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What does it mean when one has a 'teleological view of history'?	To build a bit on /u/Sherbert42's answer: teleology (in a historiographical sense) is a form of historical enquiry which attempts to construct a narrative view of history as a progressive march in one direction; towards an inevitable end point. To give one particularly notable and illustrative example of teleological...	[ "Historist historiography rejects historical teleology and bases its explanations of historical phenomena on sympathy and understanding (see Hermeneutics) for the events, acting persons, and historical periods. The historist approach takes to its extreme limits the common observation that human institutions (langua...
if my bathroom scale shows different numbers around the house, which number should i trust?	Find something in your house that you know weighs a certain amount for sure. E.g. a new bag of rice or potatoes or whatever. Weigh that in different areas of your house and see where you get the most accurate reading. Just use your scale in that spot.	[ "Take as an example the calculation of body mass index (BMI). The BMI is the body weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres. A bathroom scale may have a resolution of one kilogram. We do not know intermediate values about 79.6 kg or 80.3 kg but information rounded to the nearest whole number. It...
how family guy uses brand names so frequently, but no other cartoon can.	Any TV show can mention brand names. They usually don't, because: * it makes sit harder to place ads for that product and its competitors * it can date the show and make it less desirable in syndication * viewers often have strong brand affinities, and might not relate to characters who use brands they do not like *...	[ "Without laws governing name usage, many American names pop up following the name's usage in movies, television, or in the media. Children may be named after their parents' favorite fictional characters.\n", "Brand names and logos are regularly blurred or covered with tape or a \"MythBusters\" sticker. Brand name...
if passwords for websites are suppose to be encrypted or only known to the user, how come some websites can tell me i have entered a password i changed years ago?	They don't know the password, but they do know when you have set it. You tell them the password when you set it, but they don't remember the password, only its "checksum", or "salted hash", and forget the original password. which can be calculated from the original password and data that don't change during the lifetim...	[ "A simple protocol that does not rely on a human third party involves password changing. This works anywhere one has to type in new passwords the same twice before the password is changed. The first individual will type their secret in the first box, and the second person will type their secret in the second box, i...
if i kept switching out older body parts of mine with healthier ones as i grew up, could i live forever?	Your brain cells will eventually age and die. If you replace those you can technically live forever, but will you still really be yourself? This concept has been debated since the Ancient Greeks _URL_0_	[ "His healing factor also dramatically affects his aging process, allowing him to live far beyond the normal lifespan of a human. Despite being born in the late 19th century, he has the appearance, conditioning, health, and vitality of a man in his physical prime. While seemingly ageless, it is unknown exactly how g...
the observer effect, the measurement problem and the 'conscious observer' of quantum mechanics?	The "observer effect" and "measurement" problems are commonly misrepresented on the internet by people who are obsessed with new-age pseudoscience. It has nothing to do with conciousness or anything magical. To put it in ELI5 terms: Imagine that we you are blindfolded and sitting in a chair. I have set up a machine th...	[ "An especially unusual version of the observer effect occurs in quantum mechanics, as best demonstrated by the double-slit experiment. Physicists have found that even passive observation of quantum phenomena (by changing the test apparatus and passively 'ruling out' all but one possibility), can actually change the...
why are dj's treated like artists, with a stage name and everything, and their own 'shows' people get tickets to, when they just play other people's copyrighted music?	"Art" is a form of expression. Imagine that 100 people are going to be showing up to your house in an hour. How will you entertain them? Playing music is a good option. Do you have the right music to play? Would you just turn on the radio? Go to Pandora? Radios have commercials. Songs don't always compliment one ano...	[ "I party with the promoters I play for. A lot of DJs don't like to do that; they play the party, go back to the hotel and then get ready to go home. Not me. I don't deny it! For me a DJ is someone who brings a vibe. If you don't party, then how do you bring that vibe?\n", "Most of the DJs and live musicians who p...
what exactly was dialup and why couldn't you use the phone at the same time?	The computer sent data through the phone line. Since the phone line transmits sound data - the computer was literally generating sounds that could be interpreted as data - high and low pitched squeals that represent the data you are sending or receiving. It was like a very rapid morse code. If you picked up the phon...	[ "Dial-up access is a connection to the Internet through a phone line, creating a semi-permanent link to the Internet. Operating on a single channel, it monopolizes the phone line and is the slowest method of accessing the Internet. Dial-up is often the only form of Internet access available in rural areas because i...
Why don't modern cellphones create interferences near speakers any more?	So, for our friends that don't know, the buzzing is a signal in the AM range. The effect is well known since the rollout of GSM in Europe begun (see Stephen Temple's _"Inside the Mobile Revolution_", Ch. 22). What's happening is that in TDMA, each transmitter gets a time slot in which to transmit, and then remains sil...	[ "The longer wavelengths have the advantage of diffracting more, and so line of sight is not as necessary to obtain a good signal. Because the frequencies that cell phones use are too high to reflect off the ionosphere as shortwave radio waves do, cell phone waves cannot travel via the ionosphere. (See Diffraction a...
whats going on with the statehood movement in puerto rico as of now?	There was a non-binding referendum is 2012, but most people see it for the sham it was. The pro-statehood ruling party rigged it so they first asked if they people preferred the status quo, then asked the remaining people if the wanted statehood. If they asked the questions in the other order, they would have gotten ...	[ "The Independence Movement in Puerto Rico refers to initiatives by inhabitants throughout the history of Puerto Rico to obtain full political independence for the island territory, first from the Spanish Empire, from 1493 to 1898 and, since 1898, from the United States. A small variety of groups, movements, politic...
How do deaf people perceive heavy bass sounds?	I'll take a shot at this. I think many people will agree they can "feel" low-frequency (bass) sounds in their chest when loud enough. We can perceive this vibration in our bodies with other senses, probably [somatosensation](_URL_3_) (i.e. touch), perhaps with [proprioception](_URL_0_). I found [this paper](_URL_1_), w...	[ "The human ear can generally hear sounds with frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz (the audio range). Sounds outside this range are considered infrasound (below 20 Hz) or ultrasound (above 20 kHz) Although hearing requires an intact and functioning auditory portion of the central nervous system as well as a working...
Before the Augustus founded the empire, the Roman republic was plagued with civil wars. Why didn't the Parthians invade?	They did...it's all over the sources... The Parthians crossed the Euphrates only twice. In 51 Cicero feared a Parthian invasion into Cilicia, but it did not materialize, and the brief Parthian campaign following Crassus' defeat fizzled out quickly. Plutarch claims that Pompey reached out to the Parthians for asylum, b...	[ "Battles between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic began in 54 BC. This first incursion against Parthia was repulsed, notably at the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC). During the Roman Liberators' civil war of the 1st Century BC, the Parthians actively supported Brutus and Cassius, invading Syria, and gaining terr...
Can bacteria feel pain?	Not in any sense of the term that would make sense from a human perspective, for sure: by definition, single-celled organisms don't have nerve cells, and what we call "pain" is entirely a nervous-system response to various stimuli.	[ "Though it has been argued that most invertebrates do not feel pain, there is some evidence that invertebrates, especially the decapod crustaceans (e.g. crabs and lobsters) and cephalopods (e.g. octopuses), exhibit behavioural and physiological reactions indicating they may have the capacity for this experience.\n"...
What is Bell's Inequality and how does it work?	It is a response to the famous EPR (Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen) paper written in 1935 where they described a thought experiment leading to what we today know as quantum entanglement. Or to quote them: "spooky action at a distance". Entanglement can be briefly explained by two entangled electrons (A and B) being in ...	[ "The intention of a Bell inequality is to serve as a test of local realism or local hidden variable theories as against quantum mechanics, applying Bell's theorem, which shows them to be incompatible. Not all the Bell's inequalities that appear in the literature are in fact fit for this purpose. The one discussed h...
Can any experts comment on this article about the nuclear reactors in Japan please?	Seems like a fairly in-depth article. Not sure why people would call it anti-science as such, everything I read was more or less what I have read elsewhere. What does worry me was the section about mobile generators being brought in to provide power for the cooling but the "plug not fitting". Now I'm no engineer, but ...	[ "One reactor model, the L-54, was purchased and installed by a number of United States universities and foreign research institutions, including Japan. The Japanese Atomic Research Institute renamed theirs Japan Research Reactor-1 (JRR-1) and the government of Japan issued a commemorative postage stamp noting the e...
what is being done in the world of science to offset the imposing "antibiotic apocalypse?"	[Here is an article you may want to read](_URL_0_) I'll post a little of the article so my comment doesn't get deleted. Scientists have come across a potential game-changer in the fight against drug-resistant superbugs - a new class of antibiotic that is resistant to resistance. Not only does the new compound - whic...	[ "Antibiotic resistance is another major concern, leading to the reemergence of diseases such as tuberculosis. The World Health Organization, for its World Health Day 2011 campaign, is calling for intensified global commitment to safeguard antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines for future generations.\n", "...
What animal has the worst common cause of death?	Manatees getting hit by propellors and bleeding out. Usually they get hit multiple time in their life, and are killed by particularly brutal hits.	[ "In 1993, 25 schools throughout New England, United States participated in a roadkill study involving 1,923 animal deaths. By category, the fatalities were: 81% mammals, 15% bird, 3% reptiles and amphibians, 1% indiscernible. Extrapolating these data nationwide, Merritt Clifton (editor of \"Animal People Newspaper\...
the current global warming is very concerning, but there was global warming about 1000 years ago called the "medieval warm period" - how many other such warming periods have there been and why is the current one so different?	The medieval warm period was not as extreme, and came on much more gradually. The current one has been sudden and steady, and we have a clear cause for it: increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We've increased the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content by 1/3, for example - that's a huge effect on a planetary scal...	[ "In a perspective commenting on MBH99, Wallace Smith Broecker argued that the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) was global. He attributed recent warming to a roughly 1500-year cycle which he suggested related to episodic changes in the Atlantic's conveyor circulation.\n", "The Holocene climatic optimum (HCO) was a perio...
what decides whether something will release alpha, beta, or gamma radiation?	Type of radiation is determined by the material that emits it. Gamma radiation is electomagnetic radiation, like radio waves, microwave, x-rays, gamma rays... they are typically formed when a charge (electron) is accelerated or decelerated or moved in a circular path (which is an acceleration btw). It can also be forme...	[ "Alpha decay or α-decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle (helium nucleus) and thereby transforms or 'decays' into a different atomic nucleus, with a mass number that is reduced by four and an atomic number that is reduced by two. An alpha particle is identical to the...
What would be the effects of a normal diet that was entirely liquids?	People survive quite well on liquid diets for long periods of time. Google might turn up more information if you search for [tube feeding](_URL_0_). For people who can't tolerate solid food for any reason, a tube can be placed through the nose or through an incision into the stomach, and fluid given through that tube c...	[ "A liquid diet is a diet that mostly consists of liquids, or soft foods that melt at room temperature (such as ice cream). A liquid diet usually helps provide sufficient hydration, helps maintain electrolyte balance, and is often prescribed for people when solid food diets are not recommended, such as for people wh...
How do we know which way up a planet is?	All planets in the Solar System orbit in almost the same plane, and their axes of rotation are almost perpendicular to such plane. (Only exception is Uranus). So you can define East as the direction the planet is rotating, and North as 90° left of the East. We also have reference frames and coordinate systems: cartesi...	[ "Still another method is to first determine the geographic center of the country and from there measure the shortest distance to every other point. All U.S. territory is spread across less than 180° of longitude, so from any spot in the U.S. it is more direct to reach the easternmost point, Point Udall, U.S. Virgin...
Is it true that a third of the knights in the battle of Agincourt were over 50?	Well life expectancy is a very skewed statistic, because infant mortality deflates it substantially. The upper-classes could expect to live to the beginning of what we'd call "old-age" (about 60s, 70 and above was more of a gamble) if they weren't taken ill or killed in battle. It's possible- there would be plenty of o...	[ "This story does not stand up well under scrutiny. Walter would have been around seventy years old at the time of the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, and rather old to be taking up the sword instead of his accustomed musical instrument. He is not listed among the knights created by Edward IV before or after the battl...
why do fireworks look so bad on film/video, yet look good irl?	Fireworks can look great on video if you have a good enough camera. Cheap cameras, like the ones in our phones, can't handle low light conditions very well and have a hard time focusing on the rapid flashes coming from a firework. The camera is constantly trying to auto focus but can't, resulting in a blurry image.	[ "Novelty fireworks typically produce a much weaker explosion and sound. In some countries and areas where fireworks are illegal to use, they still allow these small, low grade fireworks to be used. A few examples include:\n", "Availability and use of consumer fireworks are hotly debated topics. Critics and safety...
how 2 wifi routers on the same channel can interoperate without completely jamming each other's signal?	It's FM, and you know what happens to FM signals when 2 people try the repeater at the same time, with equal power. It's unreadable. Yes, the wifi points would jam each other too. They can interoperate only because packets are short bursts and can be error corrected. They don't route the other networks traffic as it ...	[ "In the case of WiMAX, Uplink Collaborative MIMO is spatial multiplexing with two different devices, each with one antenna. These transmitting devices are collaborating in the sense that both devices must be synchronized in time and frequency so that the intentional overlapping occurs under controlled circumstances...
how do you steer a gunship? or a clipper? or large sailship in general?	On most boats, the rudder is, in fact, the principle steering device. The sails on sailing vessels generally do not "steer" the boat. However, they must be re-positioned when the boat changes direction or when the wind direction changes, to maximize the thrust provided by the sails, using the available wind. For non...	[ "A steerer can also use the steering oar to adjust the position of the boat by cranking. When a steerer cranks the steering oar, the stern of the boat moves either to the left or right, spinning the boat. This is typically executed to turn the boat around at practice or to ensure a boat is lined up straight and poi...
How definitive are the DNA results on the Richard III skeleton?	You didn't really elaborate on what you mean, but I'm guessing you want to know how confident we can be that the skeleton they've found is King Richard? Here's an overview of the evidence: DNA comparisons: * Geneticists were able to extract and sequence mitochondrial DNA from the skeleton * Mitochondrial DNA is pas...	[ "In February 2016, French, Danish and Norwegian researchers opened the lead boxes in order to conduct DNA analysis of the remains. Radiocarbon dating of the remains showed that neither skeleton could be that of Richard I or Richard II. One skeleton dated from the third century BCE, the other from the eighth century...
What was the anti masonic party and what happened to them?	They were a political party formed in the wake of public outcry over an incident where some Masons in NY state were accused of kidnapping and possibly killing at fellow Mason (named Morgan) who had published an expose on the initiations. This was in the 1820s. The Anti-Masonic party was the most successful third-part...	[ "The Anti-Masonic Party, also known as the Anti-Masonic Movement, was the first third party in the United States. It strongly opposed Freemasonry as a single-issue party and later aspired to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. After emerging as a political force in the ...
Did the US ever try to convert Filipinos to Protestantism during their colonisation of the country?	After the US colonized the Philippines the Catholic Church was disestablished, and was no longer the official religion. When that happened there was a large influx of Protestant missionaries of all denominations to the Philippines. Today, Protestants make up around 10% of the total population in the Philippines, with a...	[ "During the early part of the United States governance in the Philippines, there was a concerted effort to convert Filipinos into Protestants. As Filipinos began to migrate to the United States, Filipino Roman Catholics were often not embraced by their American Catholic brethren, nor were they sympathetic to a Fili...
what's the difference b/w high quality and low quality meats?	Meat from an animal that received high-quality feed is more chemically varied, and has more flavor. This is particularly noticeable in mild-tasting meat like chicken. High-quality beef typically has more fat mixed throughout (an effect called "marbling") which creates a richer taste and more delicate texture.	[ "Consisting of low-quality rib meat, described as a \"tough, scraggy meat\", if not well cooked, In recent years their high fat content has made them unpopular in many Western countries, although they are widely used as döner meat in Europe. \n", "Beef quality grades - A quality grade is a composite evaluation of...
Why do we always put reactive materials in glass beakers/flasks/graduated cylinders etc.?	In a nutshell, glass is very stable, and will not react easily with most compounds. The class stays intact, the chemical stays the same, everyone is happy. However, some reagents are better kept in plastic containers such as polyethylene, or even quartz, because glass is not a magical non-reactive substance either.	[ "Until 2010, no organic strong glass formers were known. Strong glass formers can be shaped in the same way as glass (silicon dioxide) can be. Vitrimers are the first such material discovered, which can behave like viscoelastic fluid at high temperatures. Unlike classical polymer melts, whose flow properties are la...
Why do the continents seem to migrate north, leaving a gap between antarctica and the rest of the world?	It's random, mostly. Plate tectonics is driven by convection currents in the mantle under the crust. Most of the time, people only consider the major continents moving, but [the jigsaw puzzle is slightly more complicated](_URL_0_) than that. Numerous oceanic plates are jostling around too. During Pangea, Antarcti...	[ "Antarctica continued to become more isolated and finally developed a permanent ice cap. Mountain building in western North America continued, and the Alps started to rise in Europe as the African plate continued to push north into the Eurasian plate, isolating the remnants of Tethys Sea. A brief marine incursion m...
Would a nuclear bomb explode if you bomb it with an other bomb?	No. There's a very critically timed cobination of events that have to happen to get a nuclear detonation. The worst that would happen is that you detonate the charge around the fissile material and produce a conventional 'Dirty' bomb.	[ "Fusion-boosted fission bombs can also be made immune to neutron radiation from nearby nuclear explosions, which can cause other designs to predetonate, blowing themselves apart without achieving a high yield.\n", "Although neutron bombs are commonly believed to \"leave the infrastructure intact\", with current d...
If gravity is a pulling force, why is there no equivalent repulsive/anti gravity force?	short answer to your question can be: because there is no matter with negative mass. all matter has positive energy (this statement is called "weak energy condition") and creates positive curvature of spacetime (positive and negative are subject to sign convention). effect of this "positive" curvature is, that when yo...	[ "This is because gravitation is an attractive force, but if there is an underdense region it apparently acts as a gravitational repeller, based on the concept that there may be less attraction in the direction of the underdensity, and the greater attraction due to the higher density in other directions acts to pull...
what is the difference between an originalist interpretation and a "living document" interpretation when it comes to the u.s. supreme court?	The idea is a debate about whether the founders wrote the thing to be specific, rigid, and amendable only through the amendment process... or whether the founders wrote the thing with deliberately looser language to take shifting societal norms into account. For example, the 8th amendment prohibits "cruel and unusual...	[ "Originalism is a theory of \"interpretation\", not \"construction\". However, this distinction between \"interpretation\" and \"construction\" is controversial and is rejected by many nonoriginalists as artificial. As Scalia said, \"the Constitution, or any text, should be interpreted [n]either strictly [n]or slop...
Slavery in ancient Greece	It's a simplification, and simplifications like this are only going to make sense with respect to some benchmark; perhaps that's the context of your friend's view. But without context, there isn't really much to support her. Estimates of the slave population in Classical-era Greek states are exactly that, estimates, b...	[ "Records of slavery in Ancient Greece go as far back as Mycenaean Greece. The origins are not known, but it appears that slavery became an important part of the economy and society only after the establishment of cities. Slavery was common practice and an integral component of ancient Greece, as it was in other soc...
The "Duel of Champions": how common was it? What was it's purpose?	Been asked before a few times. The term for this is [Single Combat](_URL_0_). _URL_1_ _URL_2_	[ "Orazi e Curiazi (English title: \"Duel of Champions\") is a 1961 film about the Roman legend of the Horatii, triplet brothers from Rome who fought a duel against the Curiatii, triplet brothers from Alba Longa in order to determine the outcome of a war between their two nations.\n", "A duel is an arranged engagem...
What mechanisms are behind stereotypical accents in people with English as a second language?	First the basics: Different languages have different phonetic systems (where phonetics refers to the individual consonant vowel combinations that form the phonemes which establish contrast for word differentiation. You know "bat" and "pat" are different words because [b] and [p] are "contrasting"). The primary f...	[ "Certain English accents feature variant pronunciations of these sounds. These include fronting, where they merge with /f/ and /v/ (found in Cockney and some other dialects); stopping, where they approach /t/ and /d/ (as in some Irish speech); alveolarisation, where they become (in some African varieties); and debu...
How are ions made artificially?	You usually just take regular atoms and rip off their electrons somehow (heat them up, subject them to strong electric fields, shoot them through stripper foils, or some combination of those).	[ "Ions can be non-chemically prepared using various ion sources, usually involving high voltage or temperature. These are used in a multitude of devices such as mass spectrometers, optical emission spectrometers, particle accelerators, ion implanters, and ion engines.\n", "Ions can be created in an inductively cou...
why can a laser be seen from miles away but a regular flashlight has such a limited range before the light fades?	A laser tends to be very well focused, which means that its energy doesn't spread out that much as it travels. A flashlight, on the other hand, isn't focused that well, which means that its energy spreads out very quickly as it travels, so gets dimmer much faster than a laser does.	[ "BULLET::::- Diode lasers are used as a lightswitch in industry, with a laser beam and a receiver which will switch on or off when the beam is interrupted, and because a laser can keep the light intensity over larger distances than a normal light, and is more precise than a normal light it can be used for product d...
why can most people jump higher off of one leg, when clearly there is more power in two legs?	Well, it's not all about raw power. The problem isn't being able to move upwards, you can climb stairs a lot higher than you can jump. The problem is accelerating quickly. Look at it this way; stand perfectly still with your hands at your sides and jump. You probably didn't get very far. This is because when you jum...	[ "\"\"I never assumed my handicap and if anything, as a kid not having a leg meant that my arms were much stronger,\"\" Pueta added. His right leg is stronger than a tree and he jumps all over the field–like a kangaroo–and will tackle everything that comes his way. His line-out jumping is also an asset to whatever t...
How do flu shots work?	> How does one shot protect you from all variations of flu? > Do they need to be topped up, as newer strains come into existence? One shot contains vaccines for three different strains of flu. The CDC spends a LOT of time and effort every year trying to predict which three strains are most likely to be a significa...	[ "Flu-flu arrows are often used for children's archery, and can be used to play flu-flu golf. Similar to Frisbee Golf, the player must go to where the arrow landed, pick it up, shoot it again, and repeat this process until he reaches a specified place.\n", "The influenza vaccine comes in two forms, the inactivated...
I found this old helmet in an antique store, and I was wondering where it is from.	Swedish M26 Army Helmet seems to be the one, _URL_0_ Heres some info on it. _URL_1_	[ "The Canterbury Helmet is an Iron Age helmet found in a field near Canterbury, Kent, England, in December 2012. Made of bronze, it is one of only a few helmets dating from the Iron Age to ever have been found in Britain. The helmet currently resides in the British Museum, and is undergoing conservation work. It was...
When/how did human started cooking?	The modern human gastrointestinal tract is evolved to digest cooked food. That takes a long time. Here is a peer reviewed article that argues that control of fire was achieved nearly two million of years ago by some of the first members of the Homo genus: _URL_2_ Because of the time needed for our current digestive...	[ "Phylogenetic analysis suggests that human ancestors may have invented cooking as far back as 1.8 million to 2.3 million years ago. Re-analysis of burnt bone fragments and plant ashes from the Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa, has provided evidence supporting control of fire by early humans there by 1 million years ag...
Is there a history of monasticism in Islam?	I speak of the Middle Ages. Islam doesn't really have monasticism. Within Sufism, Islam's mystical tradition, we can see some parallels to Christian monasticism, but fundamental differences remain--they are, at heart, different institutions with different roles to play in their respective religions and societies. A...	[ "Islam forbids the practice of monasticism. In Sunni Islam, one example is Uthman bin Maz'oon; one of the companions of Muhammad. He was married to Khawlah bint Hakim, both being two of the earliest converts to Islam. There is a Sunni narration that, out of religious devotion, Uthman bin Maz'oon decided to dedicate...
How long did it take a skilled armourer to make chainmail armour during medieval times?	My own area of study is the armour of high and late medieval Europe. So my answer will focus on that, not on the Early Middle Ages. I mention this caveat because the economics and social organization of Europe were very different between 600 and 1450, and this effected things like how armour was made, which in turn eff...	[ "During 12th century chainmail armour is first introduced in the Indian subcontinent and used by Turkic armies. An reference of chainmail armour was found in the inscription of Mularaja II and also at the Battle of Delhi where it was used by the armoured war elephants\n", "Chainmail was the prominent form of armo...
if utilities infastructure was created through taxpayer dollars, then why do people have to pay private companies for their utilities?	In most cases where facilities were built by the public and then privatized, the company either had to pay the government for the facilities, or agree to repair or improve the facilities at their own expense, thus effectively paying a bill that would have been the government's bill.	[ "Although utilities are regulated industries, they are typically privately owned and must therefore attract private capital. Accordingly, because of constitutional takings law, government regulators must assure private companies that a fair revenue is available in order to continue to attract investors and borrow m...
after accomplishing something very challenging why do we sometimes feel empty and emotionless about it immediately after?	Because the challenge is gone. Possibly.	[ "Emotionally unpleasant experiences have the tendency to come back and haunt us, even after frequent suppression. Such memories can be recovered gradually, through active search and reconstruction, or they can come to mind spontaneously, without active search.\n", "In time, emotional exhaustion may set in, leadin...
Does having houseplants at home provide any sort of measurable benefit to ones health?	[They can help reduce indoor pollutants](_URL_0_)	[ "The Healthy Homes program was made possible through a grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development via a Healthy Homes Demonstration Program (HHD). The grant allows the Healthy Homes program to address environmental triggers that contribute to illnesses, conduct education and outreach t...
What is the difference between German Blitzkrieg strategy and Soviet Deep Battle doctrine?	First of all, the Germans never used the word 'Blitzkrieg' themselves and did not have a specific doctrine around deep penetration or strategic battle - as you can see from from them turning back from Warsaw to deal with the Polish counterattack at Bzura 1939-09-09, the halting of the armoured units in front of the Dun...	[ "During the 1930s, the resurgence of the German military in the era of the \"Third Reich\" saw German innovations in the tactical arena. The methodology used by the Germans in the Second World War was named \"\"Blitzkrieg\"\". There is a common misconception that \"Blitzkrieg\", which is not accepted as a coherent ...
[META] Wide-scale revisions to the official rules	> [W]hile this is a public forum it is not an egalitarian one; not all answers will be treated as having equal merit. Thank you for taking a clear stance on this issue and not pussy-footing around it. I come to this subreddit for content and there really is a very impressive panel of historians to provide that. As ...	[ "There are currently 44 rules, with the latest revision having been adopted on January 24, 2013. (The Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006 lobbying reform bill introduced a 44th rule on earmarks). The stricter rules are often waived by unanimous consent.\n", "The advanced rules have been period...
how can i help somebody with seasonal depression feel better?	Phototherapy is noted to help people with seasonal depression. It involves basically shining a special lamp in your indoor space to help mitigate the lack of light that comes with autumn & winter.	[ "A depressed mood is common during illnesses, such as influenza. It has been argued that this is an evolved mechanism that assists the individual in recovering by limiting his/her physical activity. The occurrence of low-level depression during the winter months, or seasonal affective disorder, may have been adapti...
what does the "crisper" drawer in my refrigerator do and what is the benefit to putting my veggies in there?	Actually, the crisper is the worst place to keep vegetables. They do better with air circulation and the temps higher in the fridge. The best thing to keep in the crisper are raw meats, primarily to prevent raw meat juices from dripping and contaminating anything else. The drawers are relatively easy to remove and sa...	[ "A crisper drawer (also known as a crisper) is a compartment located within a refrigerator designed to prolong the freshness of stored produce. Crisper drawers have a different level of humidity from the rest of the refrigerator, optimizing freshness in fruits and vegetables. They can be adjusted to both prevent th...
Can moons of dramatically different size happily co-exist?	There's nothing distinctively different between a planet's orbit around a star and a moon's orbit around a planet--there simply needs to be sufficient distance between them where "far enough" depends on the object's sizes. Even asteroids [can have moons.](_URL_0_) Essentially the question you need to ask is this, can...	[ "An intense search conducted by \"New Horizons\" confirmed that no moons larger than 4.5 km in diameter exist at the distances up to 180,000 km from Pluto (for smaller distances, this threshold is still smaller).\n", "Only the two largest regular moons have been imaged with a resolution sufficient to discern thei...
Do carbon based filters (such as brita) remove essential minerals that the human body needs?	First: Its important to note that Brita and similar water pitchers are not just an activated carbon pitcher. There is also an ion exchange resin present in the filter. Think of this ion exchange resin as working just like a water softener (that is, because it does work exactly like a water softener). Activated carbon ...	[ "Carbon ion therapy (CIRT) uses particles more massive than protons or neutrons. Carbon-ion radiotherapy has increasingly garnered scientific attention as technological delivery options have improved and clinical studies have demonstrated its treatment advantages for many cancers such as prostate, head and neck, lu...
why don't credit cards just use 19 digits instead of 16 digits plus 3 digit "security code"?	The CVV is separate from the card number, so if people record your card number (such as a card skimmer), they don't have access to the 3 digit security code. If you made it 19 digit, then 1 swipe and they have all they need to literally take all your cash.	[ "The international standard for financial services PIN management, ISO 9564-1, allows for PINs from four up to twelve digits, but recommends that for usability reasons the card issuer not assign a PIN longer than six digits. The inventor of the ATM, John Shepherd-Barron, had at first envisioned a six-digit numeric ...
why are the brussels and paris attacks so publicized and mourned over when others, like the current pakistani bombings, kill more and do more damage?	It's pretty much accepted that that part of the world is basically a warzone. Nobody's too surprised if something explodes or people die there. However if it happens in a modern major city, that IS a nasty shock. That kind of thing isn't "supposed" to happen in a "civilised area". Remember in the Dark Knight how the ...	[ "The perpetrators belonged to a terrorist cell which had been involved in the November 2015 Paris attacks. The Brussels bombings happened shortly after a series of police raids targeting the group. The bombings were the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgium's history. The Belgian government declared three days of n...
where and how does all the energy created by power plants get stored? or is the power being generated as it's needed?	The latter, mostly. In the case of plants that use some sort of fuel, the energy is already stored in whatever fuel that is being used. Generating energy from the fuel first, and then storing it back inside something else to be extracted later is a huge waste of everything. When you have too much power, you use les...	[ "Grid energy storage (also called large-scale energy storage) is a collection of methods used to store electrical energy on a large scale within an electrical power grid. Electrical energy is stored during times when production (especially from intermittent power plants such as renewable electricity sources such as...
Has anyone ever taught a computer to code?	You might be describing something a bit like [genetic programming.](_URL_0_) I believe these still require someone to determine the fitness of each program, but if you have some desired output and a set input, you can have something compare what the program produces to what you want the output to be and the algorithm w...	[ "The first computer codes were specialized for their applications: e.g., Alonzo Church was able to express the lambda calculus in a formulaic way and the Turing machine was an abstraction of the operation of a tape-marking machine.\n", "John Mauchly's Short Code, proposed in 1949, was one of the first high-level ...
Historically, how long have Arabs been the dominant ethnic group in the Middle East?	Unfortunately I don't think this an answerable question. "Arab blood" does not define Arabness. Arabness is at least partially a linguistically defined ethnicity. That's why dark-skinned dark-eyed [Anwar Sadat](_URL_2_) is just as much an Arab as light-skinned blue-eyed [Bashar al-Assad](_URL_0_) is an Arab. Aside fro...	[ "The earliest and most significant instance of \"Arabization\" was the first Muslim conquests of Muhammad and the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates. They built a Muslim Empire that grew well beyond the Arabian Peninsula, eventually reaching as far as Spain in the West and Central Asia to the East.\n", "A...
what exactly is that steamy-looking stuff that comes out right after a beer bottle is opened?	Water vapour condensed out of the air due to the sudden drop in pressure in the neck of the bottle would be my guess.	[ "\"Beer\" consisted of a cylindrical metal container in diameter and long containing seven or eight half-pint bottles. Each bottle was a SIP grenade - it contained white phosphorus, benzene, water and a strip of raw rubber, long, which dissolved and formed a layer. After a delay caused by a slow burning fuse, the m...
Why were the Franks so effective at conquering the Germanic tribes, where Rome had failed for so long?	Frankish hegemony over transrhenan peoples was less due to conquest or overpowering campaigns, and more to a policy of personal relationships, trade, raids and counter-raids that weren't that dissimilar to Rome's policies in Germania and that tended to define sort of a Frankish "sphere of influence/power projection" up...	[ "The Franks became foederati in 358 CE, when Emperor Julian let them keep the areas in northern Gaul, which had been depopulated during the preceding century. Roman soldiers defended the Rhine and had major armies south and west of the Rhine. Frankish settlers were established in the areas north and east of the Rom...
What would need to happen in order for it to be called the LAW of evolution?	There's nothing weak about the word theory. For instance, quantum field theory is the most accurate description of nature that we have. As for laws and theorems in physics: Bell's theorem Newton's law of gravity, laws of motion, law of heating and cooling Kirkchoff's laws Kepler's laws *Laws of thermodynamics...	[ "The statement is often misinterpreted as claiming that evolution is not reversible, or that lost structures and organs cannot reappear in the same form by any process of devolution. According to Richard Dawkins, the law is \"really just a statement about the statistical improbability of following exactly the same ...
why hockey refs fake a puck drop during a face off?	So that players who try to anticipate the drop and thus start their swing faster don't get an advantage. They are supposed to wait until the puck is dropped to start their swing.	[ "BULLET::::- In amateur ice hockey, intentionally icing the puck, lining up at the wrong face-off dot, or shooting the puck over the glass (in professional hockey, the team that ices the puck is not allowed a line change, while shooting the puck over the glass leads to a two-minute penalty).\n", "A team which sho...
why are cans in hawaii shaped differently than regular soda cans?	This is an older design of common cans. Let this guy shed some light on it in the most interesting can-related video ever produced: _URL_0_	[ "Cans come in a variety of shapes: two common ones are the \"soup tin\" and the \"tuna tin\". Walls are often stiffened with rib bulges, especially on larger cans, to help the can resist dents that can cause seams to split.\n", "The American mechanical engineer and inventor Nathaniel Wyeth first patented PET in 1...
Would an ancient Roman be able to read and understand the Latin Wikipedia?	Post this to r/latin--I think they'd get a kick out of it. :)	[ "Roman authors, such as Sallust, allude to some books written in the Punic language, but none have survived except occasionally in translation (e.g., Mago's treatise) or in snippets (e.g., in Plautus' plays). The Cippi of Melqart, a bilingual inscription in Ancient Greek and Carthaginian discovered in Malta in 1694...
how have members of the bush admin not been charged with committing war crimes yet?	This is bull they by definition did commi war crimes facts are not opinions	[ "Bugliosi argues that, under the felony-murder rule, the resulting deaths of over 4,000 American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqi civilians (as of spring 2008) since hostilities began can be charged against Bush as second-degree murder. He said that any of the 50 state attorneys general, as well as any district attorney ...
what does board mean in room and board?	If someone is offering "room and board", they are offering to house and feed you (generally). This sometimes is forgotten, but that's what it means.	[ "Room and board describes a situation where, in exchange for money, labor or other considerations, a person is provided with a place to live as well as meals on a comprehensive basis. It commonly occurs as a fee at colleges and universities; it also occurs in hotel-style accommodation for short stays.\n", "The \"...
If an atom emits a photon when an excited electron returns to ground state, can that happen without the atom being heated up?	There are many ways that can happen - basically every method of lighting that isn't incandescent light is an example. [Light-emitting diode](_URL_5_) uses electricity to push electrons to a high energy state, and at the junction the electron falls to a lower state and emits a photon. [Fluorescent lamp](_URL_11_) also...	[ "If the atom is in the excited state, it may decay into the lower state by the process of spontaneous emission, releasing the difference in energies between the two states as a photon. The photon will have frequency \"ν\" and energy \"hν\", given by:\n", "If an atom is already in the excited state, it may be agit...
Why did cavalry during the U.S. Civil War operate almost exclusively as dragoons?	> Yet both Union and Confederate cavalry corps operated almost exclusively as dragoons. Why was this? To what extent was this affected by the duties of pre-war US cavalry, and/or the lack of a European-style military establishment? The ways in which Union and Confederate cavalry came to operate during the war depen...	[ "Before the Civil War there was no light or heavy cavalry in the US army. Instead there were \"Dragoons\" (founded 1830) and \"Mounted Riflemen\" (founded c.1840). In 1861 these mounted regiments were renamed cavalry and given yellow piping.\n", "During the American Civil War (1861–1865), cavalry held the most im...
why do a lot of hentai and japanese porn use rape?	I would theorize it comes partially from the cultural status of women in japan as submissive beings that you can force your will on, and partially from the value of purity in the sense that a women wanting it is slutty. As a result you get a power fantasy of forceful men and an unwanting/pure woman. At least in hent...	[ "Traditional Japanese religions do not consider sex or pornography a moral corruption in the Judaeo-Christian sense, and until the changing morals of the Meiji era led to its suppression, shunga erotic prints were a major genre. While the Tokugawa regime subjected Japan to strict censorship laws, pornography was no...
Why can't the immune system prevent shingles outbreaks, since it already has antibodies for the virus?	My professor explained it as a cellular vs humoral immunity question. Antibodies do a great job of stopping spread in humors (blood, interstitial fluid, etc.) -- hence antibody immunity is called humoral immunity. But, Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) survives in the nerve (dorsal root ganglia, to be specific), which is ...	[ "Unless the immune system is compromised, it suppresses reactivation of the virus and prevents shingles outbreaks. Why this suppression sometimes fails is poorly understood, but shingles is more likely to occur in people whose immune systems are impaired due to aging, immunosuppressive therapy, psychological stress...
At what altitude on earth is the air pressure roughly equivalent to the surface pressure of the Martian atmosphere?	> The surface pressure on Mars is equivalent to the range of pressures on Earth at altitudes between ~30 km and ~60 km. --[Math Encounters Blog](_URL_1_) > At altitudes above 50,000 feet [_15.2 km_] man requires a pressurized suit to be safe in this near space environment. --[A Brief History of the Pressure Suit...	[ "At about 28 miles (45 km, 150 thousand feet ) Earth altitude the pressure starts to be equivalent to Mars surface pressure. However, the major component of Mars air, CO gas, is denser than Earth air for a given pressure. Perhaps more significantly there is no land at this altitude on earth. The highest point on ea...
the core principles of immanuel kant's philosphy.	Kant answers 3 big questions: 1- what is reality? Kant says there's a real world outside of your body. But the way you experience this world (using your senses of seeing, hearing, touching etc.) creates a map, or model, of this outside reality in your mind, which is unique to YOU. Even things like space and time a...	[ "Immanuel Kant employs the term \"amphiboly\" in a sense of his own, as he has done in the case of other philosophical words. He denotes by it a confusion of the notions of the pure understanding with the perceptions of experience, and a consequent ascription to the latter of what belongs only to the former.\n", ...
How is nuclear radiation stored in objects?	Unstable nuclei will eventually decay and emit radiation. If something is bombarded with neutrons, some of them are captured by the nuclei, which can become unstable. In the case of water, it's possible that some could be captured to produce tritium, which is radioactive.	[ "Since nuclear materials are radioactive, it is important to ensure that radiation exposure of those involved in the transport of such materials and of the general public along transport routes is limited. Packaging for nuclear materials includes, where appropriate, shielding to reduce potential radiation exposures...
If we set off a nuke near Jupiters core....	No. Some fusion might occur but it would not be self-sustaining.	[ "\"Jupiter\" sank the on 17 January 1942. On 27 February 1942 she struck a mine laid earlier in the day by the as she steamed with the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA) cruiser force during the Battle of the Java Sea. The destroyer sank off the north Java coast in the Java Sea at 21:16 hours. Initial...
why does squirting lemon juice over spicy food make it less spicy?	It does reduce the spice. Spicy chili peppers contain an oil called capsaicin which gives the spicy flavor. Lemon juice has acids in it, and the acids neutralize the oils, which reduces the spice.	[ "Astringency, the dry, puckering mouthfeel caused by the tannins in unripe fruits, lets the fruit mature by deterring eating. Ripe fruits and fruit parts including blackthorn (sloe berries), \"Aronia\" chokeberry, chokecherry, bird cherry, rhubarb, quince and persimmon fruits, and banana skins are very astringent; ...
if oil is ancient organic matter, then how is there so much of it?	Hundreds of millions of years of swamps doing swampy things... ...like sucking down carbon from the atmosphere and sinking it in anoxic environments where it turns to kerogen and then to fossil fuels. The Carboniferous period predated the Permian Triassic Mass Extinction Event —aka: The Great Dying— by laying down...	[ "Petroleum is a naturally occurring liquid found in rock formations. It consists of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds. It is generally accepted that oil is formed mostly from the carbon rich remains of ancient plankton after exposure to heat and pressure in...
what exactly is management consulting?	In short you're correct: a management consultancy does spend a lot of time investigating a company, then makes a number of recommendations to senior staff on how to improve their business. Not all management consultants are equal. The senior consultants and partners spend a lot of time with senior members of the compa...	[ "The practice of management consulting is about \"helping organizations to improve their performance, operating primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and the development of plans for improvement.\" with the purpose of \"gaining external (and presumably objective) advice and access to th...
Why didn't Israel keep the Sinai peninsular?	Because giving it up was a hugely important bargaining chip for peace with Egypt. No one really regarded it as part of Israel (the way the West Bank is), though there were people there who were less than thrilled about being kicked out. Making it demilitarized allowed for Israel to retain a buffer, while still gettin...	[ "The Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty led Israel to give up the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 and transform the military rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank into the Israeli Civil Administration in 1981. The Western part of Golan Heights was unilaterally annexed by Israel the same year, thus abolishing the Military Governo...
Reddit science people, my 6 year old would like an answer to a space question. I have no idea what to tell her.	Your daughter is in good company with that wondering. One of the very first scientists was a Greek guy named Thales, who held that the primary essence of every substance was water. What do you mean by "what if?" Do you mean "If the universe were all water, what would it be like?" Or do you mean "How do we know the ...	[ "Less than two weeks after the trip, she applied to study communication and electronic engineering at Monterrey Tech, graduating in 2003. Unfortunately, she was the only one at the school at the time interested in space. Despite this, she attended space conferences and other events such as the National Astronomy Co...
how do car dealerships work with the car companies and how do they make their profits?	Car dealerships are independent businesses who have franchise agreements with the various car makers they sell. They purchase the vehicles through the manufacturers at the invoice price, but there are often other mechanisms for the dealers to make money from the sale, such as manufacturer holdbacks, quota bonuses, and ...	[ "Car dealerships are usually franchised to sell and service vehicles by specific companies. They are often located on properties offering enough room to have buildings housing a showroom, mechanical service, and body repair facilities, as well as to provide storage for used and new vehicles. Many dealerships are lo...
Is there any proof that Mesopotamia and Egypt had contact with each other and if they did, what was their relationship like?	What timeframe are you refering to?	[ "The intensity of the exchanges suggest however that the contacts between Egypt and Mesopotamia were often direct, rather than merely through middlemen or through trade. Uruk had known colonial outposts of as far as Habuba Kabira, in modern Syria, insuring they presence in the Levant. Numerous Uruk cylinder seals h...
How much cytoplasm does the average animal cell contain?	About 100-1000 femtoliters. & #x200B; But it's a pretty hard thing to answer. The cell with the smallest volume that I know of is the sperm cell, with about 20 femtoliters (fL). The most numerous cell in your body is the red blood cell, and it has a cytoplasmic volume of about 100 fL. But a fibroblast has a volume o...	[ "The proportion of cell volume that is cytosol varies: for example while this compartment forms the bulk of cell structure in bacteria, in plant cells the main compartment is the large central vacuole. The cytosol consists mostly of water, dissolved ions, small molecules, and large water-soluble molecules (such as ...
why does it take so long for employers to reach hiring decisions?	Hiring an employee is a big investment. If there are lots of good options, then you want to make sure you're making the right one.	[ "Edmund Phelps [1972] introduced the assumption of uncertainty in hiring decisions. When employers make a hiring decision, although they can scrutinize the qualifications of the applicants, they cannot know for sure which applicant would perform better or would be more stable. Thus, they are more likely to hire the...
why is the senate investigating claims that facebook censors conservative news when facebook is a private entity/platform?	Because the senate doesn't give a shit about actual government duties and only cares about their own partisan political ideologies and abusing their powers as much as possible in order to advance those particular political ideologies.	[ "Claims of shadow banning of conservative social media accounts began in 2016 with Facebook’s “Trending News” controversy. Conservative news sites lashed out at Facebook after a report from an unnamed Facebook employee on May 7 alleged that contractors for the social media giant were told to minimize links to their...
How do Historians typically calculate an "exact" date?	hi! hopefully some of the historians in antiquities will drop by with more info, but you may be interested in a few related posts * [How do we know what years certain pre-gregorian historical events happened in?](_URL_4_) * [How certain are we of what year it is? Were there every any disagreements, like during the D...	[ "A calendar date is a reference to a particular day represented within a calendar system. The calendar date allows the specific day to be identified. The number of days between two dates may be calculated. For example, \"24 2020\" is ten days after \"14 2020\" in the Gregorian calendar. The date of a particular eve...
With the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, the English language began rapidly changing. What other long-term cultural changes did this event bring about within England?	Hi there, I essentially answered a similar question to yours [here](_URL_1_), and linked to an earlier answer on some more of the legal changes [here](_URL_0_). The legal changes in particular would have had a genuine impact on the day-to-day life of the English people, especially as the legal system turned heavily fro...	[ "After the conquest of England in 1066, the Normans's language developed into Anglo-Norman. Anglo-Norman served as the language of the ruling classes and commerce in England from the time of the conquest until the Hundred Years' War, by which time the use of French-influenced English had spread throughout English s...
Biologically, how does pedophilia even make sense?	Although what causes pedophilia is not yet known, beginning in 2002, researchers began reporting a series of findings linking pedophilia with brain structure and function: Pedophilic (and hebephilic) men have lower IQs, poorer scores on memory tests, greater rates of non-right-handedness, greater rates of school grade ...	[ "BULLET::::- Pedophilia is a psychological disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children. According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), pedophilia is a paraphilia in which a person has intense sexual ur...
why do black americans resent white americans so much for slavery when america wasn't the first to use slavery, and banned slavery 13 years before the last country to ban slavery did?	So in your world slavery was the end of the matter?	[ "The passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution brought an end to the system of slavery that had kept American blacks in bondage since colonial times. After slavery was abolished, there was somewhat of a cultural crisis in the Southern states. Even though black Americans had received thei...
What books should be trusted?	Obviously, there is always a ton to be said on this sort of question, but you might find [this](_URL_0_) response by /u/Cosmic_Charlie informative	[ "The \"Los Angeles Times\" wrote that the author \"has given us a clear, almost controversial book that draws on the text and teachings of an ancient mystical faith and applies them to the concerns of contemporary life. His insights into the use of meditation to overcome the fear of death are comforting, reassuring...
Can light impart momentum?	The solar sail can either absorb the light (so the sail gains the momentum of the photon it asborbs), or better yet, reflect the light, reversing its momentum. By conservation of momentum, the sail then gains two times the photon's momentum. This is completely analogous to experiments you might do with, say, a medici...	[ "The angular momentum of light is a vector quantity that expresses the amount of dynamical rotation present in the electromagnetic field of the light. While traveling approximately in a straight line, a beam of light can also be rotating (or “\"spinning\"”, or “\"twisting\"”) around its own axis. This rotation, whi...
Why are the lanthanides and actinides crammed in one space?	They don't, it's just a,way of drawing the Periodic Table more compactly. If you wanted the table set out properly as a grid it would have to be an unwieldy long piece of paper. The whole thing really should be split at that point and the La and Ac elements inserted as two long lines. We draw it the way we do for for c...	[ "Lanthanum and actinium are commonly depicted as the remaining group 3 members. It has been suggested that this layout originated in the 1940s, with the appearance of periodic tables relying on the electron configurations of the elements and the notion of the differentiating electron. The configurations of caesium,...
How fast does an object inside the event horizon of a black hole move towards it?	There are two important things we have to remember here: 1. Velocity is a relative quantity. We can't just say, "That thing is moving at velocity v." We can only say, "That thing is moving at velocity v relative to that other thing." I assume you question is then, "Does an object inside the event horizon of a ...	[ "In the case of the horizon around a black hole, observers stationary with respect to a distant object will all agree on where the horizon is. While this seems to allow an observer lowered towards the hole on a rope (or rod) to contact the horizon, in practice this cannot be done. The proper distance to the horizon...
the difference in programming languages.	Every single programming language serves one purpose: explain to the computer what we want it to do. HTML is... not a programming language, it's a markup language, which basically means text formatting. XML and JSON are in the same category The rest of languages fall in a few general categories (with examples): 1. A...	[ "Just as different groups in software engineering advocate different \"methodologies\", different programming languages advocate different \"programming paradigms\". Some languages are designed to support one paradigm (Smalltalk supports object-oriented programming, Haskell supports functional programming), while o...
why do modern tvs seem to increase the framerate of video, even when to footage is decades old?	Modern televisions have a setting that is usually turned on by default that causes this effect. The way it does it is by looking at two frames in the image, seeing what the differences are, and "guessing" what another frame between the two would look like if it was there when the show was recorded. The TV then creates ...	[ "Conventional video displays consist of a series of images, or \"frames\", representing single snapshots in time. When the frames are updated rapidly enough, changes in those images provide the illusion of continuous motion. This makes normal television tubes unsuitable for computer displays, where the image is gen...
Why was king hussein of jordan pro-peace with Israel?	Part 1 (scroll to my reply to this comment to read Part 2): The Jordanian motivations go much deeper than the history of the Hussein family and the Palestinians. Instead, one has to first understand the development of Jordan and the development of the state of Israel to understand their overlap. On the one hand, Jord...	[ "He was also seen as too lenient toward some ministers who were alleged to be corrupt. The price of establishing peace with Israel in 1994 he had to pay domestically, with mounting Jordanian opposition to Israel concentrating its criticism on the King. The King reacted by introducing restrictions on freedom of spee...
what exactly does a dip in economy do to a country?	If the economy dips less people are buying things, if less people are buying things then companies that make things can't afford to hire so many people to make those things. Those people lose their jobs and have less resources to buy things, and so on, and so on. Houses are lost because the bank expects you to pay m...	[ "These economic downturns occur because of increased supply and decreased demand, which combine to create a shift in surplus and power to the semi-periphery. Semi-periphery regions take advantage of the situation by expanding control of their home markets and the surrounding periphery countries at the expense of co...
why do helicopters crash so much more often than other aircraft?	Helicopters have extremely poor glide characteristics. Your best case scenario for a malfunction resulting in loss of lift is a controlled crash. There are a lot of flight regimes in which you're basically just 100% screwed in a helicopter because you simply don't have enough velocity or altitude to make any real recov...	[ "Of the accidents and incidents included in this list, six were caused by engine failure, while six flight-into-terrain accidents were recorded, with two additional hard landings resulting in serious damage to the aircraft. Seven more of the accidents and incidents were a result of problems in the helicopters' driv...
what are options and derivatives? and what are some of the more complex securities being traded?	A derivative is a contract you can buy and sell. For example, "whoever holds this piece of paper can buy 100 shares of IBM from me for $50 per share." Now, if IBM is worth a lot more than $50 a share, that piece of paper is valuable and you can sell it -- someone will pay good money for it, and its value fluctuates as ...	[ "This article covers those who deal in securities and futures in US markets. Securities include equities (stocks), bonds (US Government, corporate and municipal), and options thereon. Derivatives include futures and options thereon as well as swaps. The distinction in the US relates to having two regulators. Market...
Is it theoretically possible to replace all my bones (or most of the) for something made from a stronger material, like carbon fiber	Start by reading [this](_URL_0_) to learn about the functions of bone, which go beyond the structural.	[ "Bone generally has the ability to regenerate completely but requires a very small fracture space or some sort of scaffold to do so. Bone grafts may be autologous (bone harvested from the patient’s own body, often from the iliac crest), allograft (cadaveric bone usually obtained from a bone bank), or synthetic (oft...

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