Science myths!

Over a decade into the 21st century, science has developed with unfathomable pace and has continued to find answers for things small and large and finally at the doorstep of the reasons behind the start of the universe. However, as much as science has advanced, there have been incessant misunderstandings or misconceptions about the conclusions that the scientists come up with. Here goes a list of some science myths that demands a clarification.

1. Brain cells can't regenerate.

Fact is that brain cells can actually regenerate. This myth is so common that this tale was told even in science communities. It was earlier believed that the growth of the brain would be hampered by new cell growth, but as a matter of fact, the learning and the memory centre of the brain can actually create new brain cells. This is the basis of the cure for diseases like Alzheimer's.

2. Lightening never hits the same place twice.

It can and it is very common. Remember this when you are attempting to dodge a lightening bolt by running to a place where it already hit once. Without a doubt, higher objects are favoured over the others until the lightening moves enough to find a new target.

3. There is no gravity in space.

There is lots of gravity in space. Reason why we see the astronauts flying around in the spaceship is because they are orbiting the Earth. They are falling towards the Earth but moving sufficiently sideways to miss it. Gravity exists almost everywhere. When a shuttle reaches the height of over 350 kilometers, its gravity is reduced by only 10%.

4. We use only 10% of our brain.

If this were true, why a damage in any part of the brains leads to cognitive or sensory impairment? While one  is doing nothing, maybe this is true but in an entire day, humans use their brain pretty much to the fullest.

5. Going out in chilly weather leads to cold.

The cold is caused by viruses of the respiratory system and they do not appear in the body only because one forgot to wear a muffler or a jacket. Most of the times one catches cold by coming in contact with someone who already has cold.

6. Big Bang Theory explains how the universe was created.

Fact is that the Big Bang theory extrapolates from our observations about the present universe that the early universe underwent a massive, rapid expansion that has continued to this day. Some people have interpreted the data to postulate that time, space, matter and energy had a beginning in the finite past, but the central value of the Big Bang theory is the explanation of the early expansion of the universe -- not how the universe came into being.

7. Antibiotics kill viruses.

Firstly antibiotics are to kill bacteria, not viruses and secondly virus cannot be killed since it is not alive to begin with.

8. Bats are blind.

Bats have eyes and can very much see. However they rely on their senses of hearing more than seeing. In fact, they use a hyper-advanced sound-based system called echolocation to fly during the darkest of the nights and hunt for prey.

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Déjà vu..what is it?

Déjà vu. It happens to almost to everyone. It is that shadowy feeling you get when you feel like the situation that you are in has occurred before. A scene of traveling in a new city plays out exactly the way how you remember, but that is impossible and it could not be based on earlier experience as it is a new city and you have never been there before. So, what is going on?

Sadly, there is no particular explanation for this experience. This experience last for a short time and goes away without notice. This makes it difficult to record it for the scientists to ponder on. They cannot simply wait for it to happen to them, it doesn't have a pattern of occurrence in time. It could happen after months or years! Scientifically, Déjà vu is classified as a feeling.

Emile Boirac introduced this French term that means "Already seen". Over 40 theories have attempted to explain this phenomenon. Gratefully to the advancements in cognitive psychology and neuro-imaging, the scientists have been able to shortlist 3 most relevant theories.

Assume a restaurant setting for understanding these theories. You are sitting at a table with a table cloth having a design of square patches and a waiter is coming at the table with the food in his hand.

1st theory is Dual Processing. Assume that the waiter is falling with the plates of food. As the scene unfolds, the brain processes numerous information. The waiters arms, the falling food, the aroma of the food, the way the spoon goes, and so on. Within milliseconds, this information is passed through your brain and is processed as only 1 event, i.e. all these events are recorded in your brain in sync. This theory proposes that when there is delay in processing one of these activities, then the brain processes it as another event all together. Thus, when it plays over the already happened moment, it feels like it has happened before.

2nd is the Hologram theory. When you notice the table cloth with a pattern of square patches, a distance memory swings up in the brain of having seen the cloth before. This is because memory is stored in form of holograms, and in holograms only one fragment is need to be able to see the whole picture. The brain calls upon your old memory of having seen this cloth before, rather than identifying it. Thus your brain is stuck in familiarity but no recollection.

The 3rd theory is Divided Attention. This happens when you are in a place but your attention is devoted to only one object. Your brain actually records all the events happening around you below your conscious level. Thus your focus remains on that object, but the brain knows your surroundings also. When you are pulled back from this focus, you are brought back to the conscious level, you feel like you have been in such a situation before and that is because you have and this is happens only because you were not paying attention.

All these three theories, however, are not conclusive proofs of Déjà vu phenomenon.

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What is an Aurora?

Every second, 1 million tonnes of matter is blasted from the surface of the Sun, which travel at the velocity of a stupendous 1 million miles per hour. These matters travel in every direction and also Earth. At such a velocity, this army of matter is on a mission to collide our planet Earth. But this is not something we need to worry about, because this give rise to one of the most beautiful phenomenons of planet Earth- the Northern Lights, also called as the Auroras.

These lights are formed at the Northern and the Southern poles and named as Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis respectively. These are formed when the army of high-energy particles collide with the neutral atoms of the Earth's atmosphere. This collision brings to life a picturesque phenomenon, which mankind has marveled at for centuries.

Let us learn this concept in three phases-

1. Energy emitted from sun

The pressure on the sun is so enormous, that the hydrogen atoms start combining to form Helium atoms. The energy in form of heat thus released in this process is radiated outward in form of huge arrays called the convection cells. These electrical currents of charged cells create magnetic field inside the sun. Sometimes this magnetic field push themselves out of the surface of the sun and they slow down the flow of the hot gas at those points, causing a cool down resulting in dark spots on the surface of the sun.

This electrically charged gas is called as plasma. Plasma drags the magnetic field further outwards. The magnetic field then stretches and bends like a rubber band. The rubber band then breaks and millions of tonnes of plasma is hurled out of the sun. This is called the solar storm. The speed of this solar storm is so magnificent that it takes only 18 hours to reach the Earth.

 2. A hindrance at the Earth's magnetic field

When the solar storm reaches the Earth, an invisible magnetic field deflects the solar storm. The outer surface of the Earth's magnetic field breaks down and are pushed backward to the other side of the Earth where they are coupled together. The high energy gas then goes through the line of the magnetic field and reaches the daylight side of the poles. This magnetic field couple again at the other side of the Earth, couple together and break down like a twisted rubber band. This will bring down the high energy gas along the lines of the magnetic field to the night-time pole of the Earth. These arrivals of high energy gas at the day-time and night-time poles cause Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis respectively.

3. Colour of the Aurora

The sun radiates all visible colors, which is why sunlight appears white. The spectrum of visible light associated with the aurora is much more restricted. The aurora is caused by charged particles in the solar wind colliding with atmospheric atoms and ions. The collisions cause the electrons of the atmospheric atoms to become excited. As the electrons return to their original energy levels, these atoms emit visible light of distinct wavelengths, to create the colors of the display we see.
The color of the aurora depends on the wavelength of the light emitted. This is determined by the specific atmospheric gas and its electrical state, and the energy of the particle that hits the atmospheric gas. The atmosphere consists mainly of nitrogen and oxygen, which emit the characteristic colors of their respective line spectra. Atomic oxygen is responsible for the two main colors of green (wavelength of 557.7 nm) and red (630.0 nm). Nitrogen causes blue and deep red hues.

This is the spectrum of colors emitted by the various atoms in earth’s outer atmosphere.

Most of the auroral features are greenish-yellow, but sometimes the tall rays will turn red at their tops and along their lower edges. On rare occasions, sunlight will hit the top part of the auroral rays to create a faint blue color. On very rare occasions (once every 10 years or so) the aurora can be a deep blood red color from top to bottom. Pink hues may also be seen in the lower area of the aurora. In addition to producing light, the energetic auroral collisions transmit heat. The heat is dissipated by infrared radiation, or transported away by strong winds in the upper atmosphere.

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Why is "$" the unofficial global currency?

It is not uncommon to see U. S. Dollar (USD, for brevity) notes in the country you live in. Regardless of the country you are in, the USD is found engrained in the country's economy. Although, officially, the USD is not a well-documented currency, unofficially it most certainly is.

Why is USD used so widely all across the globe?

1. Stability- One of the main reasons why dollar is rampantly used globally is because of its stability. Business is always easy to do when a stable currency is used.

The USD has never been devalued. Meaning, the USD has never been deliberately adjusted downward in respect of some other currency. Devaluation of the currency, thus makes other currencies relatively stronger. 

For example, if yesterday 55 Indian rupees(INR) bought you 1 USD and if INR is devalued, then it will take more than 55 INR to buy 1 USD. Thus, the USD becomes relatively stronger than the INR.

Therefore, devaluation of currency makes foreign products relatively more expensive, thus discouraging imports. This helps a lot in reducing trade deficits. Trade deficit is the amount by which the cost of a country's imports exceeds the value of its exports. If imports are costlier, there will be lesser imports and thus maintaining a balance between country's imports and exports.

Dollarization means usage of USD in parallel to or instead of the national currency. Unofficial dollarization is so dominant in some countries, that it would be rare to see their national currency in use. And once this happens, it is almost impossible to reverse.

According to a research, 40-60% of USD are used outside the United States.

2. World War II- There is no such thing as a "World Currency", but since the World War II, the USD has been a dominant currency all across the globe. There was a time when all the currencies were backed by gold reserves of equal value. In simple terms, gold was the standard by which all the currencies were measured. After World War II, the USA became the most dominant economy of the world and caused global expansion. Global expansion is to grow a country's business in many other countries. It also includes investing in foreign markets. This global expansion was so large that the banks could not hold so much of gold to back the printing of new currency. Thus, the USA eliminated this gold standard and starting printing USDs in order to finance the global expansion even further. Other countries followed what this dominant and large economy chose to do and also started to waive off the gold standard. This is one of the reasons why the USD became dominant and almost all commodities were quoted internationally in terms of USD.

As the USD has started to show signs of instability, it is a reason why the world is not divided into various parts. One part uses American dollar. One part uses Euros and the other part is starting to use the Japanese Yen, as it is starting to prove its worth in the international market. Due to the rise of other currencies like the Euro and the Yen in the international market, it is impossible for any one currency to be termed as a global currency.

In light of the explanation above, the USD retains its status as an unofficial global currency, as it certainly is stronger than the rest of the currencies as of today. Tomorrow, maybe it will be replaced by the Euro or the Yen, or maybe the USD will never take a step down. Economy related to currency usage is quite deep and the factors that are to be considered in changing a currency's status are infinite.

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Origin of the word (OTW): Cheetah

Here comes a very short, and yet a jaw-dropper post.

"Cheetah". How much would you believe if it is revealed that this word has been derived not from Latin, Greek or any other language, but is derived for the richest language of all- Sanskrit?

True. Very true. It is derived from Sanskrit. The word is citrakāyaḥ, which means "variegated". This word signifies the variegated spots on the body of this lightening fast hunter!

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Enemy of economy: Black money

Black money is not just a feeble enemy of the economy. This is the context when the term "arch-enemy" would seem appropriate. Black money could be defined as the  money on which one doesn't pay taxes.

The sources of income for the government at large are as following-

1. Tax receipts
2. Capital receipt
3. Non-tax revenue

Normally, taxes are second highest source of revenue generation for the government. Now, in most simplest way, tax evasion will lead to reduction in the earnings of the government. This in turn will increase the gap between the expenditures and revenue of the government, clearly, the former more the latter. This leaves just one choice for the government to finance this deficit- borrow money i.e to sink in a pool of debt. This is one of the causes of inflation, which in turn affects the common man in terms of high prices and the commoners, regular tax payers or not, are to suffer.

Let us assume a very tiny scale scenario to know how black money affects the mass. Let us assume a small region with a population of only 100. Assume that 20 people earn 1000, 20 earn 2000, 20 earn 3000, 20 earn 4000 and the last 20, maybe the government officials or businessmen earn 5000 currency per month, and the government in that region taxes 20% on the income.

Now, if to get his work done easily, a business man earning 5000 per month will bribe a poor employee 1000 rupees, that employee earning 1000 rupees per month suddenly earns 2000 a month. But, this excess 1000 is black money, so he can't pay taxes on it because if he will, there are chances that the Income Tax department will most probably catch that black money. So, the employee will hide those 1000 rupees from the government. Thus, 1000 rupees that were actually circulating in that region now are nowhere to be seen. Thus, the tax earnings on those 1000 rupees will be fictitious as those 1000 are as good as vanished for the government. Therefore, the government earning reduces by 200 rupees (20% of 1000).

Now, this government will increase the tax percent from 20 to 25% so that their earning should increase. Thus, now the people who are innocent and not involved in black money will also have to pay extra taxes because of the people who are involved in the black money dealings.

Difference between the employees earning 1000 per month who bribe and the one who do not is as follows-

Tax is 25%. One who took bribe has 2000 of which he will pay tax only on 1000 because as per official records he earns only 1000 per month and there is no explanation to how he got the extra 1000. Thus, his expense on tax will be 250 (25% of 1000). Hence, he will be having 750+1000 = 1750 to use every month. One who does not bribe used to spend 200 earlier and now has to spend 250 every month and ends up with only 750 currency every month.

Now, imagine the large impact of people having black money of over a thousand million dollars. It is unimaginable how great a consequence would elimination of black money have. Take bills and receipts. Do not bribe. Do not accept bribes. Do things straight and right, you'd never have to take or give bribes.

Thus, one who takes bribe has an adverse impact on those who do not. They reduce the government earnings as they then can evade taxes and thus make the government increase their tax limits from every citizen.

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Can banks print money & get rich?

The answer is NO. If the Central Bank starts to print money, there will be an inflation in the economy and the prices will rise high. And if the Central Bank prints too much money, the economy would enter the state of hyper-inflation and make our lives worse. Sounds unlikely? Read on.

Let us start with the most simple and fundamental concepts that will lead us to this conclusion.

Demand and Price

Think of how demand and price are related to each other. Fairly easy to do. Take an example of a product that you desire the most, say an Apple iPhone. If Apple brings down the price of its iPhone by 50%, certainly it will have more demand. Surely, an iPhone at 40,000 Rs. will sell lesser than the same at 20,000 Rs.

Thus, the demand of a product increases, if its price decreases.

Supply and Price

If the price of a product rises, the number of suppliers will increase. It is natural, that the sellers will supply as much as they can, because higher prices will earn them higher revenues.

Thus, higher the price of a product, more will be the supply.

Supply and Demand

Imagine that a special edition CD is out in the stores for 500 Rs. Assume that large number of these CDs are sold at this cost. Since the demand of these CDs is high, the price of the CD will rise. Consequently, since the price of the CD rises, the supply of these CDs will rise as well, as per the supply-price relationship.

Imagine that the demand for these CDs remain the same but the supply has increased. This is result in some CDs not sold at all. The suppliers will try harder to sell these CDs and lower its price. Now with a lower price, there will more people ready to buy these CDs.

If Central Bank prints lots of money

Suppose that the Central Bank prints money, and mails a share it to each and every living citizen of the country in an envelope. For the sake of a hyperbole, assume that every individual gets a sum of 1,00,000 Rs. in that envelope. Now, you are suddenly richer than what you were. Some people will save this money, some will pay off their debts and most of them will run down to their nearest shopping place and buy what they needed to buy, say a Samsung smartphone.

This sudden rise of the demand of products will pose as a problem for the shopping place, say Croma. Now, due to this rise in the demand for a Samsung smartphone, Croma is most likely to run out of stock for the same. Most logical thing for Croma to do is to raise the price of the Samsung smartphone so as to regulate this high demand. Rise in prices is equal to inflation. Thus, if Croma does that, it will cause inflation right away and the value of money will fall. But, assume, for an argument's sake that Croma will keep its prices constant. Now, to keep the price of Samsung smartphone constant, from what we learnt above, the supply of the phones to Croma must meet its demand from Croma by the consumers

For having the supply meet this rise in demand, Samsung will now have to increase its production of the smartphones. Certainly, this is almost impossible because with phones of such high demand, Samsung must already be using its full capacity to produce as many phones as they can. Still, if there is room for Samsung to increase the production, it will require more number of parts from its suppliers. To raise the bar of this exaggeration, assume that the suppliers supply the parts on time without raising their prices, there is another factor, which Samsung will have to deal with and that is labour.

For production of more smartphones, they’re going to need more man hours of labour. Wages are essentially prices; an hourly wage is the price a person charges for an hour of labour. It will be impossible for hourly wages to stay at their current levels. Some of the added labour may come through the current workers working overtime. This clearly has added costs, and workers are not likely to be as productive (per hour) if they’re working 12 hours a day than if they’re working 8. Many companies will need to hire extra labour. Thus, the cost that is incurred upon the company will rise as the company will have to pay to more number of workers. They’ll also have to influence their current workers not to retire. Since every person has been 1,00,000 Rs. by the Central Bank, some of them will not do their job unless their wage/salary is increased. Thus, from one way or the other, the cost involved in manufacturing a product in this case is going to be reflected in the smartphone's final price, thus causing inflation.

In short prices will go up after a drastic increase in the money supply by the Central bank because:

1. If people have more money, they’ll divert some of that money to spending. Retailers will be forced to raise prices, or run out of product.
2. Retailers who run out of product will try to replenish it. Producers face the same dilemma of retailers that they will either have to raise prices, or face shortages because they do not have the capacity to create extra products and they cannot find labor at rates which are low enough to justify the extra production. 

Inflation is caused due to the following factors-

1. Supply of money increases
2. Supply of goods decreases
3. Demand for money decreases
4. Demand for goods increases

Thus, increasing in supply of money is going to result in inflation. If the supply of goods increased enough, factor 1 and 2 could balance each other out and we could avoid inflation. Suppliers would produce more goods if wage rates and the price of their inputs wouldn’t increase. However, we’ve seen they will increase. Thus, supply of additional money is one way or the other going to cause inflation.

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The Ravana Misconception

A fervent devotee of Lord Shiva. Earned blessings from Lord Bramha too. Believed to be having knowledge of all 4 Vedas, and 6 Upanishads. Abducted Sita to avenge the humiliation Rama and Lakshman caused on his sister, Surpanakha. Not to forget, he kept Sita respectably, unharmed and safe. Primarily, Lanka prospered in his rule. Why is he considered evil then?

Following his conquest of Lanka, Ravana encountered Lord Shiva at his abode in Kailash. Unknowingly, Ravana attempted to uproot and move the mountain on a whim. Shiva, annoyed by Ravana's arrogance, pressed his little toe on Kailash, pinning him firmly and painfully under the same. His ganas informed Ravana of whom he had crossed, upon which Ravana became penitent. He composed and sang songs praising Shiva, and is said to have done so for thousands of years, till Shiva released him from his bondage. Pleased with his bravery and devotion, Shiva gave to him the divine sword Chandrahas ("Moon-blade"). It is during this incident that he acquires the name 'Ravana', meaning "(He) Of the terrifying roar", given to him by Shiva - the earth is said to have quaked at Ravana's cry of pain when the mountain was pinned on him. Ravana in turn became a lifelong devotee of Lord Shiva. Ravana is said to compose Shiva Tandava Stotra, a hymn to Lord Shiva

At the time of the Ramayana, set several hundred years later, Ravana is shown as dominating all human and divine races - so much so that he can command the Sun as to his rising and setting.

In the Bhagavata Purana, Ravana and his brother, Kumbakarna were said to be reincarnations of Jaya and Vijaya, gatekeepers at Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu and were cursed to be born in Earth for their insolence.

These gatekeepers refused entry to the Sanatha Kumara monks, who, because of their powers and austerity appeared as young children. For their insolence, the monks cursed them to be expelled from Vaikunta and to be born in Earth. The all-merciful Vishnu agreed that they should be punished but agreed to mitigate their curse. He asked them whether they would want to be undergo seven births as devotees of Vishnu or three births as enemies of the Lord. Since they wanted to get back as soon as possible, they agreed to be born in three births as enemies of God.

In the first birth, Jaya and Vijaya were born as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. Vishnu incarnated as Varaha and Narasimha and killed them both. In Treta Yuga they were born as Ravana and Kumbhakarna and were killed by Rama. Then in Dwapara yuga, and in their final birth, Jaya and Vijaya they were born as Shishupala and Dantavakra and killed by Sri Krishna. After the end of three births, they returned to Vaikunta.

Thus, to fulfill the curse that was upon Jaya and Vijaya, to die at the hands of the avatar of Lord Vishnu, Ravana is said to have planned the kidnapping of Sita so as to entice Lord Ram to pursue him and kill him in return. Ravana had no other option than to kidnap Sita to lure Lord Ram into a fatal battle. If kidnapping Sita for other pleasures was even one of the motives of Ravana, then there is no explanation for Ravana keeping Sita totally safe and untouched in his house, Lanka. Since there was no other way for him to fulfill the curse upon him to die at the hands of Lord Vishnu's avatar, he had to cultivate nefarious wickedness, violence and hatred, and invite Lord Ram to kill him. Of course, this might be called a type of devotion that is stupid and infamous. But his inner aim was to cross the ocean of birth and death, through that act of self abnegation and surrender to Lord Vishnu, and be Lord Vishnu's gate keepers again and be at His devotion.

Ravana serves mainly as an antagonist and villain in the Ramayana, though sometimes he was shown as a great noble man. Nevertheless, he is considered to have possessed several virtues, the foremost being his knowledge of the sacred books, medicines and sorcery. Ravana was a great devotee of Shiva and is supposed to have composed the Shiva Tandava Stotra.

Perhaps the reason why he is shown to be a completer evil in the Indian version of Ramayana is to promulgate a moral to the audience. A moral that good triumphs over the evil is what every parent teaches their child, and to reinforce it, Ravana is shown as the villain in the version of Ramayana that is telecast to the Indian audience.

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How right is the Right to Vote?

On the 18th birthday, government enfranchises you with a right to vote. A right to vote, based entirely on the basis of age. Practical? Logical?

Imagine a revolution and re-engineering of the voting system in India. How would it be if the voting rights are not granted to those who turn 18, but are granted to those who pass a certain examination or a test after he/she is 18? This examination or a test could be designed to gather the intellect of the person, his moral ethics and responsibility of his/her character. For example, imagine a man who indulges in wicked activities to an extent that he will waste his family money over it and keep his children's education at bay. Assume that he exercises strict violence at his house, and is incapable of keeping his own house robust on his shoulders. How valid it is to allow him the right to decide about the country's future when he can't even decide about his own family's fate?

There might be very high odds of having such people in a locality as compared to those who are highly literate and are well-aware of the political leaders, who are representing a certain party in the election process. These few, but very important votes will be overwhelmed by the huge number of votes by those who vote for a particular party based on caste, creed or an inspirational speech that that leader few days pre-election.

Voting for a leader today in India is more or less like voting for your favourite singer or a chef in today's TV "reality" shows. Except that in voting for a leader, you wake up in the morning, stand in a queue and punch a button for a party you "think" is good for India. Given the literacy rate of our country, a huge percentage of people still cannot sign. I repeat, how valid is it to grant such an individual to decide about a leader who is right for us? Democracy is the reason why they can vote. But, if another barrier is added in the eligibility list to make the national citizens eligible to vote, there will be an erudite population with satisfactory knowledge about Indian politics. Democracy will still be served, as every 18 year old will be eligible for this test. This does not demand discrimination, but it is only an attempt to make every vote weigh significantly.

Most people tend to mimic their political views from their parents, or friends or maybe an inspirational speech they heard on TV. Many people have limited views about Indian politics, and much lesser knowledge about the number of scams and scandals that come up in the newspapers, which include the politicians, which we vote for. Thus, in light of such infelicitous events, voting system if changed, might actually bring better leaders in power.

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Origin of the word (OTW): Draconian

Draconian
adjective
        (of laws or their application) excessively harsh and severe.

Draconian is a word coined in around 1810, derived from Draco, the first lawmaker of Athens in Ancient Greece during the 7th century B.C. He overthrew the then existing forms of punishment and wrote a code to be enforced only by the court. This code was too harsh, and rendered even the petty criminals dead. Thus, the word "draconian" refers to unforgiving and severe punishments.

The laws laid down by Draco were the first written constitution of Athens.

Instead of oral laws, all the laws were in written form. The Draconian laws made a difference between a murder and an involuntary homicide.


The laws, however, were particularly harsh. For example, any debtor whose status was lower than that of his creditor was forced into slavery.The punishment was more lenient for those owing debt to a member of a lower class. The death penalty was the punishment for even minor offences. Draco ascribed death penalty for minor offences because he felt that the criminals deserved it. Since nothing could be severe than this, he ascribed death to major offenders also.

In 6th century, all his laws were thrown over by Solon, and made some modifications to it.

The harshness and the severity of the punishments that Draco made the criminals to face, had a permanent mark in the pages of International history, compelling a linguistic addition of the word "draconian" in the English language.

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