Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
If a nerve in your body is severed, can it grow back together?	The axon of a nerve cell—the long part that travels through nerves and conveys signals—can indeed regrow. There are some caveats. (Boy are there caveats.) * The axon gets all its cellular nutrients from the cell body. * The part of the broken axon no longer connected to the cell body lacks nutrients and gets disintegr...	[ "The nerve begins the process by destroying the nerve distal to the site of injury allowing Schwann cells, basal lamina, and the neurilemma near the injury to begin producing a regeneration tube. Nerve growth factors are produced causing many nerve sprouts to bud. When one of the growth processes finds the regenera...
Did John the Baptist have a philosophy and how did it differ from contemporary mainstream Judaism?	He was most likely influenced at least to some degree by the Essene sect. These were Jews who were dissatisfied or disenfranchised by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. Mainstream Judaism would have been the theology of the sanhedrin. Johns theology would have been much more austere, and severe. He denounced them for their co...	[ "Judaism, originated in Ancient Israel, is the foundation of Western morality. It impacted the West in a multitude of ways, from its ethics to its practices to monotheism; all of its benefits largely impacted the world through Christianity. The Hebrew Bible, authored by Jews in the Land of Israel from the 8th to th...
if chihuahuas descended from wolves, would it be possible to reverse breed back to wolf? assuming you're starting with only chihuahuas and their new offspring?	Unfortunately, this is not possible. Reason: Certain traits from wolves were not seen as desirable so they were not selected for. Thus they were eventually removed from the gene pool of breeding adults. As time goes on and the pups get further from wolf with each generation, those traits become effectively unrecovera...	[ "Apart from different types of Chihuahuas, breeders across the world started cross-breeding Chihuahuas with other dog breeds in order to create breeds of mixed traits. The result of cross-breeding Chihuahuas with other dog breeds such as Pomeranian dogs, Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Boston Terriers, Pugs and so on, usual...
When did playgrounds first appear?	In landscape architecture circles, the Children's Playground in Golden Gate Park is widely referenced as the United States' first 'playground'. Built in 1888.	[ "In the 19th century, developmental psychologists such as Friedrich Fröbel proposed playgrounds as a developmental aid, or to imbue children with a sense of fair play and good manners. In Germany, a few playgrounds were erected in connection to schools, and the first purpose-built public-access playground was opene...
how do personnel on submarines connect to the internet?	they wait till the sub comes to the surface or periscope depth and all the remaining data is transmitted. When submerged there is no internet access. You do without.	[ "A surfaced submarine can use ordinary radio communications. Submarines may use naval frequencies in the HF, VHF and UHF ranges (i.e. bands), and transmit information via both voice and teleprinter modulation techniques. Where available, dedicated military communications satellite systems are preferred for long dis...
Why does squinting make my vision clearer?	First of all, realize that this only works for people who have vision problems due to incorrect focusing of the light. For our eyes to work properly, incoming light must be focused down to the retina. When this does not happen, either because light is focused in front of the retina (a condition called myopia or nearsig...	[ "Squinting is most often practiced by people who suffer from refractive errors of the eye who either do not have or are not using their glasses. Squinting helps momentarily improve their eyesight by slightly changing the shape of the eye to make it more round, which helps light properly reach the fovea. Squinting a...
How do other baryons behave inside atomic nuclei?	> I've found quite a few interesting papers on hypernuclei which I am working through, but very little more easily digested material. Yes, this is what you're looking for. It's a relatively young area of research, and obviously a lot of it is theoretical rather than experimental. We understand QCD very well, but it's...	[ "All the bound protons and neutrons in an atom make up a tiny atomic nucleus, and are collectively called nucleons. The radius of a nucleus is approximately equal to 1.07 fm, where \"A\" is the total number of nucleons. This is much smaller than the radius of the atom, which is on the order of 10 fm. The nucleons ...
how come digital videos take up less memory than the sum of their individual frames.	Videos aren't stored as a series of images. It's closer to being stored as a series of changes in frames. Since most pixels on most frames are the same as the previous one, this saves an enormous amount of space. It doesn't work exactly like that, but that's an easy way to imagine how it could be much smaller.	[ "Video data may be represented as a series of still image frames. Such data usually contains abundant amounts of spatial and temporal redundancy. Video compression algorithms attempt to reduce redundancy and store information more compactly.\n", "Digital video comprises a series of digital images displayed in rap...
channel 3/4 and vcrs	Most older TVs didn't have video signal inputs like today. To send something to the TV, it had to be a modulated RF signal, just like an over-the-air broadcast. Due to channel frequency spacing, most cities could only have a broadcaster on channel 3 or 4, but not both. So one of those channels was usually availabl...	[ "A \"channel 3/4 output\" was a common output selection for consumer audiovisual devices sold in North America that were intended to be connected to a TV using a radio frequency (RF) signal. This channel option was provided because it was rare to have broadcast channels 3 and 4 used in the same market, or even just...
Is it possible to create heavier hydrogen isotopes?	The hydrogen isotopes all the way up to hydrogen-7 have been studied. You never hear about the unbound ones (4, 5, 6, and 7) because they're only really relevant to some niche areas of nuclear physics. They decay on timescales of 10^(-22) seconds.	[ "The most abundant isotope, hydrogen-1, protium, or light hydrogen, contains no neutrons and is simply a proton and an electron. Protium is stable and makes up 99.985% of naturally occurring hydrogen atoms.\n", "The lightest isotopes were synthesized by direct fusion between two lighter nuclei and as decay produc...
Which had a more significant effect on human history and society - Tea/coffee or alcohol?	Very brief answer: If we're talking about these things as commodities rather than substances, by far coffee and tea. Here's why. Starting in the mid seventeenth century, trade in coffee, tea, and sugar EDIT: and tobacco (the non-perishable fruits of Empire) revolutionized the English/British economy and created ...	[ "In the late 17th century, alcohol was a vital part of colonial life as a beverage, medicine, and commodity for men, women, and children. Drinking was widely accepted and completely integrated into society; but drunkenness was not. However, most supporters of the movement were heavy drinkers themselves, according t...
What is the significance of 232 degrees Celsius?	It may be due to the practical limitations of precipitation-hardened aluminum alloys. That temperature (or 450 °F) is commonly used as a reference point above which the precipitates become unstable and can redissolve. That creates an intrinsically weaker microstrucure, reducing the alloy's hardness and tensile strength...	[ "Absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honour. While the existence of a lower limit to temperature (absolute zero) was known prior to his work, Lord Kelvin is known for determining its correct value as approximately −273.15 degree Celsius or −459.67 degree Fahrenheit.\n", "The zero of the Cel...
Why are there tight groupings of locations where meteorites were found?	Many meteorites are found in areas of Antarctica because the glaciers act like a conveyor belt: meteorites fall there at the same rate as elsewhere on earth, but the glaciers move them all into the same areas (typically up against a mountain range). The ice is then ablated away by wind, leaving the meteorites sitting o...	[ "Meteorites are usually named after the village nearest their place of discovery. Those found in the deserts of Northwest Africa have mostly been called NWA (for Northwest Africa) followed by a serial number.\n", "The different types of meteorites that originate from the asteroid belt cover almost all parts of th...
Potato Batteries	Fact: Zinc is very poisonous. Conjecture: I think the zinc ions end up in the potato electrolyte. EDIT: Zinc is an essential part of our diet, in very small quantities.	[ "According to legend, the creation of the potato chip is associated with Saratoga Springs. The legend holds that a diner visiting the restaurant Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs in 1853 was unsatisfied with the texture of the fried potatoes he had ordered and sent them back to the kitchen multiple times in pro...
why do a lot of professional gymnasts look underdeveloped/childlike?	Smaller frames (people) are more successful at performing physical feats that gymnasts practice. Larger people just don't make the cut because it gets extremely more difficult the taller and larger you get, to control your body in such extreme precise motions, balance, conditioning, etc.	[ "Top rhythmic gymnasts must have many qualities; balance, flexibility, coordination, and strength are some of the most important. They also must possess psychological attributes such as the ability to compete under intense pressure, in which one mistake can cost them the title, and the discipline and work ethic to ...
why are the wages for certain occupations so lopsided relative to the benefit a person in such an occupation provides society?	Workforce supply and demand, multiplied by the ability for the person to make money for the company. Those speculators have to make money based on knowledge to stay employed. If they are successful at this, they make a ton of money for the company, they in turn get paid pretty well. High end sports work the same w...	[ "Because workers are paid more than the equilibrium wage, there may be unemployment. Efficiency wages offer, therefore, a market failure explanation of unemployment, in contrast to theories that emphasize government intervention (such as minimum wages). However, efficiency wages do not necessarily imply unemploymen...
what method have we used to accurately measure the distance to far away objects, for example, the andromeda galaxy and how sure are we of our method's margin of error?	[A standard candle is a class of astrophysical objects, such as supernovae or variable stars, which have known luminosity due to some characteristic quality possessed by the entire class of objects. Thus, if an extremely distant object can be identified as a standard candle then the absolute magnitude M (luminosity) of...	[ "By combining a galaxy's central velocity dispersion with measurements of its central surface brightness and radius parameter, it is possible to improve the estimate of the galaxy's distance even more. This standard yardstick, or \"reduced galaxian radius-parameter\", formula_30, devised by Gudehus in 1991, can yie...
How was the mass of the neutrino discovered and confirmed?	There are three kinds of neutrinos (we call them 3 flavors). We now have clear evidence that there are neutrino oscillations -- that is, a neutrino of one flavor can turn into a neutrino of another flavor. This can only happen if there are different kinds of neutrinos with different masses. Therefore, based on the...	[ "The supernova 1987A indicated that neutrinos might have mass because of the difference in time of arrival of the neutrinos detected at Kamiokande and IMB. However, because very few neutrino events were detected, it was difficult to draw any conclusions with certainty. If Kamiokande and IMB had high-precision timer...
how does the pirate bay get away with all the copyright?	They don't, at all. The people behind TPB are currently serving sentences and got fined millions. The reason the site is still live is that someone else is hosting it and the founders claim they don't know who. As it just contains the information needed to connect to somebody else with the file you want, it's actually...	[ "The Pirate Bay allows users to search for Magnet links. These are used to reference resources available for download via peer-to-peer networks which, when opened in a BitTorrent client, begin downloading the desired content. (Originally, The Pirate Bay allowed users to download BitTorrent files (torrents), small f...
why is it a crime to attempt suicide? doesn't punishing a depressed person make them even more depressed?	Suicide is legal in almost all western countries. However, law enforcement is generally compelled to prevent a suicidal person from killing themselves by any means necessary.	[ "Suicide is often seen as a means to escape from solitary confinement, especially amongst those who deal with deeper mental illnesses like depression. Depression is one of the most common reasons why inmates often kill themselves. Solitary confinement has been said to increase symptoms of those with mental health i...
riot games had a walkout today because of the company's stance on "forced arbitration". what is forced arbitration?	In cases where it's an employer and workers, forced arbitration means that if the workers think the employer did something wrong, they have to let a paid decision maker say who's right and who's wrong. Then that's the end. They can't get a second opinion, they have to take it and keep working or go away for good. T...	[ "The Gamechangers is a British docudrama produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the story of the controversy caused by \"Grand Theft Auto\", a video game series by Rockstar Games, as various attempts were made to halt the production of the games. Directed by Owen Harris and written by James Wood, the film centr...
What is the history of egalitarian thought?	Your post reminded me of [an article I found](_URL_0_) recently about equality in hunter-gatherer societies. It addresses why some hunter-gatherer societies were more equal than others in similar circumstances. This doesn't necessarily concern the history of egalitarian thought but does offer a perspective on prehistor...	[ "Modern egalitarianism is a theory that rejects the classic definition of egalitarianism as a possible achievement economically, politically and socially. Modern egalitarianism theory, or new egalitarianism, outlines that if everyone had the same opportunity cost, then there would be no comparative advances and no ...
why is america so much more homicidal than most other industrialized nations? (like canada, the uk, germany, france, etc)	There are numerous factors, and it could be any one of the following, or some combination of them, or some other factor I forgot to mention (not these are not my personal opinions, these are proposed factors. I am just listing them, I am not saying I disagree or agree with them): Gun culture Racial, social, and mo...	[ "According to Peter Knight, throughout most of the 18th and 19th centuries, the United States rarely experienced antisemitic action comparable to the sort that was endemic in Europe during the same period.\n", "International reaction was largely unfavorable against the United States. The British and French, who h...
are mental health issues more prevalent in modern times or did people in the past just not get diagnosed?	There are arguments for both sides but we do have a lot more distractions and focuses than ever before in history. Anything you could possible want to know is at your fingertips, obviously excluding things which haven't been discovered yet.	[ "In America, half of people with severe symptoms of a mental health condition were found to have received no treatment in the prior 12 months. Fear of disclosure, rejection by friends, and ultimately discrimination are a few reasons why people with mental health conditions often don't seek help.\n", "\"\"Parity o...
Do we know of any historical Native American martial arts?	In the Puget Sound, wrestling is mentioned in Puyallup-Nisqually by Marian Smith along with a brief account of a contest between a White strongman from a circus, and a Puyallup in which their techniques are vaguely contrasted. Wrestlers weren't allowed to change holds during the match and only appeared to use one hold...	[ "Filipino martial arts (FMA) () refer to ancient Indianized and newer fighting methods devised in the Philippines. It incorporates elements from both Western and Eastern Martial Arts, the most popular forms of which are known as Arnis, Eskrima, and Kali. The intrinsic need for self-preservation was the genesis of t...
If I donate blood consistently, and always at the safest time since the last donation, will my body increase its ability to produce blood to adapt to the environment?	Blood cell production is called [Erythropoiesis](_URL_0_) and is triggered by O2 levels in the kidneys. When you give blood your body signals for more to be made. As soon as it has made enough to get your O2 levels back up, the process slows back down to maintenance levels. Giving blood has no impact on your ability t...	[ "Research published in 2012 demonstrated that repeated blood donation is effective in reducing blood pressure, blood glucose, HbA1c, low-density lipoprotein/high-density lipoprotein ratio, and heart rate in patients with metabolic syndrome.\n", "In patients prone to iron overload, blood donation prevents the accu...
massive earthquake coming in the nw	There's a history of large earthquakes in the region that can be explained by tectonic plate movements. It's been so long since the last one (1700 CE) that, as time goes by, it becomes more likely that it will happen again. The mechanism is called "subduction": one plate is sliding under another. In the [Cascadia Sub...	[ "The 1993 Scotts Mills earthquake, also known as the \"Spring break quake\", occurred in the U.S. state of Oregon on March 25 at 5:34 AM Pacific Standard Time. With a moment magnitude of 5.6 and a maximum perceived intensity of VII (\"Very strong\") on the Mercalli intensity scale, it was the largest earthquake in ...
Is it possible for the lens of a camera to capture a photo with more precision than perfect vision in a human eye?	Interesting article [here.](_URL_0_) The main point is that maximum human visual acuity in the eye is a rather small area in the center of vision (the size of a coin held at an arm's distance away), as we move further away towards the peripheral vision it gets progressively worse, but because of brain processing (mak...	[ "Its in-lens image stabilisation can be combined with in-camera-body image stabilisation in order to allow shots without a tripod, despite the very small field of view (between 12° and 3.1°). Even at maximum focal length it is possible to get sharp images taken free-hand with exposure times down to a tenth of a sec...
how does a human body never get short of sperms and cells needed for reproduction?	Well the human body does, in effect, get short on both as we get older. Rather the production slows down. Biologically, we are more likely to mate in younger years. So when we are younger, and of course we have came to mating age, our body ramps up production of hormones need to produce the "seeds" of life (sperm/eggs)...	[ "Sperm cells are carried out of the male body in a fluid known as semen. Human sperm cells can survive within the female reproductive tract for more than 5 days post coitus. Semen is produced in the seminal vesicles, prostate gland and urethral glands.\n", "Sperm undergoes a process of natural selection when mill...
what makes pepsi max bad, if it contains no fats, sugars or salts?	Even without sugar, Pepsi Max contains fairly significant amounts of phosphoric acid. While there's far too little of it for it to be actively poisonous, drinking any acidic liquid erodes the teeth over time. In this manner, Pepsi Max is better than normal Pepsi (which combines the acid with sugar, itself bad for denta...	[ "Pepsi Zero Sugar competes in the energy drink market, as is implied by it being marketed as an 'Invigorating Cola.' Compared with other common energy drinks, Pepsi Zero Sugar gives the consumer a relatively low dose of caffeine. Pepsi Zero Sugar provides 5.75 mg caffeine per 30ml, while Red Bull provides 9.64 mg/3...
Could photons be unstable?	Based on the experimental limit on the mass of the photon (about 10^-45 grams) and the fact that the cosmic microwave background spectrum looks thermal, if photons are unstable and can decay into the lightest neutrino, they must have a lifetime of longer than three years in their reference frame, extended to longer...	[ "Much research has been devoted to applications of photons in the field of quantum optics. Photons seem well-suited to be elements of an extremely fast quantum computer, and the quantum entanglement of photons is a focus of research. Nonlinear optical processes are another active research area, with topics such as ...
why are all of uber and lyft's commercials aimed at getting people to work for them instead of use their ride sharing apps?	From what I've heard they've had a hard time keeping drivers. No insurance or benefits and the pay isn't that great. So they advertise to get new drivers because the ones they have don't do it for that long or consistently. Basically they have more people requesting rides or wanting to request a ride than there are dri...	[ "BULLET::::- Regulations that cover traditional taxi companies but not transportation network companies can put taxis at a competitive disadvantage. Uber has faced criticism from taxi drivers worldwide due to the increased competition. Uber has also been banned from several jurisdictions due to failure to comply wi...
hologram concerts. what's that about?	A holographic projection is done to to create the illusion of a person being there when they are not (for example when they are dead) _URL_0_	[ "In Korea, a huge hologram performance was held in 2014, involving Psy, Big Bang and 2NE1, which was possible because \"Klive,\" a hologram concert hall funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Information and Communication and KT, was created. Their performance at the 1,653-square-meter hologram concert hall was...
Can someone explain why some atoms form metallic bonds?	That's kind of a difficult question to answer. Not because we don't know, but because we _do_ know quite a lot. So you can give a lot of answers at different 'depths', and also explain it in very different terms using different models. Because this is on the boundary between solid-state physics and inorganic chemistry,...	[ "The forces between the atoms in a solid can take a variety of forms. For example, a crystal of sodium chloride (common salt) is made up of ionic sodium and chlorine, which are held together by ionic bonds. In diamond or silicon, the atoms share electrons and form covalent bonds. In metals, electrons are shared in ...
radioactive fallout	In addition to releasing enormous amounts of energy, a nuclear blast will spread radioactive elements from the bomb throughout the nearby area, and cause some local materials to become radioactive. Some of these radioactive elements will have very short half lives and disappear quickly. Some will have very long half ...	[ "This radioactive dust, usually consisting of fission products mixed with bystanding atoms that are neutron activated by exposure, is a highly dangerous kind of radioactive contamination. The main radiation hazard from fallout is due to short-lived radionuclides external to the body. While most of the particles car...
could a mother and baby ever survive an ectopic pregnancy?	Yes, it's possible. It's not common, but there have been cases. I think it depends largely on where the embryo attaches. Most ectopic pregnancies are in the fallopian tubes, which don't stretch and basically can't support a pregnancy. As the baby starts growing, you start bleeding and if it's not treated, it can be fat...	[ "When ectopic pregnancies are treated, the prognosis for the mother is very good in Western countries; maternal death is rare, but most fetuses die or are aborted. For instance, in the UK, between 2003 and 2005 there were 32,100 ectopic pregnancies resulting in 10 maternal deaths (meaning that 1 in 3,210 women with...
Do people who are constipated absorb more nutrition from the food they eat because it spends more time in their digestive tract?	Almost all of the nutrients in food have already been absorbed before it reaches the lower intestines/colon, etc. So no.	[ "The absorption also largely depends on gastric pH. People have varying gastric pHs on empty stomachs, and thus absorption from one person to another can vary wildly when taken without food. Generally, the absorption in the GI tract is poor due to albendazole's low solubility in water. It is, however, better absorb...
Is there evidence that mankind has already polluted the deepest parts of the ocean?	Polluted in what way? Oceanic acidification has the potential to significantly change the chemical make-up of our oceans. And because our oceans act as a buffer for atmospheric CO2 levels, it will not only be our oceans that are affected. It's a problem and is most definitely being facilitated by humankind.	[ "BULLET::::- 15 November – A study led by Newcastle University finds that sea life in some of the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean – as far down as 11 km (7 miles) – is contaminated with plastic pollution.\n", "A recent survey of global ocean health concluded that all parts of the ocean have been impacted by hu...
anxious arousal	That is a psychological use of the term "arousal", not a sexual use of the term. In discussing mood, arousal is general physical and psychological activity, as contrasted with a depressed mood. Take the example of a person with fear of public speaking. This person can go from a calm state to a highly aroused one whe...	[ "The excitement phase (also known as the arousal phase or initial excitement phase) is the first stage of the human sexual response cycle, which occurs as a result of physical or mental erotic stimuli, such as kissing, making out, or viewing erotic images, that leads to sexual arousal. During this stage, the body p...
why do i see weird, brown, kaledescope-like shapes when i close my eyes and push on my eyelids? does everyone else see the same thing when they do this? also, does this cause any damage to one's vision?	The thing you're seeing is a phenomenon called 'Phosphene' - which is when you see light without light actually entering your eye. When you put pressure on your eyes, it stimulates the retina which causes the weird colour patches you see. So yeah - everyone sees them, and no, they're not damaging. _URL_0_	[ "Eyelid fluttering artifacts of a characteristic type were previously called Kappa rhythm (or Kappa waves). It is usually seen in the prefrontal leads, that is, just over the eyes. Sometimes they are seen with mental activity. They are usually in the Theta (4–7 Hz) or Alpha (7–14 Hz) range. They were named because ...
how does taste work? why does a person a like spinach, but person b does not?	There could be a million reasons why someone doesn't like a food; maybe they ate it while feeling sick one time, and learned to associate the sickness with the taste. Perhaps they were made to eat something all the time as a kid so they're just totally opposed to eating it as an adult. The reasons could be either menta...	[ "Conditioned taste aversion occurs when an animal associates the taste of a certain food with symptoms caused by a toxic, spoiled, or poisonous substance. Generally, taste aversion is developed after ingestion of food that causes nausea, sickness, or vomiting. The ability to develop a taste aversion is considered a...
nelson tv ratings - how do they work?	Nielsen originally started as a radio ratings company. When they started doing television ratings, they had people keep journals of what they watched. They would record what they watched, when, and who watched it (what members of the household). The journals had a TV guide like format. Many smaller cities still use the...	[ "In the following summary, \"Rating\" is the estimated percentage of all televisions tuned to the show, and \"Share\" is the percentage of all televisions \"in use\" that are tuned in, \"viewers\" is the estimated number of actual people watching, in millions, while \"ranking\" is the approximate ranking of the sho...
When the Soviet Union dissolved, did Russia try to claim more of the area near the Black Sea?	Russia never made any official attempt to claim back any land from any of the Soviet Republics as or after they became independent, even in areas dominated by Russophones, such as Narva in Estonia, Transdniestr in Moldova, or Donetsk in the Ukraine. What they did do was encourage the creation of super-autonomous areas...	[ "With the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Soviet Russia had given up Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, enabling those territories to develop independently from Russian influence. Germany's intention was to turn these territories into political and territorial satellites, but this plan collapsed with...
what is the piece of equipment that's always suspended from the crane at an inactive construction site (ie, during nighttime)? why does it have to be suspended?	Thinking this might be a portable generator or welding unit. Usually moved from a tow hitch, would be pretty easy to drive up pop the lock and drive off with it.	[ "This is most common type of overhead crane, found in many factories. These cranes are electrically operated by a control pendant, radio/IR remote pendant, or from an operator cabin attached to the crane.\n", "The building also contains a manually operated overhead crane. Transverse movement of the crane is achie...
Freezing Water in a Cup	Water is a much better conductor. Much like how you can get hypothermia in warm water fairly quickly while in the same temperature of air you would fair much better. The water you added was above freezing. This conducted warmer temperatures into the existing ice faster then the air could conduct colder temperatures in...	[ "Chipped ice in water is the standard for the freezing point of water, 0 °C (32 °F). Ice made from water can be 0 °C, or a much lower temperature. The agitation of the machines is partially to keep the water from freezing solid. Some of the drinks have additives to make the freezing temperature of the mix lower, so...
the seemingly high inflated price of aud versus other currencies for goods and services.	I think many of you are not understanding his question. A good example of this is on Steam, a digital copy of a video game might cost 40 USD in American, but 80 AUD in Australia, which translates to ~60 USD. Another recent example for me was purchasing an Oculus Rift (Virtual Reality Headset), it cost 600 USD for Am...	[ "The G10 currencies are ten of the most heavily traded currencies in the world, which are also ten of the world's most liquid currencies. Traders regularly buy and sell them in an open market with minimal impact on their own international exchange rates.\n", "According to data from EvaluatePharma and published in...
what do the focal length numbers mean for camera lenses?	You've used a zoom lens before, yes? If you have, you would notice that the lens moves as you adjust the focal length; as shown in [this diagram](_URL_0_), the distance from the lens to the camera's sensor determines the focal length.	[ "As with other types of camera lenses, the focal length is usually expressed in a millimeter value written on the lens, for example: a 500 mm lens. The most common type of long-focus lens is the telephoto lens, which incorporate a special lens group known as a \"telephoto group\" to make the physical length of the ...
why under certain lights do my hands and feet look like they're moving in "slow motion"?	Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why does really fast flashing lights make you see slow motion ](_URL_0_) ^(_17 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Why do strobe lights make the world seem like it's in slow motion? ](_URL_1_) ^(_4 comments_) 1. [When strobe lights flash, why does everything appe...	[ "When a scene includes both stationary and moving subjects (for example, a fixed street and moving cars or a camera within a car showing a fixed dashboard and moving scenery), a slow shutter speed can cause interesting effects, such as light trails.\n", "In some cases, it is possible to see flicker at rates beyon...
if i pirate something i've legitimately bought, and still have (somewhere), am i breaking the law? why or why not?	There are lots of people giving opinions on this here. You must absolutely make a distinction between opinions and the law. Your not disapproving of an action does not actually make it legal. There are plenty of things that some - most - people do not necessarily think are immoral, that some - most - people don't belie...	[ "The US had originally planned to charge the terrorists with piracy under its Criminal Code of 1909 \"whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.\" But this would have been proble...
As Carbon Dioxide is odorless and tasteless, why then does mineral water taste bitter?	When carbon dioxide is dissolved in water, it forms [carbonic acid](_URL_0_). The more carbon dioxide dissolved, the more carbonic acid forms (via what's called an equilibrium relationship). Our taste buds interpret acids as a sour flavor. That said, real mineral water (from a true spring) can have a variety of other ...	[ "By itself, carbonated water appears to have little impact on health. While carbonated water is somewhat acidic, this acidity can be partially neutralized by saliva. A study found that sparkling mineral water is slightly more erosive to teeth than non-carbonated water but is about 100 times less erosive to teeth th...
pros and cons of a single member llc.	Lawyer here! The Limited Liability Company (LLC) has been the go-to entity for small businesses for the last couple of decades, and for good reason. It provides a lot of the same benefits as a corporation, while remaining very flexible and easy to manage. What is an LLC? An LLC is a legal entity just like a corpo...	[ "A limited liability company (LLC) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a corporation. An LLC is not a corporation under state law; it is a legal form of a com...
Are sesamoid bones present at birth?	Sesamoids develop independently within the tendons in areas of mechanical stress, meaning they are not fragments of other bones. They develop from cartilaginous nodules. I believe they ossify completely during childhood and thus are not present at birth as bone. References: [One](_URL_1_) and [two](_URL_0_).	[ "The sphenoid bone is an unpaired bone of the neurocranium. It is situated in the middle of the skull towards the front, in front of the temporal bone and the basilar part of the occipital bone. The sphenoid bone is one of the seven bones that articulate to form the orbit. Its shape somewhat resembles that of a but...
what are the scientific reasons why consanguineous marriage causes disabilities, malformations and congenital anomalies in the offspring?	They don't, always. The degree to which it happens is typically overstated. However, inbreeding tends to result in homozygosity. Basically, more people sharing the same copies of genes. Since you get them from your parents, and your SO is closely related and also got them from their parents, your kid has a greater chan...	[ "Clues to the first two questions come from studies that have shown that at least 30% of individuals with autism have spontaneous \"de novo\" mutations that occurred in the father's sperm or mother's egg and disrupt genes important for brain development, these spontaneous mutations likely cause autism in families w...
Spain's Franco negotiated to join the Axis Powers on condition to take some British and French colonies and territory. Why didn't Hitler agree?	Hitler wanted Franco to participate more, but Franco managed to decline in a polite fashion. When Hitler was winning, Franco started to make promises of military support and even contributed the "Blue" Division to fight on the Soviet front. However, when the proverbial writing on the wall of Hitler's loss was eviden...	[ "Raeder's insistence that Germany either needed bases in or needed to annex the Canary Islands cost Germany the chance of bringing Spain into the war. In June 1940, the Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco decided to take advantage of the defeat of France and the widely expected defeat of Britain by entering t...
bayesian method of logic?	Bayesian statistics basically says that you can't just look at outcomes in isolation, you have to look at so-called "prior probability" - how likely something is to happen at all. XKCD has a [silly example](_URL_0_). I'll modify the XKCD example slightly to make the numbers a little nicer - let's say it has a 1-in-100 ...	[ "The Bayesian approach is superior to use in decision making when there is a high level of uncertainty or limited information in which to base decisions on and where expert opinion or historical knowledge is available. Bayes is also useful when explaining the findings in a probability sense to people who are less f...
how do they make the machines in factories? is there a factory for factory machines?	Yes, machines are made in factories that use metalworking machines, often called [machine tools.](_URL_0_) Sample tools they use (which you can google) include: - Metal lathe - Plasma cutter - Press brake - Punch press - Five-axis (or six-axis) milling machine Check out the YouTube videos from How It's Made to see ...	[ "The machine tools often make interchangeable parts, which are assembled into subassemblies or finished assemblies, ending up sold to consumers, either directly or through other businesses at intermediate links of a value-adding chain. Alternatively, the machine tools may help make molds or dies, which then make th...
What would the atmospheric composition have to be to scatter red light instead of blue? Green Light? Purple?	We actually have two examples - Mars and Earth - with different colored skies. The difference comes down to Rayleigh scattering vs. Mie scattering. There are two variables to keep in mind with scattering that can be wavelength dependent - the cross section and the scattered angles of the light. Rayleigh scattering is...	[ "In 1859, while attempting to determine whether any contaminants remained in the purified air he used for infrared experiments, John Tyndall discovered that bright light scattering off nanoscopic particulates was faintly blue-tinted. He conjectured that a similar scattering of sunlight gave the sky its blue hue, bu...
rally racing co-driver corner call outs and how to understand them	There was a segment in the first episode of season 19 of Top Gear last week where James May had this explained to him. It's actually not that hard.	[ "A co-driver is the navigator of a rally car in the sport of rallying, who sits in the front passenger seat. The co-driver's job is to navigate, commonly by reading off a set of pacenotes to the driver, but other competitions require map interpretation. In stage rallying communication is often over a radio headset,...
why are credit ratings agencies private for-profit institutions?	credit ratings aren't related to the government. it's a for-profit institution that benefits other for-profit institutions (lending banks). credit bureaus don't work for you the individual, they sell your rating to the banks.	[ "Credit rating agencies also play an important role in the laws and regulations of the United States and several other countries, such as those of the European Union. In the United States their credit ratings are used in regulation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as Nationally Recognized Statistical ...
How did the Soviet Union recruit spies within the Western Bloc?	The acronym 'MICE' is often used as a summary of four factors which can drive someone to commit espionage: * Money: pay for information. There are plenty of spies who simply recognised that the Soviet Union would pay for what they knew: [Robert Hanssen](_URL_3_) or [Aldrich Ames](_URL_2_), for example. * Ideol...	[ "The KGB classified its spies as \"agents\" (intelligence providers) and \"controllers\" (intelligence relayers). The false-identity or \"legend\" assumed by a USSR-born illegal spy was elaborate, using the life of either a \"live double\" (participant to the fabrications) or a \"dead double\" (whose identity is ta...
who decided that women must keep their breasts covered at all times in public, when men can walk around shirtless?	Actually, at one point in time, men couldn't go topless. Remember those one piece bathing suits men wore in old television any thing? That's what they were for. Eventually someone got fed up with it and there was a whole (ever insignificant) movement that remedied the issue. Now someone just needs to do it for women.	[ "In her 2009 book \"Law's Dream of a Common Knowledge\", Mariana Valverde criticized this ruling by arguing that it ensured that \"the women who have the best 'lawful excuse,' as law puts it, to go around topless are expressly forbidden from doing so.\" Elaborating on this, Valverde states that a \"new line has bee...
why does satellite radio work with small antennas that don't have to be pointed at anything, but satellite tv and other satellite communications require a large dish that needs direct line of sight to a satellite?	Consider the amount of information that is transferred in either case. Video signal requires orders of magnitude more bandwidth than mere audio, and then you still need to send the audio. Therefore, you have to use a larger, directional, high-gain antenna in order to improve signal fidelity enough to get good bandwidth...	[ "Due to the relatively high gain of the antennas contained within handsets, it is necessary to roughly aim the antenna at the satellite. As the handsets contain a GPS receiver it is possible to program the ground position of the satellites as waypoints to assist with aiming. \n", "Satellite antenna farms are usua...
Why is Texas pride so strong?	There's always more than can be said, but I answered a [previous](_URL_0_) question related to differences between Northern and Southern states with regards to history education that speaks to some of what you're asking. I use Texas and New York State as examples. > From the post: > Northern states - through a co...	[ "Texas pride the sense of demographic pride felt by people who currently or formerly lived in the state of Texas. Texas is a state with a unique cultural history and complex story of development. This individuality has shaped a state-wide construct of indomitable demographic pride. \n", "Portrayals of Texas pride...
why do baking recipes always call for the oven to be set in 25°f increments?	When ovens were first invented, there were only a few temperatures that anyone used; Slow, moderate, and hot. As technology got better, more marks were added to the dial, but numbered temperatures weren't measured or used. Eventually someone measured the temperatures that were actually being produced by the oven at the...	[ "Common oven temperatures (such as terms: cool oven, very slow oven, slow oven, moderate oven, hot oven, fast oven, etc.) are set to control the effects of baking in an oven, for various lengths of time.\n", "High humidity in the oven, represented by an elevated wet-bulb temperature, increases the thermal conduct...
what biological function does grief serve? it doesn't seem necessary for survival yet is a firm part of the human (and animal) condition.	Let's say grief wasn't a thing. You're some proto-human and your mate dies. Oh well, time to find a new mate. You've removed a very strong motivator to keep your mate safe and cared for. As a result you've negatively impacted your ability to produce additional offspring. Same can be applied for close social connectio...	[ "Grief is “a multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed”. A common emotion amongst humans, grief is also apparent in other animals, known as animal grief. In the late 19th century, research started to show grief in chimpanze...
What makes a heart attack more or less severe?	First, to clarify some terms. Chest pain by itself does not necessarily signify a heart attack. We refer to chest pain related to the heart as 'angina', which further subdivides into 'stable angina' and 'unstable angina'. The former is caused by gradual, progressive narrowing of the coronary arteries that supply the...	[ "There is a weak relationship between severity of pain and degree of oxygen deprivation in the heart muscle (i.e., there can be severe pain with little or no risk of a myocardial infarction (heart attack) and a heart attack can occur without pain). In some cases, angina can be quite severe, and in the early 20th ce...
why does body temperature rise after a meal?	It is because your metabolic rate is increasing to digest the food. Think of it like an engine. When it's on, it is warm however when you give it gas (food) it revs up and the engine heats up. Same thing happens with the body.	[ "After a meal, when the blood concentration of fatty acids rises, there is an increase in uptake of fatty acids in different cells of the body, mainly liver cells, adipocytes and muscle cells. This uptake is stimulated by insulin from the pancreas. As a result, the blood concentration of fatty acid stabilizes again...
If the gas giants are so much colder than Earth, why are primarily composed of gasses, and not liquids or solids?	> If the gas giants are so much colder than Earth, why are primarily composed of gasses, and not liquids or solids? They are in some sense, but not because of the cold. Like the other planets, the gas giants become hotter the deeper you go. The reason why liquid substances still occur in them is, that pressure incr...	[ "Gas giants also have cores, though the composition of these are still a matter of debate and range in possible composition from traditional stony/iron, to ice or to fluid metallic hydrogen. Gas giant cores are proportionally much smaller than those of terrestrial planets, though theirs can be considerably larger t...
What was the process of homosexuality moving from categorization as a mental illness to its normalization?	There’s definitely more to be said, especially on the social history of why LGBT advocates came to protest the DSM, but I (somewhat briefly) discuss the removal of homosexuality from the DSM in context of an answer on the rise to prominence of the DSM and backlashes against it [here](_URL_0_).	[ "The gay rights movement continued to challenge the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness and in 1974, in a climate of controversy and activism, the American Psychiatric Association membership (following a unanimous vote by the trustees in 1973) voted by a small majority (58%) to remove it as an illne...
what is modernism and other movements?	I can answer most of the -isms that deal with architecture: Modernism with a capital 'M' is the idea that "less is more". This movement was a response to the first world war to answer the calamity that society suffered in Europe. This movement would travel to America and be dubbed "International Style" to the chag...	[ "The term Modernism describes the modernist movement in the arts, its set of cultural tendencies and associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular the development of modern industrial societies a...
Could this be Atlantis?	u/Iphikrates just posted an answer to a [similar question](_URL_0_)	[ "Atlantis is a fictional location appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is based on the mythical island of Atlantis first mentioned in Plato's initial dialogue the \"Timaeus\", written c. 360 BC. In the Marvel Universe, Atlantis was a small continent (about the same size as modern Austral...
How many non-German (Austrian) officers were in Habsburg (Imperial Austrian/Austro-Hungarian) armies and how hard would be for example to Croat, Czech, Pole etc... to advance and acquire high rank?	The Austro-Hungarian Army, the K.u.K (national combined army, not the second line national reserves) was technically ethnically blind in the officer corp. An officers service file contained no data on the soldier's ethic nationality. So on this, there would have been no barrier to advancement for any ethnicity. In f...	[ "Antonio von Caraffa (1646 – 6 March 1693) was a General Commissary (Generalkriegskommissär) of the Imperial-Habsburg Army—the highest rank in the Austrian military hierarchy at the time. He also held various other high-ranking offices, including military governor of Upper Hungary and later royal commissioner of Tr...
Historians, what's the most bizarre aspect of the period and/or culture in which you specialize?	The most bizarre aspect of the culture that I study is that very few people actually knew what happened in the past, and refuse to learn for fear of coming to the conclusion that they are wrong about many things. When I announced to my family that I was doing a degree in Irish History and Politics many looked at me as ...	[ "The cultural critic Mark Dery traces the origins of culture jamming to medieval carnival, which Mikhail Bakhtin interpreted, in \"Rabelais and his World,\" as an officially sanctioned subversion of the social hierarchy. Modern precursors might include: the media-savvy agit-prop of the anti-Nazi photomonteur John H...
What was the casualty rate of the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII in Europe?	I'm not sure about the entire Army Air Corps, but the Eighth Air Force definitely was hit the hardest. > These missions, however, carried a high price. Half of the U.S. Army Air Force's casualties in World War II were suffered by Eighth Air Force (more than 47,000 casualties, with more than 26,000 dead). _URL_0_	[ "BULLET::::- During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces have lost more than 6,500 B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers over Europe. In the European Theater, they have lost 23,805 airmen killed in action, 9,299 wounded, and 26,064 captured. In the European, Mediterranean, and North African theaters com...
when a big corp buys a company, does the company get a lump sum? and does the big corp get financing through a bank?	It varies based on the terms of the deal. 1. you can buy a company by swapping stock, and absolutely no cash would exchange hands. 2. you can buy a company with cash, and it could be paid out over time, all at once etc. These things are negotiable, especially if it's a private company (if it's public, it can also ...	[ "Becoming a bank holding company makes it easier for the firm to raise capital than as a traditional bank. The holding company can assume debt of shareholders on a tax free basis, borrow money, acquire other banks and non-bank entities more easily, and issue stock with greater regulatory ease. It also has a greater...
how related is high school algebra to knowing how to code and do web development?	For coding, you need a very logical mind. For high school algebra, you also need a very logical mind. For that reason, if you're good at one, there's a high chance you'll be good at the other, and vice versa. However, you won't actually need algebra skills to be able to code in most business environments (although th...	[ "Students involved in the computer science program learn how to write html, videogames, and general computer programming. This is a branch off the Math program and took the place of the Business program in 2009. \n", "BULLET::::- Gamoran, A., and Hannigan, E. (2000). Algebra for everyone? Benefits of college prep...
how are services like uber or lyft cheaper than a typical taxi service and more profitable for the driver?	Lack of regulation. Taxi driver have to be licensed by the local municipalities, who set caps and charge a whole lot (a NYC taxi medallion can auction for over $1 million). Uber and Lyft drivers are technically limos, which aren't nearly as restricted. And since there is no validation and Uber and Lyft are just matc...	[ "The company is trying to grow in a sound way by forging relationships with local businesses, hiring both traditional taxis and regular consumers as Cabify drivers, and placing heavy emphasis on repeat customers, for example by steering its cars in peak hours towards habitual users rather than those that offer the ...
how does self-confidence work?	Knowing when you've done enough. There is a reason why they say you can deceive everyone else but not yourself. If you did enough you'll know. If you didn't, your reptile part of your brain will let you know. That fucker is never wrong. You can bet on it. Just think of it as 250 million years old sage who has seen it a...	[ "The concept of self-confidence is commonly used as self-assurance in one's personal judgment, ability, power, etc. One's self confidence increases from experiences of having mastered particular activities. It is a positive belief that in the future one can generally accomplish what one wishes to do. Self-confidenc...
Before arriving in Scotland, where did the picts come from?	The short answer is simply; we don't know. Also, apologies for the following formatting, because I'm on mobile. The Picts only really first show up towards late antiquity, when a confederation of Picts was formed, possibly in response to the Roman Empire on their southern borders. The first use of "Pict" as a name for...	[ "Although an earlier, prehistoric Gaelic presence in Scotland has long been noted by scholars, two early Kings of the Picts suggested to be from the Dál Riata, and who may have been instrumental in the (further) Gaelicisation of Pictland, were Bridei IV of the Picts and his brother Nechtan mac Der-Ilei.\n", "Ther...
why hasn't aviation moved beyond jet technology yet?	There was a recent question about why aircraft haven't got any faster over the last few decades, and I explained in that thread that the sound barrier is a huge problem, which simply isn't worth trying to break, from a financial point of view - passengers are not interested in paying enough extra to cover the cost of b...	[ "The development of the jet engine represented a quantum leap in aviation, and revolutionised commercial aviation. Although first developed for fighter aircraft, this engineering triumph changed the world and led to the development of the jet airliner - especially the one which would set the pace for long distance ...
What is the cosmic background radiation in lay-mans terms?	When the universe was young, about 300,000 years old or so, it was very very hot. There were free particles and there were photons and everything was bouncing around and at the same temperature. Then, as the universe continued to expand, the particles of matter started to thin out. As they did so, the photons (light...	[ "The cosmic microwave background radiation is an emission of uniform, black body thermal energy coming from all parts of the sky. The radiation is isotropic to roughly one part in 100,000: the root mean square variations are only 18 µK, after subtracting out a dipole anisotropy from the Doppler shift of the backgro...
if eye contact is considered a challenge in the animal kingdom, why do we have to make eye contact with each other to be polite?	Eye contact is not universally a challenge in the animal kingdom, and for that matter it's not universally polite in human societies. We often use it as an important form of nonverbal communication, along with other gestures that are sometimes quite different in animals. For instance, smiling is often a threatening ges...	[ "But different cultures have different rules for eye contact. Certain Asian cultures can perceive direct eye contact as a way to signal competitiveness, which in many situations may prove to be inappropriate. Others lower their eyes to signal respect, and similarly eye contact is avoided in Nigeria; however, in wes...
were famine and water scarcity always such huge problems in africa? how has it come to such conditions?	Not always. In some places, colonists brought non-native plants and agricultural methods that were not sustainable to the area, and cut down large areas of jungle and forest. This damaged the ecosystem and made it hard to grow sustainable crops. Wangari Maathai’s memoir “Unbowed” talks more about this.	[ "Since the start of the 21st century, more effective early warning and humanitarian response actions have reduced the number of deaths by famine markedly. That said, many African countries are not self-sufficient in food production, relying on income from cash crops to import food. Agriculture in Africa is suscepti...
how do tl;dr bots work?	There are [a bunch of ways this can work](_URL_0_), but I'm going to explain one of the simpler ones. You know how Google originally got their great search results? They had a clever algorithm called PageRank that looked at which web pages link to each other. Web sites that got linked to a lot by sites that had high P...	[ "In order to find other infected machines, the bot discreetly probes random IP addresses until it contacts another infected machine. The contacted bot replies with information such as its software version and list of known bots. If one of the bots' version is lower than the other, they will initiate a file transfer...
the invasion of afghanistan and iraq	Soviet comrades invade Afghanistan. We invade to fight Soviets. Afghans are like wtf.jpeg Taliban fights Soviets too; funded by us. Taliban decide they don't like us there either. We overstay our welcome. Then Bush did 9/11. (Obviously) We invade Iraq because wmd's. Surprise surprise no wmd's. Mfw Vietnam flashbacks...	[ "The invasion of Afghanistan is seen to have been the first action of this war, and initially involved forces from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Afghan Northern Alliance. Since the initial invasion period, these forces were augmented by troops and aircraft from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, I...
how do "sanctuary cities" benefit from hosting illegal immigrants?	In a lot of cases, "not being a sanctuary city" means any interaction between police and potential immigrants has to involve a citizenship check. This is to happen whether the interaction is with a perpetrator or a victim. As-is, even in sanctuary cities, if a person is arrested or a crime their citizenship is checked...	[ "There has been controversy around sanctuary cities, one response from the state and local governments. Many American cities have designated themselves as sanctuary cities and many other state and municipal governments discourage the reporting of illegal immigrants to U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement. A san...
why do boys and girls sound different?	Physiologically, boys and girls have different types of throats. Testosterone will cause the angle of your thyroid cartilage to become sharper, the cartilage thickens and enlargens and the vocal cords thicken as well. This gives boys a deeper and a 'darker' timbre (flavour) of their voice. In contrast, girls have a sha...	[ "Girls are more likely to wait their turn to speak, agree with others, and acknowledge the contributions of others. Boys, on the other hand, build larger group relationships based on shared interests and activities. Boys are more likely to threaten, boast, and call names, suggesting the importance of dominance and ...
Why did Israel, India, Pakistan and S. Sudan never sign 'The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons'?	South Sudan came into existence as a country in 2011 and has had internal conflicts and civil war since then. Aside from being outside of our guidelines here, I don't think we can say very clearly whether they will or won't sign it at some point. They have a lot of other things on their docket before this. There is no ...	[ "Four states—India, Israel, Pakistan, and South Sudan—have never signed the treaty. India and Pakistan have publicly disclosed their nuclear weapon programs, and Israel has a long-standing policy of deliberate ambiguity with regards to its nuclear program (see List of states with nuclear weapons).\n", "However, I...
Why didn't Greece become a satellite state of the Soviet Union after World War II?	The short version is that Greece did not become of the Soviet bloc because Stalin kept his agreements with the Western Allies. According to legend spread by Churchill, at the Moscow conference in 1944, he and Stalin divided up Europe by percentage. According to him, Stalin and he did that on a paper napkin. Churchill ...	[ "Other states were converted into Soviet Satellite states, such as East Germany, the People's Republic of Poland, the People's Republic of Hungary, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the People's Republic of Romania and the People's Republic of Albania, which aligned itself in the 1960s away from the Soviet Union...
What were the political structures used by medieval Muslim states? Was any of them similar to European feudalism?	I think it would be useful to briefly chart the development of Dar-al-Islam, or the Islamic states, as you say. Two things to keep in mind: 1) The Roman Empire and Sassanid Empire possessed highly developed political structures with centuries if not millennia of political theory, philosophy, and culture upholding t...	[ "Proto-states proliferated in Western Europe during the Middle Ages, likely as a result of a trend towards political decentralisation following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the adoption of feudalism. While theoretically owing allegiance to a single monarch under the feudal system, many lesser nobles...
could two planets orbit a star on the same plane, yet lay opposite of one another? would they stay at the same distance or eventually catch up and collide?	It's a possible orbit (it would more or less be the [L3 point](_URL_0_)), but it's not stable against perturbations. So eventually one would catch up to the other, and they'd probably fling each other into different orbits. It's called "Anti-Earth" or "Counter-Earth" in fiction, mythology, and pseudoscience, so you mi...	[ "Just as planets can be gravitationally bound to stars, pairs of stars can orbit each other. Some binary stars are visual binaries, meaning they can be observed orbiting each other through a telescope. Some binary stars, however, are too close together to be resolved. These two stars, when viewed through a spectrom...
why roman soldiers wore open toed footwear?	Roman Caligae weren't really "open toed," the toes were covered more or less. They'd also add socks for colder climates. Open shoes keep the feet dry (boots hold moisture) during long marches so they don't get trench foot.	[ "The Romans, who eventually conquered the Greeks and adopted many aspects of their culture, did not adopt the Greek perception of footwear and clothing. Roman clothing was seen as a sign of power, and footwear was seen as a necessity of living in a civilized world, although the slaves and paupers usually went baref...
how serious is our national debt (u.s.)? are other countries so far in the hole? is it even possible to get out of debt? who do we owe and why haven't they broken our kneecaps?!	> How serious is our national debt (U.S.)? Bad, but not terrible. It's higher than most people would like, but not so high that we're going to have serious problems because of it. > Is it even possible to get out of debt? Yes, but not desirable. Bill Clinton ran a study on what would happen if we paid off the d...	[ "The total national debt of the United States in the United States was $18.527 trillion (106% of the GDP) in 2014. The United States has the largest external debt in the world and the 14th largest government debt as a % of GDP in the world.\n", "Some observers such as Professor Steve Keen of University of Western...
why do colors disappear when you zoom in with a microscope?	In order to see something with a light microscope, you need to have a very, very thin cross-section. It has to be thin enough for light to be able to pass through it (for the most part). Otherwise, the image under the microscope would appear opaque or black. But a small cross section means that there's not really tha...	[ "When an isotropic crystal is viewed, it appears dark because it does not change the polarization of the light. However, when it is immersed in a calibrated liquid with a lower index of refraction and the microscope is thrown out of focus, a bright line called a \"Becke line\" appears around the perimeter of the cr...
what is the easiest way to accrue credit with a credit card?	The successful way to build credit using a card is to use it for everything. I use my awards earning cards that have no annual fee to purchase everything. I utilize it to pay bills that do not charge a surcharge for using a CC, groceries, gas, clothing, etc. At the end of the month when the CC bill is due I remit th...	[ "Some consumers prefer \"credit\" transactions because of the lack of a fee charged to the consumer/purchaser. A few debit cards in the U.S. offer rewards for using \"credit\". However, since \"credit\" transactions cost more for merchants, many terminals at PIN-accepting merchant locations now make the \"credit\" ...
united states primary canidates	not a US citizen and have some very big political biases so don't know how valuable my word will be but whatever. I'll give you what I know about 2 big Democrat candidates that reddit don't shut up about. Hilary Clinton you've hopefully heard of. She's a woman if you didn't notice, so she tries to play the feminist a...	[ "The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States. The group was founded in 2002 and claims to have over 500 members, although independent sources report that group has between 60 and 200 members and one...
When did the conventional view in western culture of Germans as cold/severe/harsh people arise?	It did not arise until after Germany was united and seen as a power in Europe. [This comment](_URL_0_) by u/white_light-king in a thread comparing the rise of Germany to that of modern China discusses how Germans were portrayed prior to 1870. Excerpt below: > In the 1850s-1870s the German states began to industriali...	[ "With the start of the Cold War a curse on the Anti-Westernization was proclaimed, mirroring the American Second Red Scare to some extent. For instance, in the 1950 edition of \"The Ordeal of Sevastopol\", censors made over three hundred cuts, screening the book's references to Frenchmen as \"a people of very livel...
why are there random super cold spots when you are swimming in a lake or river?	Sometimes there are convection currents that keep water in one spot and bring water up from the bottom. Because the sun can only heat the top, those areas tend to be colder. If you feel the current in these cold spots, there is usually a flow of water going up from the floor	[ "Winter swimming can be dangerous to people who are not used to swimming in very cold water. After submersion in cold water the cold shock response will occur, causing an uncontrollable gasp for air. This is followed by hyperventilation, a longer period of more rapid breathing. The gasp for air can cause a person t...
in ice hockey, why can't i just plug the goal with the fattest guy i can find.	The pads are limited in size. A normal fat guy is much too slow to be a goalie and will get beat badly (as we all learned in high school). Typically the goalie is the fastest guy on the ice, you just rarely see it. An astonishingly obese man might physically obstruct most of the goal, but a lot of his body will not ...	[ "While a team is short-handed, they are permitted to ice the puck as they wish, without having the icing infraction called against them. This allows short-handed teams to relieve pressure more easily when defending with fewer skaters than their opponents. This exemption does not apply to teams whose opponents have ...
how do those bank tokens work?	That's Two Factor Authentication. The idea is that there's a huge secret number that both the bank and the token know and they both know they time. By doing some tricky math, the token can generate a smaller number that proves it knows the secret number without giving away the whole number. The bank can th...	[ "In some modern automated teller machines, currency counters allow for cash deposits without envelopes, since they can identify which bills have been inserted instead of just how many. The user is given the chance to review the automatic counter's idea of the quantity and kinds of the inserted banknotes before the ...

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