And Belgium is significant

Volker Eichener

 · 

Following

Professor at Hochschule Düsseldorf Jun 15

Why do European countries like Belgium often seem smaller or less significant to people outside Europe, and what are some surprising facts about them?

Europe (without Russia) consists of independent 46 states. The biggest (Germany) has a population of 85 million, the smallest (Vatican City) a population of 882.

Belgium has a population of 11.8 million, so it is neither small nor big but a middle-sized country like Austria or Portugal.

So, it is certainly not small enough to be overlooked (like, say, San Marino or Andorra). And Belgium is significant.

• Belgium is the seat of the most important institutions of the European Union, especially the European Commission.
• Belgium is the seat of the NATO.
• Belgium has several cities which are important destinations for international tourism, including Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp.
• There are important artists from Belgium, like the painters Pieter Bruegel, Peter Paul Rubens (who was of German origin, but mostly worked in Belgium), René Magritte or the architect Henry van de Velde.
• Belgium has the world’s biggest brewery, Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is also very strong on the American market.
• Belgium has Europe’s second biggest seaport (after Rotterdam) and the world’s 12th biggest (bigger than New York/New Jersey and Los Angeles).
• The Belgium National football team belongs to the strongest of the world. It topped the FIFA world ranking from November 2015 – March 2016 and again from September 2018 – March 2022.

Brussels

Bruges

Ghent

Antwerp

Who is the owner of Quora?

OakTeller

 · 

Follow

Knower of many things. Jun 15

Who is the owner of Quora?

Quora belongs to no single man.

Two men started it, Adam D'Angelo and Charlie Cheever.

They had seen the inside of Facebook -- Where D'Angelo was the first to hold the chief technology officer's chair.

They left that world in 2009.

To build something of their own.

A place where a question could find a true answer. The company was born from that idea.

But it was raised on other people's money -- Investors, the kind who place bets in Silicon Valley - Bought pieces of it to keep the thing growing.

Cheever stepped away from the daily running of the place in 2012.

Leaving D'Angelo as the man in charge, the CEO. So he runs it. Owns a large piece of it - But he does not own it all.

The ownership is spread thin among the people who paid for its creation and growth over many years.

Do pilots say the Earth is flat?

Debunking Flat Earth

 · 

Follow

Answered by 

Martin Dennett

 

Updated 1y

Do pilots say the Earth is flat?

“Do pilots say the Earth is flat?”

Debated whether to decline this submission or not Earnest Spiel but decided that I couldn’t pass up the chance to post comments I’ve already made on another post on here.

Ball Earth Conspiracy Theory · October 4, 2021

SR-71 BLACKBIRD flights proves flat earth. Missing ball earth curvature blockage. What has been viewed from 90,000 feet per the pilot can only occur on a flat earth.

https://qr.ae/pGmEVG

Daniel Spy posted this answer nearly 18 months ago. I’ve asked him on more occasions than I care to remember, why exactly he started his answer with “SR-71 BLACKBIRD flights proves flat earth” when there is no mention of the Blackbird at all in his answer. The last time I asked him was no more than 72 hours ago. But for some reason, he won’t answer. Perhaps you might be able to explain why someone would blatantly lie and then ignore someone who wants you to explain yourself?

Anyway, scroll through the comments on that answer. The video is approximately 30 minutes long I believe (I can’t be bothered opening it up again). By 16 minutes into it I gave up. I’d ripped it to shreds at that point. You’ll see if you read the comments. I gave detailed points, along with timestamps in the video, proving why the “pilot” was wrong. I invited Mr Spyglasko to comment. Several times. You will see that he never actually responded. Nor has he to this day.

You’d have to wonder why that is. You see, I don’t use the science that some debunkers here use. Nah, my school education ended in 1981 when I left high school. Never went to college or university. Made myself a promise on Friday 15th May 1981 that I’d never return to an educational establishment again for the purpose of studying. Almost 42 years later and I’ve kept that promise.

But have I stopped learning? Hell no. I’ve probably learned more in that 42 years than I’d done in the previous 13 years. The thing I’ve learned most about is common sense. I find it’s one of the most useful tools I have in my armoury. You’ll see from the credential I’ve chosen here that as well as having a great deal of knowledge about aviation, I’ve actually sat in the very front left seat. Granted, my 18 hours of flight time logged are nowhere near the number of hours logged by Hasmal Dawn, Neil Davies or Imran Ismawi, but it’s 18 hours more than the majority of Quora users. So I feel that I can have some input to questions like this.

Have a read of my comments on that answer. Tell me where I’m wrong. Please. Because Mr Spyglasko seems reluctant to want to do that. Is it because I’m not wrong? That’s for you and others to decide. But you need to state why I’m wrong if I am, not just “you’re wrong”.

I’ve got some of these images below in that answer, but for ease of viewing, I’ll include them all here.

Explain this.

Why is the southern red line three times longer than the northern one on the flat map?

Is Buenos Aires (EZE) to Auckland (AKL) 10,000 miles, based on the southern line, or 30,000 based on the northern?

Or is it 6422?

You can do this experiment for yourself. Go into a shop that sells globes or has one on display. Take three pieces of string with you.

Take the first one and measure the distance between Oslo and Houston. Use the second to measure the distance between Jo’burg and Buenos Aires. Are they the same length? Of course they are.

Now take the third piece and measure the distance between Buenos Aires and Auckland. Is that piece approximately 25% longer than the other two? Of course it is.

QED. 

Is it true that Simon Paul and Art Garfunkel (Simon and Garfunkel) never actually liked eachother?

Jon Mixon

 · 

Follow

 Probably listening to music while I'm answering this question.21h

Question: Is it true that Simon Paul and Art Garfunkel (Simon and Garfunkel) never actually liked each other?

Not according to the two men.

In fact the fact that they used to be very good friends is among the few things upon which they agree even at this late date.

What happened?

Let’s see:

1. Fame - Both men became more famous than they ever dreamed of being and it certainly went to both of their heads. Unfortunately neither one of them coped with it well and the results were the end of their friendship even before the end of the musical partnership.
2. Money - There’s was never an equal partnership financially. Simon wrote the songs and so made most of the money. Garfunkel sang and that’s what attracted people to group; however he wasn’t (frankly still isn’t) much of a businessman and so he ended with less money than he seems to believe that he deserved and the rest his history.
3. Paul Simon is a major league a*shole - If you read about his personal life and things like his swapping the late Shelly Duvall for the late Carrie Fisher even though they were both good friends at the time, you realize that the guy would likely score high on tests of antisocial personality disorders. That he and Garfunkel remained friends for as long as they did was itself a major achievement….for Garfunkel.
4. Paul Simon is a major league a*shole #2 - It was clear by the 1990s that a Garfunkel/Simon reunion tour would have earned both men millions of dollars. They didn’t have to be friends; they simply had to tour together for a year or so and then return to their separate lives. Garfunkel was down for that which given Simon’s unkind comments in the media at the time was quite generous. However Simon, apparently buoyed along by the success of his solo releases and the money he’s been earning as a songwriter for decades basically squashed the idea and the two men have remained largely estranged as result.
5. There seems to have been a great deal of jealousy on Paul Simon’s part about the attention paid to Garfunkel - Despite being the wealthier and more musically talented of the two, Paul Simon’s ego needed to be stroked consistently and so he apparently became quite upset that the female attraction to their group veered toward a taller and more handsome Garfunkel. Instead of being happy that as a short,stocky and rather plain-looking man he was getting ANY attention, especially from famous women, Simon has sulked for DECADES about Garfunkel romantic successes during their partnership.

Basically fame, money and Paul Simon are largely the reasons that while he and Garfunkel were quite close in their teens, by their early thirties their personal relationship was simply the financial one that remains even until today.

No Bridge Over These Troubled Waters

How did Manny Pacquiao manage to become a champion in eight different weight divisions, and why is this such a rare achievement?

Jean-Marie Valheur

 · 

Following

formerly sporty 20h

How did Manny Pacquiao manage to become a champion in eight different weight divisions, and why is this such a rare achievement?

It’s not a great mystery — Manny Pacquiao was born into abject poverty. Dropping out of high school at age 14, he worked in construction to survive. What little he made, he had to decide on either sending home, or purchasing food and shelter with. He could not have both. As a result, young Pacquiao was severely malnourished.

The picture above is Pacquiao at age 17, training in a makeshift gym in the slums of Manila. He was skinny, incredibly driven, but skinny. Couldn’t get enough protein, lived off of noodles and cheap streetfoods. Then he put all that anger, all that frustration over his poverty-stricken life, into action… he started boxing. And he started winning.

And as Manny Pacquiao began eating his way through the devisions, like Pac-Man (his nickname) he got prize money. And the first thing he did? Eat. Finally, Manny could eat! Finally he wasn’t malnourished anymore. So he kept on training. He kept on fighting. And with proper nutrition, he lept growing. He was no longer to make the lighter weight devisions and would move up in weight classes. Each class he would enter, he would obliterate.

Most boxers don’t start their careers literally starving half to death in some ghetto. Many aren’t rich to begin with, but few are as broke as Pacquiao was. He moved through so many weight divisions because as he earned more, he ate more — before he started boxing, he never went to bed on a full stomach. And with blood, sweat and tears he changed his fate. 

Save Us Lord!

July 1, 2025 Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time Readings for Today Saint Junipero Serra, Priest—USA Optional Memorial

Karemin1094, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Video As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. Matthew 8:23–24 This experience had quite an impression upon the disciples, which is evidenced by the fact that it is recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels. We also see this in the concluding words of the story after Jesus calmed the storm: “The men were amazed and said, ‘What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?’” Traditionally, this story has been interpreted as both an image of the Church as a whole, as well as the individual soul. The boat is an image of the Church through which we Christians navigate the perils of this life. We must remain in the Church to survive. Each person within the boat represents each one of us who is a member of the Church. The violent storm is an image of the many personal struggles we endure in  life, as well as the persecutions that the Church has endured and will continue to endure until the end of time. As the storm took hold of the boat, Jesus was asleep. But He was asleep for a reason. As we look at human history, especially the history of the Church, we find many times when God has seemed absent or “asleep” when turmoil, persecution, and hardship have arisen. Many people, if not all, have had the same experience at one time or another in life. As the disciples experience this storm, they offer us an ideal way to pray when we are tempted to despair in life. They wake Jesus and say, “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!” And though Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith and their fear, He also responds to their pleas and calms the storm. What should the disciples have done in this case? Should they have trusted and allowed Jesus to remain asleep? Though our Lord did rebuke them for lacking faith, this story is primarily a revelation about God’s mercy when we are tempted to fear. God knows that at times we will all feel overwhelmed and find ourselves tempted in this way. He knows our faith is not perfect, and so He allowed His disciples to set this example for us. Thus, whenever we do find ourselves overwhelmed and fearful in life, we should cry out to Him to save us. He wants us to turn to Him. Reflect, today, upon this prayer of the disciples. If you find that you are facing some personal crisis, or a larger family difficulty that remains unresolved, or are increasingly aware of other struggles afflicting the Church or society as a whole, then try to imitate this prayer of the disciples: “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!” Though these words, at first, may seem to be words of despair, they are actually words of hope and trust. They point us to Him Who is the only source of the peace we seek in our souls, families, the Church and our world. Look for the many ways that you and others experience the feeling of “perishing,” and cry out with all your heart to our Lord to save you and all who are in need. Most powerful Lord, I am amazed at Your divine power and ability to perfectly calm the storms that afflict Your people. Please fill me with hope and humility so that I will never hesitate to turn to You in my need and to also cry out to You for Your continuous intervention in the lives of others. Awake, oh Lord, and save Your people, for we will truly perish without You! Jesus, I trust in You.