? A3 Paul Schuurmans Professor of NuclearPhysics at Hasselt University (2015–present)Jun 9 All these are conventions that were chosen relative toquantities you see in the environment. When the metricsystem was introduced just after the French revolution, themeter was defined as 1/10.000.000 of the distance between the north pole andthe equator on meridian going through Paris. The French actuallymeasured the distance on this meridian between Dunkirk and Barcelona between1792 and 1799 to a precision of 0,2%. The kilogram was thendefined (in 1795) as the mass of one litre of water. In 1799 areference piece of platinum was introduced as the definition of the kg. The second wasdefined as 1/3600th of an hour (following the traditional Babylonian ofdividing a day in 24 hours, an hour in 60 minutes and a minute in 60 seconds. For a day, the average rotation time of the earth around its axisrelative to the sun was taken. The problem withall these definitions is that it is very difficult to get a precise measure ofthese units. For example, the earth is not exactly a sphere or even a regularellipsoid so meauring the distance from the north pole to the equator at adifferent meridian would give you a different result. Then if the meter is notaccurately measurable, then the kg will have the same problem. Finally, therotation of the earth relative so the sun also varies by tiny amounts becauseof the shape of earth’s orbit and the faction that it wobbles a bit. The solution is to define the units relative to physicalconstants like the frequency of a specific atomic transition in 133Cs, thespeed of light in vacuum and the planck constant. My note- Forme a new information about how the meterwas initially calculated Q4 Did Tamil Brahmins originate fromTamil-Nadu or did they come from North India? A4 Balaji Viswanathan observes the TNpolitics. Jun 1 Very likely to bein Tamil Nadu. Quick summary: Copious literaryreferences in the earliest Tamil works — Brahmins (Andhanars and Parpanars) arethe most referenced caste groups in ancient Tamil literature. Tirukkural,Tholkappiam, Purananuru all talk about duties of Brahmins. Significant part ofthe two key ancient/medieval religious movements of Tamil Nadu — Shaivism(saints such as Sundarar and Sambandar) and Vaishanvism (saints such asPeriyalvar and Andal). A DNA mix thatshows a high level of J2 and H haplogroups that are consistent with many otherTamil castes. Having a mothertongue as Tamil and having origin stories within Tamil Nadu There are twoways people migrated in the past: 1) Migration without a well defined cultureand 2) Migration after forming a well-defined culture. Language and originstories When people migrateafter establishing their culture, they would take the culture, origin story andmother tongue along wherever they go. Zoroastrians (Parsis) moved from Iran over 1300 yearsago, but didn’t forget their origin. Jews didn’t have aland of their own for 2000 years and still kept their origin stories intact. Centuries ago Tamils moved to plantations in Sri Lanka,Malaysia, Singapore, Palakkad etc. They kept theirlanguage and traditions there. Many of them visit their homelands reconnectingwith their roots. Similarly many groups moved to Tamil Nadu over the past 1500years — such as Marwaris, Saurashtrians, Telugus and Kannadigas. They allmaintain their mother tongue even if they are corrupted over time. What is the mother tongue of Tamil Brahmins? Whatdo they speak at home? Is it Gujarati, Hindi, Awadi, Kashmiri or Bengali? No. Tamil Brahmins speak Tamilexclusively. For a group thathas maintained ancient Vedas for 1000s of years and well known for their memory(with detailed mnemonics and memorizations as part of religious educations) whywould they forget their mother tongue or origin, if it had been anything otherthan Tamil Nadu? Makes no sense. Again, migrant groups carry stories of their sufferings andfondly remember their homelands. What do the Tamil Brahmins of Thanjavur,Tiruchi or Kanchipuram fondly remember? Do they talk about any village in UP,Rajasthan, Bihar etc? Evidence in Tamilscriptures or outside literature Tamil Brahminsofficiate all the ancient temples of Tamil Nadu. Controlling temples andreligions is a big deal now and was an even bigger deal 1000 years ago. If agroup of outsiders suddently took over all your temples, don’t you think theexisting priestly classes or other writers not written about it somewhere?There is copious amounts of Tamil literature and none of them mention of anysuch major migration. Tamil culture was also closely observed by outsiders suchas Sri Lankan historians and they don’t note any migration either. On the other hand,there is a lot of evidence of Brahmins in ancient Tamil Nadu. Here is the 2000year old work Thirukkural (134) talking about Brahmins and Vedas. The ancient Tamil religious works such as 4000Divyaprapandam written by Vaishnavite saints such as Periyalvar and Thevaramwritten by saints such as Sundarar and Sambandar, have many Brahmins in them.Later, a Brahmin saint Adi Shankara comes in the 8th century Tamil country andestablishes his mutts in places such as Sringeri and Kanchi. There is copiousliterature from that period and again no mentions of any migration. Without theseorigin stories and a mother tongue distinct from Tamil, it is unlikely for the Tamil Brahmins to have come from outside. Of course, we humanbeings have moved for a long time and it is very likely that ancestorsof Tamil Brahmins moved into the regions like everyone else. Just that they might nothave moved with an intact culture already formed. Rather a distinct group ofpeople formed the culture and language after they got to Tamil Nadu. Genetic studies ofIndian DNA and haplogroups reveal huge mixture of race happening around 3000years ago. The oldest available Tamil texts were a few centuries after this. It is quite possible that after the decline of the Indus ValleyCivilization in many parts of India around 3500 years ago, many migrated south,carrying with them diverse ideas and eventually forming the Tamil language andculture of the present form. This migrant groupscould have included both the Brahmins and other dominant castes. This groupthen pushed out the ancient tribes (Adi Vasis) into various forests. Even todaythe Adi Vasis maintain distinct languages and culture from the mainstream Tamilculture. There was likely intermarriages as evidence by a generous mix ofgenetic traits. Here is the work ongenetics. This tracks the Y-DNA of many castes including Iyer, Iyengar,Vellalar etc and the Tamil Brahmins — Iyer, Iyengars show presence of J2 and Hhaplogroups like many of the other Dravidian castes. My note- As ahistorian a good answer is given by SriBalaji Viswanathan. I have the following to add. Either in Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, or Telengana, the languageof Brahmins is distinct. The language has more Sanskrit words. A basic thinking-During the upakarma Brahmins recollect therivers Narmada, Sindhu, Kaveri, Godavari in the mantras. Does these not mean,they came and settled from Sindhu, via Narmada in MP, Godavari in Andhra, nearkaveri in Tamilnadu. The Nampoothiries in Kerala may be having Nila also.Migration to Kerala by Brahmins is late comparing to other areas. Learntmembers may respond in this matter. Q5 Will a plane with only one passengerstill take off? Or was the flight cancelled? A5 Dale P Lee Sat Yes, I'veexperienced it.As other answerers have mentioned, planes are needed for flights from thedestination airport to other places, so the plane inevitably needs to go to the destinationcity even though there are no passengers. My flight then hadabout 100 seats and when I arrived at the gate they told me laughingly that Iwas randomly selected for additional security checks. I didn't understand theirjoke until finally theyalso told me that I was the only passenger on the flight. I got on the planeand the flight attendant said I could sit wherever I wanted. For the first timein my life, I felt compelled to pay attention to the safety instructionsdisplayed by the flight attendants, because otherwise the flight attendantswouldn't be paying attention. Once we were in the air, the flight attendantcame over to ask for my drink order. I asked for a Coke and he brought it,said, “Here's a can full for you. If you need more drinks, just let me know,I'll be right here. " ( translator'snote: a glass of cola on a plane is usually only half a can) The pilot announcedover the intercom jokingly: “Welcome to Doug Massey Private Airline (my name).We hope you enjoyed your flight to Burlington - once we reach cruising altitude,I'll turn off the seat belt alert and encourage you to try all the other seatsin the cabin and let us know which one you like best. " My note- Recentlyduring covid ending period when international flights started, there was onlyone passenger satisfying all conditions in a Dubai flight by emirates. The flight had to return to it’soriginating station Dubai, it flied withone passenger. Q6 What "poverty food" isactually really delicious? A6 Prajakta M Quite Human 🦩Sun I remember when we shiftedto our new place, our society was all new & the building work was stillgoing on. There were only 3 families including mine. One of them was labourer'sfamily. We used to call a family lady ‘Amma'. I used to talk to her in brokenhindi. She had 3 kids.. Vyankatamma, Nagesh & Narsimba. Vyankatamma was myage so we became friends soon. She used to come to my home & I used to gohers.. It was her temporary home. Amma always used tomake bajra bhakri for lunch & rice for dinner. One day, I just entered intheir home while they were having lunch. Amma offered me a half bhakri withthecha (green chili chutney). It was too spicy that I couldn't eat a secondbite. Then she gave me a piece of onion. I ate it with bhakri. The onion wasquite spicy as compared to the onions I had at my home.. I don't know how butthe combination was really very tasty. I never saw anything else except Bhakri& Rice at Amma's home. To be honest, nopoverty food is delicious. Neither for the poor people nor for us. I had it forAmma, she offered me the option she had. But I cannot have it on daily basis.Imagine mixing cooked rice with water & having it with just roasted greenchili for taste. That's their meal.. A DAILY MEAL! It's been more than20 years, I wonder where's Amma & where are they all ♥ My note- Now there is nothinglike poverty food inTamilnadu. Ration shops supply free rice and wheat to all. Rice quality wasslightly less comparing to other shops,but I could consume without any difficulty since from boyhood till completingcollege, we were getting ration rice in Kerala and I was consuming it including training period atTrivandrum. Q7 Why is German quality so good? A7 Chris Ebbert Knows German Jun 7 Let’s put it thisway (German giving away insider knowledge here, by the way):caution, not allGerman things are good quality (consider this the default warning label to makewhat’s next legally safe); German quality has its roots in a thing calledHandwerkerstolz, literally “the pride of the craftsman”.Hundreds of years back, being able to make something of super duper quality wasdeemed the mark of the truly accomplished worker, and to this day, anexceptional emphasis is placed in German culture and by the German consumer onfit and finish. It’s why American cars never had a chance in Germany. We have aradar for Spaltmass (gap width) on body panels of cars that American cars justcan’t live up to. Ever. there is the legendary “German engineering”, which is allabout making it as unnecessarily complicated as possible.Think classical music in mechanical form. Why make it simple if you can make itso complicated that you need to take special training to service it? Yes, it’sa tank. And it has 32 gears - both backwards and forwards. Is it overkill? Whocares! It’s possible, and therefore, we must do it. Think I’m exaggerating?It’s the true story of WWII German tanks. They were so sophisticated that theypretty much never worked properly under wartime conditions. And there you haveit. A combination ofartisan spirit and mechanical poetry gone wild. With a genius mechanic on yourside, what can go wrong.In case you wonder, I drive Toyota. My note- Telecom department employed simensrelays for precision during telegraph days. After establishing telephones VOlzaGerman product was in use. In the fieldof diabetic treatment insulin lantus and apidra(most effective and COSTLY) are imported from Gernamy. Q8 How was your first-time experiencetraveling out of India? What do you feel is better in India than othercountries? A8 Gopalkrishna Vishwanath Not much ofa tourist. I make personal visits to USA from India often.Sun I made my firsttrip abroad in the early nineties of the last century. As a seniorstructural engineer, my company posted me for three months at the Shipbuildingyard of Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea. Samsung werefabricating some of ONGC’s offshore oil platforms. As ONGC’s consultant we,engineers of MECON, were deputed for project monitoring, and interpreting thedrawings and also inspecting the works. My colleagues and I were sent there on rotation forthree months each. The project sitewas at Geoje, in South Korea We flew fromBangalore to Kolkata and then took an international flight to Seoul with atransit at Bangkok. From Seoul, we flew to Busan and then travelled by road toGeoje.I have described in great detail my experiences in this old very longanswer. GopalkrishnaVishwanath's answer to What is it like for an Indian to visit South Korea? It proved popularand got 65.5k views and 1977 upvotes and 95 comments. Warning:It is a long answer with 2900 words and has several pictures and it may takeabout 15 minutes to go through fully. Please read ifinterested. As regards thesecond part of the question, for me India is always a better place to live. I have been several times to the USA, once to Finlandand also to Singapore after this maiden trip abroad to South Koreabut even though all these countries have a better standard of living than wehave in India, I was happy only to visit the places and experience them. Withall its faults and problems, for me there is no better place to live than inMera Bhaarat Mahaan. For me, what are better in India thanin other countries are food and the presence of family and friends. Imissed them very badly in my travels abroad. Q9 What is chor bazaar in Mumbai? A9 Akshay Elaichi at Biryani(2019–present)Sun ChorBazaar (T: Thief Market) is a very old flea market place inMumbai and contrary to the popular perception it is nota market of stolen items. The market was called “Shor Bazaar” (T: Noisy Market)because, well, it was noisy (and busy) but then came the British and theymispronounced it something like Chor Bazaar and theneven Indians started calling it the same. To this day it is called Chor Bazaarand is covered in infamy which is amplified by its representation in popularculture too. Q10 Which organ breaks down fats? A10 Ken Saladin Textbook author andprofessor emeritusMon Most organs (atthe gross anatomical level) do. The liver,kidneys, skeletal muscles, and the heart are a few examples,[1] and of coursethe adipose tissue itself does. One organgenerally regarded as an exception is the brain, which, forinteresting reasons,[2] cannot use fatty acids for fuel and depends entirely onglucose. Neurons of the brain are nourished largely by the supporting (glial)cells called astrocytes, which convert glucose to lactate and transfer thelactate to the neurons. Only the astrocytes can store and use glycogen.However, there seems to be some disagreement on whether or how much the braincan use fatty acids.[3] I haven’t gotten to the bottom of this yet. All the above QA are from Quora website on 14 -06- 2022. Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers . Compiled and posted by R. Gopala krishnan on15-06-2022 -- 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/139517129.3079737.1655273858491%40mail.yahoo.com.
