My daughter is convinced that the ancient Egyptians were black. Is she right or wrong?
Why don’t we ask the Ancient Egyptians themselves? They can tell us:You can see on this one that there are very clear differences in skin tone and colouration: indeed, there is black on the drawing, for hair colour, and the tone of Anubis’ mask. The Egyptians themselves are a little more red ochre in colour.This one is showing some of the darker-skinned Africans (likely Nubians) alongside the lighter-toned Egyptians. It does have to be noted that there’s not a single dominant skin type: their skin clearly ranged from lighter Caucasian tones all the way up to the darker African tones more commonly-associated with that continent.The Ancient Egyptians likely had skin tones more akin to this, if their drawings and paintings are to be believed:And we can’t ignore the recreation of Tutankhamen:It’s not nearly as simple as your daughter believes, I’m afraid. Worth noting that there was a significant black population in Ancient Egypt: many ‘less-civilised’ African tribes (particularly from Nubia) were taken by Egyptian slave-catchers, and gradual interbreeding would have led to a darker skin tone among parts of the population. Worth looking into!Hope that answered your question!
Did Michael Jackson write his own songs?
Yes, he did.And their entire arrangements as well.Michael Jackson couldn’t read or write music. He could play several instruments a bit like keyboards, synthesizer, guitar, drums and percussion, but not proficiently.However, Jackson could hear and compose songs, including their arrangements, in his head.Then what he would do was “sing” every note of every instrument to a top team of engineers and producers who would work on the tracks.Rob Hoffman, sound engineer, described the process:“One morning MJ came in with a new song he had written overnight. We called in a guitar player and Michael sang every guitar chord to him. ‘Here’s the first chord, first note, second note, third note, etc. etc.“We then witnesssed him giving the most heartfelt and profound vocal performance, live in the control room through an SM57.“He would sing an entire string arrangement, every part. He had it all in his head, harmony and everything. He would actually sing the entire arrangement into a micro-cassette recorder complete with stops and fills.”During the “Dangerous” court case when songwriter Crystal Cartier sued him for plagiarism, he was asked to describe his songwriting process in court.“I’ll just sing the bass part into tape recorder”, he said between snips of sung melody, totally pitch perfect.“I’ll take the bass lick and put the chords of the melody over the bass lick and that’s what inspires the melody,” he explained, before beat-boxing in court.On “Billie Jean” he said, “Listen, you’re hearing four basses on there, doing four different personalities, and that’s what gives it character, but it takes a lot of work.”Of course, you don’t need to be formally trained in music to be a successful artist. And Jackson was an example.He created some of the greatest pop anthems of all time without knowing how to notate.And that he was able to do that in an amazing way and with brilliant results, only adds to the sense that what MJ had was a really special gift.Thank you.
What is the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you at work or in class?
Unforgettable embarrassment I was in 12th class. It seemed like any other day. We were in the physics class and the teacher was trying to make us understand magnetic field lines.He was in his 30s with weird hairstyle and was quite popular among the students.We were half asleep and were getting bored, then out of nowhere came the PT teacher for checking as he had got some information from his "reliable" sources that some boys of our class had brought mobile phones to the school.All of a sudden, both the teachers started checking the bags and pockets of the boys.After checking few of my classmates our physics teacher came to my desk. I was sitting with my very-good friend who was a studious, introvert, shy guy and one of physics teacher's favourites. At first he was unwilling to check him because he knew him well and liked his behaviour very much, but then he did his duty but in vain.Then he found his wallet which was of different kind with a metal chain coming out of it and had an attractive tattoo. He kept it just out of curiosity.The search was over and our PT Teacher left the class empty handed. Now this Physics teacher went to the lecture stand with the wallet and started taking all the things out of it.Then he was stumbled upon a phone number diary of my friend. And on the first page and in bold letters was written BULL-DOG.He chuckled and passed a smile to my friend and read that name loudly in the class. Teacher, looking at my friend :- BULL-DOG hahahahahahaha. Who's nick name is this? Who in the class is BULL-DOG? Raajan you? ABC you? No one? So tell me who's number is this?Class was silent .Then he read the number loudly, written in front of BULL-DOG. And he was dumbstruck."Arre yeh toh mera number hai"(Oops this is my number.)That was his number.The whole class bursted into laughter. And my friend was trying to hide his face under the desk.The bell rang and he left the class leaving that wallet on the stand.And this friend of mine bunked the next few physics lecture.Now if you ask how this incidence is embarrassing for me? Well, i was the guy who gave him that name. P.S - We (teacher and I) are still in contact and still remember and enjoy this incidence).
Would you throw a bunny rabbit off the Empire State Building for $78,332?
Definitely not.I’m a poor bootstrapper (by choice right now) and I could definitely use the money.I’m also a vegan animal lover and that would definitely qualify as animal cruelty.The poor bunny would probably have a heart attack as soon as it was let go.I’ve been my bunny’s slave for 5 years now so he knows me pretty well. Yet, whenever I put him down after holding him, he jerks when he doesn’t feel that one of his paws has proper footing on my body as I’m letting him go.Also, bunnies get carsick pretty easily. They can die from the uncertainty of the experience of riding in a car. Rushing through the air would definitely harm them fatally, almost immediately.:(UPDATE 2/20/2017:Would you take an innocent life for money?That’s how I read the question, OK!What if “bunny” was replaced with “your baby/daughter/son/cousin”?Some people would kill your child for that money.(That’s a nice and reasonable thing to say- look at all of the child predators out there.)I wouldn’t take the life of ANY INNOCENT CREATURE for ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY for ANY REASON.Some people have different value systems whether misogynist, speciesist, sexist, or otherwise.I didn’t write comments on your answer like, “What a monster!” So don’t write comments on my answer saying, “Really? That’s a lot of money!”I don’t think your reasoning is wrong if you would kill the bunny.It is just different than mine. My values can change. So can your values change.At this point in my life, I would not kill a bunny. You would. The facts are the facts and your answer is just as good as mine.Just don’t try to influence my opinions or actions.