Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
Would constructing nuclear reactors several miles offshore be a safer, but still practical, option for earthquake prone areas like Japan?	[ "Some people think so... _URL_0_ I am a fan of nuclear power, but I am not sure whether locating a nuclear power station offshore makes it inherently safer. From the point of view of earthquake resistance - yes. But other failure modes are introduced - e.g. corrosion and collisions." ]	[ "Imagine you have a computer on your house. Now you want to connect that computer to your friend 100 miles away. How do you do it? You could lay a 100 mile cable, but do you have the permissions to dig up roads and pathways? You would use a company whose cables were already there, and just use that network of cab...
is passing out from pain equivalent to a circuit breaker?	[ "It's a poor analogy, but it works nonetheless. Many people pass out because of the vaso-vagal response. Their heart rate slows to almost zero, blood pressure drops, eyes roll back, they sweat, get pale, and pass out. This can happen from something a simple as placing an intravenous line. Passing out during torture...	[ "It depends where the injury is and how severe it is. The nerves that control your body are aligned in a specific order, basically from the legs (near the bottom of the spinal cord) up to the head (near the top). If an injury occurs in your neck that completely severs the brain from communicating to the regions tha...
Why is it necessary to go to such great lengths to eliminate contaminants when manufacturing electronics like cell phones?	[ "It depends on the thing you're manufacturing. With semiconductor parts even tiny specs of dust can cause failures by changing the electrical properties of certain regions of the chip, so manufacturing is done in clean rooms. With other things that are less sensitive, dust is a concern because it can cause the hea...	[ "Touch screens sense the [capacitance](_URL_1_) of your fingers, which is a related but different concept from conductivity. Implementations do of course vary, but the basic idea is that you have a grid of sensors which continually measure the capacitance of a local region; when you touch the screen, you change the...
the difference between 2G, 3G, and 4G. I understand that they get better but what makes them better? What would prevent me from taking an old razr phone and putting it on 4G?	[ "G is for Generation, different generations of cellular data transfer technology. 4G isnt even truly a new generation its more of an expansion on 3G technology. When you buy a phone it has a chip in it for data/cell service and an outdated chip will not work with the new protocols and requirements for a 4G connecti...	[ "> how do different parts of the crystal know to stop growing at the right point to give it a \"regular\" shape? They don't, and if you need a crystal that ends in a single layer you should polish it very, very carefully. Atoms rarely start a new layer - the new atom is weakly bound and doesn't fit well to the over...
What is the difference between a 2.8 dual-core processor from today and a 2.8 processor from a few years ago?How is todays processor better?	[ "Hey, a question in my field for once! (well, almost) One thing that nobody has brought up yet is memory bandwidth. Memory bandwidth is the rate at which you can feed data to the processing areas of the processor. Bandwidth has traditionally scaled slower than clock speed, so it's become an increasingly important i...	[ "This occurs for the same reason why the hottest part of the day is usually around 3 PM. To picture this, imagine a pot of water on the stove as the earth and the fire beneath the pot as the sun. The flame is set on high like the months of June during the solstice until the water's temperature reaches 50C. Then, li...
Why do we subtract fiber and alcohol sugars from total carbs when on a keto/low carb diet?	[ "Fibers are carbohydrates, but are not readily broken down by the digestive system, and are largely excreted in feces. (This property is beneficial in itself). Alcohol (as in ethanol itself) isn't technically a carbohydrate (although beer, wine, and mixed drinks may still contain a significant amount of carbs )"...	[ "They're counted separately because Reddit was originally just a link-sharing site. There were no comments. When they decided to add comments & self posts, they decided that those should not count towards your link-sharing score. This means comments are tallied separately & self posts yield no karma. There's no m...
Does a fish see clearly when out of the water?	[ "When light moves from one medium to another, it refracts (distorts). The eye evolved underwater, so it evolved to have fluid inside it so light would move from the water into the eye without refraction. Your eyes have adapted to compensate for the refraction that happens when light goes from the air to the fluid i...	[ "That's what a magnifying glass is for. Our world is built around average visual acuity, and having a slightly improved acuity doesn't benefit people all that much. For example, being able to make out the contents of your computer monitor from a few more feet away is useless, since you still have to be able to rea...
How does the mlb regulate the dimension of a park when its being built?	[ "The rules \"Any Playing Field constructed by a professional club after June 1, 1958, shall provide a minimum distance of 325 feet from home base to the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction on the right and left field foul lines, and a minimum distance of 400 feet to the center field fence.\" (Rule 2.01) Team...	[ "There was a great short YouTube documentary about the company that does this for the Premier League posted in r/soccer a while back but I can't find it right now. Basically there are a bunch of guys who sit around and watch certain games on computers with special software that lets them keep track of all this stuf...
Is light affected by temperature?	[ "The terms \"cool\" and \"warm\" light refers to the color of the light. Cool light tends towards the blue, while warm light is more red. This stems from colors being classified similarly, probably because fire is reddish and warm and snow is blueish and cold. Physically, blue light is more energetic (and therefore...	[ "Yes, vitamin D synthesis is impaired, which may also explain higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, and some cancers. This article covers it: _URL_0_" ]
If humans are genetically programmed to find healthy looking people more attractive, why do we find sun-tanned people attractive, when its essentially just skin damage?	[ "It's not a universal thing, cultural thing. Historically some cultures have found pale far sexier than tan. This was because to be pale was upper class, to be tanned meant working out in the sun." ]	[ "I'd probably go for how high-calorie food tastes delicious. Obviously in a natural competitive environment, food's not readily available, and so the sense of taste evolved to enable identification of high-calorie food (as well as identifying bitter poisons) so you can find the best possible food to keep you from s...
Pharmacists, why does it take 15-30 minutes to fill a prescription like pills, even when it's not busy?	[ "Just because you're the only person physically there doesn't mean you're the only person getting a prescription filled. Prescriptions are transmitted directly to pharmacies from doctors offices, prescriptions are dropped off for later pick-up, and refills can be requested via certain pharmacy apps given the script...	[ "If you ask for 1 pen, it costs you two dollars. If you ask for 100 000 pens, they will only cost you one dollar each. I prefer selling you 100 000 pens at half price, than selling you 1 at full price and have 99 999 sitting around doing nothing. In a similar way, if you ask for a small amount of money, you pay a b...
Why, despite rough population parity, was the USSR considered a nation with bountiful manpower, and not the USA?	[ "In 1913, the German population was 65 million, That of the United States approximately 91 million, and Russia was roughly estimated at 170 million. I include Germany as a comparison because in wartime strength is relative. The USA was only about 50% greater in manpower than Germany, but Russia had a two and a hal...	[ "I will rather openly admit that I don't really understand the question. I thought Nationalism was the mindset that Ethnicity was important, and that each People should have their own Nation and all that. But then you argue against \"Nationalism in the Middle East\" by saying for example that minorities in Syria th...
When and why did the idea that mice love cheese originate?	[ "There is a lot more to discuss on this topic, but it has been, at least somewhat, answered before [here](_URL_0_) by u/throwouttwa and [here](_URL_1_) by u/gamblekat. Probably not as in-depth as you were hoping for, but read while you wait for a new response!" ]	[ "This is a pretty common question here; here's some links from the FAQ: _URL_2_ _URL_4_ and a few others that have been posted over the years: _URL_3_ _URL_1_ _URL_0_ Most posts agree that it is largely a post-war pop phenomenon with fairly little evidence to support it." ]
Why does soda taste bad when it goes flat?	[ "Carbon dioxide dissolved in water forms carbonic acid, which has a sharp taste. Soda has sugar added to offset this. Without carbonation, there's no carbonic acid, meaning that the soda tastes too sweet. You can re-carbonate a soda if you can put it under sufficient pressure with carbon dioxide." ]	[ "The pressure doesn't keep increasing. It's pressurized to a certain level and stays there. Just as a balloon can hold pressure for days without the pressure increasing and bursting it. Edit: Or how a heavy book on a shelf doesn't press harder and harder until it breaks the shelf. The pressure has stabilized." ...
How famous companies, corporations and businessmen escape from big amount of taxes?	[ "They have accounting firms and teams that take advantage of everything they can within the tax code. Not just the US tax code though, they look at all the countries they operate in and come up with a plan that gives them the most efficient tax plan for their company. A good example was how Apple use to hold all th...	[ "See [here](_URL_1_) and [here](_URL_0_) for information about the Rothschilds specifically. Many of them left the country pre-war. Incidentally, that's what a lot of German Jews did. Despite difficulties in immigrating to other countries, the German Jewish population declined substantially pre-war." ]
As an English speaker, how can I "know" the language of a foreign text?	[ "Human brains are really, really good at finding patterns, and also at processing linguistic information. You've learned to recognize various patterns common to languages you've been slightly exposed to. It doesn't take all that much to become familiar enough with a language that you can recognise it more often tha...	[ "1. medical expenses, hospitals would most likely use debt collection agencies, these agencies would have contacts in other countries. The foreign agencies may be able to turn the case to local authorities, or settle it in court. 2. Traffic fines. Traffic fines obviously are handled by the authorities, they would ...
If bruising is caused by a blunt force trauma breaking small blood vessels, could you get hit by something (baseball, car accident...) that could cause a big enough blood vessel to break that would cause serious harm or death?	[ "Yep - Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes died last November when a ball hit his neck and caused a vertebral artery dissection. The artery was compressed from the impact, causing it to split and leading to a massive bleed into the brain." ]	[ "You see because light stimulates the cells in your retina, as you likely know. However, light isn't the only thing that can cause signals to fire from your eyes to your brain. Among them, pressure can also cause stimulation, making signals travel to your brain. Your brain, on the other hand, doesn't know the diffe...
Is it Possible for a Planet to be made up Entirely of Liquid	[ "Do you mean a 'planet' covered in liquid or something completely liquid? It's possible but the chances are very small and the planet/oid that would be made would have to be incredibly small do to the density of the liquid in question it might be too massive and unstable since it will constantly be shifting. What w...	[ "Nasa, among other groups with space exploration in mind, are asking that question themselves: _URL_0_ It seems the biggest problem to overcome is the low atmospheric pressure, which sucks the already rare water out of plants. Nutrients don't seem to be a problem." ]
Why haven't we put a man on Mars yet?	[ "The farthest we've ever been from the surface of the earth is 248,655 miles, and that was by accident (Apollo 13). The closest Mars gets to Earth is 33,900,000 miles. The escape velocity of a planet is much higher than that of the Moon. We would need to send down a landing device that would have the capability of ...	[ "Costs money to build and maintain the facilities, some countries don't feel like taking on the burden of that cost." ]
Why is Tupac considered one of the greatest rappers of all time?	[ "Mainly because of his charisma and how he shed light on real problems like teen pregnancy, mistreatment of women, and other black community/poverty issue, not just random songs about partying and hitting clubs (though, he had songs like that too). He studied poetry and had a real way with words that wasn't really ...	[ "You answered your own question. Influential people often get streets named after them. There are streets named after JFK, Washington, and Lincoln to name a few in many large towns as well." ]
If everything is pulled down by gravity then how come smoke and other gases rise?	[ "They do get pulled by gravity, otherwise the earth wouldn't have an atmosphere. When you see these gases rise, the density of the air around it is higher than the density of that gas and so the air around it gets pulled \"harder\" by gravity, causing the gas to rise. To put it simply, imagine holding and releasing...	[ "This won't be the most in-depth answer but it's kinda like this Plants and tree love sunlight. They use it in photosynthesis to create this neat stuff called glucose, which is pretty much sugar. Allows them to grow n stuff. So the higher they get the more likely they are to get sunlight, which causes this thing c...
Why do people with downs-syndrome look different?	[ "People with down syndrome have an extra chromosome, when you should normally have 23 pairs, people with downs have an extra chromosome on the 21st pair so theres 3 instead of 2. This causes them to looked baby faced, with a small chin, protruding or oversized tongue, an almond shape to the eyes. TL;DR extra chomos...	[ "I dont exactly know what your talking about do you have a photo of a reference of this ?" ]
If cursive writing is no longer taught in schools, how do younger people sign their names?	[ "Cursive is still taught, though it's slowly being phased out. The simple answer is that they just write their name. Signatures being in cursive is just a convention. There is no law that says they have to be in cursive." ]	[ "They don't. It's a marketing ~~lie~~ gimmick. I used to work for a company that did a similar thing by mail. New customers were supposed to sign up by a certain time for special rates but as a specific matter of policy we'd give those rates to anyone who mailed back the special offer." ]
If all matter on earth spontaneously converted to antimatter, would anything be different?	[ "There would be massive explosions every time a tiny meteor entered the atmosphere." ]	[ "Such hypothetical / speculative / open-ended questions are better suited for our new-ish sister sub /r/asksciencediscussion. Please consider reposting there instead." ]
Why can't astronauts use sunlight in space to help grow vegetables/plants?	[ "If their only mission was to grow plants, they'd be able to do so. Since they've got other concerns, it's much easier to recreate the light source than it is to constantly maneuver the ship so to have direct sunlight for 14 hours a day. You'd also need a clear bulkhead to allow the light in. It's just easier to b...	[ "This is pretty much how we preserve food (think about packaged cakes which last for months on the shelf). The bread would dry out very quickly in vacuo as the water would evaporate and be pumped out by the vacuum pump. This is why twinkles and the like are packaged with argon or nitrogen gas. The proteins in the b...
If you were to travel through the debris of a supernova in a space ship, would it look anything like it does when seen from earth?	[ "Probably not. If you go through a cloud (in the atmosphere), you'll notice moisture, but you don't really see the cloud as one sees it when standing on the ground. The colored gas (what we see) in such nice pictures is actually not very dense. Even the outer layers of a star aren't even that dense. When going thro...	[ "There's a proof-of-concept project currently underway for Project Starshot, a proposal to send probes to other stars. Roughly speaking, the program would consist of a series of small probes (think iPhone-sized) accelerated by laser arrays and solar sails. The probes wouldn't be designed to slow down at the other e...
Is there a physiological purpose for my dog kicking up dirt with his back legs after relieving himself?	[ "There are sweat glands located on the footpads of dogs so it is thought that this is done as a way of spreading their scent around in the dirt to mark territory. This behavior may be more excessive if the dog detects the area has already been \"marked\" by another dog. The visible action of kicking up the dirt thi...	[ "Because of things under the floor of the car. Rear wheel drive cars have a drive shaft that runs from the transmission to the rear differential. It needs to be high enough off the road so that it doesn't bash into things, so they have to make a hump in the floor of the car. (or they could make the floor higher, b...
How did people drill straight holes in the ancient world?	[ "I know short answers are frowned upon here, but the simple answer is that hand drills and augers were invented tens of thousands of years ago, and so have been readily available for pretty much all of human history." ]	[ "Follow up. Would they be able to figure it out considering the travel times involved in traveling between the hemispheres back then?" ]
When you drop a ball spinning it like a top, why is it spinning the opposite direction after it bounces?	[ "For the same reason that balls bounce in general. When you drop a ball without any spin on it, it begins to compress when it hits the ground. It eventually ends up compressed enough that the momentum of the drop is canceled out, at which point it begins to decompress, causing it to rebound upward. Well, when you...	[ "When you tell a child \"don't ever lick cold metal\", you'll often find the kid with his tongue stuck to a metal pole as soon as you turn your back, even though it would never even think to do that if you said nothing. It's called reverse pshychology, and it applies to most people. You could say we just don't like...
Is there maximum as to how loud a sound can be?	[ "Sound is a pressure wave. You have a region of high pressure followed by low pressure, high, low, high, low. You can make an arbitrarily high pressure, but you can't have a low pressure zone that's lower than vacuum. This caps the loudest true sound at about 194 decibels. Anything louder is more like a blast wave,...	[ "Increasing the gain on commercials is illegal yes. But the law doesn't say anything about turning down the gain for the shows." ]
Why do fish when they die artificially float to the top of the water, but don't appear to in any other case?	[ "This also depends on what the fish died of. A common problem in pet stores is swim bladder disease which will cause the fish to bloat. Other illnesses do not result in floating bodies. Back when I kept fish (both fresh and salt water) I had the occasional bout of ick and the fish that died sank to the bottom." ]	[ "The pressure doesn't keep increasing. It's pressurized to a certain level and stays there. Just as a balloon can hold pressure for days without the pressure increasing and bursting it. Edit: Or how a heavy book on a shelf doesn't press harder and harder until it breaks the shelf. The pressure has stabilized." ...
What do the letter classifications (KROQ, WFAN, KMOX etc.) for radio stations mean and/or how are they assigned?	[ "K and W denote the assignment area, general east (w) and west (k) of the Mississippi, the other 3 letters are either requested by the registering party or randomly by the FCC." ]	[ "Trailers are rated just like movies. As far as I know there are only red and green ratings for trailers. Green - Ok to play before any movie Red - Only can play before R or NC-17 movies Now the reason you've only really saw green up to this point is that (a) trailers cost money and why would the studio pay to have...
Is it feasible to try and learn "all" of history starting from 5000 bc to modern times?	[ "History is a lifelong pursuit. You can always learn more about a specific subject. If you are looking for an overview, just pick one topic at a time and start reading. To specifically answer your question, it depends on what kind of coverage your interested in. The scale that you are interested in will determine ...	[ "Hi - we as mods have approved this thread, because while this is a homework question, it is asking for clarification or resources, rather than the answer itself, which is fine according to [our rules](_URL_1_). This policy is further explained in this [Rules Roundtable thread](_URL_3_) and this [META Thread](_URL_...
Why are car manufacturers creating cars that vary little in appearance?	[ "To a great extent, they always have. Compare cars from the same era and at least to me they (mostly) look the same. Cars from the 40s, for example, all look very similar. Yes, there will be some convergence, caused by safety requirements and you may be overestimating how similar they are. [This](_URL_1_) doesn't ...	[ "Nostalgia, too ~ a lot of older guys that now have lots of money are reliving their youth - they either had one when they were young & want another, or wanted one when they were young and can now afford to pay the big bucks to get one." ]
What's the difference between bacterial pink eye and viral pink eye?	[ "The phrase \"pink eye\" is commonly used to refer to conjunctivitis, because pinkness orredness of the conjunctiva is one of the most noticeable symptoms. Bacterial conjunctivitis is a common type of pink eye, caused by bacteria that infect the eye through various sources of contamination. The bacteria can be spre...	[ "Not exactly Rome, but in very early Byzantium, racing fans where hugely influential in society. By the time of Justinian I, there were two big fanbases: the Greens and the Blues, based on the color of the racers' shirts. There used to be Reds and Whites as well, but they had been absorbed into the other two when t...
Medieval Warfare, Combat and such.	[ "This is a wide-ranging series of questions. While you await for answers for them, our FAQ has a number of answers for some of them, as well as some general context for how medieval armies were raised and equipped: * [How William the Conqueror Raised his Army](_URL_3_) by u/Rittermeister * [Did Medieval Armies co...	[ "Slightly off-track, but why does it have to be a movie?My aunt teaches that age-group History, and sometimes will show them a sketch-show called \"Horrible Histories\". Its a BBC comedy sketch show that is aimed towards children, has high-level professional actors in it, its very educational and its hilarious aswe...
How is it that a Russian company can buy PBR while sanctions are in effect?	[ "The sanctions in effect against russia aren't the same as an embargo. Only certain economic activity is limited. The activities and people limited are chosen in order to most effectively harm Russian leadership to get them to change their course. For whatever reason those who devised the sanctions didn't think pre...	[ "Grocers often have their own brand of many foods and drinks. They simply pay the factory to make extra packages with the store's name on them. They rarely own that factory." ]
In the heat of battle, has an individual soldier, or an individual junior officer, ever made a deceive difference in a battle?	[ "I would recommend reading some of the citations for Victoria Crosses and Medals of Honor - a great many of them are exactly that. For example, Captain (then Lieutenant) George Fraser Kerr earned a Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Canal du Nord, which included personally rushing a strong-poin...	[ "I don't so much think of it as an evolutionary thing. There's really no benefit to being confused. It comes down to computing power. Your brain just takes a minute to recall old information/piece together new information to develop an idea of where you are and how you got there. I'm currently in flight school and...
Why are all external body parts, like eyes or ears, symmetrical along the spine but some internal ones, like the heart, are asymmetrical?	[ "It's important for accurate sensory input that eyes/ears are symmetrical. It's important for speed and balance that limbs are symmetrical. The organs don't have this requirement, and are bunched in to be space-efficient." ]	[ "DNA is stored in large clusters inside each cell in your body known as Chromosomes. Each cell has the exact same set of DNA. There are a total of 23 pairs, or 46 total chromosomes for humans. You get 23 of them from your mom on one side of the pair, and 23 from your dad on the other side of the pair. One of these ...
If the common cold and flu's seasonality is caused by communities clustering indoors due to the winter cold, do we see an inverse trend in hotter countries where the winter is pleasant and the summers drive people to stay inside?	[ "There are other seasonal factors that affect the flu, such as: in cold weather people spend more time in close proximity than in hot weather; flu virus transmission depends on humidity and temperature (and is higher in cold dry air than in warm dry air); human immune system is sensitive to vitamin D levels, which ...	[ "It's a part of so called [sickness behavior](_URL_0_). Imagine you're an animal living in wilderness and your food/water sources are scarce and require certain amount of energy to get to them. At the same time, there is quite high chance that you will fail in this task so it is wise to avoid search for them and in...
Since protons and electrons combine to form neutrons in neutron stars, how then can the star emit EM radiation if there are no electrons in it?	[ "Neutron stars are not exactly 100% neutrons. They are just mostly made out of neutrons. They also contain a smaller amount of electrons and protons. These charges can emit radiation, as well as maintain a magnetic field." ]	[ "Normal microscopes use visible light, which reflects off of the object you are looking at, back through the lens, and into your eye. The constraint to that is that light has a specific wavelength, and it is very difficult to see things that are smaller than the wavelength of light you are using. Electron microscop...
What are some things about contemporary or recently extinct animals that we wouldn't have known if we only had fossils of them to study?	[ "How some species are related. A lot of what we know about how species are related and how close/far they are is based on genetic research, which would not be done if left only to the fossil record. The intelligence of some species might also be over looked. For example, we would have no idea that chimpanzees coul...	[ "We can see how fast the universe is expanding right now. When we look at distant stars, we are looking into the past, and that lets us see how fast the universe is expanding in the past. This gives us enough information for us to use General Relativity to predict the expansion of the universe all the way to the pa...
As an Indian if I were alive in England during the middle ages what would my ethnicity be considered?	[ "Post-Roman England? Anglo-Saxon England? Viking England? Norman England? England of the Magna Carta? Late Medieval Elizabethan England? The middle ages stretched almost a thousand years with a lot of different societal, cultural and religious differences in that time. Regardless, we have no evidence that ethnicity...	[ "Royalties must be paid to you every time something sells, even if the business isn't making a profit. Equity means you own part of the company, which is only useful if the company itself is profitable or valuable." ]
Can this sub offer any information on this disc that I found?	[ "To me, it looks very similar to many [medieval wax seals](_URL_0_) that I've seen. Have you tried to do a rubbing (where you gently press a crayon against a piece of paper over the item) of it? That might pick up more of the writing. Latin was used as the universal language up until pretty recently - really, unti...	[ "Strength. The rims etc. allow thin plastic to be stronger than it would if it didn't have any shape to it." ]
What does the Q in LGBTQ mean. How is Queer different from L,G,B or T?	[ "Q can stand for queer or questioning. Queer in this context is more than just gay or lesbian, it's a term that includes all of the L, G, B, and T, or anyone who doesn't identify as straight or part of the gender dichotomy of male/female. Basically, \"out of the sexual norm\"." ]	[ "The basic problem of quantum computers is to retain entanglement. Entanglement is a global property of a quantum system. That is, if you have 1000 qubits, you need each of them to be able to be entangled with all of them. 100 10-qubit computers is not as good as one 1000 qubit computer. Classical computers have no...
How did we find out what part of the brain does what?	[ "As Dr. Ramachandran often says in his books, the main source of information are people. You find somebody who lost some ability after accident or illness and locate what part of the brain was damaged. You can assume that the damaged section was responsable for said function." ]	[ "If you lived a few thousand years ago, you could make a good map of the constellations of the zodiac piece-by-piece at night. Then, at sunrise or sunset, you could measure the angle between the sun and celestial objects that are visible even in daylight: the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter are the best choices. You then ...
What caused WW1 and WW2?	[ "WWI was caused by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a member of the Serbian terrorist group known as \"The Black Hand\". His assassination caused Austria to go to war with Serbia, which in turn triggered a network of treaties all across Europe like dominoes that eventually resulted in WWI...	[ "Can someone explain the difference between Dementia and Alzheimer's, please?" ]
What is SD-WAN, and what does it matter for companies going forward?	[ "SD WAN is where you take two or more sources for internet (whether different ISPs or separate circuits) and split connections between them to make one larger pipe. For companies it also adds the added benefit of having the ability for one ISP/Circuit to go out and still function." ]	[ "I thought it was explained pretty well by this old tek syndicate video _URL_1_ Definitely worth a watch!" ]
The push to deny corporations personhood. How are corporations currently exploiting their status as individuals?	[ "The problem is that corporations are not people. Real people eventually die, real people do not have billions of dollars (most anyway), and real people can be held criminally responsible. First one is obvious. Second one is bad because a corporation can throw insane amounts of money to get rally for legislation t...	[ "Two main ways come to mind: * Generally, this is done when you test animals on a particular cognitive ability, and you show that the animal also possess this. For example, you can use the [mirror test](_URL_0_) to see (i) at what age children develop self-awareness, and (ii) if animals are able to complete the tas...
Why is a good night's sleep better than last minute study the night before an exam?	[ "Its hard to concentrate while tired. Sleeping also stores your short term memories into long term ones. Your brain needs sleep before it properly stores info from that day. It also has an emotional effect. Being tired and moody means bad attitude for test." ]	[ "Hmmm...have you ever been constipated? Like really constipated, for days? You want to poop, you know you should poop, but you just don't have the feeling, so you can't. If you sit on the toilet, it doesn't change anything, you still can't poop, so you wait. That's what it's like. You lay in bed, eyes close, trying...
Is Winston Churchill's history any good?	[ "It's very much out of date, like most works from the early 20th century. It's also highly ideological, a work of rhetoric by one of the last centuries masters of that art. If you read it, read it for the literary qualities of the work. Churchill's other histories (\"The World Crisis\" and \"The Second World War\"...	[ "Just an add-on question, how hard was it (during the time of the Indian struggle for Independence) to get into colleges like Oxford, Cambridge and UCL? Was it as hard as it is today or comparatively easier? (Gandhi attended UCL, if I'm not mistaken.)" ]
Why do rainbows appear as a smooth arch and not some irregular pattern?	[ "The rainbow is actually a cone pointing toward the sun. The tip of the cone pokes the viewer's eyes and it looks like a circle from your perspective. The best way to explain this to a five year old would be to go outside on a sunny afternoon with either a squirt bottle or a garden hose with a mist nozzle. Face you...	[ "From a distance you're only viewing the largest features of the smoke cloud. Up close, you're viewing much smaller, faster moving features of that cloud. Due to the fractal nature of such an object these features are different sized but similar looking. Next time approach the cloud but be mindful to focus only on ...
Can a self sustainable Hydrogen Gas Station be possible?	[ "Well, I can answer part of the question at least: 2H2O - > 2H2 + O2 E=-1.23V Assuming 1g/mL and assuming ~4000mL/gallon (I'm doing quite a bit of rounding here). That means that 5,000 gallons would be about 20,000,000g. We know the molar mass of water is 18g/mol which gives 1.11 x 10^6 mol water. Free energy for e...	[ "There's an experimental plant called [ITER](_URL_0_), still under construction. The trouble with fusion is that you're basically putting the sun in a bottle, but we're still figuring out how to make the bottle." ]
Why is the set of real numbers between 0 and 1 uncountable, but not the set of all integers?	[ "You do not have any irrational number in your list. You don't even cover all rational numbers, although that is possible with different approaches." ]	[ "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...
When I'm filling a glass of water, why does the sound of the water entering the glass get higher in pitch as you pour more water?	[ "Variable pitches in a sound are due to the frequency of the waves in the sound. The more waves per second, the higher the pitch. Because of this, pitch is also indirectly related to the length of the wave since it is easier to get a short wave to a higher frequency. This is why bigger people and men have lower vo...	[ "Think about it like this: If you had a solid pipe, 2 inches wide, that stretched from sea level to near-vacuum space, what would happen? Let's say that we don't know. So change the diameter to 4 inches. Still don't know? Change it to 8 inches, then a foot, then two feet, then ten feet, then a mile, then one mile, ...
The work of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics winners.	[ "There's these things called quantum particles, which are really really small and are very difficult to see. If you try and look at these quantum particles, then you disrupt whatever they're doing. Observing them causes them to change their behavior and their state, because they act differently when they interact w...	[ "Mate, you're going to need to come up with a better example. That JFK cover is from 2013, ahead of the 50th anniversary of his assassination, a time when folks were inclined to overlook JFK's flaws. The 1968 Nixon cover is an allusion to the popular belief that Nixon lost the 1960 presidential election because of...
How true is it that average human age was skewed by high infant mortality rates hundreds of years ago?	[ "[Here's a diagram made from the Swedish bureau of statistics](_URL_6_) data. The lines show how large percentage of women (kvinnor) and men (män) are alive at any given age. Here you can see that a large percentage of children die early - at age 10, less than 65% of people born are still alive. However, if you did...	[ "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...
France and World War 2	[ "Slightly off topic but if there's anyone whom has surrendered most in European history, it's the Austrians. During the French Revolution and Napoleonic, the French were considered to be needlessly brave and they believe themselves to be the bravest people in all of Europe. Further, it must be added that France has...	[ "This isn't so much a historical question as a biological one, that is, the question of how various body compositions react to malnutrition. Furthermore, given that the portion of the population of 1940s Europe who could be deemed obese was likely incredibly marginal, we don't really have enough points of historica...
In WWII, when the USA sent supplies to Vladivostok how did they do it? As they were still in war with Japan, I am very confused about this. The linked documentary shows that the supplies were brought to Siberia, THROUGH Japanese waters. Please explain?	[ "They used Soviet-flagged ships with Soviet crews. As the USSR was not at war with Japan and Japan wanted it to keep that way, they didn't interfere with the shipping." ]	[ "Norse expeditions around 1000 CE are well established. Polynesian contact is also well regarded at this time, though some people are holding out for an archaeological smoking gun. The linguistic evidence associated with the spread of sweet potatoes through Polynesia is fairly convincing, but an actual archaeologic...
What is a topological material?	[ "A topological material is a material whose physical properties on it's surface is markedly different than it's properties in it's interior. A common example is a topological insulator, which has a high electrical resistance inside the material but is quite conductive of electricity along it's surface." ]	[ "The technologies you are referencing are what type of connection you have to the internet provider's backbone to the internet. * DSL internet uses phone lines * Cable internet uses TV lines * Fiber internet uses fiber optic lines (speed of light transfer, well... 2/3rds speed of light) Generally, Fiber > Cable > D...
What factors contribute to the sex of a baby?	[ "Actually the thing that matters more than the chromosomes is the environment (Estrogen or testosterone during development). There have been situations where a person has an XY chromosome however is completely female. This is due to another genetic mutation that made the person's body is unable to process testoster...	[ "Math. After we were able to accurately monitor and figure out the body's course it was simply (not that simple) math and physics that told us where it would go. (EX: at day 12 month 5 yr 1981 it was here, on day 27 3rd month yr 1984 it was here, insert big math problem, and we now know that on day 1 month 1 yr 198...
Can I, as a male, confer female genetic traits from my family's line to my daughter?	[ "Yes. I don't know how much of this is carried on the X chromosome, but you have an X chromosome. You got it from your mother and you will pass it on to your daughter. Your son doesn't get it though, so anything carried by the X chromosome he won't pass on to his son. Also, anything in the Y chromosome only gets ...	[ "You guys need to cool it on the un-research knee-jerk answers. Just because you think it's ridiculous doesn't mean it hasn't been tested. So provide a citation to reinforce your skepticism, and maybe you'll learn that your skepticism was unfounded. That's what I learned when I read this paper where [Royal Jelly in...
If alcohol brings blood vessels closer to the skin, making more susceptible to cold, would drinking alcohol help reduce a fever?	[ "Alcohol doesn't bring blood vessels closer to the skin. What I think you are referring to is flushing of the skin, specifically the face, after heavy alcohol consumption. In this case there is just erythema of the subdermal capillaries of the face (can include the neck, shoulders, and in rare cases the whole body)...	[ "An assumption inherent in Avogadro's law is that the distance between the atoms is much larger than the size of the atoms. Compare for example an ideal gas to a van der Waals gas. In liquids this assumption does not hold, because all the molecules are basically touching. An ethanol molecule is quite a bit bigger t...
. Why does food packing say "Use by" a certain day rather than "Consume by" a certain day. How else should I be "using" my cheese wiz?	[ "\"Use\" takes many fewer letters. Since the message isn't essential marketing to get you to buy the product, the less space it uses the more is available for Marketing." ]	[ "End now essentially means the following Os: program, please close now. finish what you're doing and stop. program: < ignores the OS being unresponsive and stuck and all > Os: program, please stop. program: < ignores the OS > repeat ad infinitum . terminate means Os: program, please close now. Program: < i...
Why don't Japanies swords have crossguards?	[ "While there were some (elaborately decorated) cross-guards invented in the Edo period called katanatsuba (刀鍔) and another type called mamorokobushi (護拳) katanas generally lacked cross guards and hand protections for the simple reason that they were quick withdraw* (not primarily for thrusting however, as I've ...	[ "[Here's another response I wrote awhile back on this topic](_URL_0_) — feel free to ask follow-up questions though! Short answer: 1. they knew about the idea of atomic bombs prior to Hiroshima, 2. they got their initial information about what happened to it from American announcements, 3. they sent a survey crew t...
How does Plan B work?	[ "It has one and only one mechanism of action, it inhibits ovulation. A variety of hormonal changes happen as the ovary readies an egg \\(a.k.a follicle\\) for ovulation. Ovulation, the actual release of the egg, is triggered by a massive surge of a hormone called luteinizing hormone \\(LH\\). After ovulation the eg...	[ "Yes Each cell in your body has 2 copies of 23 chromosomes, 23 from mom and 23 from dad. Sperm has a single set of 23 chromosomes, each one randomly picked from mom or dad. In addition, chromosome from mom and dad also exhange information. So even if you get a chromosom from your mom, it might have some Dad's gene...
What determines what art is a masterpiece?	[ "Masterpieces in this day are misnomers, and in fact, back when it was used correctly, an artist only had ONE masterpiece. He/she would begin as an apprentice and practice and refine their craft. Eventually, they would present to their teacher a masterpiece which signified that they have learned their craft and wer...	[ "You have to take into account all these different factors: - What tissue/structure do you want to see? - At what resolution do I need to scan? (how detailed should the picture be?) - What does is cost to order that type of scan? - What is the effect of the scan on the patient and do I want this? (X-Ray/CAT is bad ...
Wednesday What's New in History	[ "It's [#AskACurator day](_URL_34_) on Twitter! Go ask museum people some things so they can have an excuse to be on Twitter at work!" ]	[ "BTW, for those that are downvoting this question, I would appreciate it if you could take a moment to explain the motivation. On reddit in general I could care less if something I write gets downvoted, but here in askHistorians it decreases the chances something I ask will get answered so if I am breaking some sor...
How could people during wars such as the American Revolution and the Civil war become a high ranking officer with 2 years of service? (President Garfield comes to mind. Major general served 1861-1863)	[ "2 factors are at play here. First off, a military during war time will be larger, and is losing more people to death/injury. This ensures that more high ranking positions will be needed, and more openings created due to causalities. Second, war creates plenty of opportunities for a solider to show their worth. A...	[ "In the early Roman Empire, Emperors would attempt to maintain the illusion of living in a Republic although they held all the real power and the position of Senator was mostly for social prestige, not for influencing the Empire politically. This was referred to as the Principate, and lasted until roughly 280 AD. L...
Can Someone Please Explain Startup and Shutdown for An Aircraft?	[ "Modern aircraft are much simpler thanks to computerizing the engines. Most of the switches and buttons are for various systems during flight - de-icing, various radios, etc. I work with P-3s and starting engines relatively simple. Without any understanding of how all the switches and relays work, you turn one knob...	[ "I know Air travel and contrail contribution to cloud clover definitely changes surface temperature in cities. In the 3 day stand down of (almost) all air traffic in the days following the 9/11 attacks, there were measurable decreases in surface temperature . I can only assume the effect would contribute in other m...
How do waves from radars, once they hit the plane, bounce back to the radar since plane surfaces are round and radars are small.	[ "The great part about waves is that they bounce in all directions. So no matter what it hits, as long as your dish is sensitive enough and the plane’s made out of reflective material, you will get some response back." ]	[ "This question is asked regularly. The simple answer is that the shape of your outer ear alters the frequency response of your ear to a source, depending on if it's in front of or behind you. Assuming the source is somewhat familiar and relatively wide band (a voice, for example), you can determine where the sound ...
Can you put the pin back into a hand grenade?	[ "How a modern hand grenade works is that the pin acts sort of like a safety, the spoon really is what causes the grenade the start to tick down. That being said though, you can put a pin back in, though it is only true when the spoon hasn’t been removed from the grenade, thus starting the countdown." ]	[ "We aren't really sure why, but it doesn't seem that something like that can be done. Think about it like your bladder; you can build up a need to urinate, but you cannot urinate so much that your bladder is more than empty." ]
Engineering why did it take the Juno probe five years to get to Jupiter but only two for the Voyager 1 & 2?	[ "Voyager went sailing past therefore relative speeds could be much higher. Juno went into orbit therefore the relative speed had to be much lower. Plus add in that fuel is a precious commodity and they didn't have much spare fuel to slow the craft down when it got to the destination. So the overall transit speed ...	[ "You're going to have to be more specific. Do you mean early church as in St. Thomas? If so, there would be no need to communicate with Rome. They weren't Roman Catholics and the doctrine of Papal primacy hadn't been fully developed yet. If you mean the coming of the Portuguese, they would've worked through a nunci...
The American School System	[ "SAT's British equivalent would be GCSE, but SAT I (the test most people takes) is a general test covering math, reading, grammar, logic, and writing. However if you can do exceptionally well in one subject then you can take the optional SAT II, it's a single subject test on many, many subjects. Most people only ta...	[ "depends on your measuring stick. people did what was best for them given the amount of natural resources, environment, etc around them. for example, maybe europeans had guns, but tomatoes originated in central america. where would you be without tomatoes? guns have little to no effect on your life, but i bet youv...
Why do humans have such a hard time with calculations?	[ "Computers were build to be good at calculations. The human brain evolved over many thousands of years to be able to do complex tasks like recognizing voices or faces, though there was never a need to be good at calculating, hence we are not good at that." ]	[ "You know how authors write long stories using letters and words and the rules of grammar and writing? Its just like that. With enough knowledge of how to read (math), these kinds of explanations make sense. Dont feel bad that you cant read it. Its just like if you tried to read a story in a language you dont know....
Why do videogames cost more in Australia than in USA?	[ "It's not just games and software. The PPP - purchasing power parity - of australia is 166% of the US level, which means that all things in australia is on average 66% more expensive there compared to the US (only norway is higher). Reasons that causes a high PPP that apply to australia: High transportation costs -...	[ "Websites look at the billing address you used and based on the state the address is in, they match it to that states current tax rate." ]
Is all digital information just a number? Are programs numbers?	[ "Yes. Essentially. All programs can be viewed as numbers and all data can be viewed as numbers. Digital music, pictures, video, etc. Numberphile has a funny episode on [illegal numbers](_URL_0_)" ]	[ "Imagine you want to cook some food. You reach for a recipe book. Not being very brave you go for something simple. You take the eggs and mushrooms and butter and ham out of the fridge, and you follow the instructions carefully. At the end of the process you enjoy your omelette and think \"if I ever want this omele...
How do they decide what movies are shown in theaters and which aren't?	[ "Theatres get paid by movie companies to screen that movie. That's why low budget films struggle to get a box office return, whereas Pirates of the Carribean can pull a billion across their movies. Having a big budget aides not only the production but the release." ]	[ "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." ]
Why does hot glass break when exposed to the cold? (Ex. When you pour cold water over a hot glass pan cover)	[ "The sudden temperature change causes the glass to shrink rapidly but since only some areas are cooled while others remain hot, the strain on the molecular bonds becomes too much and it basically tears itself apart and shatters." ]	[ "It's not directly proportional. There are two things that need to happen for ice to melt: 1. The ice needs to be heated to the melting point of 0C 2. The ice then needs to gain energy to overcome the enthalpy of fusion, in a similar way that boiling water needs extra energy to go from a liquid at 100C to a gas (st...
Why can't a website tell wether if its the password or username that is incorrect when I enter it wrong?	[ "It can, but for security reason they don't tell you." ]	[ "Doing that is the only way to differentiate between the top students. If the test is easy, and 5 people get 100%, then the professor has no way of knowing what advanced topics those students are struggling with. Be making the test difficult enough that no one gets 100%, it becomes possible to rank the top studen...
why do many people frown upon folks who order steaks well done?	[ "Imagine an apple. Large and juicy, full of flavour and nutrients growing on the branch. Think of it ripening, at some point it's at it's perfect levels of sweetness, crunch, and juiciness. Delicious right? Same with a rare steak. If you let it go too long, it loses the flavour. Loses the moisture content, loses...	[ "Context is important. I'm not surprised to see a hot dog at a hot dog stand. I'd be surprised if I opened my wallet to pay for a hot dog and it only had a hot dog inside. I'm not surprised to see beach clothing at a beach, but would be concerned if I'm about to go into surgery and the surgeon shows up in a speedo....
40 years ago how many people in the USSR would have had to agree to give the order, before they could launch a nuclear strike on the US?	[ "Soviet defector Oleg Penkovsky, active approximately a decade before you are asking, said: \"... The employment of atomic weapons will be the decision exclusively of the Central Committee of the Communist Party through the Ministry of Defense.\" This implies that it was simply a majority vote of a sub-committee of...	[ "There's a psychological principle known as chunking by which people tend to automatically or at will divide large, unmanageable amounts of information into smaller, more useful pieces or chunks for the purpose of memorizing data. Think of a phone number. You don't remember Jenny's phone number as 4258675309, it's ...
If H+ (Hydrogen Ion) called a "proton" does that mean they have the same size(mass) ?	[ "An H+ ion is literally a proton. There is no fundamental difference between the two." ]	[ "It's easier to break up the clumps when there is less room for the clumps to slip away from you. When there is a lot of water, the powder will end up in a few clumps that swirl around, and if you just stir without seeking them out, they don't break up easily. When tehre is less water, simple stirring will cause th...
Are all molecules on Earth the same age?	[ "No. Atoms are not the same age either. I'm sure there are new theories out now, but I believe only energy has existed with time identically. Atoms can be made in stars. Hydrogen crushed in to helium, so on and so on. Then atoms can form molecules. The energy is used to make all this matter. On earth the bulk of ...	[ "Basically they all start from the oil we pump out of the ground.All of these things are inside that oil. We then heat the oil in a large tube that has many different levels. As the oil heats up all the different parts become a gas at different temperatures and they settle in the level where the temperature is cool...
If genetic mutations are random, and only later sorted according to the advantage or disadvantage they yield during the struggle to reproduce, why don't we see more functionally neutral traits?	[ "Most mutations are neutral. (This is sort of a trick, most are going to be silent. They are neutral because they don't change any morphology.) You are confusing traits with sequence. Traits are things like arms. It does not really make sense to talk about a trait being neutral, neutral is in comparison. All traits...	[ "Setting aside the terminology of \"race\", it's entirely down to selective pressures of the different environments. In equatorial regions where the sun is plentiful, having a lot of melanin is useful in protecting against cancer. The further north/south you go from there, the less sun there is, so having less mela...
Why are bugs so attracted to light like its the end all be all of existence?	[ "Insects use the sun to navigate. Since it's really far away, it's in the same direction for the duration of the bug's flight. But a porch light is so close, the bug has to circle to keep the light in the same position in its field of view. And it's just going to circle tighter and tighter. It can't get away, becau...	[ "Although flying in a straight line may be a more energy efficient path, the erratic flight patterns mean that their movement is less predictable by predators such as birds. Overtime this evolutionary advantage has stuck." ]
Is there a difference in suicide rates between people who have already had children and those who haven't?	[ "Having children can be a protective factor, but it can also in some contexts increase suicide risk. A very large Danish study found that whereas parents were generally less likely to commit suicide than non-parents (especially parents of young children, for whom the risk was particularly low), parents who had rece...	[ "The chemical imbalance theory of depresssion is questionable. For example, most antidepressants on the market are a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. However, there is also an antidepressant that is a serotonin reuptake enhancer. And the fastest acting antidepressant in the world, ketamine, doesn't act on serotonin a...
. How does a knife cut through stuff	[ "Every material has some amount of stress it can absorb before it gives way. Knives create a lot of stress by taking the force you apply and putting it in a very small surface area." ]	[ "Take a look at this video at starting around 2:10 : _URL_0_ To summarize, it's made out of very thick materials (steel, titanium) and many safety precautions to make sure data is not destroyed." ]
How effective were the zero fighter planes in world war II	[ "I'm not sure how much damage the fighters did overall, exactly. The fighters were extremely well designed and constructed, though. Expert engineering. Aerodynamic as a bird in flight, and about half the weight of the American equivalents. The wiki entry probably has more useful info than I can give." ]	[ "Not discouraging further answers, but: The Bismarck's design was really quite bad -- you may be interested in this [older thread](_URL_0_) where u/DBHT14 and u/thefourthmaninaboat discuss the ship's design flaws. (Tirpitz spent its career at anchor, so its fighting qualities were never tested.) Since that threa...
I've always wondered this: did FDR know, or even just suspect, that the Japanese would attack the U.S.? If so, how much did he know (when, where, etc.)?	[ "It was no great secret that war between the US and Japan was a realistic possibility in 1941. Indeed, you can read the speculation in American newspapers from the time period that the situation in the Pacific/East Asia was rapidly reaching a crisis point. Given the situation in Europe obviously everyone recognized...	[ "Sorry, we don't allow [\"trivia seeking\" questions](_URL_0_). These tend to produce threads which are collections of disjointed, partial responses, and not the in-depth discussions about a particular topic we're looking for. If you have a specific question about an historical event, period, or person, please feel...
If we restrict fossil fuel use in the US, wont it just get sold to other countries and burned up either way? How does restricting it in one or two places have any net effect on the atmosphere?	[ "The idea is to reduce demand by conserving and using alternate renewable forms of energy. If demand falls, less will be produced. There is only so much storage available. Eventually you have to stop pumping it up from the ground when hardly anybody needs it." ]	[ "I've never been to USA, but if you are refering to faint flickering than it's caused by atmosphe. It's same effect when you look at tarmac on hot day. The air over the ground is much hotter and rises. The hot is at the same replaced by colder air from above and mixing of those two causes the image to warp and flic...
I've heard that 86% of the Earth's species are undiscovered. If 86% are undiscovered, how do we know about them?	[ "ecologists use a [species area curve](_URL_0_) to estimate numbers so species. It works somewhat like this, you sample an area for number of tree species. As you sample more plots you pick up more species, but with every sample the number of new species found becomes fewer. this would continue until you sampled th...	[ "For the most part they don't. This is why the SATs change every year and sometimes they're extremely difficult, and sometimes not. Otherwise you can know if a test is accurate by testing known samples. Take personality for example, you know bob is an introvert so you design a test to test him. Now somehow bob tes...
Why are far away objects blurry for people with bad vision, and why do glasses help?	[ "So the eye is a lens that focuses light onto a spot in the back of the eye, much like how camera lenses focus light onto a small sensor. Similar to cameras, if that lens moves to close or too far away from its focal point, things get blurry (at different distances). People that are near/far sighted have misshapen ...	[ "I was curious about this as well. A quick search turned up this on Wikipedia: _URL_0_ The fraction actually has a very specific definition. Distance from chart in the numerator, letter size in denominator. Essentially, 20/20 is considered 'normal' as in the baseline of what the majority of people can see. Smaller ...
Why do you have to keep a person who is in critical state of health conscious?	[ "Mainly so they can be monitored for signs of shock. In a trauma incident a 1st responder is looking to maintain the victim's airway, breathing and circulation. If they are alert and talking you immediately know their airway and breathing are decent and you can focus resources on controlling their bleeding or tend...	[ "To confirm that you're ready. What if the game just started and something came along and killed your guy?" ]
Do we get hungry because we need energy or because our stomach has nothing left to digest?	[ "A tangent question, why does your stomach \"growl\" when you're hungry?" ]	[ "Imagine a bathtub full of water, the water represents electricity. The bathtub has a faucet, which represents the generation of electricity. Imagine now that there are little holes in the bottom of the bathtub, all plugged up. When ever a home needs power, unplug the drain and let the water flow out. Now imagine ...
Can police/ambulance personnel just turn on their sirens/lights or do they have to meet some criteria before?	[ "Each agency has criteria for usage of lights and sirens. Some areas are more loose, some more specific. I've worked with some agencies where there are highly specific rules - others operate on more of a \"use your best judgment\" rule. As an example, when I was working, I'd have my lights activated frequently if I...	[ "Yup. You must ALWAYS clear a sample or risk infringement. In fact, in [Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films](_URL_0_), N.W.A. was hit with a lawsuit for using a two-second guitar chord and lost. This changed the music industry's practices of sampling. Before Bridgeport, it was allowable to use small sampl...
Were German and Japanese soldiers still being paid in the closing months of the war?	[ "Follow up question: what happened to the soldiers who survived? Were they converted to laborers for the cleanup effort or still used as soldiers under the new government? Because having a couple hundred thousand armed unemployed people doesn't sound like an option." ]	[ "How would we know what an \"average citizen\" thought? Every text we have is produced by the elite class. Whether people lost friends or family is impossible to know in the specifics. We do know that military disaster did not affect the political careers of the generals involved. Rosenstein in Imperatores Victi ...
How is radiometric dating reliable over billions of years?	[ "It's similar to how courts require only enough evidence to establish the claim 'beyond a reasonable doubt.' After scientists have tested and tested and re-tested something to the point of 5 sigma, it's reasonable to conclude that such is the case, and if someone still denies it's true then the burden of proof fall...	[ "Redshift isn't proportional to the time between when the light was emitted and when we receive it. Actually, it's closer to proportional to the age of the universe at the time the light was emitted. (Not exactly, though. See [this](_URL_0_).) And the light we're seeing from the galaxy was emitted when the universe...
What are the actual effects of long term marijuana use?	[ "Long term smoking can lead to COPD (Bronchitis + Emphysema), but smoking anything will most likely lead to this. Anyone who says it is harmless should be ignored, regardless of the method of intake. Realistically, I don't think there is enough long term study done to be able to say anything concrete." ]	[ "In theory.....Under communism, the end result of socialism, work is voluntary and lacks any material incentives. The number of mentally and physically healthy people who would not want to work, especially when work has become less alienating and less strenuous, is minuscule. A post-scarcity society can more th...
Was there ever a warrior who could kill tens of opponents single handedly in close combat like we often see in movies?	[ "hi! there's lots of room for more input, but fyi, you may be interested in this earlier post * [Was it actually possible for one warrior to dominate a battlefield like Achilles or Jaime Lannaster?](_URL_0_)" ]	[ "Sorry, we don't allow [\"trivia seeking\" questions](_URL_0_). These tend to produce threads which are collections of disjointed, partial responses, and not the in-depth discussions about a particular topic we're looking for. If you have a specific question about an historical event, period, or person, please feel...

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