Sharpen Your General Knowledge

[Shamim Ansary]

Where Did the Term “Better Half” Come From and Why Is It Used to Refer to a Man’s Wife?

Most men call their wives their “better half’ because they believe it, but the expression comes from an ancient Middle Eastern legend.

When a Bedouin man had been sentenced to death, his wife pleaded with the tribal leader that because they were married, she and her husband had become one, and that to punish one-half of the union would also punish the half who was innocent.

The court agreed and the man’s life was saved by his “better half.”

[Shamim Ansary]

How Is Temperature Measured In Space and Who Invented the Kelvin Scale for Temperature?

Astronomers can measure temperature in space by studying various electromagnetic radiation waves.

In the United States, the Fahrenheit (F) scale is usually used to measure temperature. Most of the rest of the world uses the Celsius (C) scale.

Scientists, however, use the Kelvin (K) scale, also known as absolute temperature.

In 1848, Lord Kelvin, also known as William Thomson, proposed the need for a scale whereby “infinite cold”, or absolute zero, was the scale’s null point.

On the Kelvin scale, 0°K = —273°C or —460°F. Water freezes at 32°F, 0°C, and 273°K.

A normal live human body temperature is 98.6°F, 37°C, and 310°K. Water boils at 212°F, 100°C, and 373°K. The surface of the sun measures 10,000°F, 6,000°C, and 5,800°K.

To translate °K into °F, multiply the number of °K by 1.8 and subtract 460 from the answer. To translate °F into °C, subtract 32 from the number of °F and divide by 1.8.

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What Is the Difference Between Homology and Analogy?

Scientists can determine whether a trait is homologous or analogous by comparing it in species thought to be of common origin and contrasting it to traits of unrelated species in similar habitats.

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How Many Different Kinds of Clouds Exist and What Are They Called?

There are probably infinite shapes which clouds can form, given all the variables in the atmosphere, but three basic shapes are used to classify clouds.

Cumulus clouds are the flat-bottomed, tall clouds that look like whipped cream or cauliflower.

Thick layers of clouds, like blankets in the sky, are called stratus clouds.

Cirrus clouds tend to be high in the air, small, thin, and wispy.

Clouds can exhibit characteristics of more than one type, and more than one kind of cloud can be in the sky at any time. When clouds have combined traits, their names are generally made up by joining the names of the different clouds.

For instance, cirrostratus clouds have the height of cirrus clouds and something of the shape of stratus clouds.

Clouds likely to precipitate are called nimbus, as in cumulonimbus (cumulus rain-snow clouds) or stratonimbus (stratus rain-snow clouds). Cirrus clouds are frequently too thin to accumulate enough condensation to cause precipitation.

The three main types of clouds are cirrus, cumulus, and stratus. Clouds can be combinations or variations on these three types. Nimbus or Nimbo signals likely precipitation. Alto means high.

Clouds below —100° Fahrenheit (-73° Celsius) are completely ice.

[Shamim Ansary]

Why Is English Money Called a Pound?

During the Middle Ages, most people in Europe used silver coins. The English used silver pennies; each weighed 1/240 of a pound, and was called a sterling.

The basic unit of money in England became the pound of silver, which was equal to 240 sterlings. So this unit was and still is called the pound sterling.

The word lira that is used for the basic unit of money in Italy also means “pound.”

The word franc became the name of the money unit in France, because during the 14th century, coins issued there bore the Latin words Francorum Rex, “King of the French.”

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What Are “Wisdom” Teeth and Why Do We Remove Them?

They’re called wisdom teeth because they’re the latest to arrive—when a person’s (presumably) older and wiser.

The funny thing about our molars is that none of them form beneath any of the baby teeth. They develop only after our jaws grow big enough to make space for them. The problem arises when your jaw doesn’t quite grow big enough for all the molars that want to come in.

Wisdom teeth are fascinating things— if you forget the pain and complications they cause, that is. The complications— the fact that so many people no longer have room for their wisdom teeth—allow you to see evolution in action.

Early humans needed these extra molars to help them chew the tough fibers in meat and vegetation. Being closer to the jaw gave the teeth better leverage. People’s jaws were larger and protruding, in order to make room for all of the teeth necessary for masticating a good meal way back in 10,000 B.C.

But ever since humans discovered how to tame that blazing red fire, we have no longer needed those teeth to survive. We’ve learned how to cook tough foods well enough so that they can be eaten without much effort.

The size and shape of our faces and jaws have changed to deal with these lifestyle advancements. Unfortunately for many, our teeth haven’t completely taken the hint.

We still try to grow these extra molars in the back, despite the fact that we no longer need them and often don’t have space for them.

[Shamim Ansary]

Who Invented Pyjamas, How Did It Get Its Name, and What Does the Word Pyjamas Mean?

In the sixteenth century, the first nightgowns appeared as loose-fitting, full-length unisex garments for warmth in bed.

In the eighteenth century the negligee became a lounging garment for women while, the nightshirt with loose-fitting pants called pyjamas replaced the long gown for men.

Pyjamas were modeled after harem pants and were imported from Iran, using the Persian words “pae” for leg garment and “jama” for clothing.

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How Are Your Teeth Like Four Different Tools?

If you know the functions of tools such as scissors, forks, nutcrackers, and grinders, you will understand how marvelously specialized your teeth are.

Although your 20 primary, or baby, teeth first appeared when you were about six months old, your permanent teeth (32) started to grow out when you were about six or seven years old. The rest will appear when you are between 17 and 21.

Your permanent teeth are divided into four different types, of different sizes and shapes. But each type has a special use, like the special use each tool has in the home or workshop. These four types are incisors; canines, or cuspids; bicuspids, or premolars; and molars.

The incisors are your eight front teeth. Four are in your upper jaw and four in your lower jaw. Incisors work like a knife or scissors. As you close your jaws, they bite off large pieces of food.

The canines, or cuspids, are the four strong, pointed teeth, one each to the right and left of the incisors. You use your canines much like you use a fork, to tear larger pieces of food into smaller pieces.

The eight bicuspids, or premolars, are next to the canines, two behind each canine. Bicuspids work like a nutcracker, crushing food into smaller and smaller pieces.

The twelve molars are at the rear of your mouth, three next to each set of bicuspids. Because molars have strong, flat surfaces, they work like a grinder, mashing food into thin, pulpy masses.

Although most people grow only two sets of teeth in a lifetime, there have been actual cases of people growing a third set late in life!

[Shamim Ansary]

What’s the Most Important Strait In the World?

The Strait of Hormuz lies between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, connecting the Persian Gulf with an arm of the Arabian Sea. This strait isn’t the longest or widest strait on earth, but it is probably the most important.

The oil-producing nations of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and other countries on the Persian Gulf must export most of their oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

It’s been estimated that as much as 60 percent of all the world’s oil exports pass through this strait.

On the average, an oil tanker sails through the Strait of Hormuz every 21 minutes!

[Shamim Ansary]

Do People Sweat When They Swim and Why Does the Body Perspire When the Temperature Is In the 90s?

The body may sweat during swimming, with the moisture dissipating unnoticed in the water.

You do not necessarily sweat when you swim, but if you swim long enough and hard enough so that the exercise raises the internal body temperature, then you will sweat.

This can be proven by measuring body weights before and after exercise.

As to the question of discomfort when temperatures are in the nineties, the body’s metabolism is continually producing heat, some of which is ordinarily lost to cooler surrounding air.

But when the ambient temperature equals the body’s core temperature, it is well above the skin temperature, so the body is gaining heat from the environment, instead of radiating it, as would normally happen.

So at high temperatures, the heat builds up and we feel hot.

Then the only way to dissipate the heat is by evaporating water from the surface of the skin as perspiration.

[Shamim Ansary]

What Are the Two Most Common Media to Grow Bacteria?

Beef extract and peptanes, or hydrolyzed protein, are the basic ingredients of nutrient broth.

These materials supply a variety of carbon sources, nitrogen compounds in the form of amino acids, and a mixture of cofactors such as vitamins.

The addition of agar, a complex carbohydrate extracted from seaweed, results in a solid medium.

Agar is an ideal solidifying agent for microbiological media because of its melting properties and because it has no nutritive value for the vast majority of bacteria.

Solid agar melts at 194-212°F (90-100°C); liquid agar solidifies at about 103°F (42°C).

[Shamim Ansary]

When Will You Stop Growing?

Girls reach their full height when they are about 18 years old, but boys keep growing taller for a few more years.

There are two periods in your life when you grow very rapidly. The first period began right after you were born and lasted until you were about six months old. The second period occurs when you reach your early teens. Girls grow faster than boys until they become teen-agers, then boys catch up and grow faster and stronger.

Your head stops growing earlier than the rest of you. When you were a newborn baby, you looked as if you were almost all head. By the time you were 10, your head was nearly full size.

The bones of your arms and legs were short when you were a baby. When you reached the age of 9, your bones started to grow rapidly and will keep growing until you reach your full height.

Besides growing taller, your body changes in other ways. When a boy is about 13 years old, his voice begins to get deeper and he may begin to grow a beard. About the age of 13, a girl’s body begins to look and function like a woman’s. Inside the bodies of both teen-age girls and boys, important changes are taking place, changes that make it possible for boys and girls, when they are older, to become fathers and mothers.

[Shamim Ansary]

What Causes One Person to Feel Hot While Another Feels Cold at the Same Room Temperature?

It is a complex question, made even more complex by factors like the prior activity of each individual and how long each has been in the room.

Assuming that both people have become acclimatized to the room and that neither is running a fever, there are two important factors.

One is the percentage of body fat, with the higher percentage retaining more heat.

The other is the surface-to-mass ratio for each body, with the larger skin area radiating more heat.

If the room temperature is below the thermoneutral zone, so that the bodies are losing heat to the environment, the person with the larger surface-to-mass ratio feels cooler.

If it were possible to obtain a population of women with exactly the same percentage of body fat as a population of men, the women would feel colder, because they have a larger surface-to-mass ratio.

If a person is running a fever, the phase of the fever determines whether he feels hot or cold.

In the rising phase of a fever, for example, the person feels cold, and the peripheral blood vessels are constricted in an attempt to retain heat and raise the body temperature.

[Shamim Ansary]

What Is Credit and Why Is Credit So Important for Most People?

Credit refers to your ability to borrow money and then pay it back over a period of time.

It also refers to how trustworthy a person is considered to be in terms of whether he or she will be eligible for loans and be able to pay off loans.

Credit is important because most people cannot afford to pay cash for large purchases, such as houses and cars. You need good credit in order to receive financing in order to obtain a loan to make large purchases.

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What Is a Bridge Loan?

A common type of hard money mortgage loan is the bridge or gap loan. As the names imply, it is used to connect transactions (bridge) or fill a void (gap) between transactions. The following are examples of the use of these loans.

• Your home is in foreclosure. You can sell it and come out with some money, but you need time to do this. You already have a buyer and have opened escrow. You get a temporary loan to reinstate your mortgage until your sale is finalized.

• You want to buy property, but have to act immediately. You can either sell other property or arrange financing to cover the purchase, but you do not have time for either. You get a hard money loan until you can either sell or arrange suitable financing.

• You have a small business. You have an opportunity to buy inventory at a once-in-a-lifetime price. You know that you can make a large profit, but you need cash to take advantage of the deal. You get a hard money loan until you can sell off enough of the product to pay it off.

All of these loans involve the borrower mortgaging property, usually his or her home, for a short period of time. Most of these loans are for one year or less. They depend on equity for security, and the borrower’s credit or income-to-debt ratios are of secondary importance. The loans fund quickly, some as fast as one week.

The up-front cost of these loans is usually one or two points, plus miscellaneous fees. The higher cost comes when the loan is repaid. This can be as high as 10% of the balance.