CULTURALQA 11-2023-18 All the BELOW QA are from Quora DIGEST to me on 18-11-2023.
QUORA ANSWERS NEEDNOT BE 100% CORRECT ANSWERS. Compiled and posted by R.Gopala Krishnan, 80, on 18-11-2023. Q1 Why hasthe Earth’s atmosphere not changed during the last 200 million years? A1 SilkRoad, AI Expert Jun 30 Earth's atmospherewasn't always like this. Back in the day, like 4 billion years ago, it was mostly hydrogen and helium, but thosegases got blown away by the solar wind. Then, volcanoesstarted spewing out stuff like water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, andsulfur dioxide, which formed a new atmosphere. But there was still no oxygen, so life waspretty hard to come by. Then, somethingamazing happened. Some tinyorganisms called cyanobacteria started to do photosynthesis, which is when theyuse sunlight to make their own food and release oxygen as a waste product. This oxygen started to build up inthe atmosphere over time, and it changed everything. Oxygen made theozone layer, which protects us from harmful UV rays. Oxygenalso allowed more complex life forms to evolve, like plants and animals. Oxygen alsoreacted with some of the other gases in the atmosphere, like methane andammonia, and turned them into less harmful ones, like carbon dioxide andnitrogen. So, by about 200 million years ago,Earth's atmosphere had reached a pretty stable state. It had about 21% oxygen, 78%nitrogen, and 1% other gases, mostly argon and carbon dioxide. And it has stayed more or less likethat ever since. Why? Because thereare some feedback mechanisms that keep it in balance. For example, if there is too much carbon dioxidein the atmosphere, it causes global warming, which makes plants grow faster andtake up more carbon dioxide. ***If there is too little carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it causes globalcooling, which makes plants grow slower and release more carbon dioxide. So, the carboncycle keeps the carbon dioxide level in check. Another feedbackmechanism is the oxygen cycle. If thereis too much oxygen in the atmosphere, it makes fires more likely and frequent,which burns up organic matter and releases carbon dioxide. If there is too little oxygen in the atmosphere, itmakes fires less likely and frequent, which allows organic matter to accumulateand store oxygen. So, the oxygen cycle keeps theoxygen level in check. These feedback mechanisms are not perfect, and therehave been some fluctuations in Earth's atmospheric composition over time due tonatural events like volcanic eruptions or asteroid impacts. But overall,they have kept Earth's atmosphere pretty stable for the last 200 million years. My note- ***. Today morning I had expressed my response about moderation in growing and cutting trees. To keep balance well grown trees is preferably to cut for wood uses.Some trees like sandal wood is grownonly for the use of it’s trunk afterwell growing. Similarly teak wood trees etc. Q2 How doGerman celebrate holidays? Are they a huge thing? A2 VolkerEichener, Professor at Hochschule Düsseldorf6h Yes, they are. It starts with24 December, Christmas Eve. It used to be a regular workday, but most employees have it as a freeday now, at least from noon on. In the afternoon of Christmas Eve familiesprepare for Christmas: they decorate the Christmas tree, prepare the holidaymeals and arrange the presents under the tree. Then, there is a serenecelebration under the Christmas tree, with candles, carols and the exchange ofgifts. This happens on 24December! Some familieswill have a festive meal on Christmas Eve, others will have just a humble meal of frankfurtersand potato salad, it depends on the family tradition. The religious ones will go to the evening mass on24 December. Christmas Eve is considered the main moment of theholidays. For Christmas,Germany has two bank holidays: 25 and 26 December. On these two days, the wider familiesmeet, exchange gifts and will have festive meals. Traditionally, on Christmas, apples, oranges, nuts,almonds and cookies, especially gingerbread, were eaten, because these fooditems were very precious. Nowadays, it is still cookies, some home-baked, somefactory-made, but also a lot of chocolate. There is no standard Christmas meal like the turkeydinner in the U.S., but many families try to put the best on the table.Very typical are roasted goose, beef tenderloin, venison, fondue bourguignonneetc.So, Christmas extendsover three days. And a week later, there is New Year’s day, which isalso a bank holiday. And the day before New Year’s day has become a de-factoholiday too, like Christmas Eve. So, we end up with five holidays in one weekand, you get it, there is not much happening in the days between 24 Decemberand 1 January. And actually,the advent season begins one month before Christmas. And there are the Christmasmarkets and Glühwein and a festive mood long before the holiday. BTW, Germanydoes not know Santa Claus. Yes, there is the day of the holy Nicolaus, thebishop on Myra, on 6 December. But Saint Claus has nothing to do with Christmas. Martin Lutherintroduced the concept of the “Christmas Child” (Christkind), an angel-like child who delivers thepresents to the children. Q3 Who isthe most brilliant scientist without a Nobel Prize? A3 KiranJayasurya, ISRO Scientist | MS Astronomy & Astrophysics, IIST2y I’m sharing thisso that he’s not forgotten. I nominate theIndian Physicist Dr. Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri. He really missed out this year (along with Dr.Stephen Hawking)! His best contribution— the Raychaudhuriequation — demonstrated that singularities arose inevitably in general relativityand was a key ingredient in the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems. Sir RogerPenrose went on to win 2020’s Nobel Prize in Physics for this work.Dr. Somak Raychaudhury,Director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics,recollects meeting Sir Penrose: When I was astudent at Oxford in the mid-eighties… I once knocked on the door of Penrose, together withone of his students, to ask whether I could attend his course on Spinors… inaddition to saying yes, he asked where I was from. When I mentioned I had come from PresidencyCollege in Calcutta, he asked whether I was related to THE Raychaudhuri. I nodded andsaid that while he was no relation, he was of course the head of my undergraduate departmentand that AmalkumarRaychaudhuri had indeed taught us mathematical physics in the first year,and electromagnetism in the second. On the side, he had taught us generalrelativity, which wasn’t in our syllabus. The other personin the room, who introduced himself as Stephen Hawking (in his own voicestill), said thatI had been fortunate to have been taught by AKR himself and that they hoped tomeet him one day. Source: India News: Latest News in India, Indian National News - Telegraph India kolkata-link-to-nobel-winner-in-physics/cid/1794079 | | | | | | | | | | | India News: Latest News in India, Indian National News - Telegraph India India News- Get latest India News,breaking news, current news, political news, live news India and top news head... | | | These are thekinds of stories that get lost. Imagine being literally admired by a Nobel Prizewinner and Dr. Stephen Hawking who use your work and not having a Nobel Prizeof your own! Q4 Whichother country's culture is most similar to the Culture of India? A4 Aam Indianliving in the Netherlands Updated 4y The Dutch culture! Not the regular dutch, butSurinamese-Dutch culture. A communitywhose presence is unknown to most of the Indians, despite their unending lovetowards Indian culture! Let’s take a look at how a random wedding looks likein Surinamese-dutch culture. Yup, theyaren’t Indians, they are Dutch! No, their parents aren’t Indians, they are Dutch! No, their grandparents aren’t Indians, they areSurinamese. So, where is Suriname? It’s in South America, in theCaribbean. No, their great grandparents are also not Indians.They are Surinamese. Go back sixgenerations and they are from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India! Let’s have a look at the tale of Colonialism thatresulted in a culture that is an amalgamation of Indian, Caribbean and Dutchcultures. The story of a community who travelled from India to theNetherlands over generations! Age ofColonialism During the age of Colonialism,slavery was abolished in the Dutch colony of Suriname. In 1870 the Dutch government signed atreaty with United Kingdom to recruit contract workers from the British empire. Indians from the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh andaround were transported to Suriname from 1873 onwards by the British Raj in thename of indentured labour. The povertystricken labourers were given a glorified image of Suriname. It was called “Sri RamTapu”, meaning the island where Sri Ram lived. The first ship,Lalla Rookh carried Indians to Surinamese capital of Paramaribo under terribleconditions. A total of35,000 Indians were shipped to work on cocoa, sugarcane and cotton plantationsin Suriname. Indian and Caribbean culture got blended there; theygrew in number. Independence In 1975 Surinamegained independence from the Kingdom of Netherlands. Citizens were provided anoption to migrate to the Netherlands or stay in Suriname. Suriname was under racial tension between CreoleSurinamese and Asian Surinamese. Neighbouring Guyana had race riots. Indo Surinamesepeople sold everything to pay for the “magic ticket” to a better life and beganto migrate to the Netherlands. Migration continued as the economic condition inSuriname turned worse under the military rule. They saved moneyand brought their family members one by one to the Netherlands. The Indo-Surinamese culture began to blend in withthe Dutch culture. The community is now 160,000 in number. Surinamese-Dutchculture They speak aspecial dialect of Bhojpuri with a Caribbean influence. They fluentlyspeak Dutch and got blended with the Dutch values. Many of the new generation fluently speak Hindi! Thefeeling when a Dutch speaks better Hindi than you! It’s a weird feeling youknow! I've been there! They celebrateIndian festivals. Here is Holi celebration in Den Haag. They enjoy Caribbean music and watch Bollywoodmovies. They really adore Shahrukh Khan! Some of mySurinamese dutch friends have traveled to India as well. A friend of mine wants tomarry an Indian! She travels to India more than me!. They keep thetraditions alive. My friend sent me a picture from a ceremony at her home. They cook andeat Indian food: roti, Dal, butter paneer etc. Their marriage rituals are a mix of North Indian andCaribbean style. They are well informed about India and it's culture!Far more than I am, which was surprising! I often tellthem this “You know that you are more of an Indian than me right?”. Appearance Judging by the looks, it’s easy to confuse aSurinamese Dutch to an Indian. The moment they start speaking English, youget to realize the European accent! This is Luciano Narsingh, a Dutch football player. Heis of Indian Telugu and Creole descent from Suriname. Miss India Holland competition for Dutch women ofIndian origin. Of course, it doesn't have a bikini round! Notice the Indian attire in the beauty pageant? So, that was the Surinamese Dutch, still embracingIndian culture, more than a century after being out of India! The community who had a long history from India tothe Netherlands via Suriname, crossing continents, under the hands of colonialmasters. The culturalroot still stays after generations. I thought that Indians should know about their communityand recognise their love towards Indian culture! Thanks for reading! —Aam (കണാരൻ) Q5 Why wasGalileo Galilei almost crucified when he said the earth was round? A5 RonBrown, Decades of teaching physics to undergrads7h Galileo was notalmost crucified.Nor was he at odds withthe Church for saying the Earth was round. That the Earth was spherical had been well known for nearlytwo millennia. The conflict was over whether the Earth wasstationary at the center of the Universe with the Sun, Moon, stars and evenother planets in motion around the Earth, or was Earth just another planet inorbit about the Sun. The Church said it was heresy that he thought the latter - that it wasin conflict with the Bible, and the Roman Inquisition forbade him frompublishing his ideas and confined him to house arrest for the last eight yearsof his life. Part of Galileo’sproof that not everything orbited the Earth was his observation (through a homemade telescopein 1610) that the planet Jupiter had four moons in orbit around it. So the Earth was not the center ofeverything. This is a recent photo on a clear night of the fourmoons Galileo observed( PICTURENOT ADDED) Q6 Is ittrue that Pluto has never completed an orbit since its discovery? ⚪️🔄? A6 EuterpeMuse,Jul 15 Absolutely! This is due tothe immense length of Pluto's orbit. In order to complete a single revolution around theSun, Pluto embarks on a staggering journey spanning over 30 billion kilometers! By comparison,Earth's orbit measures a mere 150 million kilometers, making it approximately 40times smaller in scale. Also, Pluto'sdistant location from the Sun causes it to move at a slower pace. The gravitational pull itexperiences is considerably weaker, contributing to its leisurely movement. Pluto maintains an average speed of around 16,000 km/h,while Earth soars at approximately 107,000 km/h, making it over 6 times fasterin its orbital journey. Interestingly, the discovery of Pluto came relatively late. Itwasn't until 1930, a remarkable 93 years ago, that humanity first encounteredthis celestial wanderer. Itssmall size and vast distance from Earth made its detection a challengingendeavor. Considering that Pluto's orbital period spans 248Earth years, it will not revisit its original position at the time of itsdiscovery for at least another 155 years. Oh yeah Q7 If ironis kept in the open it gets rust, so, why didn't the Iron Pillar get rusted? A7 VinodKumar, Teaching S.St, GK, preparing NTSE aspirants (1999–present)1y THE IRON PILLAR The iron pillar is situated at Qutub Minar complex,Mehrauli, New Delhi. Some people also say that it was made in the memoryof the Gupta King Chandragupta 2. According to the ancient records, it waspresent in Madhya Pradesh before it moved to Delhi. It was shifted byKing Anangpal in the 10th century CE from Udaygiri to its present location.Anangpal built a Vishnu Temple here and wanted this pillar to be a part of thattemple. Archeologistsconfirm that this was created at least 1600 years ago, but it could be mucholder than that. In 2002, scientists studied the iron pillar andrealized that it has a strange way of reacting to the atmosphere. Normally, Iron reacts withmoisture in the atmosphere or rain and produces Iron oxide, which is calledRust. This rust is very powerful, it will deteriorate the iron, and eventuallydestroy the entire structure. But the ironpillar does something very strange. When it comes in contact with moisture orrain, it produces a strange material called Misawite which has not been seenanywhere before. Thismaterial actually forms a protective coating over the iron pillar and shieldsit from damage, and also increases its magnetic property. The iron pillar is actually made of 98% Iron, 1%Phosphorous and the remaining 1% is made of an ancient concoction calledVajra-sanghata.This concoction is clearly explained in ancient Indian texts. The Vajra-sanghata is created by mixing 8 parts of lead, 2 parts of bellmetal and 2 parts of calx of brass. So, if you look at the total composition of the ironpillar, it is made of a complex alloy, created in ancient times. Instead ofrusting which is Iron Oxide, the phosphorous and Vajra-sanghata make watervapor which is H2O, to convert into Misawite, a compound of Iron, Oxygen and Hydrogen (y-FeOOH). This layer actually protects thepillar from rusting. So, the pillar would accumulate this protective coatingover the course of many centuries, making it even more stronger. -- 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/231706737.3006687.1700315172795%40mail.yahoo.com.
