Split (2)

train · 226k rows

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If a "very" long rope is attached on earth perpendicularly and goes into space. Is it possible that it does not fall if the size of the rope is really very long?	This is the basic idea behind a [space elevator](_URL_0_): attach a cable to the equator, put a counterweight on the other end, e.g. a space station, and let the cenrifugal force pull the cable taut. Then in theory you can easily climb up the cable to get to and from space cheaply. The main reason we can't do it yet, ...	[ "When climbing or in steep terrain where there is a high risk of falling, the rope is also secured to fixed points in the rock or ice. At the same time a \"sliding rope\" (\"gleitendes Seil\") may be used or the rope may be fixed to a top anchor (\"Standplatz\"). A distinction is made between groups of two, three a...
Why isn't there a standard definition on what genocide is?	Hi! There is a definition of genocide that has been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It was adopted back in 1949, actually, and is called the [Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide](_URL_0_) (otherwise known as the 1949 Genocide Convention). Unlike other phrases like "te...	[ "According to R. J. Rummel, genocide has 3 different meanings. The ordinary meaning is murder by government of people due to their national, ethnic, racial, or religious group membership. The legal meaning of genocide refers to the international treaty, the \"Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime...
How come solutions are homogeneous mixtures? What is the process to reach this state?	They become homogeneous due to [diffusion](_URL_0_). Diffusion coefficients generally increase with temperature, so heating it up will speed up the diffusion.	[ "A heterogeneous mixture (e. g. liquid and solid) can be separated by mechanical separation processes like filtration or centrifugation. Homogeneous mixtures can be separated by molecular separation processes; these are either equilibrium-based or rate-controlled. Equilibrium-based processes are operating by the fo...
why aren't video games that have a glitch considered defective?	Today you learn: Literally every single bit of software not made by NASA has hundreds, thousands of bugs! Most of them aren't found, occur in obscure cases or really aren't that bad. It's simply not economical to fix them all.	[ "Non-cosmetic modifications to a game, console, or controller are not allowed. Glitches that are triggered by interfering with the normal operation of the hardware or game media while the game is running, such as the crooked cartridge trick are not permitted. In-game glitches or exploits may be permissible, conting...
When would you say World War I became obvious that it would happen?	World War One, as opposed to a more general european war, was the product of a unique technological moment that existed between the development of the Haber process in 1909, which allowed industrial production of explosives, and the development internal combustion engines that were cheap, powerful, and reliable enough ...	[ "In 1914, the First World War broke out. For the next four years fighting raged across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. On 8 January 1918, United States President Woodrow Wilson issued a statement that became known as the Fourteen Points. In part, this speech called for Germany to withdraw from the territ...
In pre-modern warfare (1700s-1800s) why did ship-based cannons usually have a longer range than land-based artillery?	Your two examples are somewhat unusual. The forts in Port Royal were armed with relatively small-calibre guns because the Confederates were scrambling to put together what they could, and short on heavy guns all over the place. Ship-killing artillery at the time was north of 9 inches; Fort Walker had only a single 10-i...	[ "Conventional wisdom held that a naval force would need a three-to-one advantage over coastal artillery, as the land-based artillery had the advantage of firing from a fixed platform, with resultant advantages in accuracy, especially as range increased. By the start of the 20th century, the increasing size of the c...
Did the Big Bang come from nothing, or can we simply not know what came before?	_URL_0_ Great explanation of cosmology as a whole, and how quantum mechanics allows for something to come from nothing.	[ "In the early 1970s, there was still a strong belief among physicists that no one could speak about what came before the Big Bang and stay within the boundaries of science. It was almost universally accepted that no scientist could explain why there is something and not nothing. This was the scientific climate Tryo...
how did recently conquered lands transfer to a currency based system, when previously they relied on a barter system?	Who? What conquered lands?	[ "Economic historian Karl Polanyi has argued that where barter is widespread, and cash supplies limited, barter is aided by the use of credit, brokerage, and money as a unit of account (i.e. used to price items). All of these strategies are found in ancient economies including Ptolemaic Egypt. They are also the basi...
Are there any natural phenomena that create lasers?	"Masers" are lasers at microwave frequencies, and their are various astrophysical ones: _URL_0_	[ "The use of random lasers for the study of laser action in substances that could not be produced in the form of homogeneous large crystals have also been pointed out as a potential application. Furthermore, in frequency ranges where high-reflectivity mirrors are not available (e.g., gamma-rays, x-rays), the feedbac...
How does the modern Catholic Church view historical Antipopes?	I am slightly confused by the question. They see them as people who claimed to be pope and were not. If you could clarify what you mean, I could probably give a better answer.	[ "An antipope is a historical papal claimant not recognized as legitimate by the Catholic Church. Unlike papal tombs, the tombs of antipopes have generally not been preserved, with a few notable exceptions.\n", "Traditionally, this term was reserved for claimants with a significant following of cardinals or other ...
Is the sense of 'proprioception' lost in individuals who have lost a sense of touch?	Hi. Thanks for your question. In the clinical setting, it is not uncommon to see patients who have lost some component of their sense of touch but maintained proprioception or vice versa, but these sensory modalities often appear to track together, because proprioception is a pretty high order sensation that receives ...	[ "Proprioception, the kinesthetic sense, provides the parietal cortex of the brain with information on the movement and relative positions of the parts of the body. Neurologists test this sense by telling patients to close their eyes and touch their own nose with the tip of a finger. Assuming proper proprioceptive f...
the political philosophy of ayn rand? what exactly is objectivism?	Less political, more centered on human nature... objective morality of "rational self-interest." Political implications, though. Posits notion that humans shouldn't sacrifice happiness of selves for each other; should actively seek out what makes them happy, bettering themselves and furthering society in process. Simil...	[ "Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism has been and continues to be a major influence on the right-libertarian movement, particularly libertarianism in the United States. Many right-libertarians justify their political views using aspects of Objectivism. However, the views of Rand and her philosophy among prominent ...
How common was sexual violence against women (or men) during the Holocaust?	That question is not really answerable in detail. We don't know very much about sexual violence in concentration camps. Though from what little evidence we have, the conclusion would be that it was fairly common. The problem is basically two-fold: First, there is little about sexual violence in survivor testimony. Th...	[ "Women suffered mass sexual violence and sexual servitude during the Bosnian War, and the Bosnian genocide, when violence assumed a gender-targeted form through the use of rape. Estimates of the total number of women raped during the war range from 12,000 to 50,000.\n", "With the publication of \"Sexual Violence ...
why do curiosity and other 'space cameras' take photos in individual rgb layers?	Cameras you're used to using are designed to be able to capture a full image quickly. This means that things don't have to stand still all that long (or may even be moving if you have a fast enough shutter speed). Cameras in space are optimized to have the smallest possible camera while providing the most capability,...	[ "NASA says, \"The main purpose of Curiosity's MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field site. The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of about 0.8 inch (2.1 centimeters) to infinity. This means it can, as shown here, also obtai...
Online text source for old US treaties	Do you have access to Hein? You can find it in Compilation of Treaties in Force from 1904. p. 386 _URL_0_ If you have access to Proquest Congressional (formerly Lexis Congressional) search for S. Doc. 318 from the 58th Congress. It's also in Serial Set volume 4622. You can also find it at 32 Stat. 1961.	[ "The Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) are a series of pamphlets or \"slip\" treaties published by the United States Department of State under the authority of the United States Secretary of State. , codified at , mentions them as alternatives to the edition of the laws and treaties of the United ...
What happened to paratroopers who didn't jump?	Edit-On mobile so please forgive the formatting/lack of anecdotal examples. The training to not freeze up either in the door or combat started early on in the paratroopers training. Flight was still a relatively new concept and the militarization of parachuting had begun in the last decade. The selection process to b...	[ "On 26 March 2003, 954 soldiers of the 173d Airborne Brigade conducted a combat jump from C-17 aircraft onto Bashur Airfield in Northern Iraq under the command of Colonel Mayville. The jump took a total of 58 seconds, though 32 paratroopers were unable to jump because they would have landed too far from the rest of...
Does vitamin C really improve connective tissue health?	Collagen is synthesized in your body as an inactive precursor called procollagen, and to make the final product the body needs the compound called vitamin C as a cofactor. Cofactor means it is a molecule necessary for certain chemical reactions to take place, but we can't make this molecule ourselves and need it from t...	[ "Vitamin C distributes readily in high concentrations into immune cells, has antimicrobial and natural killer cell activities, promotes lymphocyte proliferation, and is consumed quickly during infections, effects indicating a prominent role in immune system regulation. The European Food Safety Authority found a cau...
why can radio/satellite tv broadcasts reach over several miles but my wifi drops off before even reaching the front door?	If I whisper "come here" to my wife when she's on the other side of the house, she won't hear me. If I shout it, she will. Why? Because the latter has far more power than the former. Both are speech, but the shout is delivered with orders of magnitude more energy, and therefore has orders of magnitude more range. Rad...	[ "VHF Radio waves usually do not travel far beyond the visual horizon, so reception distances for FM stations are typically limited to 30–40 miles (50–65 km). They can also be blocked by hills and to a lesser extent by buildings.\n", "Radio transmitters are mounted on tall towers because they generally rely on lin...
In aeronautics, why does sound have a barrier and why is it so difficult to break?	just found it : Source: _URL_0_ For decades, the sound barrier had been a problem for pilots and aeronautical engineers. Air builds up in front of and around an aircraft as it approaches the speed of sound; it can’t move out of the way fast enough. The air in front of the aircraft increases drag and reducing lift. A...	[ "The sound barrier or sonic barrier is the sudden increase in aerodynamic drag and other undesirable effects experienced by an aircraft or other object when it approaches the speed of sound. When aircraft first began to be able to reach close to the speed of sound, these effects were seen as constituting a barrier ...
If all the carbonation from a bottle of soda was removed, would the bottle have a smaller volume of soda? How much less would it weigh? How are bubbles "hidden"in the soda?	A quick calculation for a 2 litre bottle at 3 atmospheres pressure says that the weight of carbon dioxide is about 12 grams (6/22.4 * 44 molecular weight). The volume may not change in proportion though as the CO2 exists as compounds with water so doesn't take up much extra space.	[ "In a new bottle of soda the concentration of carbon dioxide in the liquid phase has a particular value. If half of the liquid is poured out and the bottle is sealed, carbon dioxide will leave the liquid phase at an ever-decreasing rate and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the gas phase will increase until...
how come there are things common to almost every culture?	That birthday thing is a learned norm. Most cultures had gifts as a rite of passage i.e marriage, childhood-teenhood, farming seasons etc not every year since calendars weren't as pervasive. And for the exact parental names such as ma and pa are mainly because babies find it easier to pronounce the sequence. For othe...	[ "Culture is a human made concept that helps to define the beliefs, values, attitudes, and customs of a group of people that have similarities to one another in relation to language and location that have helped the people to survive more throughout time. There are two subcultures, which include high-culture and low...
how is the galaxy s7 ip68 waterproof rated? even when it has open ports like the usb and headphone jack	The ports aren't open to the rest of the internals. Liquid and gunk can still get in the ports, but that's as far as it goes.	[ "The standard aims to provide users more detailed information than vague marketing terms such as \"waterproof\". For example, a cellular phone rated at IP68 is \"dust resistant\" and can be \"immersed in 1.5 meters of freshwater for up to 30 minutes\". Similarly, an electrical socket rated IP22 is protected against...
why can't i stop eating and just hook up an iv periodically to get my nutrients?	An IV creates another opening in your body, which is a vector of infection. It would be a bad idea to wander around with something like that without it being a medical necessity. Generally speaking, people with feeding tubes and the like aren't wandering around, climbing rocks, caving and so on. If they aren't in a ...	[ "Medications may be mixed into the fluids mentioned above. Compared with other routes of administration, such as oral medications, the intravenous route is the fastest way to deliver fluids and medications throughout the body. The bioavailability of the IV medication is 100%, unlike oral medications where much of t...
What characteristics separate Hominins and early Humans?	I think you'll find that historians are not your only hope; try /r/askanthropology.	[ "Early hominins—particularly the australopithecines, whose brains and anatomy are in many ways more similar to ancestral non-human apes—are less often referred to as \"human\" than hominins of the genus \"Homo\". Several of these hominins used fire, occupied much of Eurasia, and gave rise to anatomically modern \"H...
How big of a role did religion play in the Sri Lankan Civil War?	Short answer: significant, sometimes outright, usually as a marker of difference that was expressed in other ways. To answer your question, we have to recognize first that 'religion' is not a very stable category, particularly outside western Christianity. As a result of the wars of religion in Europe and historical c...	[ "During the Sri Lankan Civil War, conflict between Tamil separatists and the government of Sri Lanka at times resulted in violence against temples and other religious targets. However, the primary causes of the conflict were not religious.\n", "The Sri Lankan Civil War was in a conflict on the island-nation of Sr...
Can an electron be seen?	Not directly. But we can see the effects of a single one.	[ "The electron microscope directs a focused beam of electrons at a specimen. Some electrons change their properties, such as movement direction, angle, and relative phase and energy as the beam interacts with the material. Microscopists can record these changes in the electron beam to produce atomically resolved ima...
Is there a correlation between thermal conductivity and whether a material burns or melts?	Diamond has the highest thermal conductivity that we know of yet burns instead of melting. Neoprene foam has a thermal conductivity nearly as low as air yet melts upon heating. I'm not seeing a reliable correlation, just a tendency for strongly crosslinked or crystalline organic materials (including cellulose) to br...	[ "The effect of temperature on thermal conductivity is different for metals and nonmetals. In metals, heat conductivity is primarily due to free electrons. Following the Wiedemann–Franz law, thermal conductivity of metals is approximately proportional to the absolute temperature (in kelvins) times electrical conduct...
If atoms are mostly made up of space around them how are they collectively solid?	They aren't collectively solid. When one atom gets close to another atom, the electron shells of those atoms have strong electromagnetic repulsion, and this repulsion will prevent two macroscopic objects from passing through each other. So on large enough scales that we don't care about the details of said interactio...	[ "Fig. 4 is a \"space-filling\" representation of formic acid, where atoms are drawn as solid spheres to suggest the space they occupy. This and all space-filling models are necessarily icons or abstractions: atoms are nuclei with electron \"clouds\" of varying density surrounding them, and as such have no actual su...
How does spontaneous symmetry breaking explain the Higgs field?	I don't really know what you mean by "explain" the Higgs field. IF there is a scalar field that has an energy dependence such that it is in some symmetry broken state THEN it can have a non-zero vacuum expectation value. IF a field with a non-zero vacuum expectation value couples to something like the electron field TH...	[ "In the years since the Higgs field and boson were proposed as a way to explain the origins of symmetry breaking, several alternatives have been proposed that suggest how a symmetry breaking mechanism could occur without requiring a Higgs field to exist. Models which do not include a Higgs field or a Higgs boson ar...
Why do scientists have such high Hope's of a vaccine/cure for COVID-19 yet viruses like HIV are unable to have one developed despite being discovered for a few decades?	The reason for not having a vaccine for HIV is because the virus mutates faster than the development of the vaccine itself. A scientist need to work with a "copy" in order to develop a vaccine and potentially a cure but HIV mutation happens so "fast" that by the end of the day the "copy" is not the same anymore. The co...	[ "Although advances have been achieved both in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, the greatest hope is in discovery of a safe and effective vaccine. The development of an HIV vaccine faces numerous scientific challenges. Knowledge of protective immunity and antigens needs to expand as well as ways to confront...
why does banging a jar's lid on your counter loosen the jar?	Banging is noise. Noise is sound. Sound is repeated vibrations. Vibrations loosen things. People driving their vehicles down the road with the bass booming are loosening their cars so there will be rattles and it will fall apart but not soon enough.	[ "When a jar has cooled and is properly sealed, pressing the dimple on the lid will not make any sound. An improperly sealed jar will allow the dimple to move up and down, sometimes making a popping noise. Lack of this noise does not necessarily indicate that the food in the jar is properly preserved. Typically, dur...
when someone feels satisfied with their life and are comfortable with dying, why do we deny them the means to do so with dignity?	The concept that makes it illegal is that no one in their right mind would want to die, as our most basic instinct is survival. By this logic, for someone to choose death they would not be in a healthy state of mind.	[ "BULLET::::- I think we set up an impossible task, because our hedonistic version of happiness is impossible to sustain. But it is quite possible to feel fulfilled and content and that the world is meaningful by aligning yourself with some ideals, something that is bigger and better than you, and trying to live up ...
Popular sporting events are currently in a large part team sports, yet in antiquity sports were mostly individual events. How did sports as popular spectacles go from centering on individuals to teams?	Any sources to back this position? I think team sports played as large a role in history as it does today, but perhaps it is only the individuals that are remembered. Chariot racing for example is an individual sport on the face of it, but I have little doubt they had a team of personnel as large as any Formula 1 team...	[ "Athletic contests in running, walking, jumping and throwing are among the oldest of all sports and their roots are prehistoric. Athletics events were depicted in the Ancient Egyptian tombs in Saqqara, with illustrations of running at the Heb Sed festival and high jumping appearing in tombs from as early as of 2250...
Where did the use of valets originate from?	In the middle ages the word valet came to be used to describe a personal male servant to gentlemen. The valet would take care of their master's clothing, equipment, and horse along with anything else that was needed. When the gentlemen would arrive somewhere on horseback or by carriage the valet would take the hors...	[ "A valet (or varlet) is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term \"valet\" by itself most often refers to a normal servant responsible for the...
how exactly does a planned demolition of a building work? how do they pick where to put the bombs?	They've studied structural engineering and demolition for many many years in order to know where the load bearing beams are and how a building is constructed (based on the blueprints), so they know where to place the explosives and in which order to detonate them so that the building collapses in on itself.	[ "Demolition, or razing, is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other man-made structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for reuse purposes.\n", "Large buildings of variou...
What is the difference between modern day wine and its ancient (BC and first couple hundred years of AD) counterpart?	Here's a very interesting AMA from last month : _URL_0_ Answers from /u/Queniden : > * Reports of wine made in amphoras is that they are much more oxidized (sherry-like) than what we are used to now. > * Both wine and beer has changed tremendously in style over time. Even over the last few decades. I...	[ "Greece is one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. The earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago where wine was produced on a household or communal basis. In ancient times, as trade in wine became extensive, it was transported from end to end of the Mediterranean; Greek wine h...
why is it that when you're inside in a bright room, you can see screen brightness- but if you're outside, with the same amount of light, you can barely see the screen brightness at all?	What seems like the same amount of light is actually nowhere close. The sun puts out more than 1300 watts per square meter. It's just that your eyes quickly adjust and there's not much we can detect with our eyes beyond "it's bright in here". I'm not positive on the numbers, but roughly... You'd need a 70,000 wat...	[ "When the lights are bright in the main room and dark in the blue room, the reflected image cannot be seen. When the lighting in the blue room is increased, often with the main room lights dimming to make the effect more pronounced, the reflection becomes visible and the objects within the blue room seem to appear ...
is there a difference between things that "glow" and things that only show up under uv light? what is the mechanism for each?	Glow in the dark = Phosphorescence Show up under UV = Fluorescence From Wiki "The most striking example of fluorescence occurs when the absorbed radiation is in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum, and thus invisible to the human eye, while the emitted light is in the visible region, which gives the fluorescent su...	[ "Some examples of glow-in-the-dark materials do not glow by phosphorescence. For example, glow sticks glow due to a chemiluminescent process which is commonly mistaken for phosphorescence. In chemiluminescence, an excited state is created via a chemical reaction. The light emission tracks the kinetic progress of th...
Why didn't any of the non-contiguous American territories become states besides Alaska and Hawaii?	I commented on this [before](_URL_0_) and can answer your question regarding the former Spanish colonies after 1898: In The Imperial Republic: A Comparison of the Insular Territories under U.S. Dominion after 1898 (Pacific Historical Review Vol. 71, No. 4 (Nov., 2002), pp. 535-574) Lanny Thompson argues that the rea...	[ "Prior to 1959, Hawaii was an organized incorporated territory of the United States. In 1946, the United Nations listed Hawaii as a non-self-governing territory under the administration of the United States (Resolution 55(I) of 1946-12-14). Also listed as non-self-governing territories under the jurisdiction of the...
what is the role of aedes mosquitos in the ecosystem?	The Aedes species of mosquitoes are known to spread certain viruses such as dengue and chikungunya that are known to cause disease in humans. Dengue, in particular, can be fatal if it causes a dengue haemorrhagic fever Releasing these genetically modified male mosquitoes will eventually lead to a reduction in the Aed...	[ "Colonies of \"Anopheles\" mosquitoes are maintained for several areas of research, such as malaria vector ability, transmission of pathogens, the effectiveness of insecticides, resistance to insecticides, and vaccine research. By studying these topics, more insight may be gained to increase the understanding of ma...
why does the max volume on my device vary so much based on what it is playing?	It is entirely dependent on the volume level used when mastering the video/song/etc. Some use a standard 'volume'. This is why all songs on iTunes are almost identical volume when they play at the same level on your phone. However, YouTube doesn't require this and as such some videos published retain the low 'master' v...	[ "There are multiple volume adjustments for different inputs and outputs on the system. The master volume affects all of these settings. The default and recommended value is 50% for all sources, which actually equates to a 0 dB amplification (none), while a 100% value causes a 16 dB amplification.\n", "An automati...
How did royalty during, say the Tudor dynasty, clean their beautiful, elaborate, and expensive clothes?	Protecting from the soiling of the body is easier since undergarments made from linen or wool along with other layers protected the "fancier" outer garments. Plain pieces that could be bleached, scrubbed, boiled, and washed as much as need be would absorb the sweat and dirt. Basic washing of the body daily along with c...	[ "Documentary evidence has shown that luxurious textiles were abundant in Anglo-Saxon England. These materials included imported silks, and textiles and clothing embroidered with gold. Most of these extravagant items were primarily used as religious garments, but it is also highly likely that royals and the wealthie...
kw vs kwh	Kilowatt is a measure of power, or how much energy the generator can produce every second; where as kWh or joules is the total amount of energy that the generator produced if you ran it for a certain amount of time. So if a 1 kW generator runs for 1 second, it has produced 1kilo joule of energy; this can also be writt...	[ "The kilowatt (kW) is equal to one thousand (10) watts. This unit is typically used to express the output power of engines and the power of electric motors, tools, machines, and heaters. It is also a common unit used to express the electromagnetic power output of broadcast radio and television transmitters.\n", "...
how can soap be moisturizing if it’s removing oil from you skin?	You are correct on how soaps is to generally clean and remove oils but moisturizing soaps cleanse the oils and includes replenishing elements like aloe or shea and includes formulas to help absorb the simplest form of moisture, water.	[ "BULLET::::- Using bar soap on the face can remove natural oils from the skin that form a barrier against water loss. This causes the sebaceous glands to subsequently overproduce oil, a condition known as reactive seborrhoea, which will lead to clogged pores. In order to prevent drying out the skin, many cleansers ...
Have any Presidents of the United States of America nearly left office because the job was too hard?	Probably the best known case of a president who simply got tired of the job was Calvin Coolidge. After serving part of Warren G. Harding's term after his death, and one term elected on his own, Coolidge announced that he would not seek a second full term as President in 1928. Coolidge elaborated. "If I take another te...	[ "Some presidents have had significant careers after leaving office. Prominent examples include William Howard Taft's tenure as Chief Justice of the United States and Herbert Hoover's work on government reorganization after World War II. Grover Cleveland, whose bid for reelection failed in 1888, was elected presiden...
why is xbox in competition with pcs? if most gaming pcs run on microsoft windows what do they gain by releasing a "console only" game?	Delving into this is going to take awhile. Historically, (i.e the past two console generations) game consoles used pretty different API's to PC's - the current batch is standardised so that it's incredibly easy to port games from one console to the PC. The attraction of game consoles was with ease of running and made ...	[ "Prior to its Japanese launch in February 2002, many analysts estimated that the Xbox would have trouble competing with the PS2 and the GameCube, its local counterparts in the region, noting its comparatively high price tag, lack of exclusives, and larger size which wouldn't fit as well in living spaces. Microsoft ...
When a pregnant woman goes into labor, what is the proximate physiological change that caused the labor to begin? What mechanism if any functions as a sort of genetic clock for how long the baby will gestate and when this process will end?	The long and short is that not one single entity is usually responsible and we as clinicians are still very terrible at predicting when it will happen. Below is a simplistic view but it contains much of what we know. This being said... for a normal pregnancy: 1) Estrogen is steadily increasing through pregnancy and c...	[ "After about ten weeks of gestational age, the embryo becomes known as a fetus. At the beginning of the fetal stage, the risk of miscarriage decreases sharply. At this stage, a fetus is about 30 mm (1.2 inches) in length, the heartbeat is seen via ultrasound, and the fetus makes involuntary motions. During continue...
[meta] loaded questions	I think people should ask themselves "do I really need a simple explanation, or do I just want a venue to argue my point?" before they ask a question here.	[ "In \"Dotchi-Questa\" (\"Which one?\"), team members take turns going up to a table. They will be asked a Which One? question. The person must ask a question (other than \"What is it?\") and try to figure out which one it is with only one question. For example, a person may be asked \"Pizza, Pasta, Which One?\". Th...
We know lack of sleep has negative health effects, but is there any research showing too much is also bad?	This is actually one of the big unsolved problems in sleep research right now! We know from studies of people going about their everyday lives (i.e., epidemiological studies) that both short sleep and long sleep are associated with bad health outcomes. This trend has appeared in many large-scale studies. Problems are...	[ "More than 70 million Americans suffer from sleep problems, according to research from the National Institutes of Health. Sleep disorders, like sleep apnea, can be serious enough to interfere with an employee's well-being. Approximately 13% of work injuries could be attributed to sleep problems.\n", "Few studies ...
Is there a best edition/translation of The Histories by Herodotus?	I recommend the "Landmark" Herodotus ([link](_URL_0_)). It is not too expensive these days, has a TON of maps, notes, explanatory material in like 30 different appendices, and a solid translation of the text. It's really great, especially if you happen to be someone who isn't already well-versed in Greek history.	[ "His chief publications are his translation of the \"History\" of Herodotus (in collaboration with Sir Henry Rawlinson and Sir John Gardiner Wilkinson), 1858–60; \"The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World\", 1862–67; \"The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy\" (Parthian), 1873; \"The Seventh Great Oriental ...
How on earth did they start using laser eye surgery?	> that they were willing to attempt something so dangerous on a real person for the first time The alternative was equally if not more dangerous, they used to literally use a scalpel held by a doctors hand to cut a small flap open and scrape away material. They were also able to practice on both eyes of dead peopl...	[ "Laser surgery is commonly used on the eye. Techniques used include LASIK, which is used to correct near and far-sightedness in vision, and photorefractive keratectomy, a procedure which permanently reshapes the cornea using an excimer laser to remove a small amount of the human tissue.\n", "In 1991, shortly afte...
what is the mathematical explanation for honeycombs being the shape they are?	Maximum internal volume with minimum length of wall. EDIT: For example: If honeycombe was made up of lots of little square wells, the bee's would require more wax walls to hold the same volume as hexagonal honeycombe. The same is true for all other interlocking geometric shapes. Hexagonal honeycombes achieve optimu...	[ "Two possible explanations exist as to why honeycomb is composed of hexagons, rather than any other shape. First, the hexagonal tiling creates a partition with equal-sized cells, while minimizing the total perimeter of the cells. Known in geometry as the honeycomb conjecture, this was given by Jan Brożek and proved...
how does a credit card machine work during flight?	It doesn't, it connects when the plane has landed and all the payments are processed then. This also means you can use a card with no balance and it will be approved. A lot of budget airlines only accept credit cards now for this reason.	[ "At the parking lots of some major airports in the United States, a driver can choose to swipe a credit card at the entry ticket dispenser instead of taking a ticket. When the driver swipes the same credit card at the exit terminal upon leaving the lot, the applicable parking fee is automatically calculated and cha...
how does the show “planet earth” get their shots without scaring the animals	The telescoping lenses they use are INSANE basically, a large part of it is zooming in really really really close from really really really far away. other parts of it is remote infrared sensing cameras that record when something near it moves (after they are left on a tree or something). finally they can use drones t...	[ "\"Animal Planet Live\" was a live stage show inspired by the TV channel Animal Planet, and featured multiple animals performing stunts and tricks. It replaced \"Animal Actors Stage\" when it opened at the park in 2001, and was closed in 2006 and replaced with \"Animal Actors on Location\".\n", "Animal Planet is ...
every year the asphalt roads get torn up, then patched/re-paved. hasn't road tech/asphalt tech improved to the point where this doesn't need to happen year after year?	They can build roads to a standard right now that will last much longer, but it would cost a lot more per mile and the job goes to the lowest bidder. They build roads to much higher standards in most of Europe and they last a lot longer.	[ "Asphalt including asphalt shingle can be melted down and in part recycled. Tarmac can also recycled and there is now an active market for recycling tarmac in the developed world. This includes tarmac scalpings produced when roads are scarified before a new surface is laid.\n", "In terms of archaeology, it appear...
why are some forms of damage to oneself (ie binge drinking, etc) more acceptable than something like cutting?	Because something like binge-drinking is an offshoot or extreme of a socially acceptable, common activity. While binge drinking is harmful, that is not readily apparent (unless it develops into a dependency). Self-harm, however, is an immediate, and often permanent (scarring) activity.	[ "Increased vulnerability to sexual violence also stems from the use of alcohol and other drugs. Consuming alcohol or drugs makes it more difficult for people to protect themselves by interpreting and effectively acting on warning signs. Drinking alcohol may also place a person in settings where his or her chances o...
How did the Korean peninsula become, or come to be seen as mono-ethnic?	> I suppose Korea congealed in a time before nationalism Yup. Before the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, there was 35 years of Japanese colonialism. Before that there was 518 years of Joseon. That's longer 209 years longer than the United Kingdom has been around, and it was founded ...	[ "The Korean Peninsula was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period. Its first kingdom was noted in Chinese records in the early 7th century BC. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea into Silla and Balhae in the late 7th century, Korea was ruled by the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and the J...
Why do non-flashing LED lights give the effect of flashing when a camera is recording them?	because they likely are flashing, much faster than you can see (thousands of times a second usually). [Pulse-width modulation](_URL_1_) is a very common way to control the brightness of LEDs, since it's very simple (only thing to control is the on/off time ratio, and it corresponds directly to perceived brightness) and...	[ "BULLET::::- Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by pulse-width modulation or lowering the forward current. This pulse-width modulation is why LED lights, particularly headlights on cars, when viewed on camera or by some people, seem to flash or flicker. This is a type of stroboscopic effect.\n", "Flas...
Is there a difference in electricity used if I use my computer to charge my phone versus using a separate wall outlet?	USB (specifically USB2) ports only provide about 500mA of current, whereas the wall wart would be able to provide as much as the device requires, up to 2A usually. USB3 specification allows to supply up to 5A for charging, but to my best knowledge computers don't commonly provide this current for USB3 ports. As a prac...	[ "In the latter case, a mobile electricity meter is integrated either into the vehicle itself or into the respective charging cable. This, together with the necessary communication technology (SIM card), makes it possible to transmit charging data (down to the kWh) to a matching backend. Lean, switchable system sock...
do people with 'crazy' or 'lazy' eyes see more, less or differently to other people? or exactly the same? [serious]	my SO has(d) a lazy eye as a kid. The straightness issue was corrected, but she told me her brain just can't process the signal correctly so it only will "see" out of one eye or the other at one time, even though her eyes are straight. She has a dominant eye she sees out of most of the time.	[ "Amblyopia, also called lazy eye, is a disorder of sight due to the eye and brain not working well together. It results in decreased vision in an eye that otherwise typically appears normal. It is the most common cause of decreased vision in a single eye among children and younger adults.\n", "Strabismus, sometim...
why is it easier to balance on those small scooters (with those small wheels) when moving compared to when you're not moving?	Scooters (or bikes or motorcycles or anything with 2 wheels for that matter) are designed in a way that makes them want to stay upright while moving forward. I'll use a bike for this example because all the parts are bigger and easier to visualize but all the same physics applies. Imagine you are standing holding a bik...	[ "Adults may find upright tricycles difficult to ride because of familiarity with the counter-steering required to balance a bicycle. The variation in the camber of the road is the principal difficulty to be overcome once basic tricycle handling is mastered. Recumbent trikes are less affected by camber and, dependin...
suppose I'm a typical (18 year old male) Egyptian farmer in the 1390s. Am I likely to make a pilgrimage to Mecca Before I die? if "yes" how Will I get there?	Related question: if I'm a typical Egyptian farmer in the 1390s, would I even be Muslim or identify as Arab?	[ "By the age of 53 he embarked on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, where in 1496 (901 Hijri), after circumambulating the Kaaba, he declared that he was the Promised Mahdi and whoever believes in him is a Momin.\n", "Gulbadan Begum described in her memoir a pilgrimage she along with Hamida Banu Begum undertook to Mecc...
why do different people have different "resting faces"?	People have different faces, therefore their "resting face" is different. Some people just have a resting face that looks like they are angry, for example (low thick eyebrows would dool this).	[ "This is thought to be due to specific psychological cognitive modules involved in face perception which are tuned especially to upright faces. Faces seem unique despite the fact that they are very similar. It has been hypothesised that we develop specific processes to differentiate between faces that rely as much ...
bitcoins. what are they, why are they sketchy, how do you get them, and why are they better then runescape-currency?	So let's pretend that the bitcoins are acorns and there is a high society of intelligent squirrels that do what we do. Imagine, if you will, that there is a specific type of tree that produces special blue acorns at an impossibly slow rate and getting acorns from them is inconsistent. Because of this, there's a capacit...	[ "Bitcoin is a digital asset designed to work in peer-to-peer transactions as a currency. Bitcoins have three qualities useful in a currency, according to \"The Economist\" in January 2015: they are \"hard to earn, limited in supply and easy to verify.\" Per some researchers, , bitcoin functions more as a payment sy...
if i eat (and drink) the exact same thing at the same time every day, will my bowel movements be identical in color, size, and consistency (and come at the same times), or are there other factors involved?	Amount if physical activity also plays a role. So if you do literally the exact same amount of physical activity then yes	[ "The most important factor in food rheology is consumer perception of the product. This perception is affected by how the food looks on the plate as well as how it feels in the mouth, or \"mouthfeel\". Mouthfeel is influenced by how food moves or flows once it is in a person's mouth and determines how desirable the...
how does the u.s. senate get away with passing a vote for something that basically no reasonable and knowledgeable citizen would want passed? for example, the most recent vote allowing isps to sell your personal data.	The counter measure is to vote them out of office in favor of someone who will repeal the bad laws. Unfortunately, voters have been far too apathetic for far too long, and the system is corrupt beyond hope of repair. Vote out one crook, another takes his place. And a lot of the crooks can't be got rid of anyway.	[ "In practice, a \"low information voter\" may not be aware of legislation that their representative has sponsored in Congress. A low-information voter may base their ballot box decision on a media sound-bite, or a flier received in the mail. It is possible for a media sound-bite or campaign flier to present a polit...
how did black boxes for descrambling cable channels in the 90s work?	Back then the way scrambling worked was they just didn't send the sync pulse (the mark for the start of the frame). The cable box then had a circuit that when authorized made a sync pulse and inserted it back in. The descramblers were boxes that just added in sync pulse to make it watchable.	[ "Later cable boxes became addressable, allowing the carrier to independently identify one cable box from another. In early systems, this permitted the carrier to send instructions to the boxes by addressing them over the wire. This allowed customers to subscribe to premium television and pay-per-view. More recent c...
Due to the fact that the Earth is spinning, are we not feeling the full effect of the Earth's gravity due to the centrifugal force?	You are correct. Effective [gravity](_URL_1_) is weaker at the equator than at the poles. This also affects the actual [figure of the earth](_URL_0_), which introduces an actual difference the equator/pole gravity, on top of the centrifugal term.	[ "In popular (non-technical) usage of the term \"Coriolis effect\", the rotating reference frame implied is almost always the Earth. Because the Earth spins, Earth-bound observers need to account for the Coriolis force to correctly analyze the motion of objects. The Earth completes one rotation per day, so for motio...
when movies are shown on most tv channels, the end credits are shrunk, squeezed, and/or sped up until they're unreadable. why are they shown at all?	Yes, they must show the credits, it is a part of the agreement to air the film in its' entirety including credits. But the language didn't preclude shrinking of the credits. Major loophole.	[ "Some movies come to a formal ending, followed by the rolling of the credits, which is almost universally used to indicate that the film has ended, only to have the actors reappear in one or more mid-credits scenes. In comedy films, these sequences may be bloopers or outtakes. In other types of films, the mid-credi...
When scientists refer to the new white laser by combining red, green and blue laser diodes, is it just perceived as white light by the human eye?	Colors are defined by how people perceive them. For example 587 nm light and a mix of 701 nm and 535 nm light both excite the red and green receptors in a human eye, and are both called "yellow". By this definition, it is white. Meaning that it is perceived in a certain manner by the human eye. White can also mean tha...	[ "The violet 405 nm laser (whether constructed from GaN or frequency-doubled GaAs laser diodes) is not in fact blue, but appears to the eye as violet, a color for which a human eye has a very limited sensitivity. When pointed at many white objects (such as white paper or white clothes which have been washed in certa...
How historically accurate is George Orwells book Homage to Catalonia ?	I think he descrives the events pretty accurately, of course the interpretations he make of them is from the anarcho-syndicalist point of view. For example, one of his main conclusions was that the first and most willing to fight the Nationals were the syndicalist, however this were more unterested in the revolution ...	[ "After years of neglect \"Homage to Catalonia\" re-emerged in the 1950s, following on from the success of Orwell's later books. The publication in 1952 of the first US edition (by Harcourt, Brace, of New York) with an influential introduction by Lionel Trilling, \"elevated Orwell to the rank of a secular saint.\" A...
Why didn't the killer bees ever move any further north in the US?	Beekeeper here. Killer bees do, in fact, move further north, but the difference of climate and environment actually change the bees' behavior and they end up behaving just like a normal honeybee. I've moved bees from Texas to Colorado and have seen many hives get to Colorado and behave like killer bees, except after se...	[ "\"Bombus occidentalis\" was once one of the most common bee species in the North West America. They have been found from the Mediterranean California all the way up to the Tundra regions of Alaska, making them one of the bees with the widest range geographic range. However, recently there has been a noticeable dec...
Can deaf people hear the sound of crunchy food through their head while they eat?	My wife is an Audiologist, so I'll do my best to pass on what I've learned from her: Deafness can be attributed to many factors. There can be problems with your outer ear (your visible ear, ear canal, and eardrum) which affect air conduction (ability to hear sound waves passing through air- it's what you think of whe...	[ "The deaf brain develops at the same rate as the hearing brain when learning language. Deaf babies babble on their hands the same way hearing babies babble with their mouths, and they acquire language in the same timeframe. This is true neurologically and behaviorally. In both areas they hit the same milestones aro...
Will the number of people alive on earth ever match the number of people that does prior to that point in time?	huh, apparently not. _URL_0_	[ "Estimates of the total number of humans who have ever lived range in the order of 100 billion. It is difficult for estimates to be better than rough approximations, as even modern population estimates are fraught with uncertainties on the order of 3% to 5%. Kapitza (1996) cites estimates ranging between 80 and 150...
why doesn't everyone use the same language?	> Wouldn't things (like worldwide trade) be a lot easier if everyone on Earth spoke the same language? For worldwide trade most the individuals involved speak English. The majority of the world that doesn't speak English isn't involved in international trade, so it's not a big deal for them. Switching to one langu...	[ "However, languages, now understood as the particular set of speech norms of a particular community, are also a part of the larger culture of the community that speak them. Humans use language as a way of signalling identity with one cultural group and difference from others. Even among speakers of one language sev...
how does a stainless steel soap remove the fish or garlic scent from your hands?	What the hell is a stainless steel soap?	[ "Companies that produce stainless steel soaps claim that the odors these foods cause result from sulfur, which turns into sulfuric acid upon washing the hands. The aim of the stainless steel soap is to then bind to the sulfur molecules, thus removing them and the associated smell from the hands. However, scientific...
if white is the presence of all colors and black is the absence of them, why does our hair turn white when we age?	Your hair color, like most other colors, is based on pigmentation. With pigmentation, as light hits it, the pigmentation will absorb most of the light, and reflect specific wavelengths. Depending on what wavelengths are reflected, you get different colors. So with black hair, the base pigment is absorbing everything, ...	[ "Gray or white hair—sometimes colloquially called \"salt and pepper\" when it is 'peppered' throughout dark hair—is not caused by a true gray or white pigment, but is due to a lack of pigmentation and melanin. The clear hairs appear as gray or white because of the way light is reflected from the hairs. Gray hair co...
i've been really sore so my wife bought me some epsom salt. i think it actually helped somewhat, but i don't get how sitting in a pool of magnesium sulfate makes my muscles feel better? so how does it work?	Probably 99.9% of the effect is the warm water itself increasing blood flow to the sore muscles.	[ "Magnesium sulfate is used in bath salts, particularly in flotation therapy, where high concentrations raise the bath water's specific gravity, effectively making the body more buoyant. Traditionally, it is also used to prepare foot baths, intended to soothe sore feet. The reason for the inclusion of the salt is pa...
Why are some items (i.e latex) more prone to eliciting an allergic response than others (i.e. concrete)?	Allergies are caused by the immune system reacting to proteins. Latex is from a plant, the rubber tree, so contains proteins. Concrete is just rock and stuff so no proteins, however it could irritate skin in other ways.	[ "Some allergic reactions are not to the latex itself, but from residues of chemicals used to accelerate the cross-linking process. Although this may be confused with an allergy to latex, it is distinct from it, typically taking the form of Type IV hypersensitivity in the presence of traces of specific processing ch...
What would an 11th century king in Brittany eat for breakfast?	Probably nothing. Nobility in medieval Europe (sorry I can't be more specific to Brittany) normally didn't eat breakfast, for social (breakfast was for common laborers and children) and religious (gluttony / breaking the nightly fast too early) reasons. Generally only two meals were eaten - dinner (or lunch) and sup...	[ "It might be expected that when King George III spent his summer holidays in Weymouth, as he did often between 1789 and 1805, the height of cuisine would accompany him. However, by this time suffering from illness, the King ate plainly. Among his favourite foods from the area were Radipole biscuits, pudding at the ...
Has a violent rebellion by a poor and oppressed minority EVER been successful?	What do you mean by successful? Arguably, the Stonewall Riots were successful. The riots happened following intense police brutality towards LGBT, encroaching on the clubs where they could be themselves. The rioters (who were mostly drag queens and street kids) managed to overwhelm the police and the riots were very ...	[ "Not all rebellions are insurgencies. There have been many cases of non-violent rebellions, using civil resistance, as in the People Power Revolution in the Philippines in the 1980s that ousted President Marcos and the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Where a revolt takes the form of armed rebellion, it may not be view...
What is the reason behind the different stability of whipped yolk by itself, with egg white, and with sugar?	Ok, so you're mostly asking about egg foams and you're mostly in the right ball park but I'll start from the start as it'll be easier to answer all your ancillary questions. Sorry this is a bit of a long one: So egg white is about 90% water. The remaining 10% is almost all protein although there are some trace amounts...	[ "Eggs contain multiple proteins that gel at different temperatures within the yolk and the white, and the temperature determines the gelling time. Egg yolk becomes a gel, or solidifies, between . Egg white gels at different temperatures: . The white contains exterior albumen which sets at the highest temperature. I...
tennis scoring	Each game is won by being the first to score 4 points, although you must win by two clear points. The first point is called 15. The second is 30. The third is 40. And the fourth is Game. 40-40 is called "Deuce". From here, a player has to score two points in a row to win the game, in order to win by two clear points....	[ "Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) is a reliable, accurate index that rates players' skill in tennis. UTR rates all players—men, women, and children—on a single 16-point scale (with two decimal places, e.g., 11.29) that works for players globally regardless of their skill level, from beginners to top professional compe...
Today is /r/redditdayof "Influential Women in History". Historians, could you share your knowledge and submit something about those who are less known but not less important?	Elizabeth Peratrovich is a name well-known in Alaska, but she isn't as known Outside. Born in 1911, Peratrovich was a Tlingit from Petersburg in Southeast Alaska. Adopted by a Presbyterian Tlingit family, she was raised in Petersburg and Ketchikan and later attended Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka. In 1931, she m...	[ "BULLET::::- \"Notable Women in History - the Lives of Women Who in All Ages, All Lands and in All Womanly Occupations Have Won Fame and Put Their Imprint on the World's History\" - The John C. Winston Company, Philadelphia, 1912 - Illustrated\n", "The book profiles 25 historical women in a writer's voice, with i...
Why is the skin on our lips different from the skin on the rest of our body?	From what I remember from my development lectures, the reason your lips are different is because when embryos are developing the endothelium of the gut extends when the embryo folds in development, the endothelial tube then presses through the epiderm so that the tube opens at one end and leaves at the other, the endod...	[ "The lip skin is not hairy and does not have sweat glands. Therefore, it does not have the usual protection layer of sweat and body oils which keep the skin smooth, inhibit pathogens, and regulate warmth. For these reasons, the lips dry out faster and become chapped more easily.\n", "The lips are composed wholly ...
what would happen to me if i decided to conquer a small piece of land and create my own country?	Well that land belongs to someone, and when they request the government's assistance (police) in getting you out of their yard, they will arrive. If you're unwilling to move they'll forcefully remove you and possibly arrest you for trespassing.	[ "[...] The possibility of conquering the land is liable to slip out of our grasp. Our central problem is immigration ... and not adapting our lives to this or that doctrine. [...] We are conquerors of the land facing an iron wall, and we have to break through it. [...] How can we run our Zionist movement in such a ...
why are my muscles feeling sore after a poor night's sleep?	I can think of a few things that cause this. Most importantly, your body makes a large chunk of repairs to your muscles during sleep. If your muscles are damaged (which just happens when you use them), then not sleeping well will mean your body isn't able to repair as much as it otherwise would have. Especially if you...	[ "In addition, as a result of continuous muscular activity without proper rest time, effects such as cramping are much more frequent in sleep-deprived individuals. Extreme cases of sleep deprivation have been reported to be associated with hernias, muscle fascia tears, and other such problems commonly associated wit...
why are most songs in the music industry between 3:00 and 4:00, and who set that standard?	That depends on the time frame and genre. If you look at music from before the radio, a lot of it is longer. Back then the only way to listen to music was live. Shorter songs means more break time in between, you're not getting your money's worth! But since the radio, the majority of listening has been through the rad...	[ "The factor-of-ten in a decade can be in either direction: so one decade up from 100 Hz is 1000 Hz, and one decade down is 10 Hz. The factor-of-ten is what is important, not the unit used, so 3.14 rad/s is one decade down from 31.4 rad/s.\n", "In spring 2007, the program changed from a recorded broadcast to a liv...
why do common people not get any money from class action suits?	Members of the class do get money from a class action law suit -- just not a lot of money, because there are generally a lot of members of the class. > Can the people stop the lawyers looking to pocket some extra cash by opposing the suit? What people? The only people who can make a motion to dismiss the lawsuit are...	[ "For example, in the United States, class lawsuits sometimes bind all class members with a low settlement. These \"coupon settlements\" (which usually allow the plaintiffs to receive a small benefit such as a small check or a coupon for future services or products with the defendant company) are a way for a defenda...
Why do the Jews believe in the myth of exodus from egypt? Why do most historians discredit the idea?	The easy answer is that people believe their founding myths. We just do. Now for some other answers. There are some textual clues that suggest the number of participants in the exodus may have been lower - for example there are 2 midwives for some six hundred thousand people, or is it six hundred families? - signific...	[ "The lack of historical evidence for the Egyptian slavery and exodus leads most scholars to omit them from comprehensive histories of Israel and consider them as a myth. Scholars disagree as to when the myth took its present form. The archaeological record does not accord with what is expected from the Book of Exod...
why 0db is the loudest sound that can go in a system without distortion? why zero and why quieter sounds are negative db?	Decibels are relative measurements, not absolute ones. To be more precise, a decibel is a way to measure the ratio of two values. One value is a reference value, the other is the one you're comparing it to. And these can be values of anything you like. When talking about sound pressure level, the reference value i...	[ "Though the noise level of 16-bit audio systems (such as CD players) is commonly quoted (on the basis of calculations that take no account of subjective effect) as −96 dB relative to FS (full scale), the best 468-weighted results are in the region of −68 dB relative to Alignment Level (commonly defined as 18 dB bel...
who owns the federal reserve bank?	TL;DR: The Federal Reserve system is a group of entities that are a mix of publicly controlled and privately owned. It is controlled by the government from the top down, and owned privately at the very bottom, and they meet somewhere in the middle. Ultimately, since the Board of Governors has the most power, and the Bo...	[ "The Federal Reserve Banks have an intermediate legal status, with some features of private corporations and some features of public federal agencies. The United States has an interest in the Federal Reserve Banks as tax-exempt federally created instrumentalities whose profits belong to the federal government, but ...
why do humans have different taste buds from each other and why do animals have different taste buds?	Your sense of taste is just like your other senses. I.e: "Older" people can't hear higher pitched sounds, where younger people can (especially those annoying high pitched ringtones people annoyed me in school with > . < ) It will depend on a few things such as age, diet, your environment, and of course genetics. In...	[ "Among humans, taste perception begins to fade around 50 years of age because of loss of tongue papillae and a general decrease in saliva production. Humans can also have distortion of tastes through dysgeusia. Not all mammals share the same taste senses: some rodents can taste starch (which humans cannot), cats ca...
why do streamed videos sometimes lose their audio to video synchronization?	ELI 5 answer: because audio and video are two different streams and like two dancers working together. Sometimes they're a championship cheerleading team, a symphony of synchronicity, and sometimes they're two drunk guys at a bar trying too hard to impress, all flailing and stumbling. Longer answer: For editing purpo...	[ "Digital or analog audio video streams or video files usually contain some sort of synchronization mechanism, either in the form of interleaved video and audio data or by explicit relative timestamping of data. The processing of data must respect the relative data timing by e.g. stretching between or interpolation ...
How much water is absorbed on the way down?	Water is absorbed, filtered and reabsorbed through several organs and membranes controlled by neural and hormonal influence. Water is absorbed throughout your lower GI tract as well as in your kidneys. The amount of water that is retained is regulated by a set point osmolarity. An increase in osmolarity will initiate ...	[ "Absorption coefficients for 200 nm and 900 nm are almost equal at 6.9 m (attenuation length of 14.5 cm). Very weak light absorption, in the visible region, by liquid water has been measured using an integrating cavity absorption meter (ICAM). The absorption was attributed to a sequence of overtone and combination ...
why are there more dangerous animals (and insects and fish) in hot countries?	There's more resources to compete for in sunny places, and so there's effectively an evolution arms race to become strong enough to compete for them. Less resources in colder places means less competition, so natural selection leans in different directions based on the local environment	[ "Other biologists and ecologists have pointed to the dramatic effect on the animals which feed on the moths, which are an important source of protein for wildlife, including the mountain pygmy possum as well as other insectivorous mammals and birds. \"The vulnerability of the Australian Alps to climate change is th...
From an evolutionary stand point why do men grow moustaches? Do they have a specific use?	Hi everyone, this question could be addressed in multiple ways, but the OP has requested information about the adaptive benefits of mustaches. Therefore, please focus your answers on the known, measured, and peer reviewed sources of information rather than hypothetical, potential or anecdotal lines of evidence.	[ "The moustache forms its own stage in the development of facial hair in adolescent males. Facial hair in males does not always appear in a specific order during puberty and varies among some individuals but may follow this process:\n", "According to a study performed by Nigel Barber, results have shown a strong c...
how effective are political endorsements?	According to the guys at 538, [very important](_URL_0_), at least when those endorsements come from major political officials. Here is a quote from the above linked article > In the book “The Party Decides” (2008), the most comprehensive study of the invisible primary, the political scientists Marty Cohen, David Kar...	[ "The value of political endorsements varies, depending on whom they are from, when they are given, and other factors. Endorsements from politicians who live in states with early primaries are highly sought after. So are endorsements from governors, federal senators, and federal representatives. Endorsements from pe...
Why are refrigerators not mounted with the radiators outside, like air conditioners?	Unlike an air conditioner which has a very large load (cooling a much, much larger volume) and dumps out a lot of heat, a refrigerator only has to cool its sealed compartment, so there isn't a huge load on it. As well, since your refrigerator is inside your air-conditioned home, any warm air that infiltrates those com...	[ "Refrigerators and air conditioners operating from the waste heat of a diesel engine exhaust, heater flue or solar collector are entering use. These use the same principles as a gas refrigerator. Normally, the heat from a flue powers an \"absorptive chiller\". The cold water or brine from the chiller is used to coo...
why do gyms change the direction of their running track every day?	If you run a circular track regulary only in one direction you will over develop one side of your body's muscles. Kind of like those memes about missing leg day....only for the left or right side of your body. At least thats what my friends mom told me ages ago when I asked about her hardcore running.	[ "Running – means of rapidly traveling on foot, in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground. Running is a key component to a number of sporting events typically in the realm of road racing, track and field or triathlon.\n", "BULLET::::- The Runners - A track team runs very fast...

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