CULTURALQA 11-2023-28A All the BELOW QA are from Quora DIGEST to me on 28-11-2023.
QUORA ANSWERS NEED NOT BE 100% CORRECT ANSWERS. Compiled and posted by R.Gopala Krishnan, 80, on 28-11-2023. Q1 Whatthings were invented for one purpose, but now are used differently? A1 “SilkRoad”, AI Expert May 1 The Slinky: Our story beginsin 1943, in the midst of World War II, when a naval engineer named Richard James wasworking on developing sensitive instruments for use on battleships. As fate would have it, James accidentally knocked a torsion spring off a shelf,and to his amazement, the spring gracefully "walked" down the stackof books and onto the floor. This serendipitous discovery sparked aflash of inspiration, and James saw the potential for a new,gravity-defying toy—a dream that would lead him to create the iconic Slinky. Together with his wife, Betty, Richard James embarkedon a mission to turn his vision into a reality. After experimenting withvarious materials and dimensions, the couple settled on the perfect formula for their soon-to-belegendary toy: a helical spring made of 80 feet of steel wire, coiled intoapproximately 98 turns. The name"Slinky" was coined by Betty, who found the term in a dictionary and felt it perfectlycaptured the smooth, sinuous motion of their creation. In November1945, the James duo unveiled the Slinky at Gimbels department store inPhiladelphia.Despite initial skepticism from buyers, the Slinky turned out to be an instantsensation, with the first400 units flying off the shelves in just 90 minutes. The toy'scaptivating, undulating movement captured the public's imagination, and soon,the Slinky became a must-have item, securing its place in the annals of popculture history. But the Slinky's journey doesn't end there. As it turns out, this humblecoil of metal had a few surprises up its sleeve—applications that went farbeyond the realm of child's play. Over the years, the Slinky hasbeen employed for a variety of purposes that its inventor could never haveforeseen. One such application came during the Vietnam War,when American soldiers discovered that Slinkys could be used as makeshift radio antennas. By extending the coil and attachingit to their equipment, soldiers were able to significantly boost theircommunication range in the dense jungles of Vietnam. The Slinky's uniqueproperties also caught the attention of the scientific community, as itsability to demonstrate various physical phenomena, such as wave propagation andharmonic motion, made it an ideal teaching tool for physics classrooms. Some inventivesouls have transformed the Slinky into an array of unconventional items, fromjewelry and sculptures to musical instruments and even clothing. The Slinky's versatility andadaptability have made it a beloved fixture in the creative world, inspiringcountless individuals to see the potential for art and innovation in everydayobjects. In the end, the Slinky's journey from an accidentaldiscovery to a pop culture icon and a versatile tool is a testament to thepower of curiosity, imagination, and perseverance. Richard James's brainchildhas transcended its humble beginnings and become a symbol of human ingenuity. My note- Theslinky is applied in later hand set coils of Land phone. In the pictureGandhiji talking on land phone one may observe, phone wires connecting line to phoneand handset connection is by straight wires. During my physicslab experiments, the different wires were coiled using apen/pencil which gave a good appearanceto the equipment connected. We were specifically instructed to coil wires withoutforgetting during physics examination where wires were involved. Q2 What’s themost unrealistic event in history that actually happened? A2 SilkRoad, Sun Pepsi, the sodacompany, once had the 6th largest military in the world. It all started in 1959, when then US President DwightEisenhower decided to send a bunch of American cultural icons to the SovietUnion as part of a goodwilltour. Among them was thevice president of Pepsi, Donald Kendall, who had a brilliant idea: why notintroduce the Soviets to the sweet taste of capitalism by giving them some freesamples of Pepsi? He managed to get permission from Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchev to set up a Pepsi booth at a Moscow exhibition. There, he offered Khrushchev a cup of Pepsi, and the Soviet leader likedit so much that he asked for a second one. Kendall snapped a photo of Khrushchev drinking Pepsi,which became a sensation in the US media. That photo alsohelped Kendall secure a deal with the Soviets to sell Pepsi in their country. But there was a problem: the Soviet ruble was notconvertible to any other currency, so Pepsi couldn't get paid in cash. Instead, they agreed to exchange Pepsi syrup forSoviet vodka, which they could then sell in the US and othermarkets. This deal workedwell for both parties for a while, until Pepsi's popularity in the Soviet Union grewso much that they needed more syrup than the vodka could cover. So, in 1989, Kendall came up with another solution: instead of vodka, Pepsi wouldaccept Soviet warships as payment. Yes, you read that right. Freaking Warships. As in, naval vessels armed with guns and missiles. The Soviets had a surplus of them after the Cold War, and they wereeager to get rid of them and modernize their fleet. So they agreed to trade 17 submarines, a cruiser, afrigate and a destroyer for $3 billion worth of Pepsi syrup. That's enoughsyrup to make 20 billion cans of Pepsi, by the way. The deal was signed by Kendall and Soviet PresidentMikhail Gorbachev, and it madePepsi the owner of the 6th largest navy in the world at that time. Bigger than those of France, Britain or China. Justimagine that. Of course, Pepsididn't really want to keep those ships. They quickly sold them to a Swedishcompany that scrapped them for metal.But for a brief moment in history, Pepsi had enoughfirepower to start a soda war with anyone who dared to challenge them. Luckily, they didn't. They just wanted to sell some refreshing drinks tothirsty people around the world. And that's how Pepsi became a naval superpowerfor a hot minute. My note- A quiteinteresting historical information. Q3 What aresome amazing less-known facts about ancient Egypt? A3 IanO'Grady, Studied TV and Film Production Sep 22 Women in AncientEgypt had a clever way of testing for pregnancy. If it was suspected the woman was pregnant, she would have to urinate intotwo bags, one filled with barley seeds and the other with wheat seeds. If either bagsprouted any seedlings, it meant she was pregnant. If the barley seeds sprouted first, it meant shewas having a boy, and if the wheat seeds sprouted first it was a girl. Althoughthis ancient pregnancy test was entirely wrong in getting the gender right, you'd be surprised to know that it was 70% accurate in determiningpregnancy. This is because the oestrogen ina pregnant woman's urine stimulates seed growth. Q4 How longdoes water take to go through the human body? A4 Soniya,4h The time takes forwater to pass through the human body varies, but it ranges from a few minutesto several hours (75–120). The journey of water through the human body involvesvarious stages. After ingestion, water moves through the stomach andsmall intestine, where absorption takes place. The absorbed water then enters the bloodstream,reaching different parts of the body. The kidneys playa crucial role in regulating water balance by filtering and excreting excesswater as urine. Factors such as individual metabolism, hydrationlevel, and overall health can influence this process. The entireprocess can take anywhere from a few minutes for initial absorption to severalhours for complete circulation and elimination. Q5 What was life like before the car wasinvented? A5 JohnBrett, Registered Engineering Associate in Engineering, University of Auckland Updated2y Most people in theworld did not have access to a car even 50 years after it was invented. My mother had a wonderful pram with large overlappingwheels, and leather straps suspending the body. There was hatch below the baby giving access to a bigspace for groceries. Mum walked all over Manchester pushing this pram,with me and my sister sitting inside. -- 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/481609836.5442546.1701178735878%40mail.yahoo.com.
