query stringlengths 20 300 | positive listlengths 1 1 | negative listlengths 1 1 |
|---|---|---|
Why are there no mainstream alternatives to YouTube? | [
"There are, but not many (Vimeo, DailyMotion, Twitch, …). Storing and streaming video is quite expensive. Before being bought by Google, YouTube lost money at an incredible rate. Now Google absorbs YouTube costs the same way it does for its other services: by squeezing out the most personal information from its use... | [
"A village well's. There is enough water deep undeground, just not at the surface. And most beduins today have satelite dishes and internet, So i think they are managing just fine :D"
] |
Did poisoned weapons (especially arrows) ever got used in warfare ? | [
"In Vietnam the Viet Cong would make booby traps and on them they would rub various poisons and feces on the damaging parts of the trap. Example is a Punji Stick: _URL_0_ Here is another sourced article on the topic for your read: _URL_1_"
] | [
"As a reminder, [top-level answers](_URL_0_) in this community need to be \"comprehensive and imformative.\" Single-links to Wikipedia and unsourced opinions do not clear that bar. This question already rests on a part of history hamstrung by the fuzzy diagnostics of diseases in the past and an almost unavoidable b... |
Why do prey that vastly outnumber a predator, often flee instead of fight? | [
"Same reason humans run when there's a single guy shooting up a school/movie theater/whatever. Sure, they might take him down, but chances are some people are gonna take a few bullets. Nobody wants to be one of theose people. There are some exceptions, of course (e.g. parents defending their children), but in the ... | [
"The ground underneath the lake is already saturated, which means there's already as much water in the pores as there is room for. If you kept pouring water on the ground, it would stop instantly absorbing once the soil was saturated, and the rest would run off. In hydrology terms, we call the initial portion that ... |
If one conflict before WW1 would be named World War, which one it would be ? | [
"Winston Churchill once said that the Seven Years War could be considered the first true world war, but I am struggling to find a source for that quote. Nevertheless, the Seven Years War was indeed fought on global scale, with fronts in continental Europe, Africa, India, the Americas, and across the oceans. I would... | [
"I would hazard you're being down voted because you're unflaired and taking 1 course doesn't really qualify someone to give a full answer. E.g. I studied I and while I may feel qualified to answer basic questions I would never presume to give a detailed nuanced answer on a controversial topic. This is especially ... |
ELI5:Why aren't women allowed to play in MLB teams, even when they're good enough to compete? | [
"> Jackie Mitchell was able to strike out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession, which shows women aren't incapable of competing with men. That's not a valid conclusion. In a sport where a .300 average is good, it is not unusual for two top hitters to get retired back to back. They also happened to be the fir... | [
"The New York Attorney General declared it as gambling and doesn't want the two sites taking bets from New York residents. The site has always been a mix of gambling and fantasy. Here's the full article _URL_0_"
] |
how those finger sensors at the doctors office can tell what my oxygen levels are at. | [
"Red blood cells are a different colour when it's saturated with different levels of oxygen. So the light bounce off your red blood cells and the probe sees what colour it is."
] | [
"> Nothing about it makes sense to me. How does this work? It is simple: Saps pay money for a red LED light and believe any pseudoscientific nonsense that is tossed their way. The scam artist makes a load of money off this fad. Of course it doesn't do anything, there is no evidence that the \"therapy\" works, but t... |
Why don't ISPs just go ahead and upgrade everything to fiber already? | [
"Basically due to the monopoly held by the ISPs, why bother? Note: Places where ISPs have to compete against Google Fiber, they upgraded very quickly. If you take a look at [this link](_URL_0_) it estimates that for one moderately sized urbanized city, it could cost around $94mil. [This link](_URL_1_) estimates wha... | [
"You pay extra for HBO. Cable networks rely on ad time. Faster credits means more time for ads."
] |
Immediately following the big bang, did the universe grow faster than the speed of light? If so, how come the speed of light is treated as an absolute and unbreakable "cosmic speed limit"? | [
"First, the universe doesn't grow at a rate that can be expressed as a speed; the \"rate of expansion\" depends on how far apart two things are. Second, as it's popularly put, nothing can move through space faster than the speed of light, but there's no limit to how fast *space itself* can expand. See [this comment... | [
"They just do. All massless objects travel at c in vacuum. It's the default. They don't get \"a boost\". In QFT no detail is put into how they are created, they are just emitted or absorbed in an instant. When they are emitted they propagate at c. This turns out to be an accurate model of reality. Any set of obs... |
What makes neon colors have that unique glow? | [
"\"Neon\" colors use fluorescence dyes that glow under UV light. So if the object is \"neon orange\", it both reflects the orange portion of the sunlight hitting it, **and** converts UV light hitting it into additional orange light. That makes it seem brighter than it should given the current lighting conditions."
... | [
"Are you talking about the [nucleon-nucleon potential](_URL_0_)? The repulsive core comes from Pauli exclusion between the quarks. If you have two nucleons very close together (less than 1 fm), you can think of the wavefunctions of the valence quarks overlapping strongly. Because quarks of the same flavor are ident... |
How come when I listen to music on my iPod, one song sounds louder than another despite the volume remaining unchanged. | [
"The songs each also have their own volume settings in addition to your music player."
] | [
"You could have [tinnitus](_URL_0_). You should see a doctor if you want any further information, since asking for medical advice is not allowed in this forum."
] |
Would Varangians in early Kievan Rus have practiced Slavic or Norse religion? | [
"It is believed that the Varangians in the Rus weren't 'slavicised' until the late 11th century so it's pretty safe to assume that the Varangians were still following the Norse religion until the Christianization of the Rus in 988AD. Unsurprising considering that Christianity in Denmark wasn't widespread until Hara... | [
"I just read the article, and Witzel isn't even telling a just-so story -- he's telling an \"it's so whether it's so or not\" story. Take a look at this statement, as just one example among many: > Apart from the feature of drift, certain motifs that widely appear in Laurasian and non-Laurasian mythologies may bel... |
Are there any benefits from eating sugar? | [
"Sugar's not harmful if you don't overdo it, but it wouldn't hurt to leave it out altogether. You get plenty of sugars in almost all the food you eat, unless you only eat whale blubber. Even proteins can be converted into sugar by your body if the need arises."
] | [
"The IRS doesn't have all our information. Filing your taxes is good for you because you get to tell them you shouldn't really have had to pay as much taxes as you owed, and if they agree they'll give you a chunk back. Filing taxes is good for the government because if they later discover you made income without pa... |
Why are agendas like climate change, deforestation, drinking water shortage and such which are necessary for basic survival of life not the most important topics of discussion for a country. Why is economic development the most important topic of discussion today | [
"Climate change, deforestation, drinking water shortage aren't actually *problems*. They're *potential sources of problems*. So we really can't address them directly - at best we can address predictions of what problems might emerge. But how would we address those potential problems? With *money*. If we don't first... | [
"Karachi (largest city in Pakistan) is currently experiencing some large problems; both in crime, and politically. This is in part due to [Altaf Hussain](_URL_0_) who is the founder and leader of the [Muttahida Quami Movement](_URL_1_) - a political party in pakistan based in the city of Karachi. The problems surro... |
Why are juggalos so hated on reddit (and in general), when female prostitution is viewed as for the most part completely acceptable? | [
"Juggalo != gigolo. Heck, I really have no idea whether male prostitutes even *like* Insane Clown Posse as a group. Anything's possible, I suppose."
] | [
"Imagine a flamethrower and a crowd of X-Men kids. there's a range of powers. Burn the crowd for 20 seconds and they all die. Burn them for 10 seconds, and maybe that thick skinned or overly hydrated kid survives. He wouldn't have survived the assault for 20 seconds, they would all have died. But now he survived. X... |
What makes waterboarding so terrible? | [
"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... | [
"It's kind of a loaded question. I don't like him because he continued and even expanded on Bush era domestic surveillance and wars overseas. Those are based on facts but whether it was a good move or not is based on opinion."
] |
Can gravity decay over time? Why or why not? | [
"No, gravity doesn't decay, at least not directly as a function of time. Gravity is just a function of two things: the mass of two objects and the distance between them. So if we had two objects of fixed mass at a fixed distance and those properties never changed, the force of gravity between them would be the sam... | [
"Put a slinky in a long glass tube and fix one end of the slinky to one end of the tube. Now lay the tube on your desk. The slinky is all curled up . Next, stand the tube upright. One end of the slinky is fixed to the top of the tube and the bottom of the slinky dangles down. What if you held the tube at an angle..... |
If all mosquitos were suddenly wiped out, what would be the environmental/ecological impact? | [
"There would be a huge impact; at least in northern climates where you are at the shallow end of the biodiversity gradient and where they reach their greatest numbers. You'd be cutting off the food chain at both ends, as the larvae are a dominent eater of microscopic algae and a key food item for small fish (and ev... | [
"From the exact same XKCD article that you linked: > (Climates can be hard to predict—for example, in our world, Somalia and French Guiana both sit on the equator, at the eastern coast of a continent, and seem like they should both receive a tropical sea breeze. But coastal French Guiana is dense rain forest while... |
Why are we confused when first waking up? | [
"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... | [
"Imagine you're trying to find a coffee shop in a city. If you've been there recently, it should be pretty easy to find. If it's been 10 years since you've been to the coffee shop or the city, it might take you a LONG time to find. It also might take long to find if you've been to other, similar coffee shops in the... |
Gavrilo Princip died in 1918. Are there any recording of his reactions his assassination of the Archduke apparently causing the most bloody conflict in human history? | [
"Reading *A World Undone* by G. J. Meyer, Princip's only regret about the assassination was that he accidentally shot and killed Ferdinand's wife, something he had not intended."
] | [
"Has there ever been a bitter academic dispute in your field? Something like Prof. A traces a certain stitching pattern to the the 1810s, but Prof. B argues that its actually two similar yet distinct patterns that emerged independently in 1815 and 1823, and then the profs spend years sniping at each other in articl... |
Why do sports games sometimes get blacked out, even close to the team's city? | [
"They black out games in local markets to make sure they get enough attendance at the games. It's the leagues way of selling tickets. The thought process is, people aren't going to the games because they can watch it at home, if we don't get enough people at the games we will take the home option away."
] | [
"Netflix has to pay for licenses for each show/movie, for each country it might be viewed in. Some shows might not be acceptable in a certain country, or the holder of the rights wants more for the license than Netflix will pay. I’m sure there are other reasons as well."
] |
why is it so uncomfortable to keep my eyes open in a pitch black room? | [
"Are you trying not to blink? Cause you need to blink to keep your eyes from drying out."
] | [
"Simply because your brain adapted to the motion and so it has to adapt to not moving again. It takes about a week for the brain to learn to adapt to the motion and non motion at the same time. Source: used to work in a factory staring at a sideways-moving conveyer belt and would be dizzy for the rest of the day. ... |
How does churning cream into butter reduce its lactose concentration? (4%-1%) | [
"Lactose is sugar. Sugar completely dissolves in the liquid. Cream is an emulsion (homogeneous mix of fat and liquid). Churning won't extract the sugar that has dissolved in the liquid, it will only separate the fat (butter) from the liquid (buttermilk). In the end, almost all the sugar will be still dissolved in ... | [
"I can answer this as someone who works in modern manufacturing. During my formal education I had to make parts with tolerances of .001\" using hand tools. This included hand saws, files and abrasive stones. These abrasive stones were known for quite a long time. Whet stones being a pretty easy example. Sand and oi... |
Why are there health warning labels on cigarettes and not McDonalds, soft-drinks, processed meat, or on the side of Supercars and Bikes? | [
"EVERYTHING CAUSES DEATH! This is true, but only in the case of abusing things that were designed or needed for a purpose. Cigarettes and smoking serves 0 purpose in our bodies other than to be ingested, but it comes with the added carcinogens and toxins that will only kill you. Food, drink, and other items that yo... | [
"Sugar tastes good. When faced with a choice between that which is smart and that which is pleasing, most people will spend their money on the latter. A business exists to sell people what they *want* to buy, not what some might feel they *should* buy."
] |
How does "google maps" know the traffic conditions in real time with such accuracy and for remote roads in many countries? | [
"Using the data from everyone who has a smartphone turned on."
] | [
"While _URL_0_ digitizes a lot of records from the past, that doesn't specifically tell you about *your* family. They way it knows about your specific family is that there are other people who have taken the time to enter their family trees on the site, and their ancestors match up with your ancestors. When you sta... |
Stalin seems to get lots of blame for the Holodomor (Ukrainian Genocide). But from what I've read, the Ukrainians voluntarily burned their food and killed their live stock which caused a mass starving. What did Stalin actually do during Holodomor? | [
"Follow up: why did they burn their food and kill their livestock voluntarily?"
] | [
"What exactly do you mean by \"harness fire\"? Regarding the fire that didn't go out, I believe you are referring to the fire the Vestal Virgins were charged with keeping aflame. The Vestal Virgins were priestesses of the goddess of the hearth, and were chosen around 12 years old or younger and made 30 year vows of... |
What causes some people to gag when they see a graphic injury like Gordon Haywards? | [
"For me it's that I have had injuries similar and can still remember the pain.Something in my brain just goes... Remember when we did that"
] | [
"cuz the average person doesn’t make that much and the fact that a person can make such a high amount of money by just playing a sport is still, to this day, a pretty outstanding feat."
] |
How do flea collars work? | [
"The collar produces a scent that ticks don’t like. Since the ticks do not like the scent, they don’t bite you or the animal the collar is on. Others like mosquitos work in a similar way"
] | [
"It is always a personal battle. It really depends on the type of treatment and person at hand. Further analysis of your father's situation will be a violation of reddit's TOS (free medical advice), so I'll stick to basics. In genereal, chemotherapy kills the fast growing cells: cancer, hair, fingernails, etc. If... |
How can anyone believe in a creator God, deny other deities and still have faith in their own? | [
"Best argument (isn't saying much) is \"I've read other religious texts and [insert religion here] makes the most sense to me\". “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth... | [
"Imagine you're building three houses, each should have the same layout on the inside, but the foundations are different. Those are like the systems. Before you build, you have to create the blueprints, and let's also say that you begin with one blueprint, which has the first foundation already drawn (this might re... |
What happens if you shoot a gun at a non-newtonian fluid? | [
"Corn starch and water would just shatter. However, there are bullet proof vests that use non newtonian fluids (definitely not corn starch) to remain flexible until a bullet hits it. [Here is one article about it](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"I don't think you would be making this post. because you probably wouldn't be alive. KY sensations would go out of business though."
] |
How does the human body which had a cold stop sneezing when asleep, but keep sneezing when awake ? | [
"When we’re awake, particles, allergies or an illness can stimulate the nerve cells in the nose. The nerves then send signals to the brain in order to initiate a sneeze to get rid of whatever is irritating it. But during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, certain neurotransmitters shut down. This means that the motor ... | [
"Itching occurs when more skin cells die in a particular area of skin than the skin can naturally slough at one time, sending a nervous signal to the brain to eliminate them, and scratching the itch removes(\"sloughs\") the dead skin cells...depositing them underneath your fingernails."
] |
Is there any material that has 0 or near 0 thermal conductivity? | [
"No material has a thermal conductivity of zero. That would break thermodynamics - no heat would flow in the material, so it could maintain a temperature gradient perfectly and never equilibrate. It breaks the Second Law of Thermodynamics quite perfect because of this (2nd law says heat flows hot to cold... but if ... | [
"There is the Leidenfrost effect (waterdrop on the stove), but that is a dynamic effect. Staticly it is probably imposible. If you use the same units you will see that the lighest liquid is still 60× heavier .6g/cm3 vs .012g/cm3."
] |
What is a "Historian" | [
"Besides what /u/pipkin42 said, I like to think historians as using the scientific method, as far as possible, but onto history. Our evidence include written records, archaeology, and testing. From this interpretations and theories are formed, different possibilities looked at, and old ones rejected. In addition, a... | [
"[I'd recommend this AskHistorians thread](_URL_0_) which answers many parts of your questions."
] |
Can magnets influence the taste of an alcoholic beverage? | [
"> Obviously I understand this is a gimmick, but is there any truth to either of these claims: **No.** Taste comes from the binding of molecules to receptors in your tongue and nose. Even if the magnets could \"align\" the molecules in your drink (hint: it doesn't, it doesn't at all), this would be useless because ... | [
"[This](_URL_0_) previous thread explains it as [entrainment](_URL_2_). When changing the diameter of your lips, the airflow is subject to the [Bernoulli effect](_URL_1_) where it speeds up. When the air moves faster, it draws in more surrounding air which is cooler than your body temperature, thus making it feel c... |
Good books about the Wehrmacht's military strategies and doctrines during WW2? | [
"I will say to watch out for any book that is about Blitzkrieg doctrine. Even though a lot of historians will talk about Blitzkrieg as some sort of official doctrine the Germans never actually adopted anything known as Blitzkrieg. In fact, the Wehrmacht rather prided itself on not following doctrines and allowing ... | [
"Here are some others to check out: Marincola, J. (2011). Greek and Roman historiography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kraus, C. S., Marincola, J., Pelling, C. B. R., & Woodman, A. J. (2010). Ancient historiography and its contexts: Studies in honour of A.J. Woodman. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pausch, D. ... |
Were there ever any religious conflicts in the Wild West? | [
"The biggest one you seem to leave out would be the Mormons. The US even essentially declared war and sent troops to Utah when they thought they were trying to break away!"
] | [
"Is there a specific region and time period you are interested in? If not, your question would break our \"poll type\" question rule."
] |
why is it so difficult or complicated to get the right capital punishment lethal injection cocktail? It doesn't seem difficult at all. | [
"There are several factors in play. Finding a medical doctor, who has sworn to do no harm, to help design a drug to kill people is an issue. Another is the problem they've had with companies refusing to deliver (for moral reasons) the components they need to make the most efficient drugs. Then there is the \"Cruel ... | [
"The pools would have to be huge in order to have a useful output. In theory you could scale up the technology, but like solar power plants, a very large amount of surface area would be required to input enough energy into the system. In short, it is cheaper and easier to use traditional desalination plants."
] |
Why does the UK only partially use the Metric system? | [
"I believe it is due to successive governments being afraid to upset voters. The Daily Mail brigade would have a field-day. Completing the transfer to all-metric would also need a lot of money to replace or alter every speed limit sign and road sign showing distances, which 'we' have decided we don't have the mone... | [
"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."
] |
Why is a large proportion of the names in the Bible seem to be non-Middle Eastern names? | [
"Those *are* Middle Eastern names. You think of them as English names because so many people in English-speaking countries name their children after people in the Bible."
] | [
"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... |
If my room is hotter than the hallway and I want my room cooler, is it better to have a fan blowing the hot air out or the cold air in? | [
"Well, blowing the cold air in would be the most efficient assuming the fan is on the floor. This way you are working with the natural flow of cold air from the hallway into the bottom of the room instead of against it. Remember, cold air is denser than warm air and thus it sinks."
] | [
"Your hand is a big solid mass that pushes a wave of air ahead of it. This alerts the fly’s very sensitive reflexes, and may physically push it out of the way. The flyswatter‘s surface is full of holes that let air through so that it doesn’t create wind like your hand does. It’s also lighter and longer than your ha... |
How did our human ancestors survive the winter months before we had fire or the knowledge to make fur coats? | [
"We didnt, we lived in warmer climates until we learned how slowly over time as we moved north"
] | [
"They walked. You can ask from Africa into India, Asia and Europe. Back then there was a land bridge between Europe and North America at the Bering Straits. They walked over that and walked south. More interesting in the migration of humans to Australia 40K years ago. Also the migration from the southern China coa... |
How do companies measure the effectiveness of advertisements in print, radio, or TV media? | [
"Online tracking is easy. Whenever you click on an ad, it sets a cookie on your computer that marks you as arriving to that site from the ad. Your each activity on that site is tracked and noted when you make your purchase. Offline is a bit different. Depending on the size and marketing efforts of a company, they m... | [
"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\"... |
When a movie is set in a different decade, how does a director gather the cars from that time period for all the scenes? | [
"There are actually companies that specialize in providing vehicles for film use. They may own some vehicles(Plain everyday cars, emergency vehicles, etc) but for specific vehicles they just go find what they need. I've known a few people whose cars were rented to studios for film work."
] | [
"If the use were *actually* considered fair use, then it doesn't matter if it's a movie or YouTube video. There are tons of infringing uses on YouTube. Having said that, movies have bigger budgets, though, and are more diligent. They're actually usually over-diligent and pay for things even though they shouldn't h... |
what is physically happening to Li when a Li-ion battery is charged under load (while on)? | [
"Possibly. The Li diffusion rate is directly proportional to the charging current. The charger circuit may or may not be capable of varying the charging current. It depends on how things are connected, but it's possible to use a power supply that can support charging at the maximum rate regardless of other system l... | [
"When you shoot an arrow from a bow, the energy of the bow is transferred to the arrow. It gradually (doesn't seem like it, I know) pushes the arrow downrange, from a full stop at full draw, to full speed when the arrow leaves it. All that pent up energy of the bow at full draw is efficiently transferred to the arr... |
The sharp pain you get in your side that only goes away after a deep breath | [
"It's possibly what you're experiencing is [what's called a precordial catch](_URL_0_)."
] | [
"Alright, a lot of people here are just linking to tinnitus, which is a chronic condition where the 'ringing' sound is always present. There is an actual name for the phenomenon you're describing, called \"sudden brief unilateral tapering tinnitus\" (because yay adjectives), though the Wiki article for tinnitus doe... |
How is it possible that speakers can produce ANY given sound? | [
"Others have already given good answers, so I'll just suggest that you study Fourier Series. A Fourier series is a way of breaking down *any* wavefunction as a sum of sines and cosines. It takes an infinite sum to get perfect precision, but it is easy to get to the point where a human ear cannot tell the differenc... | [
"There are technical limitations, especially if you are talking about lasers and not about stimulated emission (the physics lasers are based on). To make a laser you need a resonant cavity and an amplifying medium, both at the frequency you are making the laser. Finding amplifying mediums is very difficult at certa... |
What is a Q-ball (physics) | [
"It's a collection of bosonic particles that is completely stable. because of this, it can't be split in to smaller states. The wild theory here is that one of these has \"infected\" the sun (not something that would really happen - the sun isn't dense enough to hold a Q-ball) and is \"eating\" it. Basically, they ... | [
"You don't create charge through piezoelectric effect, you redistribute it and create electric fields/voltage. The charge is still bound in the atomic orbitals \\(quartz is insulating\\), so the process wouldn't be much different from trying to strip electrons from a relaxed crystal."
] |
If fireplaces draw more heat than they produce, why are they in so many homes historically? | [
"Whoever told you fireplaces draw heat out of a room is a dummy who has apparently never sat next to a fireplace. Fireplaces and stoves are an effective (if not terribly efficient) way to heat a home. Edit: Though this is less true of many modern homes whose fireplaces are primarily decorative."
] | [
"> Even if one or two hit, would that have really mattered? Didn't ships go toe to toe with broadsides weighing in at 70-100 guns? Would even a dozen hits from the fort do anything substantial? You are thinking of Napoleonic naval warfare, in which, yes, ships would fire several dozen guns at each other at point-bl... |
Why didn't the big bang turn into a black hole instead of an explosion? | [
"To get a black hole you need gravitational collapse onto a central point, which occurs on a time scale of the free fall time. Because the universe is homogeneous and isotropic, no such central point to collapse onto exists. And because the universe expands on a characteristic time roughly equal to the free-fall ti... | [
"Observation and calculation. Astrophysicists noticed that space is expanding, and that the expansion is accelerating. They did a bunch of math and figured out how much it's accelerating and how different things would effect this acceleration. They did more math and were reasonably sure that it was correct. So the... |
What is it about Toys that attracts little kids so much? | [
"But people of all ages like toys too! Cars, electronics, handbags... It's just that we only call them toys when kids like them."
] | [
"Those anti theft scanners use electromagnetic fields to detect those magnetic sensors that are attached to the clothing (and removed by the clerk upon checkout). As you walk past, these electromagnetic fields will induce some alternating current in your earbuds, and that's where the buzz comes from."
] |
Valid binary number conversion method ? | [
"Mathematically it's the same so long as you're only talking about direct unsigned integer conversion with no encoding. This can be proven for four bits and (AFAIK) extended to any length: Consider the number `abcd`*_2_*. The process you're describing can be written in the form: `((((2*0+a) * 2 + b) * 2 + c) * 2 +... | [
"Well to give you a proper answer the symbol \" & #3232;\" is from the [Kannada alphabet](_URL_0_). Kannada is an Indian language. and apparently its letters make for a fun \"look of disapproval\"."
] |
What causes the diamond-like pattern in jet exhaust? | [
"I just learned about these today. They are called shock diamonds. _URL_0_"
] | [
"Basically, we're not looking at the colours as one would normally look at colours. Instead, you're looking at the *spectrum.* [This is an image showing the spectra of several galaxies.](_URL_2_) See the spikes? We know exactly what part of the spectrum those spikes should appear in if there's no red shift or blue ... |
Where did the two-tiered system of enlisted/officers in the military come from, and why is it so ubiquitous? | [
"Another question on the subject. Is there evidence of extremely/\"very\" successful military compositions without the two tier of system? Let's say... 1600 onwards?"
] | [
"By having trusted messengers, and by having everybody know everybody. If you're a nobleman, and you need to send a letter to the king, you think about whom to send to carry it, you first ask, *who among my family and inner circle, did I introduce to the king and his court, last time they visited this area?* I'll s... |
How do modern warplane dogfights work? | [
"They don't dogfight like in the movies. It's done nautical miles apart from each other. Evasive maneuvers are countermeasures and machine guns are guided missiles. If it's truly one on one, the fight is over long before either plane is actually hit."
] | [
"You said it... instinctively. As to how that came to be? Evolution. Animals which attacked weak points on their prey or predators were more successful, bred more, and they're the ancestors of the animals we know today. Evolution is an arms race, and having an advantage means your genes get to keep going."
] |
Carbon-14 Dating: Estimating the Original Amount | [
"Carbon dating is fairly unique in this regard (there are a few other techniques that work on a similar basis but usually we measure daughter/parent ratios). So the premise for carbon dating is that when you are trying to date something with it like say the age of a piece of wood or something that item was exchangi... | [
"If you know that something degrades by X amount over a certain amount of time, you can extrapolate how long it would take to completely degrade. Similar to a half life"
] |
How did the lower corner of Asia get to be so populated? | [
"It's mainly because the land is extremely fertile. Much of the Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Vietnamese, and Chinese population centers are situated in the valleys of large rivers, which provided plenty of water for agriculture. You'll also note, most of the large population centers are fairly far south, which m... | [
"_URL_0_ Basically, any treatment program available to a developing country includes access to free condoms and early screening tests. If caught early and treated aggressively, it is possible to rid the body of HIV (_URL_1_). In developing nations, if a person or government is likely to take the treatments, they ar... |
What led up to and caused the Middle East to become such a horrible place lately? | [
"If by \"lately\" you mean just the past few years: Despots with bad human rights records (e.g. Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya) who nonetheless managed to tamp down ethnic strife, sectarianism, and political dissent have been overthrown and the successor governments have ... | [
"Hi there -- while we've approved this question, we would like to remind potential respondents of our [current events](_URL_0_) (AKA \"20-year\") rule -- it's fine to discuss events through 1997 (inclusive) and their effects, but not events after 1997. Thanks!"
] |
If you keep halving a measurement, will you eventually get to zero, or will you continue to half infinitely? | [
"You won't ever get zero. How could you? At some point it would have to go from a nonzero number to zero, but what nonzero number, when halved, gives zero? It doesn't exist, so that's why. So, you can keep halving indefinitely and never get to zero, but you can get arbitrarily *close* to zero so long as you keep go... | [
"By unary do you mean a system like | for one, || for two and so on? You could use a ratio. 1.5 would be ||| / || A decimal place wouldn't make sense because this system is not *really* base one, it works different than other bases because it's not positional---the strike always means one no matter where it is."
] |
How did Margaret Thatcher's closing of the mines "save" the UK economy? | [
"Their employment was largely due to government support and subsidy. Not only did they need to stop spending on non-profitable industry, but they needed to create a jobs-market for realistic industries. She accomplished the first much easier than the latter. Not taking sides; i'm a libertarian who thinks most liber... | [
"> Jackie Mitchell was able to strike out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession, which shows women aren't incapable of competing with men. That's not a valid conclusion. In a sport where a .300 average is good, it is not unusual for two top hitters to get retired back to back. They also happened to be the fir... |
Historical inaccuracies in Hamilton? | [
"Here's one interesting one. The timeline in the second half of act II goes as such: 1. Philip's duel 2. The Election of 1800 3. Alexander's duel Historically, it actually played out this way: 1. The Election of 1800 2. Philip's duel 3. Alexander's duel It was rearranged this way to avoid the crushing depression th... | [
"This is a good question, but I don't think we have a lot of people on this subreddit that are familiar with Indian school textbooks. Could you perhaps elaborate with some specifics on how he is depicted?"
] |
How come when im in complete darkness and look at something I cant see it very well, but when looking away I can clearly see it in my peripheral? | [
"Because your peripheral vision is much more sensitive to dim light than your central vision. Rods are more sensitive than cones. It is the price you pay for central color vision."
] | [
"Your brain cells require a lot of energy to work at full capacity, and your visual processing center is a fairly large portion of your brain (relative to the amount of space your eyes take up on your body). Put simply, your brain can choose which incoming sensory information is worth dedicating chemical energy to ... |
How do refrigerators work? | [
"Refrigeration works on the concept that changing phase from liquid to gas absorbs heat, and the other way releases energy. Also, the temperature that a fluid changes phase at varies based on the pressure it is under. While the fluid is inside of the fridge, air is blown over the coil while the liquid is turning to... | [
"_URL_0_ The wikipedia article is excellent and better than any of the answers in here so far. If you have specific parts you don't understand, ask away and I can help explain them to you."
] |
Why can Ionic Compounds not conduct electricity, but aqueous ionic compounds CAN? | [
"Ionic compounds cannot conduct electricity as a solid. The ions are in a strict crystal lattice and there is no ability for electricity to easily flow through it. If you melt the ionic compound, it conducts electricity even better than it being dissolved in water. Dissolved in water the ions are allowed to separa... | [
"Cu = copper CO*_3_* = carbonate OH = hydroxide The parentheses group the items so you know that there are two carbonates and two hydroxides. Azurite's chemical name is quite boring. Copper(II) Carbonate hydroxide. To see more on naming rules for inorganic compounds, start [here](_URL_0_)"
] |
I don't get it, antihistamines, such as benedryl, can be used for dogs, 1 mg per pound twice daily, so a 40 pound dog uses 40 mg gwice daily but a 200 pound adult is not supposed to take more than 10 mg in a day, that makes no sense? | [
"Not being a vet or doctor, I couldn't tell you exactly how benedryl affects dogs, but! Consider that chocolate is a tasty treat for people, but will murder a dog dead. Benedryl probably affects dogs differently that humans, and it may take more of the drug to do it's job on a dog, or that dogs are just more tolera... | [
"A combination of powerful engines and efficiency. Based on liftoff thrust, USSR's Energia was more powerful, 39,500 kN of liftoff thrust compared to Saturn V's 35,100 kN. USSR's N1 was also more powerful at 45,400 kN of liftoff thrust, but it never flew successfully. Both were not as efficient as the Saturn V and ... |
how Presidents and other leaders gave speeches to the masses before electric amplification devices? | [
"Speeches were to a much smaller audience back then for the very reasons you mention. Newspapers were the primary way people heard major speeches before audio/video recording."
] | [
"Interesting; also, standing ovations at performances. Just as you said, they're somewhat expected now, despite the fact that they were probably once \"special\". I once heard this discussed on NPR (I think both topics were mentioned) & I hope someone has an answer!"
] |
How does soap actually kill bacteria? | [
"Regular soap doesn't kill bacteria. Regular soap is just a *detergent* which means it is a type of chemical that will let oil and water mix. This is very helpful for washing stains and grease, since any stain that is oily or greasy will *repel* water. Bacteria tend to stick to the oils in your hands, so a good sc... | [
"The molecules in the steel bind with the sulfur molecules left on your fingers from things like garlic and onions, and when you rub your hands against the steel under cold water, the molecules are washed away."
] |
Why doesn't 0.1+0.2=0.3 in java? | [
"It's called a [Floating point error](_URL_0_), for the way that decimals are represented in binary. There are some values that can't be precisely represented, and when you hit one of them, you get those tiny little calculation errors that crop up. When you start performing mathematic operations on them, those tiny... | [
"The temperature sensors in your skin can only detect relative changes in temperature. Not absolute temperature. You can show this by doing a simple experiment with three cups of water. one cup of ice water, one cup of room temperature water, and one cup of hot water. Place a finger of your right hand in the ice w... |
In linguistics, what exactly is the oblique case, and how does it work? | [
"It's the same as objective case, when a noun is the object of a verb or prepositional phrase. In English, all objects are part of the objective case. - Direct Object of a verb: I break **the lamp**. He hits **him**. - Indirect Object of a verb: Tell **her** now! Object of prepositional phrase: - I talk about *... | [
"People who get a lens transplant that doesnt involve UV protective lenses often have to wear sunglasses anytime they are outdoors or risk UV damage to their retina. I had a college teacher who had this procedure done, her new lenses didn't block UV. Had to wear sunglasses anytime she stepped outside, or was in dir... |
What exactly are the "stricter" gun control laws people propose and how would they be enforced? | [
"I don't understand the argument that people have which is usually along the lines of 'people are breaking the law by murdering people so how will more laws help'. The evidence is plain to see in all of the countries were guns are banned. Fewer guns mean less chance for gun violence. The problem is is that gun cul... | [
"So many of them are overseas using VOiP to make the call over the internet. If someone is in South Africa at a call center and calls Chicago, the call travel over the internet to say Arizona, where they are picked up by a local exchange and then sent on the plain ol telephone system to Chicago. Now Chicago police ... |
Why did the Soviet Union fall? | [
"There is always more to say, but you might be interested in checking out this [answer](_URL_0_) I wrote on the central role Gorbachev's reforms played in the dissolution of the USSR."
] | [
"This is like asking \"why does a fire burn itself out - what's the point of using up all the fuel if it can't sustain itself?\"."
] |
How do biologists differentiate two species of the same genus ? | [
"This is actually a pretty good question, and there isn’t a good answer to it. A common definition of a species is a population of organisms which can reproduce with each other. However, maybe species can breed with other species—like polar bears and grizzly bears, horses and donkeys, etc; this is called hybridiza... | [
"By response of said stimuli. When it goes too far a, say, kitten will signal it with body language and sound. And their partner will respond by licking the damaged area and going on a little less violently. If you have a kitten at home you can easily try this. If your kitten scratches or bites too hard, let out a... |
given its superior strength to aluminium, why aren't smartphones made from titanium? | [
"the cost is too high, titanium weighs more, Titanium is also paramagnetic, which might cause issues with some electronic functions."
] | [
"Not science disclaimer: This is not science. Land is sold by the acre which is surface area. The whole point behind very tall buildings like the Burj Khalifa is to maximize *that* patch of planet that it is built upon. When the design constraints begin at the very bottom, the only choice is to go up. Pyramids ha... |
What were some other "world wars"? | [
"The Napoleonic Wars are typically considered a \"world war\" (along with the French Revolutionary Wars). Often the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, and especially the Seven Years' War are also considered \"world wars.\" Since the definition for what constitutes a \"world war\" bas... | [
"More can be said on these topics, but here are some older answers as a place to start: Thailand: _URL_1_ Ethiopia: _URL_0_ Japan: _URL_2_ These are also fairly popular FAQs, so you can probably find more answers in the FAQ section."
] |
Why gasoline and oil prices are so damn cheap at the moment | [
"The cost to produce the oil is lower than current low and previous high prices. The oil producers are competing with each other for profit and political means."
] | [
"A bunch of reasons: * The west strongly disapproves of Russia annexing Crimea * The EU and the US sanctioned Russia, contributing to the ongoing [Russian financial crisis](_URL_0_) * Russia is worried about the continued expansion of NATO * Russia granted Edward Snowden asylum * Tensions are growing over US and Ru... |
Can someone provide an in-depth explanation of what a free radical is exactly? | [
"It's a molecule that contains an atom with an unpaired valence electron. The reason that they are interesting is that they are typically highly reactive and that reactions involving free radicals generate more free radicals; as a result, their effect on various systems (of particular interest, biological pathways... | [
"Penn & Teller: Bullshit! did a show on this, its very worth a watch, they break it down quite well and understandable. [Link to the full episode](_URL_0_) on youtube. Warning, NSFW language and boobies in like the first 2 seconds, because its Penn & Teller and thats what they do"
] |
Why does all medicine, regardless of its flavor, taste awful? | [
"If medicine tasted good, people would be way more likely to use more than they needed. That could cause problems if people took medicine they didn't need, or overdosed on medicine because it tasted good. Making medicine taste bad enough to discourage overuse while still good enough for people to tolerate is diffic... | [
"You're looking at it backwards. If they didn't include the disclaimers you mention, they would have to meet the FDA's standards, like real medications must. They hope to sell you something without having to go through the rigor and expense of FDA certification."
] |
How much heavy matter does a super nova create? | [
"The amount of iron created by a core collapse supernova is of order a solar mass (the mass of the Sun). The mass of the Sun is ~ 1,000,000x the mass of the Earth. So yes; it creates enough to make an Earth."
] | [
"A black hole of that mass would evaporate faster than you could really observe it."
] |
Could all the countries in the world working together realistically invade the US by force? | [
"I would say eventually. Maybe not right away as the US is starting with more large scale equipment such as subs, but if the rest of the world banded together and made their sole purpose invading the united states they'd manage it sooner or layer, particularly in the no nukes scenario. The entire world restructurin... | [
"Hi, I've approved the post, but just a note to you and potential respondents: this subreddit has a 20-year rule against discussing current events, so any answers will have to cut off at 1997. If you're looking for answers that can include 1998-2012, do consider x-posting elsewhere, eg. a foreign affairs sub like /... |
How do massive cold fronts, like the one being experienced in America right now, occur? | [
"The cold front that is being experienced by the United States and Canada right now is known as a polar vortex. Polar vortexes are strong winds found in the upper level of the atmosphere that normally stay over the north pole. On occasion the vortex can be distorted, causing cold air to spill to the south. [Source... | [
"Thats photoshopped just so you're aware. The actual image is this: _URL_0_ They usually form in high altitudes, normally perpendicular to the wind direction. Long story short, They form when stable moist air flows over mountains."
] |
Why did VW group cheated the emissions tests? | [
"Power efficiency is challenging. Anybody can make a low emissions vehicle, the question is can they make a sporty and fun to drive low emissions/fuel consumption vehicle? That is difficult. VW claimed they created such a vehicle, when they actually hadn't. They cheated on the tests so they could market their cars ... | [
"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."
] |
When free public education was introduced in the United States, was there widespread opposition? Who made up the opposition, what were their arguments? | [
"In 1642 the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law stating that all parents must teach their children how to read so that they could read the Bible. This was very much a religious push for the Puritans. In 1647, concerned that some parents wouldn't or couldn't comply they passed a law stating that every town over 5... | [
"Several reasons, one, they are very expensive to build, two, the power transmission infrastructure is also very expensive to build, three, you'd still need power supply to make up for night, and times when the wind is too low/high. Four, someone will always be against any major project, and tie you up in court for... |
Announcing the Best of August Award Winners | [
"Thank you all who voted! I am happy that so many of you found my reply to be useful and informative. I have to admit, I never thought such a dry topic would produce so much interest. Thank you all!"
] | [
"hi! some other nominations: [What is the oldest recorded human name?](_URL_1_) [What is the earliest recorded name in your area that can be clearly identified as a name?](_URL_0_)"
] |
How do Mountains affect the weather? | [
"Air that used to be at sea level changes its thermodynamic properties at the top of the mountain. This changes, pressure, temperature and its speed. All have a factor on how much water the air contains or can hold. That is why it snows on top of mountains, because the water in the air comes out of solution and rem... | [
"The only difference between a full moon and a new moon is the amount of light being reflected from the sun off the moon. Moon cycles are the equivalent of our day and night cycles. A full moon is when the side of the moon we can see is in full \"daylight\" and a new moon is when the side we can see is in full \"ni... |
How did we figure out how long it takes for the Earth to do a full rotation around the sun without any technologically advanced equipment thousands of years ago? | [
"The stars. If you think of the stars as an unmoving background you would see the sun slowly move across the sky in a full circle over the course of a year, I'm not talking about the daily sunrise and setting but the sun in relation the the stars. That's where we got the zodiac from."
] | [
"We have a pretty stong understanding of anatomy and cellular biology. Its not a big guess we just actually know what we are made up of... We gained that knowledge through centuries of medical science, chemistry and biology. So put more bluntly, we measured it."
] |
How do hormones cause acne? | [
"Our skin has what's called \"[sebaceous glands](_URL_1_)\" that secrete into the space our hair follicles grow through. These glands are under control of hormones like testosterone that go up during puberty. The sebaceous glands swell and it's contents plug the space making a comedone or \"pimple\". Whenever a duc... | [
"Been asked and answered before. Short answer was: Cancer. ....not quite. I mean, IIRC it was more or less the same process as cancer, random cells going rogue producing freak hair, but on a much more reduced and controlled level, without metastasizing to the rest of the body and killing you. I also kinda remember... |
EEPROM of a microcontroller | [
"Typically microcontrollers are programmed for a specific function or set of functions. The EEPROM is used to store the program code whether it's to bootstrap the microcontroller to use other memory, or so that the device can function when powered up."
] | [
"_URL_0_ Basically what you do is fire an electron through a magnetic field. Since the electron can be spin up or spin down, it is deflected either up or down, to produce two distinct patches on the detector. (_URL_1_)"
] |
How do people take such stunning and clear images of the Milky Way? | [
"They use a feature on their cameras which allows for a long exposure time. This lets the camera take in light for a while - several seconds, even minutes. Our eyes can't do that. But taking a picture of stars, you have to keep in mind that the planet is rotating - too long of an expose makes the stars look blurry ... | [
"A lot is also due to comparison. When one watches the news, they see footage from 10,000$ + studio cameras. These shoot full HD and are tripod mounted, so a shaky camera phone, which isn't the same quality as the studio will be noticed more."
] |
If a neutron is made of 3 quarks, each with spin +1/2, why does a neutron only have a spin of +1/2? | [
"When you add two spins of 1/2, you can make either 0 or 1. When you then add a spin of 1/2 to zero, the only possible total spin is 1/2. When you add 1/2 to 1, the possibilities are 1/2 or 3/2. So the possible spins for a three quark system with no orbital angular momentum are 1/2 or 3/2. If the system is made of ... | [
"Atoms and molecules that have a positive or negative charge are called ions. Neuron cells make up the nerves that run from your brain, through the spinal cord, and then branch off to the rest of the body. A nerve impulse (signal) is propagated by a difference in electric potential between the exterior of the membr... |
How are NOAA's storm chaser planes able to fly through hurricane Irma and not go down? I'd think the propellers and/or the windows would take a serious beating. How are they designed to handle the intense wind and rain and keep the crew safe? | [
"Hurricane winds are by and large horizontal in nature while thunderstorms have vertical winds like updrafts and downdrafts. These are far more dangerous because aircraft lift is a function of angle of attack which changes as the wind hits the wings at different angles. Aircraft that fly at over 200 knots is analo... | [
"Pesticides used directly on food crops are not supposed to resist rain, at least not to the extent that they persist and poison people. Pesticides are often washed away by rain which is often part of the guidelines for use - rain can shorten the preharvest interval that is needed before crops can be harvested. The... |
How american bathrooms with no windows get rid off bad smell? | [
"I don't know where you live in Europe but in most of the United States it gets either very hot or very cold during part of the year, meaning that open windows aren't a feasible solution year-round. Having openable windows also presents a privacy issue. Most American bathrooms instead have ventilation fans that cir... | [
"They use a wavelength of light that is cancer causing. Do you want to sit under a cancer causing light? Plus, they aren't all that effective to stop, say a sneeze from transmitting to another person. It takes some time to kill the germs."
] |
Suppose we have a computer program randomly choosing 6 digit number. What is the probability that this program will choose a number which 3 first and 3 last digits are the same (e.g. 203203, 100100, 888888)? | [
"People made this way to hard. Think of it as two 3 digit numbers The first is randomly generated. Then there is a 1 in 1000 chance (000-999) That the second number will be the same as the first. This is the same as pick a number between 0 and 999."
] | [
"The simplest analogy for programming is a spoken language. Take this sentence for example: \"You, take this bag to the store\" There are different parts of the sentence that give you information. \"You\" establishes who is being addressed, \"take\" is your action, and establishes the action being performed. \"bag\... |
I clean about 2 pounds of dust from my room every month. What does this means for my lungs ? | [
"Where is your room exactly that it has two poinds of dust a month?"
] | [
"It would be a lot more dangerous than just having a refrigerator. Children and toddlers especially would die more often, suicide would be easier. There would have to be unique locks put on them to prevent children and toddlers at least from getting in to them. Plus, murder would likely be easier. Deaths by neglect... |
Why don't your hands get sunburnt? | [
"The tops of my hands have been sunburned before. The palms were not because I don't walk around with my palms up all the time."
] | [
"Imagine a flamethrower and a crowd of X-Men kids. there's a range of powers. Burn the crowd for 20 seconds and they all die. Burn them for 10 seconds, and maybe that thick skinned or overly hydrated kid survives. He wouldn't have survived the assault for 20 seconds, they would all have died. But now he survived. X... |
Why do fan knobs go from 0-3-2-1? | [
"It is hard to start a motor, it would take a long long time to start on low. Going 0 3 2 1 let's the fan start on High which gets it up to speed in a timely manner"
] | [
"Pre-planning. 1st degree is you had a plan for what you were going to do. 3rd degree is you didn't plan it in advance but still are the decision to do it. Manslaughter. You didn't intend to but still did."
] |
The human body uses electricity to operate. Does the initial "charge" come from your parent or is it something we produce independently from the start? | [
"It's not electricity in the same sense as what we use for electronics. Rather, our cells use electric action potentials gained by moving charged ions around. Your cells produce these ions via cellular respiration. There is no \"initial charge\". Rather, it's an ongoing process."
] | [
"You are not a mirror image of your twin. You and your twin share the same DNA. This means that you both develop according to the same \"plan\"/genes. Like building a house: if you build two houses using one set of blueprints, the houses will be identical, not mirror-imaged. The fireplace will still be on the left ... |
How environmentally friendly is recycling? | [
"It depends. For metals: absolutely. Mining is a very energy-intensive and environmentally harmful process. Especially for the exotic metals in batteries or catalytic converters. Aluminium is also very energy-intensive to mine, but a breeze to recycle. For Plastics: borderline. Some plastics can be re-melted and tu... | [
"Could somebody explain how, if true, small amounts of alcohol is good for you?"
] |
What happens to a cucumber or other food when it's pickled? | [
"Pickling is a fermentation process involving lactobacillus bacteria that can tolerate a high salinity environment which kills almost all other micro-organisms. The lactobacilli break down the structure of the cucumber changing its structure and also produce different compounds which change the flavor and increase ... | [
"Well in the US from the peak of the railroad in the 1800s until the widespread adoption of electricity and refrigerators, ice boxes were used. There was a whole industry around producing and harvesting ice blocks in colder climants. The blocks were shipped via insulated railcars and then distributed by delivery me... |
How do you order at Starbucks? PLEASE give me a step by step answer as in how do you order and the different options. I want to become a person with a super complicated order. | [
"\"Hi, can I get a small/medium/large (thing from menu) but can you {detailed adjustments like add caramel, no whipped cream, etc)?\" If you don't understand the menu: \"Do you have a coffee that, like, tastes like hazelnut but also is more blended like a milkshake. Like the Frappuccinos? And I'd need it to come in... | [
"Follow up question: How did the soldiers who did surrender know that they were in fact properly ordered to surrender instead of being lied to by Allied propaganda? Follow upto the follow up question: Did Allied propaganda actually try to lie to the Japanese troops before the actual surrender?"
] |
When (and Why) did Western mainstream society become so glorifying of sex/ having sexual appeal/having lots of sex/ not being a virgin, etc? | [
"What you fail to recall are the sword polishing scenes in *Sir Gawain and the Green Knight*, the abduction of a virile young man by Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, and a whole slew of medieval rumpy pumpy of the \"How about I show you my jugs, they're quality French slipware\" variety. There was a bit of a rewrit... | [
"The foods one I can answer. We evolved to like high caloric foods because we needed the calories when we were struggling to survive. Thus fatty or sugary foods taste good to us because it used to be great to eat them. Well now it's too easy to overindulge and weve made processed foods that have way more fat or sug... |
Does anyone know of any decent studies done on the effects of tea that use subjects that actually drink tea as opposed to taking highly concentrated amounts of the things in tea? | [
"Studies have indeed been conducted on the prevelence of disease in tea drinkers compared to none tea drinkers. Once these showed that there may be health benefits, the mechanism behind them (what you seem to have found) is now being investigated. This journal article seems to sum it all up pretty well and referenc... | [
"NIH provides good objective information about the current status of these topics and _URL_5_ has good information about their history. Here are those pages for the topics you asked about: **Homeopathy:** _URL_4_ _URL_0_ **Acupuncture:** _URL_1_ _URL_2_ **Chiropractic:** _URL_3_ http://www._URL_5_/medicine/divisio... |
Why are stains darker towards the edges as compared to the center? | [
"If you're referring to something like a coffee or red wine stain (something with fine particulates), there really is a ring stain - not an optical illusion as suggested! It's known as the [coffee ring effect or simply ring stain](_URL_0_). > Writing in Nature, Robert D. Deegan of The University of Chicago and cowo... | [
"A simple example to augment the sciencey explanation: Basic idea: *Materials have a point of no return* A simple sheet of printer paper can flop back and forth for eternity with little adverse effect. As soon as something puts a crease in that piece of paper, it is pretty much permanently changed. That crease will... |
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