Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
If a breastfeeding human female eats an exclusively non carbohydrates diet will she still be able to produce milk?	[ "Mmmm. Well, I would have to say that yes, a mammal can still produce milk. I'm sorry, I don't have any citations, but look at predator mammalian species who subsist on an almost exclusively protein diet. They have no problem nursing their young, and the physiological mechanisms behind neoglucogenesis remains the s...	[ "Because in most other hiring situations being black, white, man, woman, straight, jewish, whatever, has literally no bearing or impact on the ability to perform the required tasks of the job. Things like modeling and acting however, they can have 'essential requirements'. All jobs have 'essential requirements'--yo...
Much like noise-cancellation can make noise disappear, is there a way to cancel out light-waves to render an object invisible?	[ "But wouldn't you then end up with a blacked-out object, instead of it being invisible, i.e. transparent? Edit: To expand, if you want something to become functionally transparent, you have to bend the light around it, so that it appears as if it wasn't there. Magicians do that (or trick you otherwise) using mirror...	[ "It's true, and it is indeed referring to the kinetic energy of the snowflake. Astronomical sources are very, very faint. As faint as starlight is, there is far, far more energy coming out in optical wavelengths than in radio. If you were to put a cell phone on the moon, it would be one of the brightest non-s...
why do people and businesses "dump" money at the end of the year?	[ "If you're describing what I think you are, you're referring to budget surplus in a department. So, if I give you $10 to run a lemonade stand per year, but it turns out you only need $8 to run it, next year I'll only give you $8. So, to avoid losing money that you might want to use next year, you spend that $2 at t...	[ "If you ask for 1 pen, it costs you two dollars. If you ask for 100 000 pens, they will only cost you one dollar each. I prefer selling you 100 000 pens at half price, than selling you 1 at full price and have 99 999 sitting around doing nothing. In a similar way, if you ask for a small amount of money, you pay a b...
Tuesday Trivia: Eric Clapton's wonderful "Layla" gets its name from the medieval Arabic romance "Layla and Majnun," whose star-crossed lovers bear some resemblance to the western Tristan and Isolde. What are some surprising historical references in modern pop culture?	[ "I think I was 22 before I realized Calvin and Hobbes the cartoons were named after (although only sometimes made reference to) John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes" ]	[ "The Duchy of Somerset is one of the most prestigious in England, second in precedence only to the Dukes of Norfolk and the Royal Family in the peerage of the UK. However, ducal titles typically are not passed through the female line in England. The only major exception that I am aware of is the Duchy of Marlborou...
why is 'Head and Shoulders' shampoo "For men"?	[ "For most 'drugstore' brands of toiletries like shampoo, soap, and deoderant, the only significant differences between the mens and womens versions of products are: Scent: since most men don't want to smell like tahitian vanilla and most women don't want to smell like whatever-it-is axe smells like Price: you can s...	[ "Imagine you're a massive giant, 500 feet tall, stroking the forest. You feel [the tops of the trees](_URL_0_), the leaves, the thin branches. Then one day, lumberjacks come, and chainsaw all the trees down at the 3-foot mark. You stroke the countryside and rather than soft treetops, you're feeling big lumpy stump...
Why is the United States still at war in the middle east?	[ "That's a pretty vague question. Did you have a specific conflict in mind? Otherwise, the answer is probably going to involve about 100 years of history." ]	[ "Greetings everyone. In the few minutes this sub has been up, it's attracting sub-standard responses. Just a reminder of a few of the rules: * no responses covering events/conditions post-1994, per this sub's \"20-year rule\" prohibiting discussion of current events * no anecdotes * no speculation OP: your question...
Why is Comic Con so popular now?	[ "The popularity of comic book characters and acceptance of the geek subculture, mainly. people aren't scared to show that they enjoy these things anymore." ]	[ "My guess? When you're dealing with a lot of makeup, prosthesis, special effects its easier to hide flaws. You can see acne under makeup in high def, you couldn't really see that back in the day. Just a guess." ]
If a huge, powerful fan was placed in front of an airplane, would the plane be able to achieve lift?	[ "Yes. You don't need to form a theoretical scenario, you can see planes start lifting off in strong winds. [Video 1](_URL_1_) [Video 2](_URL_0_) Since the lift of the plane is dependent on the relative airspeed and not its speed relative to the ground, a strong enough wind has a similar effect as the plane travelli...	[ "The movie was [Days of Thunder](_URL_0_) and he was talking about [Slipstreaming or Drafting](_URL_1_). As to your question, this depends on * The velocity of the cars * Geometry of both cars * Atmosphere status (temperature, rain, snow ... although they have very little effect at higher speeds) On the street it's...
Can you explain the squared in E=MC squared?	[ "It's similar to the equation for kinetic energy. KE = 1/2 x m x v^2 , where v is the speed and m is mass just like E=MC^2 It doesn't mean you move at the square of the speed, it means the energy increases at the square of the speed. If you move twice as fast, the kinetic energy is increases by a factor of 4. If y...	[ "You know how authors write long stories using letters and words and the rules of grammar and writing? Its just like that. With enough knowledge of how to read (math), these kinds of explanations make sense. Dont feel bad that you cant read it. Its just like if you tried to read a story in a language you dont know....
Can someone explain what's going on here? (Freeman of the land in Canada. Video in comments.)	[ "Simply put, he doesn't. \"Freemen of the land\" believe that government authority is contractual, in that they must consent to be governed by it and they withhold their consent. This belief has no established legal basis. As for why he wasn't removed from the courtroom I cannot say; perhaps they were delaying unti...	[ "He is discharging capacitors. The charge flows from one side of the capacitor, to the TV chassis through the screwdriver, wire and the bolt and back to the other side of the capacitor. Most of electrical devices use their (metal) chassis as a common ground point for all the components. Charged capacitors can give ...
Is a trial by combat as seen in Game of Thrones a real thing?	[ "These links may help until someone else qualified to answer comes along. _URL_2_ _URL_0_ _URL_1_" ]	[ "The supreme court had previously held that making private copies available for use by others was legal in Canada (see BMG vs. John Doe). As such, there was no legal copyright infringement that copyright holders could use as leverage to get (the subpoenas required to get) ISPs to disclose the identities of the file...
Why can I move my eyes in all directions except for left eye looking left and right eye looking right or one up and the other down?	[ "Your brain stem has circuits going between the cortex (conscious command), nerve inputs (like vision and rotation), and outputs to the muscles that move the eye. These work together so if you tell your right eye to look left, your brainstem automatically moves your other eye the same way in the same amount. Unless...	[ "You are currently processing crystal clear images of your surroundings, focusing on this post, reading squiggles and translating them into sounds, connecting those sounds into words forming sentences with meaning while simultaneously feeling your hand on your mouse, smelling the air, hearing and interpreting sound...
Spain and Italy have a shared tradition of cured meats, is this the sign of the past Roman heritage?	[ "Likely this is simply due to the necessity of doing so. Curing meat preserves meat, and in warm weather without refrigeration it provides a way to keep meat edible. Food was scarce until very recently, meat even more so. Similar climates means that similar means of preserving food were used. Likewise in Croatia a ...	[ "Most countries have their own weather system, but that doesn’t mean they will only study their own country. For example, in Brazil they study the weather for most of South America, even if other countries have their own system" ]
How long does the flu vaccine actually protect you against the strains in the vaccine?	[ "It should protect indefinitely, since your body makes memory B cells after every new exposure to a pathogen, which stay in the body for life. This is why you can never get the chicken pox twice, even if exposed to it 50 years after the initial exposure. The reason we need to get a new flu shot every year is becaus...	[ "Could somebody explain how, if true, small amounts of alcohol is good for you?" ]
When you drop a rock into a pool of water, is there a way to predict the pitch of the sound that is made?	[ "The sound produced when something drops into water is quite complex. The timbre changes during the short time it takes to become immersed. It varies with the shape and mass of the object being dropped. It could be modelled in a powerful computer. Boffins use supercomputers to predict the behaviour of nuclear bomb ...	[ "I have nothing useful except that this is one of those questions that's both original, interesting and testable without expensive equipment. Makes my high school teacher's heart beat faster. This is a perfect end-of-year question to engage my 15-year old pupils with. It'll be great fun to have them try to answer w...
Why is 'The Big Bang Theory' called so? I mean is it still a 'Theory' when it's a proven with so many facts? Why is it not 'The Big Bang Fact'? I'm sorry if this question sounds moronic.	[ "In science, \"theory\" often with a capital T is the highest and most complete way to describe some aspect of nature. A scientific theory generally contains a set of principles which have predictive power and explains a set of observations in a cohesive package. The redshift of distant galaxies is an observable fa...	[ "A \"chord\" is made up of 3 or more notes. A note is a single sound, like when you whistle, that's a note. Sounds make waves, and that's what we hear. Imagine you're in a pool with water like glass. You gently tap the pool at one end with your finger, while a friend lightly taps the water at the other end at the s...
Almost everyone I know dislikes most Top 40 music, or only listens to it because that's what's on the radio...who is listening to these artists, and why? (Tweens? Marketing?)	[ "While I'm only speaking from experience, it seems like the purpose of pop music is to be universally average. The same chord progressions are reused, creating music that people won't hate. For that reason, radio stations will constantly play this type of music, leading to high exposure and people buying the music....	[ "Ultimately it's not the click that the website is being paid for. It's the user buying something from the site that they visited. The sites buying ad space know that some percentage of people who click the ad who actually buy something or otherwise bring in money to that advertiser. Just having more people click...
Why/How is Jupiter a "failed star"? Why didn't it become a real star?	[ "The spark that lights a star is created by the crushing weight of gravity at its core. It smushes atomic nuclei together hard enough that they merge and release a ton of energy. In Jupiter's case, there just isn't enough gas and such to start it up. It's just not heavy enough to catch fire." ]	[ "There is a hormone in insects called Juvenile Hormone (JH) that controls metamorphosis. Basically, every time the larva molts, its body checks to see how much JH there is. While JH is high, it will stay immature and keep eating and growing as a larva. When JH levels suddenly drop, that is a signal that the caterpi...
Why you're supposed to back into a space when you parallel park	[ "The way most cars steer, there's an effect called \"front-end swing\" where the front end of the car swings wider during a turn, and the back end of the car kinda just follows along. Because of that, you can be usually get a tighter fit if you back into a parallel space. First you swing your front end out, then ba...	[ "Online, pictures of cars are often pointing out what an awful job they did parking or driving or whatever. Also, reddit specifically asks that we don't post personal information. If we could see the plate for the guy that parked like a jack-ass at the local Goodwill, some other jack-ass might look up their informa...
Why does styrofoam melt when it comes into contact with superglue/adhesives?	[ "Super glue and other adhesives contain some organic solvents (e.g. acetone, ethyl acetate). Styrofoam is made from thousands of styrene molecules linked together. Styrene by itself really wants to dissolve in these organic solvents, but since so many of them are linked together it can't because it's simply too big...	[ "Have you ever broken a glass and you get those tiny (almost microscopic) shards of glass under your skin? You can feel that they are there, and it is a mix of itchy and maybe some slight discomfort? Same thing for the insulation. It has tiny shards of glass in it." ]
Why does large ships not crush sea life below them? Where does all the weight go?	[ "The weight of the boat isn't squishing the water underneath. The boat is _displacing_ a volume of water equal to its mass. If the boat wasn't there, there'd be a volume of water weighing the same. So the forces acting on the water underneath are unchanged. i.e. they're already squished by the weight of water/boat ...	[ "If you are really interested in this, [watch this.](_URL_0_) It's a one hour lecture by Dr. Hans Mark, who was at NASA during the 70's and lead some of the deep space missions. The short answer is that they rely on gravitational boosts from other planets (usually Jupiter) and the sun. The orbital trajectories are ...
Propaganda, why did the word for a committee of Catholic cardinals become the old timey word for fake news?	[ "This isn't an answer, but please do not use propaganda and fake news interchangeably. Fake news is not the same thing as propaganda. They are sperate terms, albiet with overlap, but distinct terms nonetheless. Fake news is not a \"new timey\" word for propaganda." ]	[ "What exactly do you mean by \"harness fire\"? Regarding the fire that didn't go out, I believe you are referring to the fire the Vestal Virgins were charged with keeping aflame. The Vestal Virgins were priestesses of the goddess of the hearth, and were chosen around 12 years old or younger and made 30 year vows of...
How can light diffuse in all directions from a single point?	[ "> If there is one point of light it seems like it would need to generate energy or something to be able to make a sphere of light waves around it. Light is energy. It's always produced by something else releasing energy. So you can't have \"a point of light\". Instead, you have \"a small object that's radiatin...	[ "Because it is taking the path of least resistance. It's jumping from charge to charge throughout the air eventually ending up at the ground. If it was a straight beam then it would have to fight it's way through charges that it isn't attracted to. Imagine the atmosphere like a crowd at a party. You are a bolt of l...
How did the Soviets manipulate photographs without Photoshop ?	[ "I don't know how they did that one, but one technique is to take a photograph that you want to alter, and cut out part of another photograph. Glue the new part over the old, and photograph that. Of course, that can result in a visible line on the new photo. Hand touch that up with a paintbrush (using magnificati...	[ "Nope. What do you imagine they were doing? Calculating an orbit isn't any harder (actually, much easier) than playing Angry Birds." ]
What is so great about Cuban cigars? Will the quality of the Cuban cigar go down if the U.S. Embargo is lifted?	[ "Cuban cigars might have been the best in 1962, but the rest of the world has caught up, while Cuba stood pat. There are Dominican and and Nicaraguan cigars every bit as good as Cubans, which have been getting by on the mystique generated by the embargo." ]	[ "It is due to the birth of recordings. Once recordings were available, people became more focused on being perfect (pitch, rhythm, etc). Glenn Gould is a pianist who basically devoted his whole musical career to just creating the perfect recordings. He would sit at the recording studio re-recording a single piece m...
Could someone try their hand at explaining in very ELI5 terms, what happened when Lenin died and how Stalin became the undisputed leader of Russia?	[ "I'd just like to add that Lenin had several strokes before his death and he was kept as a virtual prisoner by Stalin, who was at this point General Secretary of the Party as appointed by Lenin himself, until he died. Although Lenin recovered some of his ability to write and speak, any chance of co-ordinating pote...	[ "The use of the term \"easily\" is somewhat misplaced. The perception of Chinese past unity is greatly impacted by a modern view of China. The Qin dynasty first united several kingdoms into \"China,\" but this first China only corresponds to a portion of modern China. The Qin were followed by the Han. When the Han ...
What is the absolute limit for transistor sizes for CPU's? 1nm? Picometers? There has to be a wall somewhere -- but ever decade it's always another decade out?	[ "Intel stated that they have plans for silicon transistors down to 6nm. Below that quantum tunneling starts to become a problem." ]	[ "I believe the answer is Moore's Law, which you can learn about in this handy dandy wikipedia link I'm about to post and the only reason I'm still typing is that even though nothing more than a link to the page is necessary to answer your question, the stupid reddit rules for ELI5 require a certain amount of charac...
When a smell is covered up by another such as air freshener, what exactly is going on with the particles that come in contact with it?	[ "it's not that the air freshener does anything to the existing molecules in the air, it's just that the air freshener's molecules are designed to be stronger/more pungent than them. It would be comparable to putting food coloring into a glass of liquid. The liquid itself is not changed, the coloring just provides m...	[ "Bacteria on/in your skin metabolize the minerals in your sweat and create a by-product. TL;DR: sweat is bacteria farts." ]
Is it illegal to make a personal stash of moonshine, or only to sell it? If it's illegal to make no matter what, why is it legal to make beer and wine for personal use and not moonshine? Is moonshine just liquor but made illegally, or is there legal liquor you can make that's not moonshine?	[ "Liquor made badly will contain a thing known as methanol, which can very easily blind and kill you. Thus, in many places it's illegal to make it at all." ]	[ "I've searched tha seven seas fer an answer. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: what is ball lightning? And why is it so rare? ](_URL_0_) ^(_1 comment_) 1. [ELI5: What is the significance of finding footage of ball lightning? ](_URL_1_) ^(_1 comment_) 1. [ELI5: What causes ball li...
When and where was there ever a place where people didn't add another digit at 10, but instead at a different number, and did any conflicts arise from it?	[ "The decimal system, which we are familiar with, uses a base of 10 digits (0 to 9). The number of digits before you \"add another digit\" is also called the [radix](_URL_0_). The [sexagesimal system](_URL_1_), or base 60, was used by the ancient Sumerians around 5000 years ago. The usefulness of a base 60 system co...	[ "Several of your questions can be answered when you are reminded that you are studying Western Music theory. There are scales other than the 12 note, chromatic scale. Pentatonic is one example, and there are microtonal scales which are not chromatic. Experimental composers have also worked with music that uses m...
What are logarithms actually doing? When would we display data using a log scale and why?	[ "I'll have a crack at explaining this at ELI5 level. You know about powers of ten? Going from 10, to 100, to 1,000? Those represent three powers of ten. You could say that 1,000 could be written as 10^3. You could also say, \"Hey, I'm going to say this number and it means not juust the number, but the power of ten...	[ "Say you have a banana and an apple. How many ways can you arrange those on a table? You can put the banana on the table. You can put the apple on the table. You can put both on the table, or you can put none of them on the table. There are four ways total that you can arrange these fruits. This represents 2 to the...
How did Helen Keller learn to communicate?	[ "A sign language professional was brought in, who signed the names of objects into her hand after letting her feel the objects. After a very long and frustrating length of time where she didn't understand the point of the exercise, it finally clicked for her that she was being communicated with rather than just hav...	[ "A news article and paper (Madera et al. 2009, see below) were forwarded around my department a few months ago about how women are described differently than men in reference letters and the consequences of that. They found that: 1) people described in reference letters that used \"communal\" or \"emotive\" words t...
Why is it so hard to deal/see dead bodies,decapitation or someone burning? We see and read about it throughout our lives but we don’t get used to it.	[ "suconsciously, our minds don't like processing real observations of bodies being violently altered." ]	[ "The concert, for these people, is an experience. If they just wanted to listen to the music, they could do that at home or in their car. At a concert, the music is live (and alive), it is louder, and the whole experience is different. Many people cannot contain themselves. They are overcome with emotion and ener...
Is space already expanding at a superluminal rate?	[ "Space doesn't have a speed. Galaxy clusters are moving apart because space is expanding between them. Light from objects a long distance away has to cross a lot of continually expanding space, so it might be able to reach us; but if it's too far away then it won't. If it can't get to us, then you could think of th...	[ "Sean Carroll has a decent blog post about this [here](_URL_0_). The basic statement is that this is what you expect for a universe that is (at least very nearly) spatially flat." ]
Why do calendars start with Sunday and not Monday in America?	[ "Historically, throughout Western Europe, Sunday was the first day of the week. This goes back all the way to the Hebrew Bible, in which the seven-day week ran from Sunday (\"the first day\") to Saturday (the Sabbath). It's also preserved in Portuguese, where Monday is Segunda-feira and Friday is Sexta-feira. (...	[ "_URL_0_ As to why, its the same reason a foot is 12 inches instead of 10. At the time it was developed, the primary difficultly in any numerical system wasn't converting between units, it was measuring those units, so it was easier to use a number system that divides in halves, thirds, and quarters easily." ]
How common were lynchings in the South during the 20th century? How accurate was To Kill a Mockingbird as a portrayal of American South?	[ "I would say that it was reasonably common, although not as common as popularly believed today. [About 3,500 blacks were lynched from the 1880's to the 1960's](_URL_0_) (and about 1,300 whites, too) - mostly between the 1880's and the 1920's. So, during that period 1-2 blacks were lynched every week in America, wit...	[ "Sorry, we don't allow [\"trivia seeking\" questions](_URL_0_). These tend to produce threads which are collections of disjointed, partial responses, and not the in-depth discussions about a particular topic we're looking for. If you have a specific question about an historical event, period, or person, please feel...
What body system does fat belong to?	[ "In the body there are four types of tissues: connective, epithelial, nervous and muscle. Fat, otherwise known as adipose, is a loose connective tissue used to store fat cells. The purpose of fat is insulation, nutrient storage and cushioning. For example, there is a pad of fat that helps hold your eyes in place! R...	[ "Your brain is constantly telling how your limbs should move. Because it takes a lot of energy to do the maths for your hands and feet, it gives more detailed instructions to one side than the other side. If both sides were equally good at movement, you'd need to eat more to power the calculations." ]
what is the Chinese new year, and/or why does China use a different calender?	[ "Traditionally, China used a calendar based on lunar cycles. They've adopted the Gregorian calendar for daily use now, but as you may expect, traditional holidays and celebrations will still be based on the calendar they've used for more than a millenia." ]	[ "She's just the interim CEO. After Yishan Wong resigned, Pao was next in line, or chosen as the best candidate to fill the office until a permanent CEO is chosen." ]
What are the major differences between laser and optical mice? And how do they out-perform each other?	[ "Laser mice are much more difficult to catch as they are blindingly fast, optical mice are only hard to see." ]	[ "All the other reasons people are giving are valid, but I think for the majority of people it's down to advertising, pretty packaging, and the idea that spending more will get you something that's better." ]
How did Masonic lodges of belligerent nations view each other during times of war?	[ "There are quite a few first-hand accounts of Freemasons extending Masonic courtesy to each other across national divisions during wars. This is a [good article](_URL_1_). Gettysburg National Cemetery has a [Masonic Memorial](_URL_3_) to the concept as well. I recall reading a story of a unit of American Masons pr...	[ "As a followup question, what \"image\" did they project? By this I mean, was it like a sign of nobility? Was it to show loyalty to a particular faction/religion/craft? Was it considered low class or as brands for criminals? Thank you. Cool question OP." ]
If a person is shot in the heart do they die instantly or does the brain live on for a bit?	[ "their whole body lives on for a little while, even the heart. It takes a while for the cells to die." ]	[ "Ok, so in the chest cavity between the ribs and lungs there is space, which normally has lower than the atmospheric pressure. This allows the lungs to expand and fill with air when we open our airways and use our breathing muscles. If there is communication between this space and the outside (from a stab wound etc...
What gives our eyes their color?	[ "Melanin is the most important factor determining how dark the color is (ie low melanin = blue; high melanin = dark brown). The turbid in your eye (the fluid that makes the eye cloudy white) will scatter light differently from person to person, but this doesn't affect the eye color too heavily. Heterochromia is a c...	[ "It is down to the combination of the genes you get half the genes from your mother and half from your father but those genes are an almost random selection of those genes which go to make up each so can be combined in trillions of different ways. Like saying you get half a pack of cards from one parent and half fr...
If a neutralisation reaction is exothermic why does adding heat to the reaction promote product formation (opposite logic to Le Chatelier's Principle)?	[ "Think carefully about what you mean by \"promote product formation,\" because you might be confusing thermodynamics and kinetics. Since neutralization is exothermic, you're right, increasing the temperature should decrease the overall equilibrium constant. This is a thermodynamic effect. In general, though, neutra...	[ "When you tell a child \"don't ever lick cold metal\", you'll often find the kid with his tongue stuck to a metal pole as soon as you turn your back, even though it would never even think to do that if you said nothing. It's called reverse pshychology, and it applies to most people. You could say we just don't like...
Why is it so socially acceptable to drive 5-10 mph over the speed limit?	[ "The one police officer I asked this exact question told me that 5-7 mph over is within the margin of error and easily disputed in court, but anything over 10 above the limit is fair game." ]	[ "There are a lot of people in the world who don't care about laws, or the laws of other countries, or the property rights of other people. For example if you stole a piece of art from someone in England that a wealthy member of the royal family in Saudi Arabia wanted they probably don't care at all that it was stol...
The numbering system of auxillary interstate highways.	[ "The second two digits refer to the primary interstate that it's an auxiliary of. So auxiliaries of I-15 will be numbered 215, 315, etc. If the first number is even (215, 415, etc.), then it is a loop or bypass: it branches off from the main interstate at one place, and returns to it at a different place. If the fi...	[ "From what I understand it's more or less Algorithms that find redundancys in data and instead of IE 01010101 it's condensed into 01x4. Pretty simplistic I know but that is the gist of it if I understand correctly." ]
Why are there more plant pathogens that can infect crops than weeds?	[ "Crops are a lot less diverse than weeds. When we develop a crop, we plant the exact same plant over and over again. In extreme cases like the Cavendish banana (the one you probably eat), all the plants are genetically clones of each other. So if one disease works against one plant, it would like work against th...	[ "Your PC can run any program that's on it at any time. But your Android smartphone can only run programs downloaded from the app store unless you change an option deep in settings, and your iPhone can't run programs from unknown sources at all (unless you jailbreak it) And because viruses are computer programs that...
How could Mayan and Bali cultures have had dragon deities in common, among other things?	[ "A pyramid is the easiest type of building to make. Any group of people who want to make a large structure are always going to start with a pyramid. Staircases are always going to take more work. So, if you want to walk to the top you will always make one section a stair case which is always going to be straight up...	[ "hi! you may be interested in a few earlier posts * [How was Easter Island a remote place on Earth discovered by ancient people with rudimentary technology?](_URL_2_) * [How did ancient seafaring peoples of Melanesia find remote islands like Easter Island, yet miss the Americas?](_URL_3_) * [Polynesian diaspora](_U...
Why can't i see clear images underwater with my naked eyes? Why using googles allows me to see properly underwater?	[ "The cornea of your eye depends on the change in refractive index from air to corneal tissue to refract light so that your lens can further refract it and make it focus on your retina. The cornea's refractive index is 1.376, compared to the refractive index of about 1.0 for air, and 1.33 for water. In air, the corn...	[ "Quite simply, we learn to feel calm via some combination of conditioning methods: * Classical conditioning (e.g. you've associated oceans/lakes with another 'stimulus' that naturally produces calm, like going on a vacation or spending time with a SO) * Operant conditioning (e.g. positively or negatively reinforcin...
Why do physicians in Antarctica need to have their appendix removed before deploying?	[ "Appendicits won't be cured with antibiotics. The most common process of appendicitis is when what is called a fecalite (basically fecal matter with high fiber content) gets stuck in the appendix lumen, causing it to dilate, which in turn leads to increased appendix wall tension and diminished blood flow. This alon...	[ "[This](_URL_0_) previous thread explains it as [entrainment](_URL_2_). When changing the diameter of your lips, the airflow is subject to the [Bernoulli effect](_URL_1_) where it speeds up. When the air moves faster, it draws in more surrounding air which is cooler than your body temperature, thus making it feel c...
How long would it take two separate groups of humans to develop obvious differences genetically?	[ "It would depend on how different the selective pressure were between to the two locations. If your other planet had 10x the UV radiation, it might only take a couple generations for all the light skinned people to die off." ]	[ "Most people copy ideas. If the tribe A comes up with a good idea, then tribe B next door will copy it. Or tribe A's good idea may make it powerful enough to conquer tribe B and force them to adopt their idea. Isolated communities may not be exposed to outsiders' ideas (like modern technology) so they don't copy th...
Why do pills have to be so big? Can't the chemicals be mushed together in a smaller packet?	[ "I agree somewhat with sup the brav but it also depends what you are taking. Calcium/ multivites/ certain antibiotics can be pretty big. Other pills like Claritin and levothyroxine are tiny." ]	[ "Imagine carrying a rock on a flight, and then going through the rubble of the crash to find the rock. That rock is going to probably be fine. Black boxes are stronger than rocks." ]
Why might the name 'electron deficient', for compounds that seem to contain too few valence electrons to hold together, be said to be a misnomer?	[ "The chapter that you linked is referring to molecules like [diborane](_URL_0_) (B2H6), which was originally thought to appear as a monomer borane (BH3) (which can only exist as adducts with \"electron rich\" species). The deficiency of our understanding it is referring to is the [three-center-two-electron bond](_U...	[ "Enron basically used non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) accounting methods to cover up their massive overleveraged position, (i.e., they had way more debt than equity). By keeping this debt off their books, they could overstate earnings. However, when people, including the SEC (Securities Exchange...
The carried interest tax loophole	[ "Carried interest is payments made to a manager of an investment fund, generally as a percentage of the profits of that fund. The tax rules in the US treat those payments as capital gains rather than regular income, which means they're taxed at a lower rate. The maximum tax rate for long-term capital gains is 20%, ...	[ "Explaining all aspects would take a very long time. Basically though, GE own many companies, some of which lose money and some of which are deliberately allowed to lose a ton of money. When you factor in all of GE's holdings, you can get to that effective tax rate." ]
Why do humans have the noses we have?	[ "Our primate ancestors switched to an emphasis on vision, specifically amazing colour vision for daytime, over smell, and colour vision is excellent for locating fruit. As for our noses compared to the other great apes, one thing we do that they don't is run. Our noses are well adapted for warming air flowing in ...	[ "[_URL_1_](_URL_0_) says it was [evolved to protect us from viruses.](_URL_2_) edit: added a better source" ]
Why do humans require a diverse diet and domesticated pets can eat the same dry kibble?	[ "Humans dont require a diverse diet, it's just we choose to eat that way because of the flavors....humans literally can survive by eating raw meat/fat." ]	[ "your question is based on a confusion of scale. life on earth lives within a very sensitive, and relatively narrow temperature range. the most extreme temperatures between night and day or between seasons even is orders of magnitude less than the temperature changes which occur on other planets. in other words, o...
Before modern medicine, how come people who were amputated didn't bleed to death ?	[ "Cautery(burning of the flesh to stop bleeding,) ligation (tying of the vessels,) tourniquets and compression. Because of the primitive nature of the techniques used at the time (which we haven't reinvented, simply improved) many amputees died of infection. I don't remember what medical text this came from, but yo...	[ "Let's say you wanted to gamble at the horse track. You think Three-Legged Limpet is the horse to win on (despite having only three legs). You decide to place a $100 bet, but you don't have $100 on you now (payday isn't until tomorrow). The bookie agrees to take only $20, with the understanding that you will pay up...
Why is there a danger that beached whales will explode?	[ "Intestinal gas, plus lying out in the sun for days. The heat increases the rate of decomposition, and whales have tougher skin than humans, which lets the pressure from gas due to normal digestive bacteria and the bacteria aiding in decomposition grow to much higher levels; when heated, this can result in sudden b...	[ "The same way you can be in the same yard as a bee. You only get stung if you are a threat. Just ask Steve Irwin." ]
How was Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth viewed by the American "founding fathers" and what lessons did the founders take from that period of history?	[ "A potential addition to this question, should anyone feel like answering: did citizens of the 13 colonies in the 18th century consider themselves to have a direct line, through The Mayflower and The Pilgrims, to the Puritans and England under Cromwell/ The Protectorate?" ]	[ "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_...
What was the process of recruiting a Roman Legion?	[ "Depends on the period of roman history. During the second Punic war we hear about armies of 80000 men being recruited pretty quickly. During Caesars time it would be harder due to the more expensive equipment that soldiers used and how long they were expected to fight, also a more famous general would have an easi...	[ "Suppose you, as a lawyer, have successfully put away hundreds of criminals. Within the boundaries of the law. Now, you're caught doing it illegally once (e.g. bribing a jury). Every criminal you ever put away can now appeal their original sentencing, claiming that they fell victim to the same jury bribing th...
Ask Science: virtual images vs real images in optics	[ "> But why can't a camera see them? A camera can see them just fine. Take a picture of yourself in the mirror. Congratulations! You just photographed a virtual image. You may be thinking of the fact that you can't focus a virtual image on a screen. That is to say, there is no position where you could place a flat s...	[ "the light actually is touching the receptors in your retina (the back wall of your eye) physically...translation of that reception by the brain yields your perception of the pain [animation here in Clip1](_URL_2_) is well done, IMO. edit: [here's another animation on eye function](_URL_2_)" ]
I've seen "Parting is such sweet sorrow" listed in many places as a Kurdish proverb. Is this false or did Shakespeare borrow this line?	[ "I don't think very many Kurdish Proverbs were proverbially in English. So, I doubt that \"Parting is such sweet sorrow\" was ever a Kurdish proverb (though some similar sentiment in Kurdish may be a Kurdish proverb, for all I know). Shakespeare did not know Kurdish. He was very unlikely to have any sources for Kur...	[ "I have taken an interest in the Pacific Campaign and the history of naval aviation and am now looking for recommended reading. On my shortlist so far: Title \| Authors ---\|--- Pacific Crucible and sequels \| Ian W. Toll Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway\| Jonathan Parshall & Anthony Tully ...
How to understand a mathematical formula?	[ "WAYYYYY too broad of an ELI5 to be able to respond to. You're pretty much asking us to explain an entire branch of science." ]	[ "I could try to explain it to you, but this video is all you really need: _URL_9_" ]
Why did Britannia fail to "Latinise?"	[ "Anglo Saxon actually does incorporate a fair number of Latin loan words, and interestingly, practically no Celtic so it would seem that at least southeast England was heavily Latin speaking. As for why English is a Germanic language, I suspect this is because, unlike in the other provinces, the germanic intrusion ...	[ "I looked this up in the 1959 edition of Brewers (reprinted from 1870) and they state that British pink and white complexions remind one of the pomegranate. This is the only explanation given - no mention of POHM or anything like that." ]
Before the American Revolution, what was the present-day US called?	[ "In English-language discussion, the British colonies that became the USA were sometimes called the \"American colonies\" (or \"North American colonies\"). Examples: * [The Justice and Necessity of Taxing the American Colonies Demonstrated](_URL_1_) (London, 1766) * [*The Grievances of the American Colonies Candi...	[ "Not my period - but surely Britain is the prime example of this?" ]
Why can't we just put a compressed folder into an another compressed folder, and keep doing that until the size of the file we're compressing becomes extraordinary small?	[ "You can't compress something more than once. It will just make it bigger. Ever seen one of those vacuum bags that you can use to pack clothes more tightly for storage? You put your clothes inside, then vacuum the air out. Would it make any sense to try to wrap that inside a SECOND vacuum bag and suck the air out? ...	[ "The \"proper\" answer requires a good understanding of graduate-level mathematics and physics. But an ELI5 answer is basically that if you take the equations we use that describe general relativity, and the equations we use that describe quantum mechanics, and try to apply them to the same situation (such as the s...
How does Laplace's demon conflict with quantum mechanics?	[ "Quantum mechanics lacks^1 determinism, therefore the Laplace Demon would only be aware of statistical aggregate behavior and would not be able to predict the future to arbitrary precision. ^1 Some interpretations keep the concept, but generally it's always much more restrictive than classical determinism. Most pe...	[ "> and confirm that the entangled state change occurs with the expected delay/advance caused by time dilation? There is no state change, so there is no delay/advance to measure. That's what the no communication theorem means. Putting one particle on a satellite would be no different than just putting a delay betw...
How long does a nuclear warhead last in storage?	[ "you want to get a copy of [this](_URL_2_) to read. :) I should imagine it would answer most of your questions. oh and [this](_URL_2_) as well - great resource on all things about the bomb." ]	[ "I would suggest reaching out to Dr. John Prados at the National Security Archive (nsarchiv@gwu.edu). He has extensive expertise in World War II, the history of the CIA, and working with declassified government documents." ]
Why are animated stuff in cartoons brighter than the background?	[ "Often the background is a static painting/drawing while moving parts like characters or objects they interact with are drawn on a transparent plastic foil that they just put above the background drawing. This is how cartoons were animated for a really long time, and was especially noticeable in anime, but is much ...	[ "Analog TVs had a circuit called the [\"color killer\"](_URL_0_). It was designed to eliminate any color from the screen when B+W programming was being received. The B+W signal did not have a [color burst](_URL_1_) reference signal, and it is the absence of this color burst which triggers the color killer. Static m...
How computers store information, even when they're off	[ "There are two types of memory, firstly volatile such as RAM which is consumed while the machine is on and needs power to keep it running. Second is non-volatile and will not be lost on powering off, such as hard drives and SSD memory. Hard drives store the states in charge, i.e. Positive or negative charge for 1 ...	[ "This is a really dumbed down explanation, compared to the other answers. The live memory in older video games (like the NES) is very simple. Think of it like 10 boxes, the first one is your score, the second is your current level, third one is your lives, and so on. Now, let's say the maximum score was 999. Seth m...
What makes activities such as reading and crossword puzzles effective at helping cognitive function, but not "brain game" apps and their exercises?	[ "I think you have it backwards. Crossword puzzles and reading are ineffective because they are not challenging you at the limits of your abilities. Whenever brain games isolate a specific domain of cognition, and adjust task difficulty to the individual, humans will improve on the task. Transference to other simila...	[ "You don't notice digital transactions as much as physical ones. One common piece of advice is to tell people to deal with daily small transactions in cash; you're less likely to buy that bagel and coffee every day if you have to pull cash from your wallet every time, rather than if you just mindlessly swipe a card...
When you buy stocks, who are you buying them from? Does someone have to be selling their shares for you to buy them?	[ "That's a big topic but in a nutshell when you buy stocks you're usually buying from the previous owner of the stock, much like you would with a car or some other commodity. Most people opt to use a stock brokerage to navigate through the sale but shares can change hands without a broker. There is always a finite ...	[ "Referring to how Texas Hold'em is normally played, although many other games work just like this. If it's your turn to act and you have put the same amount of chips into the pot as everyone else you can either Bet or Check. Betting means you put in money that others have to match if they want to keep playing, chec...
Why do accidental notes in music have word accident in them?	[ "In old-school philosophy things were described as having an essential nature. Objects behaved according to their essential nature - rocks fell downwards, smoke rose upward, dogs barked, water flowed, old men were grumpy, and so on. Anything that happened that was contradictory to something's essential nature was...	[ "They did! [Wikipedia](_URL_1_) (and this is a really good wiki article in my opinion) led me to a doctoral thesis [The Legacy of Genius: Improvisation, Romantic Imagination, and the Western Musical Canon](_URL_0_) which does talk about historical group improv (check page 12, unfortunately I can't copy/paste the te...
Why do people say losing weight is about diet, not exercise? A reasonably fit person can easily burn e.g. 1,500 calories/day through exercise	[ "That's nice, then afterwards you can have a cheeseburger and soda for about 3000 calories, a bag of chips for another 500, have some pizza for lunch for another 1000. The amount of exercise is pointless if you are eating poorly to begin with. Substitute one bad meal for a good one and you just saved your self 2 ho...	[ "It varies by the type of flight and the species of bird. Most flight is energetically expensive, at least on a calorie per second basis. Gliding is very efficient, especially with favorable thermals. Some birds can fly for hours without a single flap. This is roughly analogous to you standing on a bicycle while r...
What was Einstein’s meaning of time when he says time is only an illusion.	[ "Time is a dimension of spacetime. We move through it at what we perceive as a constant rate of one second per second. This perception isn't reality, at least in more extreme and curved parts of the Universe. The illusion is persistent because our experience is just with one tiny planet around one ordinary star." ]	[ "Yep. The speed of light is the limiting factor here. When a photon is emitted from a distant galaxy, it will travel however many million/billion light years to arrive here, and also take however many million/billion years before it enters the optics of the telescope, so what we see is most certainly a 'view into t...
Why is the camera on the Mars rover so low quality?	[ "We can, just not yet. These cameras are the initial landing cameras to make sure it survived the landing. Later this week, the fancy dancey cameras will spring up and give us lovely, awesome (like, literally awe-inspiring) imagery. Although it's pretty awesome already in my opinion :)" ]	[ "My guess? When you're dealing with a lot of makeup, prosthesis, special effects its easier to hide flaws. You can see acne under makeup in high def, you couldn't really see that back in the day. Just a guess." ]
How do American schools get away with searching students without a parents consent/search warrant?	[ "Schools in america (and lots of other countries where common law is used, so its really not all that strange or particularly american) act in the eyes of the law \"in loco parentis\" which is just a latin term meaning they take on some of the responsibilities of a parent." ]	[ "Weight-loss and other diet supplement related items don't have to have FDA approval. Therefore, they don't get it basically so they don't have to really prove that it works and they don't have to keep their facilities that clean. I'm not sure why they never got put into the category of having to get the approval....
Why do doctors prescribe methods to decrease inflammation and swelling (ice, compression, elevation) if inflammation is our body's way of healing?	[ "The inflammatory response is a \"one size fits all\"-approach to healing, and often misdirected, disproportionate or downright harmful. It has evolved because it gets the job done enough times to not hinder survival in any significant way, but it sometimes causes more harm than it does good. Most of the symptoms a...	[ "Internal combustion engines generate more power at higher RPM. The Transmission turns the very high RPM of the engine into the relatively low RPM of the wheels. The lower your gearing is, it means less wheel RPM per engine RPM, which in turn means more power at lower speed, and thus more accelleration. The drawbac...
What was the purpose of Hadrian's Wall?	[ "I'd heard there's debate as to whether the Wall was purely for defensive purposes, or also for customs and control of inner provinces. Are there any alternative arguments people know?" ]	[ "There was a good programme about this on the BBC a few months ago. Bill Bailey successfully campaigned to get Wallace's portrait put up in the Natural History Museum. Unfortunately it's not on iPlayer any more but you can watch some clips here - _URL_0_" ]
Can two viruses breed?	[ "No, viruses don't have that capability. They need to infect a host cell." ]	[ "Short generation time should indeed lead to \"faster\" evolution if you measure the rate of substitution in years. However, large population sizes if that's what insects have (they have a high taxonomic diversity, but I don't know much about their average population sizes) would not increase the rate at which new ...
what happens when someone falls into the cracks caused by earthquakes?	[ "All three are possible, but the specifics depend on the the fissure and the person. I'd assume that most are crushed to death though." ]	[ "urgh, the tasteless side of my brain was automatically like \"by walking into them, haha\" the more tasteful side of my brain doesn't know, and is also intrigued by this." ]
In WWII, where would a soldier want to be fighting?	[ "North Africa. Rommel referred to it as, \"Krieg ohne Hass,\" which means, \"War without hate.\" A story from Tobruk illustrates this well. I believe it's from the book \"Digger\". 2 Australian soldiers are overlooking the battlefield after a battle. The battlefield has quite a few German dead on it. One of the Aus...	[ "There's a whole range of expressions even in Hitler's speeches. He often used simply unsere Feinde or die Gegner (\"our enemies\" or \"the opponents\"). Of course, when he got polemic, he started referring to the Allies as the \"international plutocrat plot\" or the \"world jewry and its democratic helpers' he...
Hot farts. Why are some farts warmer in temperature than others?	[ "Bacterial fermentation in the intestines. While \"common\" flatulence is made out of air, CO2 and methane, and thus almost oddorless, an elevated bacterial count in the intestines can make said flatulence hotter and stinkier. Bacterial fermentation of fecal matter creates heat and as a byproduct, many other gasses...	[ "When you blow to cool things down part of the air comes from your lungs, but a greater part is pulled from the surrounding air by the vacuum you create blowing. When you blow to heat something up you get much closer and try to minimize the surrounding air. There is a good video I will try to find asking people how...
Why do we lose our sense of taste when we have a cold?	[ "Taste is based largely on our sense of smell. When you have a cold, you usually have nasal congestion, diminishing your ability to smell." ]	[ "The temperature sensors in your skin can only detect relative changes in temperature. Not absolute temperature. You can show this by doing a simple experiment with three cups of water. one cup of ice water, one cup of room temperature water, and one cup of hot water. Place a finger of your right hand in the ice w...
After a vasectomy, where does the stem go after an ejaculation?	[ "[Sperm only constitute 2 to 5% of total semen volume](_URL_0_). The remainder of the seminal fluid is still expelled from the body during ejaculation. Your body will recycle unused sperm cells that reside in the testes. As new sperm are generated, old sperm will be broken down and their component nutrients recycle...	[ "I remember it being like that to act as a pump that would pull out a competitors semen. That, or it's there to make sure your hand doesn't fly off and hit you in the forehead when you're whackin it." ]
How much longer does a second last for someone on Earth compared to someone floating in outer space?	[ "The time dilation factor between an observer on earth and one in deep space who is stationary with respect to the sun is tiny. There are three contributing effects: 1. Gravitational time dilation due to the sun's gravity at earth's orbit 2. Gravitational time dilation due to the earth's gravity at the earth's surf...	[ "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 methods have been suggested to directly observe right handed neutrinos?	[ "> 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...	[ "Viewing diaries. Nielsen used them right up until this year. They'd select families who would record their viewing habits and calculate ratings from that sample." ]
Why do the Middle Ages have such a bad reputation?	[ "Its basically the fault of the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Writers and artists at the time wanted to seem more advanced so they painted the previous eras as backwards and decrepit. It was made even worse because there was so much looking back at the classical civilizations, especially Rome. Since the Dark Ages ...	[ "This is a broad question do you have a specific time period or place in mind?" ]
How can we measure the weigh of black hole?	[ "Best way by far (at least for supermassive BHs) is observing the orbits of stars around it. The orbit is independent on the mass of the star, and allows you to extract the standard gravitational parameter μ = GM of the black hole. G is Newton's constant and M is the mass of the BH. Since G is known from experiment...	[ "Nice idea, but it won't work. There are a few reasons: (1) We know dark matter does not feel the electromagnetic force. If the dark matter were Dyson spheres, from absorbing the energy of the stars they surround, they would radiate in the infrared, and so we'd detect this. In fact, people have looked, and [no Dyso...
How come when your draw cold water from one tap, it cause another tap drawing hot water to become even hotter?	[ "The other tap is presumably using a mix of hot and cold water adjusted so that the mix is at the desired warm temperature. Turning on another cold tap elsewhere tends to reduce the cold water pressure which will reduce the amount of cold water in the mix, thus increasing the temperature." ]	[ "First of all, if you're downloading from two different sources and one of the servers has more outgoing bandwidth than the other, that may determine the outcome. However, if both remote servers are able to send you the file as fast as possible, what you're observing is totally real and it has to do with the TCP/IP...
If Salt is considered natural anticeptic/antibiotic, how is it that life began from the salty oceans?	[ "It has to do with the quantity of salt involved. If you throw a cell into a cup of salt water 3 things can happen. If there's the same salt in the cell and water, there is no change (this is called an isotonic solution). If there's more salt in the cell than in the water, then water passes through the cell membran...	[ "[\"All around the Mediterranean there are wide stretches of beaches composed of crushed murex shells, silent witnesses to the geographical scope and longevity of the Phoenician dyeing industry\".](_URL_0_) It was all from a gigantic murex snail farm off the coast of modern day Lebanon, which was notably monopolize...
why does water get bubbles in it after a while, and does this effect it in anyway	[ "There is normally gas dissolved in the water, but as the water warms slightly, it has less of a capacity for the gas, and some will come out of the liquid, which is why you get the bubbles forming." ]	[ "It's the purity of your water. I saw it on Nat geo on a show called \"going deep with David Reese\" the purer the water the clearer it is" ]
What makes a tumor inoperable? If it's a matter of size, wouldn't injecting it with alcohol shrink it down allowing for easier removal?	[ "When you think of a malignant tumor, dont think of it as a spherical blob that sits on top of an organ. Think of it as a spider with several dozens of legs, each wrapped around an organ's crucial zones or a vein in your body. Malignant tumors are often so irregularly shaped that you can hardly determine their bord...	[ "NATO is an alliance, it's already \"banded together\" by definition. The problem is there is no way to \"sort out ISIS\". ISIS is a collective of individuals, they don't have a headquarters, a capital, or even a nation at all. It's like asking \"why can't we just kill everyone with a birthmark on their ass?\" Fir...
What happened in my tub? (white vinegar+something=blue film)	[ "I'm not so sure that the vinegar necessarily reacted with something in your shampoo. If you live in a place with very hard water, it might be that there was enough copper accumulated on the floor of your tub to create a noticable blue color. Copper ions are blue. The test for this: Was there a noticable amount of ...	[ "[\"All around the Mediterranean there are wide stretches of beaches composed of crushed murex shells, silent witnesses to the geographical scope and longevity of the Phoenician dyeing industry\".](_URL_0_) It was all from a gigantic murex snail farm off the coast of modern day Lebanon, which was notably monopolize...
If you put a hot object into space does it cool down and if so is it faster or slower than when the same hot object is in an atmosphere (of a lower temperature)?	[ "On a human scale, there's no real conduction or convection in space. However, radiation can transfer energy. If you put a hot object in a vacuum, it will radiate energy in all directions - the hotter it is, the more energy it spits out. If it spits out more energy than it receives, then it will cool down. Whethe...	[ "Presuming you were far from a sun that would heat the sandwich, the temperature of the sandwich would drop rapidly and the enzymatic activity of microorganisms growing on it would quickly stop. The sandwich would never rot." ]
Why do scissors cut better the more open they are even though the blades can meet anywhere?	[ "If you mean why do they cut better when the thing to be cut is closest to the pivot point, it's because there's a lever effect going on. This means that for the same amount of pressure exerted with your fingers, more pressure applied by the blades closer to the pivot." ]	[ "The structure of an LCD panel [isn't completely flat](_URL_0_). This isn't an accurate analogy in terms of structure, it's just the principle. If you imagine an LCD super zoomed in, think of it as looking down at a cityscape, all skyscrapers and such. If you look down at it directly from above, you can see the st...
Why is the moon sometimes visible during the day?	[ "The earth is rotating under the moon, causing it to rise and set every day. Meanwhile, the moon orbits the earth once every 27-ish days. That orbiting causing the moon to rise and set roughly 50 minutes later every day. So clearly the moon will, at various points throughout the month, be visible at every time duri...	[ "The same way you can see your house if you are in it. It looks different from if you were looking at it from the outside, but you can still see the walls." ]
Is there ANY merit to the argument that vaccines can lead to autism/mental retardation or other complications?	[ "Sure. When you vaccinate children, they don't die of easily preventable childhood diseases. Dead children are never diagnosed with autism." ]	[ "Is [this the article](_URL_0_) you are talking about? If so, it is a pack of lies. I don't have time to go through the whole piece, but the first two \"signs\" are both wrong. Lie #1 - The world is warming. There hasn't been a \"halt\" in warming since 1998. March of this year marked the [337th month in a row]...
How many gamma rays is the average person exposed to on Earth?	[ "Lots. If you spend a lot of time in a building made of concrete, you're getting gammas from the small amount of potassium-40 in natural potassium. If you have an americium-241 smoke detector, you'll get gammas from that. ^(241)Am alpha-decays into ^(237)Np, but it doesn't always go directly to the ground state. So...	[ "> for dealing with over population yes, overpopulation is a problem, but culling humans isn't the answer! anyway, you and the guy are correct in the part about fighter pilots, but you only experience \"g-force\" when turning in a jet aircraft, and the force is over quickly. what i think would almost certainly be ...
Prior to the modern era, what efforts, if any, were made by the Jews to "reclaim" Jerusalem or the "Kingdom" or Jerusalem/Israel/David?	[ "There was a brief Jewish Revolt in the early 7th Century in which the Jewish Community aided the Persians in their conquest of Eastern Roman Palestine, after which, for a short time, the Persians appointed a Jewish governor of Jerusalem and granted relative favour to the Jews at the expense of the Christians. Supp...	[ "[The Fordham Internet History Sourcebooks](_URL_1_) are pretty much go-to in terms of finding major/commonly-assigned primary documents in simple text format. The faculty in my department use Fordham docs a ton in assigning readings. I use the [Public Records Office of Northern Ireland](_URL_0_) online selection, ...
What generally causes stomach aches	[ "* Eating too fast; give your stomach plenty of time to digest what is being consumed * Foods that contain high amounts of fat, such as pizza and burgers... pretty much anything that would be considered fast food, especially if multiple and/or bigger items are consumed * Carbonated beverages, especially soda, becau...	[ "Because of sugar. It wasn't until \"recently\" in human existence that we started using artificial ingredients in our food and other byproducts. Our bodies were design to only eat meat and vegetables, things we could find out in the wilderness. Our genetic code didn't prepare our bodies to fight off the large amou...

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