query stringlengths 20 300 | positive listlengths 1 1 | negative listlengths 1 1 |
|---|---|---|
Why does it feel easier to run on a treadmill as opposed to actually running? | [
"There are a lot of factors when you're running outdoors, road unevenness, weather conditions, gentle slopes. Even if you are running in perfect conditions on perfectly flat ground, the simple fact that you're moving forward means that you also have to overcome air-resistance. Additional note: It is not because yo... | [
"When you talk normally, you're generating the words, tone, and rhythm from your head before you open your mouth; when it's time to read, you have to look at the words manually and recite them one at a time, and you may not be able to anticipate how the entire sentence or line is supposed to sound. If you get a cha... |
Why do school buses have no seat belts? | [
"Quick evacuations in times of emergency, also, they are really safe, have you ever see a school bus get read ended? It's not pretty for the other vehicle, pic [1](_URL_0_) & [2](_URL_1_)."
] | [
"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."
] |
Was there any controversy over the naming of the US M3 and M4 tanks "Lee" and "Sherman" respectively? | [
"In fact, there were no complaints because the US Army didn't actually name either tank, the British did. Officially the US Army listed the Lee/Grant as \"Medium Tank, M3\", while the Sherman was the \"Medium Tank, M4.\" The Brits, who actually gave *names* to their tools of war (see \"Hurricane,\" \"Spitfire\", \... | [
"Hi, I'm Dr Jim Leary, lecturer in Archaeology and Director of the [Archaeology Field School](_URL_3_) at the University of Reading in England. I'm going to be here in AskHistorians to give an AMA on the 10th of November at 5pm GMT. I'll be talking about my work on round mounds, which included recently [discoverin... |
Are some "irrational" numbers rational in other bases? | [
"You can have a rational number that terminates in one base but which repeats forever in another. In a base-3 system 1/3 (in base-10) terminates as 0.1 but in binary 1/3 is a repeating decimal, just as it is in base-10 (0.333333333.....). But a rational number is rational in any base (i.e. can be expressed as the r... | [
"Not all of French. Particular dialects of French use a [vigesimal](_URL_0_) counting method you described. This is widely understood as a relic from Gaulish, the Celtic language spoken in the land prior to Latinization. But the vigesimal numeral system is not native to Celtic (though most Celtic languages today us... |
A friend stated "Tilt: Two charges of one Coulomb each separated by a meter would repel each other with a force of about a million tons." Is this statement true? | [
"Yes, although the way it's worded is nonsense. 1 million tons is a unit of mass, not force**. However if we assume they mean the equivalent weight of 1 million tons on Earth then it's easy to check, The force between two charged particles is F = k q1q2/r^2 k is a constant, k = 8.987*10^9 N m^2 C^(-2) So if q1 =... | [
"If you make enough of it, yeah, it is expected to form an anti-H2 molecule. Experimentally, as far as I am aware the record confinement is 309 anti-hydrogen atoms for 1,000 seconds ([link](_URL_0_)). This [recent paper](_URL_1_) from ALPHA has some more info about the current methods using for generating anti hyd... |
Why and how do cats purr? | [
"How cats purr is completely unknown by science because it doesn't seem like cats have a \"special piece\" that lets them do it. Also the why isn't understood but theories include -Communication that started between mothers and kittens -helps in healing and making bones stronger [source](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"I could try to explain it to you, but this video is all you really need: _URL_9_"
] |
I know what the filibuster is, but can someone explain to me how it's effective in American politics? | [
"> wouldn't it be advantageous for us to wait for you to give up and die of exhaustion and then pass the measure? No, there are rules in the Senate that a bill can only be on the floor for a certain amount of time. The point of the filibuster is to make that time run out, killing the bill (it would then have to sta... | [
"Much of Europe has been operating at a deficit--the money the government made through taxes each year was not enough to cover all of the expenses that the government incurred each year to provide all of its services. To cover these expenses, they borrowed money every year. This was easy prior to 2008, because ther... |
Why is it that when I torrent tv/movies, the sound is always quieter on higher-resolution video? | [
"Purely coincidence. Higher-resolution video does not cause quieter audio. It just so happens that the higher-resolution videos you've downloaded have quiet audio. They're not connected."
] | [
"Imagine a bully at school. It's the same one each day, taking the lunch money of the same handful of kids. You take note that kids seem bullied, and it's very easy to identify who the bully is, after all you only have to talk to a handful of kids to get something of note, plus everyone is pointing the same direct... |
How do airplanes, as they're leaving the gates, move backwards without the tug-cars? | [
"Very few aircraft backup without tugs anymore. Some use their thrust reversers (very carefully) but this is becoming rare. When going slowly forward (\"taxiing\") it's just low thrust from the engines, nothing is driving the wheels. Once you get moving, idle is usually fine to roll along."
] | [
"It does. Basically there is one more than the apparent two frames of reference (that of each twin) that need to be taken into account. *twin A on Earth (inertial frame) *twin B traveling away (inertial frame) *twin B traveling back (undergoes acceleration and shifts frames) One twin undergoes the turnaround while... |
Fracking - if it is safe why can't extensive research be found proving it to be so? | [
"They *did* do that. Some people just claim that research funded by oil companies doesn't count as \"extensive research\", because they think it's too likely to be biased."
] | [
"It's similar to the way 125% subprime mortgages spread (without getting into the debate about whether that caused the recession) - you get a few groups who think a similar way, with broadly the same ideas, motivations, worldview, that sort of thing, and when one of them comes up with a policy that fits those ways ... |
Why do headphones label each earbud? | [
"There are two reasons: Reason 1: Some ear buds are designed to fit a specific ear. They might be shaped such that they only really fit in the proper ear. Reason 2: Most audio is mixed in stereo so that the audio isn't exactly the same going to each ear. For music it doesn't really matter if you mix up the left and... | [
"To get your attention. Although a law was passed a while ago regarding this topic. _URL_0_"
] |
Why does electrolysis yield more hydrogen when performed on more acidic liquids? | [
"Things are more acidic precisely because they have have more hydrogen to give up more easily. When you think of a low-pH acid, you think of it melting and burning things. What's actually happening is that the acid is donating atoms to other molecules, causing them to change form and function, violently creating ne... | [
"The plumes recently reported on Europa by NASA offer a golden opportunity for investigations based on this notion. Plume around Enceladus were identified and examined by Cassini about 3 years ago, and the presence of salt was confirmed. Even more interesting: hydrothermal silica was identified, a litteral \"smoki... |
Laws in International waters | [
"Sorry to say but no you can't just sail into international waters and kill whoever you please without repercussion. Whichever flag your boat flies will ultimately have jurisdiction over you, so if you leave port in California flying an American flag, they will have the right to prosecute you in the same way as if ... | [
"By independent, do you mean by law or in practice? Do you mean within the Carolingian empire? The post Carolingian empire in Frankish lands? In Germanic lands? English? Italian peninsula?"
] |
Why was the foregrip and drum magazine for the M1928 Thompson removed and replaced during WWII? | [
"Because it made the gun bulky and heavy. A loaded fifty-round drum magazine is quite heavy and bulky, and you're not going to be able to carry that many in any practical sense."
] | [
"A good way to track the popularity of languages in an area is seeing how many newspapers were published in that language. Newspapers are more regional than books, and require more of a core language readership to keep going, so if there's a German newspaper around in an area, there's German readers around. My libr... |
Does anything actually have any color? | [
"Objects themselves do not contain color, they reflect light of different wavelengths and we perceive that as color. There is nothing inherently green about grass, or even the wavelengths of light reflected by grass. We simply have structures within our eyes that recognize certain wavelengths and send signals to ou... | [
"It really depends on what you mean by \"see.\" If you mean see with the unaided eye, then no we cannot. If you mean unambiguously detect and visualize, then we can. _URL_0_"
] |
Mockery wiped out duelling? | [
"If I might recommend two useful titles: *Gentlemen's Blood* by Barbara Holland is a history of duelling, from the earliest times to not-long before the book's publication in 2003. It covers a lot of particulars of custom and etiquette, traditions during the \"golden age\" of the duel, and addresses the question of... | [
"Follow-up question; when did the Greek phalanx go out of fashion in favour of the Macedonian style, and why?"
] |
How does music copyrighting work? If an old song made a melody famous and a newer song used the exact same melody, is that considered taking someone's intellectual property? | [
"If the original property is public domain, it's fair use. If the original property is still owned, whether it be by the original artist or the publisher/label/whoever, then the newer artist must obtain permission to use it. Usually the property only becomes public domain when the original owner let's the copyrigh... | [
"I'd read it as \"potential money\" if you will. Their holdings were re-evaluated in a market context to be worth less than they were at a prior point. Let's say you have an item, and 3 people are willing to pay you different amounts for it, $100, $500, and $1000. What is that item \"worth\"? Was it only worth $10... |
There Are Thousands Of Uncharted And Unclaimed Islands In The Pacific Ocean. So Why Do You Have To Buy An Island? What Is Stopping Me From Simply Claiming One As My Own? | [
"There may not be as many unclaimed islands as you think. The US has claim to all islands with bird populations in the pacific (that were unclaimed at that time) via the Guano Islands Act of 1856."
] | [
"I've heard that there are YouTube servers in various places. Say I live in Hawaii and a video is uploaded in Chicago. The advertisement videos are already stored on the Hawaii servers, but the actual video is stored on the Chicago server and has to be downloaded after enough people view it. I might be wrong, but t... |
What might be some practical technological applications for the Higgs Boson? | [
"For now, there aren't any. This is basic research, the purpose of which is to learn more about the universe we live in, not to develop new technologies. That said, much like going to the moon, the search for the Higgs boson has lead to many technological advances in areas such as materials science (and superconduc... | [
"Time travel is entirely possible but at the moment only forward time travel is talked about since going back would mean we'd have to create separate universes. Time isn't a human construct, it is intertwined with the space we live in, it's called space-time and it's the fabric of the universe. Some things can bend... |
how exactly does the body eliminate fat through oxygen and not sweat? | [
"The three main atomic components of fat are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Whenever you get rid of these things, you might be getting them from your fat stores. Examples of this include, but are not limited to: Breathing (CO2) Peeing (H2O) Sweating (H2O) Crying (H2O)"
] | [
"The energy is expelled as heat. Air conditioners essentially move heat from inside a building to outside, and the heat released outside is more than the heat absorbed, because some of it is heat from the energy used to run the air conditioner."
] |
Why do extremities puff up when they experience frostbite? | [
"Frostbite occurs when parts of the body get so cold that the water in the cells freezes. When water freezes, it expands. This bursts cell walls, including arterial walls, and can cause fluids to leak into surrounding tissue instead of continuing to circulate around the body. This leaked fluid builds up over time a... | [
"Imagine a metal. It's an electrical conductor so many of its electrons are free to move around when the system is at room temperature. The electrons in the metal behave like a [Fermi gas](_URL_1_). As you cool the system down to absolute zero, it must approach its quantum-mechanical ground state. In this state, al... |
How long do scientists have to watch a comet before they can determine its orbit? | [
"It depends entirely on the precision of your measurement. In principle, if you have two highly precise measurements of position & distance, you can calculate the orbit of a body to a high degree of precision (provided it's in a simple elliptical orbit and isn't interacting too strongly with any planets). The \"onc... | [
"The same way that astronomers find out almost everything. They use [spectrography](_URL_0_). Absorbtion colors - the specific colors of light that get emitted when light is absorbed by matter - tell you exactly what element or molecule did the absorbtion and emission. This process works with suns, atmospheres, pla... |
Regarding statistics, of what significance is the mode? Are there any useful applications? | [
"In terms of practical use, the mode is often used as a summary statistic for categorical variables. For continuous distributions, the mode can be used in calculating measures of the [skewness](_URL_0_), such as Pearson's first skewness coefficient. The mode is also used as a parameter in some distributions such as... | [
"Imagine you and your friend both have a very, very large file on your computers. Lets say you want to see I you have the *same* large file. How would you do this? There's an easy way; just email your entire file to your friend and he can check. But this might take a very, very long time if you have a slow Internet... |
if energy cannot be created, how does a magnet get the energy to stick to things? | [
"\"Sticking to things\" does not require energy. A piece of tape can do the same thing, and you don't need to plug that into the wall. Similarly, holding things up does not require energy. Your arms might get tired holding up a heavy object for an extended period of time, but a table can do it without getting tired... | [
"Adhesion is weak chemical bonding (except when it's very strong chemical bonding like with epoxies). Sticky stuff is made of molecules that bond easily on contact with almost anything. They're also often fairly fluid allowing them to mold to rough surfaces."
] |
Why are there so many Islamic extremists causing havoc around the world using terror, compared to all the other religions? | [
"At this point in history, Islamic extremism has gained some popularity -- but bear in mind the majority of Muslims do not engage in or condone extremist activities. Before the fall of the Ottoman Empire (and even before the 1950s) Islamic extremism was relatively rare. Of course, before these periods Islamic count... | [
"In all honestly I would argue it has to do with point of entry. Middle Eastern immigrants have to fly in, and thus enter in metropolitan areas with international airports. Thus, if you have a small budget, the natural progression would be to find a job in the immediate area, and of course taxi driving jobs, conven... |
Why is it that people are more susceptible to becoming sick when they are stressed? | [
"Stress releases cortisol. Chronic stress makes your body \"immune\" to the cortisol and less affected by it. Cortisol suppresses the immune system but chronic high levels makes the body numb to it so it can't react quickly to things that make you sick, so you are more likely to get sick if chronically stressed."
] | [
"It's a body's way of letting a person know to stop being a pussy."
] |
when a sudden cold gust of wind robs me of my breath, what's actually happening? | [
"The cold gust of wind is stimulating the [mammalian diving reflex](_URL_0_). This is a autonomic nervous system response present in all mammals that slows the heart rate and breathing rate when your face is submerged in cold water. But a blast of very cold air can have the same effect."
] | [
"The part of your foot that is not under the blanket is acting like a radiator, shedding body heat and cooling the blood that circulates through it. A similar effect can be had by hanging your feet in a cool stream on a hot day. Even though only a small amount of your skin is touching the water, your entire body c... |
Does the student's number in the line affect the grade the professor gives them on an oral test? Is it best to be first or last, middle, one to last, etc? | [
"Ego depletion will probably make the professor revert to the default, or go \"the path of the least decision\". Or simply put, when he's rested (or after a snack) he will have more willpower available to make harder decisions."
] | [
"_URL_0_ > The order of adjectives, according to the book's author Mark Forsyth, has to be: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose. > \"If you mess with that word order in the slightest you'll sound like a maniac, he warns in the extract. \"It's an odd thing that every English speaker uses that lis... |
How do our eyes coordinate to look at the same point and produce one image? | [
"There are tiny muscles in the eye socket to control your eyes movement. Due to evolution and natural select of ability to control where we look and how much control we have over fast-twitch muscle fibers, we are able to have our eyes turn to the same focal point and our brain merge the images together to produce o... | [
"Your brain is good at understanding patterns, and what things are \"supposed to be.\" If one person does something wrong, your brain says \"that's wrong!\" but if multiple people are doing different things wrong then your brain can pick out the \"right\" parts of the singing and focus on that. If everyone sang som... |
What has caused the potential future decrease in Social Security Millennials are likely to receive? can it be built back up to reflect current day payout? | [
"The main factor is that due to advances in medical care, people are living longer than originally planned for. Another issue with it is that a good portion of the money goes into a \"trust\" fund of which the US government pays interest. That money is used for other programs. The one thing that the US government ... | [
"A couple factors: **Age**, **Location**, **history** * **Age**: Rome was founded almost 3000 years ago. The colosseum was built almost 2000 years ago. In that time materials physically fail (wood rots, concrete erodes). People also broke roman structures down for materials from time to time * **Location**: Rome... |
Wednesday What's New in History | January 24, 2018 | [
"A [report](_URL_1_) has come in which archaeologists have suggested that Teotihuacan [should be called Teohuacan](_URL_0_). They cite the Xolotol Codex and the reference to a city whose named is spelled with a sun and a temple. The archaeologists have suggested that the Spanish changed the name of Teohuacan to Teo... | [
"Hi everyone. Since this is the kind of question that can attract non-expert responses, just a friendly reminder that all responses must comply with [sub rules](_URL_0_), and that [personal anecdotes](_URL_1_) are explicitly not permitted in /r/AskHistorians."
] |
The Bristish History or The History of England podcast | [
"Hi, I actually co-produce The British History Podcast. I say listen to both and see what suits what you're looking for in a podcast - Crowther takes a very different tone and approach than we do, so there's a distinct difference. I recommend listening to ten episodes of each to get a real feel for what both have t... | [
"The video you linked to is 35 minutes long; could you provide a more specific indication as to where Lindybeige makes these claims? (It should be noted that Lindybeige is not a historian and his opinion should not be taken too seriously.)"
] |
Why are unlimited cellphone plans so achievable and affordable yet service providers, in all their competition, refuse to offer an affordable plan to provide an adequate and economical product to their customers? | [
"They are not really achievable or affordable for the cellphone provider at any price. There is a saturation limit that every bandwidth can handle in the air, and every node hub can process at one time. If everyone had unlimited cellphone plans the system would crumble based on the number of devices now in use and ... | [
"I work for an ISP The Internet is like a series of roads. Let's say you built a road from your house to your friends. You and your friend could go real fast to each other's houses. But what if you wanted to go to some else's house? Or the mall, or school? You would have to connect your road with your towns road. ... |
Why does the far side of the moon have so few lunar maria? | [
"[Earthshine on a Young Moon: Explaining the Lunar Farside Highlands](_URL_0_) is one recently trending hypothesis for what scientists describe as topographic dichotomy (maria on one side vs highlands on the other). And you're right, the crust appear to be thicker on the far side."
] | [
"> If they don't interact through Standard Model interactions, how can we ever directly observe them? We can observe them if that part of the Standard model is wrong. > And if we can't, how do we know that they exist? We don't know that they exist. If our everyday low-energy neutrinos are Majorana fermions, then t... |
As an object approaches the speed of light, would it have a massive gravitational pull? | [
"Relativistic mass is a misleading concept. There's no actual change in mass for fast-moving objects, rather, an increase in energy and momentum as a result of a fundamental change in the geometry of spacetime. That said, the object would affect gravity differently than the same object at rest, but not because it ... | [
"Both special relativity and general relativity affect clock rates. * **Special relativity:** Faster moving clocks run more slowly, so a low orbit (fast moving) clock runs more slowly than a high orbit (slow moving) clock or than a stationary clock on the Earth. * **General relativity:** Low altitude clocks run mor... |
Why are electromagnetic waves depicted as moving "up and down"? Why don't photons go in a complete straight line? | [
"A photon does not actually moving up and down. The depiction you are referring to is just a way to visualize the nature of the wave. The up and down movement of the electric and magnetic field is able to show amplitude, polarization, phase, etc. Since you are talking about photons (light), it is interesting to no... | [
"They use extremely fast camera shutters to capture a very short moment so you can see the light beam. However they can not reset the camera in time for the next frame so they cheat a bit by sending a new beam of light for the next frame. They make sure to synchronize the short beams of light with the camera shutte... |
I've read historians claim that Emperor Diocletian "Easternized" the propaganda of the Imperial Roman Court. What specifically did he do to get that reputation? | [
"he made the roman emperor into a God (think Louis XIV type of King). it is the end of the principate and the coming of the dominate. (princep meant first citizen, dominus means lord/master - you can see the change of tone) in the principate the emperor was simply a consul for life and other roman jobs. he was supp... | [
"Hi - we as mods have approved this thread, because while this is a homework question, it is asking for clarification or resources, rather than the answer itself, which is fine according to [our rules](_URL_1_). This policy is further explained in this [Rules Roundtable thread](_URL_3_) and this [META Thread](_URL_... |
Why do some countries not mint their own currency? | [
"Costs money to build and maintain the facilities, some countries don't feel like taking on the burden of that cost."
] | [
"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... |
What actually happens during the combustion of hydrocarbons? | [
"Here is a paper from 1992 that gives a \"simplified\" mechanism. _URL_4_ In short, radicals are formed and then the reaction proceeds very quickly. There can be a large number of different species that take part in the reaction so it is a very complicated thing to describe kinetically. Reactions that may initiate ... | [
"You're right to be confused. It is 100% wrong as depicted in the movie, and a lot of people of wondered about why they made such a grave error considering the rest of the movie was *somewhat* realistic. It is likely that the reason this happens in the movie is that it makes things more dramatic. Artistic license i... |
Why would you purchase a share that doesn't give out a dividend? | [
"You believe the share will be worth more in the future and that you can sell it for a profit."
] | [
"to build publicity. reporters aren't following them all the time. in order to get reporters to show up, the person has to announce that they're going to make a major announcement that'll make news."
] |
Besides the earth's magnetic field, what's the strongest non-electromagnetic magnet? | [
"Neodymium magnets are the strongest permanent magnets available, used in a number of applications due to their low strength-to-weight ratio. _URL_1_ If you're specifically discounting only Earth's magnetic field, Jupiter's is also much stronger, but even it is nothing compared to some neutron stars called magnetar... | [
"Imagine the atoms in a magnet as little arrows. When manufacturing magnets, all of the arrows are arranged In one direction. This is done because it makes the arrows useful. ⬅️⬅️ ⬅️⬅️ These arrows don't like to all go in the same, linear direction. This is because they don't like their tips touching, or even gett... |
The whole physics thing I keep seeing on the front page involving Einstein and the speed of light. | [
"_URL_0_ Yeah, reddit's search does suck. tl;dr: Einstein's famous equation E=mc^2 is the basis of most of the last 50-60 years of human's understanding of physics, where the \"c\" in question is the speed of light. It was thought to be an absolute maximum for how fast things could go, apparently it's not."
] | [
"Ignore useful. How a discovery is used is of zero concern. What is important is the experiment and proof of concept. If successful, it will prove our understanding of matter and the universe, if unsuccessful we will study why and expand our understanding of the universe. It's like the discovery of electricity, wh... |
What was pagan (500-600 AD) Arabic society like? Besides the incense and spice trade. | [
"I like this question and want to add one. To what extent did pagan beliefs persist after Islam was spreading and what happened to those who resisted?"
] | [
"Congratulations to our winner of this month's book giveaway, Andrew Stead! The selection of books we have available this month are: *A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962* by Alistair Horne, recommended by /u/Bernardito. *1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed* by Eric Cline, recommended by /u/kookingpot. ... |
How some people argue that the Holocaust the was a hoax? | [
"Well, that's your problem. It's a conspiracy theory. There's a lot of evidence available proving that it did happen. These days, Holocaust deniers don't have much ground to stand on, so they're now saying that it did happen, but that historians have exaggerated its scale."
] | [
"This has been done before, with animals. Here is a video **allegedly** showing an old Russian experiment done with a dog. It looks real to me, but, then so did *The Wizard of Oz*. Warning, it might be disturbing and upsetting to watch. _URL_0_"
] |
Why is sunshine duration not latitude based? (picture inside) | [
"This map is not showing a measure of the number of hours between sunrise and sunset. This map is showing the number of hours that the weather is sunny. Nighttime isn't sunny, but when it's cloudy, it's also not sunny. You can read more [here](_URL_0_)."
] | [
"They started with straight lines at roughly 1 hour intervals and then those lines moved around a whole lot to make them more convenient for people on the ground. For example, it would be silly if half a town was an hour ahead of the other half, so the line goes around the town instead of through it. Some countries... |
How deep could a human go under water and still use a snorkle? | [
"For a typical healthy adult, the answer is... **2 feet**. Two primary reasons: 1. Breathing through a long tube adds dead air space to one's respiratory system. Not all exhaled, oxygen-depleted air will exit the far end of a long tube. If it remains in the tube it will be repeatedly reinhaled, and gradually asphyx... | [
"Diver here. The amount of air in an uncompressed bottle won't be enough to make the effort worthwhile. You would be better off taking the time and energy to get to either the surface or a reliable air source like a partner's backup regulator. For short vs long, either one would deplete in a matter of 1 breath any... |
Entitlement as commonly used today | [
"People often call someone entitled if their privileges/etc. prevent them from seeing the struggle of others and/or cause them to refuse to sympathize. It's basically being a jerk about how good you have it. At least, that's how I've seen it used in a social rhetoric context."
] | [
"Ever try to schedule time off with a boss who views his employees as disposable indentured servants? It's an excellent way to hear that your vacation pay will be your severance package. One would think that ought to be illegal, but it turns out that the courts really don't care."
] |
How Are CNN and Other Major News Networks Biased? | [
"Basically, even if you're reporting news there are a lot of things that make it possibly biased: * what type of news they choose to show * how they word the headlines/how the reporters describe the news * how long they choose to focus on a certain segment or topic These sorts of things."
] | [
"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 ... |
Why does flash memory so small that it can fit in my iPhone cost the same price or less than a 2.5" SSD for a computer? | [
"SSDs are designed for speed. Flash memory is designed to be large in capacity and small in size -- sacrificing speed to get there."
] | [
"The saying does not mean that you cannot compare an apple to an orange, or the concept of an apple to the concept of an orange. It's to say that given a bunch of apples, the comparison between each of the apples would be a completely different comparison than it would be were you to inject an orange into the compa... |
Dumb quiestion: Can lone pairs occur in Ionic Bonding? | [
"Can you be more specific with your question? If you're asking whether the atoms in ionic compounds can have lone pairs in their Lewis structures like oxygen does in water, then absolutely yes. In fact, it's guaranteed; in the idealized Ionic Bond that Lewis structures use, the cation completely gives up its electr... | [
"I just found [this](_URL_0_) which says the ISS uses a 'local' ground reference, and they apparently have an ion gun and wire brushes for equalising charge between themselves and other objects (e.g. spacewalking astronauts and other craft). Two questions still remain - how do they know if they have the wrong amoun... |
If a great number of seeds provided by Monsanto are incapable of reproducing themselves at the end of the plant's life, how do they get the billion seeds to sell in the first place? | [
"Monsanto seeds are not unproductive. Monsanto worked on developing a type of seed that did that, nicknamed the \"Terminator\" seed line. But farmers vocally opposed it, so they stopped development. The thought was that if it escaped or cross-pollinated, it would cause wild plants to stop reproducing, and thus end ... | [
"Most tomatoes in the supermarket are bred to have a **lot** of water. Tomatoes sell by the pound, not by the quality, so the more water the growers can get into a tomato, the more they can charge for the tomato. The high quantity of water comes at the expense of flavour."
] |
Why would Dzokhar plead "not guilty"? | [
"All of these answers are wrong: At this point in the case, the prosecutors won't allow a 'guilty' plea. His preliminary plea is therefore automatically 'not guilty' (it being a capital crime, which means he killed someone). At a later point, when certain presentations of evidence or other clarifications of just wh... | [
"Many international flights have layovers in countries not in the intended destination. Instead of forcing all of these passengers to first be cleared with the government of the layover country, which is time consuming and costs money, they simply designate an area for these people to board their separate flights w... |
What are the differences between NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and commissioned officers? | [
"Officers make the plans, NCO's are on the ground to make sure they get carried out."
] | [
"Imagine you are a travelling salesman, and you spend most of your time driving from place to place across the country. Today you need to get from Denver to Dallas. You could use High Level Navigation. You know how to get from Denver to Wichita, Wichita to Oklahoma City, and Oklahoma City to Dallas. String those to... |
Why during a car crash or any accident do we get hurt more from having our muscles tense? Don't we tense up to protect ourselves? | [
"You tense up ready to react if you have to. It's not an advantage in an impact but for most of our evolution, we weren't in much danger of high speed impact unless you fell out of a tree or off a cliff. There were far more situations where being poised to suddenly spring into action was more likely to save your ... | [
"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... |
What physical structure in food makes it crunchy, when deep fried? | [
"Alot of food when fried produces carbon and hydrocarbon structures which can have a crunch due to carbons ability to create large structures. In eggs, egg goes solid due to proteins tangling up and becoming non-fluid. I hope this answers your question somewhat"
] | [
"Because real life is 3D, when you look at something objects at other distances become blurry and out of focus. On a screen everything is in 2D and in constant focus, so there is more 'crisp' image for you to see."
] |
Why do graphics cards seem to be the default crypto currency mining hardware? | [
"Parallelization- the ability to do a single thing a bunch of times, all at once. Think of GPUs as a ton of tiny little calculators; any one of them can only do simple computations, but if a simple computation is all you need (like in mining), GPUs can do thousands at a time. By this metaphor, a standard CPU is ju... | [
"I know we aren't supposed to post just links, but I don't think there's a better explanation than [this WaitButWhy article](_URL_0_). Scroll down to \"The Road From ANI to AGI\" paragraph. Edit: For those about to tl;dr - over millions of years of evolution our brains became really good at recognizing objects, bec... |
How does a microwave keep me from getting burned when I put my face right up to the door? | [
"You have a window that allows visible light to pass through it, but you can close the curtains. The curtains are opaque to visible light. Microwaves have a wavelength on the order of 1 cm. They can pass through air, but the metal grid with those tiny holes on the microwave screen is opaque (to the microwaves)."
] | [
"The surface of the stainless steel fridge is not smooth like a mirror. Rather, the steel has a microscopic pattern scratched into it across the surface. Each scratch acts like a tiny angled mirror, and reflects light in a certain direction. A perfect mirror would reflect the laser spot perfectly, but since the scr... |
I don't quite grasp what a haiku is. | [
"Haikus are easy but sometimes they don't make sense refrigerator It's just a line with 5 sylables, then a line with 7, then another line with 5. If they tell some sort of story, it's a bonus, as are metaphors. Neither are required though, all you have to understand is the 5/7/5 structure."
] | [
"Go to this post _URL_0_ and read the first comment, until you understand recursion."
] |
What is Diplomatic immunity, and why does it exist? | [
"If you're a diplomat, someone who works in country A representing country B's government, country A has no legal authority over you. If you break country A's laws, they can kick you out, but if they want to send you to jail or something they need your home country's agreement. It exists because if it didn't exist,... | [
"This CGP Grey video does a really good job of explaining it all. _URL_3_"
] |
How is it possible that all planets and stars are/seem so in balance with eachother? Vague question, explained inside. | [
"The solar system did not form from a box of marbles thrown in the air. A single massive cloud of gas collapses under gravity. It is unlikely that it is wholly stationary, so as it collapses it rotates with increasing speed due to the conservation of angular momentum (like a skater spinning and pulling her arms clo... | [
"If it's small, than yes it's pretty easy, just park it in one of the [Lagrange Points](_URL_0_) which are inherent to orbital bodies. If it's big enough to effect the system, than things get much more complicated, but can be done using similar methods (finding stable Lagrangian points in a 3 body system can be har... |
How does the new "hey Siri" update on the iPhone 6s work? | [
"The phone is always listening for the command, basically, yea. It's listening for the key phrase in order to enable itself. Google has had this for android for a while now, of course."
] | [
"What the Supreme Court actually did was decline to hear appeals of decisions supporting same-sex marriage. This means that the lower-court decisions stand. So in areas where those lower courts have jurisdiction, same-sex marriage is now legal by default. Other states are in other jurisdictions, and aren't affected... |
How were/are bounty amounts determined? | [
"So when you get arrested, you may be able to post bail. That means you can paid the court to let you stay out of jail before your trial and you can get it back if you show up to court. Usually, you wouldn't paid the bail if its really high so I bail bond company may lend you the money. If you don't show up to cour... | [
"They get it from not paying writers, actors, big camera crews, fancy sets, car chases, and explosions. A successful show like *NCIS* or *The Big Bang Theory* is paying ~~close to a million~~ millions of dollars an episode in actor salaries alone. A game show, on the other hand, finds some washed up comic and a de... |
[Neuroscience] If a person with sound - > color synesthesia goes blind, can s/he still "see music"? | [
"I'm not sure of any incidents of this happening, however, it probably depends on how a person goes blind. Since synestheisa occurs in the brain, if the blindness is due to damage to the regions of the brain responsible for vision, I imagine that synesthesia would also stop. If it's only the eye that is damaged, sy... | [
"Imagine you grew up flying in a plane. The ground looks like different colors. There's a green area over here, and a brown area over there. When you land for the first time, you're surprised that the green area is actually made up of large trees, and the brown area is made of rocks and shrubs. There are thousands ... |
Tuesday Trivia: Fad Diets | [
"I was always interested in the impact of Sinderion and his work on Nirnroot with respect to this topic. His work was perhaps the first occurrence of the concept of a \"super food\". He prescribed Nirnroot for everything. He thought it could cure many diseases, increase vitality, sharpen the mind, and even improve ... | [
"Don't have an answer but had to throw in a side note. Asparagus used to be included in emergency kits for pilots because within 15 to 30 minutes after eating it, you can urinate in the water and attract fish. _URL_0_"
] |
fallacies in internet arguments | [
"Ad hominem is attacking the person rather than the argument. For example, in presidential debates, candidates will often try to deface their opponent’s ethos in order to make their argument invalid."
] | [
"I know this is ad hominem, but that article is written by a guy who works for an institute funded by oil and gas companies, and the scientist is a proponent of intelligent design and has his own comic sans website."
] |
How can I uninstall something at the same time I'm installing something? Is it alternating operations for the drive head or do I have more than one read/write head on my Hard Drive? | [
"When you delete something, it just writes \"this is deleted\" and the system knows it can write something else in that space later. Not really that simple, but there is no 'delete', just write."
] | [
"Cognitive dissonance is that uncomfortable feeling you have when two thoughts conflict with each other. Let's say you're a Cubs fan, and you grew up being taught White Sox fans are mean people and eat babies and you're not supposed to be friends with them. Then you go to college and you meet your roommate. Your ro... |
Why are ISS solar pannels gold? | [
"Short answer, it's not gold. There may well be gold components on the back face of the solar cells, but that color is due to the [kapton](_URL_1_) based insulation, a gold colored material great for vacuum applications. This colored face is the dark side of the solar cell, the other side faces the sun. The vacuum... | [
"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."
] |
Why do brand new towels not dry you as well as well used ones? | [
"New towels have dyes and sometimes even fabric softeners still in them from the manufacturing process, and these can be a bit water resistant. Best practice when you get new towels is to run them through a couple of wash cycles to get all of the stuff out. Don’t wash them with other clothes during these first cycl... | [
"_URL_1_ _URL_0_ Only a small fraction of dust come from your skin cells, so you wouldn't really see it get dusty faster due to that."
] |
How did "chips" in the UK get to be known as "french fries" in the States? | [
"Frying strips of potato originated in neither countries, it's likely that both countries adopted the recipe independently thus named them independently. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802 of \"potatoes served in the French manner\"; while Charles Dickens wrote in in 1859: \"Husky chips of potatoes, fried with some re... | [
"Each county Telco's have something called Termination fee. That is when you call some one; The company dosent charge you for calling, it charges for Terminating the call in their network. YOU-- > Your TELCO-- > US TELCO-- > US PHONE -- > Your friend. US Phone--Termination fee-- > Your Telco-Bill for a call - > Y... |
When his presidency became embattled by scandal, were there people defending Nixon and proclaiming his innocence? | [
"While waiting for responses about staffers & c, you might like this previous response that dealt mostly with the press and the general public: [\"Did Richard Nixon have apologists in the press throughout the Watergate scandal? If so, did those journalist lose credibility after Nixon resigned?\"](_URL_0_), response... | [
"The film \"A Knight's Tale\" is surprisingly accurate to the spirit of the times, apparently. Also, Jurgen Habermas states that during pre-Renaissance (or Enlightenment) times, there was a marked divide between 'private' and 'public.' To Habermas, things and people that were public mattered, and thus, a celebrity ... |
What exactly was the role of a Commissar in the Soviet Red Army, and how long were they a part of the Russian military? | [
"Commissar's were political officers that represented the Communist Party on the battlefront. They worked in a system called dual command in which all military generals shared command with a CPSU appointed commissar. They were around from 1918 - 1924, 1937 - 1940, 1941 - 1942 before being abolished. However, the Re... | [
"What I can gather from the picture is the following: Your grandpa is wearing a SS uniform, his cover has a Totenkohf or Death's Head, with what should be the Reich eagle above it but since it's blurry I am not too sure it is [Example](_URL_3_). The second thing is his collar insignia, it appears he was a Corporal... |
How do distant, unconnected rivers have the same species of freshwater fish in them? | [
"Preamble: Geographic isolation today does not necessarily correlate to isolation throughout history. However, the large mouth bass is a sport fish that is stocked throughout most of the USA. According to the USGS, the natural range of the species is: > Native Range: St. Lawrence and Great Lakes, Hudson Bay (Red R... | [
"The streaming service has to make agreements with the copyright management system in each country it works in, as they ahve to pay royalities for use of material. IF they haven't got the agreement, the service can't operate. This is also why different offerings are available in different countries; the rights for ... |
How did blowing on the cartridge of my NES games get them to start playing? | [
"Great question! But the answer is: blowing into the NES cartridges didn't help them to load. People *thought* blowing helped, but this was actually a placebo, reinforced with confirmation bias. Sometimes it would work, and sometimes it wouldn't, but when it did, users would attribute it to blowing, reinforcing the... | [
"Mint and menthol are sensed in the body by special sensory receptors (cold receptors, TRPM8) very much like how spicy food taste spicy (TRPV1). Wasabi produces a similar effect but it's due to the noxious chemical/extreme cold receptor TRPA1. You have those receptors in your mouth and nose (and eyes). Those recept... |
[biology]What organs do insects actually have? | [
"Here's a really nice overview (pdf): _URL_1_ And this page has excellent external and internal anatomy guides for all groups of invertebrates. Scroll down to Hexapoda near the bottom of the page, and click through to the different species. _URL_0_"
] | [
"Think of it like static electricity pulling hair to a balloon. There's an additional force involved other than a mechanical grip from hooks on their feet. Size helps too. The smaller the bug the easier it is for them to \"stick\" and grip."
] |
How accurate is this Wikipedia list of "Terrorist Incidents in France" which dates back to 1800? | [
"It seems like this list is rather incomplete. If for no other reason that the actions of the Marquis and the French Resistance during WW2 are not included. While they may have been attacks by French citizens on the occupying Germans, they still occurred in France, using tactics and methods typical of guerrilla a... | [
"There are bots that will autorevert more obvious vandalism, and articles which have a lot of vandalism are protected. For instance, while you can edit most articles without an account, if you try to edit the pages for Obama or Jesus you'll need to login and any vandalism will result in a ban. They can ban accounts... |
Was homosexuality quite as common/accepted in Germanic or Celtic societies as it was in the Greco-Roman world? | [
"The problem with your question is that the term homosexuality (and consequentially heterosexuality) is an awkward one. To apply it back to the ancient world may be anachronistic as it relies on well defined modern categories of sexuality. For example both Dover (*Greek Homosexuality*) and Foucault (*The Use of Pl... | [
"Theoretically, the two approaches are different styles of surface-and-gap warfare. Which basically says, attack the enemy where there is a gap (weakness) in his forces rather than a surface (strength). The Germans exploited gaps through recon-pull, the Soviets used command-push. The Germans would send out recon un... |
Why Does My Spoon Taste Metallic After It Touches Aluminum Foil? | [
"Some of the aluminum oxide, which **always** coats the aluminum, rubs off. It tastes metallic because you are tasting aluminum rust."
] | [
"Are you drinking the same coffee each time? Generally, coffee in mugs is either homemade or comes at a restaurant, while coffee in paper/styrofoam cups comes from fast-food chains or coffee shops. Different restaurants/chains may stock different grades or brands of coffee, which then affects the taste. The cup mat... |
Why are Windows computers more prone to viruses than Macs? | [
"simply because of market share. if there were more macs than windows PCs then it would be the macs getting the most viruses. the people writing the viruses these days are usually out for monetary gain so they write them to target the largest group they can, and thats windows PCs."
] | [
"We have sent landers to Venus in the past, the problem is that Venus is a hellhole. The Soviets landed a few probes in the 60s and 70s in order to study the atmosphere and get temperature and pressure readings. On of these probes, Venera 7, was actually the first spacecraft to land on another planet and return da... |
How is blowing your own sail possible? | [
"The fan gives an air molecule momentum P forward (this means the boat recoils with momentum -P). Then the air molecule hits the sail. To an air molecule, the sail is a brick wall and so it bounces back with momentum -P this means the sail gets momentum 2P. This is combines with the -P the boat carries from when it... | [
"What about erm... ejaculation? Would that propel you?"
] |
if Europeans gave native Americans a bunch of nasty diseases, how come they didn't catch a whole bunch themselves from the native Americans? | [
"This question is asked daily, so you might want to look at all the previous answers. _URL_0_ _URL_1_"
] | [
"From what I've read they ate a lot more rough course foods. Chewing things that are hard scrape our teeth for us kind of like it does for other animals. The problem for our modern teeth is we eat a lot of soft refined foods and a lot of sugar. That stuff just sits there and gets stuck which causes tooth decay."
] |
How does gravity work? How is it that something, just because it has mass, pulls everything towards it? | [
"Think of space-time as a fabric with a giant massive ball on it as your massive object. That ball depresses the fabric and other masses will roll down into it if they come too close. Time is also slower because space-time are linked. If the RATE of time depended on the smoothness of this fabric, an indentation wou... | [
"We're not completely sure what the Great Attractor itself is, but we now know that it is not as massive as we first thought, and it is in fact a galaxy cluster *behind* it that the Milky Way is drawn to, and not the Not-So-Great Attractor itself."
] |
Why are there no medieval paintings predicting the future? | [
"Not probably in the same way we think of it today. Can only speak for the Christian West, but for most people the underlying assumption was that eventually Christ would come again, and then the world would end and souls would end up either permanently in heaven or permanently in hell, see the Book of Revelations f... | [
"I responded to a similar question a few months ago, if you're interested: * [How did people in the Middle Ages deal with Down’s Syndrome and autism?](_URL_0_) You might also be interested in Irina Metzler's new book, *Fools and Idiots? Intellectual Disability in the Middle Ages.* She's absolutely one of the, if no... |
If sensations, such as pain, can wake us up from sleep, why can't they wake us up from states such as comas? | [
"Think of your brain as a computer. If a computer goes to sleep, you can move the mouse or tap the keyboard to wake it. If a computer crashes (goes into a coma) you can tap the keyboard and shake the mouse all you want, but until the computer reboots it will not work, because although it looks like it's asleep, it... | [
"Simply put for the same reason drinking water when you're not thirsty isn't as refreshing as when you're REALLY thirsty. Anticipating the bodies' needs doesn't trigger the same reward responses in the brain as fulfilling a need that is already present. Your muscles don't NEED to stretch right now, so you can't ant... |
Can we find the origin point in the universe? (more inside) | [
"There is no point of origin, the BB happened everywhere at once. With the expansion of the universe as it is, observers at every point would measure their surroundings receding in exactly the same way."
] | [
"I like this video, at the end he talks about the center and how the big bang happens everywhere _URL_0_"
] |
How does radioactive iodine destroy the thyroid when ingested? | [
"> What kind of radiation is emitted? Beta and gamma. > Why does it destroy the thyroid, but doesn't harm much else? The thyroid actively takes up iodine, as it's required to synthesis thyroid hormones, removing it from general circulation and preventing too much damage to other parts of the body. > How exactly d... | [
"Watched Sum of All Fears last night? You might want to look into the Monitoring Capabilities of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). You can read a bit about it here: _URL_0_ Basically, radiochemical analysis can tell you information about the bomb design and the metallurgical refinement techniques of the fis... |
How does studying abroad work, and where do I go to look more into it? | [
"Your university will have a system in place. Talk to them, each university will have a different setup for which schools they have agreements with and such and how the process works. Generally you can't do semester abroad until after your first year of school."
] | [
"This question has been asked and answered already: _URL_4_ _URL_6_ _URL_5_ _URL_3_ _URL_1_ _URL_0_ _URL_2_ If you have any questions that aren't addressed in those links, feel free to clarify."
] |
What threat does glacial melting pose to the gulf stream? | [
"The Gulf Stream primarily exists because of the action of winds blowing across the subtropical Atlantic. A good (but small) map of the surface currents is [here](_URL_0_). Unfortunately, many people are taught this [image](_URL_1_) of ocean circulation which both dramatically simplifies the Thermohaline Circulati... | [
"Because the pipeline crosses most of the east coast, and is the means by which several states get their fuel, while the leak only happened to be in Alabama, any leak along the entire pipeline shuts the whole thing down for as long as the repair takes."
] |
Saturday Reading and Research | November 25, 2017 | [
"Yesterday I received Theresa Earenfight's *Queenship in Medieval Europe* in the mail. So excited to read it!"
] | [
"Some questions to clarify OP's premise: Did the NKVD do regular searches of civilian homes or would there have had to be suspicion of a crime? Would that suspicion need to be based on anything substantial? And what qualifies as \"forbidden Western literature\"?"
] |
Has there ever been a military/police intervention against feminists? | [
"[COINTELPRO](_URL_0_) may count for this, though I don't think second wave feminist groups were targeted as violently as, say, the Black Panthers. English sufragettes were treated quite brutally by the police, and even [force fed during hunger strikes in prison](_URL_1_)."
] | [
"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!"
] |
Why do we physically react and 'feel it' when we watch someone else get hurt? | [
"Mirror Neurons _URL_0_ Basically it's neurons that enable empathy etc. Sorry, I'm a virgin at answering a ELI5 and I couldn't do better than wiki (the article seems easy to understand)"
] | [
"I'm not a biologist, so this may well be wrong, but I would hypothesise that it's a misfiring of an instinctive desire for clean skin. Under normal circumstances, if there is a clump of matter attached to your skin, then it is just dirt and it is beneficial to remove it. Those hygiene instincts incorrectly interpr... |
Why is Rap the seemingly most self-indulgent music genre? | [
"You are not imagining it, but there is also a lot of rap that is not like this at all. It depends largely on the artist. Listen to guys like Nas, Talib Kweli, Common, even Kendrick to name a few. They talk more about their life experiences/where they came from as opposed to money, clothes, and cars. Part of the pr... | [
"\"Just about everyone here\" Where is \"here\" for you? It sounds like your question's premise is based on a small sample set based on personal observation. Before your question is addressed, you should be making sure the premise is valid..."
] |
Do we have an accurate map of Roman Roads? | [
"I believe the [Stanford University Orbis project](_URL_0_) has a pretty good reputation on this sub. I've seen it alluded to several times without it's accuracy being contested. I would imagine it contains a degree of speculation and estimation but I'm not sure exactly how much."
] | [
"I have a side question here. I sometimes hear that Tacitus visited what would be modern day Finland. Is there truth to these claims?"
] |
How much does Jupiter's gravity affect a body on it's moons (specifically Io)? | [
"Someone standing on the close or far side of Io would weigh less than someone standing somewhere in between. While it's true that someone standing on the far side of Io would be pulled down more, Io itself is not immune to gravity and is constantly being pulled down from under them, so they end up weighing less. T... | [
"It varies, but not much individually. The problem is when everyone does it. It's kind of like why you're taught not to pick a flower from a garden when growing up. You alone, picking one flower, is not going to be noticed, it's not going to affect the plant or garden overall, but if *everyone* picks just 1, very s... |
Can you catch germs through your eyeballs? | [
"Well, 'through your eyeballs' itself maybe not. But there are mucous membranes around your eyes, and they can certainly be a pathway for infection."
] | [
"Most likely not. There was a common belief in the medieval western world that diseases spread by smell, and that [humorism](_URL_0_) could explain diseases. Smell would upset the balance of the four elements of humorism and cause disease. By filling the beak with fair-smelling substances, the doctor would be prote... |
how "cracking" a joint or your back in a certain area relieves the pain/tension you're feeling in that area. | [
"Great minds think alike. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why does it feel good to crack your back? ](_URL_3_) ^(_7 comments_) 1. [Why does it feel so good when I crack my back? ](_URL_6_) ^(_ > 100 comments_) 1. [ELI5: What does \"cracking your back\" do, and why does it feel ... | [
"When you add a file to your computer, it gets put in the first available space - even if that space isn't big enough to fit the entire file in. If the space isn't big enough, the file gets SPLIT into several pieces and put in different places. Over time, constantly adding and deleting things means that all the stu... |
what is net neutrality and how will it affect me? | [
"Net neutrality describes an internet that is neutral of any regulation, rules, etc. If there is no net neutrality, it means that as an ISP I could charge you more to use a website like Netflix. Or I could bundle up a few websites and sell them to you in a package like they do cable. This would mean that you could ... | [
"This CGP Grey video does a really good job of explaining it all. _URL_3_"
] |
Why is the AK-47 so goddamn popular worldwide? | [
"Nicely summarized in the movie Lord of War: _URL_0_"
] | [
"\"Just about everyone here\" Where is \"here\" for you? It sounds like your question's premise is based on a small sample set based on personal observation. Before your question is addressed, you should be making sure the premise is valid..."
] |
How can it be that so many elections pit roughly 50% of the voting public against the other 50%? Shouldn't it be incredibly rare that an issue/choice of candidates/etc. is that perfectly divisive? | [
"/u/flooey is right, but in addition to that: we have a lot more in common than people realize. For the vast, vast, vast majority of political issues that have been debated through the ages we have essentially a consensus on how to answer them. We are not going back to the gold standard, we don't want a king or que... | [
"I think that this is somewhat of an illusion. Generally the species that invests more in creating offspring is the choosey sex. In mammals this is almost always the females. While males may appear 'pretty' in some animals, it is almost always the females making the choice as to whom to have sex with. As for human... |
What is the circle of fifths and what are its uses? | [
"[The Circle of Fifths] (_URL_0_) is a music tool. It relates every key signature in Western music to a sequence that goes up by a fifth in one direction or down by a fifth in the other. For example, if you're in the key of C Major, and want to add one sharp to the key signature, you would go up a fifth, putting yo... | [
"Imagine you and your friend both have a very, very large file on your computers. Lets say you want to see I you have the *same* large file. How would you do this? There's an easy way; just email your entire file to your friend and he can check. But this might take a very, very long time if you have a slow Internet... |
Why is it a big deal if Jesus had a wife or not? | [
"Opens up the possibilities of him having kids. It also hints at the fact he may have enjoyed more... carnal pleasures."
] | [
"\"Just about everyone here\" Where is \"here\" for you? It sounds like your question's premise is based on a small sample set based on personal observation. Before your question is addressed, you should be making sure the premise is valid..."
] |
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