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question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
under the affordable care act, patients can't be refused coverage if they have preexisting conditions - but what stops insurance companies from pricing it beyond what they can afford?	A few things, First: A certain amount has to be spent on patient care, so if they charge more in general, it'll have to be refunded. Second: [Exchanges. ](_URL_0_) this comes with a tax credit if he makes less than 400% of the federal poverty rate, which is $92,000 for a family of 4. Unfortunately that's a few years...	[ "It has been predicted that allowing purchase of insurance across state lines without national requirements for coverage would create a \"race to the bottom.\" The insurance companies would try to reduce how much they would need to charge for their plans by limiting coverage. If individuals choose to purchase prima...
To what extent did Japan aid the Allied cause in WW1? And to what extent was the war fought in the orient, if at all?	At least in the Pacific Japan seized upon World War I as a means for taking control of the German colonies in Micronesia (or today, the nations of Palau, Marshall Islands, Northern Marianas (US), and Federated States of Micronesia). Generally speaking there were no great battles in the Pacific during the first world w...	[ "World War I permitted Japan, which fought on the side of the victorious Allied Powers, to expand its influence in Asia and its territorial holdings in the north equatorial Pacific. Japan declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914, and quickly occupied German-leased territories in China's Shandong and the Mariana, ...
Solo cup with water doesn't melt?	Water has an extremely high specific heat, much higher than almost any other substance. It's able to very quickly pull heat away and distribute it. This is why we use water (steam) to carry heat energy around in almost all forms of electricity generation from coal, to nuclear.	[ "Although many ideas have been put forward to explain them, the most popular involve liquid water coming from an aquifer, from melting at the base of old glaciers, or from the melting of ice in the ground when the climate was warmer.\n", "Cup-a-Soup is an instant soup product sold under various brands worldwide. ...
why when we pour a waffle or pancake mix in a pan it gets solid rather than becoming more liquid or evaporating?	Batter isn't liquid or solid. It's a solid (the flour/other dry ingredients) suspended without a liquid. Pour it into a cool pan, and that's what you've got. Add heat, and those suspended starch molecules burst and further trap the liquid. The end result, you wind up with a sold as you cook those starches into thei...	[ "The solid ingredients are mixed together. The liquid ingredients are also mixed together, separately form the solid ones. Afterwards the two mixes are mixed together in a round baking pan, which is put in the oven, at about 170-180 Celsious, for about an hour. After it is out of the oven it is left to cool down an...
why are overbites much more common upon people than underbites? why are underbites more common in animals?	Humans evolved from apes. Apes have an protruding jaw; it sticks out from their face. Humans have flat faces. But when our jaws receded, our teeth lagged behind. They don't always fit into our mouths. This causes problems like overbite and impacted wisdom teeth.	[ "Sloths have very low metabolic rates (less than half of that expected for a mammal of their size), and low body temperatures: when active, and still lower when resting. Sloths are heterothermic, meaning their body temperature may vary according to the environment, normally ranging from , but able to drop to as low...
Were darker skinned Asians discriminated against?	Very much so. I won't talk about current complexion prejudices among Indians but historically the preference for fair skins was also a thing- all the way back in the Rig Veda a distinction is made between the arya and the dasa, comparing the righteous, holy, fair skinned god fearing Arya to the slavish, dark, dangerous...	[ "Within each race, darker complexion is also discriminated against. Multiple studies have found that lighter skin blacks \"tend to have superior incomes and life chances\". \"Chicanos with lighter skin color and more european features had higher socioeconomic status\" and \"black Hispanics suffer close to ten times...
why was europe "lagging" in scientific discoveries and knowledge during the medieval period?	It wasn't lagging as such, it certainly wasn't behind the Roman Empire, but progress wasn't particularly fast. The problem in a word: Aristotle. When Aristotle was re-discovered, everything he wrote was taken as fact. Perhaps it needed to be re-interpreted with the help of the New Testament, but it was factually corr...	[ "A new spirit of science and investigation in Europe was part of a general upheaval in human understanding which began with the European discovery of the New World in 1492 and continues through the subsequent centuries, even up to the present day.\n", "A new spirit of science and investigation in Europe was part ...
Why is it that even when a donated organ is a match, the recipient still has to go on anti rejection drugs? Furthermore, why is it way harder to find a match for a donor organ than it is for donor blood?	With blood * There is a small number of compatibility factors (blood type and Rhesus +/- factor are the main ones), which means that for any given person, there are many people with the same type of blood * Therefore, we can give you blood that is a near-perfect match for your own, so you don't need immunosuppressio...	[ "There are clinical reasons why one cellular source may be more beneficial for the patient over the other. The transplant physician bases his or her request on this information. If a donor declines to donate via one method, the transplant center may or may not be able to accept the other, based on the clinical need...
Why doesn't vaccination have the same problem of resistance that antibiotics do?	Simple answer: The immune system attacks many, many different components of the pathogen, while antibiotics attack just one. Therefore one mutations, or a small number of mutations, may be enough to develop antibiotic resistance, while it would take a large number of mutations to develop resistance to immunity. Since...	[ "Vaccines also help prevent the development of antibiotic resistance. For example, by greatly reducing the incidence of pneumonia caused by \"Streptococcus pneumoniae\", vaccine programs have greatly reduced the prevalence of infections resistant to penicillin or other first-line antibiotics.\n", "Microorganisms ...
why is the ar-15 not considered an assault rifle? what makes a rifle an assault rifle?	An assault rifle, by definition, must be capable of selective fire and/or automatic fire. The AR-15 is only capable of semi-automatic fire; hence it is not an assault rifle. Edit; A problem with many of the other responses you're getting here is that they are confusing "assault rifle" and "assault weapon." The first i...	[ "An assault rifle is a rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, a detachable magazine, and can switch between semi-automatic/fully automatic fire. Assault rifles are currently the standard service rifles in most modern armies.\n", "Assault rifles are a compromise between the size and weight of a pistol-calibre ...
If gravity is the bending of space-time does that mean that the other forces (weak, strong, electromagnetic) also bend their fields?	No and there's a very simple explanation as to why that is. Gravity is fundamentally different from all the other forces of nature in that it obeys something called the equivalence principle. In short, the equivalence principle states that (locally) there is no difference between an accelerated reference frame and a ...	[ "Einstein's theory of General Relativity makes several specific predictions about the observable structure of space-time, such as that light bends in a gravitational field, and that the amount of bending depends in a precise way on the strength of that gravitational field. Arthur Eddington's observations made durin...
why has the world or if easier to explain, solely the u.s. not abandoned coal mining and the burning of coal?	Yes, coal is bad for the environment. Certain technologies employed in modern coal plants provide marginal improvements by reducing some toxic emissions, but they still dump CO2 into the atmosphere. There are no other viable replacements for coal existing today. Wind and solar provide less than 10% of our power demand...	[ "According to Perlman, “the U.S. has more coal than any other country in the world. It’s actually about as cheap as dirt.” However, the burning of coal for power production is a leading contributor to global warming, mercury poisoning in fish, and acid rain, so environmentalists are pushing to reduce the prevalence...
Since the gravitational wave experiment is identical to the Michelson-Morley experiment, has the aether been confirmed?	Not really as the MM experiment was trying to find the relative motion of the Earth compared to the Aether. They did not find it, and neither did any subsequent experimenters. The signal seen at LIGO had little to do with relative motion, but everything to do with an event signal coming in from the merger. Einstein hi...	[ "The Michelson–Morley experiment was designed to detect second-order effects of the \"aether wind\"—the motion of the aether relative to the earth. Michelson designed an instrument called the Michelson interferometer to accomplish this. The apparatus was more than accurate enough to detect the expected effects, but...
Why & how do drugs [shrooms,marijuana] make you more introspective?	I have some post graduate work in neuropsychopharmacology, and I don't think there's a satisfactory answer to your question. Depending on the drug we can tell what receptors it acts upon and various changes in the brain, but I don't think anyone has ever isolated a chemical/opioid/neurotransmitter or anything that is s...	[ "Tailhade’s article describes the experience of opium using rich, expressive language. He states that on taking opium, users feel a warm sensation of intoxication that envelops them in an \"océan de délices\" (an ocean of intense pleasures), a \"lune de miel\" (honeymoon) of \"recueillement voluptueux\" (voluptuous...
What, if any, Stealth Aircraft did the Soviet Union deploy throughout the cold war.	The Soviets did not deploy any real substantial low-observable aircraft during the Cold War, which was ironic because one of the major scientific breakthroughs on radar refraction, Pyotr Ufimtsev's 1962 paper Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction was came from the Moscow Institute for Radio Engin...	[ "After World War II and during the Cold War the United States developed several dedicated reconnaissance aircraft designs, including the U-2 and SR-71, to monitor the nuclear threat from the Soviet Union. Other types of reconnaissance aircraft were built for specialized roles in signals intelligence and electronic ...
Why is the the Earth's Moon gradually drifting further away from us, rather than gradually spiraling in as what I would seem to consider more intuitive?	First make sure that you understand how orbits work in general. After that it's fairly easy to see why it's spiralling out. So if we ignore atmospheric and some other minor effects, then orbits will not spiral in any direction. When something is in orbit, it stays in that same orbit forever. So as a starting point that...	[ "If the Moon's rotation were purely synchronous, Earth would not have any noticeable movement in the Moon's sky. However, due to the Moon's libration, Earth does perform a slow and complex wobbling movement. Once a month, as seen from the Moon, Earth traces out an approximate oval 18° in diameter. The exact shape a...
why do people ask questions on eli5, _url_0_ and other internet forums instead of just taking the five minutes to research their own answers?	Honestly, because it's easier than googling stuff. And people are lazy. Compare: Question! Ask the googles. Google comes back with a few billion results. First two don't answer the question, third result is someone else asking the same question (with an unsatisfactory answer) and then read through the wikipidia artic...	[ "The user asks their question which can be answered by any member of that online community. The answers then go through an assessment, wherein the good answers are upvoted and the bad answers are downvoted by the users (or a similar parallel on different platforms). The members of the online community can find a qu...
How significant was the loss of HMS Hood to the Royal Navy?	Considering there were hardly any future engagements, it's hard to argue that the Hood was a massive loss. Air power had then largely eclipsed the battleship and battlecruiser. There was one one subsequent British battleship action in the war (Battle of the North Cape, where Duke of York and escorts sunk Scharnhorst ...	[ "The destruction of \"Hood\" spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, heading for occupied France to effect repairs, \"Bismarck\" was attacked by 16 obsolescent Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier ; one scored a hit that rendered the...
what is a dns record composed of? what data can it store?	Your question didn't make clear if it was about what goes on the wire or what is defined on the name server. On the wire, there are requests and there are replies. Requests only had the requested label and some basic options in it, modern requests also have a bunch of options it which could be of importance of the an...	[ "The most common types of records stored in the DNS database are for Start of Authority (SOA), IP addresses (A and AAAA), SMTP mail exchangers (MX), name servers (NS), pointers for reverse DNS lookups (PTR), and domain name aliases (CNAME). Although not intended to be a general purpose database, DNS has been expand...
Central Asian Tribes - where and when?	This is a very big question! But I'll give it a go. I'm going to assume you don't mean Central Asia in the strictest sense, which is essentially Kazakhstan and its southern neighbours. The Eurasian steppe—the vast grasslands that make the unique way of life of the Scythians, Huns, Mongols, etc. possible—actually sprea...	[ "The 10th century CE \"Kavyamimamsa\" of Pandit Rajashekhara knows about the existence of several Central Asian tribes. He furnishes an exhaustive list of the extant tribes of his times and places the Shakas, Tusharas, Vokanas, Hunas, Kambojas, Vahlika, Vahlava, Tangana, Limpaka, Turukshas and others together, styl...
why are only a small percentage of shishito peppers very spicy?	The small percentage of peppers that are spicy can be due to genetics or changes in environmental factors such as less water which makes it produce more capsaicin.	[ "Sichuan pepper's unique aroma and flavour is not hot or pungent like black, white, or chili peppers. Instead, it has slight lemony overtones and creates a tingly numbness in the mouth (caused by its 3% of hydroxy alpha sanshool) that sets the stage for hot spices. According to Harold McGee in \"On Food and Cooking...
are the gm plant closures just about closing us union factories and moving to non-unionized locations?	It's more to do with the recent tariffs driving up the cost of materials, I believe. If they produce the cars outside of the US they don't have to pay the tariffs, and since they're only on raw goods they won't have to pay them when they import the completed cars to sell.	[ "6. General Motors' announcement, following a $338 million operating loss in the third quarter, that it would close nine plants and scale back operations at two other plants. Seven of the affected plants were located in Michigan. The move was expected to result in the loss of 17,000 jobs in Michigan.br\n", "After...
Why did the Forum Romanum fall into disuse?	When the [aqueducts were destroyed](_URL_1_) by invading tribes the city center lost its water supply. The people living there were forced to relocate mostly to the [Campus Martius](_URL_0_), where plenty of water was still available.	[ "The Roman forum was excavated in 1985. The original forum dated to the Late Republican period, and was largely demolished in the Early Imperial period in order to build a new forum. The replacement was built during the reign of Augustus, and paid for by Gnaeus Baebius Geminus, a local aristocrat. The hilltop was l...
Why did many American police departments abandon the black and white color scheme for their cars?	Is this really a question for historians?	[ "North American police cars were once noted for being painted black and white, with the car doors and roof painted white, while the trunk, hood, front fenders and rear quarter panels were painted black. The fleet vehicles that were used typically came painted in a single color, most commonly white or black, from th...
Most fierce moments of Italian army in WW2	Yes. There were several actions undertaken by the Italian military during WWII where they preformed very well and impressed their opponents and allies alike. In fact, much of the poor reputation the Italian military has in WWII can be traced to a number of factors. Primarily the poor quality of their equipment, the lac...	[ "Italy's defeat at Caporetto led to General Luigi Cadorna's dismissal and General Armando Diaz replaced him as Chief of staff of the Italian Army. Diaz set up a strong defense line along the Piave. Up until this point in the war, the Italian army had been fighting alone against the Central Powers; with the defeat a...
what is securitization?	Taking an asset and making a security from it. In the case of Freddie and Fannie the asset is a pool of mortgage loans. A mortgage loan is quite hard to trade because the credit of each borrower and each home's value differs slightly and the seller almost certainly knows more than the buyer about both (recipe for a r...	[ "Securitization is the process of creating asset-backed securities by transferring assets from the issuing company to a bankruptcy remote entity. Credit enhancement is an integral component of this process as it creates a security that has a higher rating than the issuing company, which allows the issuing company t...
why do people from the us say ass instead of arse?	It appears that the shift from arse to ass came about from a dialect shift in 1785 to 1860 which tended to remove the leading r from in front of an s (burst/bust, curse/cuss, barse/bass, etc.).	[ "The English word \"ass\" (meaning donkey, a cognate of its zoological name \"Equus asinus\") may also be used as a term of contempt, referring to a silly or stupid person. In the United States (and, to a lesser extent, Canada), the words \"arse\" and \"ass\" have become synonymous.\n", "Culo is the most commonly...
Burning off gas at oil fields or at oil refinerys. Why is it done?	In Saskatchewan it's just not feasible because the amount of energy is so miniscule. Almost every other part of waste is used and the gas required to make the flare stack burn is negligible and generally the gas burning is from attempting to reuse stuff that is a byproduct of the refining process. When the flare stacks...	[ "Oil well fires are more difficult to extinguish than regular fires due to the enormous fuel supply for the fire. In fighting a fire at a wellhead, typically high explosives, such as dynamite, are used to create a shockwave that pushes the burning fuel and local atmospheric oxygen away from a well. (This is a simil...
Is Manufacturing consent by Noam Chomsky historically accurate?	Is there a specific claim you're questioning? The book is largely an analysis of media; as such, while people can disagree or agree with the more normative assertions and analysis, the core factual content is relatively uncontroversial. Newspapers do rely on advertising, etc. The only section that delves too deeply i...	[ "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media is a 1992 documentary film that explores the political life and ideas of linguist, intellectual, and political activist Noam Chomsky. Canadian filmmakers Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick expand the analysis of political economy and mass media presented in \"Manufact...
Why are oranges pre-sliced by nature?	Each "slice" of the orange is a separate carpel, the part of the flower which produces the ovule. Each carpel contains many ovules (what becomes the seed) and many other sugar-water filled cells.	[ "Navel oranges are characterized by the growth of a second fruit at the apex, which protrudes slightly and resembles a human navel. They are primarily grown for human consumption for various reasons: their thicker skin makes them easy to peel, they are less juicy and their bitterness – a result of the high concentr...
what would happen if the russians dropped and atomic bomb on the yellowstone super volcano?	It's hard to know what would happen, since the super volcano structure is not well understood. However, since it's not in a densely populated area, the damage might be superficial. The US would be quite unhappy, and nothing good would come of that. Hardly the sort of thing one would want to experiment with.	[ "During the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched a secret operation against the United States, detonating a nuclear bomb on the ocean floor and creating a volcano that would take decades to rise to the surface.\n", "The explosion was noted as one of the largest non-nuclear planned explosions on record, though Sovi...
What influence did trade unions, socialism, syndicalism and the workers' movement in general have in US history?	This is a huge topic that I don't think can be adequately covered in a reddit post. For more about the IWW's history, check out the [history section of their website](_URL_0_). These chapters of Zinn's A People's History of the United States may be informative. * ["Robber Barons and Rebels](_URL_3_) * ["The Socia...	[ "The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the communists no longer being a force in the labor movement, the conservative American Federation of Labor, which organized along craft union lines and which preached labor/capital cooperation, dominated the U.S. labor movement until the 1930s. In 1935, eight unions w...
A question just for the flaired users: why do you choose to post in AskHistorians?	Because most of us enjoy sharing our knowledge. Not all of us want to be professors (myself among them), but all of us like answering questions. It is pleasing to us to know that people care about something we care about. We also like showing off to :D	[ "In order to begin the questionnaire, the user must press the play button and think of a popular character, object or other things that frequently come to mind (musician, athlete, political personality, video game, mother or father, actor, fictional film/TV character, Internet personality, etc.). Akinator, a cartoo...
why does a smaller f stop number in camera gives a shallower dept of field?	It can be hard to explain without a diagram, but I'll try. The camera's lens focuses light from something into a point. The distance from the lens where this point is formed is based on the arrangement of the lens elements and how far the item being focused is from the camera. When you adjust focus, it's moving some le...	[ "BULLET::::- The size of the stop is one factor that affects depth of field. Smaller stops (larger f numbers) produce a longer depth of field, allowing objects at a wide range of distances to all be in focus at the same time.\n", "where formula_13 is the focal length, and formula_31 is the diameter of the entranc...
If water is odorless, how can I smell the steam and fog?	- It's possible there are impurities in the water and you are smelling those impurities when the water is vaporized to steam/fog. Dust, rust particles, dirt, organics, etc. - It's possible that steam itself does interact weakly with smell receptors in our nose. Although pure water vapor doesn't seem to have an odor...	[ "Sea smoke, also called steam fog or evaporation fog, is the most localized form and is created by cold air passing over warmer water or moist land. It often causes freezing fog, or sometimes hoar frost.\n", "Pure water is usually described as tasteless and odorless, although humans have specific sensors that can...
why is papa john's garlic sauce's consistency not...consistent?	Yeah my experience has been that if its cold, it gets creamy, and then eventually to the consistency of unrefrigerated butter if I put it in the fridge, but if its warm like when it has been in the hot pizza box for a bit or it I stick it in the microwave it gets thin and oily Edit: spelling because im drunk	[ "Because of differences in the type of fruit chosen and the composition of the brining solutions used, chamoy can vary widely in taste. Most are quite savory and spicy due to the addition of chile powder, and salty due to the brine. Depending on whether and how much vinegar was used, they may also vary from sour to...
how does lead get into water?	How does lead get into my drinking water? The major sources of lead in drinking water are corrosion of household plumbing systems; and erosion of natural deposits. Lead enters the water (“leaches”) through contact with the plumbing. Lead leaches into water through corrosion – a dissolving or wearing away of metal cause...	[ "Lead typically gets into drinking water after the water leaves the treatment plant. The source of lead is most likely pipe or solder in older service connections or older plumbing inside homes, from which lead \"leaks\" into the water through corrosion. EPA's lead and copper rule, last revised in 2007, defines an ...
Why are solar panels only square? And a related question	> The entire roof wasnt covered because there are no corner pieces. My question is why are they only square? Is there some scientific reason? When you manufacture an object, the way to produce them with least waste is square. If you're cutting them in circles, you have all that excess panel that's wasted. So it's m...	[ "Because solar cars are often purpose-built, and because arrays do not usually move in relation to the rest of the vehicle (with notable exceptions), this race-route-driven, flat-panel versus convex design compromise is one of the most significant decisions that a solar car designer must make.\n", "Solar panels a...
what happens in the body if one exercises immediately after eating a full meal?	Blood shunting occurs. Essentially the body is using blood to digest whatever the person has eaten. However blood is also needed to distribute oxygen around the body. This is why people sometimes get cramps or stitches around the stomach.	[ "The process of digestion is initiated soon after a person has consumed his meals. The gastric juices and enzymes responsible for digestion are stimulated in the mean time. However, if a person walks after eating his dinner, the process of gastric emptying of the meal is accelerated leading to better digestion. Thi...
When was the first time the German 88 was used as an anti tank weapon?	The usage of the 8.8 in ground support role predates the Second World War. During the Spanish Civil War the potency of the 8.8 while attacking ground targets was already known. The first major use against tanks was likely the Battle of Arras. Even 8.8 units which were pure anti aircraft units would likely have some an...	[ "The PTRD and the similar but semi-automatic PTRS-41 were the only individual anti-tank weapon available to the Red Army in numbers upon the outbreak of the war with Germany. The 14.5 mm armor-piercing bullet had a muzzle velocity of . It could penetrate an armor plate up to 35 to 40mm (40mm with tungsten ammunitio...
where did the "butt craze" come from and why is it so prevelant	> but there almost no scientific reasoning behind it that's where you're wrong, a nice butt tells you: 1) sexual maturity 2) overall fitness/wellbeing 3) whether or not they're sufficiently nourished to bear children evolution, not rap videos	[ "\"Bubble Butt\" is a song by American electronic dance music trio Major Lazer from their second studio album, \"Free the Universe\" (2013). It was released as the album's fourth single on May 24, 2013, for digital download. The track features American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars, and rappers Tyga and Mystic. The ...
in days of american slavery, were africans the only people who were forced into slavery, or were there other races as well? why were some groups forced into slavery while others immune?	It depends heavily on the period you're asking about. Nowadays, people usually have slavery in the 19th century in mind, which was racial and essentially limited to Africans. The practice was justified through moral and religious arguments--that the uncivilized man of Africa needed to do labor to obtain a good work eth...	[ "When African slaves were brought to the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries and sold into slavery, there began to be mixed-race children of African and European descent in the Americas. Then called \"mulattoes,\" they were sometimes not enslaved by their white slave-holding fathers and comprised a large part o...
Do you sleep longer if you like the dream you are having?	While we're on the topic, I've always wondered about the flow of time while dreaming. Do dreams happen in "real-time" (the speed at which you perceive the dream), or does your brain just assign a logical timeline and the actual "dream" might only occur in a few seconds?	[ "Dreams mainly occur in the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep—when brain activity is high and resembles that of being awake. REM sleep is revealed by continuous movements of the eyes during sleep. At times, dreams may occur during other stages of sleep. However, these dreams tend to be much less vivid or memo...
why most high caliber sniper rifles are shown as having low capacity magazines?	Because if you had a 30 round magazine of 50bmg, it would be 2 ft long, weigh 10 pounds.	[ "Snipers are mainly employed for targets at ranges from up to more than . In the UK, US, and other Western countries over the last 15 years, sniper rifles chambered for standard military calibers, such as 7.62×51mm, have been replaced with those that employ larger, more specialized rounds, such as .300 Winchester M...
why do some headphones have a frequency response of 40khz even though human hearing range is only 20khz at best?	I can only think of two reasons; 1. A bunch of 'headroom' above and below what we can hear means no compression is needed. 2. I suspect its simply a marketing ploy.	[ "The human auditory system is sensitive to frequencies from about 20 Hz to a maximum of around 20,000 Hz, although the upper hearing limit decreases with age. Within this range, the human ear is most sensitive between 2 and 5 kHz, largely due to the resonance of the ear canal and the transfer function of the ossicl...
if you arrive in a country with some sort of incorrect visa, do they just send you back home?	Well, they will detain you in some holding area in the checkpoint, while they try to ascertain your identity - whether it's a genuine mix-up or error, or if you are someone more sinister - like a drug mule, terrorist, or a refugee who has no actual business in this country you are in. The immigration officials may ask ...	[ "Currently, some countries require that foreign citizens have valid visas upon leaving the country if they needed one to enter. For example, a person who overstayed a visa in Czech Republic may need to obtain an exit visa. In Russia, the inconvenience goes even further as the legislation there does not formally rec...
Are there any examples of a volcanic eruption and lava flow influencing the course of a battle?	Sort of... in this case the volcanic eruption/blast and lava flow influenced the outcome of a war, more than a single battle. During the course of Kamehameha's unification of the Hawaiian islands in the 1790s, he benefited a great deal from volcanic activities, which gave the impression to at least some, that he was w...	[ "Many eruptions were highly explosive, probably due to the magma being rich in gases, and threw tephra high into the air. When the rising magma intercepted water - especially close to the coast - steam explosions ensued which threw up rock debris including older rocks such as coral fragments. Lava flows were erupte...
are household pets aware that they eat the same thing everyday?	They know, but they dont care, in nature what matters is food, not variety. Cats will even refuse sudden changes in diet. Yet, they know there are other options out there. My cats eat the same thing every day, but if I open a can of tuna, which I only do for them, they go nuts before I csn even put in their plates, th...	[ "A cat's eating pattern in domestic settings are essential for the cat/owner bond to form. This happens because cats form attachments to households that regularly feed them. Some cats ask for food dozens of times a day, including at night, with rubbing, pacing, and meowing.\n", "Domestic cats select food based on...
how pushing a magnet through a coil of wires creates electricity.	The movement of the magnet (and thus the magnetic field) pulls the electrons into the conductive material (the coil of conductive wires).	[ "An electric current through a wire wound into a coil creates a magnetic field through the center of the coil, due to Ampere's circuital law. Coils are widely used in electronic components such as electromagnets, inductors, transformers, electric motors and generators. A coil without a magnetic core is called an \"...
Why are the Kurds targeted so often?	I'm interested in this topic as well. Can I piggyback off the OP? Here is my question for further clarification, if anyone knows. What was the relationship between the Kurds and the Ottoman Empire? Is the current relationship with Turkey (tense/bad/hostile) a reflection of the Ottoman relationship or is it different?	[ "In 2014-2015, Kurds were personally targeted in various instances due to Kurdish political groups and the Kurdistan Regional Government's alliance with Western countries. Kurds in Iraq and Syria have been embroiled in a war against the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. As a result of the increa...
How did previous generations (say romans) deal with acne?	Try these bad boys on for size: _URL_2_ _URL_0_ _URL_3_ _URL_1_ _URL_4_	[ "Acne is a very common problem, particularly during puberty in teenagers, and is thought to relate to an increased production of sebum due to hormonal factors. The increased production of sebum can lead to a blockage of the sebaceous gland duct. This can cause a comedo, (commonly called a \"blackhead\" or a \"white...
You are a fairly well-off Londoner in Victorian times. How would you "park" your horse-drawn carriage without it being stolen? Did someone have to stay with it at all times?	For a short visit like a social call, your driver (and possibly footmen) would stay with the horses outside. For a longer event, like a dinner party, ball or night at the theatre your carriage would drop you off, then return and collect you at a pre-arranged time, which is why grand formal invitations still say 'carria...	[ "Among those who earned their living in the streets of London, the more criticized were the hackney coach drivers. Moreton defines them \"the scum of the people, and, generally speaking, the worst of rogues\", robbing their customers on a regular basis, and often in league with highway robbers. Hackney coach travel...
Whats the relation of entropy in physics and entropy in information theory?	> In thermodynamics entropy seems to be a measurement of stored enery per volume(or mass? or per system?) and in infromation theroy entropy is a measurement of information density. Both formulas seem to be very similar(an intergal/sum of all posible states) but ive never bee able to make the connection in meaning. Hm...	[ "In information theory, \"entropy\" is the measure of the amount of information that is missing before reception and is sometimes referred to as \"Shannon entropy\". Shannon entropy is a broad and general concept which finds applications in information theory as well as thermodynamics. It was originally devised by ...
How does this fog in a water bottle trick work?	There is always water vapor in the air that surrounds us. When you close off the bottle and twist it, you are compressing the air inside it. When air compresses, however, it also gains heat. Conversely, when air is allowed to decompress, it loses heat. When you pop the cap off the bottle, the rapid cooling of this warm...	[ "The water droplets in the fog deposit on the mesh. A second mesh rubbing against the first causes the droplets to coalesce and run to the bottom of the meshes, where the water may be collected and led away.\n", "One method to prevent fogging is to apply a thin film of detergent, but this method is criticized bec...
Are there any books about Greek religion (mythology) as the Greeks themselves understood it (to the best of our knowledge)?	Greek Religion by Walter Burkert is one of the best works on the subject. Burkert died about a year ago, but was pretty much the name in the study of Greek mythology and religion.	[ "The numerous gods of the ancient Greek religion as well as the mythical heroes and events of the ancient Greek epics (\"The Odyssey\" and \"The Iliad\") and other pieces of art and literature from the time make up what is nowadays colloquially referred to as Greek mythology. Apart from serving a religious function...
Are BBC history documentaries good?	As a very broad-brush answer, yes. They nearly always feature a deeper level of knowledge than your average American history documentary. (As do other British ones from Channel 4.) There is no such thing as total freedom from bias: that's a basic lesson of historical methodology! It may simply be bias by selection or f...	[ "The BBC Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of the BBC which produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including \"The Blue Planet\" and \"Planet Earth\", and has a long association with David Attenb...
Can gums grow back?	I'm a dentist. Gum health and the underlying bone health are closely linked. The typical progression of 'gum recession' looks like this: Your body prefers to maintain a consistent thickness of gum tissue over the bone in your mouth. Build up and/or aggressive bacterial strains cause inflammation in the gum tissue. This...	[ "Gingival recession, also known as receding gums, is the exposure in the roots of the teeth caused by a loss of gum tissue and/or retraction of the gingival margin from the crown of the teeth. Gum recession is a common problem in adults over the age of 40, but it may also occur starting from the age of a teenager, ...
How much plunder did the Nazis actually acquire from concentration camp victims?	Aly Götz wrote a book about that called «Hitler's Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State». The German families could place appeals to the local government for looted commodities and the decisive factor that was the formal justification. If it said your Hans was a blue eyed blond boy who was even...	[ "Nazi plunder included private and public art collections, artefacts, precious metals, books, and personal possessions. Hitler and Göring in particular were interested in acquiring looted art treasures from occupied Europe, the former planning to use the stolen art to fill the galleries of the planned \"Führermuseu...
how did the irs "catch" al capone? what did al do?	He ran a massive criminal organization and wasn't the least bit subtle about it. Which made the FBI and a lot of other law enforcement agencies rather cross with him. One day, somebody said "Hey, you think Capone pays taxes?" and a great idea was had. Guy is rich, he flaunts it, and he has no legitimate income. Which ...	[ "Following Al Capone's conviction for tax evasion in 1931, Ralph Capone remained with the Outfit. He hosted several high-level Outfit conferences from his brother's residence in Palm Island, Florida. As the manager of Chicago's Cotton Club, Capone was reportedly involved in syndicate gambling and vice districts. In...
Does π start with two identical decimal sequences?	We don't know and it'll probably be extremely difficult to prove this in either direction. To show that no such n exists would basically be implying some property on the continued fraction expansion of π, which is certainly going to be complicated, given that we currently know of no pattern in π's continued fraction. ...	[ "If π is a permutation of length \"n\", represented as a sequence of the numbers from 1 to \"n\" in some order, and \"s\" = \"s\", \"s\", ..., \"s\" is a subsequence of π of length \"k\", then \"s\" corresponds to a unique \"pattern\", a permutation of length \"k\" whose elements are in the same order as \"s\". Tha...
If you were in space and took a picture, at what shutter speeds would stars be seen?	Stars in space are not much brighter than on earth. Here on earth, with typical sensitivity of film or digital sensors (say around 400 ISO) you see stars at around 10 seconds exposure time. 30 seconds to 1 minute gives you a good picture of the night sky, as you would see it with bare eyes. With today's DSLRs you can i...	[ "Typical shutter speeds for a star trail range from 15 minutes to several hours, requiring a \"Bulb\" setting on the camera to open the shutter for a period longer than usual. However, a more practised technique is to blend a number of frames together to create the final star trail image.\n", "The photographs pro...
How do doctors stop internal bleeding?	Surgery. In most cases bleeding can be managed with administration of fluids, blood transfusions and correction of any underlying coagulopathy. However, some organs can bleed profusely if injured. If the spleen and its capsule are ruptured we do a splenectomy. If a lobe of the liver is lacerated we do a hepatic lobecto...	[ "Unlike with external bleeding, most internal bleeding cannot be controlled by applying pressure to the site of injury. Internal bleeding in the thorax and abdominal cavity (including both the intraperitoneal and retroperitoneal space) cannot be controlled with direct pressure (compression). A patient with acute in...
How long does it take the planet's in the asteroid belt to orbit the sun?	Well, there are no planets in the main asteroid belt, although there is one dwarf planet, Ceres. Ceres contains about 1/3 of the total mass of the asteroid belt and orbits with a period of 4.6 years.	[ "It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 2.2–2.4 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,286 days; semi-major axis of 2.31 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.04 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.\n", "It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.5–...
why isn't the supreme court chief justice chosen from existing supreme court justices?	The Chief Justice may be selected from those among the court or from those outside the court. For example, William Rehnquist was elevated to Chief Justice by Ronald Reagan while sitting on the court. There's nothing requiring it to be either way.	[ "The Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and seven Associate Justices, who are appointed by the governor from a list of three judges submitted by the Judicial Nomination Commission. Justices are also ratified by the electorate at the next general election following their appointment and at the end of each six...
What are some "breakthrough" discoveries throughout history - things that provided immediate answers to long-recognized problems/conditions?	James Watt's refined steam engine. The steam engine allowed human kind to bring continuous power where it was needed instead of having to harness an existing source. Consider the ramifications of that for a minute. Everything in the modern world is predicated on the idea of portable power. Humans can build what they...	[ "The first major breakthrough was the synthetic production of oxytocin and vasopressin in 1961. With further growth and expansion, the headquarters moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, and subsequently to Switzerland.\n", "examples of pioneering innovations are the artificial kidney, which laid the foundations for the m...
What lead to Spain's possession of two small enclaves in Northern Africa?	Ceuta was originally taken by the Portuguese in 1415, at the same time that the Portuguese started a strong programme of exploration that includes conquest and/or settlement of the Canaries and the Azores. The crown of Portugal was united with the crowns of today's Spain -- namely Castile, Aragon and Navarre -- when ...	[ "In 1848, Spanish troops conquered the Islas Chafarinas. In the late 19th century, after the so-called Scramble for Africa, European nations had taken over colonial control of most of the African continent. The Treaty of Fez (signed on 30 March 1912) made most of Morocco a protectorate of France, while Spain assume...
why men sometimes piss in two streams?	I love when front page posts trickle down into other subs. Its when a substance dries up over the pee hole. Usually experienced after sex. Edit: Just saw OP is named Tristan. Either we are getting trolled, or Tristan isnt getting laid.	[ "For men, because of the flexible and protruding nature of the penis, it is simple to control the direction of the urine stream. Many men urinate in a standing position although they could urinate sitting down or squatting.\n", "A pissing contest, or pissing match, is a game in which participants compete to see w...
why does some commercial airplane wings are bend and the end?	It makes the wing more efficient. Wings basically work by increasing the pressure below the wing, and decreasing the pressure above the wing. The difference in pressure causes lift to be generated. But one problem with this is that the high pressure air below the wing naturally tries to find its way into the low pres...	[ "Beyond that, the wing is designed to bend and flex in the wind, and so provides favorable dynamics analogous to a spring suspension. Flexibility allows the wing to be less susceptible to turbulence and provides a gentler flying experience than a similarly-sized rigid-winged aircraft. The trailing edge of the wing ...
How reliable are scientific results from computer simulations?	It's what you make of it, really. While not for use in physical sciences, my own personal use of monte carlo simulation allows me to control the conditions under which I want to test specific models. The laws of probability hold regardless of whether I found it in nature or I set it with my code	[ "Computerised simulations can readily incorporate chance in the form of some sort of randomised element, and can be run many times to provide outcomes in terms of probabilities. In such situations, it sometimes happens that the unusual results are of more interest than the expected ones. For example, if a simulatio...
How solid were the alliances of WWI prior to the actual fighting?	> Were there treaty clauses that gave these powers a way out? The Franco-Russian Entente and the Triple Alliance were all defensive in nature. There was no obligation to enter hostilities on the side of a signatory if that signatory was the aggressor. Hence Italy's actions in July 1914; as Austria-Hungary and German...	[ "Instead of the Great War ending in 1918, it was continued for almost half a century, with the battlelines drawn down Europe's center in 1929 shifting little for either side for the next several decades. As the USWE could no longer independently contribute to the war, the Alliance army was introduced into the Ameri...
Food sources for those in Ancient Arabia?	There are no major rivers but there is ground water coming from the mountains in the west. There are several places where ground water is accessible, eg. places close to Riyadh or Hufuf Oasis in Eastern Province which is one of the largest oasis in the world. That ground water also supplies Bahrain and Quatar. Ther...	[ "Information about the food of the ancient Israelites is based on written sources, archaeological records, and comparative evidence from the wider region of the ancient Levant. Written sources are primarily the Hebrew Bible and other texts, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocryphal works, the New Testament, and Rabb...
why does rolling clothes take up less space in a suitcase?	When the clothes are rolled, there is less air content between the layers of fabric. This can be seen to a more extreme extent with vacuum sealed clothes. You could fit the same amount of clothes by cramming it into a bag, but the rolling keeps it in that position without external pressure.	[ "Rolling backpacks are backpacks with wheels on the bottom and an extending handle. Because of their design, rolling backpacks reduce the strain on the user, though the shoulder straps may be used to carry the pack for short distances when the terrain is not suitable for wheels. Rolling backpacks are most commonly ...
How do you take notes when you read?	Personally I avert taking notes in the book itself, but I do use sticky-notes for future reference. The types of notes are dependant on the type of research I am conducting. I will not make a note on the '1990's Automobile Production' in a certain book when I am researching 'The Ecological Effects of Medicine in the 1...	[ "Note-taking (sometimes written as notetaking or note taking) is the practice of recording information captured from another source. By taking notes, the writer records the essence of the information, freeing their mind from having to recall everything. Notes are commonly drawn from a transient source, such as an o...
why does the signal from the stomach to the brain (i'm full) take 20 minutes as opposed to all other signals which seem to be instant?	The signal that you're full is mainly transmitted via hormones and not nerves. Unlike electrical signals that travel through nerves very quickly, changes in blood hormone concentrations take a while to occur and to be detected.	[ "BULLET::::- Louder rumbles may occur when one is hungry. Around two hours after the stomach has been emptied, it sends signals to the brain, which tells the digestive muscles to restart peristalsis in a wave called the migrating motor complex. Food left behind after the first cycle is swept up, and the vibrations ...
why do mosquito bites leave bumps and getting a shot at the doctors office doesn't?	The bump isn't from the small hole, it comes from the chemical that the mosquito injects into you. The saliva chemical they use prevents the blood from clotting and clogging up their tube.	[ "When mosquitoes bite a person, they do not inject the blood of a previous victim into the person they bite next. Mosquitoes do, however, inject their saliva into their victims, which may carry diseases such as dengue fever, malaria, yellow fever, or West Nile virus and can infect a bitten person with these disease...
How do you identify if a trait has a genetic basis, and then which gene(s) cause it?	There are a lot of ways to look for if a trait has a genetic basis. Perhaps the main way is to notice that it runs in families. By carefully tracking pedigrees, you can even figure out if it's autosomal or located on one of the sex chromosomes. You can also use things like twin studies to see if identical twins share c...	[ "The gene of interest directly causes production of protein(s) or RNA that produce a desired trait or phenotype, whereas markers (a DNA sequence or the morphological or biochemical markers produced due to that DNA) are genetically linked to the gene of interest. The gene of interest and the marker tend to move toge...
How big was the influence of the Papacy in Rome?	When? Between the end of the Roman Empire up until the Unity of Italy, the Papacy exerted enormous political and social control in the running of the city, and between the ninth and nineteenth century outright managed a large Central Italian polity. And even after Italian Unification, the Papacy continued to be indirec...	[ "With the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the West, the papacy became a political player, first visible in Pope Leo's diplomatic dealings with Huns and Vandals. The church also entered into a long period of missionary activity and expansion among the various tribes. While Arianists instituted the death pena...
what exactly does sodium toxicity do?	Sodium intake does not lead to sodium toxicity. The body has many homeostatic ("keep things in balance") controls to keep your sodium blood levels in check. Sodium toxicity is more commonly seen from dehydration, for example. It is called [Hypernatraemia](_URL_0_). What you probably mean to say/ask is just that we ...	[ "Dantrolene sodium is a postsynaptic muscle relaxant that lessens excitation-contraction coupling in muscle cells. It achieves this by inhibiting Ca ions release from sarcoplasmic reticulum stores by antagonizing ryanodine receptors. It is the primary drug used for the treatment and prevention of malignant hyperthe...
why are we set up to not eat healthy?	If by "set up" you mean biologically it's because some nutrients were much rarer then others and over time we became hardwired to seek those particular nutrients more so over others since obtaining those nutrients required more effort. Now in modern times those nutrients are quite abundant but we still retain that need...	[ "A healthy diet includes everything to meet a person's food energy and nutritional needs. People become at risk for not having a healthy diet when they are inactive or bedbound; living alone; sick; having difficulty eating; affected by medication; depressed; having difficulty hearing, seeing, or tasting; unable to ...
the ISS is a pretty well closed system. Every astronaut has brought their own microbiome, do we know anything about what they leave behind and what survives?	Hi, I work at a genomics company, and have some experience with microbial sequencing. I have also met with NASA to discuss sequencing projects on the ISS. The little known secret is that microbially speaking, it's a very dirty place, with fungal and bacterial outbreaks cropping up every now and then. When I spoke to th...	[ "During the mission, ISS crew members successfully sequenced DNA from bacteria, bacteriophage and rodents from samples prepared on Earth. Researchers on Earth performed synchronous ground controls to evaluate how well the MiniON works in the difficult conditions. Additionally, maintaining the MiniON device as a res...
difference between cheap and really expensive caviar	Really expensive caviar is wild fish's eggs. There is strict selection for quality. And of course a fish doesn't make by itself tons of eggs, especially since you have to kill it. The beluga, the most expensive, is really hard to preserve, and the species is in danger. Less expensive one is farmed, so it's a bit cheap...	[ "An expensive caviar example at sold for £20,000 (then $34,500) is the Iranian 'Almas' product (from , \"diamond\") produced from the eggs of a rare albino sturgeon between 60-100 years old from the southern Caspian Sea. Wild beluga sturgeon caviar from the Caspian Sea was priced in 2012 at $16,000 per . Cheaper al...
In 1956 Malta voted to join the United Kingdom. It did not join the United Kingdom.	First, the results: out of a total electorate of 152,823, the number of people who cast their vote was 90,343 or 59.1%; the number of "Yes" votes was 67,607 and "No" votes 20,177; the invalid votes amounted to 2,559. Although the percentage voting against was relatively low, the very high abstention rate meant that les...	[ "In the 1950s and 1960s, serious consideration was given in the United Kingdom and Malta to the idea of a political union between the two countries. Despite Malta supporting integration in a 1956 referendum, the plans for it foundered, and Malta gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1964. The British m...
How Can a Reader Tell If A Book Is 'Pop' or 'Factual' History?	First of all, those two things are not mutually exclusive. There are plenty of pop historians that do good, factual work. If I'm interested in a book from an author I'm unfamiliar with, the first thing I do is read their bio on the back flap. What are their credentials? Do they have advanced degrees? Did they study\te...	[ "Pop-up books are common enough to be found in your local library, bookstore, classroom, or likely even your own bookshelf. There are several examples of these kinds of books, but some famous ones to check out are: Christmas in New York by Chuck Fischer, Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy by Matthew Reinhart, ...
why while we watch a film our perspective adapts to that represented in the story and we are not surprised by things that are unrealistic in reality but are normal in the footage?	It's called "suspension of disbelief" and is fundamental for most fictions. You're able to intentionally (intentional doesn't mean you have to concentrate to do it) lock out of your thought process anything that would be surreal in real life but fits in the movie you're watching. Let's say, in Harry Potter it's ok to ...	[ "Meirelles acknowledged the challenge of making a film that would simulate the experience of blindness to the audience. He explained, \"When you do a film, everything is related to point of view, to vision. When you have two characters in a dialogue, emotion is expressed by the way people look at each other, throug...
What was the stance on Atheism in Ancient Greece? Were people punished for not conforming to religious expectations?	There's at least one very famous example of a Greek being charged, ostensibly because he didn't conform to religious expectations: Socrates. Plato's Apology describes Socrates' defense in the Athenian court against the charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. Socrates neatly summarizes the charge against him in 2...	[ "Western atheism has its roots in pre-Socratic Greek philosophy, but atheism in the modern sense was nonexistent or extremely rare in ancient Greece. Pre-Socratic Atomists such as Democritus attempted to explain the world in a purely materialistic way and interpreted religion as a human reaction to natural phenomen...
what would the earth's atmosphere be like without the heat from the sun?	Colder. The question is how cold. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -128.6F (-89.2C). So it'd get at least that everywhere. With absolutely no heat, the atmosphere would continue to get colder and colder until the individual gases begin to condenses. -297F for Oxygen and -320F for Nitrogen. Colder still those ...	[ "Almost all of the energy that affects Earth's climate is received as radiant energy from the Sun. The planet and its atmosphere absorb and reflect some of the energy, while long-wave energy is radiated back into space. The balance between absorbed and radiated energy determines the average global temperature. Beca...
Are black holes fixed at one point in space, or do they move through space as fast as planets do?	Bear in mind, a black hole is a star remnant and a "normal" stellar mass black hole actually tends to have a mass of 5-10 solar masses. So, even a black hole is generally more massive than our Sun. Although it has some very special properties in relation to the density of the object itself, if it was possible for any...	[ "In a space that expands exponentially (or nearly exponentially) with time, any pair of free-floating objects that are initially at rest will move apart from each other at an accelerating rate, at least as long as they are not bound together by any force. From the point of view of one such object, the spacetime is ...
Why exactly do the Olmec stone heads look African?	It's stylistic. Exaggeration of features is very common in art around the world, even in the modern day. This kind of topic gets into an area that is rather vilified in the archaeological community. Links from one cultural group to another (i.e. "Semitic features" being present in some South African native populatio...	[ "The flat-faced, thick-lipped heads have caused some debate due to their resemblance to some African facial characteristics. Based on this comparison, some writers have said that the Olmecs were Africans who had emigrated to the New World. But, the vast majority of archaeologists and other Mesoamerican scholars rej...
How can there be so many different languages within Europe when the countries are all so close together?	Hi. I'm a linguistics student and I've studied historical linguistics. Different languages arise from different dialects. You somehow differentiate two communities speaking the same language, and their speech slowly (or sometimes rather quickly) starts developing in independent directions. Imagine some point in the...	[ "The number of member states exceeds the number of official languages, as several national languages are shared by two or more countries in the EU. Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, and Swedish are all official languages at the national level in multiple countries (see table above). In addition, Croatian, Czec...
How did NASA plot Voyager's course to avoid objects that might affect its path through our solar system?	They used the patched conics method. With this you basically reduce the equation to a 2 body equation. You are orbiting the earth, then you are orbiting the sun, then you are orbiting jupiter, then you are orbiting the sun again, then saturn... Of course this like any other simplification is going to introduce errors...	[ "After the fly-by of Saturn, the camera platform of \"Voyager 2\" locked up briefly, putting plans to officially extend the mission to Uranus and Neptune in jeopardy. The mission's engineers were able to fix the problem (caused by an overuse that temporarily depleted its lubricant), and the \"Voyager 2\" probe was ...
how do the time travel rules work in doctor who?	Basically, some events are set in place and cannot be changed (like destruction of Pompei), but some events can be changed (like rescuing a family from that city). It's pretty arbitrary on what can and cannot be changed. In one episode, saving a person creates a time paradox and monsters come out to cauterize it, but...	[ "In \"The Two Doctors\", the Second Doctor states that the \"Rassilon Imprimatur\" allows Time Lords to safely travel through time, becoming symbionts with their TARDISes, and that the reason other species are incapable of developing time travel is that they lack the imprimatur. However, he implies later that he wa...
how did the western world lay underwater telegraph lines as early as 19th century with their level of technology?	The Victorians (as we call them this side of the pond) were actually pretty good at organising large scale engineering projects. These were the same people who built railways across the world too. Without underwater cables it would take weeks or months to have a decent international conversation so given the importanc...	[ "By the 1860s, telegraph was the standard way to send most urgent commercial, diplomatic and military messages, and industrial nations had built continentwide telegraph networks, with submarine telegraph cables allowing telegraph messages to bridge oceans. However installing and maintaining a telegraph line linking...
how can cereal companies afford to print such colorful boxes when ink is so expensive?	They charge you for it in the price of their cereal. Somewhere along the way an analyst figured out that having the colorful box increased sales enough to justify the cost, or that the colorful box made people willing to pay more for the product than the extra cost of the ink/packaging.	[ "Blotting papers are also commonly used in cosmetics to absorb excess sebum oil from the face. They are popularly marketed and have been sold by numerous cosmetic brands worldwide such as Mac and Bobbi Brown, as well as UK high street store: Boots UK. Prices for blotting papers can range from as low as $3.00 per pa...
What is the real deal with eggs?	[This](_URL_0_) post has a really good link for your first two questions. > * Eggs, when consumed by healthy persons in the range of 1-6 a day (higher levels not really studied), usually do not adversely affect blood lipids. Some studies note no increases, some studies note a benign increase of both LDL and HDL; fe...	[ "Eggs is a young adult novel by Jerry Spinelli that was published in 2007. The story outlines a relationship that develops between two children that seemingly have little in common other than loneliness.\n", "Egg yolks and whole eggs store significant amounts of protein and choline, and are widely used in cookery...
How did Curiosity send picture all the way from Mars?	> I find it hard to believe that it was sent all the from Mars, a straight shot to Earth Radio waves spread out in a cone-shape, you only have to shoot them in the general direction of the receiver. > and without interruption. It didn't hit anything on the way? Space is mindblowingly empty, you pretty much h...	[ "\"Curiosity\" successfully landed in the Gale Crater at 05:17:57.3 UTC on August 6, 2012, and transmitted Hazcam images confirming orientation. Due to the Mars-Earth distance at the time of landing and the limited speed of radio signals, the landing was not registered on Earth for another 14 minutes. The \"Mars Re...
where do governments keep lending all these billions from? will they ever pay it back? if not, why are there still lenders?	1) Citizens, Corporations, other Governments. I'll speak to the US because that's what I know. The US Treasury is considered the "risk free asset" in the financial world. This means that people trust its good for the money. Many people, corps and governments like to hold US debt because its about as sure a bet as...	[ "Despite a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding, the federal government generally does not make direct loans under the act. The government simply guarantees loans made by ordinary mortgage lenders (descriptions of which appear in subsequent sections) after veterans make their own arrangements for the loans ...
what is the point of a number lock and scroll lock button?	Number lock allows you to toggle between using the number pad (on the right of a standard keyboard) to enter numbers or to navigate (notice on [this keyboard](_URL_0_) there are arrows on some of the numbers and other movement functions on others) Scroll lock switches the function of the arrow keys in many programs. F...	[ "Wordlock is a brand of combination locks, made by Wordlock, Inc., that differs from traditional combination locks in that it has letters on its dials instead of numbers. This allows the combination to be a four-letter or five-letter word or name, similar to a password, and therefore potentially easier to remember ...
why doesn't the weight of soil above a deep bored tunnel cause it to collapse?	It WILL, if there is insufficient support. That's why they pay geologists and mining engineers moderate bucks to figure out exactly what's above the tunnel. Tunnels are typically bored through rock, and then only when the strength of the rock above it is enough to support the initial digging. After the hole has been d...	[ "Colluvium-filled bedrock hollows are the cause of many shallow earth landslides in steep mountainous terrain. They can form as a U or a V shaped trough as local bedrock variations reveal areas in the bedrock which are more prone to weathering than other locations on the slope. As the weathered bedrock turns to soi...
Has the global percentage population of LGBT people historically increased over time?	History is surprisingly gay. In fact, it often got [really most extremely gay](_URL_3_) [but also kind of awesome](_URL_5_). You had [gay kings](_URL_6_) and [lesbian nuns](_URL_4_) and joint Egyptian tombs containing [both of the pharoah's male nail stylists painted in position for man and wife](_URL_1_). You get th...	[ "In October 2012, Gallup started conducting annual surveys to study the demographics of LGBT people, determining that 3.4% (±1%) of adults identified as LGBT in the United States. It was the nation's largest poll on the issue at the time. In 2017, the percentage was estimated to have risen to 4.5% of adults, with t...
Some genetic mutations cause disease when inherited from the mother, but not the father. What is going on?	Epigenetics and imprinting are at play in the case where different diseases are caused by inheritance from different parents. There are also diseases that are only inherited from fathers. The other post here so far describes X-linked inheritance, which is a different scenario than what you are trying to describe, I b...	[ "New mutations, (often somatic, spontaneous and sporadic), not inherited from either parent are called de novo mutations. The consensus on whether certain prenatal spontaneous mutations and genetic disorders that occur as a result of meiotic and chromosome errors or during cell division after conception, like cysti...

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