Sharpen Your General Knowledge

[Shamim Ansary]

What Is Dew Point and How Is It Measured?

Dew point is the temperature at which water vapor liquefies.

It signifies that the air is filled to capacity with moisture. Like a cloud, the water vapor becomes too heavy to stay suspended in air. It needs a surface on which to condense.

Since the vapor is hovering at ground level, there is a great supply of surfaces, or condensation nuclei, including grass, stones, plants, and animals.

[Shamim Ansary]

Are Women Are More Sensitive to Temperature Changes Than Men?

Sensitivity to temperature is much more complicated than a simple gender split, physiologists say.

The reaction depends on many factors, such as exercise, previous conditioning, diseases, and any other tinkering with the complex system of signals to and from the hypothalamus that sets the body’s temperature controls.

Some doctors suspect psychological factors make a difference, but it is difficult to separate psychological reactions based on a strong aversion to heat or cold from physiological responses. It is also possible that women do not dress as warmly.

But some male-female physiological differences may be significant in this area. Women tend to have more subcutaneous body fat than men, making them more likely to have a hard time dissipating body heat when temperatures rise. But women may do better than men as a room cools, because fat holds heat.

Larger animals have a smaller surface area relative to their volume than smaller animals, so they can stand colder temperatures with less heat loss. Men as a group are larger than women, although the size difference may not be enough to cause different reactions to temperature changes.

[Shamim Ansary]

What Can Disqualify a Person From Sitting for a Bar Exam?

If there are serious red flags raised during the application process or from evaluations from the student’s law school, there could be problems.

Serious criminal law issues could present a problem, as could allegations of sexual harassment or other bad behavior. If the bar examiners in a state believe that a lawyer has been untruthful or lacked candor in the application process, then there could be problems for that candidate.

If a person had an issue with plagiarism or other form of academic dishonesty, that could be cause for concern. It is hard to generalize because these issues vary from state to state.

[Shamim Ansary]

Why Does a Whale Spout?

Though it lives in the sea, the whale is a warm-blooded mammal. It must breathe oxygen from the air to live. When surfacing, the whale takes in oxygen through the blowhole on top of its head. Then, filling its large elastic lungs which are connected to the blowhole, the whale dives to feed.

While underwater, the whale’s body heats up that air. When the whale surfaces, it forces the air that was held in its lungs out the blowhole. This action is called spouting, or blowing. When the warm air comes into contact with the cool outside air, it condenses and turns into a steamy spray. A similar thing happens when our own breath hits the air in cold weather.

Different types of whales spout in particular ways, and experts can tell the species of the whale from the spout!

The whale’s spout can shoot 20 feet in the air and be seen from a mile away!

[Shamim Ansary]

Did Plato Change His Philosophy as He Grew Older?

Plato became more conservative in his outlook and more attentive to existing social values and traditions as he aged. The city of the Republic would have required a revolution to set up. In the later Laws, Plato becomes less revolutionary and describes a “second-best” city in which there are traditional families and rulers are elected, rather than specially bred.

In the Parmenides Plato offers a series of criticisms to his earlier theory of forms, which he is apparently unable to answer and which are later taken up by Aristotle. The most famous of these is the “third man argument.” Suppose we discover a form that accounts for what makes similar things similar.

For example, every cat is different, but all cats share the same catness because they participate in the cat form. Now, if we compare this form with any one thing that participates in it, in this case, compare your cat with the cat form, the form and the participating thing will have similarities that make it necessary to posit a second form.

If we then make comparisons of the cat to the second form, a third form will need to be posited, and on and on and on to an infinite regress. That is, Plato was aware of the theoretical problems with his theory of forms.

[Shamim Ansary]

How Old Is the Moon?

Before the first man landed on the moon, scientists had come up with three possible ways that the moon might have been formed.

First, it could have formed out of the same gas cloud that formed the earth. Or it could have broken off from the earth many millions of years ago.

Or perhaps the moon formed somewhere outside the solar system and was captured by the earth’s gravity as the two bodies passed close to each other.

But when the astronauts landed on the moon and brought back some moon rocks, scientists discovered that the moon is not made out of the same elements as the earth. This means that the moon probably did not form from the same gas cloud that formed the earth, and that it most likely didn’t break off from the earth.

Scientists were surprised to find that most of the moon rocks were more than 3.5 billion years old. The oldest rocks yet found on earth are about that same age.

But some moon rocks were 4.5 billion years old, older than any earth rocks, and the moon’s soil was also of that age. These rocks and soil may not even be the oldest on the moon.

So now scientists still aren’t sure how the moon was formed, or how old it really is, but it could be older than the earth!

[Shamim Ansary]

Why Do People Have Different Colored Eyes?

The pupil, the black spot in the middle of your eye, is actually a hole that allows light to enter the eye. Around this hole is the colored part of the eye, the iris, which regulates the size of the pupil and how much light is allowed into the eye.

The iris has pigment in it to protect it against light. Everyone has pigment at the rear part of the iris, but not everyone has it at the front. When a person lacks pigment at the front, this part of the iris is transparent, and absorbs red and yellow light waves. The remaining light, the blue waves, then bounces off the pigment at the rear of the eye, and gives the eye a blue color.

When the front part of the iris has pigment, it absorbs different kinds of light rays, and the light bouncing off the rear of the iris appears brown or gray.

Often a person has blue eyes when young, and brown eyes later in life, because it takes the eyes time to produce pigment at the front of the iris. Until this pigment appears, the eyes are blue.

[Shamim Ansary]

How Can You Use a Cat to Tell What the Temperature Is?

How accurate a read are you looking for? A cat can be used to give a very, very general idea of temperature.

The colder the temperature, the more a cat curls around itself to sleep. If your cat’s lollin’ around, stretched out on her side or back, you can bet it’s warm.

If said cat is tightly curled, with face buried and tail wrapped as tightly around her body as possible, she’s cold. A sweater might help, but cats don’t like them very much. And they look silly in human clothes.

In other words, get yourself a sweatshirt.

[Shamim Ansary]

What Does the Expression “Turned a Blind Eye” Mean and Where Did the Phrase Come From?

In 1801, while second in command of a British fleet near Copenhagen, Horatio Nelson was told that his commander had sent up flags ordering a retreat.

Nelson lifted his spyglass to his previously blinded eye and said he couldn’t see the order, and then he ordered and led a successful attack.

Nelson’s insubordination became legend and gave us the expression “turn a blind eye.”

When someone ignores the rules we say he “turned a blind eye”.

[Shamim Ansary]

Where Did the Moon Come From, How Did Earth Get Its Only Satellite, and How Long Ago Was the Moon Created?

There are many theories about how the Moon formed.

The current favorite says that a huge asteroid, maybe the same one that is thought to have tilted Earth’s axis, hit Earth, throwing off a mass of debris into a broken ring around the planet.

Over time, the debris coalesced, creating the Moon.

At first the Moon was much closer to Earth, but it gradually settled in the orbit it has today.

The Moon is the only natural satellite the earth has and is also the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System.

It is currently believed that the moon formed some 4.5 billion years ago, around the same time the Earth was created.

[Shamim Ansary]

Why Are There So Many Craters On the Moon and What Caused the Craters On the Moon Shortly After It Was Formed?

There are hundred of thousands of craters visible on the Moon, measuring from a few feet across (craterlets) to about 150 miles across (basins or walled plains).

The craters seem to be the result of both meteorites and volcanic activity.

Most scientists agree that the Moon came under a meteorite bombardment some 4.5 billion years ago, shortly after it was formed.

Within 1 billion years, the meteorites abruptly stopped.

The Moon’s interior rapidly increased in temperature, causing massive volcanic eruptions.

While the volcanoes distorted many of the meteoric craters, they created craters of their own.

[Shamim Ansary]

What Do I Do When a Client Refuses to Follow Its Part of the Agreement Such as Paying My Bills After the Work Has Been Completed?

Because you are not an employee, most of the employment laws discussed in this book will not apply to you. If your client will not adhere to a written contract that he or she has signed, you may ultimately need to sue the client in a local civil court on the issue of breach of contract.

Before you start a court fight, you should find out if the client has a problem with the services that you performed. If the issue is merely that the client feels something is still in error on your project, it may be cheaper for you to fix the problem in order to get your money. If the issue is that the client did not provide you with the proper equipment, perhaps the manufacturer is the problem or there is just a misunderstanding.

If the problem is not something that you can fix, you may want to send a certified letter to the client reminding him or her of the obligations under the contract that he or she signed, and giving a deadline to either follow the terms of the contract or deal with your attorney. You might then want to find a local attorney who handles contract breach litigation in your local court.

Many independent contractors who use contracts with clients make the mistake of not putting provisions into the contract for client problems, such as nonpayment. In order to protect yourself, these items must be addressed in accordance with your local laws.

The following are some examples of issues that should be addressed in an independent contractor’s agreement with their client.

• Each contract should be specifically tailored to detail what both the client and what the independent contractor are required to supply and the date these items will be available. There should also be some direction as to what will happen and who will be financially liable if these items are not ready on time.

• Each contract should list exactly what the independent contractor is to do in detail. This should include the goals of the project according to the client, how the client will measure or determine that the project is complete, and how the client intends to determine if the project is a success.

• Each contract should specify who will sign off on the project for the client and what steps will be taken if the client refuses to sign off. An independent contractor does not want to spend the rest of his or her career working for one very picky client who refuses to pay the independent contractor, so this must be very detailed. Some contracts may contain a clause that requires professional arbitration for disagreements that cannot be resolved in a short period of time.

• Each contract should detail the hours the independent contractor will work, location, and what happens when the contractor needs time off.

• Each contract should specify the amount of payment and how it is calculated. There should be provisions for late payments and nonpayment. Late payments may include a grace period and an interest percentage (to be exercised at the option of the independent contractor), which is added to the owed amount. For issues of nonpayment, there should be an indication that the independent contractor has the option to take the matter to court and go after the money owed, interest on that money, and the contractor’s attorney fees.

[Shamim Ansary]

How Old Is the Earth?

To figure out the age of the earth, it is important to know how old the rocks on it are. Scientists can date rocks by measuring the amount it of radioactivity, or rays of energy, they give off.

All rocks contain some uranium, which causes radioactivity, and that uranium give off invisible rays of energy which slowly change the uranium into lead. Scientists know how long it takes for uranium to change into lead, so by comparing how much uranium and how much lead are in the rocks, they can determine the age of the rocks.

By this method, scientists have determined that some granite gneiss rocks found in Tanzania, East Africa, are about 3.5 billion years old!

But bits of meteors that have fallen to earth are even older. They are parts of other planets in our solar system, and seem to be 4.5 billion years old! Most scientists believe that our whole solar system started off at the same time. We can therefore figure the planet earth to be about 4.5 billion years old.

[Shamim Ansary]

How Was Braille for the Blind Invented and When?

Louis Braille is a hero to millions of blind people all over the world, but not many people know that we also have Napoleon Bonaparte to thank for the invention of Braille.

Braille is a system of raised dots that can be read using touch alone. Before it was invented, there were a few books produced to teach blind people to read using embossed letters, but they were difficult and expensive to produce.

Louis Braille, who’d been blind since he was three, read some of these books when he was sent to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. While he was there an army officer, Charles Barbier, visited the Institute and demonstrated an invention that he called ‘night writing’.

French general Napoleon Bonaparte had had the idea of a code that could be read at night and challenged his army to invent one. So Barbier had come up with a system that allowed soldiers to communicate silently and in total darkness using a system of raised dots to represent the alphabet. Unfortunately, Barbier’s night writing was so complicated that none of the soldiers had been able to learn it.

Although Louis Braille was just 11 years old at the time, he saw the potential of Barbier’s dot system straight away. He spent the next six years simplifying it and in 1821 came up with an alphabet of raised dots arranged in rectangles that could be read quickly and easily.

After you’ve read Braille with your eyes, try to read it with your finger Familiarise yourself with the feeling of Braille and take it slowly, because if you miss one bump then a word could take on a whole new meaning or make no sense at all!

Now go and find some signs in Braille and attempt to read them.

Visually-impaired geniuses: These include Horatio Nelson (British admiral), David Blunkett (UK politician), Eduard Degas and Claude Monet (French painters), Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles (US singer/songwriters), and Cupid/Eros (Roman/Greek god of love).

[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.