question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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why is a scratch on a black car white and on a white car black? | It's nor white or black: it's grey and being half way between the 2 colors, it appears to be dark against white and fair against black. | [
"Some drivers believe that a new car is in greater danger than a used car of getting into an accident or having a collision. Some drivers will leave change under their seats. Others use one coin to scratch the car, based on the (false) belief that since the car is new and nothing has happened to it yet, the chances... |
Why is methionine/n-formylmethionine the universal start codon? Why not other amino acids? | It all comes down to the [ribosome](_URL_0_). It receives its catalytic activity through RNA, which is ribosomal RNA or rRNA. The smaller subunit has a bound methionine carrying tRNAi^met that will bind with the AUG codon of an mRNA strand. When this happens, the smaller subunits recruits the larger one to form the catalytically active ribosome with the three translation sites A, P and E and the mRNA strand between the subunits. So basically the methionine is what tells the ribosome to form around the mRNA and initiate translation. | [
"The methionine codon AUG is also the most common start codon. A \"Start\" codon is message for a ribosome that signals the initiation of protein translation from mRNA when the AUG codon is in a Kozak consensus sequence. As a consequence, methionine is often incorporated into the N-terminal position of proteins in ... |
how wireless charging works and why it can/can't be put in roads to power electric cars? | Imagine you have two loops of wire very close to each other. You put an electrical current through one of the wires. This current creates a moving magnetic field around that first wire. This magnetic field drags the electrons in the second wire, creating a second current.
The problem is that, even under the best circumstances it's not very efficient. A lot of energy gets wasted as heat. That, combined with the extreme cost is why we are unlikely to see it in use on roads anytime in the near future. | [
"Work and experimentation is currently underway in designing this technology to be applied to electric vehicles. This will be implemented by using a predefined path or conductors that would transfer power across an air gap and charge the vehicle on a predefined path such as a wireless charging lane. Vehicles that c... |
ipv6, the new and improved internet protocol? | Imagine you invent the telephone. Telephones are complicated and expensive, and not many people can afford them. You sell a bunch, and give them three-digit phone numbers -- the first customer's phone number is 001, the second customer's phone number is 002, and so on.
This works well for a while. But then 20 years pass, and oh snap! Phones are getting cheaper now, and everyone seems to want one! In fact, THOUSANDS of people are asking to buy phones, but you only use three-digit phone numbers, and all the switchboards, handsets and phone books are set up that way. There are only 1,000 three-digit numbers. So what do you do?
Well, the only thing you *can* do is switch to say, six-digit phone numbers -- so Joe is 000001, and Sarah is 000002. Now you have *one million* numbers to give out. But you have to change the way the phone systems work, which is a major pain.
Well, that's very much like what's happening with the internet.
Every internet connection has what's called an *IP address.* Your address right now might be 123.222.104.110, for example. IP addresses are like postal addresses. You send a letter that says "Dear Google (IP: 16.239.51.99), please send me the search results for *pumpkins*. Sincerely, 123.222.104.110." That signal/letter gets transmitted through the internet until it arrives at the correct address, and then Google sends the results to *your* address. Internet providers work just like mailmen, keeping track of who lives at what address and sending all the signals to the right houses/computers.
The exact systems by which the 'mailmen' deal with the 'letters' is called the internet protocol.
Currently, most people use Internet Protocol Version 4 -- IPv4. The problem with this is like the problem we had with those three-digit phone numbers: the way IPv4 addresses are written means there can only be 4.29 billion of them. Back in the 80s, this didn't seem like a problem -- 4 *billion* people on the internet? Madness! But the internet has become much more popular than people in the past expected it to get, and it turns out we actually *do* want to use more than 4 billion connections at once.
That's where IPv6 comes in. IPv6 is a new way to write addresses down. Instead of being Mr. 122.104.110.205, you're Mr. 3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf. It's a much longer and more complex number, now includings letters. Just like having 6-digit phone numbers let us have more phone customers than 3-digit numbers, IPv6 lets use have more internet customers than IPv4 did. In fact, with IPv6, we can have 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 people on the internet at the same time. That's a lot of people.
It doesn't differ from IPv4 in any other ways that would be important to the man at home; it's not faster or more reliable or anything. It just lets more people online. | [
"The first major version of IP, Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4), is the dominant protocol of the Internet. Its successor, Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), has been growing in adoption, reaching almost 25% of all Internet traffic as of October, 2018.\n",
"The rapid exhaustion of IPv4 address space available ... |
how is it that we are the most advanced species on the planet, yet our young take so long (much longer than most species) to be self-sufficient? | That's just it. It takes a while to amass information and use it.
An animal just does whatever comes natural, aka 'instinct'. But humans are taught and trained and learn and practice and... and...
Layers and layers of information and training to get us to the point where we can actually achieve more than the previous generation.
None of that comes easily, nor quickly. For to run, one must learn to walk. Apply that to any activity in life. Building. Theorizing. Testing. Proving.
All these require layers of previous knowledge. For we are not animals, just here to eat and procreate.
We are more than animals. But it takes practice to stay that way. Years of it. | [
"The age of the species is subject to considerable debate. Some scientists argue that vertebrate species with small populations cannot persist for long, and estimate the age of the species to be 360 years. Recent genetic analyses indicate that this species may have first colonized the hole within the past 1,000 yea... |
What are some things that people would be surprised to hear about your respective field? | Just a few things
- States continued to have established religions well into the 19th century
- Gran Colombia( a society that had many slaves) was able to free its' slaves with little conflict. In fact the United States was the only slave society that ran into serious trouble freeing their slaves.
- Interracial sex was not that uncommon in the South
- Only 1/8 of white males could vote upon independence ( and the number could have been lower) in the United States
- Native Americans owned slaves, sometimes in large numbers
- Having more then 8 slaves in the American South made you a big slave holder
- George Washington was not the only future President to "cross the Delaware", James Monroe was part of the vanguard for the attack and nearly died
- Every Single VP, President, and Secretary of State for the first 36 years of the Republic came from one of three states. Every Single president and SOS came from two states.
- Patrick Henry was perfectly fine with letting Virginia go its own way and stay out of the new Republic
| [
"Talent isn't enough. You need common sense and good advice. If anyone tries to tell you different, tell them the story of Hack Wilson. ... Kids in and out of baseball who think because they have talent they have the world by the tail. It isn't so. Kids, don't be too big to accept advice. Don't let what happened to... |
Is it the common understanding that all life on earth shares a common origin and ancestor? Even methane metabolizing bacteria? How do we know life didn't spring up in a common way in separate places or times? | Yes. See [Last universal common ancestor](_URL_0_). Yes, even methane-metabolizing bacteria. That Wikipedia page also outlines the evidence in favor of this.
However, this does not mean that life didn't spring up in a common way in separate places or times. All it means that the life present today that we have researched so far has a common ancestor; other lineages might be extinct or undiscovered. | [
"Regardless of whether planets with similar physical attributes to the Earth are rare or not, some argue that life usually remains simple bacteria. Biochemist Nick Lane argues that simple cells (prokaryotes) emerged soon after Earth's formation, but since almost half the planet's life had passed before they evolved... |
Why did the shield wall/phalanx fall out of use in medieval times, even before the widespread use of guns? | I wouldn't necessarily say that the phalanx went out of use before the spread of guns. Due to the dominance of heavy cavalry in Western Europe during the Middle Ages, pikes became very popular with many Crowns. As time went on and early muskets were introduced, you'd have formations like the tercio being made which relied on large numbers of pikes being supported by muskets. It isn't until the use of field artillery small enough for anti-infantry use would they fall aside. | [
"By the middle of the 15th century, artillery pieces had become powerful enough to make the traditional medieval round tower and curtain wall obsolete. This was exemplified by the campaigns of Charles VII of France who reduced the towns and castles held by the English during the latter stages of the Hundred Years W... |
what are the differences of viral, fungal, and bacterial infections in the human body. | The difference is the type of critter that is making you sick/causing the infection. Viral infections are caused by a maybe alive, maybe not depending on who you talk to, bit of protein and RNA that hijack your cells to produce more copies of itself, making you sick. Fungal infections are caused by single cellular fungus (think mushrooms) which normally eat dead things but in some cases can attack living tissues (e.g. athlete's foot). A bacterial infection is caused when a single cellular bacterial organism invades and starts to attack your body. | [
"Bacterial infection is the most common cause. Often many different types of bacteria are involved in a single infection. In the United States and many other areas of the world the most common bacteria present is \"methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus\". Among spinal subdural abscesses, methicillin-sensitive... |
how come potatos float, but things just as heavy sink? | Floating doesn't have as much to do with weight as it has to do with density.
An object will sink if the weight of the object is than heavier the weight of the water it displaces! Two objects of the same size will displace the same amount of water (when completely submerged). Suppose that water would weigh 10 pounds. However, two objects of the same size will not necessarily weigh the same amount. One object might way 8 pounds and another might way 12 pounds. The heavier object is more dense. If the object is more dense than water, it will sink. If it is less dense than water, it will float! The 8 pound object will float, the 12 pound will sink!
| [
"The sea potato buries itself in sand to a depth of ten to fifteen centimetres. It occurs in sediments with a wide range of grain sizes but prefers sediments with a size of 200 to 300 µm and a low mud content. It makes a respiratory channel leading to the surface and two sanitary channels behind itself, all lined b... |
How quickly does temperature change on Mercury? | A [solar day](_URL_1_) on Mercury (different than a [sidereal day](_URL_2_)!) is about 176 Earth days. The resonance of its rotation with its orbit around the sun creates an earth-unintuitive day: ["there are certain points on Mercury's surface where an observer would be able to see the Sun rise about halfway, reverse and set, and then rise again, all within the same Mercurian day."](_URL_0_) A plot of mercury's temperature over a day is thus going to vary depending where on mercury you are because of the "weirdness".
You could grossly approximate the temperature change over a day at the equator as a sine wave oscillating between 100K and 700K which means that in the earth day where the temperature change is most rapid (out of the 176 earth days that make 1 Mercurian day), you would see a rise or fall of about 11C.
Due to thermal resistance of the Mercurian earth (there isn't much atmosphere to speak of) a dawn on mercury will be cooler than an evening, although I don't know the degree of that offset. | [
"If the temperature rises, the maximum scale marker will be pushed. If it falls, the moving mercury will push the minimum scale marker. As the temperature varies, the markers will remain in their positions unless the temperature becomes higher (for maximum) or lower (for minimum) than already recorded, in which cas... |
what is the difference between private property and personal property? | *Personal* property is stuff that you just like... have lying around. Your clothes would be personal property, along with your phone, dog, and TV.
*Private* property is stuff like an office or factory. You're not holding it in your hands; if everyone else did not agree that you owned it, you would have no grounds for saying "that's mine".
(For anyone who doesn't know why this distinction is important, it's a communist thing. Communists want to get rid of *private* property, but don't mind the existence of *personal* property. | [
"Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity; and from collective (or cooperative) property, which is owned by a group of non-governmental entities. Private proper... |
how does helium in a sealed balloon "wear out" after a few days, and what do blimps do to counteract this effect? | Helium is the smallest stable molecule there is. It is so small that it can fit between the molecules of most solid materials. So keeping helium in a rubber balloon is like keeping water in a cloth bag. It will slowly leak out over time. Blimps use denser and thicker materials for their balloons but still have to refill once in a while. | [
"Helium II also exhibits a creeping effect. When a surface extends past the level of helium II, the helium II moves along the surface, against the force of gravity. Helium II will escape from a vessel that is not sealed by creeping along the sides until it reaches a warmer region where it evaporates. It moves in a ... |
Why, if the Sun is a "Green Star," do we see it as red/yellow/orange? | Some call it green because the Boltzman peak happens in the "green" region. The problem is if its emitting here its also emitting at many other wavelengths as well. Our eyes see the combination of all these colors to derive the final view which is yellow/orange.
| [
"In astronomy, a green star is a white or blue star that appears green due to an optical illusion. There are no truly green stars, because the color of a star is more or less given by a black-body spectrum and this never looks green. However, there are a few stars that appear green to some observers. This is usuall... |
if my computer can watch gameplay of a game on the highest quality why can't my video card support it's graphics. | When you play the game, your computer has to calculate many things like how the light is going to bounce off different objects, it has to load texture files, render complex 3d models and many more.
When you play a video, its just playing pictures, its not having to "build" what's in them. | [
"Gaming PCs use hardware accelerated video cards which offer high-end rasterisation-based rendering/image quality. The graphics card is the most important part determining the capabilities of a gaming PC. Memory capacity on 3D cards is usually at least 256 MB to 12 GB. The amount of video RAM is more important whil... |
why when repaving a freeway is the concrete under an overpass never paved over | The dump truck which feeds the paving machine often has its [bed extended high into the air](_URL_0_), which probably exceeds the clearance of many overpasses. I'd imagine they just skip them and finish up with smaller equipment after the main drags are completed. | [
"Because of problems with pavement on other roads in the system and anticipation of heavy traffic on the new Interstate, the tollway authority decided to pave I-355 with pavement expected to last 20 years. Construction workers laid concrete on the tollway to a thickness of over an sub-base. The new pavement also in... |
why can't we bring in sealed beverages through tsa checkpoints but we can buy those same beverages on the other side at 200% markup? | For the fear that you might have sealed the beverage yourself and it might actually contain gasoline or other dangerous substances instead of an actual can of coke. | [
"Trades at the NBP are made via the OCM trading system, an anonymous trading service managed by ICE ENDEX to which offers or requests for gas at a nominated price can be posted. The minimum amount of gas that may be traded on the OCM is 4,000 therms, so if a shipper's position is long or short by a volume less than... |
What happened to Prussian military values? | I'm not sure that "Prussian Military Values" as much glorified war, as it did the profession of arms, and being good at it. Although the Prussian military heritage (and reputation) dates back to the 18th Century, the big revolution in military affairs appropriate to the Germans in the 20th Century was that brought about by von Moltke and von Roon in the late 19th Century.
Probably the three biggest things they did was the creation of proper staffs, heavy pre-planning for rapid mobilisation (And a revision to the cycling of conscripts to increase the manpower base), and a truly professional officer's corps. This latter was also infused with 'auftragstatiks', or 'mission command' as we call it in the US today. Generally lower-level officers were given authority to make their own decisions, even if somewhat counter to their orders, in order to achieve the greater aims. The Prussians also emphasised, at this point, battles of annihilation obtained by rapid maneuver.
Many of the Prussian principles developed in the 19th Century remain in heavy use today by most professional militaries. (Some being paid more lip service than others). The German army of today still follows most of these Prussian military ideals, so I don't think the recent relative pacifism is anything to do with the demise of Prussian military values in the 20th Century, as much as just a change in the national culture. That's a question which is not in my lane. | [
"The defeat of the Prussian Army in particular shocked the Prussian establishment, which had believed it was invincible after the victories of Frederick the Great. The Prussians were used to relying on superior organization and tactical factors such as order of battle to focus superior troops against inferior ones.... |
Is nuclear fusion currently the most efficient method of energy generation or do we know of something better? | Aside from solar and wind power, virtually all means of energy generation are the same: produce heat, boil water, and use the steam to power a turbine. In that sense, a nuclear plant can have effectively the same efficiency as a coal, oil, or natural gas plant. If you are using a different definition of efficiency, like economical efficiency, then nuclear isn't even close to the best. Coal is the best there, though it is the least environmentally friendly. | [
"As a source of power, nuclear fusion is expected to have several theoretical advantages over fission. These include reduced radioactivity in operation and little high-level nuclear waste, ample fuel supplies, and increased safety. However, achieving the necessary temperature/pressure/duration combination has prove... |
Why does a person spinning around slow the earths rotation? | An analogue:
Say you are on a vehicle on a perfectly flat surface with incredibly well greased wheels (basically no friction). Now you are standing still on one end of the vehicle and start running towards the end of the vehicle. Your acceleration sets the vehicle into motion just as yourself and when you stop, the vehicle stops as well as your deceleration decelerates the vehicle.
Similarly, if you start to rotate, you exert and equal but opposite action on the earth which will then rotate at a slightly different rate (depends on location and rotation direction). As soon as you stop, the effect is gone though.
On a sidenote: It should be obvious that you cannot in any real sense influence the rotation of earth as any effect on the rotation period from humans starting spinning is far too small to be measurable (at least with any instruments at our disposal). It still is a clever, romantic idea. | [
"Scientists in a rotating box can measure the speed and direction of their rotation by measuring these fictitious forces. For example, Léon Foucault was able to show the Coriolis force that results from Earth's rotation using the Foucault pendulum. If Earth were to rotate many times faster, these fictitious forces ... |
On my bike: is it more efficient to pedal fast in a low gear or slower in a high gear? | In 'armchair engineering' units you are more efficient in high gear (low cadence), you do not have to 'lift' your leg that often and that lifting doesn't need such a fast acceleration.
In 'real world cycling' units you have to produce energy, with a light load (high cadence) you can produce that from burning mostly (unlimited) fat and some glucose, with a low cadence those peak demands come from burning (limited) glycogen and higher levels of glucose.
| [
"For a bicycle to travel at the same speed, using a lower gear (larger mechanical advantage) requires the rider to pedal at a faster cadence, but with less force. Conversely, a higher gear (smaller mechanical advantage) provides a higher speed for a given cadence, but requires the rider to exert greater force. Diff... |
if fireworks are illegal, why do people get them anyway and don't get penalized? | Fireworks are illegal in the same way that jaywalking is illegal. They're a minor infraction punishable by a small fine. So unless you're causing trouble, most cops aren't going to waste their time writing you a $25 ticket. | [
"Improper use of fireworks may be dangerous, both to the person operating them (risks of burns and wounds) and to bystanders; in addition, they may start fires after landing on flammable material. For this reason, the use of fireworks is generally legally restricted. Display fireworks are restricted by law for use ... |
how does ritalin work? | So to answer the 2nd part of your q, ritalin blocks [re-uptake](_URL_0_) of the neurotransmitters by pre-synaptic neurons - they have a higher affinity for the transport proteins and physically block the neurotransmitters from binding these proteins. So more of the neurotransmitters remain in the synaptic cleft and are available to activate post-synaptic receptors.
AFAIK the exact neurobiology behind ADHD is unknown but ritalin likely ultimately works by correcting an imbalance between the norepinephrine and dopamine systems in the prefrontal cortex. (_URL_1_) | [
"Methylphenidate, sold under the trade name Ritalin among others, is a stimulant medication used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. It is a first line medication for ADHD. It is taken by mouth or applied to the skin. Different formulations have different durations of effect.\n"... |
Why was the German M24 potato mashers concept of having a stick to throw the grenade not adapted by other armed forces? | Stick grenades were not only used by Germany.
There are several advantages to the "pineapple" design. If you just check a picture of both types you will notice that the pineapple version is smaller and therefore weights less, is easier to carry and easier to transport. Equipping a unit with several thousand M24 or other stick grenades will cost more for various reason. They cost more to produce and then more to transport, the transport factor will be minor but we are talking about huge armies so it will be noticable.
The stick grenade had some advantages which lost its importance because of the changing face of war. During WW1 being able to throw a grenade far away was a major advantages alot of grenades were just hurrled towards enemy trenches. This factor diminished after World War 1 and today alot of grenades are aimed at windows for example this target was literally non existent in World War 1. Iam no expert on Vietnam and this example is just a guess but i doubt you would take a stick grenade in a thick jungle, the surface is greater and the grenade will more easily land where you dont want it to land, just by hitting a tree or something else, the same is true for urban warfare. Another advantage of the M42 was the difficulty of getting rid of the grenade once it landed in your trench, just by looking at a stick grenade you are faced with a more difficult situation than with a "round" pineapple grenade. How to grab? Even thinking about this will cost time. On the other hand the timer of stick grenades were often longer because they were intended to be thrown over longer ranges.
Still, the main advantages of "pineapple" grenades are cost and the lacking neccessity of long distance throws compared to the time when stick grenades were first introduced. | [
"Some grenades are designed to be thrown longer distances. The German \"potato-masher\" grenade had a long wooden handle that extended its range by fifty percent. The potato-masher was fired by a friction igniter in the head, activated by a pull string threaded through the hollow handle. Immediately before throwing... |
Can all winged animals be traced back to a single animal that was born with a mutation that caused it to grow wings? | Wings have evolved independently at least four times in the history of the planet. Flying insects, birds, bats, and prehistoric flying reptiles like the pterodactyl all developed flight separate from each other. | [
"One of the winged species appears to have evolved on the planet because fossils of these creatures have been found kilometers under the surface, wedged into the rocks of ice down there, and from the condition of the fossils, the wings were rudimentary. If this particular winged species actually did evolve on this ... |
What was the average height of different armies in World War 2? | In the US Army during WWII, logs were kept by the Quartermaster Corps of what sizes of clothes were issued for supply purposes, as well as by the Medical Corps for statistical purposes. It was found that the average male inductee was 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed 144 pounds; an inch taller and eight pounds heavier than his Great War counterpart. He had a 33 1/4" chest measurement and 31" waist measurement; he could expect to add an inch to his chest and gain anywhere from five to twenty pounds during training. Many inductees were underweight due to insufficient nutrition as they grew up during the Great Depression.
> From the tariff tables showing the frequency of size issues it is found that the sizes most frequently issued are a 7 to 7 1/2 hat, number 9 gloves, a 15 shirt with a 33" sleeve, a 36 regular jacket, a pair of trousers with a 32" waist and a 32" leg length, size 11 socks, and size 9-D shoes.
Sources:
*G.I.: The American Soldier in World War II*, by Lee B. Kennett
[*Tailor to Millions*](_URL_0_), by Harold P. Godwin (Quartermaster Review, May-June 1945) | [
"The Army entered World War I with very large divisions, often numbering more than 30,000 men (the 4th Division contained 32,000, for example) and consisting of two infantry brigades of two regiments each, with a total of sixteen infantry battalions per division. Each division also had three artillery regiments and... |
Which ancestor species in the genus of Homids was the first to adapt with clothing and why? | /r/AskAnthropology would be better equipped to tackle this question for you. | [
"\"H. erectus\" was probably the first hominin to live in small, familiar band-societies similar to modern hunter-gatherer band-societies, and is thought to be the first hominin species to hunt in coordinated groups, to use complex tools, and to care for infirm or weak companions. It is also unknown if they wore cl... |
Do we really know what Ancient Greece looked like? I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and was wondering if it is really an accurate depiction of what Greece looked like at that time. | There's two pretty distinct parts to your question so I'll discuss them separately.
& nbsp;
**How do we know what Ancient Greece looked like?**
The most famous remains of Classical Greece are literary texts, painted vases, ruined buildings, and statues (the latter usually Roman marble copies of bronze Greek originals). These may not seem very promising for someone looking to reconstruct, say, a street scene. But there's actually a lot there that can help us get a sense of the physical world the Greeks lived in.
At the most basic level, the geography and vegetation of the Mediterranean is still largely unchanged from the way it was 2500 years ago. We can explore the arid, mountainous landscape, the rugged coastline, the little islands and fertile plains, knowing that these would have been the same spaces where Ancient Greeks travelled and farmed and sailed and built houses. We can measure the climatic differences that explain, for example, why the Greek states in Sicily produced a surplus of grain. We know they grew barley and wheat, vines, olives and figs. We know they kept sheep, goats, and cattle. We know they used the same trees for timber and toolmaking (willow, ash, cornel, cypress) that still grow in the Mediterranean today.
Indeed, we can still see the traces of some of the ways the Greeks shaped the land around them. On the island of Hvar, off the coast of Croatia, you can still clearly see [the grid pattern of the roads](_URL_0_) separating the agricultural lots assigned to each citizen of the Greek settlement of Pharos in the 4th century BC. A similar pattern, much older, was revealed in the excavations at Metapontion in Southern Italy. On the Greek island of Samos you can visit the [aquaduct](_URL_1_) that Polykrates ordered his subjects to tunnel through 500m of solid rock. Many modern docks and harbour moles around the Aegean go back to ancient times.
Then we come to the more obvious stuff: large areas of ruins where Greek cities, fortresses and sanctuaries once stood. The game features a (heavily exaggerated) Minoan place at Knossos, which [is really there](_URL_2_) and constitutes one of the oldest large structures found in Greece. From the Classical period there are massive urban sites like Paestum, Akragas and Syracuse in Italy, Corinth and Athens in Greece, Cyrene in Libya, and many others. There are also huge sanctuary sites like [Olympia](_URL_3_) and [Delphi](_URL_7_). At these sites we can learn the shape and size of buildings of different kinds, the layout of streets, the way monuments were placed and organised, the way cities were fortified, and so on.
Ruins might not look like much to the naked eye, but archaeologists can do a lot with a pile of stones: they can measure, for instance, how many storeys a building will have had, how much was made of ashlar or brick masonry, what the roof was made of, and many other things. The nature of the material can show the wealth of the settlement but also gives clues as to its decoration. Many stones and column drums still show traces of plaster or paint, which we can use to reconstruct their dazzling original state. The same applies to marble and bronze statues (we know the Greeks also made statues out of wood, but these don't survive).
Anything that is decorated with images can tell us things about the real world. Frescoes often depicted rooms or other buildings; vases were often decorated with scenes from everyday life; funerary monuments often depicted the deceased in all their finery. It is from such images that we learn what furniture looked like, how people dressed in different contexts (parties, funerals, travel, sport, war), what sort of objects they used, and sometimes even what they ate or how they worked. The archaeological record helps too, insofar as things made of non-perishable material (metal, stone, pottery, bone) can be preserved for a very long time if they are not reused or deliberately destroyed.
Finally, there's a lot we can learn from the literary evidence, even if it doesn't intend to describe ordinary things. Ancient geographies and travel guides tell us about landscapes, tell us what notable buildings looked like in their prime, describe lost art and sculpture to us, and so on. Other texts will often contain almost accidental references to things that their authors took for granted - they will list different types of artisans, describe things that are lying around, comment on sights they approve or disapprove of, etcetera.
From all this we can get a pretty good sense of the sights and sounds of the Classical Greek world.
& nbsp;
**How accurate are the environments of *Assassin's Creed: Odyssey*?**
It's impossible to comment on everything here, but suffice to say that they clearly devoted a lot of attention to the physical world of the game. The landscape is heavily foreshortened: Greece in the game is tiny, and the mountains encroach on the city of Athens instead of leaving quite a lot of space that is now [covered by the modern megacity](_URL_6_). But its layout maps onto ancient Greece and its sites, and the cities are full of places and people that were actually there at the time. The architecture, art, sculpture, dress, and armour of the generic characters was all clearly designed after real examples (the wall decoration at Knossos, for example, repeats frescoed patterns found on the site, as well as some Mycenaean sites). There are some great details, such as the diversity of the population and the extravagant colour on many buildings and statues.
That said, the game designers obviously took liberties with a lot of things in the name of aesthetics and player experience. Many of the houses have very modern roof gardens and canopies that would have been unknown to the ancient Greeks; their actual houses were fairly dull and uniform, with tiled roofs and tiny windows on the outside walls. Many of the gates and temples of the game have hanging banners that have nothing to do with Ancient Greece and everything to do with Nazi Germany. The Classical Greeks didn't really use flags or banners at all. While the Greeks certainly did build giant statues, the game has them lying around just anywhere, many of them in a very late (Hellenistic) style while also already laying in ruins. The warships are a strange mishmash of the [Classical trireme](_URL_4_) and more modern designs from the Age of Sail. The game pushes the idea that if Spartans wear red, Athenians must wear blue, which has [no historical basis whatsoever](_URL_5_). Most of the weapons and pieces of armour available to the player are fantasy designs with no archaeological parallel. The catapult was invented in the early 4th century BC (the traditional date is 399 BC in Syracuse), so they didn't exist yet during the Peloponnesian War. Also, there are piles of painted pots lying around everywhere for no apparent reason.
One of the most jarring aspects of the game world, but entirely understandable from the point of view that this is a fighting game, is the fact that loads of people seem to be walking around in full armour every waking moment. This is completely out of step with the real Greek world. Classical Greeks thought carrying weapons in public was characteristic of barbarians; civilized Greeks no longer did this. No one would voluntarily wear armour unless they were literally about to go into battle. Only tyrants, who had reason to fear assassination, would wear a cuirass when out on regular business. In reality, most people would go about dressed in much the same (colourful) ways, though the wealthy could always be identified by their tight cloaks, walking sticks, and dainty parasols (and their sons by their [long hair](_URL_8_)). There would also not be armed guards anywhere except on the city walls in wartime, because why would there be?
Still, there is no doubt that *AC:Odyssey* represents the most detailed and careful attempt ever to create a virtual world that looks like Classical Greece. (It helps that there haven't really been any other attempts.) They had the means to do it right, and they made the effort to get a lot of things right. No doubt exploring this world will teach any casual player a lot about what Ancient Greece actually looked like. | [
"Central Greece is the location of Thebes, an ancient city that once rivalled Athens, and featured in Greek myth. Delphi has a distinguished ancient theatre, the site of the Oracle. Thermopylae is primarily known for the battle that took place there in 480 BC, in which an outnumbered Greek force probably of seven t... |
they had rc planes and helicopters way before and no one cared so what's the big issue with people and drones? | I would say part of it would be the recording video aspect. Since you could theoretically fly a drone and peek into your neighbors house. South Park did an episode that is quite entertaining on the drone issues
EDIT: Here is a link to the [south park](_URL_0_) episode | [
"Drones are used by the military in situations where manned flight is considered too risky or difficult. The United States Air Force has drones that range from small intelligence drones to surveillance drones and large spy planes. The drones are unmanned, but they have a pilot. Trained crew steer the craft through ... |
why aren't bluefin tuna more commonly bred? | It's not as profitable as you would think. Bluefins require *massive* amounts of food per pound of weight gained. They also are 1000+ lbs so you need a huge amount of space and heavy duty equipment to do it. The land and equipment eats into that profit tremendously, but the big reason is that their diet of fish isn't cheap either - and pound for pound, they require ten times as much food as salmon.
Still, there are plenty of people farming and breeding them. | [
"Bluefin tuna were often referred to as the common tunny, especially in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The name \"tuna\", a derivative of the Spanish \"atún\", was widely adopted in California in the early 1900s, and has since become accepted for all tunas, including the bluefin, throughout the English-speakin... |
why do pets have "favorite" toys? | Pets are just like us. They have smells they prefer, colors (if they can see them) etc. They also often like predictibility and routine at times and may find relaxing with the same object often soothing. Other features that cause a pet to enjoy a toy may include the sound it makes, the way it moves or what the toy reminds them of. Just like the way most people have favorite objects for similar reasons! | [
"The game offers a variety of puppies and kittens which you can interact with. Activities include playing, feeding, petting, and dressing up the pets to develop a bond with them. Each pet contains different personality traits, which determines their likes and dislikes for certain food and activities. Play with the ... |
What is the origin of the wandering Romani? | India is the accepted original spot. People left India between 700 and 1200 C.E., and landed in the Middle East, where they split. My understanding is that there may have been separate migrations of Dom and Rom, with the Dom leaving earlier.
They did not keep a written record, however historians are confident that because of the close similarities between the Romani and of Indian language, as well as genetic evidence, that India was their point of origin.
| [
"The Romani (also spelled Romany , ), colloquially known as Gypsies or Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally itinerant, living mostly in Europe and the Americas and originating from the northern Indian subcontinent, from the Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab regions of modern-day India.\n",
"In Vuk Ste... |
why is it when you jump straight up you move with the earth, instead of it moving under you. | The earth does turn under you. And the ground is moving really fast. So why don't we notice?
Let's think about three things in the time of a jump, 1 second: The whole earth, you, and the point on the ground right under you.
The whole earth is turning or spinning. That means that it turns all the way around in one day. If one turn is 360^o and a day is 24x60x60=86,400 seconds, in 1 second the earth turns 0.004 degrees.
Now let's think about the point right under you. That point has to go all the way around the earth in 1 day. The earth is 40,000 km around at the equator so every second the point under you has to go 40,000,000m/86,400s = 462meters, about a half a mile each and every second.
Now let's think about you: When you are standing still you also have to go around the earth once every day. At the equator you also are going 462m every second. When you jump up, all the momentum doesn't disappear. there is nothing to stop you from keeping up that speed so when you jump straight up you are actually still moving to the side at half a mile per second. If this part doesn't make sense to you just let me know and I can explain Newton's First Law in more detail. :)
What we have so far: You and the point under you are moving at half a mile per second. There is no reason for either of those to stop. The ground under you is tilting but it only tilts by 0.004 degrees, not enough for you to notice. | [
"When someone wants to jump, he or she exerts additional downward force on the ground ('action'). Simultaneously, the ground exerts upward force on the person ('reaction'). If this upward force is greater than the person's weight, this will result in upward acceleration. When these forces are perpendicular to the g... |
Was John Locke in favor of democracy? | John Locke's most politically influential work is probably his two Treatises of Government. The first of which, is mostly written as refutation of a work titled Patriarcha, by Sir Robert Filmer, which was mostly written as a philosophical attempt to support the divine right of kings. Arguing for a hierarchical system in which kings, who are somehow considered to be the heirs of Adam, are closer to god than their subordinates, and as such, have the right to govern their subjects as a father has the right to govern his family.
The second treatise deals mostly with Locke's theory on why and what governments are.
_URL_0_
The commonly touted political theory associated with John Locke is the 'Social contract'. He argues that governments are formed as a means of instituting a system of order that protects its citizens natural inalienable rights. (Mostly the classic, trio: Life, Liberty and property) As such, any system of government is a contract between its citizens, and the government itself - Citizens surrender some freedom in the interest of preventing anarchy and protecting their lives and property. In Locke's understanding, the Social contract can take many forms, such as a parliamentary democracy, or a constitutional monarchy and non of them are inherently superior. (Of course, his first treatise debunks the suitability of an absolute monarchy)
Generally speaking, I would argue that Locke doesn't believe that Democracy is essential. but, he does argue that if any Social Contract descends into a tyranny - where a government ignores, or violates the rights of its people - it is the duty of its populace to revolt, overthrow the government, and institute a new contract that respects the rights of its citizens. Although this may sound like an incitement to form a democracy, it doesn't in practice mean it. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 overthrew a sitting monarch and replaced him with a new constitutional monarch, (admittedly, the reasons for the "revolution" were entirely religious) replacing James II with William III safeguarded the rights of the protestant majority, but did so at the expense of the Catholic minority, the people merely switched a king with a different king. | [
"Locke's political theory was founded on social contract theory. Unlike Thomas Hobbes, Locke believed that human nature is characterised by reason and tolerance. Like Hobbes, Locke believed that human nature allowed people to be selfish. This is apparent with the introduction of currency. In a natural state all peo... |
why must i enter a captcha to pay a bill? are they afraid a robot is going to enter a credit card on my behalf? | Yes, captchas are generally used to prevent automation by using (ro)bots. However, there are a couple of side effects. One would be that you can not "accidentally" pay the bill because you would have to enter the captcha first. A bot would also not just enter "a credit card" but instead do pretty much anything on there - like trying out different card numbers. Using a captcha verifies that you are human. When developers are unsure whether or not to use a captcha then they will usually go for it because you know, better have than not have.
Source: I'm a software engineer and ex webdev | [
"If the passenger has not paid his penalty immediately, he is obliged to prove his identity. If he has not his ID card on his, the ticket inspector is needed to call police officers to verify the identity.\n",
"Such an offer may even be no more than a phishing attempt to obtain the victim's credit card informatio... |
Why do some trees leaves turn red some yellow and some orange and if a tree is red this year then is it always red or can it be yellow next year? | Chlorophyll is the main pigment that most plants contain and it’s what causes plants to be green.
However, plants have other pigments as well . These are the reds, oranges, and yellows that can be seen in the fall when the chlorophyll starts to break down as the trees prep for winter.
And yes, if a tree is red one year then it will be red the next! That’s why some people wait till fall to buy trees because they want to see what colour the leaves will turn. | [
"why some leaves turn yellow. However, the yellow color can attract aphids, so some trees turn the leaves red instead by injecting a bright pigment. The loss of chlorophyll may also contribute to the abscission process.\n",
"Characteristically the trees shed their leaves for a short period in the dry season to re... |
Does drinking alcohol kill off viruses and other diseases in your system by any amount? | No, the concentration of ethanol needed to kills microbes in large quantities is over 60%. You would be *long* dead via alcohol poisoning before that happened.
Furthermore, alcohol is not very good at killing microbes in a system such as your body (or a cell plate in a bio lab), hence why other chemicals are used for this purpose. | [
"For health care settings like hospitals and clinics, optimum alcohol concentration to kill bacteria is 70% to 95%. Products with alcohol concentrations as low as 40% are available in American stores, according to researchers at East Tennessee State University.\n",
"The risk of cancer associated with alcohol cons... |
The conflict of Israel v. Hamas has come up due to recent events. What is the history behind the Israelis and the anti-Israeli sentiment in Palestine, or even Gaza and West Bank? | I hope the mods are watching. This has the potential to be VERY circlejerky. I want sources. | [
"Tensions between Israel and Hamas ran high after the Gaza War, although fighting ended after a cease-fire was signed. No serious armed incidents had taken place before these clashes. However, tensions ran high, especially with the Mossad suspected of assassinating Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, and a... |
what causes us to rub our face when we are tired? | Tired eyes get dry, and rubbing stimulates the glands to produce more fluid. Tiredness also closes your eyes, so you may rub to keep them open. Finally, there's a connection between the muscles that move your eyes around and your heart. When these muscles are stimulated, a reflex slows the heart. | [
"Dry eyes can be exacerbated by smoky environments, dust and air conditioning and by our natural tendency to reduce our blink rate when concentrating. Purposefully blinking, especially during computer use and resting tired eyes are basic steps that can be taken to minimise discomfort. Rubbing one's eyes can irritat... |
Did Manchukuo have any sort of national identity or was it purely a Japanese puppet? | **TL;DR at the Bottom**
The political situation surrounding Manchuria (or the Northeast, *dongbei*) is extremely complex. After the collapse of the Qing, and the general chaos ensuing between and during the Republican Period, Japan had strong economic ties to Manchuria, which at the time led the world in soybean production ( [_URL_0_](_URL_1_) for more information on the trade of soybeans). In fact, one of the main catalysts for the assassination of Japanese prime minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was his reluctance to accede to a full-out military invasion of Manchuria prior to 1931. Indeed in some respects the invasion itself was never fully justified or approved of by all Japanese politicians, but that's getting into murky territory for myself and is of much academic debate. The Soviets, too, had large interests in Manchuria, and owned half control of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which ran through Harbin and Qiqihar. By 1930, however, Zhang Xueliang, "The Young Marshall," was in control of the Northeastern government and was openly patriotic toward China. So Manchuria was never actually conquered by the Kuomintang after the Northern Expedition. To further trouble your question, by the mid 18th century, Manchuria was predominately Han, the main "Chinese" ethnic group which makes up 95% of China today; even today the Manchu make up a relatively small portion of the population of the Northeast, with even less ethnic Manchu's speaking Manchu as a native language. So if what you're asking is "Did the Manchu (the ethnic group) feel any sense of nation pride/separate identity from China?" then I cannot answer that specifically, because I am no expert on the Manchu themselves. And even if they did, the point would've been, frankly, moot, as little-to-no ethnic Manchu held any sort of political power in the Manchuria during the 1930s.
& #x200B;
but I can answer about Chinese resistance against, and collaboration with, the Japanese during the existence of Manchukuo, or *Manzhouguo* as it's pronounced in Chinese. And for the purpose of this, Ill be using the amazing book *The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, Resistance, and Collaboration in Modern China* by Rana Mitter. The entire thing is free on JSTOR if you have an account, and if this is a subject that interests you I highly recommend you to read it, its fantastic.
If you're only interested in the final conclusion of the idea of national pride and ideology in Manchukuo, then go ahead and skip to the conclusion I'll provide at the end. The first two parts will focus on the collaboration and resistance in Manchuria.
**Collaboration**
So starting with collaboration, while Zhang Xueliang was in Beijing during the Kwantung Army's invasion of Manchuria where he would stay for the next few years, most of the local elite Chinese opted to collaborate with the Japanese immediately after they took over. This cooperation was crucial for the Japanese to reign in Manchuria, as the Kwantung Army itself had roughly 64,000 troops during the invasion, a nice portion, but not nearly enough to hold down a territory that's 350,000 sq/mi. Fortunately, since Zhang Xueliang and most of his deputies were away in other parts of China, any resistance (which I'll get to later) was poorly coordinated, and lower ranking officers taking advantage of the Japanese occupation, such as Yu Zhishan, the Eastern Borders Garrison commander, defected immediately. In another smack in the face to ultra-nationalists, Chiang Kai-shek himself issued an order of non-resistance, approved by Zhang, to the commanders in Manchuria.
Now, it may seem odd to you that the Chinese were so willing to cooperate with such eagerness, but understanding some background in Japanese politics in Manchuria helps. To keep it brief, Zhang's father, Zhang Zuolin, was appointed as warlord in 1916 with the help of Japanese military material (he was originally just a bandit who pillaged rural areas), so after Zuolin's death in 1928 (ironically, assassination by Japanese) and Zhang Xueliang's ascension, many of the senior government officials were still deep in the pockets of Japanese businesses and military-men, and Zhang never did have full control over Manchuria during his brief reign.
Very quickly, the Japanese began setting up various public government programs, many of which fell in-line with the increasingly zealous Pan-Asiatic ideologies that were being espoused by Japanese generals during this time. The Liaoning Public Order Maintenance Committee was the first to be set up, and various others would begin siphoning the massive amounts of taxes the Zhang's used to keep their military afloat into public building programs. Universities, roads, sanitation systems; all these were built by Japanese engineers, and social programs were being run by Japanese anthropologists and sociologists who came to Manchuria in great numbers to study what they saw as the real-time actions of Pan-Asianism. Still, it is important to know that most of these programs, although they answered to Japanese superiors, were run almost entirely by local Chinese elites. It went something like this:
> The strategy of co-optation, with overall supervision by a centrally controlled Self-Government Guiding Board, was not improvised. In 1929, the Kwantung Army had set up a research group to consider the best method of governing an occupied Northeast... Among the suggestions (from the research) in it were that a new Japanese controlled central military government should be set up, but that "local governments were to be preserved to administer to local affairs... Chinese civil officials below *hsien* directors were to remain in their posts or be replaced by other Chinese - *The Manchurian Myth, 82.*
Yu Chonghan, a former administrator during Zhang Zuolin's reign, would be at the head of this governing apparatus. But again, things get tricky. Because while the Japanese were in command, they were not shying away from using Chinese propaganda techniques in order to persuade Chinese officials to work with them. Yu, for example, was convinced to take the job after Morita Fukumatsu, a member of the Fengtian Japanese Residents' Association, talked to him about "the Northeast and the use of the Kingly Way (*Wangdao*) as a doctrine to underpin the new state." Aha. So here we see the making of a sort of national identity, but one that is still distinctly Chinese, not Manchu. In practice, of course, Manchukuo was a Japanese puppet. But, the propaganda underlying Japan's conquest of Manchuria was fitted to both reassure, and please, the local native populations. This is important to understand in order to understand the Japanese ideology behind their conquests throughout the 1920-40s. It was not solely driven by economical gain, like that of Western imperialism in Asia which sought to profit from unequal trade treaties, but rather that the races of Asia were to be "wedded" together in order for a final showdown between Asia and the West, a showdown which would eerily come true just a few decades later. That being said, there was certainly major economic interests in Manchuria for Japanese businessmen, and one would be wrong to totally ignore those factors when considering this.
So as we see with this, the Japanese and Chinese collaborated greatly during the existence of Manchukuo. Local Public Order Maintenance Committees were the Japanese favorite in organizing their newly acquired land (according to Mitter, rouoghly 40% of taxes collected by the Japanese in 1932-33 went to the "work of peace preservation"). And in most places, the Japanese armies retired to garrisons and allowed local Chinese policing forces to police major cities. However, not everyone in Manchuria was so happy about the change of command and the subjugation by the Japanese, and many local leaders, continued to carry out guerilla wars of resistance. | [
"Manchukuo, in the northeast region of China, had been a Japanese puppet state in Manchuria since the 1930s. It was nominally ruled by Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, but was in fact controlled by the Japanese military, in particular the Kwantung Army. While Manchukuo ostensibly was a state for ethnic M... |
In the First World War, soldiers were required to be clean shaven in order to ensure a proper seal on their gas masks. Was this rule extended to Sikh soldiers, who in the modern British Army, are allowed to wear facial hair on religious grounds? | This question is based on a faulty premise, at least for the British Army. Soldiers were not required to be clean-shaven to wear gas masks; the regulations that regulated facial hair for British soldiers dated from a time before chemical warfare was a fact of life. Soldiers in the field also tended to ignore the regulations, as shaving in the field was tricky thanks to limited supplies of hot water.
In the years before WWI, British soldiers were forbidden to wear beards. Instead, they were, in effect, required to wear moustaches. Regulations forbade the shaving of the upper lip, though the chin, bottom lips and cheeks had to be free from hair. Meanwhile, civilian fashion was for the face to be completely clean-shaven. Men might risk an upbraiding for shaving before going on leave. During the war, the regulation was relaxed. Reservists and volunteers tended to ignore it, and stay clean-shaven. In 1916, an officer was court-martialled for persistently shaving his upper lip. He was an actor in civilian life, and argued that, should he grow a moustache, he risked jeopardising his ability to find work following the war - he worried that shaving the moustache off would give him a rash that would make things difficult for him. While he was successfully prosecuted, he was saved by the adjutant general at GHQ, Lieutenant General Sir Nevil Macready. Macready, who disliked his own moustache, quashed the sentence, and changed the regulation to allow the upper lip to be shaved. From then on, most men in the British Army would be clean-shaven.
However, this did not necessarily apply in the trenches. Shaving was rarely practical, thanks to the poor conditions. Hot water was rare, and was seen as being more useful for washing than for shaving. While some men did try to shave, using whatever hot water they could scrounge (or even tea), most grew scruffy beards. Once they came out of the line, though, bearded men tended to shave. Shaving off these beards was seen as an essential way to cleanse the dirt of the trenches.
| [
"After the Crimean war, regulations were introduced that prevented serving soldiers of all ranks from shaving above their top lip, in essence making moustaches compulsory for those who could grow them, although beards were later forbidden. This remained in place until 1916, when the regulation was abolished by an A... |
how does natural selection work for selecting genes for addictive and destructive behaviors such alcoholism, smoking, gambling and other substance abuse? | Usually when there is a "bad gene" that stays in the population, there is something good about it too. For example. the gene that causes sickle cell anemia [protects carriers of the gene from malaria.](_URL_0_)
Alcohol is really bad for full blown alcoholics, but is beneficial for other people in moderation. Gambling all your money away on a craps table is really bad, but risk taking is what allows entrepreneurs to push their next idea or inspires people to ask out their crush. Smoking and drug use might cause significant health problems, but the neurotransmitters they act upon are essential for human intelligence. The advantage of having an advanced intelligence is outweighed by the risk of drug dependance.
The other simple way to look at this is that the environment has changed greatly, very recently. For example, for billions of years, the biggest problem for living things was obtaining enough food to survive. Humans have evolved to save every last calorie that we consume as fat. This was essential so that we didn't starve to death after going a month without food. Over the past 50 years, the tables have turned. We have near unlimited access to cheap, high calorie food. Our genes can't change fast enough to accommodate this change in the environment, and now we face problems related to obesity. | [
"Additionally, genetics play a role on individual traits, which may put one at increased risk for experimentation with drugs, continued use of drugs, addictions, and potential for relapse. Some of these individual personality traits, such as impulsivity, reward-seeking, and response to stress, may lead to increased... |
los angeles traffic | Because its worse than the other two cities. Additionally, LA's public transit isn't nearly as comprehensive and awesome as that of NYC or Chicago, so more people are on the roads than would like to be due to lack of an alternative that's cost and time effective. | [
"The city and the rest of the Los Angeles metropolitan area are served by an extensive network of freeways and highways. The Texas Transportation Institute, which publishes an annual Urban Mobility Report, ranked Los Angeles road traffic as the most congested in the United States in 2005 as measured by annual delay... |
why is it that kids have such a fascination with vehicles and transportation? | I got into mechanical engineering because once upon a time my parents got me a few of those "planes and trains and things that go" books, and I loved reading the Eyewitness Books and Incredible Cross Sections in the school library.
There's something fascinating, perhaps majestic that seems quite magical to a child's mind about the complex inner workings of machines that often go beyond a child's comprehension. As an adult I can see that every machine like steam locomotives, early airplanes, ships, cars, motorcycles and mobile cranes are all made keeping with as few parts as possible, but still needing a great deal of sophistication to accomplish something like "lifting things up" when "things" can weigh 150 tons.
When we think of "car" as a mode of transportation, it could be said that a car is like a more convenient and faster horse. But "car" today almost always now automatically implies things like radios, automatic transmissions, adjustable seats, hydraulic steering assistance, electronic engine management and many other components which hide in plain sight of "convenience". When looked at from a surface level or in a cross section, all these extra bits make something like adventure trying to understand what they all do.
And of course thanks to the modern developments of industrial design and marketing, its often all covered in an appealing shell, adding mystery for when you try to crack it open and take a peek at what's hidden inside.
tl;dr because they're fricken cool | [
"Following the introduction of rail transport (note the concept of the railway excursion), the automobile has made recreational travel more available for people worldwide. Automobiles also allow the easy hauling of trailers, travel trailers, popup campers, off-road vehicles, boats and bicycles, which fosters recrea... |
Given the right circumstances could flora become sentient? | Given the right circumstances, I suppose just about any organism could eventually evolve sentience, however, plants developing sentience is highly unlikely and here's why: Plants have no nervous system, they don't even have the evolutionary beginnings of higher thought. Also, sentience would have no evolutionary benefit for plants. Higher cognitive ability is selected for when that cognitive ability causes the organism to be able to survive when others of its kind would not, however, plants are limited in their range of possible behaviors i.e. they cannot move to avoid prey or seek better conditions, all they can do is adjust themselves to maximize their efficiency. Plants already adjust themselves to maximize their efficiency, for example, they open and close their stomata as circumstances change around them, turn their leaves towards the sun to capture light the best they can and selectively uptake water and minerals from the soil, they do all of this without relying on a complex nervous system ,in fact, having a complex nervous system capable of sentience would be detrimental to plants because such a system would require high amounts of energy, energy the plant cannot afford to expend.
That being said, the concept of plant intelligence is a fascinating one and for more information I'd recommend some of the things Anthony Trewavas has written on the topic or this article:
_URL_0_ | [
"Enquiries about insect pollination led in 1861 to novel studies of wild orchids, showing adaptation of their flowers to attract specific moths to each species and ensure cross fertilisation. In 1862 \"Fertilisation of Orchids\" gave his first detailed demonstration of the power of natural selection to explain comp... |
Why do we need to compile separate 32 and 64 bit versions? | Sure, and one cpu does just that. But 64-bit code has several advantages. For one the address space is bigger, so you aren't limited to using only 4 gigs (in practice closer to 2 gigs) of ram and can use up to terabytes of ram for a single process if you want. For another the 64 bit instruction set is a bit better and more "powerful" in general. There are more registers, for example, and this enables 64-bit programs to achieve higher performance on the same cpu. | [
"Although 32-bit applications can be run transparently, the mixing of the two types of code within the same process is not allowed. A 64-bit program cannot use a 32-bit dynamic-link library (DLL) and similarly a 32-bit program cannot use a 64-bit DLL. This may lead to the need for library developers to provide both... |
The Bristish History or The History of England podcast | Hi, I actually co-produce The British History Podcast. I say listen to both and see what suits what you're looking for in a podcast - Crowther takes a very different tone and approach than we do, so there's a distinct difference. I recommend listening to ten episodes of each to get a real feel for what both have to offer.
And, if you want to know more about the BHP, check out the AMA we did in here yesterday: _URL_0_ | [
"In March 2018, Barnett began a series of podcasts for Historic England entitled \"Irreplaceable: A History of England in 100 Places\". The podcast, presented by Barnett and Dr. Suzannah Lipscomb, was nominated for the British Podcast Awards in the 'Best Branded Content' category in April 2018. Deputising for the p... |
is it more economical to run my car half full of gas due to a lighter vehicle rather than filling up each time? | Yes, theoretically... but consider, a gallon of gas weighs 6.3 pounds, so a 20 gallon tank only weighs around 120 lbs. So, you are talking about maybe a 60lb savings in vehicular weight. May as well just drain your wiper fluid low and toss out your floormats while you're at it. | [
"By converting a light vehicle it is possible to use a smaller motor, which both weighs and costs less than a larger motor. A lighter overall vehicle weight will reduce power consumption in start-and-stop traffic and increase range in many practical driving conditions. In the same way that a gasoline-powered econom... |
Why was the Lee Enfield SMLE, the only major bolt action rifle to have a 10 round magazine. | James Paris Lee's detachable box magazine was pretty revolutionary for the time; every other rifle was using a blind magazine within the action, or the Mannlicher enbloc system. Originally designed to hold five rounds, the magazine (single stack) was changed to hold eight rounds when the Magazine Lee-Metford was accepted into service in 1888 by the British Army. This was later changed to a double-stack 10-round design in about 1893 (the exact year escapes me right now) at the suggestion of one Joseph Speed, a manager at the Royal Small Arms Factory in the town of Enfield Lock.
Changes in rifling transformed the Magazine Lee-Metford into the Magazine Lee-Enfield, otherwise the rifles were more or less identical.
The transition to a magazine-fed repeating bolt action stems from the British getting thoroughly whipped by the Boers in various engagements during the First Boer War, 1880-1881. The British were equipped with single-shot Martini-Henrys, t~~he Boers mostly were using Mauser rifles that afforded them a higher rate of fire and the ability to shoot over longer distances, both huge advantages.~~
Enfields were adapted to accept loading via chargers (stripper clips, invented in 1888 by Paul Mauser) from 1902 and onward, when the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield was introduced. Older rifles were updated with a bolt-head that was notched to accept chargers, or with the addition of the charger bridge. I've got a 1901 Magazine Lee-Enfield that was updated in 1909 with the addition of the bridge.
The Haldane Reforms of 1906 changed an awful lot about the British Army, and marksmanship was emphasized very heavily, in no small part because forward thinkers in the Army realized that machine guns were going to become increasingly important on the battlefield, and given the relatively small number of automatic weapons in stores at the time and their expense/slow acquisition rate, the next best thing is to have soldiers that are highly-trained riflemen that can lay down a fast, accurate volume of fire.
The rifle standards of the day (15 rounds on-target at 300 yards in a minute, "Mad Minute") demanded either a lot of reloading or a large magazine capacity, which the SMLE had. Couple that with the fact that five rounds on a charger was the de facto standard of the day, and two chargers makes for a full magazine, very convenient logistically. Additionally, the cock-on-close design of the rifle's bolt lends itself well to rapid fire.
As to why nobody else was using such a large magazine (an old Swiss rifle actually had a capacity of 11, the 1886 Lebel could hold 8 in a tube magazine, one in the elevator and another in the chamber for ten, some Mannlichers could hold six), I can't offer up a wholly conclusive answer, but between the fact that nobody else was using detachable box magazines on service rifles, nobody else built aimed rapid fire into their infantry doctrine, and a huge chunk of the world had more or less standardized on the Model 98 Mauser and it's internal magazine meant that the SMLE was in a league of it's own concerning rate of fire and overall capacity. | [
"In 1937, the American M1 Garand was the first semi-automatic rifle to replace its nation's bolt-action rifle as the standard-issue infantry weapon. The gas-operated M1 Garand was developed by Canadian-born John Garand for the U.S. government at the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. After years of r... |
When you get cancer, is most of the pain focused on the area that you have cancer in? Or does the pain spread out across the body regardless of the origin of cancer? | Excepting brain cancer, pain in cancer is frequently due to disruption of the normal anatomy which produces local pain that may be so severe or vague it feels like it’s spreading. For example, liver cancer can stretch out the sac that surrounds the liver (its capsule) and produce excruciating pain, but since the nerves inside your body aren’t as god at locating pain as the ones in your skin, the brain could misattribute that pain to pretty much the whole belly. As another example, bony metastases from prostate cancer usually cause pretty bad local pain in the bone they’re invading, which is worsened by injury to said weakened bone. | [
"Pain in cancer may arise from a tumor compressing or infiltrating nearby body parts; from treatments and diagnostic procedures; or from skin, nerve and other changes caused by a hormone imbalance or immune response. Most chronic (long-lasting) pain is caused by the illness and most acute (short-term) pain is cause... |
How do historians view archeologists, and vice versa? | First off, yes, misspelled. Well, according to many. According to some you spelled it correctly. I think that most archaeologists would use the ae form. Except the new archeologists. Who are now quite old. I'll stop referring in abstract to archaeological theories.
Basically, there's no one answer for your question; archaeology encompasses a massive range of topics, some of which can be informed by historians, and some of which can't. I like to think of archaeology more as a method of research than as a field of study (though it is of course both): I am an anthropologist, and archaeology is the method that I use to answer anthropological questions. Typically North American archaeologists (other than Classical archaeologists or art historian archaeologists) are trained within anthropology departments, but archaeology generally stands apart as its own field in the rest of the world (though it is often still closely associated with anthropology).
So I would argue that archaeology is more closely aligned with anthropology (in theories, topics of study, etc.) than it is with history; archaeology is attempting to construct the cultural development of humans over the very long-term. Sometimes history can help; this is why we use church records and the writings of Conquistadors and Inca descendants to help understand Pre-Columbian Peru: we assume that what was happening when those primary documents were written is similar to what was happening in the centuries before they were written, so we can use them as a way to help us interpret what we see in the archaeological record (this is known as the direct historical approach, and it is widely used but can be very problematic because cultures are always changing). But apart from that, in a place like ancient Peru where there was no writing, or in the distant past well before writing existed anywhere, we don't have much to learn from historians and we don't pay much attention to them. Often in those cases we turn to sociocultural anthropology to see how people do things in a very general sense, and we try to interpret the archaeological record using that as an analogy
But then there are plenty of places around the world where archaeologists study societies that did have writing, where the writing can help inform us about what was going on in the same place and at the same time that the archaeologist is studying. This includes places like ancient Greece, Rome, and the Eastern Mediterranean (the discipline of Classics), ancient China, Medieval Europe, and even things like 19th century forts and farmhouses in North America. In these cases archaeologists and historians might work together much more closely, or you get historical archaeologists, who just do both archaeological and historical research themselves.
So my answer has become long-winded and convoluted. Basically, it's complicated. As an anthropological archaeologist who studies places where there was no writing, I see historians as doing things in their own ways, focusing on topics that are not of an academic interest to me. But I recognize that if I were to change my area and time period focuses, I could end up working quite closely with historians (and my undergrad minor was in history, so I have some exposure to it myself).
But I have no idea how historians view us shovel bums. | [
"Although closely related and often grouped with archaeology, anthropologists and archaeologists perform differing roles, though archeology is considered a sub-discipline of anthropology. While both professions focus on the study of human culture from past to present, archaeologists focus specifically on analyzing ... |
Woodstock is sometimes thought of as as the defining event for the Baby Boomer generation. To what extent did you young people outside of the Northeast know about Woodstock, and what did they think about it? Why is it thought of as being a unique and important event? | A comment rather than direct answer, but in July 1969, around half a millon people or more gathered around cape Canaveral for the Appollo space launch. This was more than attended Woodstock a month later. The Canaveral gathering was a huge event but is not mentioned as much as woodstock. | [
"Woodstock is a city in and the county seat of McHenry County, Illinois, United States, located northwest of Chicago. The population was 25,528 at the start of 2017. The city's downtown includes a historic, turn-of-the-century town square, which is anchored by the landmark Woodstock Opera House and the Old McHenry ... |
why do soldiers have their thumb over the barrel/bore of their rifle when engaging a target? | For accurate shooting it is very important to have the correct grip and techniques. Soldiers are also being trained in this. However in a war there is a lot of things to worry about. Most shots are not even aimed. So soldiers might opt to have a better grip on their rife so they do not lose their grip. So they may extend their fingers around the barrel and also move the hand closer to the receiver. This reduce accuracy but makes it easier to maintain the grip on your gun. It also puts the hand further out of harms way and makes it easier to reach for the controls on the gun. If you have the time to make accurate shots you can change your grip and do all the right techniques required for accurate shots but this makes you generally more vulnerable. | [
"BULLET::::- Upon the command \"\"present\"\", the butt of the musket was brought to the soldier's right shoulder, while at the same time the soldier lowered the muzzle to firing position, parallel to the ground, and sighting (if the soldier had been trained to fire at \"marks\") along the barrel at the enemy.\n",
... |
why do humans enjoy having other species as pets? | There are many reasons. The most prominent one is probably companionship. | [
"A wide variety of animals are kept as pets, from invertebrates such as tarantulas and octopuses, insects including praying mantises, reptiles such as snakes and chameleons, and birds including canaries, parakeets, and parrots all finding a place. However, the most kept pet species are mammals, namely dogs, cats, a... |
How are specific DNA primers constructed in the lab? | They're chemically synthesized from activated nucleotide building blocks. Phosphoramidite chemistry is most commonly used these days. See: _URL_0_ | [
"Four specially designed primers recognize distinct target sequences on the template strand. The primers bind only to these sequences which allows for high specificity. Out of the 4 primers involved, two of them are “inner primers” (FIP and BIP) which are designed to synthesize new DNA strands. The outer primers (F... |
league of legends; dota 2; smite | They are in the same genre of games. They all have their similarities and differences.
Just like quake, counter strike and call of duty are all shooters, buy very different games. | [
"\"League of Legends\" (\"LoL\") is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games, primarily inspired by \"Defense of the Ancients\". It was released on October 27, 2009. In an early \"LoL\" tournament, the game was featured as a promotional title in the 2010 World Cyber Games i... |
Do people have differing tolerances towards
painkillers and anasthetics? | Absolutely. As highlighted by others, red heads are notoriously difficult to sedate.
Even within a single patient, there can be different responses to different pain medicines. With opioid pain medicines there exists a phenomenon of equianalgesic potency. Thus I can say "patient x is taking 10 vicodin a day. that is a lot of tylenol. i want to give him some vicodin, but also a pure opioid pill" and then convert some of the hydrocodone in vicodin over to oxycodone, or morphine, or hydromorphone. However, people respond differently to different medications, and there is incomplete cross tolerance. Thus, in converting from one medication to another, you do not simply say "5 of x is 10 of y" and then double the dose. you decrease the dose by a percentage, usually 30%.
In addition, there are people who will swear up and down that "vicodin doesn't work, but percocet does" or some other pair of meds. If the opioid receptor responded to all medications the same, that would make no sense, as it works on the same receptor. so either: 1) they weren't on an equianalgesic dose, or 2) there are subtle receptor differences that result in significantly different clinical responses. | [
"There is also an aspect of drug intolerance that is subjective. Just as different people have different pain tolerances, so too do people have different tolerances for dealing with the adverse effects from their medications. For example, while opioid-induced constipation may be tolerable to some individuals, other... |
how can some employers fire/lay off workers for seemingly no reason but others have to document things like "write ups" to have grounds for termination? | Depends on if the company wants to deal with an unemployment claim.
Laid off: You're eligible.
Let go because you just didn't have the skills or just weren't a good fit: Eligible.
Fired because you sent the secretary dick pics: Not eligible. | [
"Employers must not assume that the employee is unauthorized to work just because the individual either could not bring the proof of employment authorization or has brought the unaccepted documents until the start date of the employment. Instead, employers should encourage that employee to bring the acceptable docu... |
what is controversial about athletes kneeling during the national anthem (objectivity appreciated)? | Traditional decorum is to stand during the national anthem and face the flag. Some athletes are kneeling during the national anthem as a form of protest, which is perceived as an insult to the nation because it violates that social norm to respect the national symbols.
The athletes say it is justified because it brings attention to an important topic, police violence against ethnic minorities, and that if it doesn't go addressed then that *should* reduce respect for the national symbols. | [
"Williams, Matthews, and Wonder at one point during their respective performances each knelt on stage, performing the gesture to show solidarity with NFL players protesting the National Anthem and in response to President Donald Trump's criticism of the players.\n",
"Many players beyond the 2017 season have knelt... |
Historians of Reddit. What is the most important lesson from history? | Eh, I'd say the most important thing history teaches is simply *perspective*. It shows that you we aren't the first, we won't be the last, we aren't nearly as important and pivotal as we like to think, and we're just a very small part in a *very* grand and complex human story.
Lessons like "Never start a land war in asia!" or whatever tend to be trite and non-universal.
It's the worldview which history gives that matters, not the specific facts. | [
"History has a long-range perspective. It ultimately passes stern judgment on tyrants and vindicates those who fought, suffered, were imprisoned, and died for human freedom, against political oppression and economic slavery.\n",
"“The historian helps people understand the ‘pastness of the past.’ We do this with t... |
Hey AskScience, what forces (jet stream, etc) influence the movement of storms? | Jet stream has little to do with movement of storms at a low altitude. The more prevalent forces are pressure gradient (low pressure at the center of the storm creates movement of air) and coriolis force (a moving fluid on a rotating sphere creates a curvature to the right of motion in the northern hemisphere and left in the southern hemisphere). There are many other forces at play but those two are the biggest.
[This kind of explains the balance between pressure and coriolis...](_URL_1_)
Basically you have air movement due to pressure differential (storms have low pressure, generally). That's the major force at play, here. On a larger scale, you have winds from oceanic and atmospheric interaction which cause the generic "wind goes from west to east" or "wind goes from east to west" scenarios (such as [trade winds](_URL_0_)) | [
"The jet stream moves from West to East bringing changes of weather. Meteorologists now understand that the path of jet streams affects cyclonic storm systems at lower levels in the atmosphere, and so knowledge of their course has become an important part of weather forecasting. For example, in 2007 and 2012, Brita... |
During the First World War, what purpose did those little horn looking things serve on the German stalhelms? | Those "horns" on the side, are for the purposes of ventilation and to support a a steel brow plate for extra protection. It was later dropped because the brow plate made the helmet too heavy for general use.
Bull, Stephen; Hook, Adam (2002). *World War I Trench Warfare: 1914–16*. Osprey Publishing. pp. 10–11 | [
"The Grille (German: \"cricket\") was a series of self propelled artillery vehicles used by Nazi Germany during World War II. The \"Grille\" series was based on the Czech Panzer 38(t) tank chassis and used a 15 cm sIG 33 infantry gun.\n",
"During World War I wooden post horns were used as a means of collecting wa... |
Colloquialisms in Ancient Rome? | [This](_URL_0_) is an example of Roman graffiti found in Pompeii. Many are funny, and many are crass. I'm not sure about word play, but there is a word square in there.
I've always feel that these give a very human look at Romans, rather than just seeing them as an ancient society.
| [
"Many modern historians use the term \"comitia tributa\" or \"comitia populi tributa\" (\"comitia tributa\" of the people) to indicate meetings by the tribes which involved the whole of the Roman people (populus) and the term \"concilium plebis\" or \"concilium plebis tributum\" (plebeian council by the tribes) for... |
where does my cash go when i deposit it at the bank? | Into the tellers draw and credited electronically to your account. Then at regular intervals it will get taken to the banks safe. | [
"When cash is deposited in a bank, the bank is said to \"debit\" its cash account, on the asset side, and \"credit\" its deposits account, on the liabilities side. In this case, the bank is debiting an asset and crediting a liability, which means that both increase.\n",
"When a company deposits cash with a bank, ... |
how were there surrenders in such large numbers during ww2? | People don't like dying, and obedience is enforced harshly in the military. If you have a bunch of people encircled and out of options the question is either them surrendering or killing them all. When the order from leadership comes down to surrender then soldiers are expected to obey, as if they don't either the enemy will kill them or their own side will. | [
"This is a timeline of the surrenders of the various armies of the Axis powers that marked the end of World War II. There are two lists: the first denotes surrenders in April–November 1945. The second one shows the surrenders of Japanese holdouts that only surrendered in the months, years, and even decades after th... |
Did military bands actually play during battles? | Yes - here's an example from Russo-Japanese war:
In February, 1905 214th Mokshansky infantry regiment of Russian Army was encircled during Mukden battle. At critical point, when ordinance was almost gone and soldiers was tired from defending their position on the hill, Col. Pyotr Pobyvanetz has ordered *знамя и оркестр - вперёд!* (= *the battle flag and regimental orchestra - forward!*).
Then regimental Kapellmeister (that's orchestra commander) Shatrov ordered musicians to play, and they marched off toward japanese, right after banner. Inspired, soldiers assaulted japanese with bayonets.
It worked, Mokshansky regiment broke thru encirclement, although only ~700 survived out of ~4000, Col. Pobyvanetz was killed. Incredible, but 7 musicians and Shatrov have survived. Note that regimental orchestras at that time was ~50 musicians. Ilya Shatrov commemorated his fallen comrades with waltz *"На сопках Маньчжурии"* (= "On the hills of Manchuria"). It became one of most popular and recognized russian songs.
Another detail worth mentioning - legend states (not proven by regimental records), that Shatrov has started composing his waltz while being detained for "unruly conduct" by new regimental CO.
**Sources**
1. [How waltz was born in detention](_URL_1_) Not a great translation, but you could get a gist of it.
2. [Wiki - Battle of Mukden](_URL_2_)
2. [Wiki - On the Hills of Manchuria](_URL_0_) - song's text.
| [
"By the 20th century military music had effectively ceased to be an integral part of combat operations with the existence of military bands becoming a function of public duties and troop morale and welfare. Occasional exceptions existed, however. One later example of the use of a band in combat occurred during the ... |
After France was captured in WW2 where did the Free French Army Go/what did they do. Also did Vichy France have any formal army of their own? | Yes, Vichy France had Army of the Armistice (or Armée de l'Armistice). Under direction of the German army, it was meant to defend from the Allies.
As far as the Free French Army goes keep in mind there were other French servicemen too.
Many escaped to England, indeed French pilots flew in the RAF in the Battle Of Britain.
The British, fearing the French Navy ships would be captured by the Axis destroyed three ships at Mers El Kebir after the French refused to accept an ultimatum to concede the ships to the allies.
Some French Naval vessels went to out of the way places and just sat out the war, others saw action in a number of battles, both against Vichy French Forces (mostly in North Africa) and the Axis, indeed some ships took part in D-Day as well as the Battle of the Atlantic.
The North African battles against the Vichy French were important, as by re-gaining the French colonies there de Gaulle boosted the number in his army. By the end of the war the Free French Army was over half a million men strong.
The Free French Army fought in Syria and North Africa - including the battle of El Alamein, where the Allies defeated the Axis and is widely seen as a turning point in the war as well as Operation Torch. | [
"In France, six pockets were captured by the Allies between the initial invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and October 1944, after which the rest were put under siege. Three were liberated by French forces in April 1945, while the remainder surrendered after the capitulation of Germany in May 1945.\n",
"After the ... |
why do some cats and dogs get along but others hate each other, how do animals like that decide who they like/dislike? | How do *you* decide whom you like and dislike...? | [
"If appropriately socialized, cats and dogs may have relationships that are not antagonistic, and dogs raised with cats may prefer the presence of cats to other dogs. Even cats and dogs that have got along together in the same household may revert to aggressive reactions due to external stimuli, illness, or play th... |
why does my hdtv have input lag when playing video games, and what, if anything, can be done to minimize/eliminate it? | TV's do a lot of image processing compared to monitors.
Here are somethings you can do to reduce lag:
* Turn on Game Mode.
* Turn down/off Sharpness.
* Turn off Dynamic Contrast.
* Turn off all Noise Filters.
* Turn off Edge Enhancement.
* And for the love of God, turn of motion interpolation. | [
"BULLET::::- Response time in video games may be affected by upscaling lag. While all HDTVs have some lag when upscaling lower resolution input to their native resolution, DLPs are commonly reported to have longer delays. Newer consoles that have HD output signals do not have this problem as long as they are connec... |
how do wireless speakers work? | Just like radio. There is a transmitter and a reciever. In the case of Bluetooth, the transmitter is something like a smartphone. Then the speaker recieves the signal, and amplifies it. | [
"Wireless speakers are composed of two units: a main speaker unit combining the loudspeaker itself with an RF receiver, and an RF transmitter unit. The transmitter connects to the audio output of any audio devices such as hi-fi equipment, televisions, computers, mp3 players, etc. An RCA plug is normally used to ach... |
why is it that i can stream a movie fine until it is fully downloaded, then the video becomes lagy and intermittent? | Assuming you are talking about a youtube -esque player, the grey download bar is a partial placebo, if you start a 1 hour video and wait for it to buffer all the way you likely aren't downloading the entire thing. On your end this seems to be silly but on the companies end there is a lot of users that say open several tabs and have them load, but then close them before actually watching the entire video.
Other case, is that once it downloaded an entire video it senses that your network can handle more and starts downloading a better quality video file instead. | [
"Voddler's streaming technology, called Vnet by the company, is a peer-to-peer-based video content delivery solution. With p2p-streaming, movies are not streamed from a central server or content delivery network (CDN), but from other users who have parts of the movie on their units after seeing the movie earlier. T... |
Do you have any stories about interesting/promising experiments that worked in the lab but not in the real world? | If you have some agar, you can show that many bacterial species cannot grow well on agar plates impregnated with various spices like garlic and cinnamon. Some things in those spices are antiseptic. However, like your example, it's all in vitro - these spices do not have curative properties, because they are digested etc. first.
If you do ever try this, please be forewarned: the smell of the impregnated agar as it comes out of the autoclave is absolutely horrible. It was like a sage and ginger wet nightmare. | [
"The experiments are biologically engineered children that are designed to be like fairy tale characters. They are bought through the snail-mail catalogs that are sent to marks house. The experiments are preserved in cold liquid until someone orders them from a catalog. \n",
"Natural experiments are employed as s... |
why my tv signal messes up after turning on my battery charged vacuum cleaner? | Because the vacuum cleaner's electric motor is emitting an electromagnetic field that interferes with the tv's reception. | [
"Many televisions and monitors automatically degauss their picture tube when switched on, before an image is displayed. The high current surge that takes place during this automatic degauss is the cause of an audible \"thunk\" or loud hum, which can be heard (and felt) when televisions and CRT computer monitors are... |
why is it that a part of your body getting hurt enough (like getting kicked in the shin) will sometimes give you a taste of blood in your mouth? | I've never heard of this phenomenon but perhaps you're hurt so bad without realizing it you're biting your lip or inner cheeks or what have you and draw blood? | [
"Head trauma can cause lesions in regions of the central nervous system which are involved in processing taste stimuli, including thalamus, brain stem, and temporal lobes; it can also cause damage to neurological pathways involved in transmission of taste stimuli.\n",
"The brain itself is not sensitive to pain, b... |
why is it both my reading speed and absorption rate are a lot higher when reading stories as opposed other forms of writing? | Think of all the knowledge in the world as a building and rooms contain things that you know or don't know. Every time you learn something new, your brain has to find the hallway or staircase that connects that room to all the other related rooms. The ease with which you can do this depends on the proximity of the new room to all the old rooms.
Textbooks are written at a much higher lexical level than most stories. Textbooks represent a very concise arrangement of rooms within a field, but they don't necessarily share any proximity with the other open rooms in your brain. That's a lot of work to make those connections. Stories on the other hand are not information-dense. A few key details will get you a long way. The story is basically walking you from room to room. | [
"Common controversies in speed reading are between its intent and nature with traditional concepts like comprehension vs speed; reading vs skimming; popular psychology vs evidence-based psychology. Much of the controversy is raised over these points. This is mainly because a reading comprehension level of 50% is de... |
why dextrose is considered an artificial sweetener when it is another form of glucose. | Because it is not a sugar that is naturally found in the environment and can only be made under specific conditions. | [
"The world's most commonly used artificial sweetener, sucralose is a chlorinated sugar that is about 600 times as sweet as sugar. It is produced from sucrose when three chlorine atoms replace three hydroxyl groups. It is used in beverages, frozen desserts, chewing gum, baked goods, and other foods. Unlike other art... |
when to take asprin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen | The misinformation here is a nightmare. It's understandable though, I think everyone has a hard time with it. I'm in medical school and I'm still hesitant to even try to answer your question because *I know I'm going to screw something up myself*. But here goes...
- They **all** lower fever and pain.
- And they **all** have potential bad side effects.
~**Aspirin** ~
- **Pro**—Anti inflammatory (so works well on arthritis), and can also be used in daily, *tiny* doses it helps prevent heart attacks.
- **Con**—Being an anti-inflammatory means it has systemic side effects on your whole body. A dose high enough to treat fever or pain will alter many parts of your body's biochemical balance, which may have interactions with other drugs you're taking and your body's natural inflammation and healing processes. Also, excess aspirin use thins your blood (hence, the heart attack treatment) but that also means your cuts and other bleeds will take longer to clot, which can be a huge problem if you get into an car accident or something after taking a few aspirin for a headache.
- **Overall**— Works great if you take a baby dose to prevent heart attacks. Can also be used for pain/fever, but honestly, there are better options available for pain.
~**Ibuprofen**~
- **Pro**—Anti inflammatory (so works well on arthritis, just like Aspirin). The pain/fever reduction lasts *much* longer than Aspirin though, which is nice. Also, it doesn't thin your blood, so you don't have to worry about cuts bleeding.
- **Con**—Disrupts your stomach's ability to make protective mucus. Daily ibuprofen use can lead to stomach ulcers and intestinal bleeds. Also, just like aspirin, it's a full body anti-inflammatory. This means that you're sort of affecting your entire body's natural inflammation and healing processes. *Also*, it can cause kidney damage with prolonged use. (Thanks to /u/bard_owland his [reply](_URL_0_).)
- **Overall**—A pretty great drug that helps relieve headaches and aches and pains of all kinds. The fact that it lasts longer than aspirin, *and* doesn't give you problems with clotting make it a preferred pain treatment for most people. *However*, daily use of it can lead to stomach ulcers, so it's not exactly perfect.
~**Acetaminophen**~
- **Pro**— *Not* anti-inflammatory. Acts in a much more focused manner on the nerves. This means it has less systemic effects and interacts with virtually no other drugs. It is favored in many hospitals since it doesn't matter what disease the patient has or what other drugs they are taking, acetaminophen just ignores everything else and acts to lower the pain and fever.
- **Con**—The fact that it's *not* anti-inflammatory means it's pretty useless for arthritis and stiff joints. Also, there's an issue with liver toxicity, though it's slightly overblown. It can harm your liver in two instances: 1) You are an alcoholic. Don't mix alcohol and acetaminophen, it will kill your liver. 2) You overdose and take 10x the amount you are supposed to. Overdosing on acetaminophen happens in suicides or to kids that think the medicine is candy and drink the whole bottle. But if you're not suicidal and take the drug correctly (and without alcohol), the risk of liver damage is null.
- **Overall**—Acetaminophen works great on headaches and fevers, but doesn't work as well on muscles pains and arthritis. It starts to word *faster* than ibuprofen, but doesn't last *as long* (hence the commercials, it takes 8 tylenol to make it though 24 hours, but only 2 ibuprofen).
In any case, I recommend owning a bottle of both acetaminophen and ibuprofen. If you just have a little headache I recommend acetaminophen , but if you get a sore back or achy muscles (aka, inflammation) I recommend ibuprofen.
----------------
**TL;DR:** Like I said at the start, I'm sure I screwed something up, so take my advice with a grain of salt. But the real truths that you really should know are just the following:
- All 3 treat fever and pain, and all 3 have bad side effects if you abuse them incorrectly.
- Acetaminophen is not anti-inflammatory, which means it's worse at muscle and joint pain, but also means it won't screw up other medicines you are taking.
- Ibuprofen lasts the longest, but don't take it daily or else you are at risk for ulcers. | [
"Codeine/acetaminophen or co-codamol (BAN) is a compound analgesic consisting of a combination of codeine phosphate and paracetamol (acetaminophen). Co-codamol tablets are used for the relief of mild to moderate pain when acetaminophen or NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, aspirin or naproxen alone do not sufficiently relie... |
How did Spanish colonial mismanagement lead to the poor state of it's former colonies-turned-independent countries |
We can find many influences of Spanish rule in the Americas lasting into post-colonial times. I've written before on colonial administration and on how certain practices were established there that facilitated later corruption - I'm adding the answer below as it seems relevant. Other factors include: the division into political units (incl. Viceroyalties and audiencias) would shape how independent nations in Latin America formed. And the Spanish monopoly for all American trade over Sevilla/Cádiz, which meant little contact and possibilites for cooperation between the different regions in colonial times. This conncects to a colonial economy primarily built on extraction from resources in Spanish Americas for transport to Spain. This meant a Spanish American economy where resources where not processed in situ but overseas, which continues in many ways and has negative effects on Latin American economies. I should add here that Madrid's direct political power was limited for example through the large distances for communication, the colonial and local administrations involved as intermediaries etc.
To this colonial influence I'd add that there are many other factors to take into account - it's too easy to simply blame current economic/political problems only on colonial administration. For example into the 19th c., Spanish control was strongest in central areas, but in many more peripheral regions there was little to no control over native societies. So that there is a strong indigenous influence (how strong always depending on which region), which continues to struggle with Spanish and other influences in complex ways. Another factor that's often neglected is that actually many more Africans (for the most part slaves) were brought to the Americas than Europeans emigrated there - at least until the 19th c. Lastly, the newly independent nations in the early 19th c. built on colonial precedents, but also on contemporaneous European and North American political ideas. E.g. the French and American revolutions were often quoted in different contexts. I'm talking about some of these later points in more detail in this older post which focuses more on Bolívar, [esp. in the second and third parts](_URL_0_).
Here comes the [answer on colonial administration](_URL_1_) and corruption in Spanish America and Mexico, with further questions on these let me know.
------
**I. Colonial Spanish America**
The development of colonial Spanish America during the 17th century was influenced especially by the Spanish "motherland's" internal and external crises. These led to the loss of the SPanish hegemonial position in Europe, economic and demographic decline and socio-political difficulties. Spain's crisis strongly influenced its overseas possessions: Signs include the continuing decline of the native population, and countless regional and local unrests which led to deep transformations of economic structure. Before this context we can see the SPanish Crown's increasing need for finding new sources of revenue.
Already under Philipp II. started a primacy of the financial politics which led to the introduction of new taxes and to voluntary donations. What is more, the Crown started giving out privileges and even the highest positions as well as noble status in return for "financial donations". This meant a major change from earlier positions of the colonial policies. Through more and more concessions the Crown tried to buy the acceptance of the colonial elites. The authorities tolerated misrule against the policies protecting native people, as well as various forms of corruption, and legalized illegal usurpations of lands. Over the long term this attitude led to a decrease in official authority, an increasing autonomy of the colonial administration, and thus to a strengthening of the colonial oligarchy's power.
While the purchase or sale of offices was already started during Philipp II's reign, at that point it was still limited to the lower administrative hierarchies. For sale were mostly notary's offices, positions in the city councils and in police functions (alguacilazgos). These positions did not for the most part include judicial or political-administrative functions, and were not tied to a fixed income. While they did have important duties, their sale did not yet mean a transformation of the administrative system.
This changed in the 17th century, especially under Philipp IV. and Charles II. who expanded the sale of offices massively - by now even the highest offices were filled by the Crown as a reward for payments. An official sale was judicially not possible, and so these offices were given out "in recognition for financial services to the Crown". The persion did not receive the office as their property, but only according to its usual conditions. Then again, de facto this did come very close to a sale. It also led to people just delegating their position to others - eg. high positions such as general captaincies and judges at the audiencias. The poisitions' high prices also meant that, quite clearly, people exptected to profit from them. Personal qualities were no longer essential for attaining certain key positions. Moreover, increasingly "favorites" of the Crown were appointed to viceroy positions overseas, which meant that the important impulses of earlier viceroys were now lacking. Horst Pietschmann (on whom I'm mostly drawing for this) adds that on the other hand, the sale of offices also meant increasing power for creole elites; they had been mostly excluded from higher positions before.
Pietschmann notes that during the second half of the 18th century this practice of purchases of offices was largely abolished. After 1750 it was mostly restricted once more to lower positions. On the other hand, while the Bourbon Reforms of the 18th century led to major policy changes, he also highlights the continuing incluence of traditional measures during this time. And moving ahead towards the independence period, we can also note how creole elites would take up power in many regions - elites which (as mentioned) had profited from and were used to the colonial sale of offices.
Moving towards the 2nd part of your question, I'll also briefly address the question of corruption in this context. Christoph Rosenmüller distniguishes colonial ideas of corruption from current ones:
> Many practices that are considered corrupt today were culturally acceptable then, such as providing relatives and friends with jobs in tax collection, notarial offices, or the court. Renaissance thinkers even considered nepotism a pious duty, and the social networks that grew from such transactions in many ways wove together the fabric of society. [...] Most people in the Spanish empire did not consider nepotism within reason as offensive, but they did object to abusive judges. Corruption (corruptela) in the imperial sense typically meant that judges had violated justice by obtaining their posts inapprorpiately, accepting bribes, forging documents, or extorting the public.
> [...] These specific semantics of the word corruption began drifting in the 18th century. The royal administration grew, and more functionaries who wee not judges collected taxes and enforced rules. Slowly the idea of corruption expanded beyond the judiciary to all branches of governance. In 1751 the viceroy of imperial Mexico ... lamented to the chief clerk of the COuncil of the Indies about not being able to "correct those things that happen in abuse and corruption", referring only to tax collectors and not judges. Up to that point, the fraud and excesses of nonjudicial officials had been a seperate matter from corruption; now they became part of the same idea.
Bringing this point back to the sale of offices, we can see a change in attituted towards such practices: From certain practices being considered non-problematic which we would today see as corruption, to others, including the sale of offices being increasingly seen as corruption since the 1750s - when this practice was first abolishes. | [
"The enormous wealth being extracted from the Americas and poured into the Spanish society would lead to corruption at home and in the colonies. Corruption and accumulation of vast resources at the top of the food chain had some ripple effects throughout the core countries. Corruption ran high from the top of the s... |
why are tracksuits synonymist with russia? | In russia, poland and other slavic countries, track suits are worn by a group of young people similar to British chavs. You should check out r/squattingslavs for more examples of this specimen.
Edited spelling.
| [
"In addition, the word \"blatnoy\" came to indicate career criminals because they had a \"blatnoy\" or special status in the Russian criminal underworld. The word is used to indicate association with the criminal underworld (e.g. \"blatnoy language\"/Fenya, \"blatnoy behavior\", \"blatnoy outlook\").\n",
"Analyti... |
Popular Questions regarding reproduction in Snakes | Do you think you can get a clutch of eggs and show them the developmental stages? | [
"Snake sperm morphology and function is highly influenced by their ability to find, interact with, and fertilize eggs. Snake species display extended copulations and higher gonad mass/body mass proportions in males than other reptilian taxonomic groups. Furthermore, their mating systems have a wide range of variabi... |
why did new york city merge multiple subway companies into one? | The problem is that if I want to get from A to B, I don't have a choice of which line I take. If company X provides a better service but doesn't run the line that takes me from A to B, that's no use to me. I'm not going to walk half a mile to station C to get a train to D and then walk another half a mile to my final destination.
When you talk about "any other city's subway system" as being better than New York's, which city did you have in mind? All the ones I know of are each run by a single company.
What you want from a city's public transportation system is that everything connects up in a meaningful way. For that, you need if not a single operator, at least an overseeing authority to regulate fares (ideally, the fares should be fully integrated so you don't have to buy three separate tickets for your daily commute) and set timetables and routes. | [
"By the time the first subway opened in 1904, the lines had been consolidated into two privately owned systems, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT, later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, BMT) and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). The city built most of the lines and leased them to the compan... |
How does the body compensate for being too alkaline or too acidic? | Your body uses a bicarbonate buffer system to maintain proper blood pH.
If pH is too high your body will blow off CO2 in order to force the equilibrium back into balance.
if pH is too low respiration will slow in order to keep more CO2 in the blood.
The kidneys also help to manage this system. They are able to eliminate or conserve bicarbonate, and the pH will change.
So there are two basic ways to manage pH, both revolving around blood bicarbonate levels. Respiratory and metabolic (via kidneys).
There are other blood buffers, such as the phosphate buffer and protein buffers, but the most famous and important is the bicarbonate buffer system. | [
"Advocates propose that since the normal pH of the blood is slightly alkaline, the goal of diet should be to mirror this by eating a diet that is alkaline producing as well. These advocates propose that diets high in acid-producing elements will generally lead the body to become acidic and thereby foster disease. T... |
prices of shares go up and down each hour. so why don't people just buy, and sell when the price gets higher and keep doing this until they are rich? | Some people do that. It's called [Day Trading](_URL_0_).
The problem is knowing when it's going to rise and when it's going to fall. At the start of a business day, you know Company X is going to have a press conference at noon and they are rumored to be revealing Wigit 7, the most up to date wigit ever. So you buy a lot of it at 8 am when it's cheap, thinking you can sell it at 1pm when it's really high.
From 8 am (or whenever trading starts) to noon, the price keeps climbing higher and higher - you could sell now and make $10 a share, or you can keep it and make WHO KNOWS HOW MUCH!?!?!
Noon comes, the press conference and... they reveal a security flaw in Wigit 6 that they promise to fix with Wigit 7 to be released in.. six months. Not a promising conference, price drops and the shares are now worth even less than they were at 8 am.
...OR they reveal Wigit 7 and how awesome and cool it is, and all the sweet new stuff it has and how it's the best fucking thing ever and oh yeah 6 has some minor issues and the stock price JUMPS and you sell at 1pm and make $200 per share and you're awesome!
Welcome to day trading! It's not gambling because you actually *can* win! And the outcome is determined not only on what you do and when you do it, but how someone else says something! If they say it one way, you lose, and if they say it another way you win **even if they say the exact same information**. | [
"One can explain this alternately as the price not adjusting down—the price is too high, with supply being too high, or alternatively demand being too low, or by the theory of an equilibrium price not holding—the price at which sellers will sell is higher than the price at which buyers will buy.\n",
"When a busin... |
the us constitution and its amendments. | An amendment is allowed by the section titled "elastic clause" which allows congress to make changes to the constitution by vote. Amendments are a rather big deal, like changing voting rights. And I suck at this type of thing, someone will explain it better. | [
"Since the Constitution came into force in 1789, it has been amended 27 times, including an amendment to repeal a previous one, in order to meet the needs of a nation that has profoundly changed since the eighteenth century. In general, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, offer speci... |
how are we legally able to sue for a "negative review" but not legally obliged to pay for positive ones? | You can sue for anything, but you are not likely to win many things. Damages for receiving a negative review are one of the things you are not likely to win. In fact news of a company making a lawsuit for bad reviews is such bad press it is most likely to make them lose even more profits. | [
"In some countries, those prevailing in trial may recover their attorneys' fees from the opposing party. In the United States A party may be able to seek sanctions when the other party acts without legal basis or justifiable cause. For example, if the opposing party continues to object to the complaint without sign... |
what is it in the quran that convinces so many extremists to fight in the name of their god? | > Why are there no current Christian extremists?
[Does the KKK not count? As well as other Christians who have, for example, blown up abortion clinics in the name of Christianity?](_URL_0_) These people could very easily be compared to aforementioned "outliers". For these outliers, you must understand that all religions and belief systems have their own extremists, and in a country like America, you're bound to get a number of people who are willing to kill others (along with themself) in the name of their religion.
This, however, still doesn't address why we keep hearing about Muslim terrorists. I would think that a small part of this is due to more news coverage, but that still doesn't explain all of it. | [
"One further critical cleavage is al-Ahbash's strict rejection of any form of anthropomorphism of God which they accuse Wahhabis of. Consequently, Shaykh Habashi holds that \"it does not befit God to speak like that, and his word is not a voice or letters\" and that therefore, the Qur'an contains the word of God bu... |
memory leaks in computer programs. | 1) It *can* but it's not a simple problem. Java has a garbage collector that does this, and it is possible to set up a similar thing in C, but C let's you do memory manipulation on a scale Java doesn't allow so it's harder.
2) By not having memory leaks. | [
"In computer science, a memory leak is a type of resource leak that occurs when a computer program incorrectly manages memory allocations in such a way that memory which is no longer needed is not released. A memory leak may also happen when an object is stored in memory but cannot be accessed by the running code. ... |
Are there chemicals that get released in my brain while asleep that cause me to think more clearly in the morning? | You might want to read [this short article](_URL_2_), which discusses the development of insight during sleep. The authors speculate that REM might be implicated but that was not supported by subsequent research.
In the original (as far as I know) study, sleep was been found to lead to insight - changing the memory of a task to uncover a shortcut [source](_URL_3_). Further investigation into the phenomenon identified that brain activity during slow wave sleep (also called N3 sleep) differentiated those who gained insight from those who did not ([source](_URL_4_)).
Sleep is divided into REM and NREM sleep. NREM (non-REM) sleep is further divided into stages N1, N2, and N3, with N3 being the deepest and least REM-like. [We cycle through these stages of sleep throughout the night](_URL_1_), but there is more N3 sleep earlier in the night and more REM sleep later in the night. Since insight is associated with N3 sleep, you could wake up from REM sleep in the later part of the night, *already having had most of your N3 for the night*, and achieve some sort of insight.
So to get to the chemicals part of your question, levels of cholinergic and aminergic neurotransmitters differ between wake, NREM sleep, and REM sleep. I do not know how they are implicated in insight, clear/rational thinking, or creativity, if at all. Research has shown REM and NREM sleep are important for certain processes, but seldom do these studies *directly* tie cognitive changes to neurotransmitters. Just because levels vary by stage of sleep doesn't mean that these neurotransmitters play a causal role in cognitive changes - that would be treating the brain as a bucket of chemicals, which isn't a very useful analogy. Another metaphor for the neurotransmitter-focus is that's like focusing on whether a network uses ethernet or fiber while ignoring how the cabling is run, routers and switches configured, and load balancing of servers. Anyway, what's more likely to be the neural correlate of cognitive changes is consolidation/reconsolidation, through [selectively strengthening and weakening certain synapses](_URL_5_). During sleep there are also changes in where memories are stored - [moving from hippocampus to neocortex](_URL_0_). | [
"Several neurotransmitters are involved in sleep and waking patterns: acetylcholine, norepinephrine, serotonin, histamine, and orexin. Neocortical neurons fire spontaneously during slow-wave sleep, thus they seem to play a role during this period of sleep. Also, these neurons appear to have some sort of internal di... |
Why is most of the gold in the world found in Africa? | By total amount of gold mine reserves, North America comes out on top with about 30% of known gold mine reserves by weight. Africa has only 22%. The US and Canada combined have more gold than all of Africa. So the premise of the question is wrong since Africa does not have the most gold compared to other continents.
Of the top 10 gold producing countries, only two are African (South Africa and Ghana). Although South Africa alone has over 50% of all of Africa’s gold and is #3 on the list (after the US and Canada).
Of the top 20 largest gold mines by estimated weight, only 4 are in Africa (3 in South Africa and 1 in Ghana).
South Africa, as a country, does have a lot more gold than other countries (especially considering its small area compared to Canada, US, Australia, etc.). This is mainly because of one massive formation known as the Witwatersrand Basin. The fact that this basin has so much gold may have been the result of a colossal accident: a major meteor impact 2 billion years ago crushed the whole basin downwards meaning that it was preserved and never eroded like the surrounding rocks. | [
"From the late 15th century until the mid 19th century, two-thirds of Africa's gold production was estimated to have originated from the Gold Coast. Annual production in the early 1980s was 12,000-15,000 kg. The major primary gold lodes are found in the shear zone between the Lower Birimian phyllites and Upper Biri... |
Why is the Ozone Layer Hole in the South Pole? Why isn't it in the North Pole? | The Antarctic one is the “famous” one but there was also an article in Nature in 2005 about an Arctic ozone hole and occasionally a hole will form over Tibet (albeit not as intense). The Antarctic one was primarily exacerbated by the polar vortex in the Antarctic that fed into a seasonal increase in reactive chlorine that destroys ozone.
Hope this helps! I think it’s just that we hear about this one because it goes back farther (found in the eighties) and was worse. Ozone depletion (or too high of levels in the troposphere) are problems in other places as well, just not as severe. | [
"The hole in the Earth's ozone layer over the South Pole has affected atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere all the way to the equator. The ozone hole has influenced atmospheric circulation all the way to the tropics and increased rainfall at low, subtropical latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere.\n",
... |
how do scientists achieve extremely cold temperatures in labs (liquid oxygen/hydrogen levels)? in order to heat something up, i understand that you can add more energy to it, but how is it possible to make something that cold? | As you said when something is heated or when something is boiled it requires energy to be taken in. So how do you cool something?
You simply put a lot of pressure on a gas to make it a liquid. Then when you allow the liquid to expand it will begin to boil and turn back to a gas. This boiling process requires energy which is taken from the remaining liquid cooling it.
Basically evaporative cooling but sooped up by a compressor and an expansion valve. Same process is used in your AC or a fridge. Just the liquid for your AC or Fridge is designed to evaporate closer to room temp than liquid nitrogen. | [
"Some laboratory reactions must be run under extreme cooling, because they are very prone to hazardous thermal runaway. For example, in Swern oxidation, the formation of sulfonium chloride must be performed in a cooled system (–30 °C), because at room temperature the reaction undergoes explosive thermal runaway.\n"... |
Why do flowers smell nice to humans? | Many flowers smell like dead flesh to attract flies to pollinate them. We have bred certain flowers to smell better for us but they don't occur naturally. So I guess I would say that most people don't notice the wild flowers that we can't smell or smell bad. We mostly interact with good smelling domesticated flowers that have been bred for scent. | [
"Another attractive mechanism for flowers is the use of scent which is highly attractive towards humans such as the rose, but some are very fragrant within attracting flies as they have a smell of rotting meat. Dark is another factor in which flowers have grown to adapt these conditions so colour lacks vision at ni... |
why do laptops preform better when plugged in? | Well, it's due to the power management profile in the laptop's control panel. Running your computer's components at full power consumes an awful lot of, well, power. Throttling your system down when it's not attached to the outlet means it can extend its battery life. You can always change how it reacts under Power Options on a Windows OS; not sure where it lives on Apple. | [
"The laptop has a notable lack of expansion ports, consisting of a RS-232 port, a printer port, and the docking connector. The computer used the docking connector to connect to a Toshiba DeskStation II, giving it extra capabilities.\n",
"Laptop computers, conversely, offer portability that desktop systems (includ... |
Why is there so much rainfall in East Asia, even though most of it is at the same latitudes as the Sahara desert? | It's because of the Himalayas. If there were no mountains on the Earth, it would be dry along the tropics like [the Sahara and the Middle East](_URL_1_). But mountain ranges and nearby oceans shift the dry zone away, and cause [monsoon rains to the east](_URL_0_). | [
"Presently, the African Monsoon still influences the climate between 5° south and 25° north latitude; the latitudes around 10° north receive the bulk of their precipitation from the monsoon during summer, with smaller amounts of rainfall occurring farther north. Thus farther north deserts can be found while the moi... |
What historical processes lead to the development of Texas cities around beltway (ring road) highways? | I don't have all the info, but I can get you started.
We call them 'loops,' as does the state department, but if you look into the technical definition according to the ones who build them, loops are not necessarily circular, but they are required to connect two state highways.
Often, to avoid traffic congestion in the middle of town, a loop or half-loop, or even a 3/4 loop would be constructed so thru-traffic could remain at or close highway speeds while bypassing the town. The loop would qualify by connecting one portion of the state highway (for instance, north of the town) to another portion of the same highway (south of the town). This technicality is why Austin's two loops are actually somewhat banana shaped, Loop 1, and Loop 360.
As the towns grew, the first loop would become inaffective, and a second loop would be added, again diverting unnecessary traffic just passing through out of the main thoroughfares.
In a glossery on _URL_0_ a listing for "State Highway Loop" defines it as a... "Roadway usually created as a by-pass, so designated by the Texas Transportation Commission. "
Hints of this circular bypass method appear to be visible on maps of Tulsa and Memphis, and in Saint Louis, IH 270 wraps most of the way around the city, connecting several other major roadways. | [
"Construction on Beltway 8 (the Sam Houston Tollway) through the area began in 1985 and was completed in 1988. Financing for this section of the tollway was particularly challenging, as the Texas Department of Transportation's right-of-way acquisition program coincided with the rapid development of Westchase and Sh... |
In theory, would it be possible to find gravitational lenses at the correct angles to one another that would allow us to resolve the ancient Milky Way, and perhaps study an ancient Earth? | Unfortunately, the answer is never.
We can approach this question in two ways: gravitational lensing, and object resolution.
A distant black hole, or even the one at the center of the galaxy, may in fact have the perfectly perfect angle where the photons from millions of years ago (other galaxy), or thousands of years ago (milky way) would loop back and come back to us. Unfortunately, black holes aren't just hanging out. They are surrounded by disks of gas and matter moving at up to relativistic speeds and emitting tons of radiation in all wavelengths of the spectrum. Any photons lucky enough to make the round trip (not quite round trip as everything is in motion) will be lost among all the other energy. Our galaxy is a better candidate because of the angular perfection required, but it would just be noise.
Now, lets say we find that perfect local black hole that happens to have swallowed up everything nearby and is just "hanging out" in our solar neighborhood and curving spacetime. Physics dictates the minimum resolution of an object based on the aperture and sensor size. The amount of light coming back from the black hole from our ancient past would be coming from such a minute point in space that even if it weren't lensed beyond obscurity, our only bet would be to pray for a faint atmospheric signature if we happened to eclipse the sun. Even with a futuristic atom-grid sensor, we still wouldn't have the power to resolve any details of the planet.
There are just too many factors working against this. | [
"The possibility of gravitational lensing was suggested in 1924 and clarified by Albert Einstein in 1936. In 1937, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky (1898 - 1974), working at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, realized that galaxies and galaxy clusters far out in space may be sufficiently compact and massive t... |
Who did Saudi Arabia sell its oil to during WWII? | Great Britain got their oil from British Petroleum, which traces its origins back to the Anglo-Persian oil company that was founded before World War I. After WWI and the partition of the Ottoman Empire, BP expanded its operations into Kuwait and Iraq. So Britain did not buy any oil from Saudi Arabia during the WWII era.
Saudi Arabia did not begin to look for oil until after the Standard Oil Company of California (So Cal) began to produce oil on the island of Bahrain, in 1932. Saudi Arabia created a company called Aramco in 1933, to look for oil in Saudi Arabia. So Cal was their first investor and the first oil company to send geologists to look for oil. By 1936, no oil had been discovered yet and Aramco allowed So Cal to sell half of their stake to Texaco. Limited oil production began in 1938, but it was only 1500 barrels of oil a day. Production only increased very slowly during WW II and Saudi Arabia was NOT a major oil producer. In 1948, Exxon was allowed to buy into Aramco, and shortly there after, Mobil was allowed to invest in Aramco too. It wasn't until the early 1950s that the first really large oil field in Saudi Arabia was tapped. The Saudis sold their limited oil production during WWII to Texaco and So Cal, but they were not even in the top ten oil producing nations of the world during the 1940s.
Source: "Aramco and its World : Arabia and the Middle East" edited by Ismail Nawwab, Peter Speers and Paul Hoye | [
"During and after World War II, production of Saudi oil expanded, with much of the oil being sold to the Allies. Aramco (the Arabian American Oil Company) built an underwater pipeline to Bahrain to help increase oil flow in 1945. Between 1939 and 1953, oil revenues from Saudi Arabia increased from $7 million to ove... |
Would it be better if starving to eat or keep a limb? | I'm not a professional or anything, but I think that eating the limb would provide you with nutrition. The factors to consider however are what are your means for stopping blood loss, shock, and infection? If you are poor and starving, I would hardly think you had access to a proper clean environment. | [
"If extensive necrosis and gangrene has set in an arm or leg, the limb may have to be amputated. Limb amputation is in itself usually remarkably well tolerated, but is associated with a substantial mortality (~50%), primarily because of the severity of the diseases in patients where it is indicated.\n",
"People w... |
why is sepp blatter able to remain untouced in switzerland even though the fbi is actively pursuing him | Extradition is a complicated process. Even with an extradition treaty in place you have to prove that you've got a very good case against the person you want handed over before a foreign government will help you get them. If there isn't enough evidence or your argument isn't considered good enough they can refuse to hand the person over. Getting a person transferred when they've already been imprisoned for something is a bit easier since that person is already considered a criminal by the local authorities. | [
"On 13 December, the Director of the SFO wrote to the Attorney General to inform him that the SFO was dropping the investigation and would not be looking into the Swiss bank accounts, citing \"real and imminent damage to the UK's national and international security and would endanger the lives of UK citizens and se... |
How does the body know when to use the esophagus or the trachea? | It's a fairly simple process, the trachea and the esophagus share the same lumen up until just below the epiglottis. When you actually swallow something the reflexes start to occur immediately after you initiate the movement. The swallow reflex uses the tongue and certain other muscles in the mouth (and the pharynx/back of the throat) to propel the bolus of food into the GI tract. One of the main parts of this reflex is to use the epiglottis to block off the trachea for the most part, not allowing food to go that way. With breathing, the lack of these reflexes causes air to go down the trachea into the lungs. The upper esophageal sphincter blocks air passage down the esophagus for the most part. | [
"The anus is the final component of the gastrointestinal tract, and directly continues from the rectum. The anus passes through the pelvic floor. The anus is surrounded by muscles. The top and bottom of the anus are surrounded by the internal and external anal sphincters, two muscular rings which control defecation... |
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