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if 1 and 0 (data) are voltage values, how is voltage stored in a flash drive after you plug it out of the computer and stop the electricity flow? | Think of it as balls and buckets. It takes energy to kick a ball into a bucket, and it takes energy to remove a ball from a bucket, but unless someone does something a ball outside a bucket will stay out, and if the ball is in it will stay in. Each bucket is a bit, and it's state (0 or 1) will be determined by whether or not it has a ball. You sculpt your stored data by plucking balls out of buckets.
The balls are electrons and the buckets are just a metaphor for some quantum behavior I've never understood, but the ball & bucket analogy helps me understand. | [
"For use in a binary digital computer, the tube had to be capable of storing either one of two states at each of its memory locations, corresponding to the binary digits (bits) 0 and 1. It exploited the positive or negative electric charge generated by displaying either a dash or a dot at any position on the CRT sc... |
why can't i (besides being a dick to the postal service) drop off a letter in a mailbox, with the return address being my actual intended address, to avoid using a stamp? | You can. I have a friend who got caught, and was banned from the Postal Service for several years. | [
"Mailboxes, on the other hand, often have a \"maximum\" setback instead of a minimum one. A postal administration or postmaster may mandate that if a mailbox on a street is too far from the curb for the letter carrier to insert mail, without having to get out of the vehicle, the mail may not be delivered to that ad... |
why people prefer mega or the pirate bay than mediafire? | I use TPB for a couple reasons. Number one is nostalgia.
Number two is respect. They've been around for 10(?) years or so, name another pirating platform team that has faced the level of pressure TPB has...Mega, maybe? These guys are serving prison time and still running TPB. They've made plenty money and could have gotten out years ago, but they continue to risk their freedom for us(and more money).
TL;DR 1. Nostalgia 2. Much Respect. | [
"The Pirate Bay (sometimes abbreviated to TPB) is an online index of digital content of entertainment media and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank Piratbyrån, The Pirate Bay allows visitors to search, download, and contribute magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer (P2P) file shar... |
What is the oldest, civilized and still existing nation? | Depends on how you define "civilized" and "nation".
6th edition of *Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English* defines "civilized" as: "1. a civilized society is well organized and developed, and has fair laws and customs". In historical use, from what I remember, a civilized state has the following characteristics:
* Urban city centers
* A form of symbolic writing
* An organized government and a taxation system
Egyptians had hieroglyphs as early as around 3 200 B.C, if I recall correctly. However, Egypt has not been existed continuously as it's own nation, the Persians conquered it around 525 B.C, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt (and pretty much everything else while at it, too) from the Persians, and the Hellenes were driven out after the war between Octavian, who would later be known as *Augustus Caesar*, and Marcus Antonius, or Mark Anthony, as his name has been anglicized, and finally, the Arabs conquered Egypt from the Eastern Roman Empire.
As far as I remember, the Kurds have never been independent, so I am not sure if they really count.
Meanwhile, in the Far East, China has had, according to folklore and tradition, dynasties, and thus governments, and thus taxation, since 22nd century B.C. Written language in China may date back even to [7th millenium B.C] (_URL_0_), but the evidence can be disputed as an anomaly. China, while it has been conquered, has never had it's ethnicity, culture and government system changed much, as far as I know, so I would say that China is the oldest civilization which still exists. | [
"The society is divided into 83 provinces along with six independent regions and ten dependent regions. On 1 January 2007, members served in 112 nations on six continents with the largest number in India and the US. Their average age was 57.3 years: 63.4 years for priests, 29.9 years for scholastics, and 65.5 years... |
What is the history of course and grounds upkeep at St. Andrews? | St Andrews was unusual in that between 1552 and 1805 they used rabbits. There was a financial incentive for this, because rabbiting was a huge industry when every part of a rabbit had a use and there was always an increasing supply. This benefitted both the landlords who sold on the rabbits and the commoners who caught them - both received financial rewards - but the golf course would have held little revenue for commoners until tourism as an industry developed as we know it today.
Mass killing the rabbits was legalised in 1805, as the tourist golfer population and their interest in st andrews was rising. Golf itself was being standardised, and rabbits left too many of their own holes in the course to disturb matches. There was a 16 year struggle between the two sides until 1821 when the foundations for an established course were laid out.
Because the golf course is known to be over 500 years old, but rabbits were permitted in 1552, I would assume that rabbits were already being used and permission was granted as it was a difficult practice to curb (as is often the way) but it would otherwise have been livestock, probably sheep. Modern grass maintenance arrived in the mid-victorian era when the basic lawnmower was invented, in 1830, so I would again assumed livestock were used until later in the 18th century when St Andrews would have been able to purchase one.
I was able to find [this internet history](_URL_0_) for quick reading, but the 'definitive history' recommended is St Andrews, The Evolution of the Old Course: The Impact on Golf of Time, Tradition and Technology by Scott MacPherson. Hope this was helpful. | [
"The Charleston Trust is a charity set up in 1980 to restore and maintain the home of the Bloomsbury Group artists for the benefit of the public. The unique collection at Charleston is illustrative of the art and lifestyle of the influential Bloomsbury Group and has been on show to the public since 1986. Charleston... |
Could Russia ever have won the Cold War? | In his book, *Predicting Politics*, political scientist Bruce Bueno de Mesquita simulates the Cold War as a battle over ideology between different countries. He allows the *salience* of foreign policy to vary randomly in each run of the simulation; military, economic, and demographic capabilities are set at the outset and then vary over time due to conflict or cooperation between states. Anyway, what his model finds is that most of the time, the USSR more or less gives in and moves to the US position on international ideology. Still, in at least a quarter of cases, the opposite happens (usually because the US cannot assemble a coalition that cares about ideology and it suffers costs from resisting a more-powerful Soviet bloc alone). I'm not entirely persuaded by the simulations, but the model has been reasonably accurate as a forecasting tool, so it's not unreasonable to suppose that if Europe and Japan went to the far left, the US would basically withdraw from intense competition with the Soviet Union, leaving it to set the international agenda. Political science is probably as close to counterfactual history as you'll get, since all cause-effect statements necessarily include counterfactuals (e.g. if A makes B more likely, then B must be less likely absent A). | [
"In January 2017, a former US Government adviser Molly K. McKew said at \"Politico\" that the US would win a new cold war. \"The New Republic\" editor Jeet Heer dismissed the possibility as \"equally troubling[,] reckless threat inflation, wildly overstating the extent of Russian ambitions and power in support of a... |
why are there fourteen mountains over 8,000m, but none over 9,000m? | It's likely Mt. Everest is near to the largest size mountain earth will support. A larger mountain is more massive, which puts a strain on the material at its base. They deform the plates they sit upon, more mass will further the deformation. And depending on height and climate, can promote glacial development, which it has been theorized to cause vigorous erosion limiting total height. | [
"Thirteen of the fourteen 8,000m summits are Ultras (the exception being Lhotse), and there are a further 64 Ultras over in height. There are 90 Ultras with a prominence of over , but only 22 with more than prominence.\n",
"The list contains 451 mountains with a prominence higher than 300 m, among which 24 are ab... |
why is "the big crunch" an unpopular theory? | So you have this balloon hooked up to an air compressor. Youre watching this and you see its slowly getting bigger. We know its getting bigger because if we draw a bunch of dots on the balloon with sharpie, you notice all the dots are getting farther from eachother.
The big crunch says that this air compressor will turn off, or atleast slow down enough that air is escaping faster than entering.
If the air compressor is currently on, yes its possible that it will turn off, but without other knowledge it makes more sense that it will keep inflating. | [
"The Big Crunch is a theoretical scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the expansion of the universe eventually reverses and the universe recollapses, ultimately causing the cosmic scale factor to reach zero, an event potentially followed by a reformation of the universe starting with another Big... |
Why did Japan have oil problems dispite owning oil-rich provinces during WW2? | There are basically three elements to this.
First. While the the Southern Resource Area was oil rich by Japanese standards it was significantly less productive than other areas of the world at the time. In 1940 while the US produced 183 million tons of crude, the Dutch East Indies produced 8 million tons of crude. The rest of the region added a few million more tons. The US and other Allies also had access to the international market which added places like Venezuela (27Mt), Iran (10Mt), Mexico (7Mt), etc. Japan didn’t have access to any of that. So they were stuck using only the oil produced in the SRA and the tiny amounts produced in pre-war territories (mainly Japan and Taiwan/Formosa). Of the world’s 294 Mt oil output Japan had access to around 11 Mt.
Second. Japanese occupied territories never matched their pre-war output. One the the very last things the European powers did before the area was captured was to destroy refineries and wells. The Allies also focused on disrupting oil production, much like they did in Europe. So air raids were common. I can’t find mid-war production figures at the moment, but between 1940 and 1945 oil production in the Dutch East Indies dropped from 8 Mt of crude, to less than 1 Mt of crude. At no point did Japan ever get more than a fraction of the production the area had before the war.
Third. Japan had a grossly inadequate fleet of tankers. In December 1942, the country as a whole had 58 tankers, with a total carry capacity of around 600,000 tons. During the war they converted a number of other ships into tankers including passenger ships, they captured foreign tankers, and anything else they could think of. In all around 200 Japanese ships served as tankers. But it was never adequate, especially by mid-to-late-war when the submariners began to focus on the tankers. Japan could never adequately get the little oil they had to where they needed it. By late war the IJN was refueling some ships with raw crude directly from the fields rather than trying to transport the fuel to refineries and then back out to the fleet. This resulted in the damage to a number of boilers, due to the high sulfur content of the Bornean crude.
In short Japan had access to 3% of the pre-war production, never actually achieved those pre-war figures, and couldn’t have transported if they had.
Contrast that to the US, who themselves had local oil shortages at times. The US produced 67% of the world’s crude (and had access to about 80% of the global supply). They managed to increase pre-war production numbers during the war, including opening brand new fields. They had a vastly larger tanker fleet to start the war, and built a ridiculous number during the war. Just counting only the workhorse T2-SE-A1 models, the US built 481 during the war. Which alone accounts for about 2.5x as many as all Japanese tankers that served at all during the war. | [
"Japanese oil fields in Sakhalin and Formosa provided only about ten percent of the petroleum needed to sustain Japanese industry. Reserves of California crude oil at Japanese refineries would have been exhausted in less than two years at the rate of consumption when United States terminated exports to Japan on 26 ... |
if millipedes have around 200 legs and are that little then why are they so slow? | If you had to organise 200 legs you'd be slow, too.[1]
Actually - some centipedes are very speedy, because that's the niche they've evolved to fit, but millipedes aren't predators (that I know of) and have no need for speed.
[1] Actually, they're self-organising - each segment responds in a set way to the movement of the one before, so much of it is automatic. | [
"Octopuses mainly move about by relatively slow crawling, with some swimming in a head-first position. Jet propulsion, or backwards swimming, is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and crawling. When in no hurry, they usually crawl on either solid or soft surfaces. Several arms are extended forw... |
how is it humanly possible to survive a flight in an airplane wheel well given the lack of heating, pressure ond oxygen, which are vital for survival at a high altitude? | Luck.
The young man in question was unconscious for most of the trip, luckily for him, but he was certainly dicing with death. Stowing away in a wheel well isn't a surefire way to kill yourself, but this risk is certainly unacceptably high. There's just enough oxygen and heat -- and plenty of pressure -- up there to make survival possible, just not very likely.
It is usually fatal, though. A few years ago a man literally fell out of the sky onto a street in London. He'd stowed away in a wheel well in Angola and perished on the way; when the plane lowered its undercarriage on its approach to Heathrow, the body fell out and gave several Londoners a nasty shock. | [
"The newest models of aircraft were capable of exceeding altitudes at which humans can breathe, even with 100% oxygen supplementation, introducing the risk of hypoxia. Bird discovered that an oxygen regulator in a crashed German bomber he was ferrying back to the U.S. for study seemed to contain a pressure breathin... |
when did the united states do away with voting as a "legal" holiday? | It's a holiday under state law in a handful of states, but it has never been a national holiday. The problem with making it a holiday or having voting on the weekend is that there will still always be people who have to work. If the law mandated that everybody had the day off, then emergency services like police and hospitals would stop and that would be terribly dangerous. Even if first responders and other essential safety personnel worked, it would be a pain for a lot of people for all restaurants, stores, gas stations, etc. to be closed. At the end of the day there's no good way to force a holiday for everyone - our society relies on having access to various services to run and people have to work for those services to operate.
Early voting exists for people who can't take off on election day. A lot of states also require that employers let employees take a couple hours off from work to go vote. | [
"In 1939, William Randolph Hearst advocated, through his chain of daily newspapers, the creation of a holiday to celebrate citizenship. In 1940, Congress designated the third Sunday in May as \"I am an American Day.\" In 1944 \"I am an American Day\" was promoted through the United States Immigration and Naturaliza... |
Is blood pressure related to blood viscosity | The formula for blood pressure is:
Heart rate • Stroke volume • Systemic vascular resistance
* Heart rate = how many times the heart beats in 1 minute.
* Stroke volume = how much blood is ejected from the heart each time it beats.
* Systemic vascular resistance = the resistance to blood flow caused by the blood flowing through the vessels.
The systemic vascular resistance is composed of many factors, including the total length of the vascular system, the radius of the vessels, the flow rate of the blood through them, and yes, the viscosity of the blood. Check out the [Hagen–Poiseuille equation](_URL_0_) for more info on that.
**tl;dr - The viscosity of the blood is only one small component of the total contribution to blood pressure.** | [
"Blood viscosity is a measure of the resistance of blood to flow. It can also be described as the thickness and stickiness of blood. This biophysical property makes it a critical determinant of friction against the vessel walls, the rate of venous return, the work required for the heart to pump blood, and how much ... |
what thoughts go on in the mind of a typical mentally handicapped person? | There is no such thing as a "typical mentally handicapped person". Every individual is different and the brain is an extremely complex organ and development or injury affects every individual in different ways. A "mental handicap" may manifest completely different in two people depending on nature and/or nurture. | [
"Mental health and stability is a very important factor in a person’s everyday life. Social skills, behavioral skills, and someone’s way of thinking are just some of the things that the human brain develops at an early age. Learning how to interact with others and how to focus on certain subjects are essential less... |
during the cold war, what's the point of splitting berlin? like, it seemed like a bad idea from the start? | It wasn't split during the cold war. It was split 4 ways after the Germans surrendered in WWII, into the Russian, American, English, and French zones. The idea behind splitting Berlin was that the allied powers defeated Germany, and thus each should be responsible for a section of the German capital. | [
"At first, this arrangement was intended to be of a temporary administrative nature, with all parties declaring that Germany and Berlin would soon be reunited. However, as the relations between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union soured and the Cold War began, the joint administration of Germany and Berlin brok... |
What location does fat get used to create energy? | Ok so fat is called a Triglyceride or TAG and it is called that because it is made of three fatty acid chains. This structure is very stable and is unsoluable and is stored in docks called adipose tissue. When the body runs out of glucose and glycogen as fuel it starts burning fatty acids. A number of things need to happen first though.
To begin with the fatty acids need to be mobilised. This is done through a process called Lipolysis. The three acids are seperated and then transported to the cell that requires the fuel. In this case a muscle cell. Now what the cell needs to do is convert the fatty acid into energy or basically ATP. Through a complicated metabolic pathway they form a molecule called Acteyl Co-A. This molecule enters the energy producing cycle called the citric acid cycle. It is now the same as glucose and goes through the same steps such as the electron transport chain and stuff.
Let me know if you need more detail. Key thing is fat is stored in a stable unsoluable form in adipose tissue. When the body is starving hormones such as insulin activate the degradation of the TAGs into 3 separate chains which then enter the blood and get transported to the starving cell. The cell then uses that fuel.
I think that answers your question. | [
"Fat is an important foodstuff for many forms of life, and fats serve both structural and metabolic functions. They are a necessary part of the diet of most heterotrophs (including humans) and are the most energy dense, thus the most efficient form of energy storage.\n",
"Adipose tissue, commonly known as fat, is... |
How can scientists measure the mass of an atom, and other subatomic particles to such extreme precision? | Particle masses can be measured in a few ways. Typically, subatomic particle masses are determined by the relationship between their energy and their momentum. If a particle is not moving, its total energy is E=mc\^2. If it is moving, then E\^2=(mc\^2)\^2+(pc)\^2, where p is the momentum and c is the speed of light. One way to measure the mass, say, of a proton, is to put it in a mass spectrometer. Accelerating it in a known electric field gives it an amount of kinetic energy proportional to its charge. Causing the proton to move in a circular path in a uniform, well-calibrated magnetic field allows the momentum to be measured quite precisely.
| [
"Since the electron mass determines a number of observed effects in atomic physics, there are potentially many ways to determine its mass from an experiment, if the values of other physical constants are already considered known.\n",
"Typically, the mass of objects is measured in relation to that of the kilogram,... |
why dont people have a problem with cuba being a problem? | There isn't a sort of flicked switch between free and oppressive. As countries go, Cuba isn't *that bad.*
It's also poor, yes, but arguably because of US-imposed trade embargoes.
All the money it spends on medical aid is also a very good PR move - it sends hundreds of doctors to developing countries. It also has free healthcare and a lower child mortality rate than the US, despite spending a fraction of the amount of money per person on healthcare, which is why pro-healthcare reform people like to bring it up as a contrast to the US's current system. | [
"Furthermore, Cuba has little to offer the United States economically. From the United States viewpoint, Cuba's one party semi-dictatorial form of government is especially undesirable due to characteristics such as its crackdowns on religious freedom, repression of the press, and repression of almost all criticism ... |
What would be the implications if the existence of a magnetic monopole was found? | First, the existence of a magnetic monopole would imply the necessity of electric charge quantization -- the phenomenon that all electric charges are integer multiples of some fundamental charge, a property which is observed but for which we do not have a confirmed explanation.
Secondly, many unified theories imply the existence of monopoles. So if you found a monopole, you could ask, if this is a unified theory monopole, what would it tell you about the unified theory? The mass of the monopole would allow us to determine the energy scale at which unification occurs. Also, in unified theories, the monopoles have a radius determined by the unification scale.
One last thing: The density of monopoles in the universe is related to the expansion rate of the universe and when that expansion occurred. Inflation -- a period of rapid expansion -- appears to be needed in the context of grand unification, because otherwise there'd be a much higher density of monopoles and we should have seen some already.
BTW, you might be interested to read about Cabrera's experiment that [appeared to detect a magnetic monopole](_URL_0_) in 1982, although since that signal never occurred again, it seems doubtful that one event was real.
Edit: I should add that the connection between the existence of magnetic monopoles and quantization of electric charge was [realized by Dirac](_URL_1_) in 1931. | [
"Modern interest in this concept stems from particle theories, notably Grand Unified Theories and superstring theories, that predict either the existence, or the possibility, of magnetic monopoles. These theories and others have inspired extensive efforts to search for monopoles. Despite these efforts, no magnetic ... |
To what extent were the Romans successful against Persian horsemen? | So I wrote a post on why horse archers were so effective a couple of days ago:
_URL_0_
As for Roman tactics against them, let's first look at Crassus' campaign. He was a rich man but a horrible commander, and actually was given a good route for his campaign. The King of Armenia offered him safe passage and extra cavalry for his campaign, but Crassus rejected this and instead marched through the desert. One of the most important things to remember when facing an army of horse archers is to avoid terrain that is conducive to their strategies, like the desert, and instead to travel through lands that are bad for cavalry maneuvers, like the Highlands the Armenian king offered passage through. So Crassus chooses the bad option, is led through the desert by Parthian spies without the necessary cavalry support, and ends up getting everyone killed.
One thing to remember about the Romans is that they adapt, and when they suck at something, they hire someone else to do it for them. During Trajan's campaign 150 years later, he brings along a significant portion of auxiliary cavalry. His units stick to highlands and in his case sail along the Euphrates to avoid fighting horse archers in their natural environment. He uses a tactic much like Richard Lionheart's, where you use a natural barrier to protect your rear, line up infantry in front of significant missle fire, and keep your cavalry in reserve to do measured charges to keep chase off the enemy. Even though he is significantly better prepared, they stop at the Iranian plateau as that would have been a dire defeat for the Romans even with Mauretanian horse auxilliaries.
As for the Mongols, they did have problems with castles up until their conquest of China and subsequent absorption of Chinese siege engineers. To say they were stopped by sieges in the west is wrong though. They had the capacity to besiege and take castles, but by the time they reach Hungary they are stretched very thin. They do win multiple battles, but have to withdraw because of the election of a new Great Khan. So why didn't they go back and overrun Europe? As I said before, they were stretched thin and horse archer armies work when they can fight on their terms. The Hungarian plain was the end of the steppes. After the Carpathian Mountains, Europe is heavily forested and has swamps and hill country and mountain ranges. It's just not conducive to the Mongol way of war, and unlike China, is not close enough to make the resources needed worth it.
Source: Erik Hildinger "Warriors of the Steppe" | [
"The Romans retired their frontier troops and the Persian forces susequently crossed the Tigris river. Shapur's tactic was to tire the Roman forces with a long march in the hot hours of the day before engaging them with his archers and cataphracts, thus, when the two armies came face-to-face, the Persian cavalry fe... |
How accurate is Battlefield 1? | There's always room for discussion, but perhaps this previous topic found through the search function will answer your inquiry.
* [Battlefield 1 Trailer Accuracy](_URL_0_) | [
"There is no serious historical evidence giving an exact place or time to the battle, nor any troop positions, numerical statistics, casualties, or much of anything of that nature. It is not even fully understood if the battle was in of itself a major engagement or merely a small battle or even a large skirmish. Di... |
why did we shoot people that contracted rabies? (context within) | 1. you're gonna die, and pretty soon, and it's incredibly painful.
2. you are likely to go nutso as the disease progresses and then bite someone, scratch someone or exchange fluids with them someone - you're contagious.
In days of yore we took slightly more drastic approaches to dealing with this sort of thing.... | [
"BULLET::::- Rabies, a fatal neurologic disease in animals and people, is caused by a virus. Animals and people are most commonly infected through bites from rabid animals. Infected cats may have a variety of signs, but most often have sudden behavioral changes and progressive paralysis.\n",
"BULLET::::- Rabies –... |
Were the Vandals any more destructive than other invading tribes during the fall of the Roman Empire, or was there another reason their name became connected with vandalism? | I'll only speak for one aspect of the Vandals in that, while certainly proving to be just as if not more destructive than the Huns and Alaric's visigoths--in terms of the sack of Rome they actually proved to be far less Vandal-like.
Like when Attilla and the Huns were at Rome's doorstep, Pope Leo I once again rode out to meet the would-be invaders and attempt to turn them away from the city. However, Leo's position with the Vandals was far weaker. They were far closer to Rome than Attila was, and Leo didn't have the benefit this time of an army at his back. Unlike the Huns though, the Vandals were christian.
What this is leading to is that when the Vandals did sack Rome, they made an agreement with Leo. They would take what they want--but they wouldn't harm the citizens. They stuck to their word. The Visigoths certainly didn't do that much.
Though, the Visigoths had a far better reason than the Vandals for wishing to sack Rome in the first place. Alaric wanted to establish a homeland for his people--and attempted multiple times to seek some sort of settlement Honorius. Honorius was too stupid or stubborn to accept Alaric's peace offers.
Things are not very black and white in history. While I can't speak of to how the act of vandalism became overtly associated with the Vandals, I can at least say that their sacking of Rome proved to be far less brutal than the other barbarian invasions of the Western Empire. | [
"The Vandals were also weakened by the hostility of their Roman subjects, the continued existence among the Vandals of a faction loyal to Hilderic, and by the ambivalent position of the Moorish tribes, who watched the oncoming conflict from the sidelines, ready to join the victor and seize the spoils.\n",
"The mo... |
The negative side of the square root does not matter? | The square root symbol is just an object that we made up to keep track of certain quantities. The equation x^(2)-A=0 has two solutions in the real numbers for A > 0. Luckily we know that if x=b is a solution (so b is a number so that b^2=A), then x=-b is *also* a solution. This says two things: 1) We just need to know *one* solution in order to keep track of *both* of them and 2) One of the solutions will be positive. We then *invent* the symbol "sqrt(A)" to be the *positive* solution to x^(2)-A=0. This means that the solutions to x^(2)-A=0 are sqrt(A) and -sqrt(a). sqrt(A) is a single value, it can't be both positive and negative.
sqrt(A) symbol invented to represent a single number that can be used as a bookkeeping device in order to keep track of *both* solutions to x^(2)-A=0. We can't have, for instance, sqrt(4)=+-2, because equality is *transitive*. We'd have sqrt(4)=-2 and sqrt(4)=2, which then says -2=2. What we can say is that the solutions to x^(2)-4=0 are x=2 and x=-2.
An interesting thing is that the equation x^(2)+1=0 has two solutions, but neither of them is positive or negative. In fact, we *can't* tell the two solutions to this equation apart! What we do is then just say that "i" is *one* of these solutions. Which one? Doesn't matter. But we can use it to keep track of both solutions, as the other is -i. | [
"No square root can be taken of a negative number within the system of real numbers, because squares of all real numbers are non-negative. The lack of real square roots for the negative numbers can be used to expand the real number system to the complex numbers, by postulating the imaginary unit , which is one of t... |
why are people scared of guns? | I get hunting, and have fired weapons myself (including a 20-gauge when I was a teenager, as well as a South African "R5" 5.56mm assault rifle on a range). So I don't "hate" guns, nor am I "scared" of them, but I still have major issues with the whole concept, philosophically.
Step back a bit and look at the big picture, forgetting specifics for a minute. A gun is a machine for killing people and other animals. It's not the only way of killing, of course, but it makes killing incredibly *easy*. Just point it at someone and squeeze the trigger.
With great power comes great responsibility, then, and I frankly don't want that kind of responsibility. Some bad guys have guns, so I should have guns too? That's a circular argument, and it's how arms races start. The bad guys know I have guns, so they get more and/or bigger guns, so should I follow suit? If someone breaks in on me in the suburbs at 4AM, and I started firing my little Glock (or whatever), I doubt that the intruders would be in any danger.
Where does it end? What kind of society would it be if guns were both the problem and the solution? I don't have kids, but if I did, would they be able to go outside and play, away from parental gaze, have fun, and come back safely? My idea of a world safe for everyone is not one that requires guns at all. | [
"In studies of nonfatal gun use, it was found that guns can contribute to coercive control, which can then escalate into chronic and more severe violence. Guns can have a negative impact on victims even without being discharged. Threats of gun use or showing a weapon can create damaging and long-lasting fear and em... |
How many photons from a distant star hit the Earth at any given moment or per second, and does a unique photon strike every (very small) unit area of the side of the planet that faces the source? | > I was wondering if two people standing next to one another see distinct photons
Any time you and another person see the same thing, you are actually seeing distinct photons. When you see something, it means photons from that object have been absorbed by your retina; the same photon can't be absorbed by the retinas of two different people.
> how does something so far away "cover" the entire side of the Earth (facing the source) with photons?
It does by emitting a *huge* number of photons. In some sense, that's the definition of something which is visible.
> I realize the light is red-shifted and the wave is stretched out as it travels away from the source
The light from stars we see is not necessarily red shifted. While on a large scale, the universe is expanding, that's not reflected in the motion of nearby objects. For things in the galaxy, the light can be red-shifted or blue-shifted depending on the local velocities of the stars relative to us.
| [
"If we assume a 10 m diameter ideal ground-based telescope and an unresolved star: every second, over a patch the size of the seeing-enlarged image of the star, 35 photons arrive from the star and 3500 from air-glow. So, over an hour, roughly arrive from the air-glow, and approximately arrive from the source; so th... |
how come women begin being biologically capable of having babies at an age (periods can start as early as 9) in which they are not developmentally/emotionally/physically capable to? | I see a lot of people mentioning evolution. Valid to some point. But a huge influence are
endocrine disruptors like BPA. A few decades ago it wasn't common for girls as young as 9 to get their period. The chances of surviving a birth as a 9 year old are also pretty low. | [
"Precocious puberty can make a child fertile when very young, with the youngest mother on record being Lina Medina, who gave birth at the age of 5 years, 7 months and 17 days, in one report and at 6 years 5 months in another.\n",
"These young girls, some as young as 12, are being force into sexual relationships w... |
Why did the roles of Barrister and Solicitor develop separately in Britain? | Oo! A question that I can help answer in part!
For what it’s worth, I’m not a historian, but I do have a degree in history. I’m currently a law student in Australia, which has a similar Solicitor/Barrister split profession. I can’t speak to how the American profession developed, but I can talk about how the English/Welsh (and by extension, Australian) profession developed separately.
First off, currently in England and Wales, solicitors are actually entitled to appear before many Lower Courts, and it’s really only in the superior courts that barristers become truly necessary. However, the profession is still very split in certain jurisdictions in Australia.
The development of the split profession is largely something of a historical accident.^1 The distant ancestor to the modern barrister, the ‘Serjeants-at-law’, were an import of the Norman Conquest of the 11^th Century. As an aside, this is also why so many older English precedent is peppered with French. From at least 1216, English courts were beginning to limit the rights of audience to ’regular’ advocates’.
**The Initial Split**
Under King Edward I, the two separate branches were beginning to emerge. A pleading system was established, whereby specially trained serjeants would conduct legal arguments, while an Ordinance of the King placed legal representatives under judicial control, ending the clergy as lawyers in the Court.^2
**Solicitors**
Originally, Courts would require litigants to show up, plead their case, and receive judgement.^3 However, over time, courts relaxed these rules, and allowed litigants to appoint agents to appear and speak on their behalf. Obviously, lawyers did not appear out of nowhere as a profession, and these agents were not initially professionals.^4 The right to an ‘attorney’ was declared by Parliament in the 15^th Century.
As the number of cases and the amount of litigation increased in the 16^th Century, the number of terrible, unscrupulous and immoral solicitors increased at the same time. Therefore, in 1605, Parliament enacted the first of what we now would consider to be the solicitor’s standards and practices, requiring written statements for fees, and requiring written accounting for disbursements made on the client’s behalf.^5
**Barristers**
In England and Wales, barristers operate out of Inns of Court: The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, and the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. These trace their origins to the late 13^th Century, where legal professionals would live, learn, work and socialise together. These societies were the ancestors to the ‘Bar’.
Beneath the serjeants were the ‘apprentices-at-law’ and ‘utter barristers’,^6 who were recognised in 1532 as men ‘learned in the law’, and in 1590 required a ‘call to the bar of an Inn of Court’ as the minimum qualification for rights of audience before a higher common-law court. In 1596, the QC or KC (also known as a ‘silk’) rank of barrister was established, and by the 19th Century, no more serjeants were appointed. Barristers and ‘silks’ now comprised the entirety of the Bar.
**The Formalised Split**
However, from the 16^th Century onwards, the Privy Council, the Judiciary, and the Inns of Court themselves began excluding attorneys and solicitors from membership of the higher prestige inns.^7 Because of the way the judiciary works, only those who are ‘called to the bar’ are entitled to appear before the Court to argue cases. By excluding solicitors from membership of the Inns of Court, it essentially made it impossible for them to be called to the Bar, and so restricted the right of appearance to those barristers who were members of the Inns of Court.
**Conclusion**
It’s really this exclusion of solicitors and attorneys (who have since been combined) that solidified the split profession. Although we can see that the profession had been split to some extent from 1216 onwards, it wasn't made explicitly formalised until the Inns began excluding solicitors, preventing them from being called to the Bar, and removing their rights to appear before a higher Common-Law Court.
**Sources**
A note on sources: These are written from the perspective of American jurists and scholars. As such, there may be implicit bias in regards to the split profession. I was unable to find a British source when I ran an academic search, but I'm sure they are out there.
1. Judith L. Maute, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Preliminary Reflections on the History of the Split English Legal Profession and the Fusion Debate (1000-1900 A.D.)" [2003] 71, 4 *Fordham Law Review* 1357, 1358 ('Alice's Adventures in Wonderland').
2. Ibid 1360, citing Robert Megarry, Inns Ancient and Modern 10 (Selden Soc'y 1972). See also Harry Cohen, "The Divided Legal Profession in England and Wales - Can Barristers and Solicitors Ever Be Fused?" (1987) 12 *The Journal of the Legal Profession* 7, 12 ('The Divided Legal Profession').
3. Ibid.
4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, above n 1, at 1360, citing Edmund B.V. Christian, A Short History of Solicitors 3, 9 (1896)
5. Ibid, 1361.
6. Ibid, 1366 citing Robert Megarry, Inns Ancient and Modern 10 (Selden Soc'y 1972).
7. Ibid. See also "The Divided Legal Profession" at 12, citing H. Kirk, Portrait of a Profession 18 (1976). | [
"In England and Wales, the strict separation between the duties of solicitor and barrister was partially broken down, with the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 removing the monopoly of barristers to act as advocates and granting solicitors rights of audience in specified circumstances. Solicitors came frequently ... |
How prevalent was Latin in Britain under the Romans and if it was when did it die out as a common language? | We can't know for sure, but it was probably somewhat similar to English in India: it was a language of administration and law, a literary language, and a common language, particularly in the towns. Unfortunately we just don't have enough writing from Britain to know for certain. | [
"With the end of Roman rule, Latin was displaced as a spoken language by Old English in most of what became England during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of the fifth and sixth centuries. It survived in the remaining Celtic regions of western Britain until about 700, when it was replaced by the local Brittonic language... |
I'm looking for books focused on political history (preferably books focused on the 20th century, but I'm open to anything). Any suggestions? | I can only give limited advice about *The Rise and Fall of Communism* as I just skimmed through a few pages of the book in a local Barnes and Noble but it seems to be a well-written book; however, I would also suggest you look at another book about communism that came out not too long ago called *The Red Flag: A History of Communism*, which seems to be a much more entertaining yet still enlightening book (this observation, too, is made from reading just a few pages at B & N). *Nixonland* is a good read but nothing incredibly memorable.
Here's a small list of selections from a variety of topic areas so hopefully one of these will suit your interests:
Edmund Morris's biographies of Teddy Roosevelt are excellent. If you want to continue with TR, check out Douglas Brinkley's *The Wilderness Warrior*, which details TR's campaign for environmentalism. Brinkley is by far the best writer of history I have come across in a long time, so if that book doesn't interest you I urge to look at his other books. No matter what the subject, his books are incredibly engaging.
*Private Empire* by Steve Coll: This book is written by the Pulitzer Prize winning author of *Ghost Wars* and gives a detailed, objective history of ExxonMobil. Very well written and very informative about the strength of ExxonMobil's lobbying power both within the US and throughout the world.
*One Minute to Midnight* by Michael Dobbs. Covers Cuban Missile Crisis and the book's argument is that no one really had control over what was going on. The world could have slipped into nuclear war even though no one wanted that simply because many factors were at play that could not be accounted for or stopped. Great read.
*Guests of the Ayatollah* by Mark Bowden. He's the author of *Black Hawk Down* and writed in a very readable, journalistic style similar to Steve Coll. This book is about the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979 an goes through the 444-day ordeal through the vantage points of the hostages, hostage-takers, and major political figures. Well-researched and maybe the most entertaining read on this list. | [
"The Century is a book about politics, philosophy and literature by Alain Badiou, first published in French by Éditions du Seuil in 2005; the English translation by Alberto Toscano was published by Polity Press in 2007. The thirteen chapters of the book are presented as lessons derived from a seminar Badiou gave at... |
Why do people with chromosome abnormality/ disorder have shorter life expectancies than people without? | Defects typically worsen things and do not improve them.
Some defects have more negative effects than others. That is a matter of statistics.
In very rare cases, anomalies turn out to be no "defects" but improvements, but the statistical probability for this is very low.
So bottom line: If you introduce a random change in the genetic code of something as complex as a human, the likelihood of worsening sth. is much greater than the likelihood of improving something.
Think of it as computer code: If you change a random line of code randomly (mutation), most likely the program's performance will degrade and will crash earlier than without this change. | [
"Twin studies have estimated that approximately 20-30% the variation in human lifespan can be related to genetics, with the rest due to individual behaviors and environmental factors which can be modified. Although over 200 gene variants have been associated with longevity according to a US-Belgian-UK research data... |
You're in a stopped car with the windows closed, a horsefly is 'hovering'; Upon accelerating the car, does the fly remain in the same position in space, or does it hit the rear window? | A fly's motion is based on the objects it is in contact with, as well as the gravitational pull of the Earth. A fly would be hovering because the force exerted upwards by the air on the fly's wings is balanced out by the gravitational pull of the earth. Now, if the car were to accelerate, it would bring all of the air with it. Some of the air would be compressed towards the back of the car, which would cause the fly to go backwards a bit, but regardless, the fly should be able to hover there.
You can test this with a helium-filled balloon. Be aware of the tension force from the string (you cannot tie it down). | [
"Each side of the body must be synchronized and the two sides are also coupled. That is, the left and right wings and thus the left and right halteres always beat at the same frequency. However, the amplitude of the wingbeat does not always have to be the same on the left and right side. This is what allows the fli... |
Does heat energy have "momentum"? | No. Heat may continue to diffuse through the object, which may cause it to appear to be increasing in heat for a short while (e.g. if you're measuring temperature at a different spot from where it's being heated) but the max temperature wouldn't rise without a heat source. | [
"The concept of energy emerged from the idea of \"vis viva\" (living force), which Leibniz defined as the product of the mass of an object and its velocity squared; he believed that total \"vis viva\" was conserved. To account for slowing due to friction, Leibniz claimed that heat consisted of the random motion of ... |
why does curiosity often outweigh common sense? | I think it might have to do with our hunter gatherer ancestors. We have a need for knowledge of everything near us, so we can be aware of predators, food, and other things either beneficial or detrimental to our survival. | [
"Although the phenomenon of curiosity is widely regarded, its root causes are relatively unknown beyond theory. However, recent studies have provided some insight into the neurological mechanisms that make up what is known as the reward pathway which may impact characteristics associated with curiosity, such as lea... |
how do the machines work that the tsa use to put swabs in after they swipe your clothing? | They use a technique called "ion-mobility spectrometry". What happens is they ionize the specimen swabs and then travel through a tube with an electric field and a buffer gas that opposes the motion. The speed at which it will pass through the tube indicates what the material is made of, and it is calibrated to trigger on explosives residue.
Hopefully if someone has a bomb they would have to handle it, and the very faint residue of that handling would be detected by the device. | [
"The user clips the piece of clothing on two hooks and the item is pulled into the machine. Then a series of rollers and arms moves in all directions to straighten and fold it. The machine can fold shirts, tops, trousers and dresses, but not small pieces of clothing like underwear or large items like sheets. The fo... |
Why don't we have infinite entropy in the universe? | Entropy increases over time. It's a fundamental law of thermodynamics.
However, the universe in it's current state isn't infinite, it had a start at the Big Bang. At the Big Bang, the universe had an incredibly low entropy. Why this is isn't entirely known, and there's a lot of speculation on the topic. We currently exist in a time frame where the low entropy is playing out. In a VERY long time (Like 10^10^36 years) the universe will reach it's maximum state of entropy, and no trace will be left of what transpired over the lifetime of the universe.
Presumably this will carry on for an infinite amount of time, assuming time has any meaning in a maximum entropy environment. | [
"Max Planck wrote that the phrase \"entropy of the universe\" has no meaning because it admits of no accurate definition. More recently, Grandy writes: \"It is rather presumptuous to speak of the entropy of a universe about which we still understand so little, and we wonder how one might define thermodynamic entrop... |
why it’s so uncomfortable to stare into someone else’s eyes for too long? | It depends who it's for. Alot of the time it's a show of dominant behavior or even submissive depending on the person. This can lead to people being uncomfortable.
Other times for fewer people it's the start of a soul gaze, which is something most tend to avoid. | [
"Visually, a glaring person tends to have their eyes fixed and heavily focused on a subject. This can sometimes be considered synonymous to staring but, in most of the cases, staring is caused due to curiosity and lasts only for a short duration, whereas glaring is caused due to contempt and lasts for a relatively ... |
why is it acceptable for politicians to litter signs and pamphlets everywhere? | You can't stop people from mailing you stuff or leaving it at your house but most towns have regulations around those signs that they leave on people's lawns. My town has these regulations:
\- Need to get an owner's consent to put a sign on their lawn.
\- Person needs to track where they put them. Candidates are responsible for them all.
\- After an election the Candidate is responsible for removing all the signs they put around town, within a certain amount of time
Otherwise they are subject to fines. Check your local regs. Maybe they exist but no one's enforcing them. | [
"In addition, it gives the requester a placebo effect of doing something substantive, while not actually volunteering to help their candidate. Critics charge that \"lawn signs don't vote\" and dismiss their importance. Theft of lawn signs is treated like any other instance of petty theft, however, signs on the righ... |
An object in orbit around a massive body is in a constant state of free fall, so why isn't it accelerating towards an infinite velocity? | For objects in a circular orbit, the force of gravity is always perpendicular to the direction of motion. That means that gravity does not pull the object to go faster in its current direction, but instead only changes the direction without affecting the speed of the object. | [
"In typical free-fall, the acceleration of gravity acts along the direction of an object's velocity, linearly increasing its speed as it falls toward the Earth, or slowing it down if it is moving away from the Earth. In the case of an orbiting spacecraft, which has a velocity vector largely \"perpendicular\" to the... |
How does the electric field behave as a charged particle falls into a black hole? | > It seems to imply that to a distant observer, the field due to a charge at the event horizon of a black hole would have to be spherically symmetric around the center of the black hole (at least, assuming a spherical black hole).
Ok, when people say a black hole is only described by its mass, charge and angular momentum, there's an important caveat that this only applies if you wait a bit for things to stabilize. For example, consider this [animation of two merging black holes](_URL_0_). Immediately after they merge, the merged black hole is still wobbling and the gravitational field produced by this is dynamic, so it goes beyond just mass, charge and angular momentum. But the wobbling black hole is emitting gravitational waves, and in doing so stabilizes into a static state after some time.
Same thing if you dump electric charge into the black hole. From your point of view, you observe the charge being scrambled at the event horizon and the associated dynamic EM field. Over time, the charge will get evenly distributed over the event horizon and radiate away EM waves until everything stabilizes and you get a static electric field.
The important thing is that everything happens at the level of the event horizon from your point of view. You never get any information of what's going inside. For example, the wobbling black hole can be seen as an elastic beach ball without concern for what's inside the ball. Similarly, when you dump charge in the hole, you see the charge flowing through the beach ball's surface.
But if you wait long enough, the black hole will look like a nice sphere described only by mass, charge and angular momentum, after it has finished scrambling what you tossed inside. | [
"A charged black hole is a black hole that possesses electric charge. Since the electromagnetic repulsion in compressing an electrically charged mass is dramatically greater than the gravitational attraction (by about 40 orders of magnitude), it is not expected that black holes with a significant electric charge wi... |
Is it colder just before dawn or somewhere in the middle between dawn and dusk? | Assuming no strong cold or warm air advection is taking place, it's normally the coldest just before sunrise. You can clearly see the diurnal temperature trends in [this hourly weather graph for Phoenix, Arizona](_URL_0_).
| [
"Daytime becomes longer as the summer solstice approaches, while nighttime gets longer as the winter solstice approaches. This can have a potential impact on the times and durations of dawn and dusk. This effect is more pronounced closer to the poles, where the Sun rises at the vernal equinox and sets at the autumn... |
what is java? | I suppose you're here talking about computers and not the dance.
**ELI5 answer :** Java is a programming language which allows to create programs.
**Long answer :** Unlike other programming languages like C++, the code is interpreted by another program (called the JVM, Java Virtual Machine) which renders the result. Most programming languages doesn't work like this ; they compile code into binary data which can be directly used by the computer. Java is also a *object-oriented* programming language, but defining the *object-oriented* notion would require another ELI5. | [
"Java is a general-purpose, concurrent, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to minimize implementation dependencies. It relies on a Java virtual machine to be secure and highly portable. It is bundled with an extensive library designed to provide a full abstraction of the underlying p... |
Why are so many followers of Islam/people in Islamic nations named after the prophet Muhammad? | Interesting, I always thought about it from the other point of view. If you consider a man to be the best human and a role model to pattern your life on, wouldn't it follow that it should be a very common name? Muslims are supposed to love the prophet Muhammad more than their parents and we know that naming children after people you love is pretty common. With that logic, I think the question should be, why aren't Jesus and Moses more common names?*
*Among Christians and Jews, respectively, of course. They're both relatively common names in the Muslim world (with the Arabic pronunciation, of course). | [
"There were Jews, such as Natan'el, who accepted this model of religious pluralism, leading them to view Muhammad as a legitimate prophet, albeit not Jewish, sent to preach to the Arabs, just as the Hebrew prophets had been sent to deliver their messages to Israel.\n",
"According to the sixth edition of \"The Col... |
How accurate are orbital calculations? | Here's a taste of how accurate orbital calculations are: in 1676 Romer proposed that there was a finite speed of light when he noticed that Io, a moon of Jupiter, was some times 8 minutes ahead of "schedule" (predicted location) and sometimes 8 minutes behind. 8 minutes. 350 years ago. | [
"One of the major problems in trajectory and orbital estimation is to obtain a realistic estimate of the accuracy of the trajectory and other important parameters. In the orbital case, some of the parameters which may not be solved for are geopotential constants, survey, etc. These factors will affect the total unc... |
Do ALL plants release pollen into the air? | Plants only produce pollen from their flowers (or cones, etc.). So if your friend would like some plants inside her house she just needs to make sure they don't flower (i.e. cut the flower buds off). Some plants flower more often or easily than others. Cacti rarely flower, in my experience.
Ferns produce no flowers but they reproduce using spores. As long as your friend is not also allergic to fern spores, that could be an option. | [
"\"Filipendula rubra\" is known for its air-borne pollen, however pollination is only effective (can create a seed) when pollen is transferred to a different plant, due to the fact that \"F. rubra\" is self-incompatible. The vast majority of pollen will be derived from inflorescences within the same clone and thus ... |
how are well known illegal tv streaming sites able to stay up? | These sites do one of two things.
They operate in a jurisdiction where it would be difficult to shut them down.
If they are ever actually shut down, they simply create a new site and port everything over.
It's usually a game of whack-a-mole. With law enforcement trying to shut them down but the sites simply coming back up with a new domain name. | [
"There have been instances of users deliberately sharing their TV Everywhere login credentials, or having them sold without their owner's knowledge on the black market, in order to allow others to view programs without subscribing to the channel. Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge, and ESPN's executive vice pr... |
To what extent was Cannabis consumed for pleasure in the ancient world? | Not quite your question, but [this older link](_URL_0_) might nevertheless be of interest for you. | [
"The Mediterranean region contains the earliest archeological evidence of human use; the oldest known seeds date back to more than 5000 BCE in the Neolithic age with purposes such as food, anaesthetics, and ritual. Evidence from ancient Greece indicates that opium was consumed in several ways, including inhalation ... |
What would happen, if you create a perfect vacuum inside a stable container? | > Would the vacuum be strong enough to tear single molecules out of the container walls, or wouldn't it even be possible to create a container strong enough, or wouldn't anything cool happen at all?
This prevents you from ever actually reaching perfect vacuum. Not from "tearing apart" the walls of the vacuum chamber per se, but from *virtual leaks*.
These are a number of processes that lead to residual gases being present in the chamber even if there is no direct pathway from the outside in (a "real leak"). For example, any moisture that has been deposited on the walls of the chamber will outgas. And any air which is trapped inside of little cracks or screw holes, which will take a long time to be fully removed by the pumps. And even *permeation*, where things like helium gas literally diffuse through the walls of the chamber.
All of these kinds of processes mean that there will be some small amount of residual gas inside the chamber no matter how hard you pump. You can never reach a perfect vacuum in a laboratory. | [
"A partial vacuum may be generated by increasing the volume of a container. To continue evacuating a chamber indefinitely without requiring infinite growth, a compartment of the vacuum can be repeatedly closed off, exhausted, and expanded again. This is the principle behind a positive displacement pump, for example... |
A clarification on the date 13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan Long Count | My understanding of how this thing got started (I'm trying to find a citation) is that the number 13 comes up repeatedly in Maya numerology because it's considered a lucky number. The ritual calendar, as you pointed out, uses 13 cycles of 20 days. Using this, the novelist Gary Jennings wrote [a fictional novel](_URL_1_) on an apocalypse based on the B'ak'tun switch. My guess is that some new age nutjob read this work of fiction and decided it was a real prophecy. People then started writing "non fiction" books making the same argument.
Aside from the fact that the idea has its origins in a work of fiction, and the Maya made no such prophecy, we also place way too much emphasis on the Long Count. I think this is because, of the Mesoamerican calendars, the Long Count is closest to our calendar in that it moves in linear progression from past to present. The other Mesoamerican calendars all move in cycles. This is really a cultural bias on our part. We assume that because it's closer to our calendar that it's 'more advanced' and thus more important than the others. The truth is that the Long Count was only used by the Maya and the Epi-Olmec cultures, and even then it was only used to keep track of dynastic records. The other calendars (like the solar and ritual calendars) had way more relevance to the daily lives of ancient Mesoamericans. And since those are cyclical not linear, they don't ever end. They just keep going.
EDIT: [Here's](_URL_0_) a really detailed breakdown of the whole thing from a reputable source, for those of you that want to learn more. | [
"Unlike the 260-day \"tzolkʼin\" still used today among the Maya, the Long Count was linear rather than cyclical, and kept time roughly in units of 20: 20 days made a \"uinal\", 18 uinals (360 days) made a \"tun\", 20 tuns made a \"kʼatun\", and 20 kʼatuns (144,000 days or roughly 394 years) made up a \"bʼakʼtun\".... |
today i read the ocean will rise 4ft due to ever faster melting antarctic glaciers, if this is true how will it affect coastal cities? | The authorities who should be planning for this are fixed in "LaLaLa-can't-hear-you" mode at present, and will probably remain so until their cities are flooded monthly.
Knowing how engineers work, it will probably be large pumps and high sea walls, which are then largely ignored and eventually fail for lack of maintainence, New Orleans style. | [
"Initial press briefings focused on the increases to the estimates for potential sea level rise expected as a result of global warming, with the session led by Stefan Rahmstorf. Eric Rignot, Professor of Earth system science at the University of California, Irvine, said \"As a result of the acceleration of outlet g... |
when i accellerate my car, why do i hear high-pitched noise through the aux input when nothing is plugged in? | Its noise off the generator or alternator.
Cords like that aren't shielded like other people have said. Its basically RF interference coming from that because its often not shielded.
Its usually not something noticed, and the stereo itself has filtering to block it. But when you plug something unshielded into it (your aux cord) you're creating an unfiltered path to the stereo, so you hear it. | [
"No loss occurs when the signals at ports 2 and 3 are in phase and have equal magnitude. In case of noise input to ports 2 and 3, the noise level at port 1 does not increase, half of the noise power is dissipated in the resistor.\n",
"Floating grounds can cause problems with audio equipment using RCA connectors (... |
can someone tell exactly what it is that obama is doing for net neutrality? | It means that Obama put his hat in the ring and took a stance. That being said he cannot compel the FCC to follow what he wants. Basically after using Net Neutrality as part of his platform in 2008, and then staying on the fence about it for a while, he's finally given an opinion. This *could* sway the FCC to fall in line, but that remains to be seen. | [
"Obama reaffirmed his commitment to net neutrality at a meeting with Google employees in November 2007, at which he said, \"once providers start to privilege some applications or web sites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out, and we all lose.\" At the same event, Obama pledged to appoint a Chief T... |
What factors led to (why did the emperor order) the destruction of Zheng He's fleet, end of Chinese exploration, and continuation of Ming isolation in the 1400s? | There were several reasons regarding the fleets themselves: Zheng He's fleets were expensive, the Ming were involved in wars against the Mongols and Vietnamese, the government bureaucracy was quite suspicious of how eunuchs dominated the venture, and the emperors were no longer as interested in the prestige of the voyages. | [
"Already in May 1421, during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, an order was issued for the suspension of Zheng He's maritime expeditions, apparently on account of their cost (although the order apparently did not affect the 6th voyage of Zheng He, staged around that time). Zhu Gaochi, as soon as he was enthroned as ... |
Looking for advice on a good optical microscope to purchase and it looks like this subject hasn't been covered here yet. What microscope do you use at home? | I don't know of too many scientists that have personal microscopes at home. That being said, the ones that my students used when I was TA'ing were $3000 each and I consider those pretty basic. My lab's microscope was in the $40,000 range, and the confocal I used cost $325,000. For under $200 it will be a cheap "toy" microscope. Not too sure how great the resolution will be on it. It really depends on what you want to use it for. Cells and tissue for $200? No way. But if you want to look at bugs and leaves up close, $200 would work. | [
"Microscopes traditionally are the core product of A. Krüss Optronic. The company offers a great variety of stereoscopic and monocular instruments, dedicated to medical, biological, and technical applications, as well as photographic and video accessories.\n",
"The optical microscope, often referred to as the lig... |
In the "wild west" time era, when a bank robber robbed the stagecoach or a bank, who lost that money? Was it the bank or the individual who banked it? | I can reply to the bank question, but not the stagecoach one.
TL:DR: The bank, unless the robbery caused the bank to fail, in which case both.
Here's how banking works: banks take deposits from people and lend out the cash to other people. The deposits are liabilities of the bank - that is, they owe that money to the depositors. The bank has assets, which are the loans it makes and the (much smaller) amount of cash it keeps on hand. One way to understand this is to think of a gold merchant.
The gold merchant needs a secure place to store the bullion, so he builds a vault. Seeing this, other people with gold pay him a small fee to store their gold as well. Over time, the merchant notices that the gold at the back of his vault just sits there undisturbed, as people take out and deposit gold, they subtract from and add to the gold near the front. Hey, gold is gold, nobody wants "their gold". Once the gold merchant realizes this, he starts letting people borrow gold. For a fee, of course. As long as everyone doesn't demand all of their gold back at the same time, that works fine. The merchant only needs to keep enough actual gold on hand to satisfy the withdrawals. That's called "fractional reserve banking" and it is what we have today, as well as what they had in the old west.
So now along comes a robber and takes the cash on hand. It belongs to the bank, but they still need some cash to satisfy the demands for withdrawals by its depositors. But the amount kept in cash is much smaller than the amount of loans owed to the bank. So, as long as the entire town doesn't panic and demand cash, the bank can replace the cash owed to its depositors from the repayments of the loans it has made.
If, however, everybody wants their deposits back *right now*, that's called a "run on the bank". You don't need to be robbed to have a run on your bank - it happened during the Great Depression, too, which is one reason banks were more tightly regulated afterwards. If the run is serious, then the bank will be closed because the bank doesn't have enough cash to pay all the depositors back. In which case, depositors lose money as well. | [
"On October 8, 1932, the then First State Bank of Cedar Hill was robbed by Raymond Hamilton, a sidekick of bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde. After taking the money, he locked the employees in the vault and made his getaway. When Hamilton got wind of reports that some of the cash had been hidden during the first robber... |
How well trained were war and hunting dogs in the Roman Empire and/or medieval Europe compared to today & how did they train them assuming their knowledge & tools for dog training was much less than we have today? | I can't answer with specific reference to the Roman Empire although I suspect that much of my answer is transferrable from Medieval skills to Roman skills.
Firstly I'd like to challenge the assumption that "*knowledge and tools for dog training were much less than we have today*". A good dog trainer needs no tools other than an understanding of the animal, there's no reason to suppose that people of medieval times understood their animals any less than modern non-technological societies do today - and they do so very well indeed. Veterinary understanding has certainly improved but this arguably has little to do with the skills required for animal training.
The types of dog used in Medieval hunts are very similar to types that we'd recognise today with the exception of modern "gun dogs", a type that has come into usage for the firearm hunting that largely replaced hawking.
Medieval hunts would use Greyhounds, a fast, short-burst game tracker that was safe in domestic settings. Alants were also used, they were a larger, stockier greyhounds for chasing larger game like bear but were unpredictable and considered too dangerous to roam free around homes. Mastiffs were used as hunt dogs and quite often as guard dogs, this large and impressive breed was used on the same large game as the Alant and also as a guard/watch dog. Mastiffs were used as war-dogs, although their usage wasn't common in Medieval battles due to their negative effect on horses, you'd be more likely to see a mastiff used by small armed patrols as a first line of defence/offence.
Running-hounds were used as game-chasers, the breeds were largely similar to the foxhounds of today.
How well trained were they? From the ubiquitous use of the different types as an integral part of hunts in Medieval England and Europe it seems highly reasonable to presume that they fulfilled their task very well and therefore that they were trained very well, particularly breeds that were required to silently find scent for the hunting party.
In short: there are a lot of reasons to think that Medieval animal training was as good as it is today - if the use of dogs spoiled the hunt then their use would have ceased rather than perpetuating for hundreds of years.
& #x200B;
*^(Sources:)*
*^(Royal Forests - Hunting and Other Forest Use in Medieval England; Hooke, D; 2011)*
*^(Hunting Law and Ritual in Medieval English Literature; Marvin W; 2006)*
*^(Hunting for the Anglo-Normans; Zooarachaeological Evidence for Medieval Identity; Sykes, N; 2005)*
*^(Special mention, well worth looking up as a contemporary reference:)*
*^(Livre de Chasse (Book of Hunting); Gaston Febus, Count of Foix; c.1388)* | [
"Dogs in warfare have a long history starting in ancient times. From war dogs trained in combat to their use as scouts, sentries and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military usage.\n",
"Early in recorded history there are records of dogs being trained for the purpose of ... |
why are most/all sniper rifles bolt action? why can't they use a semi-automatic mechanism like most other weapons? | I could be wrong on this, but the bolt action rifle would minimize extraneous movement that might alter the trajectory of the bullet. Remember that even small fractions of a degree might be the difference between a hit and a miss, so it's important to keep everything as still as possible. In a semi-automatic mechanism, the movement of the gun as it works to reload a bullet may very well knock your shot off far enough that it would cause a problem. Nothing moves in a bolt action mechanism until you're reloading.
Edit: the bullet has a trajectory, not the gun. Edited for the proper noun. | [
"The choice between bolt-action and semi-automatic, usually recoil operated or gas operated , is usually determined by specific requirements of the sniper's role in a particular organization, with each design having advantages and disadvantages. For a given cartridge, a bolt-action rifle is cheaper to build and mai... |
In the early 1500s pre reformation Europe what was the difference between an indulgence and a confession? | Well, Confession is having your sins absolved, that is, return to a state of grace and avoid a path leading to damnation. A reconciliation, if you will. But there is still a need to make up for the consequences of sin, most notably the offense the penitent has caused to God. Now ordinarily this is achieved after the death of the penitent in Purgatory. But this can also be done by doing pious works or actions, which are indulgenced, and commute this reparation, in whole or in part. That is an indulgence.
| [
"In Protestant Reformation history, confessionalization is the parallel processes of \"confession-building\" taking place in Europe between the Peace of Augsburg (1555) and the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). During this time prior to the Thirty Years' War, there was a nominal peace between the Protestant and Cathol... |
what, biologically, causes lethargy and feelings of being "in a fog"? why do we sometimes feel this way, even with no apparent health issues? | We actually are not quite sure what fully causes the feeling of being tired or lethargic. One simple explanation that has the most proof appears to be that a chemical called adenosine builds up in our brain throughout many of our daily activities. Adenosine is the byproduct of many metabolic functions (such as ATP being broken down for energy at a cellular level) in the body, and when enough of it builds up in our brain, we get tired. Similarly, when we drink things that are caffeinated, it blocks adenosine from binding to receptors in our brain and keeps us awake. This is a very simple explanation, you could find further reading here:
_URL_0_
_URL_1_
| [
"Clouding of consciousness, also known as brain fog or mental fog, is a term used in medicine denoting an abnormality in the regulation of the overall level of consciousness that is mild and less severe than a delirium. The sufferer experiences a subjective sensation of mental clouding described as feeling \"foggy\... |
how do people remove vocals from a song for adverts for example? | Most songs nowadays are composed using layers on a track. So all it really takes is removing the layer. It's trickier with older songs that didn't use this production method. | [
"\"SingingCoach\" utilizes a pitch recognition technology that was developed by Carlo Franzblau and engineered by his team of programmers. Its technology uses a white tracking line on screen to record and display the pitch of one’s voice in reference to the \"in tune\" bars of the song. This allows the user to unde... |
The Arab world around the 10th century is known by many as the(/an) Intellectual Golden Age. What made this area so fertile in scientific advancements, and what happened at the end of the period that may have led the area away from such a reputation? | There are a couple of narratives that attempt to explain this. The traditional narrative proposed by later Muslim scholars is that when the Abbasid dynasty usurped power from the Umayyads in 750 CE, this represented a shift in power from Arabs to the numerically and culturally much stronger Persians. From this, we have two dovetailing explanations of the interest in science: 1) they wished to recover the former glory of the Persian Empire, and 2) in order to gain political legitimacy, they essentially drew together all the various scholarly traditions from their polyglot empire, had everything translated into Arabic and established schools of translation and development, where works of classical Greek, Babylonian, Egyptian and Persian science and philosophy were built upon by succeeding generations of scholars. A proper ruler is one who has a court of scholars, became the principle, so when the caliphate began to fragment, the petty kings all drew to themselves their own scholars in order to seem more kingly. Scholarship itself was something of a meritocracy (for men): even a village lad, if sufficiently able, could be essentially passed up a food chain of scholars and eventually find a position at a court. These trends reinforced each other, plus scholarship had a lot of practical value and applications. The quest for knowledge was supported by some cherry-picked quotations from the Qur'an and Hadith in order to make it appear that a proper *Muslim* ruler had an obligation to support scholarship. This period is held to have ended (again, this is a traditional narrative) around the year 1100 as the notion that a proper Muslim eschewed the natural world in favor of prayer and meditation began to take hold.
But there are some real problems with this traditional narrative. For one thing, the idea that scientific development came to a halt is provably false: it continued, albeit at not quite such an increasing pace, well into the 16th century CE and only then really began to stagnate. For another (and forgive me, I'm on holiday and don't have sources with me, but the scholar whose work I'm badly summarizing here is George Saliba), the way in which the "translation movement" sprang into print in full bloom is unpersuasive: for the initial generation of works in Arabic to have been so sophisticated implies at least another generation of unseen scholars beforehand, and therefore the explanation that the early Abbasids were the driving force is problematic. There's some real driving force(s) for scholarship for its own sake during Umayyad times, one(s) we don't know much about because we don't know nearly as much about the Umayyads as we'd like. | [
"The Islamic Golden Age was also an important early stage of globalization, when Jewish and Muslim traders and explorers established a sustained economy across the Old World resulting in a globalization of crops, trade, knowledge and technology. Globally significant crops such as sugar and cotton became widely cult... |
Who were the first prominent Southerners in government [Congress/White House/SCOTUS/Armed Forces/etc...] after the Civil War and did they face extra issues getting in? | General James Longstreet joined the Republican Party after the war and was appointed as the head of Louisiana's Reconstruction-era militia.
He was despised by many fellow Southerners, despite heroic service in the Confederate cause, especially after the 1874 Battle of Liberty Place - Longstreet, commanding black troops, ordered them to open fire on a mob of white Southerners who were attempting to remove the state's elected government by force.
Longstreet served as a federal railroad commissioner and an ambassador in his later years. He was hounded until his death by Southern critics who (ironically from a certain point of view) thought he was a traitor, and who tried to rewrite history to dismiss his sterling military record.
_URL_0_ | [
"Francis Strother Lyon (February 25, 1800 – December 31, 1882) was a prominent Alabama attorney and politician. He served two terms in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War after being an antebellum member of the United States Congress.\n",
"Thomas Alexander Harris (1826 - April 9, 1895) w... |
Pauli's Exclusion Principle - Does It State All Electrons Everywhere Must Occupy Different Energies? | No. It says that two identical fermions (like electrons) can't occupy the same energy state. For example, two spin-up electrons can't both be in the 1s orbital (the closest to the nucleus). However, in two adjacent atoms, the electrons in the 1s orbital will both have the same energy, but still not be degenerate because it's a different atom. | [
"The Pauli exclusion principle helps explain a wide variety of physical phenomena. One particularly important consequence of the principle is the elaborate electron shell structure of atoms and the way atoms share electrons, explaining the variety of chemical elements and their chemical combinations. An electricall... |
the mafia and all its groups (camorra, la cosa nostra, sicilian, etc.) | I can't give you a run down of all the groups but I can give a general description of the Mafia.
Picture Sicily as a schoolyard playground. Everyone's playing and having a good time, but some kids start bulling other kids. When the teacher is told, they don't do anything and mostly just look the other way. A few kids get together a decided that it's up to them to stop the bullies and make sure that others don't show up. These kids start the Mafia to get ride of the bullies that the teachers won't touch and make sure that more don't show up later. As time goes on the Mafia needs to gather some money because a bully beats up some of the Mafia members. They turn to the other kids they have been protecting and tell them since they are the ones protecting them, that they need to pay for the band-aids. This turns into regular collections for the next time a bully shows up. When some kids complain that there haven't been any bullies for a long time, and refuse to pay for band-aids that aren't being bought(since there are no need for the band -aids the Mafia has been buying soda's for it's members instead). That makes the Mafia angry and they go and bully these kids into paying for the protection. That creates the protection rackets that were the base of the Mafia, eventually they add other criminal enterprises most which began as services like smuggling restricted items. As time went on the Mafia grows in size and eventually inspires other groups to do the same or have Mafia members start their own Mafia.
Hope that helps | [
"The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-type crime syndicate, or secret society, which arose in the region of Campania and its capital Naples. It is one of the oldest and largest criminal organizations in Italy, dating back to the 17th century. Unlike the pyramidal structure of the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra's organ... |
Is it really safer to let the tap run for 30 seconds before drinking the water? | Generally, modern homes have pipes that are small and water is often in demand.
This leads to water that is moved often and never really gets a chance to sit still in one place for too long. The pipes which are made of usually copper of plastic are in themselves terrible environments for many pathogens. The fact that tap water itself is quite clean leads to no real source of contamination.
Drinking tap water is safe and if your houses plumbing is up to spec, you should be just fine. | [
"The article quoted Erik Olson, an analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, as saying \"This is a really big deal... If schools go over 20 parts per billion, they immediately take the water out of production.\" WASA recommended that residents let the tap run for 30 seconds to one minute before using it to... |
How the hell does press & seal wrap work? | *“Glass, as well as some plastics, has a net negative charge on its surface, so a wrap that has an opposite charge is going to cling quite well to these surfaces,”* [SOURCE](_URL_0_)
Another site has a more chemical approach:
*"I found that most kitchen plastic wrap is made of low density polyethylene, also known as LDPE. This plastic makes a good barrier to water and air, but it does not stick to itself. To make it cling, they add another chemical, such as polyisobutylene or poly[ethylene-vinylacetate]. These chemicals do not mix totally with the LDPE. Instead, they act like the adhesive on tape, only not as sticky, and it only sticks to certain things."* [SOURCE
](_URL_1_)
Hope this helps. | [
"When the seal is pressed onto the printing surface, the procedure differs according to plant or silk based paste. For silk based paste, the user applies pressure, often with a specially made soft, flat surface beneath the paper. For plant based paste, the user simply applies light pressure. As lifting the seal ver... |
In what direction do our eyes look when in complete rest? | I'm a med student.
Actually There isn't any specific direction. If i assume complete rest is a "deep sleep" . It's gonna be a REM or Non-REM sleep stages which could be any random direction and our eyes are continously moving fast (In REM) and slow (non-REM) | [
"The eyes are never completely at rest. They make fast random jittering movements even when we are fixated on one point. The reason for this random movement is related to the photoreceptors and the ganglion cells. It appears that a constant visual stimulus can make the photoreceptors or the ganglion cells become un... |
Was Albrecht von Wallenstein really a traitor or were the charges against him trumped up? | A reply to /u/ManicMarine
Ugggggghhhhh ... this is such a good question and such a complex topic at the same time ...... ! :D
First we must set the scene properly in terms of how the "military fiscal state" was [evolving in that era](_URL_0_). He had set up a "state within state" system whereby he controlled not only the army and its logistics, but also the collection of "revenue" through taxation and other means, to supply his army. In this sense, he was a highly innovative commander. He had come at just the right time, too, as the Imperials needed help in 1625 as Tilly's Catholic League forces were overstretched and Spain's army of Spinola was tied up in the Low Countries, and there were rumors of new movements by Bethlen Gabor from Transylvania. So Ferdinand made Wallenstein "chief of all our troops already serving, whether in HRE or Netherlands," and to "create a field army, whether from existing units or new regiments, to be 24,000 men in all." Now, Ferdinand did not nearly have money to pay for all this, so as the campaign progressed, Wallenstein was rewarded with confiscated estates from HRE princes. At this point, Wallenstein largely followed strategic direction from Ferdinand as he campaigned northwards against Denmark and into the Baltics. As time progressed, his army ballooned in size to around 150,000 troops as it had to not only challenge its opponents, it also had to occupy territories it had conquered. He argued that it was the only way to keep Saxony and Bavaria's princes loyal, not to mention rebellious peasants at various towns and villages. Thus, in order to maintain his army Wallenstein started to impose a fixed taxation system, paid every week, called the "contribution system". At the same time he started to sell commission even to criminals and foreigners in order to raise revenue. This led to colonels and captains profiteering and abusing the populace.
The three aspects above (confiscating estates and giving them to Wallenstein, taxation, selling of officership) started to be an issue with HRE Electors. In 1627, while they met to discuss the Edict of Restitution, they complained bitterly. As there was still war, Ferdinand ignored them. However, by 1630 the complaints could not be ignored anymore. Both the Electors and the Pope complained that Wallenstein's very presence was the only thing in the way of peace.
When Ferdinand finally dismissed Wallenstein, it was said that Wallenstein "seems to have been almost relieved" as he knew his army was unwieldy and beyond maintenance. He retired to his estates in Bohemia and his erstwhile chief financier Hans de Witte, who had staked his family's fortune on this army, committed suicide. Unsurprisingly, troops of the army became restless and there was mutiny and violence.
Of course, things went badly for Ferdinand as Sweden entered the war, and Tilly was killed in battle. So by 1632, Wallenstein was back as commander of the Imperial forces, and needed only three months to raise a major army. It is said that he took command only reluctantly, past his prime at age 49. Successes immediately followed in Bohemia, Silesia, and Saxony. He made one tactical mistake in Lutzen, but survived albeit with significant losses. Just as before, it was a major issue where to quarter the army. By this point it was preferred to place them in enemy territory such that friendly territory isn't subjected to taxation and violence. In winter 1633-34, Wallenstein insisted to quarter his troops on Habsburg lands in Bohemia for security reasons; following Lutzen, it was really unclear what had happened to the opposing armies and not much was known about their locations. So in a way, he was justified in seeking friendly territory for quartering his troops. This, after a fairly slow campaigning season that appeared to achieve little for Ferdinand. His other excuse was that he had tried to exploit political disagreement between Sweden and Saxony, arranging a cease fire and opening a negotiation. These may have seemed excessive, but not outside the powers which were vested in him at the time. However, at the same time, the campaign of Spain's Cardinal-Infante had just started, except that it was kept under separate command instead of placed under Wallenstein. The sum of all this was the bruising of Wallenstein's relationship with the courtiers in Vienna. Wallenstein had criticized the Edict of Restitution and the HRE's continuing support of Spanish campaigns up the Rhineland to the Low Countries; and he was said to claim he alone would negotiate peace with the Protestants, at least the Lutherans. Now he had his army in Bohemia, his personal duchy, and the sum of all this was the perception of threat.
What became remarkable was his extraction of oath of *personal* loyalty from his Colonels. This brought the relationship truly sour, the Ferdinand declared him rebel. But even further than that, the winter spent in Bohemia was also a time of trouble for his officers. There was a so-called "Prague blood tribunal" in which dozens of officers were executed for cowardice. So to his officers, he appeared to be looking for a scapegoat for the seemingly fruitless campaigns of 1633. His co-commander Piccolomini had personally requested clemency for an officer, yet this was declined. Even worse, to states of the Catholic League, Wallenstein was seen as an opportunist as he both sold officerships to raise money, and yet offered larger salaries and benefits to poach officers from allied armies of the League. As both his relationships with the emperor soured and so did his relationship with theoretical allies, and so did the loyalty of his men; this offered the perfect opportunity that led to his murder.
So back to the question: was he a traitor? Circumstances changed around him, both due to him and due to the emperor, the elector princes, and Spanish interest in the Spanish Road and the Low Countries. I think he was caught in the struggle of early-modern europe, and he ended up with an army that nobody could tolerate. In the end it was clear he was likely to have been disloyal, but up to the summer 1633 he was loyal to the emperor.
A further question could be asked, was far, how wide, and how long had he sustained what seemed to be limitless ambition, which some say was to become king or emperor himself. This is an enduring myth of Wallenstein, helped with the fact that he rose very, very highly. But some modern historians have compared his trajectory with those of his peer and Mortimer -- author of several critical books on the 30YW -- agree with others that the choices he made was not out of the ordinary. Mortimer further contended that Wallenstein was a very smart man in his responding to changing circumstances, and indeed the 30YW was a very interesting time. Even going back to his first proposal to raise an army, it should be kept in mind that he was Prince of Friedland, thus he had every reason to back the emperor in defending Bohemian lands. More strongly, some authors have contended that his failure was partly due to his lack of ambition. That if he had done more to control the politics of the court, then he will have been able to leverage the emperor's patronage.
TL;DR Complicated subject, you can judge for yourself. | [
"On 17 February, Scherffenberg was arrested in Vienna. On 18 February, a second patent was released accusing Wallenstein of conspiracy and condemning him to death, its publication was delayed so as not to split the army in two. Wallenstein's letters refuting the accusations against him remained unanswered, after re... |
how do i shop for and buy my first car? | Look at a bunch of adverts for cars that are the price you can afford. Keep the price on the cheap side. You are only learning about cars at this stage. Pick out a few that you like. It doesn't matter why you like them for now. Make a note of the milage and age of the cars and what condition they are in, e.g. is the paint work faded or rusty, how "good" does it look.
Armed with this information go to a car dealership and ask to look at cars of the type you liked from the adverts or look in the paper/Internet for cars for sale of that type.
If you find a car of the type you like that is cheaper than your research and has the same milage and looks to be in the same or better condition you may have found your new ride.
Things to watch out for
* Cars with low milage yet the pedals are worn from use
* Cars with low milage yet the seat belt looks old/worn
* Cars with signs of repainting. Different colour inside doors, under bonnet, overspray on exaust pipe, etc
* Cars missing trim, logos, make/model on boot. Boot was replaced after a crash.
* Cars with missing documentation
If you can afford it try to do a check online or otherwise on the car to make sure no outstanding finance is owed by the previous owner. If you buy a car form a guy who owes money on it it might be repossesed even though you paid full price for it.
In general buy an old, cheap but hopefully sound car and use it to learn about cars and driving. Your next purchase will be much more informed. | [
"Carwoo was an anonymous automobile marketplace that enabled its users to purchase cars without providing personal information to dealers until after an offer was made and accepted. Once a buyer accepted an offer, their information was transferred to the dealer. Rather than buyers bidding up the price, salespeople ... |
After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, how did Europe manage to continue business as usual so shortly after? | Business as usual in what way? Because Europe really didn't just keep trucking along. The 30 Years War more or less reworked the political landscape of Europe and the way diplomacy was run. You mention the Swedes invading Poland and I think that's a great example of how things changed. At the outset of the war, one of the biggest worries of the Hapsburgs was the army of Denmark (which turned out to be a paper tiger). The Swedish army wasn't even considered. When the Swedes intervened their army was discovered to be potent and capable, but it was "thin." Sweden's army was maintained by conscription in a very thinly populated land. That Sweden was able to invade Poland after the Thirty Years War is related to its relatively untouched landscape and the fact that everyone around Sweden had been knocked down a peg. After the war, who around Sweden was going to be able to stop them, when you consider that they had an experienced army and were probably the most densely populated single polity in their region?
Other things changed around the era, too, which reflects the general upheaval at the end of the Thirty Years War. The Roundheads in the United Kingdom finally put the finishing touches on King Charles' Cavaliers, leading to years of Cromwell's leadership and the execution of Charles I. The Fronde began in France, which crippled the French kingdom for five years and eventually led to Louis XIV refining absolutism to his nobility's detriment. Spain was financially exhausted and had no choice but to let Portugal go when it revolted. The individual German princelings and kings were allowed to conduct their own foreign policy (which would fatally fracture the Holy Roman Empire as a united entity).
It's tempting to describe the German heartland as a desert, but in some ways that's what it was. The power centers in Europe moved towards France, Vienna, and-- a little late-- London. Europe didn't just keep going: it was dramatically transformed. What you're really seeing is that previously "second-rate" powers taking advantage of the situation to try to transform themselves into first-rate powers. | [
"In the Wars of Religion of the 17th c, 1648, ber Oct The Peace of Westphalia, of the European settlements of 164ood the nature of t8, brought an end to the thirty years between Spain and the Dutch and the German portion of the Thirty Years War. Peace plans were formed in the towns of Munster and Osnabruck, 1648. T... |
why do so many large and small companies prey on the poor and less fortunate by gouging them on everyday items and needs? | People with low incomes also have the fewest options in what products they can buy. That makes them a captive consumer base and means that companies can charge them more than more affluent people with more choice in products and services.
Poor people are also much less likely to have received a good financial education and are thus easier to deceive with bad deals and fraudulent practices. | [
"Although opportunities are great, many businesses are not taking advantage of them because market conditions surrounding the poor can make doing business difficult, risky and expensive. Where poverty prevails, the foundations for functional markets are often lacking, excluding the poor from meaningful participatio... |
why are yellow teeth considered unattractive? | They didn't used to be. Toothpaste and dental care took off though and eventually white teeth became preferable - it equals health and indicates that you take good care of your body and self. | [
"Sometimes white or straight teeth are associated with oral hygiene, but a hygienic mouth may have stained teeth and/or crooked teeth. For appearance reasons, people may seek out teeth whitening and orthodontics.\n",
"The discoloration of teeth over time can result from exposure to substances such as tobacco, cof... |
If water can only boil (212 degrees) why do simmering liquids boil around the edges? | every molecule is not at that temperature at the same time. It is a gradient from the energy source to the furthest point.
When you put a simmering pot on the stove. The heat is transferred from the fire to the pot body which conducts heat really well.the water immediately touching the walls of the pot will get the heat first and then it diffuses inwards.
So if the temperature at the body of the pot is say 250, the. The water immediately in contact with it will get to 230 creating small bubbles wherever the water touch the pot and these will take the energy and leave the pot, so the water in the center is cooler than 212 and thus it won’t boil.
Now crank up the heat and the pot body temp rises to let’s say 400-500. Now the heat is transferred so much faster and the whole body of water is above 212 and rustling to form gas bubbles and escape, this is when you get a roaring boil | [
"Normally, boiling water does not boil over. When fats, starches, and some other substances are present in boiling water, for example by adding milk or pasta, boiling over can occur. A film forms on the surface of the boiling liquid; for example, cream can boil over as milk fat separates from the milk. The increase... |
what happens in our brains when we hold in emotions and then snap? |
Your front brain simulates consequences and chooses the best action to take. When you're emotional, this usually means stopping you from doing something like punting your co workers. Sometimes one or multiple emotions become really strong and it takes lots of effort to stop you from acting on them. Effort makes your brain tired, and either it becomes worse at modulating behavior OR the emotions become too strong for the front brain to hold back. Then you have an emotional outburst where the front brain is kinda offline. | [
"Neuroscience has shown that emotions are generated by multiple structures in the brain. The rapid, minimal, and evaluative processing of the emotional significance of the sensory data is done when the data passes through the amygdala in its travel from the sensory organs along certain neural pathways towards the l... |
How did people in formerly-French regions of Canada react to the news that France was backing the independence rebellion of their neighbors to the south? | In essence, indifference.
The general sentiment was that France had abandoned New-France in favor of the French West Indies, that were much more profitable than the rather onerous North American colony. This is also a sentiment that can be found in the lesser rates of volunteerism in WWI, although at that point, it's a lot more complicated.
Concerning the overture made by the American congress to french Canadian, it was more in the hope of making sure they wouldn't attack, as the French-Indian raids were still very much in the minds of the revolutionaries. To simplify, the Americans were scared of the french colonists descending by the Champlain River to greatly undermine their effort.
The other reason is basically because the British, seeing shit was about to hit the fan passed the Quebec Act which softened, if not completely reversed, a lot of the anti-catholic/ anti-french policies the British had put in place after the Conquest, making it considerably less interesting to rebel against the authorities that basically almost restored the way of life before the Conquest.
EDIT :
After going back a little bit in some reading, the American Congress did send letters to French Canadians as early as 1774, The letter title is : Lettre adressée aux Habitans de la province de Quebec, Ci-devant le Canada".
It's in French, so you can definitely know it was addressed to the french speaking elite. That very same elite that benefited the most from the Quebec Act...
| [
"Although some Canadians took up arms in support of the rebellion, the majority remained loyal to the King. French Canadians had been satisfied by the British government's Quebec Act of 1774, which offered religious and linguistic toleration; in general, they did not sympathize with a rebellion that they saw as bei... |
Are the any sources where I can find events that happend during the last years of Nebuchadnazzer II of Babylon ? | The primary book for the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II is in French (Arnaud's *Nabuchodonosor II, roi de Babylone*). DJ Wiseman's *Nebuchadrezzar and Babylon* is useful, as is Ronald Sack's *Images of Nebuchadnezzar: The Emergence of a Legend*.
Vanderhooft's *The Neo-Babylonian Empire and Babylon in the Latter Prophets* and Cogan's *The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to Ancient Israel* are worth a look if you're interested in the interactions between the Neo-Babylonian empire and Judah.
The Babylonian chronicles are our main source of knowledge, which have been edited in Grayson's *Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles*. The three volumes of *The Context of Scripture* and *The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation* edited by Mark Chavalas also contain useful translations. There is an [ORACC project](_URL_0_) editing Neo-Babylonian texts, but unfortunately they haven't gotten around to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II yet.
| [
"It is one of two identified Chronicles referring to Nebuchadnezzar, and does not cover the whole of his reign. The ABC5 is a continuation of Babylonian Chronicle ABC4 (The Late Years of Nabopolassar), where Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned as the Crown Prince. Since the ABC 5 only provides a record through Nebuchadnezz... |
how did specific geographic locations become good/high end parts of town and others become bad/dangerous parts of town? | I'm sure you know the three most important words in real estate: Location, location, and location. Nice areas have proximity to some desireable feature--be it parks, the waterfront, downtown, public transit, nice views, historical areas, nice looking bridges, any or all of these things. These desirable features drive up property values, which has the effect of inviting in the rich people and their amenities and pricing out the riff raff. Meanwhile, not nice features such as abandoned factories, power plants, highways, ugly bridges don't do anything good for property values. They stagnate or drop, and these parts of town become the "bad part of town." | [
"The original townsite follows a unique design. It is laid out on northeast-to-southwest and northwest-to-southeast roads. It is purported that the reason this was done was to allow sun to come into every room in the home at some point during the day. The northwest-to-southeast roads were numbered and called avenue... |
If the earth was to stop rotating around its axes; how cold would the dark side get ? | Planets that "have stopped rotating" are known as being tidally locked. Earth's moon is tidally locked to the Earth, and so only one side faces us at all times. If a planet is close enough to its parent star it will become tidally locked. Observation of exoplanets determined to be tidally locked indicated extreme winds between day and night sides.
HD 189733 b is a roughly Jupiter sized exoplanet which exhibits this phenomenon. A temperature range of 973 ± 33 K to 1,212 ± 11 K was discovered, indicating that the absorbed energy from the parent star is distributed fairly evenly through the planet's atmosphere. Assuming the planet is tidally locked, this suggests that powerful easterly winds moving at more than 9,600 kilometers per hour are responsible for redistributing the heat.
If something similar were to happen on Earth, we would all die very quickly. All crops and plants would quickly succumb to temperature variations of hundred of degrees Kelvin, the winds would rip out the largest trees. The entire ecosystem would most likely be destroyed. Significant quantities of water would boil into the atmosphere. If the heated atmosphere from the day side were incapable of keeping the night side warmed, theoretically the boiled off oceans could be transported to the night side where the water would be deposited and frozen.
edit: We wouldn't *all* die, the crew of the ISS would be quite comfortable until their return to Earth. | [
"Eventually, the Earth stops spinning altogether. The scorching light of day lasts for six months, while the remaining six months of the year are ice-bound darkness of night. The planetary landscape now consists of one ocean approximately 10 miles deep in the north, one in the south and a girdle of land around the ... |
Did ancient or medieval armies conscript soldiers regardless of their physical capability? | I have insufficient knowledge of Chinese history and the armies of Antiquity to answer the question from those specific angles, but where it concerns the recruitment and mobilization of the common man in Europe in the Middle Ages, the physical condition was definitely of little concern.
I've written about the [approximate of the levy system in parts of the Low Countries](_URL_0_), the *heervaart*, before (which in a lot of aspects is comparable to the levy in other European domains, exceptions notwithstanding), but suffice it to say in this context that the military power of commoners from rural areas (farmers and/or peasants depending on the social-economic status) was lackluster, especially in comparison to the mobilized citizenry who not only often had a degree of military training as well as organization through the guilds, but also were financially in a better position to obtain armament, if at all necessary, as cities were in the habit of arming their own citizenry in times of external threats. Whether these citizens were also physically in a better state as some of their rural counterparts is difficult to conclude with certainty, but is doubtful. On some of the commoners mobilized by the *heervaart* in the County of Holland:
> *die cuyper van Voorschoten, een out, arm man ende manc aen beide ziden; een jonc knechtkin, hiet Jan ende is licht 14 jaer out ende daertoe arm of Gerrit Cleve, een arm man van Zoeterwoude ende is ghescoert*/*ghestoert*
>
> the cooper from Voorschoten, an old and poor man and with a limp on both sides; a young stableboy named Jan, barely fourteen years of age and therefore poor, or Gerrit Cleve, a poor man from Zoeterwoude, badly injured/mentally insane.
^(The last word depends on the quote. The former is used in Jansen & Hoppenbrouwers the latter in De Graaf.)
The extent to which the population mobilized in the rural parts of these lands were considered undependable at best is evident once we see that the counts and their deputies were often quite content with the commoners refusing mobilization, as that resulted in taxation (if they opted out before mobilization, with permission to do so) or fining (if they refused during mobilization) by the bailiffs, with the proceedings then used to hire proper *soldeniers*, mercenaries if you will.^(2)
1. Jansen & Hoppenbrouwers (1977) p. 14, De Graaf (2004) p. 40,
2. Jansen & Hoppenbrouwers (1977) p. 14, from receipts of 1362-1363 in the Dutch Court of Audit | [
"The army had no regimental structure and the soldiers were not directly recruited by the emperor. Instead, individuals, such as nobles or local leaders, would recruit their own troops, referred to as a \"mansab\", and contribute them to the army.\n",
"Until the 11th century, the majority of the conscripts were f... |
why is snowden in trouble for whistleblowing? shouldn't whistle blowing be a good thing? | It's a great thing until someone whistle blows you. Then they're a snitch.
The government is equating it with giving classified data to the enemy like treason, espionage and the like. Really it's bullshit but that's their reason. | [
"Edward Snowden went to the press with revelations about the NSA due to the experience of previous whistleblowers, such as Thomas Andrews Drake, William Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe, Ed Loomis, and Diane Roark, who initially reported their concerns within the system and faced intense retaliation.\n",
"On the heels of th... |
How is uranium made into a gas for Gaseous Diffusion/Electromagnetic separation etc... | It is usually worked on as "hex," or [uranium hexafluoride](_URL_0_) | [
"The separation of uranium requires the material in a gaseous form; uranium hexafluoride (UF) is used for uranium enrichment. Upon entering the centrifuge cylinder, the UF gas is rotated at a high speed. The rotation creates a strong centrifugal force that draws more of the heavier gas molecules (containing the U-2... |
How fast are we travelling? | There is no absolute reference frame, but the closest there is is the [cosmic microwave background](_URL_0_) reference frame. That is, roughly speaking, how fast we would be moving if we never accelerated since the Big Bang. The sun is currently moving 370 km/s from that reference frame. Earth is moving 30 km/s compared to that, and someone on the equator is moving 0.47 km/s compared to that. But since they're not necessarily in the same direction, you can't just add them up. The 30 km/s ends up increasing the average speed by only a little more than 1 km/s, which gets lost in rounding. The 0.47 km/s does even less. | [
"BULLET::::- Major Joseph W. Rogers became the first person to travel faster than 1,500 miles per hour, and almost reached 2,500 kilometers per hour, breaking the world speed record at , in an F-106 Delta Dart jet fighter.\n",
"The Apollo 10 crew (Thomas Stafford, John W. Young and Eugene Cernan) achieved the hig... |
Who was the first comedian? | In terms of early examples of written humour (as it's very difficult to find stand-up comedians without written record), one of the earliest examples is the satirical script of the [Instruction of Dua-Khety](_URL_0_), an Ancient Egyptian work written in the 2nd millenium BCE (Between 2000 and 1700 BCE). It describes manual labourers during the time, while also exaggerating their features to grotesque proportions (stone-workers with crocodile claws, etc.).
Hope this helps! | [
"The Comedians was a British television show of the 1970s (later reprised in the mid-1980s and early 1990s) produced by Johnnie Hamp of Granada Television. The show gave a stage to nightclub and working men's club comedians of the era, including Russ Abbot, Lennie Bennett, Stan Boardman, Jim Bowen, Jimmy Bright, Du... |
What would happen to a person if they slept ~24 hours each day? | I think they already invented it: [coma](_URL_0_) | [
"Randy Gardner holds the scientifically documented record for the longest period of time a human being has intentionally gone without sleep not using stimulants of any kind. Gardner stayed awake for 264 hours (11 days), breaking the previous record of 260 hours held by Tom Rounds of Honolulu. LCDR John J. Ross of t... |
Has an American ever been arrested/tried for War Crimes or Crimes Against Humanity? | Apologies to the moderators, as I'm reasonably certain that I am breaking the 20 year rule here. Depends on how you count it. The *acts* described took place in the mid-90's up until 2003. The trial was in 2006-08, with the appeal continuing to 2010 and post-conviction proceedings well into 2012.
***
Charles Taylor was the President of Liberia from 1997-2003. Before that he ran a rebel group that fought for decades in Liberia. But he's not really the star of the story here. In 1977, while attending college at Bentley University in Boston, he fathered a son, colloquially known as "Chuckie Taylor." Born as Charles McArthur Emmanuel, and changed his name legally to Roy Belfast, Jr. I mention this because he is an American citizen by birth.
In 2008, he was convicted of the crime of "torture" under United States laws (18 USC § 2340A) among other crimes, and sentenced to 97 years in prison. The substance of his conviction was running the Anti-Terrorist Unit or ATU of the Liberian state security apparatus, which ran several prison and forced labor camps, as well as, to put it lightly, death camps in which people were tortured, questioned, and publicly executed.
My sources come from the publicly available documents and pleadings, which can be found at *United States v. Belfast*, 06-cr-20758 (S.D. Fla. 2006). There is also the publicly available appeals court decision here: [*United States v. Belfast*, 611 F.3d 783 (11th Cir. 2010)](_URL_0_), which begins with the rather memorable recitation of facts: "The facts of this case are riddled with extraordinary cruelty and evil." | [
"He was one of arguably only two Canadians in history to have faced prosecution for war crimes (the second being Omar Khadr, who in 2010 pleaded guilty to what the Guantanamo military commission termed war crimes committed in Afghanistan, though that conviction is under appeal).\n",
"After the war, survivors Glen... |
what would happen if a country launched a nuclear missile on the us? | The Emergency Alert System (EAS) would be activated over radio & TV informing people to seek shelter.
Depending on the launch, it may even be destroyed as soon as it went up. The US invests heavily in Ballistic Missile Defense, using a network of satellites, land- and [sea- based radar](_URL_1_) and [AEGIS-equipped ships](_URL_0_). The best time to take out a nuke is on the way up, before the missile's independent warheads split off, so you're only shooting at the one target. More than likely, that country would have at least one warhead screaming down on it very shortly.
If they don't get it, they'll have a pretty good idea of where it will be headed because they'll be tracking the shit out of it. Even then, they don't have until it reaches the ground because airbursts cause greater damage. | [
"If the United States launched a nuclear attack against Russia (or China), the targeted country would be left with only a tiny surviving arsenal, if any at all. At that point, even a relatively modest or inefficient missile defense system might well be enough to protect against any retaliatory strikes.\n",
"BULLE... |
the system for numbering interstate highways. | Primary routes have two digits. Odd numbered highways run north and south, with lower numbers in the west and higher numbers in the east. Even numbered routes go east-west, with the lower numbers in the south and higher numbers in the north.
Three digit routes starting with an even number are loops within or around a city. Three digit routes with an odd number are spurs into a city. For such three digit routes, the last two digits indicate the primary route they are based on. | [
"There are 70 primary Interstate Highways in the Interstate Highway System, a network of controlled-access freeways in the United States. They are assigned one- or two-digit route numbers, whereas their associated \"auxiliary\" Interstate Highways receive three-digit route numbers. Typically, odd-numbered Interstat... |
if jehovah's witnesses believe there are such a limited amount of seats reserved in heaven, why do they push so hard to get more converts? | Because they believe converting people will get them into heaven. Really, it is just a pyramid scheme. | [
"Despite this position by Islamic religious leaders, Muslims are oftentimes uncertain about whether or not Islamic tradition considers organ donation to be forbidden. This uncertainty stems from ambiguity caused by conflicting opinions among some Islamic leaders regarding this issue. Moreover, a lack of support alo... |
Is it possible that Hernán Cortés wrote The Conquest of New Spain? | The authorship of the *La Historia Verdadera* is something that has been debated a bit more than the author of this article lets on, although I don't know of any other scholar off the top of my head that has made the assertion that Cortes himself wrote the piece. Historians have pointed to the fact that there is very little record of Bernal Diaz having participated in the Conquest beyond the text - which is unusual give the centrality he often grants himself in events. Large portions of the text have also been clearly borrowed from Gomara's version of Cortes' campaign.
There are, however, a number of factors which made a dismissal of the work's authenticity difficult. While the work is often fantastical, this was not out of the ordinary for medieval works - particularly pieces like this which were intended to be petitions to the Spanish Crown for financial support. Bernal Diaz, if he was the author, was writing during a period when the Conquest was coming under heavy scrutiny in Spain. Given is advanced age, financial troubles, and this large political context many Historians do not find the incongruities of the work wholly surprising.
I cannot comment on the accuracy of Durverger's work given that I have not read it but I will say that many elements of *La Historia Verdadera* would not serve Cortes' interests very well. The author was often very critical of Cortes' leadership and intents as well as the overall Conquest. Many of Cortes' fabrications are best exposed by contrasting his *Cartas de Relación* with *La Historia Verdadera*. I personally do not believe Cortes to be the author but I would not say that such an idea is an impossibility. | [
"The author of the document is unknown, and is referred to as a Companion of Hernán Cortés (or simply \"The Anonymous Conqueror\" or \"Gentleman of Cortés\"). The account, firstly published in Italian in 1556 by Giovan Battista Ramuso as part of his work \"Delle Navigationi et Viaggi\", has been translated to Engli... |
Why did no outside force intervene in the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia in 1968 or Hungary in 1956? | Same reason no one interfered with US invasion of Dominican Republic. It was our sphere of influence. Just like Eastern Europe was USSR's. No one was willing to risk global war. During the Cold War it was the countries more distant (Vietnam, Angola, etc) that were really up for grabs and fought over. The Truman Doctrine basically stated this. We wouldn't try to rollback Communism in Eastern Europe, but we would fight to prevent it in the 3rd World. | [
"In 1968, the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia to halt the Prague Spring reforms. In the aftermath, Brezhnev justified the invasion along with the earlier invasions of Eastern European states by introducing the Brezhnev Doctrine, which claimed the right of the Soviet Union to violate the s... |
how did diabetics check their blood sugars before personal glucometers? | Glucose monitors have been around for over 35 years. They were just bigger and slower.
Before then it was controlled through highly restrictive diets and insulin and oral medicines and everyone kinda hoped for the best. Bloodwork was limited to labs and hospitals. | [
"A history of blood sugar level results is especially useful for the diabetic to present to their doctor or physician in the monitoring and control of the disease. Failure to maintain a strict regimen of testing can accelerate symptoms of the condition, and it is therefore imperative that any diabetic patient stric... |
How does our skin know when it’s time to produce more melanin? | I believe it does so in response to cellular damage caused by UV light—hence why tanning beds cause you to get darker. If the cell notices an increase in UV damage, it creates more melanin.
Not a very scientific answer as I don’t know the exact mechanism, but I hope that helps a little! | [
"Both the amount and type of melanin produced is controlled by a number of genes that operate under incomplete dominance. One copy of each of the various genes is inherited from each parent. Each gene can come in several alleles, resulting in the great variety of human skin tones. Melanin controls the amount of ult... |
Would people living in Europe during the Middle Ages have called their time period the Modern Age, or something else? | Medieval authors tended to divide history into six ages, which were mapped to the first six days of Creation in Genesis (and sometimes to the different stages of human life). Although variants existed, the most common schema came out of Augustine who situated the first age as from Adam to the Flood, the second from Noah to Abraham, the third from Abraham to David, the fourth from David to the Babylonian Captivity, the fifth from there to Christ, and the sixth age which began with the Incarnation and would continue until the end of time when Christ's return would inaugurate the seventh and eternal day. Thus, medieval thinkers, were they to speak of living in a historical period, would likely say that they were living in the sixth age of history.
There were other historical periodizations floating around as well, most famously Joachim of Fiore's division of history into three ages, of the Father from Creation to Christ, of the Son from Christ until 1260, and of the Spirit which was sort of eschatological culmination of history prior to the final judgment. As you might imagine, this view was popular in the years leading up to and immediately after 1260, but fell out of favor after Joachim was condemned alongside heretical groups who followed his teachings, and it became obvious that his prophecies weren't accurate. | [
"The European Early Middle Ages are generally taken to run from the end of the Roman Empire, around 400 AD, to around 1000 AD. During this period, Christianity made a significant impact on European culture.\n",
"The history of Europe covers the peoples inhabiting Europe from prehistory to the present. During the ... |
Do objects get hotter as they move? | You may be confusing external, bulk, translational motion with internal, microscopic, random motion. They are independent. In a vacuum, an object's temperature will remain the same no matter how fast it is moving linearly through space. It must according to Relativity. Depending on what reference frame you choose, the object is moving a different speed. If speed were related to temperature, the object would have different temperatures as measured in different reference frames, which makes no sense.
But, bulk linear motion can be converted to internal random motion if the object collides with other objects. For instance, an object traveling through air collides with the air. In the process, some of its forward motion is converted to internal random motion and the object heat up. The faster an object travels and the denser the material it travels through, the harder it collides with the material and the more its loses kinetic energy to heat. As an extreme example, throwing an egg against a brick wall converts all of its kinetic energy into heat. | [
"An object's or space's temperature increases when heat energy moves into it, increasing the average kinetic energy of its atoms, e.g., of things and air in a room. Heat energy leaving an object or space lowers its temperature. Heat flows from one place to another (always from a higher temperature to a lower one) b... |
is there a relative speed maximum, which is equal to 2*speed of light? | Yes, there is a relative speed maximum. It's, paradoxically, *c*.
There exists a [velocity-addition formula](_URL_0_) that is a consequence of the special theory of relativity. You can calculate for yourself how fast the planets would measure each other. For example, if both went at half the speed of light, the other planet would seem to approach at four fifths the speed of light (or 0.8*c*).
As an aside, objects with mass cannot reach the speed of light, since they'd get so dense the energy needed to push them to *c* approaches infinity. | [
"In special relativity, there is an unreachable speed, the speed of light. We can add speeds without end, but they will always be less than the speed of light. The sums of all speeds are limited by the speed of light. Additionally, the composition of two velocities is inferior to the sum of those two speeds.\n",
... |
at what point did the first cells decide that it was okay to eat each other? and why? couldn’t they have kept dividing just as the first living cell did? did they divide to survive or just to eat each other? or both? what mechanism even decided those? | They didn't "decide". That's a conscious motive that you're applying to the simplest organisms.
The simple answer is that you need more stuff to make more cells. Just like building a house, you need to get more lumber, bricks, drywall...etc to build more houses. The easiest way to get the biological molecules an organism needs to make more of itself is to consume them from another organism that already has them. | [
"Some cells divide asymmetrically by budding, for example \"Saccharomyces cerevisiae\", the yeast species used in baking and brewing. This process results in a 'mother' cell and a smaller 'daughter' cell. Cryo-electron tomography recently revealed that mitochondria in cells divide by budding.\n",
"In 1847 Theodor... |
how can people steer their bikes when they don't have their hands on the handles? | They lean.
When you lean on a bike your center of mass isn't over the wheels anymore. That puts a torque on you and the bike. If your bike weren't moving that would mean you would just fall over. Since the bike is moving and you have a lot of angular momentum, it turns the direction that you are moving.
NOTE BECAUSE THERE IS A LOT OF MISS INFORMATION ABOUT THIS: my answer didn't have anything to do with the wheels rotating. it would work just as well if you were sliding on an ice skate machine as with wheels.
It anyone would like the math worked out as proof I can do that. | [
"A curved fork and angled vertical tubing provides stable, non-twitchy steering, enabling the rider to ride with one hand, while freeing the other hand for signalling or to secure a load on the rear rack. Europeans commonly use the free hand to hold an umbrella or cell phone, or to hold the shoulder of a child ridi... |
why do you cry when someone asks you “are you ok?” when you are trying not to cry | because sometimes its the fact that someone is showing you that they care makes it easier for you to let it out | [
"According to John, \"Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?\" is the first thing Jesus says upon his resurrection. The first part \"Why are you crying?\" repeats the statement made by the angels in . Jesus adds \"Who is it you are looking for?\" This question, which Jesus has asked others previo... |
what exactly constitutes the 'art-pop' genre in music? | There was a time, like in the 70's, when the distinction actually meant something. The radio stations were mainly playing "pop" (am stations) and "rock" or "disco" and "r & b" (fm stations)
The stuff people were listening to that didn't get play on the radio (outside of college stations) was more "artsy." Think The Velvet Underground or Big Star or Captian Beefheart.
Today, this term means very little as most of the new ideas and "artistic" approaches to music have been absorbed into mainstream pop culture.
I suppose one could argue that things that are today called "art-pop" are *more* descendant from the art-pop of old, and less descendant of traditional western pop music. However, this is no longer a real separate category, it's a spectrum to be used in a descriptive manner (ie this music it more "arty" than that music) | [
"Art pop (also typeset as art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by pop art's integration of high and low culture, and which emphasizes the manipulation of signs, style, and gesture over personal expression. Art pop artists may be inspired by postmodern approaches or art theories as w... |
how are fruit juice concentrates made? if juice comes from the fruits themselves how is it put into concentrated form? | Juice contains water so you just boil it until that water is gone to make a more concentrated juice | [
"The process of extracting juice from fruits and vegetables can take a number of forms. Simple crushing of most fruits will provide a significant amount of liquid, though a more intense pressure can be applied to get the maximum amount of juice from the fruit. Both crushing and pressing are processes used in the pr... |
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