Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
Which way should I tilt my head to stop a nosebleed, and why?	[ "Forward, while applying pressure of the bridge of your nose or using a cool damp, clean, cloth to slow the bleeding by holding to your nose. Leaning backwards may cause the blood to drain into your nasal sinus, down into the pharynx, and into your esophagus. Too much blood ingested might make you sick to your stom...	[ "Basically, your blood pressure is higher than atmospheric pressure. Fluids (air, blood, etc) always flow from areas of high pressure towards areas of low pressure." ]
Why don't other countries have military bases on U.S. soil, whereas we have many U.S. bases on foreign soil?	[ "Although Canada doesn't have a base in America (to the best of my knowledge) the Canadian Forces do exercises, use facilities, and work with American Forces on American soil. So it's not exactly like foreign forces never operate in America." ]	[ "Inflation. Let's put it this way, in America it used to be that you could buy a steak dinner for let's say $5. Then today that same steak dinner would cost $50. How much we pay for things, and how much we get paid has increased slowly over time. In other countries, it has increased way faster, so something that us...
Why do humans have butthair?	[ "I believe it is the same things as for the armpit, to provide easiness for rubbing parts of the body. The hairs acts just like when you put round logs underneath heavy things to make them roll (think Egyptians building Pyramids pulling those bigs blocks putting logs underneath them)." ]	[ "Hairs don't know. Your hair follicles go through a timed cycle - they grow for a period of time, then they rest, then they shed the old hair and grow a new one. The length of the growth cycle determines the maximum length of the hair." ]
Why are players from South Korea so dominant in video games?	[ "Not especially MOBAs. They dominate Starcraft BW and Starcraft II. They basically dominate any games they start investing real time on. They currently dominate what, SC, LoL, OW (the games I know of). I think it's mostly cultural. Asians = > Work hard, for yourself, your family + with all that eSport knowledge and...	[ "It depends on how your network is set up (both your and your isp in some cases) if you have a fancy router you can activate QOS (quality of service) and tell it to prioritize certain activities or ip addresses, for example in my network I have my ip phones set as priority 1, online gaming as 2, Netflix / Hulu as 3...
Why do we use the term transgendered instead of the more-accurate transsexual?	[ "\"Trans\" as a prefix doesn't mean something is being transcended. It means \"across\" or \"on the other side\". For example, Transalpine Gaul was the region of Gaul across the Alps from the Romans, while Cisalpine Gaul on the near side of the Alps. \"Transport\" is when you carry (porto) something across (*tran...	[ "Transmissions are very finicky fine tolerance units that require specialized tools and know-how. Average mechanic doesn't want to to open it up and dig in. It's much quicker to replace the unit than spend hours to fix a $10 inside part.." ]
Before Hitler, who was seen as one of the most hated people to to ever exist?	[ "Answers to this will differ by culture, throughout time, but you can get started on some previous responses in the FAQ * [Who was considered the \"most evil person\" before Hitler?](_URL_0_)" ]	[ "This submission has been removed because it is [soapboxing](_URL_1_.), [promoting a political agenda, or moralizing](_URL_0_). We don't allow content that does these things because they are detrimental to unbiased and academic discussion of history." ]
Why should we study Mathematics?	[ "1: Because you don't wanna be stupid when you grow up. 2: Because an at-least basic understanding of Mathematics is pretty much necessary for being an adult. You'll make money and spend it. You'll need to plan finances. You'll need to know when you're not getting screwed over by a deal. 3: Because it's the foundat...	[ "if 1+1 is 2, why can't I have ice cream for dinner?" ]
Why does the flu vaccine contain mercury?	[ "The mercury it contains is not the same compound as mercury that's dangerous (like in lightbulbs or thermometers or fish). It's useful to preserve the vaccine and it's been shown to be safe. It's similar to how table salt contains chlorine. chlorine alone will kill you if you ingest it, but table salt is perfectly...	[ "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 HIV is transmitted from a woman to a man	[ "Blood. Micro cuts in her vagina and micro cuts on your penis." ]	[ "Pretty much anyway a file can get onto a computer. Downloads, injection like a USB or something etc" ]
What are people actually dying from when they "die from the flu"?	[ "They can die from a variety of things. It is a common misconception that the flu alone cannot kill you if you are young and healthy but this is not true. The 5 year old answer is that the flu can make you stop breathing and you can die. The more detailed response is that even in healthy people the bodies own respo...	[ "For the same reason that you always hear the term \"semiautomatic assault rifle\" when someone decides to go on a rampage. Its sensationalism. Ordinarily, specifics like that are used to reach something deeper inside of our heads to make us react in a more meaningful way , thus increasing ratings/sales." ]
What drugs were commonly used within the Roman Empire? Were there illegal drugs?	[ "I would recommend reading historian D. C.A. Hillman's book,The Chemical Muse: Drug Use and the Roots of Western Civilization, in which he provides numerous primary sources and historical accounts of physicians doing things like prescribing opium, sedatives, and narcotics. His historical hypothesis (albeit a far...	[ "While not a scientific answer to your question at all, I want to suggest the excellent movie [Before the Fall](_URL_5_) (German Titel: Napola – Elite für den Führer) to anyone interested in this topic, which is a story about pupils in an elite high school in the German Reich." ]
Why does sound only come through one headphone if the jack is orientated in a particular way?	[ "A headphone plug is comprised of three contacts, denoted as the Tip, Ring, and Sleeve. Tip is the left ear, Ring is the right, and the Sleeve is the common wire. If you manipulate the plug in the jack you can create a condition where one or more of these aren’t making contact. Most often, I recall, it is the Tip, ...	[ "When you yawn, you hyperextend your jaw, and its back presses against the eustachian tube in the inner ear." ]
Why isn't Christianity considered a branch of Judaism?	[ "Depends how you look at things. On one hand, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all have the same God and spring from the same family tree (Abraham), so they could be considered branches of each other. But on the other hand the \"is Jesus the Savior\" thing is big enough of a deal for them to be \"separate\" for wha...	[ "that would be like cramming an intel processor onto an AMD motherboard and expecting it to boot." ]
how is the the news that the universe is slowly dying relevant to me?	[ "We don't know how it's relevant to you. That's sort of a question you have to answer. Practically, I doubt it matters much to you on any real scale. It's not really a new finding. Why did someone bother finding out? Because we want to know where we came from and why we are here. 'Why and how the universe exists' i...	[ "The \"standard model of cosmology\", i.e. [the lambda-CDM model](_URL_0_) treats dark energy as the result of having a non-zero cosmological constant. \"Constant\" being the key word. Ideas like the Big Rip only come about when you imagine a cosmology where the cosmological \"constant\" is actually some elaborate ...
why is “colonel” pronounced “kernel”? Where does the “r” sound come from?	[ "Coronel came through French and colonel through Italian. Colonel preserved the look of the related word \"column,\" but coronel brought a nice, regal \"crown\" to mind (though it wasn't actually etymologically related). So it went back and forth until we settled into the 'l' spelling with the 'r' pronunciation" ]	[ "Simple analogy: think of a core like a lane on a highway, and think of the clock speed as the speed limit. Two cores would mean there are two lanes on the highway. Now, let's define a couple of systems. * System A: single core, 1 GHz (30mph, one lane) * System B: dual core, 1 GHz (30 mph, two lanes) * System C: s...
Can enough exposure to a MRI suck all the nutritional iron out of your body ?	[ "Two thirds of the iron in your body is in the blood, as haemoglobin and oxyhaemoglobin. Haemoglobin is only weakly affected by magnetic fields and oxyhaemoglobin not at all. Neither responds enough, even to a strong magnet, to be pulled from your body." ]	[ "you waled through magnetic field, magnets are what make speakers work the field you walked through interfered with the speakers in your headphones." ]
Why is it so wrong to wear white after labor day?	[ "It's just an obsolete tradition now, that few care about. It started back when summer clothes and winter or formal city clothes were different, often made out of different materials. Such as cotton vs wool. And often the families of the gentry class would relocate from their winter home in the city to their summer...	[ "Horse meat isn't rare at all. You can get it in many parts of europe. Tastes ok too. Anyway, that's culture. The same reason we think that bacon and eggs is a breakfast food, and don't eat grasshoppers." ]
Can you sweat underwater?	[ "Yes! Swimming with high exertion heats the body sufficiently to trigger the sweating response. You don't notice because the sweat washed away. Most athletes develop an increased ability to sweat compared with non-athletes. You actually train your skin to sweat more! However, as swimmers need to sweat less, athlete...	[ "Hi, this question was asked not too long ago, I recommend you check out this link: _URL_0_ That should answer your question. In short, I believe you would nut suffer from dehydration in the traditional sense, but various other problems arise, which I suggest you explore that link for more info." ]
On August 14, 2014 at 9am was the Earth in the same spot in space that it is in now?	[ "It really depends on what reference frame you're talking about. In the reference frame of the Earth, obviously yes. In the reference frame of the galaxy, no because it is moving very fast along with the sun. In the reference frame of the sun, it will be in a similar but not exactly the same place, due to the prece...	[ "Reading that page hurt my head so very very much. There is so much shit and garbage on that page it is ridiculous. No, these people are completely nuts. And for any of the points they did make that are valid - experiments performed after the results they discuss have disproven the original results - or the origi...
Why is there often such a drastic difference between book and film?	[ "Lots of reasons, one of the major ones being time limits. Another is that much of a book goes into describing what is going on so that you can form a substantial mental image. When an image is presented to you, it is easy to look over details and stick with more prominent ones. Many scenes in books are interesting...	[ "Processing power. Your IPhone may be good and a marvel of miniaturization, but it isn't nearly as powerful as your laptop. The laptop can process all of the complex images and ads far faster than your phone can because your laptop processes everything faster." ]
Why can cops let you off the hook in certain situations? Wouldn't letting them do something illegal be illegal too?	[ "He's hoping that he has scared you into learning the error of your ways. The best form of policing is preventing crime, and by doing things the way you described, it sounds like he's achieved his goal. You're thinking about it. \"I got away with it this time - next time I might not be so lucky, so I won't do it\...	[ "The lights know your there a couple ways. Most common is what we call an induction loop. Basically copper wire is placed in the asphalt in a loop then a small amount of electricity is fed into that loop of wire. When your vehicle stops over this loop of wire the metal from the vehicle changes the amount of inducti...
why haven't we seen the US (and its partners in the fight against ISIS) engage in a siege of Raqqah, the "de facto capital of ISIS"?	[ "Isis doesn't wear uniforms, man. They blend in with civilians, that is their defence tactic. Raqqah has a population of like 300k, how many more innocents need to die ?" ]	[ "HIV infects CD4 T cells, a subset of immune cells in our body. The virus makes a reservoir in those cells by integrating its DNA in the host cell genome. So, infected adults who seek treatment are harboring multiple copies (tens of thousands) of the integrated genome and are pumping out viruses like no tomorrow. W...
How can pregnancy "cure" thyroid disease? I had hypothyroidism for 10 years before my pregnancy when my endocrinologist found my TSH/T4 levels were regulating & stopped my meds. My thyroid has worked perfectly since. What's the pathophysiology behind this?	[ "Pregnancy induces an increase in both thyroid hormone and thyroid hormone binding globulins (proteins that carry thyroid hormone in the blood). Generally this doesn't result in any overt changes though because the extra hormone is bound by the extra proteins. I've never heard of anything like your case though. Pos...	[ "Here are a couple threads on the subject of thorium reactors: * [Is thorium a viable option for supplying energy in America?](_URL_2_) * [whats the truth about thorium reactors? And why doesn't anyone know about them?](_URL_4_) * [Why aren't we using thorium reactors now?](_URL_1_) * [Why don't we have Liquid Fluo...
How do the 4s and 3d orbitals fill?	[ "Depending on your level of chemistry education you'll be taught that the 4s fills first because it has lower energy than the 3d. However this isn't strictly true. The better way to think about it is that the 3d orbital fills but electron repulsion due to the compactness of the orbital knocks additional electrons u...	[ "You just have to memorize the chart. There's no trick to it. You should get used to this if you will eventually have to take Organic Chemistry. Here's a [picture](_URL_0_) of the chart to help you out. All you really need to do is figure out how many chemical bonds you have, and how many lone pairs you have, and t...
Why is everyone mad at the US Government over the NSA Scandal, but not the companies like Google and Facebook, Verizon, etc. for allowing the Government to use their information? Especially when companies such as these, especially Google, usually promote internet freedom and privacy?	[ "It is absolutely also a problem if Google or Facebook or any other corporation is intruding on our privacy. It just tends to be a lower-order problem compared to the government doing it because Google doesn't have nearly as many resources as the Federal government does, nor does Google's snooping have any impl...	[ "Money. Money money money. Google just buys babies straight cash." ]
Basic question about hitler	[ "You're confusing the country of Germany--which was less than 20 years older than Hitler himself--with the German people, a group that was usually defined linguistically and racially. Thus the German race, as envisioned by Hitler, included ethnic Germans in places like Austria, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, and did n...	[ "hi all. Just a reminder that this is a history sub, so we're looking for in-depth and informed responses from people with expertise in the subject matter. Source material citation is encouraged. Conjecture, opinions, and rumours do not meet sub standards. Thanks!" ]
Why countries, ships, and most personal belongings use a feminine article (I.e. "She's a beautiful ship")	[ "Men commonly built relationships with the things they owned (e.g. Ships/captains) So they were (in their eyes) like a woman counterpart to the man that was at work most of the time and had no time to find a woman." ]	[ "You've discovered [the twin paradox](_URL_0_). The answer is that you can't have the spaceships \"suddenly\" be at rest with each other. Either one or both must undergo acceleration. In the case of one spaceship accelerating and becoming at rest with the other, the accelerating spaceship has its time dilated. If t...
What has caused the smog in Beijing to become so heavy that the city has been put on "Red Alert"? Is there anything that can be done long-term to potentially stop the smog and "clean" the air in Beijing?	[ "The reason the air is so contaminated from smog is due to the gasses released by cars, factories, ect (known as greenhouse gasses) Currently there are multinational discussions to curb these emissions and thus start cleaning up the air. Unfortunately we're at the point where major and drastic action needs to take...	[ "To answer a little more specific from the perspective of a Californian and answering directly about PG & E: They’re simply going to have to pay a fine. Maybe someone higher up in the company gets a sentence. That’s really it. This isn’t the 1st, and it certainly won’t be the last, time that PG & E is responsible ...
Whats the difference between socialism, capitalism, monarch, republic, absolutism, liberalism and conservatism?	[ "I like [the cow explanation](_URL_0_) but it's always a bit biased, depending on who's delivering it. Usually they'll make the political ideology they don't like sound the most ridiculous, and the link I provided is no exception." ]	[ "/r/classicalmusic will be happy to help further and provide some good examples. A symphony is a large work, commonly four movements (sections) long. A series of any movements for any instrument is called a suite. NB there is a pause between movements which should never have applause! A concerto is a work for a s...
Why do we frequently end words with 'y' when we're talking with children, i.e. mommy, daddy, doggy, kitty? Also, is this just an English language thing, or are there similar instances of this in other languages?	[ "In linguistics, that's called a diminutive. In English, it's typically done with an \"ee\" sound (usually spelled with a y or ie). In Spanish, for instance, the diminutive is represented with the suffix \"ito\" or \"ita\" (so señorita literally means \"little miss\")." ]	[ "It seems like the term Fatherland is quite common in Germanic Languages. For example Fatherland in different Germanic Languages: * Afrikaans: Vaderland * Danish: fædreland * Dutch: vaderland * Frisian: heitelân * German: Vaterland * Icelandic: föðurland * Norwegian: fedreland * Swedish: fäderneslandet (besides th...
When does a bullet reach its maximum velocity?	[ "Probably right as it leaves the barrel. For many cartridges, firing the same bullet from a longer barrel will result in higher velocity because it doesn't \"waste\" as much of the gas expansion. Imagine a very snub nosed revolver: there's a huge flash of fire out the barrel around the bullet, and all that gas ex...	[ "This wiki should answer your questions: _URL_0_ At the critical point, the properties of a gas and a liquid converge such that you have one phase. The critical temperature is the highest temperature that 2 phases can coexist, the critical pressure is the vapor pressure at the critical temperature and the critical...
Why does it always feel like people in rural areas are more conservative while people in urban areas are more progressive?	[ "This is a fairly big question. It's a stable pattern that shows up in various countries and across time periods, though with a lot of exceptions. Possible answers: * Government intervention is more helpful in cities (which require active management to function, and collapse without rules) than in the country (wher...	[ "Potentially. Different neurotransmitters occur in different concentrations in different parts of the brain and the receptors that they interact with occur as different subtypes and in different densities in different regions. So a drug, either agonist or antagonist, may preferentially act upon on anatomical region...
what caused the electricity crisis in California in 2000/2001, and have other states or countries tried the same that California did?	[ "Enron artificially caused the electricity crisis by doing “maintenance” on plants causing them to shut down. They were really just driving up the price of electricity by creating artificial demand. “The smartest guys in the room” is a good movie to watch" ]	[ "Greetings everyone. In the few minutes this sub has been up, it's attracting sub-standard responses. Just a reminder of a few of the rules: * no responses covering events/conditions post-1994, per this sub's \"20-year rule\" prohibiting discussion of current events * no anecdotes * no speculation OP: your question...
when you buy a burial plot do you purchase it forever? If so, how do graveyards remain profitable? If not, what happens to your remains?	[ "In the UK when you buy a plot you have a lease on it. Usually for at least one hundred years, often longer. So until at least one hundred years after the last person is buried in the cemetery all the graves remain intact. It is often longer. Eventually the graveyard will be left to get overgrown. In cities where t...	[ "You may find some answers in these previous threads in our [Popular Questions wiki](_URL_3_): * [How have dead bodies been disposed of after battles throughout history?](_URL_0_) * [How have dead bodies been disposed of after battles throughout history?](_URL_0_) * [Who cleaned up the bodies on D-Day?](_URL_2_) * ...
When people go outside to take a breath of fresh air, why does that help calm them down?	[ "Going outside firstly removes the trigger and stimulus that's causing the stress - and so they can get out of an emotionally charged situation. Fresh air may also be a change in temperature, so they have a different physical response too, and that may help them breathe deeper, giving the stress hormones a chance t...	[ "Bernoulli's law states that a fluid's pressure is proportional to its velocity (there's more to that equation but I simplified it) When you are in a moving car, say at 60 mph, the air is moving at 60 mph relative to your car (assuming it is not a windy day) This means that the velocity of the air relative to your ...
Would diluted ocean water from melted glaciers and ice caps reduce or increase how well heat is conveyed through ocean currents?	[ "it is thought it will weaken ocean conveyor belts, because they are powered by cold, dense salty water sinking (when sea ice forms it forms without the dissolved sea salt, causing the remaining water to become saltier = denser). More fresh water flowing into the system weakens that driver." ]	[ "The most common (and generally accepted) idea is that there is a ['hotspot'](_URL_0_) beneath Iceland, [specifically the Iceland Plume](_URL_2_). The exact relationship between the Iceland plume and the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge is still a bit contentious (at least as far as I know), the northern Mid-Atlantic Ri...
why is cancer incurable?	[ "[PhDComics has a great, ELI5 answer with pictures!](_URL_0_)" ]	[ "Not that we know of. Computational Complexity problems are all solvable with different kinds of resources. For example, problems in EXP take exponential space and time to solve, but are still 'solvable' in the sense that you are describing. The class of problems that are 'unsolvable' are known as 'undecidable'. A...
What does having insurance on a priceless artwork do?	[ "Priceless is a subjective term used to describe something that is one of a kind and no reasonable amount money can replace. Realistically, every piece of art has a price (what others are willing to pay for it). For insurance purposes, a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, in return for payment. I...	[ "I have been puzzled for a few weeks why I could not find any printed listings of all the singers in the Naples Royal Chapel, considering it was a pretty major music group through the early modern period, and boasted many distinguished singers and composers, such as Scarlatti, and Caffarelli. Turns out most of tho...
Why did the byzantines do so poorly against the sassanids during Heraclius' early reign?	[ "A lot of it had to do with the circumstances of the war. Phocas had taken power in a bloody coup in 602 (overthrowing Maurice), which plunged the Empire into, if not civil war, civil strife. Because of familial alliances between Maurice's family and the Persian royal family, the Sassanid invasion was initially pit...	[ "I am by no means an expert on this topic, but I can point you towards a very good book I read a few years ago. [Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle](_URL_0_) discusses the trial of [Ossian Sweet](_URL_1_), an African-American physician who killed a white man in self-defense in 1925 Detroit. The man was part of a white m...
Cameras: You used to replace the bulbs after a few shots, so what changed?	[ "Cameras use xenon gas flashtubes, which can be used over and over. They have a 200-300 volt capacitor which discharges when a kilovolt pulse triggers the gas inside to ionize. Previous flashbulbs had magnesium wire or foil in 100% oxygen. They burned very quickly when ignited by a battery." ]	[ "Those shows are not filming everyday like you might think. My family had one season on TV. The film crew would come into town for a weekend and they would give a very strict itinerary for the events. Many events and different places for each day they were in town. My family would have to bring a completely differe...
Would it be possible to measure the rise in sea level due to a single aircraft carrier entering the water?	[ "The water displacement of a loaded Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carrier is about 100,000 m^3. The total surface area of the Earth's oceans is a combined 360,000,000 km^2 or 3.6 * 10^(14) m^2. Dropping one carrier into the ocean would raise the water level by 2.8 * 10^(-10) m. Or 0.28 nanometer. This turns out to ...	[ "_URL_0_ < - Here is an article discussing this particular paper written by climate science experts. They go through and show why the paper is incorrect. _URL_1_ < - This article deals with several past models the author (Roy Spencer) has released. Basically the issue with Spencer is that he is convinced CO2 has no...
If glasses-free 3D on 3DS is not recommended for children under 7, why is the new i3D Interactive Kids 'O.K.' for 3 and up (according to the box)?	[ "The 3D on a 3DS is not recommended for children under 7 because the technology it uses relies on your eyes being a certain distant apart from each other, and it takes a few years to get there on a human head. When your eyes are too close together, you'd have to hold the 3DS much closer to your face to get the corr...	[ "Virtually the entire beer industry is part, or at least follows the guidelines, of the Beer Institute. They publish an [Advertising and Marketing Code](_URL_0_) that breweries and beer importers follow. The basic rule is that it is the responsibility of the brewery to assure that the audience for the advertising/m...
How does lowering the volume on a device actually work?	[ "Simple version: You turn a knob, and a coil is wound/unwound which increases the resistance of the electrical current by increasing the distance it has to travel through the coil. This resistance drops the power(volts & amps) which causes less energy to be transferred to the speaker. The same process happens in a ...	[ "Headphones are simply 2 baby speakers that sit very near your ear.. Since they're tiny they require very very less power, are less loud and the dynamics of sound are more notable as they are very near your ear!" ]
Why can't we just do fission and fusion on the same atoms an unlimited amount of times?	[ "Atoms that give off energy during fission required energy to fuse. Atoms that give off energy during fusion required energy to split. Generally, small atoms (smaller than iron) give off energy during fusion and larger atoms (larger than iron) give off energy during fission. Once you've fused or fizzed your way to ...	[ "A couple reasons. In the United States, the burden of proof is on the prosecutor to show that the defendant committed the crime. This \"presumption of innocence\" makes preparing a case hard work, because to win, the prosecutor has to convince 12 regular people that, with absolutely no doubt, the defendant commit...
Were all those that were sentenced to crucifiction forced to carry their cross, or was that special for Christ?	[ "Semi-related follow up: Is it correct to refer to him as Christ in a historical context? I would think historians would prefer 'Jesus of Nazareth', no?" ]	[ "People care less about obeying rules when they are about to die. At this point what do they have to lose? Did Jerry over in cell D12 make a rude comment about your mother? Maybe Jerry should get stabbed 12 times with a sharpened tooth brush. What are the guards going to do about it? Kill you? lol!" ]
What are the differences in the political parties in the US?	[ "One is represented by a Donkey mascot. The other is represented by an Elephant mascot. Beyond that, it's tough to say." ]	[ "This CGP Grey video does a really good job of explaining it all. _URL_3_" ]
Is there a reason why some people with Tourettes have swear words specifically as their tick? Of all words that could be their tick, why is it almost always profanity?	[ "It's actually one of the least common tics, its a condition called corprolalia. It's famous because its the one people think is funny. It's all pretty mysterious, even to doctors, but one theory is that it has something to do with the way our brain stores \"taboos\" in a separate part of the brain. An example of t...	[ "Essentially it’s because computers are smart. Sound is a wave, with how high or low a sound is being determined by how many waves it has per second. More waves = high pitch. So when a recording gets played at a faster speed, be that a record or on a computer, more waves come out in the same amount of time, so ever...
Why do painkillers like aspirin, paracetamol and ibuprofen require you to take two tablets for a full dose? Why not give a full dose in one tablet?	[ "Because some people who have a sensitivity, or who are small, or children need smaller doses. If someone could need 1/4 of a dose (baby asprin) it is easier to cut one pill in half than it is to cut it into quarters." ]	[ "The computer has files of varying sizes. These take up varying amounts of spaces on the hard drive. Say you write to the hard drive 3 different files. One takes up 5 \"spaces\" the next 2 spaces, and the last 5 spaces. Later, you delete the 2 space file. Now you've got 5 occupied spaces, 2 free spaces, 5 occupied...
If protons are attracted to electrons and repelled by other protons, what keeps them in the nucleus?	[ "It's one of the fundamental forces called the strong nuclear force. So while their charges repel them, this force is stronger and holds them together. It's very strong but very short ranged." ]	[ "In theory, if you assume that the magnets are providing only an upward lift, then yes. It may take a some time to get it moving to any observable speed, but any force applied against it that is greater than any parasitic friction would result in acceleration and movement. However, if you look more into the details...
Is the claim that ancient Egyptians navigated all the way around Africa from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea in any way verified?	[ "I'm not familiar with that claim. Where did you hear it? I know Herodotus claims Phoenicians sailed from the Red Sea to the Levant coast. Is that what you're talking about?" ]	[ "They do: * The Sphinx's head and paws were repaired. [1](_URL_0_), [2](_URL_1_) * The Great Pyramid had internal graffiti removed and chamber walls cleaned. [1](_URL_3_) * The mastaba of Seshemnefer has been restored [1](_URL_2_) * Sand is constantly removed from many sites of the plateau. But restoring the pyrami...
Why is it ok for girls to experiment with other girls but it's frowned upon when guys do the same? Why is there always a double standard?	[ "Because girls with girls turns on straight men (who write all the laws, set many of the cultural priorities, etc). It's really as simple as that." ]	[ "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...
Question on the Evolution of Human Penis Size	[ "Keep this on topic. Jokes and puns will be removed. If you don't know the science, or don't have a relevant question, don't comment." ]	[ "If by lifestyle changes, you mean \"taking steroids\" then yes, sort of. Or taking hormones to stimulate growth or having a developmental disorder of some kind. In general, however, development of secondary sexual traits halts once puberty is complete." ]
What exactly happens when you get a "chill" up your back?	[ "It is your hair follicles that are flexing, resulting in goose bumps and a tingly feeling. It is associated with an emotional response, like when you listen to nice music." ]	[ "Cracking the bones but not moving them far enough to cut the nerves will not kill you." ]
How is the American Social Security system broken and is there a version of Social Security that will actually work?	[ "When it was established, people died at a much earlier age, so they didn't have to pay out as much. These days people are living a lot longer, therefore getting paid out a longer period of time instead of what they were when the system was put in place. That's my understanding of it." ]	[ "U.S. sales taxes are VERY Complicated. We don't have a national sales tax that applies evenly across the board. Sales tax goes down to the state, county, and even local levels. The tax you pay in one store could be completely different to the tax you pay in the store across the street in extreme circumstances. Plu...
The inside of my pineapple can appears to be galvanized steel, what is the reason for this?	[ "You're right that zinc is not considered safe in that application. What leads you to think the can is galvanized? Tinplate is commonly used for this purpose - see the following article, which discusses industry use of tinplate and its safety: [Tin in canned food: a review and understanding of occurrence and effec...	[ "From _URL_0_ \"... Like Magic Shell, Carvel’s Brown Bonnet chocolate topping instantly forms a hard shell around ice cream. And, just like Magic Shell, one of the main ingredients is coconut oil. Tropical oils, including coconut, are naturally high in saturated fat—consisting of about 90 percent of the stuff. As P...
The Big Bang, how something came from nothing to kickstart the universe.	[ "The Big Bang does not describe the literal start of the universe, and in fact we don't know for certain there even was one. Not that 'stuff always existed' is much easier to swallow for our expectations than stuff outta nothing. The Big Bang refers to an early part of the life of the universe, in which it was hot...	[ "Emergence. _URL_0_ Radiolab did an excellent episode/podcast on it. But in essence, we don't really know. How does the brain work when it is 'just' a collection of cells?" ]
If you were on a planet in an otherwise empty universe, would you be able to tell if your planet was rotating?	[ "Rotation is a non-inertial frame of reference (that is, you must be accelerating). As such, it is possible to determine that you are spinning (accelerating). Monkey_Town mentioned the Foucault's pendulum, which is exactly what you would need to use to figure this out. However, if the planet wasn't spinning, but in...	[ "Falling with Style. With much practice, our eyes and inner-ears work together to provide the brain with information. We aren't aware that this is going on, but fun house spinning tunnels mess with our eyes and spinning around really fast messes with our inner ears, both making walking difficult. We don't \"think a...
How do slap bracelets work?	[ "Have you ever used one of those roll up tape measures? You can see a very similar behaviour in them if you press in the middle. It's due to the metal being bent upwards in the middle, causing the bracelet to stiffen, but as soon as you pop the middle the entire thing curls up on itself." ]	[ "It doesn't. Scientific studies on neuro-linguistic programming have shown it to have no effect. _URL_0_" ]
Why are the interstage rings of the Saturn V corrugated/rigid?	[ "These sections are stiffened to be able to withstand the launch loads without buckling. The non-stiffened sections are tank sections. Since they are pressure vessels, they don't need extra protection against buckling. Some rockets designs (e.g. for the first Atlas rocket) even went so far that their tanks, so cal...	[ "That could be the case. But it would get really expensive pretty quickly. It's more a combination of fuel efficiency and atmospheric durability while retaining a certain price point. The most bang for your buck, as it were. It's probably more complicated than that, but I don't know much about missiles." ]
If women in Europe weren't seen as equal to men until the 19th century, why were some women given positions of absolute power? (Queens etc)	[ "While other posts have addressed the specific issues of royalty, I'd like to broaden the point a little and point out that, for most of history, the idea that all men were equal wasn't a given. Societies were heavily stratified between classes -- \"aristocracy\", after all, means society's \"best\". So if within...	[ "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...
Why is the dalton (aka unified atomic mass unit) not equal to the sum of masses of 6 protons, 6 neutrons and 6 electrons divided by 12?	[ "Very good question. The reason hinges on two things: 1) A bound state of nucleons (as in, a nucleus) has binding energy - this is the energy that would be required to separate a carbon nucleus into its constituent parts. 2) Energy is related to mass by the famous E=mc^2 If you weigh 6 protons and 6 neutrons, you...	[ "It's all about relativity. If the Hulk ran for a quarter mile, he'd only appear to be moving a few dozen widths of his body size. If a dragonfly then traveled the same distance and speed, it'd appear to be moving thousands of widths of its body size. So they cover the same distance but relative to their body size ...
why are nuclear weapons so powerful?	[ "Conventional weapons exploit kinetic and chemical energy. Nuclear weapons convert matter into energy, which yields many orders of magnitude more energy per gram of material via a chain reaction." ]	[ "Media companies \"Nuking\" torrent files with data. Nuking basically means they put some kind of trojan horse in a movie/video game file, so when you download it, they can track it and report you to your ISP." ]
Why aren't all North and South Americans referred to as Americans the way Europeans are all European?	[ "The denonyms of most countries are derived from their names. The United States of America's denonym is American because terms like United Stater, United Statesian, or United States of American sound pretty stupid. If we called anyone from the Americas an American that would be very confusing." ]	[ "This is mainly due to the fact that pitching is a very difficult thing to due, and learned through years of repetition that has to constantly be maintained, leaving less time for them to practice hitting. Now hitting is very hard on itself, which leaves pitchers generally either skimping in hitting or in pitching,...
Are there historical or cultural factors that allowed couples dances (like the waltz) to thrive while large group dances (like the minuet) disappeared?	[ "Actually, English Country Dance is still around. That's the kind of dancing you see in (accurate) Jane Austen movies. It's the ancestor of contra dancing, and is somewhat similar if more sedate. It fell out of favor in the mid-19th century, but was revived about a century ago. It has quite a following now." ]	[ "We move our heads as a signal of recognizing and following a musical pattern, aka rhythm. If you listen to most music you will be able to bob your head along since (most often than not) music follows a single tempo, and can just be broken down into multiple beat intervals. This is the way a metronome works. If you...
In spacetime intervals, where S^2 = r^2 - t^2C^2, what does S^2 = 0 represent?	[ "Two events separated by s=0 are null separated or light-like separated, and one event can fire a laser at the other event." ]	[ "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...
To what extent was the the U.S. aware of the pace and progress of the Soviet nuclear program before its first test in 1949? And did the U.S. successfully infiltrate it?	[ "Not sure about infiltration but the U.S. was definitely unaware of the extent of Soviet progress in 1949. [\"Joe-1\"](_URL_1_) (РДС-1) took the United States by surprise. It was an almost perfect copy of \"Fat Man\" built with information leaked from Los Alamos largely by [Klaus Fuchs](_URL_3_). The Pentagon gener...	[ "If your next door neighbor is trampling flowers in your backyard, and your much larger, much bigger neighbor from across the street decides to try and stop him, it's in your interest to just let him do that, whether with implicit or explicit approval. ... especially when you can't get to that corner of the backyar...
Why is it that supposedly two people huddling together with their skin touching will keep them more warm than each of them keeping their warmth for themselves?	[ "Surface area to volume ratio. You lose heat through exposed surfaces by conduction/radiation/convection. When you huddle up as a single person you have less exposed area than if you are physically spread out (i.e. arms extended). If you have two people you are better off huddling in a single ball for the same reas...	[ "Every substance has a specific heat, defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of that material by one degree. This means that doubling the absolute temperature (i.e. °K) requires twice as much heat. This doesn't work if we're talking in °C, because 0 °C doesn't mean zero heat....
How did Germany take France so easily?	[ "Strange Defeat by Marc Bloch is an excellent read on the subject. It is the first-person account of the beginning of hostilities between Germany and France. The difference is that the person writing (Bloch) is a very talented historian and WWI veteran who joined back up for WWII. You get all of his skills as a his...	[ "Two principle reasons: 1. As someone mentioned before, cats were not killed in Poland due to a lack of supersition in reagards to those animals, so there were far fewer rats carrying Oriantal fleas. 2. More importantly, Poland was at that time rulled by on of its greatest kings in history, Kazimierz III Wielki, wh...
If batteries have a chemical reaction to create energy and charging it just reverses it, how can we use our phone while it's charging?	[ "Because some of the electricity goes to run the phone and the rest goes to charging the battery. That's why some phones can work without a battery if they're plugged in. Some can't just because of the charging circuitry." ]	[ "Your first question somewhat answers your second question. A neuron that is re-polarizing cannot fire another action potential. (This is known as the absolute refractory period.) Because it is unable to fire during this period the action potential traveling down the axon cannot go back the way it came. Note, when ...
Missle fired on Earth vs. space	[ "First of all, even though the rocket produces no sound, the actions that produce the sound are still happening, thus this doesn't change energy expenditure. Also heat can be produced in a vacuum (unless the rocket uses a fuel mixture that doesn't involve oxygen, in which case it probably won't be able to fire). Th...	[ "Very careful simulation based on testing data. Engineers have experimentally gathered data about all the different materials used to make the telescope. This data includes failure points given applied loads, vibrational frequencies, etc. They can use this along with a computational model of the sattelite to predic...
What determines the Strength of a Magnet?	[ "[This video details some of the factors of permanent magnets](_URL_1_) As far as electromagnets, the main factor that determines the strength of the magnetic field is the current running through the loop; more current, more magnetic field. This is modeled in [Maxwell's 4th equation](_URL_2_) or [Ampere's Law](_URL...	[ "You're neglecting density. Density is mass divided by volume. If you rearrange that equation, you get mass = density x volume. So two objects of the same volume with different densities will have different masses. Metals tend to be much more dense than cardboard or paper, so they weigh more." ]
Why do Fraternities and Sororities uses Greek Alphabet?	[ "When they first formed in the 1800s and early 1900s they were elite social clubs for professional networking within a college (not party club). They wanted to show off that elite educational status of things by having names and mottos based in Latin and Greek. Two languages associated for centuries with the highly...	[ "Marketing. It makes the reader more easily relate to them. They aren't really a group of editors and publicitsts pushing the book, it's just that one person in a small town that wrote a story." ]
How Can a Band Advertise Their Concert as "The Last Show Ever" to Sell Tickets, But Then Announce Another Tour?	[ "\"This was going to be the last show. We're getting old and want to retire. The thing is, we had such a great time, we talked about it, and we're pretty sure we can get through another tour.\"" ]	[ "> what where they told in regards to ailed advances, Depends. There were many instances of the Nazi regime lying about defeats, or the actual extent of the disasters...but the public was generally aware the war was going badly after 1942. > and what where they told to expect once Berlin fell? The people knew tha...
I'm looking for possible career options out of college as a history major, do any of you know what I could do?	[ "Since /u/Vampire_Seraphin mentioned archives, I can talk a bit more about working in an archives with you if you'd like. I'm not an archivist, people kinda lump everyone in the archives as an \"archivist\" but it's a more formal job title. I just got my MLIS degree a few weeks ago, and I've been working in archive...	[ "Hi readers! Since questions like these often attract anecdotal answers, just a quick reminder: you are in /r/AskHistorians, so do ensure that answers are comprehensive and informative, and based on solid source material. Personal anecdotes or other casual chitchat/speculation/opinion are not accepted as answers he...
How do stop motion animators animate someone jumping?	[ "Techniques vary, but a support perpendicular to the viewing plane behind the character jumping can provide support without being visible." ]	[ "CG art in general is made with a wide variety of software packages. packages like Photoshop for 2D and packages like Autodesk Maya, 3DS Max, Zbrush etc for 3d images and the stuff in movies/ video games. I only listed a few, there are many more. If it is something that you're interested in i suggest youtubing some...
Why doesn’t the pH of 0.1 M HCl change when you add water to it? Why doesn’t the pH of a buffer change if u add water to it?	[ "It does, but the solution is no longer .1M, M is per volume of water, its concentration. if the concentration of HCL changes then the pH will change as well. Normally it is so high to start that it won't change the log value of the hydrogen concentration. Depends on the buffer as well, water is neutral, adding it ...	[ "Games would run better running on the hardware they were designed for. Suppose that you're working with Bob, your best friend. You know each other so well that when you raise a thumbs up, Bob will fetch a coffee for you, and whenever you scream \"OH GOD NO\" Bob will immediately fetch a bug spray because you just ...
Milk and powdered sugar = a simple frosting. Why doesn't this need to be refrigerated?	[ "The same reason why syrup doesn't need to be refrigerated. Spoiling comes from growth of bacteria. Milk is an excellent host for bacteria. If your sugar concentration is at the level it is for frosting, then bacteria simply can't handle it, absorb too much sugar and die before being able to reproduce. Thats why a ...	[ "Its the way they it was developed and tested. They made sample A and fizzed it up and it tasted like crap. They did the same with b-x. But damn Y tastes good. Lets mass produce Y. No point in testing what your drink tastes like 1-2 hours after opening as that is not what your target market is buying it for. They w...
The Irish police force are currently considering going on strike. Have other police forces ever gone on strike? If so, what were the consequences for public safety?	[ "In 1969 the Montreal city police went on strike over pay. A wave of crime swept through the city, so the Mounties and Quebec provincial police had to be called in. In response, the city police actually tried to subvert the other police forces, including by hijacking police vehicles. The cab driver union used the o...	[ "> A general idea of how the police can \"investigate\" a Yik Yak. 1. The police get a search warrant for YikYak's data. 2. They contact the owners of YikYak with the warrant, which forces YikYak to give them the IP address of the user who posted the threat. 3. The police get a search warrant for the cell phone p...
Do insects and arachnids need to burn calories?	[ "Yes, insects and arachnids both eat and digest food much in the same way that we do. They grow in a different way than we do. They grow in spits and spurts shedding their current exoskeleton every time that they go through a growth event. Calories is an energy measurement so if it uses energy to move, grow, or rep...	[ "Most spiders are territorial, although [social species exist where multiple spiders share a web](_URL_1_). Some spiders intentionally [steal prey from other spiders' webs](_URL_0_)--some even [eat the webs themselves](_URL_2_). Anecdotally, I see spiders (cellar spiders) using pre-existing webs all the time--tryin...
Why is it that when we're reading something and our minds zone out, that our eyes continue to follow the text as if we are still reading it?	[ "There are several layers of processing going on. Reading requires input data, language processing, comprehension, and then putting all of those together. When you zone out you lose the last two, but that doesn't necessarily cause you to change your visual field. It's somewhat akin to staring off into space. You'r...	[ "Hold your arm out in front of you. If you're strong, maybe put a bit of weight in your hand. Got it out there? Not too difficult, right? Just keep it held out there, nice and level. Is it getting more difficult? Might even hurt a bit. Now put your arm in a different position. Much more comfortable, right? You use ...
Why is Starcraft so damn popular in Korea?	[ "Why do you need this explained to you like you're 5 years old? Yet again this sounds like an Ask Reddit question." ]	[ "Back then people still needed jobs, now they dont and can practice harder for longer. And science helps by showing then methods on improving motions. You cam find cool videos on youtube" ]
Why do people get dizzy or get headaches, when reading a book, while in a moving vehicle?	[ "It has to do with you eyes telling your body(via your inner ear) you're not moving when you are. _URL_0_ Edit: TIL that this may be a defense mechanism that our body has against neurotoxins. _URL_1_" ]	[ "Speculative, as I know of no scientific study on the subject, but I am an electronics technician and electronic warfare specialist who works with various radio and radar equipment. It's possible that the angle of your radio station relative to the freeway (and thus overpasses) is such that just as you go through t...
If Powerball odds are 1:175,223,510; why doesn't someone buy every combination?	[ "If they bought every combination then that would be 175 million tickets, at what is it, $2 per ticket? That's over 350 million dollars. Occasionally the jackpot is more than that, but it typically isn't. Also, keep in mind that the money from the jackpot is going to be doled out over many years or given in a lump ...	[ "401K refers to a section of the USA tax code that allows employees to reserve a portion of their yearly income and put it into a retirement account (referred to simply as a 401K). The money that you put into your 401K is pre-tax. Example: You make $20,000 in 2014. You have $2000 of that put into your 401K. Come ne...
why Ebola isn't airborne.	[ "Because it has not evolved to, for now. But you must know that being airborne is not making a sickness \"end of the world\" level. Some airborne disease still don't survive long outside an host." ]	[ "Short version: evolution and natural selective pressures don't care that we've figured out how to do blood transfusions." ]
Is it remotely possible that there was an advanced civilization on Earth preceding the earliest "known" organisms?	[ "Keep in mind that the Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old. Until about 3.9 billion years ago the earth underwent the late heavy bombardment - a period where asteroid and comet impacts of high frequency and magnitude occurred. There is solid evidence that the crust of the earth was shattered and reformed repeate...	[ "Your asking essentially the chicken or the egg. Example, Did you stomach evolove first and create your brain and extremites to feed it. Or did your brain grow your stomach to power it. Har to say, as without something to feed the stomach, we would have no stomch. Without the brain to run everything, we wouldn't ha...
This subreddit has become like /r/AskScience in many ways, besides its focus on simple, easy to read questions. Should this subreddit start using the "No Medical Advice" rule that /r/AskScience is all about?	[ "except /r/askiscience usually has accurate answers and this sub is often filled with broscience and guesswork. Also it has become a replacement for /r/askreddit since /r/askreddit has become /r/makeupstories." ]	[ "A lawyer doesn't have to always say that something is not legal advice. Pickles are best eaten in chip form this is not legal advice. That said, you are not allowed to practice law without a license; that includes a general prohibition on giving legal advice. Let's say you violated that prohibition, made busin...
I know this question is asked a lot in other subreddits, but I want to hear it from here: what's the most interesting, thought provoking fact you know?	[ "The Romans had tacky shot glasses shaped like gladiator helmets." ]	[ "Doing any work effortlessly involves using muscle memory or \"cached memory\" gained through former experience. Thinking about it consciously throws the system off and puts extra \"load\" on the brain and requires more processing power. For eg. a good way to throw a player of his game would be to make him think a...
Is there any credibility to the claim that recent NASA data shows a weakness in climate models?	[ "_URL_0_ < - Here is an article discussing this particular paper written by climate science experts. They go through and show why the paper is incorrect. _URL_1_ < - This article deals with several past models the author (Roy Spencer) has released. Basically the issue with Spencer is that he is convinced CO2 has no...	[ "A long time ago in places like Greece, Rome and even before that in really, really long ago places like Sumeria, and Egypt people made up stories about the stars/planets and the pictures they thought groups of stars made. These stories were usually about beings they considered to be gods or demigods (the word demi...
How in the hell were pidgeons trained to fly hundreds of miles and deliver a message?	[ "They were raised at their destination point (point a), learned it was home. Then they were taken to other places that would want to send that destination a message (point b). When the pigeon was needed to send a message it was released from point b and instinctively flew back home to point a. Birds fly hundreds o...	[ "The same way they do now: using satellite and microwave transmissions. Using the internet is kind of sketchy, because of a lack of control of the bandwidth that can cause the connection quality to drop, which is why other technologies are preferred when feasible." ]
If climate change is causing droughts, rising temperatures, shrinking polar ice caps, etc., where is all the water going? Earth is a closed ecosystem.	[ "It's not that there is less water, it's that it's distributed differently. It also causes more floods. There will be - in net - more water in oceans than there are currently, but...it can't be said that the earth will be \"more dry\" (or more wet, for that matter) the result of global warming." ]	[ "When you eat chocolate, the cocoa butter melts in your mouth, causing the tasty chocolate flavors to coat the taste buds. If you have water in your mouth, the chocolate will either not melt or else it will melt and then seize up into a tight, solid mass because water interferes with the way cocoa butter solidifies...
How Tesla is able to compete against other huge companies (with huge R/D)?	[ "The basics of cars are pretty well known & don't take much R & D, it's just the electric drivetrain they need to work on. The big auto manufacturers aren't really interested in the all-electric market because it's too small for them to bother with. To put the numbers in context, Ford sells around 200,000 Focuses a...	[ "Facebooked used exclusivity at first to drive demand, then learned from MySpace's mistakes. Remember how MySpace was infested with glitter and sparkle, and six billion videos that crashed your browser because some emo 15 year old thought she was original? Remember how Facebook was having none of that shit? They ...
Does hydrogen peroxide in the ear actually help with ear blockages?	[ "Earwax is mostly keratin and long chain fatty acids. The oxygen that evolves from hydrogen peroxide breaks up these polymers, allowing the water to carry the liquefied ear was out of your ear more easily." ]	[ "They actually debunked that, same with that nonsense about listening to classical music in the womb making your child smarter. It was all just BS to sell some cds. I'll see if I can find an article about it, and I'll edit this to put it in. And now to see if this answer is long enough, or if it will get auto-modd...
Can employers see my high school aNd college grades?	[ "Only if you provide them. Also, now that you are in college, you have passed the point where anybody, at all, will ever care about your high school grades." ]	[ "* Because ISP:s log who's used what IP when * Depends on how old logs you can find * For bank transactions: Make sure you're on the right site, check it's using SSL. For mostly anything else: Using anonymization (Tor or proxies/VPN), NoScript to block Javascript, and other techniques. Also, by minimizing the info ...
I was told to repost my question here long ago: Do you see the Rise of Christianity and Fall of the Western Roman Empire as being directly correlated, mere coincidence, or somewhere in between?	[ "Gibbon's view on the correlation between the rise of Christianity and the collapse of the Roman Empire in the west is very outdated. I don't believe there are any credible modern historians who share that belief. The easiest argument against it is that in the fifth century it was only the western half of the Roman...	[ "You're simply witnessing how humans can sometimes react to uncertainty and economic problems (which really get to simply well-being and survival problems). Germany became dominated by Nazis much for the same reason after all. Right-wing authoritarianism is generally associated with intolerance for ambiguity and fo...
The process of how natural gas is converted to liquified natural gas	[ "It's compressed. You compress any gas enough, it becomes liquid." ]	[ "What language is this? Pills are solid and not liquid where I come from." ]
Why does lightning strike very precise points such as the end of a pole, yet takes a seemingly randomized zig-zag path to that point?	[ "On average, air is air. However, on a very small scale, there are pockets of low/high pressure, and low/high concentrations of all sorts of chemicals. You can see [in this incredible gif](_URL_1_) how \"tendrils\" of electricity are extended first. They travel through as low-resistance a path as they can find, and...	[ "It's not voodoo magic. It's kind of like brushing your hair. When you get up in the morning, your hair (assuming you have more hair on your head than I do) is all tangled from tossing and turning and all that other jazz. This is what regular light coming from, say, a light bulb looks like. It's all tangled and sca...
When a program on my computer freezes, and I click "Close the Program" in the error message, why does it sometimes not close?	[ "When you shut down a program you send a message to the program and ask it politely to shut down. This gives the program a chance to react and shutdown properly. If there is no response your operating system brings up the big guns and tries to kill the program by force which is not possible sometimes because the pr...	[ "Imagine a needle in a haystack that is 10 kilometers wide, and there are only 10 people designated to finding said needle. It would take them an insanely long time. They might find a few of the needles in their allotted time frame, but likely not all of them. When a game is released to the public, it's the same wa...
How does a computer "know" what opcodes correspond to operations?	[ "There's a piece of circuitry that takes the opcode as input and produces a collection of control bits. Some of these bits go to the [ALU](_URL_0_), where several operations are done simultaneously on the values from the input registers and the control bits tell the [multiplexer](_URL_1_) which result to actually o...	[ "[This video explains quite well how it works online, specifically Youtube](_URL_0_) TL;DW: Youtube only sends information about changes between frames of a video. Since there is usually very little difference between 2 frames the server can just say \"ehhh take what you had last time, shift this part a tiny bit th...
How were Chinese accepted in Victorian society? Was there a way for them to rise in their own social standing?	[ "I can give an answer for Australia. The short answer is that it was possible if not likely to occur. In order to be accepted you basically had to assimilate as quickly as possible. The most well known example in Australia was a man known as Quong Tart who in the late 1800s s was a highlight of the social scene in ...	[ "So, I don't know if you know this, but Blackstone did just what you are suggesting. After the housing crash of 2009, they went out and bought up homes in different cities. They put them all under the umbrella of a REIT (real estate investment trust) called \"Invitation Homes\" and then spun it out in an IPO a few...
Was the Battle of Colachel in 1741 the first instance of an Asian power defeating a European power in the history of naval warfare?	[ "In the Battle of the Masts, in 655, the fleet of the Arab Caliphate defeated the numerically superior fleet of the Eastern Roman Empire off the shores of Anatolia. I guess the Caliphate could be called an Asian power, though, at this time, they had conquered Egypt (which, of course is in Africa, and which was th...	[ "A single coup in the US has succeeded. In the 1890s, a race riot in Wilmington, North Carolina, some 1500 white men drove out a majority of the blacks in the city, forced the mayor to resign, and elected several white participants in the riot into the newly vacated leadership positions. [Read more about it here.]...

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