Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
Why do projectiles move along with the Earth's rotation?	[ "Because as the cannon was on the planet's surface, it was already moving 1500 km/h in the same direction as the surface. This velocity is added to the velocity from the projectile firing. That said, if you shoot a cannon shell a long way north or south, you do see an effect from Earth's rotation, called the Cori...	[ "Satellites are on a set orbit. The scientists put the satellite into that orbit to begin with, so they know when and where in space the satellite is going to be. When they launch a new satellite, they just calculate the appropriate trajectory and launch time to get the new satellite into space without hitting the ...
Why do we get goosebumps?	[ "It's a vestigial reflex. It's from when our ancestors were covered in more terminal hair than we are (we have a lot more vellus hair which is short and fine). One of its purposes was to make our ancestors look bigger. Another was to create a layer of trapped air for insulation when cold." ]	[ "One theory is that the head of the penis evolved it's shape to \"scoop\" out sperm. That way while attempting to procreate we remove the sperm of our competitors while depositing our own. Following ejaculation we become sensitive to stop us from continuing to thrust and scooping our own sperm out." ]
How are musicals written with separate people handling music and lyrics?	[ "lyricists and composers often work together a lot. usually they come togeter, exchange ideas and adapt to what the other has written. they both have to agree upon the song's atmosphere and meaning. Sometimes the words come first and the composer makes a suitable melody for it, sometimes the melody comes first and ...	[ "You cannot copyright or trademark titles. This is because they are generally too short to have significant content and the copyright office will not accept them. Trademarks on the otherehand cannot be applied to words alone and require artistic design or concept for them to be trademarked. When it comes to copyrig...
When skin cells die and new ones take their place, the dead cells just fall off, what happens to the cells that are inside us? Where do the dead cells go when our internal organs are regenerated?	[ "When skin cells die they flake off. Dead skin cells are the primary component of household dust. Dead cells inside the body are disposed of in the blood stream and eventually end up in your poop." ]	[ "Building a car is easier than rebuilding a car that's been obliterated in a ghastly accident. You can follow the same steps to build the new car every time and it'll work every time. Rebuilding the totaled car is a lot trickier. Each case is unique. What's damaged? How badly? What can be saved? What needs to be ...
How do radios (or other communications) send different messages on very similar frequencies?	[ "Imagine all the frequencies in the air are like a bucket of mixed coins. You throw the coins through one of those coin sorters and then just look at the nickels for one channel, and the quarters for another channel. That coin sorter is called a band-pass filter." ]	[ "To quote the great pop song from the '70s;Money, Money, Money, Money. MONEY.\" The record studio's pay the radio stations to play their songs. Simple as that." ]
How did Pakistan repair its relations with Bangladesh so quickly despite the 1971 genocide?	[ "During the war of independence, Pakistan destroyed most of the infrastructure and burnt all the money that was kept in the central bank. So it became very difficult for the AL Government to run the country with so few resources and very little international cooperation. The Arab world was not helping Bangladesh du...	[ "Greetings everyone. In the few minutes this sub has been up, it's attracting sub-standard responses. Just a reminder of a few of the rules: * no responses covering events/conditions post-1994, per this sub's \"20-year rule\" prohibiting discussion of current events * no anecdotes * no speculation OP: your question...
What career benefits are there to joining the Church of Scientology? I mean, there must be plenty given the famous and sometimes powerful members.	[ "You have the cause and effect backwards with them. It isn't that joining them gets you connections that lead to becoming rich and famous. It's that if you're rich and famous they pursue you much more than they do anyone else. You know how every religion has their teachings and things like Sunday school? Well Scien...	[ "[Do mosquitoes benefit mankind in any real way? If mosquito extinction was possible should we pursue it?](_URL_1_) [Would destroying the world's mosquito population seriously be okay for the ecosystem?](_URL_2_) [How feasibly could human beings cause mosquitoes to go extinct?](_URL_0_) [If we eradicated mosquitoes...
Why is it socially acceptable to spend so much money on your wedding day even if you are not financially stable?	[ "Traditionally, the wife's family(father) pays for the wedding as part of her dowry. It's part of why you needed a fathers permission to marry his daughter. With the breakdown of the traditional family, and changing social norms, it now rests on unprepared couples to handle it themselves." ]	[ "Hi OP, this is a cultural question, so it would greatly assist anyone considering answering if you could specify which culture you're asking about. For example, the name of a cultural group / country / geographic region, plus a rough time period. Otherwise, this question is simply too broad, as it encompasses almo...
Defragmentation used to be such a lengthy, intensive process on previous versions of Windows and their computers. But now it all happens quickly, even on my not solid-state drives, and the computer even lets it happen in the background without me noticing. How? What changed?	[ "It's quick because it's done regularly and automatically nowadays, versus a manual process that people typically did only when their computer was becoming noticeably slow and the disk was extremely heavily fragmented. Additionally, larger disks nowadays (it's not irregular for even entry level computers to come wi...	[ "That's because your device has to \"prep\" a lot of configurations such as encryption keys, protocols etc. Think of it as switching the battery in your car, you first gotta unplug it, check which wire goes well, reassure you did it correctly and then proceed to turn your car on. It took you time to do all that, ...
Where can I find primary sources on mortars/artillery in world war one?	[ "Not sure if you're an American, but have you contacted the [National World War I Museum](_URL_0_) in Kansas City, Missouri? Their collections include manuals and technical specifications from the war. Alternatively, if you're from Britain the Imperial War Museum is where I would start." ]	[ "Some of the best irish women historians come out of Maynooth . Ann Matthews speciality is Women in Irish History and the Irish independence era. She is a remarkable woman herself . Take a peek [here](_URL_0_) . Cormac O Comhrai will be doing WWI . If he is familiar, here is why. _URL_1_ It's a real privilege to ...
Why doesn't gravity keep atmosphere from escaping into space?	[ "There is a distribution of particle velocities, called a [maxwell distribution](_URL_0_), which shows that while most particles have an 'average' speed, some particles in the tail end of that population can have a much higher speed. At the 'top' of the atmosphere, it is possible that some of those particles will ...	[ "You're right to be confused. It is 100% wrong as depicted in the movie, and a lot of people of wondered about why they made such a grave error considering the rest of the movie was somewhat realistic. It is likely that the reason this happens in the movie is that it makes things more dramatic. Artistic license i...
What makes sharp things sharp and how does it work?	[ "To be sharp, something needs to have mainly two properties: 1 It must have a very narrow edge. A narrow edge, when pushed into a material, concentrates that force into a very small area, creating very high pressure. 2 It must be hard. This is so that it keeps the edge, and also so it can easily push into the other...	[ "We know about them because they emit electromagnetic radiation or they absorb/bend radiation from other objects. That being said, because nothing travels faster than light, we only have information about the state they were in at the time they radiated. So if you're seeing objects that are a milion lightyears away...
What purpose did modems serve before the internet?	[ "You could use one modem to call another. Some applications: 1. Logging into large-scale services like CompuServe. These were private services that were similar to the modern Internet, except that the transmission rates were significantly lower so it was primarily text-based. 2. Logging into private BBS's. Individu...	[ "There are a bunch of theories ... but most probably if you have broken solder-joints or weak connectors it can smack them back into place so the set starts to work again." ]
If the moon was to drift out of Earth's orbit, how would gravity be effected?	[ "Yes, the tides would be affected, but I'm a little confused as to what you mean by \"gravity.\" Are you just talking about Earth's gravity? I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a noticeable change. The more important effect is Earth's tilt. The Moon stabilizes our axial tilt, which is currently at about 23.5˚. Over hun...	[ "I suspect one of the first major changes we'd see would be a mass extinction in the oceans. Many species of sea life rely on the tides for reproduction and feeding." ]
Why was salt so precious and expensive in ancient times when it can be made by evaporating sea water?	[ "In addition to what others said about time to dry salt and transport to non-coastal areas, salt was also an important preservative in days before refrigeration and was likely much more heavily used because they salt cured meats and fish to make them last longer. Takes a lot more salt to envelop a piece of beef to ...	[ "Usually, historians look at how much of a certain crop - often things like wheat or barley or something similar. It varies with the region - could've been bought with a certain amount of money. If you then look at how much of that crop could be bought with today's currency, you've got some frame of reference about...
Can someone tell me about the Korean War?	[ "The Korean War is a broad subject, do you have some specific questions to give us a good starting point?" ]	[ "Unarmed kid got shot by the police. People angrily protested. The police got pissed. The protests turned into riots. The police continue to escalate to respond to the riots. The rioters aren't backing down, so the FAA declared Ferguson a no fly zone earlier today and now they're rolling out tanks into the streets ...
How does Mithras fit into Zoroastrianism?	[ "Sorry for the briefness and oversimplification...I browse this forum too late at night...but here goes: A yazata is anything to be worshiped in Zoroastrianism. Ahura Mazda is the highest yazata. The divine sparks are all manifestations of different qualities of Ahura Mazda, and they are yazata as well. Much like t...	[ "I haven't read it, but you might to look at [Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity](_URL_0_) for more information on this. Not to discourage anyone else from answering, but as far as I'm aware we don't have any Persianists on the sub :/" ]
What was the protocol for chicken pox and shingles before the chicken pox vaccine came to the united states?	[ "I’m in my 60’s. The kids in the neighborhood and any cousins would gather at the infected person’s house. Everyone got sick around the same time instead of a slow spread that kept homes and classrooms in an upheaval. The only problem with the measles parties was they required everyone to be in darkened rooms becau...	[ "They used the patched conics method. With this you basically reduce the equation to a 2 body equation. You are orbiting the earth, then you are orbiting the sun, then you are orbiting jupiter, then you are orbiting the sun again, then saturn... Of course this like any other simplification is going to introduce er...
Has the popularity of reusable bags and cups decreased the consumption of plastic/paper bags and cups? Are we actually saving fuel and resources?	[ "Bonus question: At work, they took away the (recycled paper) coffee cups and made everybody use their own coffee mugs. This has resulted in everybody washing their mugs in the sink and using tons of paper towels. Which is worse?" ]	[ "When you suck on a straw, it isn't the suction pulling the milk shake up. It's the weight of the column of air above the milkshake, extending into space pushing down on top of the milk shake as air pressure. All you did by sucking was remove the weight of air on top of the milkshake straw that was holding it down....
Why do people only go bald on their head?	[ "Testosterone gets converted by 5-alpha reductase to DHT. DHT causes hair to fall out through its effects on the hair follicle. Because 5-alpha reductase is found in only a few places in the body (scalp for one), DHT is only present there are as well and its effects are localized." ]	[ "\"Just about everyone here\" Where is \"here\" for you? It sounds like your question's premise is based on a small sample set based on personal observation. Before your question is addressed, you should be making sure the premise is valid..." ]
How do restaurants get that "taste" that you can't get at home?	[ "Add fat and salt to everything until it tastes good. Restaurant kitchens get through a lot of butter." ]	[ "Most likely, the photos are highly processed to look good. Photographers also work hard to take photos at the right time with the right light, under the right conditions. The TV might be adding contrast and vibrance, as well." ]
Why do video games need the original source code file to be further worked on or remastered? Why can’t this be extracted from a copy of the game?	[ "Okay. So let's say that you want to bake a cookie just like the ones that grandma makes. You could try to eat her cookie, and then using your knowledge of baking sort of reverse engineer it, but it would be an incredible hassle and very hard to do. But if you had the recipe she used, it would be very easy to figur...	[ "a) valuation is a guessing game in many ways. It has to do with current sales as well as future projections. It basically comes down to how much people are willing to pay. What you want to see is a good return on your investment so people don't really care about gross revenues as much as they do net profits. They ...
Why aren't MLB ballpark dimensions standardized?	[ "I don't have any actual sources for this, but my stepfather is a sportswriter, a sports historian, and a baseball fanatic. Here's the explanation I received when I asked about this a while back: Most baseball stadiums weren't a part of city planning. They were sort of built wherever they fit, and sometimes it mean...	[ "It takes a while to implement the changes. How would you like it if the law changed overnight and you had to pay fees/go to jail next day without having a chance to adapt yet." ]
if a website's terms of service are legally binding does that mean it must be enforced?	[ "The terms of service take the form of a contract. In terms of enforcement, it's no different to any other contract. If either side feels that the other side isn't sticking to the terms of the contract, there may be provision made in the contract for some penalty (if you don't do this we will add XXX dollars to you...	[ "I once cleaned the offices of a local law firm, fairly successful, but quite small. In one room was their records. Apparently they had a case against Coca Cola. There were well over 100 3\" binders FULL of paperwork dedicated to this ONE case. I am talking bookshelves FULL of binders labeled \"X versus Coca Cola\"...
How does this Nikon 6mm camera lens see behind itself?	[ "These images might help you see it better, [source of them is here.](_URL_1_) [The Nikon 6mm f/2.8 cross sectional diagram with lines showing the light coming in.](_URL_0_) Nikon even apparently patented a 5.4mm f/5.6 lens with an angle of view of 270 degrees, though it was never made, [here's the diagram for that...	[ "> Are there any fabrics that act similar to one-way mirrors? Not only do fabrics not act like one-way mirrors, but one-way mirrors don't act like one-way mirrors. The \"one-way mirror\" myth is propagated by TV cop shows, but it's no less a myth for that. If you took a \"one-way mirror\" in a cop shop and turned...
As an example, if Penicillin gets inhibited by penicillinase, why don't we take another drug beforehand that would inhibit penicillinase so that Penicillin would be an effective antibiotic again?	[ "It does work. This is a common strategy for improving the effectiveness of certain antibiotics. Augmentin is an example of an antibiotic that uses this strategy. It's a combination of a pencillin derivative antibiotic (ampicillin) and a compound (clavulanic acid) designed to inhibit the enzyme that some bacteria u...	[ "Engineering new chaperone proteins is probably a ways off. There are potentially easier ways to treat prion diseases, anyway. Essentially, susceptible protein must \"nucleate\", or turn into an aggregate of the prion form. This process is sufficiently slow as to be negligible in vivo, though; nucleated prion prote...
The argument that math could have been invented rather than discovered.	[ "Great minds think alike. I may have found yer answer, matey. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Was math invented or discovered? ](_URL_2_) ^(_6 comments_) 1. [ELI5: was math discovered or invented? ](_URL_4_) ^(_12 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Is mathematics discovered or invented? ](_U...	[ "A can beat B in arm wrestling. B can beat C in arm wrestling. So we can deduce that A can beat C in arm wrestling. A has bigger arms than B, so A beats B in arm wrestling. B has bigger arms than C, so B beats C in arm wrestling. A (by deduction) has bigger arms than C, so A beats C in arm wrestling. So by inductio...
Why is the 'American Nazi Party' listed as Far-Left?	[ "Vandalism. Check the edit history. (With apologies to the mods, but I don't think this benefits from a longer answer)." ]	[ "You may be interested in this similar earlier thread. _URL_0_ See responses by Blanglegorph, jonewer and myself. The short answer is that any positions of relative advance (e.g. Rocketry) tended to be out of desperation, whilst Allied advances (e.g. Computers) tended to be more a case of doing things they could af...
From Facebook: "Pineapples were a status symbol in 18th century England. They were so expensive that you could rent them by the night and take them to parties with you". Can I get more insight on this?	[ "Just as a side note to \"why not strawberries\", they're not really exotic or exclusive fruit - they grow wild in forests, and cultivated varieties are very easy to grow without greenhouses all over Europe, even in the far north (in Norway, the best strawberries are considered to come from Trøndelag, which is just...	[ "[Ice houses](_URL_1_) - buildings for the creation and storage of ice for cooling purposes - are very interesting. Investigating their history might answer your query more fully. See also [Yakhchal](_URL_0_). [This article](_URL_2_) is about ice houses in the ancient world - from 1,700 BCE." ]
What's with this lightning strike? (Photo)	[ "Long story short: lightning can go in either direction. Long story long: lightning occurs to balance charges between two electrically disparate zones. We're used to lightning resolving sky-down as it's generally the clouds which build excessive negative charge, but on occasion, the ground may have a higher negativ...	[ "Although the theory involving refresh rate is a commonly held one, in this case (and most cases involving LCDs) the strange effect is caused by having the fine grid of pixels displayed on the fine grid of pixels in front of you now (your computer/tablet/phone screen). If you zoom in, the effect will change/disappe...
Do I really need to brush my teeth for 1-2 minutes? Why isn't a few times over each area good enough?	[ "Dental student here. Think of brushing to be more similar to painting than scrubbing. Its more important to cover more surface of the tooth than it is to brush hard (actually, brushing like you scrub can actually create problems). A common analogy is to think of painting a wall, but blindfolded. You want to take y...	[ "They don't look at the total amount of carbon, but at the ratio between different kinds (isotopes) of carbon. One isotope has two more neutrons in its nucleus, so it's called C-14, but the nucleus isn't stable, so over time it goes back to C-12 (the \"normal\" isotope). The amount of C-14 in the atmosphere is repl...
Consumption-Induced Tolerance. Why do you have to consume more of a substance (alcohol, drugs, etc) to achieve the same high or buzz after continued use.	[ "Simply put, your brain adapts to it and adjusts it's own production of several chemicals to balance out the drug you're taking. It appears to affect you less because you could imagine that usually, you'd add the drugs affects to your brains naturally produced effects. However, if the production drops, then the sum...	[ "That's how you naturally learn language. The meaning of many words aren't particularly helpful because to understand the meaning you need to have sufficient past context Let's take sit as an example. What's the meaning of \"to sit\"? > to rest on the buttocks or haunches sit in a chair —often used with down That...
Has Earth's polarity shifted at some point of history? What would happen if it did?	[ "Yes, it seems to do so every so often (on a geologic time scale) and we may be due for one in the next... ohh.. 10k-100k years. _URL_0_ That article doesn't seem too worried about it, and given how long it takes to happen they seem fairly confident that we'd be able to respond." ]	[ "I no expert but since the oceans/large bodies of water help regulate temperature is assume we would have much colder winter Temps and much hotter summer Temps. also the drop in temperature at night would be much greater ( like how deserts while hot in the daytime can also be dangerously cold at night)." ]
Why when there is a medical 'breakthrough' that seems like it will treat or cure a huge disease or illness, does nothing change?	[ "Largely because news stories sensationalize science without fully understanding it. There is a relevant XKCD comic that has a guy in a lab coat standing over a petri dish with a gun that says, \"When you see a claim that a common drug or vitamin 'kills cancer cells in a petri dish', keep in mind: so does a handgu...	[ "There are a lot of people in the world who don't care about laws, or the laws of other countries, or the property rights of other people. For example if you stole a piece of art from someone in England that a wealthy member of the royal family in Saudi Arabia wanted they probably don't care at all that it was stol...
Did suicide rates spike among Roman aristocrats/officials/merchants in Western Europe during and after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West?	[ "Although I don't know if there has been any research done in that regard, I can point you to [this previous answer of mine](_URL_0_) about some \"upper-class\" Romans active during the end of the empire. You'll see in that answer that although Odoacer wasn't very popular among the old roman aristocrats, he was onl...	[ "Above the threshold of the oracle at Delphi were three inscriptions which are characteristically Greek. The one to focus on here would be \"nothing in excess\". The Greeks believed that people should live life on a fine line where they sought to achieve personal excellence while at the same time remembering their ...
During wartime, did military factories continue to operate at night and on Sundays? If so, did overworked workers get compensated, or did they endure it out of a sense of duty?	[ "Hi OP, can you specify which war(s) and country/ies you're asking about? There have been many wars since factories have existed, and policies can differ across both time and cultures. This info will greatly assist anyone considering answering here. Thanks" ]	[ "I worked on Law & Order: SVU for 2 seasons. Basically each episode was prepped (pre-production: location scouting, rough blocking, casting, etc) in 8 working days (M-F). The same episode was then shot the following 8 working days. Then after that, it would go into post-production (editing and such). The director n...
How are people who are paralyzed from the neck down able to breath? How can they control they're diaphragm?	[ "Often people who have complete body paralysis DO need to be put on a ventilator that breathes for them. Those that don't likely have spinal damage below the C5 vertebrae in the neck, below where the Phrenic nerve arises from. The phrenic nerve provides motor control to the diaphragm and originates from C3-C5." ]	[ "From the air. Most parts of the underground are not 100% isolated from the surface, there will be ways for air to flow and diffuse there. The fact that the oxygen supply is limited is why underground peat fires tend to smolder for a long time." ]
Photo analysis/Face detection algorithms (snapchat face filters)	[ "I don't really have much experience in this field. But as far as I know it goes something like this: First of all the algorithm is trained on low-resolution images of faces from different angles. Several filters are applied to the training images to enhance facial features (I usually do something like: threshold, ...	[ "Have you ever those reCaptcha tests that ask you to select the squares with street signs in them? They are used to help teach self driving cars how to identify what is and isn't a street sign. Edit: CPG Grey does a video about it - _URL_0_" ]
What would the process be to repeal marriage equaltiy?	[ "Supreme Court reversals are exceedingly rare, and it would take an immense amount of public pressure to even get the cases pushed through. I don't see it happening. It's the same way that even when we've had conservative courts, they haven't tried to overturn Roe v. Wade." ]	[ "> What Gould the Feds to to the state? The Federal government could deploy military troops to enforce the ruling, similar to the deployment of the National Guard in desegregating schools. If push comes to shove it will end at gunpoint, one way or the other." ]
Are there any slave narratives from antiquity?	[ "Probably not really what you're looking for, but worth a shot: The books 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Ezra all contain narratives about the Babylonian Captivity. They're extremely religious in nature, and have likely been altered over the millenia (making their historicity debatable to say the least), but slave narr...	[ "This submission has been removed because it is [soapboxing](_URL_1_.), [promoting a political agenda, or moralizing](_URL_0_). We don't allow content that does these things because they are detrimental to unbiased and academic discussion of history." ]
Are there any symptomless diseases that humans pass between each other?	[ "One might argue that a disease without symptoms is not a disease." ]	[ "It is not illegal to share a movie or music on the original media. For example, you can legally loan or give your friend a DVD or CD that you bought from the store. But it is illegal to copy that and give it away, just like it's illegal to photocopy a book and give that away." ]
Why is chocolate poisonous to dogs?	[ "One of the abundant compounds in cocoa, [theobromine](_URL_0_), leads to [theobromine toxicity](_URL_0__poisoning) in animals that can't break it down quickly. It's a similar compound to caffeine and has some similar effects. It seems it causes heart arrythmias if it accumulates. Humans metabolize theobromine muc...	[ "It's the [maillard reaction](_URL_0_). Basically, when you heat food, sugar and proteins react to create a different substance that is brown and tasty. This is separate from what is happening when you cook just sugar (caramelization)." ]
Why is the brain considered such a complex machine?	[ "You are currently processing crystal clear images of your surroundings, focusing on this post, reading squiggles and translating them into sounds, connecting those sounds into words forming sentences with meaning while simultaneously feeling your hand on your mouse, smelling the air, hearing and interpreting sound...	[ "Like every Apple product, it is user friendly. It is really hard to screw anything up on it, and it is designed to be intuitive. How it is marketed has something to do with it too. (and their planned obsolescence helps keep them making money)" ]
Will we ever stop evolving?	[ "You're forgetting the difference between evolution and natural selection. Humans will always evolve (until we move past sexual reproduction or get designer babies) BUT through modern health care natural selection is becoming less and less effective on us." ]	[ "Every time you make a copy of a cell, there is a chance for errors. For example when you photocopy a first print, it is pretty crisp and close to the original, but there are a few minor discrepencies. Now if you photocopy the copy, it gets more distorted, and so on until some letters get hard to read, it gets diff...
How can a camera phone with a lens opening of a few millimeters have the same aperature as large lenses on a DSLR?	[ "You're confusing the aperture itself (which is the size of the opening) with the f/stop, which is the ratio of the focal length to that aperture. The numbers you're looking at are f/stops. (Otherwise, 2.0 would hardly be an improvement over 2.2, would it!)" ]	[ "[This post](_URL_0_) has links for pictures of all the Apollo landing sites. These pictures were taken by a satellite around the moon. It's essentially impossible to take pictures of these sites from Earth. Kind of hard to believe at first, but it's true. You would need an unbelievably large telescope because the ...
Do quantum mechanical principles only apply to subatomic particles or do they apply to nanoparticles made from multiple atoms as well?	[ "Quantum mechanical principles apply to all matter regardless. However, as mass increases they gradually become immeasurable and the probabilities of larger measurable events become ludicrously small. For example, there is nothing to stop the keyboard you are using instantly moving next door, however the probabilit...	[ "You are probably talking about some kind of electron microscopy (most likely [Scanning Electron Microscopy](_URL_0_)). These images are grayscale because they are simple intensity maps. Now, you are completely right in thinking that it would not work to acquire images of ~30 nm components using standard optical mi...
In the US, why are the vast majority of Asian/Caucasian mixed race couples Caucasian Male / Asian Female?	[ "Asian men are far less attractive to White women than Asian women are to White men." ]	[ "It's inaccurate to say that crumple zones are always safer than rigid frames -- it depends very much based on the type of collision and the position of the passengers. In a racecar, the type of collision and the position of the passenger is pretty consistent -- the driver is strapped in like an astronaut. It's bee...
Why are some deaf people able to speak certain words like yes and no but they have never heard the sound the word makes when the letters are formed or the words are spoken.	[ "It depends on whether the person was deaf from birth or somewhere along their life. for the question many learn to speak through speech therapy and talk knowing the vibrations of a word. for example, the difference between popcorn and noodles, notice how they have different vibrations in your throat. that pretty m...	[ "First, \"live\" television is actually delayed from a few seconds to a few minutes (so they can censor, alter, cut, etc. should anything happen). It also gives the T.V. station a little window to add close captioning. Now, your question : Close captioning is NOT done by typing. Instead, the captioners are sittin...
Are there any tips or advice that those with a PhD in History could give to future PhD candidates?	[ "Good advice above, try to really become good at speaking in public, having a good posture, being energetic and speaking rhytmically without stuttering, looking at people in the eye alternatively... Unfortunately during a lot of PhD final examinations, it's extremly common for most of the grand jury to not have rea...	[ "You can look at the current inflation rates, if one rate is much higher than the other your choice is pretty simple, for instance if you were going to school in Zimbabwe I'd say wait until the last minute to pay your tuition. But there's not much difference between the US and UK inflation rates, the US's is slight...
How did the first mammals get to the galapagos islands?	[ "I think it's generally accepted that animals are able to traverse open ocean on vegetative rafts. Basically, you might have a storm on land and have a bunch of trees and detritus gather up into a big floating pile, or raft. Given the right winds and water currents, these can get out into the open ocean and travel ...	[ "Sort of. As you can see in Jurassic park 3, they can find out the shape of the voice box and get an idea of the nature of their vocals. They probably couldn't work it out exactly, and a lot of Jurassic Park is sort of filled in gaps." ]
"Drain the swamp", so said the Nazis (research question)	[ "What's the source you read it in? also, what's the german phrase you're referring to? it would help if you could distinguish between wir sollten den Sumpf drainieren and some version using trocken legen." ]	[ "This submission has been removed because it is [soapboxing](_URL_1_.), [promoting a political agenda, or moralizing](_URL_0_). We don't allow content that does these things because they are detrimental to unbiased and academic discussion of history." ]
"Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us..." Is it even possible that this is an accurate quote of Socrates?	[ "In the text where you see God, he is not referring to the Judeo-Christian 'God', he is referring to 'the god' Apollo, whose oracle decreed that 'no man is wiser than Socrates' which sent him into the whole philosophical investigation because he didn't consider himself wise at all. I can't find a source for that qu...	[ "In addition to [Pompeiian graffiti](_URL_1_) and other [epigraphy](_URL_3_), much of which was quite crude, we also have the books for a number of comedic plays by [Plautus](_URL_4_) and [Terence](_URL_0_) and satirical poems by [Horace](_URL_5_) and [Juvenal](_URL_2_). And what were they like? Much like humor in ...
Why does amber preserve things so well? Do other things preserve stuff like amber?	[ "Things can still decompose inside amber. Stuff like insects look decent because the exoskeleton gets preserved, but you wouldn't necessarily see an absence of decomposition of its internal structure. The amber itself keeps out oxygen, which can slow or prevent some forms of decomposition. That being said, if you c...	[ "A couple factors: Age, Location, history * Age: Rome was founded almost 3000 years ago. The colosseum was built almost 2000 years ago. In that time materials physically fail (wood rots, concrete erodes). People also broke roman structures down for materials from time to time * Location: Rome...
Is there any evidence that suggest that the classic depiction Jesus was modeled after Cesare Borgia?	[ "hi, there's lots of room to discuss this further, but just fyi, this question came up before; you may be interested in the response from /u/Guckfuchs * [Is the common modern image of Jesus Christ really based off of Cesare Borgia due to his father, Pope Alexander VI?](_URL_0_)" ]	[ "Before I answer, may I ask who the speaker is for this particular lecture? Or if you have a link for me to listen to? I would like to know where they are coming from in their argument." ]
What is the difference between a coder, a developer, a software engineer and a programmer?	[ "To nonindustry people, its all same. However I think there's a good distinction. Coders/programmers typically do not get into the business aspects. Developers/software engineers get pulled into business aspects and business units outside of the software group. The next level up is architect, whose sole job is to ...	[ "NPR recently did a piece on this. Part of it is if the artist charges $200 then the artist is a money grubber. If a scalper does it, it is expected. Here is the piece. _URL_0_" ]
Why do some elements, like Hydrogen and Oxygen, only naturally occur with two particles (is that the right term? - H2, O2 etc) whereas most other elements don't?	[ "Diatomic elements (H2,O2,N2 etc) travel in covalent pairs because by forming covalent bond(s) they are able to gain a full outer shell of electrons. O2 has a double bond, sharing two pairs of electrons, this means that each atom essentially gains two electrons and its outer shell goes from 6 electrons to a full 8:...	[ "The molecules involved can be different sizes. An airtight object is water tight (assuming it doesn't fail). A watertight object is not necessarily air tight. A gap too small to let water in could potentially let air out. Some gasses can be even smaller. Helium balloons will actually leak helium through the skin o...
Is the supersonic boom a one time event or does it continue during the whole flight?	[ "The sonic boom heard follows the plane. As a point observer on the ground you hear the boom once as the pressure wave passes you, but if you could somehow leap a few hundred feet in the direction the plane is traveling, instantly after hearing the the sound, you would hear it again as the wave passed you a second ...	[ "There are two major \"leagues\" in American football. The Superbowl is the game at the end of the season where the \"winners\" of the two leagues play each other. Non-sports fans like to watch because halfway through the game there is a \"halftime show\" that usually features a major band or musical group. Also, p...
Why is it stressed that after skin contract with certain chemicals that you need to rinse with water for 15 to 20 minutes? Why such a long length of time? Wouldn't whatever it is be gone within 5 minutes?	[ "Many chemicals are dangerous even in extremely small amounts. You need to rinse with water for such a long time to make sure any trace of the chemical is gone from your skin. In addition, a lot of chemicals don't dissolve in water very well, so they are difficult to rinse off. You shouldn't use soap to try and was...	[ "I would like to have the vodka you are having. You dont swish vodka around in your mouth for 20 seconds." ]
Why was homosexuality with slaves allowed in the Ottoman Empire?	[ "Here's an answer to a similar question by /u/PaxOttomanica _URL_0_" ]	[ "A couple of archived threads contain a lot of good information. From February 2014, [this one here](_URL_6_) has a top-level comment about medieval Europe and a lot of further information in the comments below. And then [this one](_URL_5_) covers Rome, South American cultures, China, Japan, ancient Greece, and anc...
Why do round objects make noise when they roll on a smooth surface	[ "Neither the sphere nor the surface are perfectly smooth. A brand-new bearing on a pane of glass makes barely any sound." ]	[ "Do you ever repetitively click a pen? Or jingle the change in your pocket? Or chew your nails? Or throw a baseball with a friend or your kid? Or play with a stress ball? Or... Or... or... or... Why do people do those things? I think you're right that you're probably over thinking it and it's just a toy." ]
What is the actual sound you hear coming out of a car exhaust, is it the sound of pistons moving, fuel being burnt or something else?	[ "It's essentially the sound of hot gas expanding out through the exhaust valves of the engine at very high speed, dozens to hundreds of times per second depending on the speed of the engine and the number of cylinders, with the frequency being decided by the engine speed due to some funky things about acoustics and...	[ "The hot pan causes water from the sausage (or whatever you are cooking) to evaporate quickly. This forms a sort of cushion of gas (water vapour) between the food and the pan, allowing movement with far less friction, so the food moves around a lot more. This is the same effect as when water drops on a hot iron jum...
What happens during near-death experiences?	[ "First off: there isn't all that much known about NDE's apart from anecdotal experience. Chemically, it is often said that during an NDE, there is a release of certain neurotransmitters in your brain, including the powerful psychedelic compound DMT. This is often used as the explanation of the NDE, and the effects ...	[ "I would recommend that you read [this](_URL_0_) article. It's written by Christopher Hitchens who volunteered to undergo the water boarding process. The tl;dr version is best summed up by Hitchens himself > You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of...
How is China governed?	[ "China is a Communist State, in name only. It works with a largely rubber stamp legislative body, National People's Congress, who is made up of appointed party loyal members. The President of China is appoint by the NPC as another influential and loyal party member. In some areas the local representatives are elec...	[ "Could you be more specific? This is an extremely broad question that would take forty hours and several textbooks to properly explain." ]
Shouldn't gravity break the speed of light?	[ "No. > Since particles at least have some kind of mass This is not true, a particle need not have mass. Photons (quanta of light) are massless. > shouldn't gravity act upon these particles Gravity does act on them. Gravity is the result of curved spacetime which depends on the energy distribution including mas...	[ "Both special relativity and general relativity affect clock rates. * Special relativity: Faster moving clocks run more slowly, so a low orbit (fast moving) clock runs more slowly than a high orbit (slow moving) clock or than a stationary clock on the Earth. * General relativity: Low altitude clocks run mor...
How do people intercept data when you're using public wifi?	[ "I would say it's more like they eavesdrop on it than intercept it. Your data is still reaching the router like they weren't there. The WiFi router and your device just broadcast the data out there in all directions. It's freely out there. Now that said, it is encoded so you need to know how it is encoded. That's ...	[ "It's likely copyright infringement, you could definitely be sued for some amount of money that would depend on the suit, the court, and other factors. From what I understand it's not very likely but it has happened, it can happen, and it will happen in the future to some people for sure. Normally though you'll f...
Why are social workers known for making low wages despite their university education?	[ "In most countries, wages are not set only by education level, but also by the law of supply and demand. Since a lot of people are willing to do these jobs for low pay, nothing forces the agencies to raise the salaries. They'd rather hire more workers (thus serving more clients) than give raises to fewer workers....	[ "You might want to watch Inequality for All, it's a documentary available on Netflix. It actually addresses this exact question" ]
The War on Drugs--why this is considered a failure and why other countries who have refuted this practice seem to be more successful.	[ "We spend a shit ton of money trying to stop people from doing drugs. We spend a shit ton of money prosecuting and then housing said drug users in jails/prisons. It's considered a failure because despite all the money we spend enforcing drug laws along with the creation of the D.A.R.E. program people continue to us...	[ "Is this a homework question? It says in our [rules](_URL_0_): Our users aren't here to do your homework for you, but they might be willing to help. Remember: AskHistorians helps those who help themselves. Don't just give us your essay/assignment topic and ask us for ideas. Do some research of your own, then come t...
Which "medicinal" herbs have been proven to have an impact on human physiology beyond the placebo effect?	[ "Quinine for malaria * _URL_1_ Nutmeg as an abortificient, because it's poisonous in large doses. * _URL_0_ Asperin as an antifebrile * Do I really need to source this? Foxglove (digitalis) as a heart medication * _URL_2_ Opium as a painkiller * It totally works, trust me. Which brings up the old chestnut: *What d...	[ "Reading that page hurt my head so very very much. There is so much shit and garbage on that page it is ridiculous. No, these people are completely nuts. And for any of the points they did make that are valid - experiments performed after the results they discuss have disproven the original results - or the origi...
Why do microscopic images have to be artificially colored?	[ "If you're talking about [pictures like these](_URL_0_), they are taken with electrons instead of light, so they don't have any information about color (what wavelengths of light are reflected). In that picture, Ladanov made images at three different voltage levels. Then he combined the three images by making each ...	[ "[hemocyanin](_URL_0_), which contains copper, is blue. [hemerythin](_URL_2_), which has iron, is pink. [chlorocruorin](_URL_1_) also has iron and is sometimes either green or red." ]
Can anyone point me in the direction of original Martin Luther King speeches?	[ "[American Rhetoric](_URL_0_) is my go-to site for such things. Excellent archive." ]	[ "hi! in addition to /u/Jack_of_all_offs' link, here are a few more related discussions you may find of interest * [To what extent was the Tiananmen Square movement actually motivated by democracy?](_URL_1_) * [I've just read that there was no massacre of students in Tiananmen Square on June 4th 1989. What's the dea...
Why are prime numbers so important?	[ "People are gonna bring up RSA encription and that's fine, but that's not really what the guy was talking about. He was approaching the question as a guy who apparently is really into number theory—it's not an objective fact that prime numbers are more \"important\" than any other class of number. They are very fun...	[ "Think about things bouncing around. Imagine a box with a fan in it. Put 20 balls in ithe box. Now imagine a basket to one side just the right size for the balls. Turn on the fan. The balls jump around randomly. At some point a ball will fall into the basket. This will happen at a given rate which will depends on h...
Friday Free-for-All \| May 12, 2017	[ "That feeling when someone asks a really excellent and thought-provoking question, and even after putting in a bunch of research you don't feel qualified to provide an AH-quality answer. :( But I did learn a most wonderful Victorian euphemism for feminists: \"the Wollstonecraft order who do mischief.\" *And that ot...	[ "* [Did people REALLY march into machine gun fire in 1914?] (_URL_1_) * [Were the Generals in 1914 grossly incompetent?] (_URL_2_) * [Did the French fight in line formation in August, 1914?] (_URL_0_) ^ These answers I've given above should be pertinent! Suffice to say that NO ONE walked into waves of machine gun f...
If you evaporated tea then re-condensed the vapor, would it be plain water again?	[ "Technically, no, not necessarily. There may be compounds in the tea that have a lower boiling point and evaporate before/with the water. But I would imagine the recondensed vapor would be mostly water." ]	[ "I hope someone with a background in the relevant sciences can chime in, but from what I understand, H2O only sublimates at low pressures when exposed. Even a little bit of material on top should prevent this - I work with dry ice almost daily at my job, and simply leaving the lid on my cooler makes it all stay s...
Why is the weight unit "pounds" abbreviated "lbs" instead of something else that makes sense?	[ "It comes from Latin. Pounds were originally \"libra,\" which is actually short for \"libra pondo,\" which means \"weight pound.\" Bonus: this is also why the symbol for the British currency, the Pound, is an L, as in £." ]	[ "Three ways: * A shorter form of the name of the compound or active ingredient. eg: Tylenol is derived from the chemical name for the compound, N-aceTYL-para-aminophENOL. * They licensed the drug under a certain chemical name and use that. FDA: Acetaminophen is the sold name of Paracetamol * They use somet...
Why is it that every week "This Week in Science" tells us of all these amazing breakthroughs in health and technology, yet none of them ever seem to materialize into real-world solutions for humanity?	[ "It's either (a) Totally over-hyped, (b) still underdeveloped and won't be ready to be widely used for a very long time, (c) it's very cost-inefficient or difficult to manufacture/use (take graphene, for example, you can't mass-produce that stuff yet,) or (d) it's totally over-hyped." ]	[ "Remember when MTV used to show music videos instead of reality tv? Remember when the SyFy (Nee SciFi) network showed science fiction shows instead of professional wrestling? Remember when TLC (The Learning Channel) showed actual documentary type shows? (Insert obligatory \"Pepperidge Farm remembers meme here.\") T...
In the image below, whose uniform are we wearing? (Modern Dress Uniform)	[ "The uniforms pictured largely derive from the British Army Service Dress that was introduced in the early 1900s. While this was actually the combat uniform of the British Army, it has evolved to be the equivalent of a civilian business suit. [This picture](_URL_1_) shows what the uniform looked like during the Fir...	[ "UNC or \"Universal Naming Convention\" is just a common naming convention used in Windows for different shared resources on the local network. The general schema is \\\\\\\\ < device name > \\\\ < share name > \\\\ < optional path > . So let's say I have a several computers at home, and they are connected to my h...
How can paleontologists tell that they've discovered a new type of dinosaur and it wasn't simply a mutation or larger variant of an already discovered dinosaur.	[ "If the bone structure is so different that no small mutations could explain it. There's room for error in borderline cases." ]	[ "Mass production should actually make it easier - if a specific type of pepper varies in hotness, then it's hard to say what one pepper will taste like. But 10,000 of those peppers, all mixed up, will taste about like the average of all their hotness-es. So you'd just plan for that, I'd think." ]
Why do dogs, but not wolves, need to be groomed?	[ "Some domestic dogs have been bred to have long hair specifically, while wolves haven't had that selection pressure in nature. Also, some breeds of domestic dogs have continuously growing hair (so need more frequent grooming) while most dogs (including wolves) have hair that grows to a certain length then stops." ]	[ "Please use the search function. _URL_11_ _URL_12_ _URL_13_ _URL_11_ _URL_12_ _URL_11_ _URL_12_ _URL_13_ _URL_12_ _URL_13_ _URL_13_ TL;DR: Why is a bad question with no good answer. We can't tell entirely with other animals, because we can't directly communicate though anecdotally, many seem to." ]
What's stopping a commercial jet airliner from being flown into space?	[ "Aircraft rely on lift generated through aerodynamics to fly. The shape of the wings of the aircraft is specifically made to generate an upwards force (lift) as the aircraft flies forwards through the air. In the absence of air, there is no lift and the aircraft would be subjected only to Earth's gravity. In additi...	[ "Because there's a bunch of rock in the way, some of it molten and super-hot, and digging a tunnel is too hard. (Here, \"too hard\" means, totally impossible with present technology, even if you had an unlimited amount of money.)" ]
Why are so many prehistoric animals just bigger versions of animals alive now?	[ "It's an interesting question, but the short answer is... we're not really sure. There are a few theories. We are 66 millions out from our last mass extinction, which isn't that long in the grand scheme of things, but there we lost some ancient lineages prone to becoming giant as they evolve. Our atmosphere is also...	[ "The media in which the film's where originally captured in has higher quality then the old video tapes or even digital copies could produce. High definition releases of old movies captured on actual film (none of this applies to film captured digitally) do actually capture more detail then older methods could." ]
Why does milk remove the stickiness of peanut butter in the mouth?	[ "Remember chemistry class when they were talking about polar molecules breaking down other molecules and non-polar doing the same for other non-polar molecules? We see this all the time when we try to mix oil and water. Well Dairy is very fatty, so it can break down the fats in peanut butter where as water cannot s...	[ "Let's take plan old white glue for an example. It is a bunch of sticky stuff in water. When the water evaporates, the stuff that's left behind is frozen into place. When it's in the bottle, there's nowhere for the water vapor to evaporate to, so it stays wet and sticky." ]
Could you see distant stars as vividly as we do on earth if you were just floating in our solar system?	[ "The answer is yes, you could. If you were orbiting the sun, your observation point would be free of an obscuring atmosphere, giving you a wonderfully clear view of the surrounding space. However it is important to realize that Earth is doing this exact thing. The only difference in view between earthbound-you and ...	[ "> I see pictures like this: _URL_0_ and long to see this sight for myself. I think those types of pictures are taken using decent cameras with high ISO settings and a long exposure time (maybe 25 seconds or more). They don't reflect what you'd see with the naked eye, unfortunately. Here's one photographer's rendit...
Why do people think the first amendment grants them the right to say whatever they want without any negative consequence?	[ "> Where did this misconception that the first amendment means you can say whatever you want without any repercussion come from? A lack of understanding of the first amendment." ]	[ "Dates back to ancient Rome. In a lot of old languages, they hadn't invented the space or the period yet. Like just long unbroken strings of letters. So they started making the first letter of a word huge to indicate new paragraph. The tradition kept, and in the middle ages, they'd hand write/paint a huge fancy let...
Why are the top answers in this sub becoming similar in complexity to those at r/askscience?	[ "There's the issue of oversimplification leading to misinformation. Some things are complex enough that a simple answer doesn't really give the OP what they want AND leaves them with a more or less incorrect understanding of the answer to their question." ]	[ "Just as a reminder everyone, let's keep this as a general discussion and keep away from layman speculation and anecdotal evidence. I'm sure we can all discuss this question with scientific sources and keep unsubstantiated opinions to a minimum! :)" ]
Why does India use lakhs and crores?	[ "For the same reason people use millions and billions - it's a word for a number. Digits are fine if you're writing numbers out but you need words for them if you're going to talk to each other about numbers." ]	[ "Based on the Latin \"Numero\". Same thing for pounds (lb) \"Libra Pundum\"." ]
Some sources say yes, others say no. Is Francium Hydroxide considered one of the strong bases, like LiOH or KOH?	[ "Probably a reason why it is hard to come by is that Francium is quite radioactive and unstable. That doesn't address your main question, but should help explain why there isn't a lot of data." ]	[ "Well, the House of Habsburg went extinct in the 1740s, with Maria Theresa as the last 'true' Habsburg. Her husband, Emperor Francis I, was of the House of Lorraine. The house resulting from their marriage was styled as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, rather than simply remaining the House of Lorraine, and was ofte...
Why do clouds appear to move as solid objects in the sky rather than distort and change shape like smoke in the wind?	[ "They are constantly changing form like smoke, the distances are just so big you cannot see it easily." ]	[ "Your eyes are constantly making adjustments for your movement, and your brain corrects for motion blur. A camera has to take a snapshot during a moment in time. If you move the camera during that moment, then the image is blurred. However, if your camera has a very fast shutter speed then the image will not be blu...
To what computational structure are regex replace sequences Turing-equivalent?	[ "It's a bit difficult without a more formal definition of what exactly you are going for, but replacement looks like a [context-sensitive grammar](_URL_1_) rule. So I would suggest starting with [linear-bounded automata](_URL_0_)." ]	[ "Modern computers don't understand the instructions in a PS2 game. So they have to translate the instructions from MIPS (the machine code used by the PS2) to x86 (the machine code used by PCs) in real time. And you know how some words don't translate exactly into a single word in another language? Computer languag...
what is the definition of the word "cold" in deep space?	[ "The [interstellar medium](_URL_0_) is actually filled with particles. The density is much less than any artificial vacuum possible on the Earth but still quite a lot. And a collection of particles with velocities will have a temperature. \"Cold\" is just an arbitrary cutoff of temperature and depends on who you as...	[ "The computer has files of varying sizes. These take up varying amounts of spaces on the hard drive. Say you write to the hard drive 3 different files. One takes up 5 \"spaces\" the next 2 spaces, and the last 5 spaces. Later, you delete the 2 space file. Now you've got 5 occupied spaces, 2 free spaces, 5 occupied...
why does China keep hacking the United States?	[ "For exactly the same reasons that the US keeps hacking, say, China, Iran, and Russia. Practice, gaining useful intelligence, demonstrating dominance in this new arena of conflict, etc. Make no mistake about it: the US is probably better and more effective at this stuff than anyone else out there, and officials ha...	[ "Greetings everyone. In the few minutes this sub has been up, it's attracting sub-standard responses. Just a reminder of a few of the rules: * no responses covering events/conditions post-1994, per this sub's \"20-year rule\" prohibiting discussion of current events * no anecdotes * no speculation OP: your question...
Why does eating spicy food make you more sensitive to hot (temperature) food as well?	[ "My understanding is that spicy food is spicy because of capsaicin, the chemical responsible for \"hotness\". It binds to thermoreceptors and stimulates the same sensory pathway as something that is truly hot, temperature wise. Menthol acts in a similar way, it activates thermoreceptors that respond to cold tempera...	[ "Neural adaption. Basically, your brain only cares about a change in stimuli rather than every stimulus that comes along. Your brain knows how to ignore a stimulus if it isn't changing. So, if you are tasting/feeling the same thing all the time, your brain is going to ignore it." ]
What would happen to the inertia if two black holes collide?	[ "Depending on the speed, they literally bounce off each other but enter a bound state, they continue to collide until the lose enough energy to combine in the process of combining they create a \"kick\" (which pushes the accretion disk outwards) which results in a loss of energy and allows them to combine into a la...	[ "Here is the formula for an electric dipole (two things close together). Gravitational is near identical other than a few constant for the most part. _URL_0_ Basically the answer is never. Ignoring the constants (which are the only real difference) only way to make it appear as a single charge (or mass) is to take...
How would medieval warriors compare with modern experts of the same weapons?	[ "hi all. All comments so far have been removed, which have been links to rebuttals of the now-well-worn archery video. Please note that the OP is not asking about the video, or even archery: the question is regarding other weapons. Thanks!" ]	[ "Back then people still needed jobs, now they dont and can practice harder for longer. And science helps by showing then methods on improving motions. You cam find cool videos on youtube" ]
Why do western CEO's not cut their salaries during bad times like most Japanese CEO's and what are the implications of doing so?	[ "For many of them it's because they don't make their money via their salary, instead it's via bonus, their salary represents their minimum pay. [Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg all make $1](_URL_0_), Elon Musk makes miniumn wage at Tesla but refuses it. Obviously they are paid well, but w...	[ "Here's a [picture](_URL_0_) that might help explain. That figure is the \"analemma\". You can create such a thing by taking a picture of the same location in the sky (assuming the Sun is there) at the same time of day throughout the year. What you'll notice is that the Sun doesn't just trace a line back and forth,...
Un vs. In, which prefix should I use, and why?	[ "The ultimate decider here is etymology. English already had a native prefix for negating the meaning of words: un-. When you unbutton a shirt you perform the opposite action of buttoning it. But English borrowed a lot of Latin words, either directly or via the French. In both of those languages there's a differ...	[ "Let's do this in a really simple, visual kind of way. Here's two ways of expressing the same thing: WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW 17 W's. Now, they both show the same thing. But the second takes up only 6 characters (including the space), while the first takes up 17 characters The same basic idea is how data compression works...
Our Sun is said to have a mass of 1,989 × 10^30 kg. When did this measure taken? What was our Sun initial mass? When will be say that the Sun has a mass of 10^29 kg, assuming a constant fuel usage?	[ "> When did this measure taken? At some point during the last 100 million years (in practice: in the last 50 years). It doesn't change that much over time. If you would have given more digits it would have been more important. > When will be say that the Sun has a mass of 10^29 kg, assuming a constant fuel usage? ...	[ "> Besides being expensive You can't just flippantly dismiss the cost as if it's only a minor setback. Let's find out just how expensive it would be, shall we? In the US alone we generate approximately 4.6 lbs of trash per person per day. There are 316 million people in the US. That's 1.5 billion pounds of trash p...
A friend noticed these circular weather patterns over the US...any ideas on what causes this?	[ "I grew up in the South. Oftentimes as evening set in, and humidity rose, the radar towers would show false echoes really close, just like in your picture." ]	[ "The \"rally round the flag effect.\" Anytime there is a crisis that clearly is not the president's fault, it is common for citizens to band together and support the decisions being made. _URL_0_" ]
Why do most people experience a dream of teeth falling out?	[ "Dreams are very subjective and as a result depend on both the circumstances within the dream and in your life. But there does seem to be some element of consensus of [survival,] (_URL_1_) [change,] (_URL_0_) or the control (or lack thereof) that we feel in our lives that lend to these dreams occurring. The fact t...	[ "Someone correct me if I am wrong but it goes back to when we had much hairier bodies and when alarmed we as well as a lot of other mammals would puff up our hair to make ourselves look bigger. Think of how when you scare a dog or a cat it hunches up and its hair stands on end, same thing happens to us just we dont...
When we use scientific methods to determine the age of an object, what was the object before it "was"?	[ "This depends on the method use. With say, uranium-lead dating, we can examine a zircon crystal. Zircon incorporates uranium and thorium but contains no lead. All lead produced in that crystal is therefore assumed to have been produced by radioactive decay in the time since the crystal formed. Radiocarbon dating ma...	[ "Access to materials is a big factor. There's only so much you can do with a stick and some mud and some berries on a cave wall. Oil-based paints and brushes made from animal hair give you a lot more flexibility in what you can do. Also remember that older things have more wear, so that's a small part of what you'r...
What happened to the Irish Druids?	[ "/u/depanneur and I double-teamed a similar question a little while ago. Since it was both of us, [I'll point you to the thread](_URL_0_) rather than copying the answer here. :)" ]	[ "Could I request a clarification? Are you looking only for answers regarding the IRA during the \"Troubles\" or are you looking for the entire length of the existence of the IRA?" ]

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