Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
How large was Charlemagne's army? (at the beginning of his reign and his height)	I think this is an interesting question, certainly it is to me, and it's a shame you haven't gotten a good answer yet. So I decided to have a look into it for you in the meantime. I should emphasise that I don't know much about this period and so, until I read a few things on the matter, I knew next to nothing of this ...	[ "The German historian Martin Lintzel argued that the figure of 4,500 was an exaggeration, partly based on the theory of Hans Delbrück regarding the small size of early medieval armies. On the other hand, Bernard Bachrach argues that the 4,500 captured warriors were but a small fraction of the able-bodied men in the...
different types of exercises	Different exercises help work different parts of all muscles. It's good to switch up the exercises to keep shocking and tearing up different parts of your muscles.	[ "Exercises include mental and physical conditioning, reasoning, meditation and contemplation. They are designed to regulate and develop the different functional levels of the human system. Many exercises are designed to promote understanding of oneself and of others; and then there are exercises of a more fun natur...
the bible	Way too broad a question. Nobody can explain the complexities of the bible to a five year old. At best you can say the old testament is for the Jews and the new testament is for the Christians. The same way the book of Mormon was for the Mormons or the Qur'an was for the Muslims.	[ "The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, \"tà biblía\", \"the books\") is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures. Varying parts of the Bible are considered to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans by Christians, Jews, Samaritans, and Rastafarians.\n", "BULLE...
If hair and fingernails are both made of keratin, why do I lose my hair but not my nails from chemo?	It's less to do with the keratin and more that the follicles have rapidly dividing cells, which are targeted by chemotherapy. Nails are also affected by many chemotherapy drugs. Fingernails can become weak and brittle during chemotherapy. They may fall off after several rounds of treatment, but this is less common. Lin...	[ "Keratin is a protein which is found in skin, hair, and nails. It is most resistant to the enzymes involved in proteolysis and must be broken down by special keratinolytic microorganisms. This is the reason that hair and nails are commonly found with skeletal remains.\n", "Keratin () is one of a family of fibrous...
Was Sun Yat-sen a successful revolutionary leader?	First off, you have to define what makes a revolutionary leader "successful." Did he contribute to the downfall of Qing? Absolutely. Did he unite the country? Far from it. Were his ideas for China revolutionary? Not quite. Given that much of his "revolutionary" activities were actually done overseas (he spent a lot of...	[ "Throughout his lifetime, he was a vocal supporter for Sun Yat-sen and his revolution to overthrow China's Manchu-led Qing dynasty. An example of this was his defence of the 1884 Praya rioters dubiously charged by the colonial administration with the offence of refusing to accept work, the riots being an event Sun ...
Why did German high command find the 'Final Solution' to be a worthwhile endeavor?	The first thing you have to do is understand the the goal to be Judenrein, clean of Jews, was a central part of Nazi policy. Racial purity was a central concern of the Party, and to be part of it was to believe in working towards the goal of a Germany cleansed of Jews, at least, on paper. It was also to believe in the ...	[ "The nature and timing of the decisions that led to the Final Solution is an intensely researched and debated aspect of the Holocaust. The program evolved during the first 25 months of war leading to the attempt at \"murdering every last Jew in the German grasp\". Most historians agree, wrote Christopher Browning, ...
why does my automatic transmission car still have l, 2, and 3 on the gearshift, and when would i use them?	Going down a steep or not quite steep grade to use the engine for braking.	[ "Some automatics, particularly those fitted to larger capacity or high torque engines, either when \"2\" is manually selected, or by engaging a winter mode, will start off in second gear instead of first, and then not shift into a higher gear until returned to \"D.\" Also note that as with most American automatic t...
if the dna of an organism contains all the building plans for the body, how does a single cell know its location and needed function if all the first cells start the same?	The key here is to recognize that while almost all cells in the body contain the same set of genetic information, not all genes (the segments of DNA that codes for a specific protein) are expressed in all cells. Regulation of gene expression is at play here. Cells can (and regularly do) receive signals that tell i...	[ "Each human cell contains around two metres of DNA, which must be tightly folded to fit inside the cell nucleus. However, in order for the cell to function, proteins must be able to access the sequence information contained within the DNA, in spite of its tightly-packed nature. Hence, the cell has a number of mecha...
why do we sometimes feel tickled when the tickler is just pointing at our bellies?	If it weren't for the nerves in your belly, you wouldn't feel anything when being tickled. When you're being pointed at your brain knows it's about to be tickled and starts to give the sensation before it happens as a form of anticipation. Same way you might feel pain on your body when you see pain inflicted on the sam...	[ "Charles Darwin theorized on the link between tickling and social relations, arguing that tickling provokes laughter through the anticipation of pleasure. If a stranger tickles a child without any preliminaries, catching the child by surprise, the likely result will be not laughter but withdrawal and displeasure. D...
engine efficiency in the future and the internal combustion engine	You have a lot of things going on in this. A piston is Pushed down by the burning of the compressed Gas. That downward stroke is know as the "power stroke" while forcing it down and driving the car, it also pushes up the next piston. There are lots of Engine designs out there that push the internal combustion engin...	[ "The efficiency of internal combustion engines depends on several factors, the most important of which is the expansion ratio. For any heat engine the work which can be extracted from it is proportional to the difference between the starting pressure and the ending pressure during the expansion phase. Hence, increa...
We've always been at war with Eastasia. Why did the conflict start in the first place?	Friend, I think you've gotten things mixed up, we're at peace with Eastasia, we've always been at war with Eurasia. I suggest reporting to your nearest Ministry of Truth official to make sure you're remembering the correct account of history.	[ "The emergence of newly independent countries in Africa and Asia that used the borders of the imperial partitions later led to further conflict. In many cases this meant that historically antagonistic ethnic or religious groups now needed to share the same country or that several nations held territorial claims ove...
light-based computing	Instead of sending an electrical signal down a wire, which is received by a device sensitive to electricity, you'd shine light through optical fiber or across open space, and the receiving device is sensitive to light. Computers use TINY "switches" (transistors, in a normal electrical computer), they also run them VER...	[ "Specialty areas of optics research include the study of how light interacts with specific materials as in crystal optics and metamaterials. Other research focuses on the phenomenology of electromagnetic waves as in singular optics, non-imaging optics, non-linear optics, statistical optics, and radiometry. Addition...
Does light refract in clouds as it does in water?	Yes. The refraction of light in water drops creates a rainbow. This only happens if you, the water drops, and the light source are at just the right geometry.	[ "Water attenuates light due to absorption which varies as a function of frequency. In other words, as light passes through a greater distance of water color is selectively absorbed by the water. Color absorption is also affected by turbidity of the water and dissolved material.\n", "Another form of atmospheric di...
Were there German spies that were found, captured, and executed in the United States during World War 2?	I have not seen that documentary, but did it mention Operation Magpie: Gimpel and Colepaugh? William Colepaugh was a disgruntled MIT grad who eventually fled to Germany and volunteered to come back to the US as a spy. Of course they problem with assets with that kind of motivation is that they tend to be very erratic...	[ "During World War II, German spies Erich Gimpel and William Colepaugh landed by submarine in Hancock, then traveled to New York City. These spies would eventually be captured, tried, and sentenced to death before their sentences were commuted and they were eventually released.\n", "Ernst Peter Burger (September 1...
can someone explain the wars in afghanistan and iraq like i'm a five year old?	As simply as i know, without theory. Afghanistan-We invaded Afghanistan to catch Osama Bin Laden and remove the Taliban government that was supporting him. Iraq-We invaded because according to intelligence, Sadam Huessien (sp?) Had access to weaopons of mass destruction (WMD's) that threatened the US's national secur...	[ "The Afghanistan conflict (, ) is a series of wars that has been fought in Afghanistan since 1978. Starting with the Saur Revolution military coup, an almost continuous series of armed conflicts has dominated and afflicted Afghanistan. The wars include:\n", "Subsequent chapters on Iraq and Afghanistan document cl...
what is the difference between toilets where you press a button and it flushes automatically, and toilets that draw water only as long as you keep the button pressed?	Usually, the flapper has a void area that traps air so that it stays afloat by buoyancy until the weight of the incoming water used to fill the tank overcomes the buoyancy of the flapper. [_URL_1_](_URL_1_) Usually, the "non-automatic" flappers do not have this feature. [_URL_0_](_URL_2_)	[ "Toilets without cisterns are often flushed through a simple flush valve or \"Flushometer\" connected directly to the water supply. These are designed to rapidly discharge a limited volume of water when the lever or button is pressed then released.\n", "Because it is a development of the traditional Australian fl...
AskScience, what part of Earth has the smallest average temperature range? What part has the most hospitable temperature range?	I'm not going to try and answer the part about 'most hospitable' -- humans live all over the planet, and people express preferences for tropics, mid latitudes, or snowy climes. Average temperature range, though, I can do. Using the NOAA land temp [data](_URL_0_), I made a map of the areas of the globe with the most ...	[ "The mesopause is the point of minimum temperature at the boundary between the mesosphere and the thermosphere atmospheric regions. Due to the lack of solar heating and very strong radiative cooling from carbon dioxide, the mesosphere is the coldest region on Earth with temperatures as low as -100 °C (-148 °F or 17...
X and Y Chromosome-carrying sperm	There is no evidence to support a difference in swimming speed. However, the difference in the mass of X and Y chromosomes _is_ used in many artificial sex selection methods.	[ "In humans, a normal ovum can carry only an X chromosome (of the X and Y chromosomes), whereas a sperm may carry either an X or a Y (a non-normal ovum can end up carrying two or no X chromosomes, as a result of an irregularity at either of the two stages of meiosis, while a non-normal sperm cell can end up carrying...
How does fuel consumption and potential nuclear weapon enriching work in nuclear power plants?	National soverignty is a big issue. Signers of the NPT have a right to nuclear power, including domestic production of all aspects. This is as long as they allow the IAEA to inspect. This includes the ability to not only enrich uranium, but make fuel and even reprocess. Japan does all of these and is not a nuclear ...	[ "Many stages of the [[nuclear fuel chain]] — mining, milling, transport, fuel fabrication, enrichment, reactor construction, decommissioning and waste management — use fossil fuels, or involve changes to land use, and hence emit carbon dioxide and conventional pollutants. \n", "The most common fissile nuclear fue...
how does a linear induction motor work?	Alright, the only word in there you gotta worry about is 'induction'. 'Motor' just means it moves stuff, and 'linear' just means it moves stuff in a straight line (or close to it). As for 'induction': When you've got electricity moving, it can create a magnetic field (i.e. what magnets make). That magnetic field can ...	[ "A linear induction motor (LIM) is an alternating current (AC), asynchronous linear motor that works by the same general principles as other induction motors but is typically designed to directly produce motion in a straight line. Characteristically, linear induction motors have a finite primary or secondary length...
How accurate is bill wurtz's "history of japan"?	You might want to check out this previous post on this question. _URL_0_	[ "A reviewer at the \"Internet Bookwatch\" said the book is not just \"a dry historical record\", but is \"aptly presented\", well researched and \"a worthy addition to World War II history shelves\". \"Kirkus Reviews\" called the book \"A gripping recreation of the last ten days in the life of HIJMS \"Yamato\"\". I...
Is there a clear neurological distinction between addiction and just really wanting something, or are they on the same spectrum?	Drugs can "hijack" the hedonic system of the brain, or the "reward" system in such a way that drugs become a priority equal to or greater than basic survival like food and water. This has been demonstrated on rats and mice using both drugs like cocaine and also by directly activating their reward pathways through elec...	[ "Addiction is defined by scholars as “a reliance on a substance or behavior that the individual has little power to resist.” Substance-based addictions are those based upon the release of dopamine in the brain, upon which the range of sensations produced by the euphoric event in the brain changes the brain’s immedi...
why is jackie robinson such a big deal in baseball, while we don't ever talk about the first black football, basketball , hockey, etc... players?	It's less that he played baseball, and more that he was the first black athlete to play in a white team period. He's up there with Rosa Parks for "firsts for African Americans" in the civil rights movement.	[ "Jackie was a college educated man who had been an officer in the service and who played at the Triple-A level. Jackie was brought in by Branch Rickey specifically to be the first black player in major league baseball. Larry Doby came up as a second baseman who didn't have time to get his full college education, an...
What kind of mutations would cause bacteria to be immune to antibiotics?	There are a ton of ways bacteria combat antibiotics and they're all just a little bit different depending on the bacteria and the antibiotic used to kill them. However, it always boils down to the bacteria doing one of three things: 1. They can destroy the antibiotic. This can be done either outside of the cell in...	[ "Some bacteria are naturally resistant to certain antibiotics; for example, gram-negative bacteria are resistant to most β-lactam antibiotics due to the presence of β-lactamase. Antibiotic resistance can also be acquired as a result of either genetic mutation or horizontal gene transfer. Although mutations are rare...
why do we have telescopes that are able to see the far reaches of the galaxy, but we can't use this technology to zoom into the moon and see hq images of the apollo landing site?	The hubble space telescope (which is one of the best) has a resolution of 70 yards (something like 65 meters), which is not enough to see the landing site (everything left on the moon is about 10 meters). In the 2009 NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to study the moon surface, and of course, a missi...	[ "The space telescopes were to observe in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. As well as studying extrasolar planets, the telescopes would probably have been useful for general purpose imaging, producing very high resolution (i.e. milliarcsecond) infrared images, allowing detailed study of a variety o...
Partially deflated helium balloon. Why does it float where it floats?	Also, as it deflates it has less lift upwards. Totally Made up numbers: (The helium initially can lift 1lbs, 1/2 deflated it can lift .5lbs) As it settles some of the string of the balloon settles on the ground reducing the weight of the balloon + string that must be lifted by the balloon. It will settle at an ...	[ "A common helium-filled toy balloon is something familiar to many. When such a balloon is fully filled with helium, it has buoyancy—a force that opposes gravity. When a toy balloon becomes partially deflated, it often becomes neutrally buoyant and can float about the house a meter or two off the floor. In such a st...
would what Plato spoke be at all recognisable/intelligible to a modern Greek (like how medieval English is confusing but still very recognisably English) or would it just sound like a totally foreign language at this point?	Modern Greek speakers can read aloud from ancient texts easily and can recognize many of the words. Some words will require a dictionary or extensive previous study to understand. Modern Greek also has a much less inflected grammar (similar to "church" Latin vs. classical Latin) that sometimes causes confusion for mode...	[ "The following is a list of the speakers found in the dialogues traditionally ascribed to Plato, including extensively quoted, indirect and conjured speakers. Dialogues, as well as Platonic \"Epistles\" and \"Epigrams\", in which these individuals appear dramatically but do not speak are listed separately.\n", "S...
How exactly does Naegleria fowleri attack the brain / nervous system and why is it so difficult to fight against?	It's nearly always fatal, but it's very rarely contracted (~3 cases per year in the US). There are many other diseases that kill many more people, and would be better candidates to spend effort and money on finding treatments for.	[ "Although the net effect of the proinflammatory mediators is to kill infectious organisms and infected cells as well as to stimulate the production of molecules that amplify the mounting response to damage, it is also evident that in a nonregenerating organ such as the brain, a dysregulated innate immune response w...
Neglecting temperature and "space suits", could waves on Titan be surfed?	One problem would be that the oceans consist of liquid hydrocarbons like ethane and methane and those have a much lower [viscosity](_URL_0_) than water (factor 10 orso). Density is also about 50% lower, which would make it hard to stay afloat. Furthermore I assume the surface tension would be significantly lower, alth...	[ "Any waves on the lake are also far smaller than those that would be on a sizable body of liquid water on Earth; their estimated maximum height was less than 3 mm during observations of a radar specular reflection during \"Cassini\"'s T49 flyover of July 2009. On Titan, waves can be generated at lower wind speeds t...
how was the iss assembled? and how are repairs and maintenance performed in the event of a collision with space debris?	The ISS was assembled by flying it to space in pieces and assembling it later with robot arms. The solar Panels were just unfolded like a piece of paper by motors. Repairs are done by performing a spacewalk if necessary. Some maintenance can be done from the inside. In some cases the damage to parts is accounted for in...	[ "On 12 March 2009, a piece of debris from the upper stage of a Delta II rocket used to launch a GPS satellite in 1993, passed close to the ISS. The Expedition 18 crew prepared to evacuate the ISS by closing hatches between modules, and boarding the Soyuz spacecraft that was docked to provide emergency crew escape. ...
if uv light is outside the visible spectrum, how come we see the light emitted off a black light?	Blacklights work via a filter that specifically filters out visible light and allows UV radiation to pass through. But they're not perfect, so some visible light gets through the filter and provides that purplish color you see (Because the filters are purple)	[ "UV filters are used to block invisible ultraviolet light, to which most photographic sensors and film are at least slightly sensitive. The UV is typically recorded as if it were blue light, so this non-human UV sensitivity can result in an unwanted exaggeration of the bluish tint of atmospheric haze or, even more ...
Do flamethrowers from WW2 explode when shot?	Flamethrower operators didn't face a fiery, explosive death if their weapon was hit as depicted in films like Saving Private Ryan or Hacksaw Ridge, but could be easily injured or killed by other means. The U.S [M2-2 flamethrower](_URL_0_), was a common model in use by mid-1944. It incorporated technological impro...	[ "In fighting a fire at a directly vertical spewing wellhead, high explosives, such as dynamite were used to create a blast wave that pushes the burning fuel and local atmospheric oxygen away from the well. (This is a similar principle to blowing out a candle.) The flame is removed and the fuel can continue to spill...
What was General Franco's policy towards ethnic minorities?	Franco's policy towards ethnic minorities was heavy suppression of regional identity in favor of national Castilian("Spanish") culture and language. Basque, Catalan, and Galician language and culture all faced discrimination. There were definitely attempts to hispanicize the nation, which was only natural considerin...	[ "With Franco's victory imminent, a National Council of Defense was established to negotiate a peace settlement with the Nationalists. By this point, Franco effectively had military control of the whole country.\n", "Franco's initial coalition included monarchists, conservative Republicans, Falange Española member...
why do i transpose words while speaking?	Language production is very complicated, and because the brain evolved rather than being designed by an engineer, there isn't a single "language centre" in the brain. Instead, different parts of the brain have to work together to produce speech, so one part might be retrieving the nouns you need, another part is taki...	[ "BULLET::::1. Speech is planned in advance: speech errors like substitution and exchanges show that one does not plan his/her entire sentence before s/he speaks. Rather, their language faculty is constantly tapped during the speech production process. This is accounted for by the limitation of the working memory. I...
how/why does a show like futurama with such an avid and wide fan base get [repeatedly] canceled? what is the logic behind it from a network standpoint?	There's two categories of shows, to be broad. You either have shows with broad appeal and a wide audience, or a show with niche appeal, and a guaranteed audience. Unless you run a small cable channel or a youtube channel, you're usually aiming for broad appeal even if it typically stems from shows that are dilute t...	[ "It was announced on 2 May 2009 that the series was being cancelled after only one year on air. The reasons given by TVNZ for the cancellation were lower ratings than the previous season, decreased advertising revenue and the high cost of producing the show. Lower ratings may have resulted after reformatting of the...
What would the ramifications have been had Tsar Bomba been an underground test?	It would have heated some rock. If close to the surface it would have released some radioactive material, if buried deeper it would have stayed contained. Things don't "penetrate[] all the way through the crust" > What would life look like on the planet had they done this, whether with the 50 or the 100 megaton mode...	[ "Footage from a Soviet documentary about the Tsar Bomba is featured in \"Trinity and Beyond\", where it is referred to as the \"Russian monster bomb\". The movie states that the Tsar Bomba project broke the voluntary moratorium on nuclear tests. In fact, Soviets restarted their tests and broke the unilateral volunt...
can some please explain differentiation to me like i'm 5?	So you have a ball and you throw it at a tree. You might notice that instead of flying in a straight line it goes up some and then goes down some before hitting the tree, flying in a curve instead of a straight line. Now if you slow it down a whole lot you can see that for part of it the ball is headed down and for pa...	[ "BULLET::::- 5S – 5S is the name of a workplace organizational method that uses a list of five Japanese words which, when translated into English, start with the letter S—Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain.\n", "Definition 7 defines what it means for one ratio to be less than or greater than anot...
Historians Travel	I'm a medievalist, and travel is very important for my research because it's the only way I can access some of the things I study, and the only way I can talk with others in my field. My project focuses on archaeology in sixth century England, and (as you can imagine) almost all the artifacts on which I base my work a...	[ "BULLET::::- Travel Writing: The text of most of the best known historical British travel writers, including James Boswell, William Camden, William Cobbett, Daniel Defoe, Celia Fiennes, Charles Wesley and Arthur Young. The earliest source included in the GB Historical GIS is a survey of Wales written by Giraldus Ca...
why did all the spices of the old world come from far away? were there not spices native to western europe?	There are plenty of native European seasonings; think of oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, sage, garlic, lavender, parsley, carroway, cumin, anise, bay laurel, dill, horseradish, juniper, mint, mustard, saffron, tarragon. Anyway, as to your plan, you can't make money selling something that anyone can grow in ...	[ "Spices were all imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them expensive. From the 8th until the 15th century, the Republic of Venice had the monopoly on spice trade with the Middle East, and along with it the neighboring Italian maritime republics and city-states. The trade made the region rich. It...
how does google photos recognize my baby pictures?	The same way it can distinguish your friends from you. Or your dog from your baby. It scans the photo and compares it to a large large pool of already identified images and decided what its most likely to be. Big brother is watching and it’s very smart 👀	[ "Google Photos gives users free, unlimited storage for photos up to 16 megapixels and videos up to 1080p resolution. The service automatically analyzes photos, identifying various visual features and subjects. Users can search for anything in photos, with the service returning results from three major categories: P...
what's the difference between neutron stars, pulsars, and quasars?	Neutron stars are older stars that have collapsed in on themselves, and now the only thing keeping them from turning into a black hole is the [pressure that neutrons exert](_URL_0_) because they don't like to be squashed into the same place. Pulsars are a type of neutron star spinning very fast in which a beam of radi...	[ "A pulsar (from \"pulse\" and \"-ar\" as in quasar) is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star or white dwarf that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. This radiation can be observed only when the beam of emission is pointing toward Earth (much like the way a lighthouse can be seen only when the light is po...
why do cats ears twitch after being slightly touched?	Dog's ears do this too, and I think it's a reflex meant to protect the ears. In nature, if something touches your ears, it means one of two things: 1. It's harmless. It doesn't matter what you do. 2. The thing that just touched your ear is about to rip it off your skull. Since losing the ear is a huge cost and the r...	[ "Cats can change the position of their ears very quickly, in a continuum from erect when the cat is alert and focused, slightly relaxed when the cat is calm, and flattened against the head when extremely defensive or aggressive.\n", "Purring or a soft buzz, can mean that the cat is content or possibly that they a...
Are there any good sources that an average person could use to learn about Celtic and Gallic religions prior to Christianization?	\- The Celtic Gauls: Gods, Rites and Sanctuaries; Jean-Louis Brunaux; 1988. This a study of Gaulish religious features, in their public and ritual aspects, but also how they might have conceived their spiritual universe and their Gods; but also the relation religion had with society, particularly warfare and druidis...	[ "Literary evidence for Celtic religion also comes from sources written in Ireland and Wales during the Middle Ages, a period when traditional Celtic religious practices had become extinct and had long been replaced by Christianity. The evidence from Ireland has been recognised as better than that from Wales, being ...
life on earth has existed for millions of years, growing and adapting. so why do small amounts of exposure to the sun still harm its organisms?	Your premise is false. Small amounts of exposure to the sun usually do not harm organisms. The exceptions are organisms that have evolved to live in non-sunny locations.	[ "In billion-year timescales, it is predicted that plant, and therefore animal, life on land will die off altogether, since by that time most of the remaining carbon in the atmosphere will be sequestered underground, and natural releases of by radioactivity-driven tectonic activity will have continued to slow down. ...
Has there ever been controversy arize from the translation of Holy books into different Vernacular Languages?	There are many, many disputes over this sort of thing, and that's why you find so many different translations of the Bible in English alone. Every version of the Bible pretty much exists because someone didn't like a translation which already existed. The act of translation is itself an act of interpretation, and that ...	[ "There have been various debates concerning the proper family of biblical manuscripts and translation techniques that should be used to translate the Bible into other languages. Biblical translation has been employed since the first translations were made from the Hebrew Bible (Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic)...
why do capacitors in crt tvs from 50 years ago still work, but every lcd i've had blew a capacitor in less than 5 years?	people like to parrot planned obsolescence but there is a much simpler explanation that does not require the assumption of any malice on the part of manufacturers. it is just cheaper to make and more profitable to sell a product which works exactly as long as it is warrantied for and not much longer. the buyer is pr...	[ "Once the capacitors will become unavailable, or the current stocks become too old to be used due to deterioration, alternatives will have to be found. The Black Gate was very affordable when comparing it to some other similar-performing capacitors, and was easily available.\n", "From 2001 to 2004, Nichicon produ...
how do dogs always manage to shed when it's getting warmer?	They are responding to the change in the length of the day associated with the passing seasons. EDIT: Because climate change does not affect the length of the day, it will not affect this.	[ "Dogs are even more susceptible than humans to heat stroke in cars, as they cannot produce whole-body sweat to cool themselves. Leaving the dog at home with plenty of water on hot days is recommended instead, or, if a dog must be brought along, it can be tied up in the shade outside the destination and provided wit...
When you fart, the gas released is lighter than the surrounding air, indicating bouancy. Does this mean that we weigh nominally more after farting since we no longer have a gas inside our body that is slightly lighter than air?	Sadly, I have calculated this before. Here are my results.You do in fact gain weight when you fart, and here is the math to prove it! Average mass of a fart: .0371 g Average volume of fart: 35-90 ml Ambient temperature: 20 degrees Colon temperature: 40 degrees Air density at 20 degrees: 8.273lb/ft3 Air density at...	[ "Since a collection of gas molecules may be moving at a wide range of velocities, there will always be some fast enough to produce a slow leakage of gas into space. Lighter molecules move faster than heavier ones with the same thermal kinetic energy, and so gases of low molecular weight are lost more rapidly than t...
just say.. we had the technology to lasso mars and bring it to same position earth is to the sun, would mars eventually be habitable like earth is today?	No. In fact, it probably would make Mars less habitable. The lower gravity of Mars, combined with its lack of a magnetosphere means that any atmosphere is doomed to be blown away by solar winds. Bringing Mars closer to the Sun would simply subject it to higher intensity winds, stripping away the atmosphere at an incr...	[ "Sagan also visualized making Mars habitable for human life in \"Planetary Engineering on Mars\" (1973), an article published in the journal \"Icarus\". Three years later, NASA addressed the issue of planetary engineering officially in a study, but used the term \"planetary ecosynthesis\" instead. The study conclud...
Does alcohol affect insects the same as humans?	Surprisingly, yes! Ethanol vapour tested on Drosophila showed that they behave in an [inebriated](_URL_0_) fashion, and they have noted the activity of a gene that codes for a neuropeptide that is involved in a cAMP pathway that has an effect on various brain functions. Whether this method of ethanol inebriation affe...	[ "The behavior of honey bees intoxicated by ethanol is being studied by scientists at The Ohio State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, and other sites as a potential model of the effects of alcohol on humans. At the Oklahoma State University, for example, Abramson's research...
What causes pruney fingers?	Two portions of your skin, the epidermis and dermis, are tied down to one another in certain areas. As you spend a lot of time in the pool, your skin absorbs water and expands. However, since the two layers are connected, your skin has nowhere to go, so it wrinkles. Once you're out of the pool, the water in your skin e...	[ "Sometimes a callus occurs where there is no rubbing or pressure. These hyperkeratoses can have a variety of causes. Some toxic materials, such as arsenic, can cause thick palms and soles. Some diseases, such as syphilis, can cause thickening of the palms and soles as well as pinpoint hyperkeratoses. There is a ben...
how does a galaxy s4 cellphone cost $450 when a decent laptop costs $300?	It's for the same reason a decent laptop costs $300 and a desktop with those same specs costs $200. Miniaturization is expensive. You not only have to figure out how to cram all of those same components in a smaller space, but you now also have to deal with heat dissipation. And in the case of a phone, you can't real...	[ "The S4 sold 4 million in 4 days and 10 million in 27 days making it the then fastest selling smartphone in Samsung's history (this has been eclipsed by the Galaxy S5). The Galaxy S III sold 4 million units in 21 days, the Galaxy S II took 55 days and the Galaxy S took 85 days.\n", "The Samsung N130 is a subnoteb...
why isn't japan popular for esports?	I just did an essay on this exact topic actually. There are a few reasons. 1. As others have stated, PC gaming is not popular in Japan, for various reasons. They tend to lean towards smartphones and consoles (if you call them that) such as the Nintendo DS. Often this is because of the structure of esports games, for ...	[ "Leaders in Japan are becoming involved to help bring esports to the 2020 Summer Olympics and beyond, given the country's reputation as a major video game industry center. Esports in Japan had not flourished due to the country's anti-gambling laws that also prevent paid professional gaming tournaments, but there we...
What happens to a mosquito when it sucks a diabetics blood?	*Arbovirologist here. It wouldn't matter very much at all. Both male and female mosquitoes eat sugar from any source they can find (eg: rotten fruit, nectar, etc...), but only the females take blood meals. The protein in the blood is required to produce eggs, and would still be present in large amounts even if a pers...	[ "Prior to and during blood feeding, blood-sucking mosquitoes inject saliva into the bodies of their source(s) of blood. This saliva serves as an anticoagulant; without it the female mosquito's proboscis might become clogged with blood clots. The saliva also is the main route by which mosquito physiology offers pass...
Historical post-modernism/ post-structuralism?	Postmodernism is kind of vague and unspecified unfortunately. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism by Frederick Jameson is kind of long and disjointed, I came out of it with a pretty good understanding of postmodernism, but there is still no solid, easy definition. It's important to understand th...	[ "Modernism is the European cultural trend that marks the end of the 19th and the early 20th century. It includes all the arts and, at the same time, represents a way of life. Combining the great Catalan building tradition with sculpture, fine crafts and applied arts, in addition to using iron as a new structural el...
why do people still believe in god?	> Don't post to argue a point of view. This post has been removed. You want /r/changemyview. Or you want to survey people in which case you want a sub that allows that.	[ "I cannot understand why we idle discussing religion. If we are honest—and scientists have to be—we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of God is a product of the human imagination. It is quite understandable why primitive people, who were so much more e...
Does the earth have other satellites other than the moon?	Sort of. I believe there are four known natural bodies other than the moon (none of the names of which I can remember off the top of my head, sorry) which are gravitationally bound to the Earth, but they move in complex heliocentric orbits that are quite different from what you're probably thinking of. I think they're...	[ "Earth's Moon is an astronomical body that orbits the planet and acts as its only permanent natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest satellite in the Solar System, and the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits (its primary). The Moon is, after Jupiter's satellite Io,...
Can you point me towards some good introductory reading on Norman culture and history?	Not really my field so I can't recommend more than this, but I thought David Crouch's The Normans: The History of a Dynasty was a very good political history.	[ "Written in the Norman language, it consists of 14,866 lines. It was intended for a Norman audience interested in the legends and history of the new territories of the Anglo-Norman realm, covering the story of King Arthur and taking the history of Britain all the way back to the mythical Brutus of Troy.\n", "Norm...
why do deli meats like turkey and roast beef taste so much different when thickly sliced vs. thinly sliced?	The more surface area to mass, the more air hits it. The more air "mixed" with the product, the better the taste. Hence the slurping when tasting wine "properly". Edit: Clarification Correction: more surface area to mass	[ "It is considered a more flavorful cut than other steaks, such as the fillet, due to the muscle being exercised by the animal during its life. Its marbling of fat makes this suitable for slow roasting or grilling cooked to different degrees of doneness. Marbling also increases tenderness, which plays a key role in ...
why does us congress block the creation of a searchable gun registry?	Many think they guard their freedom by having a secret weapons cache. If TSHTF they will have an arsenal to restore democracy, or set up their own little gang turf. If their weapons cache was public knowledge they would be targeted by, (criminals looking for guns, the communist invaders, sort of outdated now, the IRS ...	[ "A gun registry is a government list of firearms and their owners. Currently, in the U.S., there is no national gun registry, but some states, such as Hawaii, have provided the federal government with information on gun owners. At the federal level, legislation has been introduced to criminalize creation of a gun r...
Are we just as capable of eating raw meats today as we were thousands of years ago?	Yes, as you mentioned, the main concern with eating raw meats is disease and infection. Our digestive system is perfectly able to digest raw meat, it just takes a bit longer to break it down.	[ "BULLET::::- – meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans are omnivorous, and have hunted and killed animals for meat since prehistoric times. The advent of civilization allowed the domestication of animals such as chickens, sheep, pigs and cattle, and eventually their use in meat production on an industria...
why can't i feel the digestion?	The primary purpose of perceiving stimuli is for you to respond to it in some way. There really is no point in "feeling" your digestive process, so there is no reason your brain would process that as at feeling for you to perceive. We do this for our other senses to. For example, right now your nose is in your field of...	[ "The digestive system can respond to external stimuli, such as the sight or smell of food, and cause physiological changes before the food ever enters the body. This reflex is known as the cephalic phase of digestion. The sight and smell of food are strong enough stimuli to cause salivation, gastric and pancreatic ...
why bipartisanship has seemed to disappear in american politics	Since about the 80s, the Republican party has been shifting to the far right, the loon right. That really began in earnest in the 90s, when the neocons started to grab power, and that was about the last time there was any amount of compromise in politics. Before then, Republicans and Democrats might spend all day impug...	[ "There have been periods of bipartisanship in American politics, such as when the Republicans supported legislation by Democratic President Johnson in the early 1960s, and when Democrats worked with Republican President Reagan in the 1980s. It is claimed that the non-partisanship in foreign policy was a precursor t...
What are the different characteristics and cultural differences in the usage of the bow and arrow?	Here is an interesting article describing the concurrent use of the atlatl and the bow and arrow by Aleut peoples. Essentially, they were hunting sea mammals with atlatls and using bow and arrows for warfare/intergroup conflict. The advantage of atlatls for hunting was that they could launch them with one hand from a...	[ "BULLET::::- Bows and arrows were used by most cultures around the world at some point or another and are at least 8,000 years old. The arrow is created, similarly to a spear, from a small blade (arrow tip) attached to the one end of a wooden shaft. Attached to the other end are feathers that help stabilize the arr...
Does early stage Prostate Cancer have any effect on one's sex drive?	Not in early stages - it's asymptomatic. Obviously when it spreads it can have effects up to death. However, treatment often has large effects including impotence due to damage to the nerves attached to the exterior of the gland, and incontinence due to excision of a sphincter along with the gland. After my prostatec...	[ "In 2003, an Australian research team led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council Australia found that males masturbating frequently had a lower probability to develop prostate cancer. Men who averaged five or more ejaculations weekly in their 20s had significantly lower risk. However they could not show a direct cau...
why is it when we are at school the majority of tests are memory based when in the real world we can look formulas and definitions up?	First, being able to easily call to mind a particular formula or fact or whatever can be of great use. Say you're looking at a particular formula that you've come across for one thing, and it sparks your mind that it looks a lot like another formula that you've committed to memory for some related topic - that recolle...	[ "Accuracy of memory is an important factor when studying memory in children as it has been demonstrated that children’s memory more susceptible to suggesting and implanting of false memories than adults. In a study on preschoolers, using a questionnaire method in a yes/no and multiple choice format, the result of f...
On average, how many times a year does a regular, healthy person get sick?	You're asking a question that will become a statistical nightmare. Epidemiologists track a lot of things, but they do their best to track specifics rather than generalities, and you're asking about generalities. For example, they may track the incidence of doctor visits related to specific strains of Influenza A betw...	[ "In the United States, as of 2004 nearly one in two Americans (133 million) has at least one chronic medical condition, with most subjects (58%) between the ages of 18 and 64. The number is projected to increase by more than one percent per year by 2030, resulting in an estimated chronically ill population of 171 m...
why do calories in food not translate to fullness from eating?	Each food has a different amount of calories per volume. Your stomach volume defines when you feel full. You can fill your stomach with small high calorie food, or large low calorie food, and about 10 minutes after you fill your stomach(or get very close to full) is when you actually feel full.	[ "The 'empty calories' argument is that a diet high in added sugar will reduce consumption of foods that contain essential nutrients. One review reported that for increases in consumption of added sugars, nutrients at most risk for inadequacy were vitamins E, A, C, and magnesium. For these, nutrient intake was less ...
Why do some metals glow red hot at their melting point (i.e. Iron, nickel, etc) while others (i.e. Aluminum) are silver when molten?	Different melting points. At roughly around 700°C (=1292°F) the human eye notices a faint dark red glow. Aluminum is already molten at this temperature wheras iron needs a lot more heat and is already glowing bright yellow (around 1550°C (=2822°F))	[ "Iron or steel, when heated to above 900 °F (460 °C), glows with a red color. The color of any heated object changes predictably (due to black-body radiation) from dull red through orange and yellow to white, and can be a useful indicator of its temperature. Good quality iron or steel at and above this temperature ...
Why didn't LBJ get sued for sexual harassment?	Ironically, sexual harassment law in the United States might not exist in its present form without LBJ. Federal sexual harassment law grew out of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a law that LBJ was instrumental in passing. The actual reasons for sex discrimination being included within the law are complex, bu...	[ "On July 6, 2016, former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes. Carlson alleged that she had been fired for rebuffing Ailes' advances. Ailes, through his attorney, Susan Estrich, denied the charges. Three days later, Gabriel Sherman reported accounts from six women (two pu...
why does heat melt some things, but harden or cure others?	Well, everything is made of tiny molecules and these molecules are always moving around, and go faster and faster as they get hotter. When they get really fast they turn into a liquid and when they get even faster they shoot off away from the rest of the molecules and turn into a gas. Solid, liquid, and gas are the thr...	[ "For a solid to melt, heat is required to raise its temperature to the melting point. However, further heat needs to be supplied for the melting to take place: this is called the heat of fusion, and is an example of latent heat.\n", "This strengthening occurs because of dislocation movements and dislocation gener...
Why doesn't neutron scattering cause fission/neutron capture?	If a neutron scatters, then by definition, it’s not participating in a reaction channel. If you bombard a target with neutrons, there will in general be many possible channels: elastic scattering, inelastic scattering, capture, fission, (n,2n), (n,p), etc.	[ "Neutrons can elastically scatter off nuclei, causing the struck nucleus to recoil. Kinematically, a neutron can transfer more energy to a light nucleus such as hydrogen or helium than to a heavier nucleus. Detectors relying on elastic scattering are called fast neutron detectors. Recoiling nuclei can ionize and ex...
does led burn out faster similar to how light bulb burn out faster from 'strobe lighting' them?	No. LEDs generate light differently from incandescent bulbs. They don't get nearly as hot and so they don't suffer from the damage that comes with rapid heat/cool cycles.	[ "Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are increasingly used in automotive lamps. They offer very long service life, extreme vibration resistance, and can permit considerably shallower packaging compared to most bulb-type assemblies. LEDs also offer a potential safety benefit when employed in stop lights, because when power...
for people that have been exposed to high level of radiation, after the initial bouts of symptoms why does it look like they seem to be in recovery but in reality are not. the next stage with the symptoms coming back worst and eventually dying?	It depends on the dose. At high enough doses, there is no latency period because your cells have been completely destroyed. At lower doses that are still fatal, what's happening is that the radiation has destroyed the DNA of cells, making them unable to replicate. These cells will continue to live for some time, but on...	[ "The amount of time between exposure to radiation and the onset of the initial symptoms may be an indicator of how much radiation was absorbed. Symptoms appear sooner with higher doses of exposure. The symptoms of radiation sickness become more serious (and the chance of survival decreases) as the dosage of radiati...
Given the recent uptick in Jihad versus Crusade comparisons, i've seen this image a lot, what does it ACTUALLY show?	There are many problems with this comparison. Just from the top of my head, the picture is flawed for these reasons: * The pictured compared two very different time-frames, the "Muslim" Conquest extended from 632 to the Ottoman conquests of the 17th Century, whilst the Crusades picture only covered the famous crusades...	[ "Secular critics of the crusades has paralleled the Crusades with the Islamic concept of \"jihad\" as comparable approaches to a religious justification of war. The opposing position emphasizes the offensive nature of Islamic jihad as opposed to the intrinsically defensive nature of the Crusades as a project to re-...
why can't you reuse needles on yourself?	It may not look like it but the tip gets significantly blunted the first time it penetrates the skin, and successive use of the same needle can cause scarring and damage to your veins. Also, proteins in blood form clots when exposed to air. If you pull a needle out, any blood on/in it will coagulate. If you reuse the ...	[ "Proper needle technique and hygiene is important to avoid skin irritation and injection-site infections. A new, sterile needle should be used each time, as needles get duller and more damaged with each use and reusing needles increases risk of infection. Needles should not be shared between people, as this increas...
What was the significance of the Big 3( Zeus, Posiden and Hades) in ancient Greece?	Followup question: is the term "Big Three" actually used by ancient Greeks or modern historians, or is it simply popularized by fiction writers?	[ "The Stoa of Zeus (\"Eleutherios\") at Athens, was a two-aisled stoa located in the northwest corner of the Ancient Agora of Athens. It was built c. 425 BC–410 BC for religious purposes in dedication to Zeus by the \"Eleutherios\" (\"pertaining to freedom\"): a cult founded after the Persian War. It is different fr...
When we look exoplanets, aren't we missing the 99% of planets that don't pass directly between us and their star?	Yes. Detecting exoplanets is very difficult. With the "wobble" technique they don't have to be passing directly in front of the star; as long as the orbit isn't totally perpendicular to our line of view then we have a chance of detecting them that way. There are also some that can be [directly imaged](_URL_0_).	[ "It has 3 transiting planets seen by the \"Kepler\" space observatory in their K2 survey. As of October 2017, it is the closest star discovered to have transiting exoplanets found by either the Kepler or K2 missions. The planets (b, c, d) have radii of 1.62, 1.27, and 2.09 times that of the Earth, and periods of 1....
What was the Russian Empires response to the American Revolution?	I will provide you books after I come home. Russia was the first member of League of Armed Neutrality - international organization which aim was securing arms trade with American rebels. It didn't achieve anything, except the British declaration of war to Netherlands. Also, Russia recognized US in beginning of XIXth ce...	[ "The Russian Empire's role in the American Revolutionary War was part of a global conflict of colonial supremacy between the Thirteen Colonies and the Kingdom of Great Britain. Prior to the onset of the war, the Russian Empire had already begun exploration along North America's west coast; and, the year following t...
Was thick, bulletproof metal armor, like Ned Kelly used in the Glenrowan shootout in 1880, ever produced or considered by anyone before then? Why didn't it catch on?	I'm afraid I can't speak to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but I can speak to the eighteenth and nineteenth. Breastplates were worn through the eighteenth century by some nobles or leaders in situations where they could be exposed to gunfire. The famous American Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones w...	[ "In 1879, Australian bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly devised a plan to create bulletproof armour and wear it during shootouts with the police. He and other members of the Kelly gang—Joe Byrne, Steve Hart, and brother Dan Kelly—had their own armour suits and helmets crafted from plough mouldboards, either donated by...
how do animals in the wild know what’s safe to eat?	Some level of smell/taste (bitter for humans, for example, tends to be toxic) is in play, and probably some instinct, however many, say, dogs do occasionally eat very toxic organisms that either kill them or seriously make them ill. How much that happens in the wild is difficult to measure, but there are plenty of case...	[ "Improved conditions to minimize rodent contact with humans are the best preventive measures. Animal handlers, laboratory workers, and sanitation and sewer workers must take special precautions against exposure. Wild rodents, dead or alive, should not be touched and pets must not be allowed to ingest rodents.\n", ...
What causes the darker and lighter portions of the moon that you can see when you look up at it?	There are 2 types of terrain on the Moon: the lighter areas are "highlands"; they are older and consist mostly of anorthosite. The darker areas are "maria", they are somewhat younger and consist of basalts and gabbro which flooded large impact craters after major impacts punched throught the anorthosite crust.	[ "As the phase angle of an object lit by the Sun decreases, the object's brightness rapidly increases. This is mainly due to the increased area lit, but is also partly due to the intrinsic brightness of the part that is sunlit. This is affected by such factors as the angle at which light reflected from the object is...
what is social security, how does it work in the u.s, and why is it deemed unsustainable?	Social Security was instituted during the Great Depression to do two things. First, it was to give retired people who had lost everything in the crash income to survive. Second, it was in incentive to get many old people to retire to open jobs up for unemployed youth. So they come up with a plan to take a little bit...	[ "Social security is \"any government system that provides monetary assistance to people with an inadequate or no income\". In the United States, this is usually called welfare or a social safety net, especially when talking about Canada and European countries.\n", "In the United States, Social Security is the com...
How do blind people conceptualize mathematics? (Not trying to be rude)	It is an interesting question and I would imagine you are right in thinking about using touch instead of sight. The problem with asking this question on Reddit is that I would imagine there is a very small population of blind people using a website that they can't read. You would be better asking someone who is blind. ...	[ "Sometimes called dyscalculia, a math disability involves difficulties such as learning math concepts (such as quantity, place value, and time), difficulty memorizing math facts, difficulty organizing numbers, and understanding how problems are organized on the page. Dyscalculics are often referred to as having poo...
Evolution of color vision	Here is a pretty good paper on the evolution of vertebrate visual pigments _URL_0_ The wavelengths that each cone are sensitive to are determined by the photopigments they express. Mutations in the photopigment genes can alter the sensitivities, for example a single mutation that substitutes a phenylalanine for a leuci...	[ "The evolution of trichromatic color vision in primates occurred as the ancestors of modern monkeys, apes, and humans switched to diurnal (daytime) activity and began consuming fruits and leaves from flowering plants.\n", "The evolution of trichromatic color vision in primates occurred as the ancestors of modern ...
if special relativity allows one observer to observe event a as occurring before event b and another to oberve event b as occurring before event a, how casuality can be preserved if event a caused event b?	Because if A caused B, then A will occur before B in all reference frames.	[ "However, in the relativistic description the \"observability of events\" is absolute: the movements of the observer do not influence whether an event passes the \"light cone\" of the observer. Notice that with the change from a Newtonian to a relativistic description, the concept of \"absolute time\" is no longer ...
is there any way to reverse what humans have done to the earth since the industrial revolution?	Carbon moves around between various reservoirs (e.g. CO2 in the atmosphere) in what is called [the carbon cycle](_URL_0_). Humans have increased the rate at which CO2 is going into the atmosphere and decreased the rate at which it leaves, causing more to build up in the atmosphere over time. In the absence of further ...	[ "Michael Bess sees the world increasingly permeated by potent technologies in a process he calls “artificialization” which has been accelerating since the 1700s, but at a greatly accelerated rate after 1945. Over the next fifty years, this transformative process stands a good chance of turning our physical world, a...
if a closed room has a 100w fan running inside, is the room being heated by 100w?	The answer to this depends very much on if you are asking an engineer or a physicist. There are many types of electrical motors, efficiency varies from about 85% - 95%. Let's say 90% on average. Most of the 10% loss will be lost as heat due to electrical resistance, some other weird stuff, friction and the rest wi...	[ "Some convective heaters use a fan to help circulate warm air throughout a room. Their heating elements are metal or ceramic and are in direct contact with room air, allowing fan heaters to warm a room quickly.\n", "A fan heater, also called a forced convection heater, is a kind of convection heater that includes...
how were medieval guilds different from labor unions?	matgopack misses one very crucial difference. A guild is run by owners of the businesses, the shops, factories, tanyards, etc. A labor union is composed of people who work at the shops, factories, tanyards, etc. The guilds were a cooperative effort by owners to restrict competition, to keep, say, 20 cutlers from w...	[ "Guilds, associations of artisans and merchants, oversee the production and distribution of a particular good. Guilds have their roots in the Roman Empire as \"collegia\" (singular: \"collegium\") Membership in these early guilds was voluntary. The Roman \"collegia\" did not survive the fall of Rome. In the early m...
What happens to impurities in drugs when they are injected intravenously?	A piece of foreign matter in the circulatory system is called an embolus. Emboli can arise from natural materials already within the circulation, such as blood clots, or can be introduced by injection. What happens to an embolus is mostly determined by its size and where it arises from. Assuming it is not something th...	[ "BULLET::::- Chelation: The presence of di- or trivalent cations can cause the chelation of certain drugs, making them harder to absorb. This interaction frequently occurs between drugs such as tetracycline or the fluoroquinolones and dairy products (due to the presence of Ca).\n", "Impurities are either naturall...
how long was a true solar day 200,000 years ago?	The day is getting slightly slower as the Earth ages, mainly due to the dissipation of tides the moon raises in the Earth's oceans. The rate at which the Earth's rotation is slowing can be modeled through the following formula, which does a good job of fitting the results of lunar range finding experiments as well as ...	[ "The Hindu cosmological time cycles explained in the \"Surya Siddhanta\", give the average length of the sidereal year (the length of the Earth's revolution around the Sun) as 365.2563627 days, which is only 1.4 seconds longer than the modern value of 365.256363004 days. This remains the most accurate estimate for ...
why do crabs have to be boiled alive? why can't they be killed before boiling?	[The standard method for cooking crab is to kill them first](_URL_0_). You might be thinking of Lobster, which is another thing entirely. Lobsters aren't particularly clean, and they need to be cooked immediately after death, before bacteria colonies can grow.	[ "The LLF consider boiling lobsters alive (the traditional method for cooking them) unacceptable and use direct action to prevent it. As lobsters possess a rudimentary nervous system, the LLF believe they feel pain and thus boiling them is unnecessarily cruel. This was challenged by a Norwegian study released in 200...
How far would the moon have to be from the earth before it starts to rotate around the sun instead of the earth?	The Earth's "[hill sphere](_URL_0_)" describes its sphere of influence -- if a gravitating body is outside of this sphere, then it would orbit the Sun instead. For the Earth, this would be 0.01 AU from the Earth, or 1.5 million km.	[ "The Moon orbits Earth in the prograde direction and completes one revolution relative to the stars in about 27.32 days (a sidereal month) and one revolution relative to the Sun in about 29.53 days (a synodic month). Earth and the Moon orbit about their barycenter (common center of mass), which lies about from Eart...
Are the mechanisms that cause cancer mutations the same mechanisms that cause the appearance of new traits that we've evolve into?	Cancer is caused by defects in certain genes that produce tumor suppressing proteins. So when these proteins are not present, cells grow indefinitely, eventually you get cancer. Curing cancer will not have do anything to stop evolution.	[ "Several hereditary factors can increase the chance of cancer-causing mutations, including the activation of oncogenes or the inhibition of tumor suppressor genes. The functions of various onco- and tumor suppressor genes can be disrupted at different stages of tumor progression. Mutations in such genes can be used...
in the lord of the rings, a series of large fires are used to communicate a call for urgent aid over a mountain range. is there any mention of anything like this being used throughout history? or would it have been too hard to man/ supply?	Here's a [great answer](_URL_0_) from /u/BRIStoneman that addresses your question!	[ "Operation \"Mountain Storm\" () was a military operation carried out on 7 November 2007 by special police forces of the Republic of Macedonia against an armed ethnic Albanian group in the Tetovo region with ties to Albanian paramilitary of the conflicts in Kosovo (1998–1999), Preševo Valley (2000–2001) and Macedon...
When was the Roman title "princeps" replaced by "emperor"?	Remember that 'emperor' is an English title, which is not directly analogous to the Latin imperator. When we say that Augustus became the first 'emperor', we are analysing a unique, and irreversible, combination of both political offices and personal status/influence that coalesced in a single figure, who simply coul...	[ "The Emperor Diocletian (284–305), the father of the Tetrarchy, was the first to stop referring to himself as \"princeps\" altogether, calling himself \"dominus\" (lord, master), thus dropping the pretense that emperor was not truly a monarchical office. The period when the emperors that called themselves princeps ...
Why are some elements referred to as synthetic or artificial?	It's not necessarily impossible for these elements to be created naturally, it's just we have no indication that it's happened. Odds are, some supernova somewhere did create elements heavier than Californium, but all the synthetic elements are unstable enough that we almost certainly wouldn't be able to detect them bef...	[ "A synthetic element is one of 24 chemical elements that do not occur naturally on Earth: they have been created by human manipulation of fundamental particles in a nuclear reactor or particle accelerator, or detonation of an atomic bomb; and thus are called \"synthetic\", \"artificial\", or \"man-made\". The synth...
Wehrmacht vs SS	One thing that clouds the issue here is the “Myth of the Clean Wehrmacht” – the notion that the Wehrmacht was just fighting a war, whereas the Government and the SS were responsible for all of the war crimes. The myth was developed as a deliberate attempt to rehabilitate the Wehrmacht in order to legitimise the establ...	[ "The combined \"Wehrmacht\" military forces of Nazi Germany consisted of the \"Heer\" (army), the \"Kriegsmarine\" (navy), and the \"Luftwaffe\" (air force). While not technically part of the Wehrmacht, the \"Waffen-SS\" (\"Armed-SS\") tactically operated as such and was considered part of Germany's armed forces du...
how large should a cult be to be considered a religion?	Those 2 terms aren't really mutually exclussive. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Being a cult, isn't about size though. It's about how you behave: + Messianic leader. + Require members to cut off contact with "outsiders" + Strict enforcing of morals + etc... I mean JW and scientology a...	[ "In the sociological classifications of religious movements, a cult is a social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices, although this is often unclear. Other researchers present a less-organized picture of cults, saying that they arise spontaneously around novel beliefs and practices. Groups sai...
why can we "develop a taste" for things we originally dislike, such as beer or certain foods?	My first reddit contribution, here goes nothin! The human brain changes the way it perceives certain flavors as a survival mechanism. For instance, we develop a tolerance for the spiciness of peppers after the brain becomes aware of the good nutrients they contain. Another example is a dude lost on a raft at sea for...	[ "An acquired taste is an appreciation for something unlikely to be enjoyed by a person who has not had substantial exposure to it. In the case of food and drink, this may be due to a strong odor (such as certain types of cheese, durian, hákarl, black salt, nattō, asafoetida, surströmming, or stinky tofu), taste (al...

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