question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
|---|---|---|
how do one-time pads work? | Two people get together and exchange some random data. Say we got together and
generated some random numbers, like 16 3 23 8 8 21 0 2, which is the pad.
I want to send "aardvark", so I advance all the letters by those amounts, and it becomes "qdoldvrm". I send this string to you, and you subtract all those amounts (w... | [
"One-time pads are \"information-theoretically secure\" in that the encrypted message (i.e., the ciphertext) provides no information about the original message to a cryptanalyst (except the maximum possible length of the message). This is a very strong notion of security first developed during WWII by Claude Shanno... |
How many animals are required to re-establish a viable population? | The answer to this will vary depending on the population, but a general rule of thumb in conservation biology is called the 50/500 rule.
50 members are needed in a population to prevent significant fitness loss due to inbreeding. However, this number is only useful in the short term and is not evolutionary viable, the... | [
"The reintroduction process also depends on the availability of breeding sources, which are captive populations that are permitted to breed in a safe environment, and the number of animals that can be periodically removed from these sources for reintroduction. Because poor sex ratios and low proportions of breeding... |
how does sunlight remove stains from clothes? | It doesn't. Sunlight has the ability to bleach things by breaking down their chemical properties via radiation. This is why many plastics will yellow if left outside. But it does not have the ability to actually remove stains from clothing. Some kinds of stains will have the stain break down chemically faster than the ... | [
"Stains sometimes occur. Some women prefer darker colored fabrics which do not show stains as much as light colored fabrics do. Causes of staining do not include allowing the blood to dry, but using hot water when washing the pad will, as hot water sets protein stains (blood). Often, soaking pads for at least 4-6 h... |
Why have coups become so much less common in South America? | This is both a difficult and simple question to answer.
In short, democracies. As a general pattern, as states become democratic, their risk of suffering a military coup decreases.
[As a note, I am taking much of this answer from a broader (and unpublished) paper I have written about the causes of coups, but I can he... | [
"The increased incidence of military coups d'état since World War II, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, brought about a growing interest in academic and journalistic circles in studying the nature of such coups. Political upheaval in Africa led to military take-overs in Dahomey, Togo, Congo, and Uganda, to menti... |
Was the U.S. Civil War considered to be major world news at the time? How likely would it have been for an average European citizen to be aware of what was happening in the U.S.? | Heya! You might be interested in some of the threads in our [American Civil War, European Perspectives](_URL_0_) FAQ Section, especially:
* [What was the opinion of the people and workers of Northern England towards the Union or Confederate causes during the American Civil War, and the Cotton Famine that resulted from... | [
"In November 1914, three months after the beginning of the war, the \"New Statesmen\" published a lengthy anti-war supplement by Shaw, \"Common Sense About The War\", a scathing dissection of its causes, which castigated all nations involved but particularly savaged the British. It sold a phenomenal 75,000 copies b... |
How did Greece annexed Aegean Islands if Turks gave it to the Italians only to be returned after the Balkan War? | Italy seized the Dodecanese, including the larger island of Rhodes, during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. The Treaty of Ouchy, which ended that war, called for Italy to return the islands, but was vague enough that Italy held onto the islands.
After World War I, the Treaty of Sevres between the Ottomans and the vi... | [
"In 1864 the island was ceded to Greece with the rest of the Ionian Islands as part of Diapontia islands, but not occupied, coming under de facto Ottoman control. It was not until the First Balkan War in 1912 that Greece landed soldiers on the island and formally claimed it. After the end of the Second Balkan War i... |
why does your house get colder when it's cold outside? is it problem insulation or air flow? | tl;dr because houses in North America are built like shit.
Houses here are built with wood framing for the exterior walls and thin sheeting over that, usually. Fibreglass or rock wool goes into the void spaces between the studs, however, the studs usually still contact the interior wall face and conduct heat surprisi... | [
"In recent years its age has made it a difficult building to keep warm in the wintertime. Even with the windows closed, City Hall has been drafty. The city installed Cellular Shades, and later window insulating panels, to keep it warm.\n",
"Evaporative coolers tend to feel as if they are not working during times ... |
Best way to become acquainted with all major trends in modern historiography | All major trends?
I would systematically read all the book reviews in a top history journal, say, the *American Historical Review*. A good review will comment on the book's place in the stream of historiography on its topic, and hopefully at its larger placement within current trends. Not all reviews are this good, bu... | [
"20th-century historiography in major countries is characterized by a move to universities and academic research centers. Popular history continued to be written by self-educated amateurs, but scholarly history increasingly became the province of PhD's trained in research seminars at a university. The training emph... |
Could a natural nuclear fission detonation ever occur? | Not quite, but close.
For a detonation to occur, you need a nuclear bomb, which is a very complex and precise machine. This is probably too complex to be assembled by random natural processes. The closest which happens naturally is when Uranium ore deposits form, and then reach a supercritical concentration of fissile... | [
"Spontaneous fission gives much the same result as induced nuclear fission. However, like other forms of radioactive decay, it occurs due to quantum tunneling, without the atom having been struck by a neutron or other particle as in induced nuclear fission. Spontaneous fissions release neutrons as all fissions do, ... |
why do airplains not have enough parashoots for everyone in case of total failure and crash to avoid loss of life? | This is a repost of a question asked earlier today, but summarizing.
Most incidents involving fatalities are close to takeoff or landing, in which case parachutes would be useless.
Accidents involving high altitudes would involve jumping from a fast moving plane at high altitude. It's likely that passengers wo... | [
"First an airworthiness issue arises from an uncontrolled crash which is defined as a condition resulting from one or a combination of failure conditions that prevents the flight control system from maintaining the aircraft controllable and maneuverable until the impact on the ground AEP-4671 page A-5. To be certif... |
What is the oldest example of someone saying "These darn kids are screwing everything up." | Ancient Romans, particularly in the centuries bookending the year 0, really, *really* loved to say this kind of thing. This was especially true of men like Cicero and Cato, who were champions of the traditions of "old Rome" and the values supposedly espoused by their forebears.
Cicero's famous speeches against [Catil... | [
"This phrase presents the supposed reaction of a stereotypical elderly middle-class homeowner confronting boisterous children entering or crossing his or her property. Today, the phrase has been expanded to mock any sort of trivial or petty complaint, particularly those of older people regarding the young.\n",
"T... |
how can companies sue people for bad reviews as "liable and slander"? | They probably can't... but they might be able too.
There is a fairly nuanced (detailed) view of what is and is not slander. A product review is something that should probably be immune... but given what I've seen on the internet it may not be so simple. If people are spamming the review boards alleging things about ... | [
"At first glance, this may appear to be similar to defamation (libel and slander), but the basis for the harm is different, and the remedy is different in two respects. First, unlike libel and slander, no showing of actual harm or damage to the plaintiff is usually required in false light cases, and the court will ... |
how does a v configuration of an engine make it better than a normal engine? | It's mainly about saving space. 8 in a line is long and thin. Two rows of 4 is only about as long as a 4 cylinder engine but twice as wide. | [
"Some manufacturers (originally Lancia, and more recently Volkswagen with the VR6 engine) have attempted to combine advantages of the straight and V configurations by producing a narrow-angle V; this is more compact than either configuration, but is less smooth (without balancing) than either.\n",
"Various cylind... |
what is particle physics? | Particle physics is the branch of physics that investigates the smallest components of matter and energy.
Every piece of matter in the universe is made up of atoms. Inside those atoms are electrons, protons and neutrons. Inside of the protons and neutrons are various kinds of quarks.
Particle physicists explore the ... | [
"Particle physics (also known as high energy physics) is a branch of physics that studies the nature of the particles that constitute matter and radiation. Although the word \"particle\" can refer to various types of very small objects (e.g. protons, gas particles, or even household dust), usually investigates the ... |
Does drinking carbonation affect your oxygen intake? | Short answer:
Carbonated drinks have no significant effect upon your blood oxygen levels. The level of sodium in these drinks is not enough to be a significant health concern compared to other dietary sources of sodium (salty foods).
Long answer:
All water that you drink has carbon dioxide dissolved into it from the... | [
"Carbonation adds a festive flair to drinks. It also increases the absorption of the alcohol into the blood stream due to increased pressure in the stomach, potentially resulting in faster intoxication.\n",
"Excessive ethanol consumption may increase the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which results ... |
why do thermostats have a heat and cool setting? shouldn’t 70 degrees on heat feel the same as 70 on cool? 70 degrees is 70 degrees. | One is where the heater should turn on. One is where the AC cooling should turn on. There should be a several degree space between them, the zone of comfortable temperatures. | [
"Thermoelectric coolers operate by the Peltier effect (which also goes by the more general name thermoelectric effect). The device has two sides, and when a DC electric current flows through the device, it brings heat from one side to the other, so that one side gets cooler while the other gets hotter. The \"hot\" ... |
How would a state undo extreme currency hyperinflation? | This American Life had a story on exactly that topic.
[**The Lie That Saved Brazil**](_URL_0_)
> A trip to a country where the fiction that is money completely fell apart. And in this same country, through a truly incredible piece of policy making, the government tricked a 150,000,000 people into believing their mo... | [
"Hyperinflation is ended by drastic remedies, such as imposing the shock therapy of slashing government expenditures or altering the currency basis. One form this may take is dollarization, the use of a foreign currency (not necessarily the U.S. dollar) as a national unit of currency. An example was dollarization i... |
how does wind get such speed as 300kph? | It always comes down to density, really. All (or almost all) wind comes from less dense air going up and more dense air going down. The bigger the difference in density, more air is moving, or the longer the distance that dense air falls/light air rises, the stronger the winds. The simplest example is a microburst. In ... | [
"Historically, wind speeds have been reported with a variety of averaging times (such as fastest mile, 3-second gust, 1-minute and mean hourly) which designers may have to take into account. To convert wind speeds from one averaging time to another, the Durst Curve was developed which defines the relation between p... |
Do accreting binary stars have a habitable zone? | Let's see here. First, if you have a binary with a white dwarf/neutron star with a main sequence/giant star companion, the light from the WD/NS is going to be negligible. They are very faint compared to normal stars, and giants especially. So your habitable zone will depend only on the giant. However, the two stars wil... | [
"The habitable zone around a star is the region where the temperature is just right to allow liquid water to exist on a planet; that is, not too close to the star for the water to evaporate and not too far away from the star for the water to freeze. The heat produced by stars varies depending on the size and age of... |
why do companies care about their employee diversity? | There's a phenomenon called groupthink; where if a company would hire people with same views and stuff - they could not progress fast; and innovation would die, because they would all think the same thing with no one daring to contradict. Sometimes, some healthy conflict in brainstorming sessions would generate great i... | [
"Many major corporations recognize the need for diversity in hiring to compete successfully in a global economy. The challenge is to avoid recruiting staff who are \"in the likeness of existing employees\" but also to retain a more diverse workforce and work with inclusion strategies to include them in the organisa... |
is there any unclaimed land in the united states? | A vast amount of land is owned by the federal government, including most of the land in the middle of desolate forests.
_URL_0_
So yeah, all the land is owned by someone, probably the federal government for most land that you wouldn't think is owned by someone. | [
"The land is named by Captain Altamont, an American explorer, who is first to set foot on the land. In the novel as published, it is unclear whether New America is meant to be a territorial claim for the United States. As William Butcher points out, this would not be surprising, since Verne wrote about the US acqui... |
How does headache evolve? | [Here's a list of common headache etiologies, courtesy of Harrison's. ](_URL_0_)
More info from Harrison's:
> Pain usually occurs when peripheral nociceptors are stimulated in response to tissue injury, visceral distension, or other factors. In such situations, pain perception is a normal physiologic response media... | [
"Hypnic headaches are benign primary headaches that affect the elderly, with the average age of onset being 63 ± 11 years. They are moderate, throbbing, bilateral or unilateral headaches that wake the sufferer from sleep once or multiple times a night. They typically begin a few hours after sleep begins and can las... |
supposedly paper made a few centuries ago had better quality than paper nowadays, is this true, and why? | Wood pulp paper is what we are familiar with today. It is made in a similar way today as it was many years ago. However, today, it is made by machines. Before, it was made by hand. Making extremely thin paper is possible with a machine because you can precisely set up the exact dimensions of paper to create. Because ma... | [
"Paper was one of the greatest discoveries of ancient China. Beginning in the 3rd century BC paper was made in all sizes with various materials. Silk was no exception, and silk workers had been making paper since the 2nd century BC. Silk, bamboo, linen, wheat and rice straw were all used, and paper made with silk b... |
Has science now come to the certainty of 100% that an asteroid or meteor colliding with Earth was the cause of the dinosaur extinction? | It's a little more complicated than that. All dinosaur species didn't -go- extinct, as their decendants are still with us today, and many others went extinct long before the Chicxulub impact. But it is widely agreed that the mass extinction at the end of the cretaceous period was caused by the change in climate trigg... | [
"Previously, in a 1953 publication, geologists Allan O. Kelly and Frank Dachille analyzed global geological evidence suggesting that one or more giant asteroids impacted the Earth, causing an angular shift in its axis, global floods, fire, atmospheric occlusion, and the extinction of the dinosaurs. There were other... |
How does light actually interact with molecules? | It's a bit hard to answer without knowing what exactly you mean by "on a chemical level", but let me try.
From a physics standpoint, a molecule is a bunch of positive point-like charges (the atomic nuclei) and a number of negatively charged point particles (the atomic electrons) interacting with each other. As you kno... | [
"When light encounters a material, it can interact with it in several different ways. These interactions depend on the wavelength of the light and the nature of the material. Photons interact with an object by some combination of reflection, absorption and transmission.\n",
"As light interacts with the molecule b... |
Will/has the flag on the moon get/gotten bleached white from UV exposure? | Yes, the flags that were put on the moon are now white.
[Source](_URL_0_) | [
"Since the nylon flag was purchased from a government catalog, it was not designed to handle the harsh conditions of space. Some experts theorize that the colors of some flags may have turned white due to sunlight and space radiation. It was also theorized that the fabric might have disintegrated entirely. A review... |
Does the spin of the earth have any significant effect on the time it takes to complete a trans-pacific flight vs a trans-atlantic flight? | Nope, the plane is in the rotating reference frame.
But, it actually does because the coriolis force contributes to atmospheric winds, among them the jet stream which runs in one direction only and aircraft can take advantage of! | [
"The resultant motion of the Earth's axis is called general precession and the equinox points in the ecliptic move westward along the ecliptic at the rate of about 50.3 seconds of arc per year as a result. In 25,772 years the points are once again at the same point in the sky where observations began.\n",
"Follow... |
What color were earth's sky and oceans prior to the Great Oxygenation Event? | [Perhaps Orange](_URL_0_)
> Earth’s atmosphere is thought to have originally been methane-rich, which would have given the sky an orange cast. | [
"Solid oxygen forms at normal atmospheric pressure at a temperature below 54.36 K (−218.79 °C, −361.82 °F). Solid oxygen O, like liquid oxygen, is a clear substance with a light sky-blue color caused by absorption in the red part of the visible light spectrum.\n",
"There was no free oxygen in earth's atmosphere u... |
Since Hawking Radiation increases as the mass of a black hole decreases, can't micro black holes be used as perfect mass-to-energy converters? | Interesting thoughts. However, have you considered what the size of your black hole would have to be? For a black hole of that mass you'll have a schwarzchild radius of roughly 10^-19 m.
That is you'd have to pack 600 000 tons worth of matter into a volume 10^27 or so times smaller than a hydrogen atom.
Sure you mig... | [
"Hawking radiation reduces the mass and rotation energy of black holes and is therefore also known as black hole evaporation. Because of this, black holes that do not gain mass through other means are expected to shrink and ultimately vanish. Micro black holes are predicted to be larger emitters of radiation than l... |
Why are the Yugoslav partisans considered the most effective resistance movement in WW2? | Do you ask why were they so effective or why are they "considered the most effective" the latter part being somewhat subjective?
Well their importance and effectiveness is probably due to the size and nature of the resistance movement. It was not small scattered resistance groups that do sabotage like (at least I ima... | [
"Two resistance movements soon emerged in occupied Yugoslavia, the almost exclusively ethnic Serb and monarchist Chetniks, led by Draža Mihailović, and the multi-ethnic and communist-led Partisans, under Josip Broz Tito. The approaches of the two resistance movements differed in important respects from the beginnin... |
Why were noblewomen inclined to become nuns? | There were a number of reasons for women becoming nuns, either as young women or later in life (or, as in the case you mentioned of Marie Countess of Boulogne, both).
*Later life*
Some women felt a genuine calling. Maud de Ufford, the widow of first William de Burgh earl of Ulster, then of Ralph de Ufford, justiciar ... | [
"Because of her high status, several nobles who had decided their daughters would become nuns, entrusted them to Mary's custody. In this the royal family had probably given an example. Mary's half-sister, Eleanor of England (born 4 May 1306), her father's daughter by his second wife, Margaret of France, died in 131... |
what is the difference between a suit and a tuxedo? | There are lots of kinds of suits. One type of suit is called a Tuxedo.
The Tuxedo is characterized by colored or black flat lapels that don't connect, bow ties, a waistcoat/low cut vest, trousers with a stripe down the side that match the lapels, diagonal buttons and a handkerchief in the pocket.
The Tuxedo is the tr... | [
"The word \"suit\" derives from the French \"suite\", meaning \"following\", from some Late Latin derivative form of the Latin verb \"sequor\" = \"I follow\", because the component garments (jacket and trousers and waistcoat) follow each other and have the same cloth and colour and are worn together.\n",
"\"Tuxed... |
if a child was raised in a home where a different accent was spoken around it everyday (7 different accents, same days every week), when it was at the age of holding a conversation what accent would it have? | They would say some words in one accent and then other words in other accents. If the person who spoke in an Irish accent mostly talked about food with them, then food vocabulary would be spoken in an Irish accent. It's also quite possible that the child would speak with each person with the accent of the adult.
| [
"Children are able to take on accents relatively quickly. Children of immigrant families, for example, generally have a more native-like pronunciation than their parents, but both children and parents may have a noticeable non-native accent. Accents seem to remain relatively malleable until a person's early twentie... |
- how do counterfeit pens work? | currency paper is a mixture of cotton and linen with no cellulose. The iodine in the pen reacts with the starch (cellulose) in lower quality counterfeit bills paper causing a dark stain to form. Genuine bills fail to react and the iodine evaporates after a short time. | [
"Such pens are most effective against counterfeit notes printed on a standard printer or photocopier paper. The chemical properties of US banknotes prior to 1960 are such that marking pens do not work. One example of this complication taking place happened in 2016, in which a 13 year-old student was arrested by pol... |
Does evolution possess the ability to create a life-form that doesn't die due to aging ? | Meet the ["immortal jellyfish"](_URL_0_).
| [
"The biological immortality was a result of their evolution as the 'top monster on a planet full of monsters', where strong natural selection pressure and a strong background radiation (causing mutations) prevented the biological immortality from stifling the evolution of the species. Though they do not die from ol... |
how do/can/why do smaller carriers (metro pcs, cricket etc.) offer unlimited 4g data for $50 while at & t/sprint charge upwards of $100? | Bigger companies have better network coverage. | [
"The service offers several data transmission speed tiers for subscribers. Originally, peak speeds topped out at 30 Mbit/s. Until 2014, upload speeds were slower than download speeds for any given plan, but Verizon decided to increase the upload speed to match the download speed of each tier. As of 2017, upload and... |
why is affirmative action rase-based on not class-based for colleges? | Student Aid is made available on the basis of income level. | [
"Proponents of affirmative action argue that by nature the system is not only race based, but also class and gender based. To eliminate two of its key components would undermine the purpose of the entire system. The African American Policy Forum believes that the class based argument is based on the idea that non-p... |
What writing materials tend to be best and worst preserved over time? | It depends less on the material and more on the conditions that preserve them. Inorganic matter, like stone and clay, are not prone to rot or mould, and even erosion from the elements takes time.
Organic matter can be observed in a variety of situations, but the key is a lack of bacteria that will prevent decompositio... | [
"Paper made from wood pulp is not necessarily less durable than a rag paper. The aging behavior of a paper is determined by its manufacture, not the original source of the fibers. Furthermore, tests sponsored by the Library of Congress prove that all paper is at risk of acid decay, because cellulose itself produces... |
how does the body know what to take in and put out? | It isn't a question of "knowing", the body simply does what the chemistry dictates. Think about a set of interlocking gears, how do they "know" to turn in sync? They don't of course, they don't have any way to do otherwise. This is basically how the body works, just with chemicals rather than gears. | [
"The substance that has been taken may often be determined by asking the person. However, if they will not, or cannot, due to an altered level of consciousness, provide this information, a search of the home or questioning of friends and family may be helpful.\n",
"Apheresis (ἀφαίρεσις (\"aphairesis\", \"a taking... |
After discovering the "New World", did anyone predict (wrongly) there was a 2nd massive continent between the Americas and Asia? | There certainly was a strong belief in a large undiscovered land mass in the unexplored portion of the globe around this time, but it was thought to lie further to the south.
I covered the basics of what was believed about this mysterious continent, which appeared on charts of globes for centuries, in my book *Batavia... | [
"The map's cartographer, Matteo Ricci, gave a brief description of the discovery of the Americas. \"In olden days, nobody had ever known that there were such places as North and South America or Magellanica (using a name that early mapmakers gave to a supposed continent including Australia, Antarctica, and Tierra d... |
Can someone help me find the spectra of the TRAPPIST-1 Exoplanets? | The data you are looking for is from Hubble. Hubble data can be found [here](_URL_0_) and [here](_URL_2_). You can always find information about astronomical objects in the big databases, like [Simbad](_URL_1_).
Also, you can always ask authors of studies if they can give you data or if they can tell you, where you c... | [
"TRAPPIST-1f, also designated as 2MASS J23062928-0502285 f, is an exoplanet, likely rocky but under a massive water-steam gaseous envelope at very high pressure and temperature, orbiting within the habitable zone around the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 39 light-years (12 parsecs) away from Earth in the constella... |
why is it that when you uninstall something on your computer, there are still folders related to what you uninstalled left behind with nothing in them ? | On Windows, you can't immediately delete a file that is being accessed by some application or service. Consequently, you can't remove the directory that contains this file, even if you don't need it anymore.
Now, you can tell Windows to delay the file's removal until it's closed (no longer accessed). That's why the fi... | [
"A cluttered email inbox arises when a user does not have a system for archiving some messages and deleting others that are no longer wanted. Electronic documents can become clutter if a user does not delete extraneous files, or if the files are poorly organized (e.g. inconsistent folder structure, empty folders). ... |
Do proteins start to fold as they are being built by the ribosome? | Short answer is yes, as protein chains emerge from the ribosome they begin to fold. However there is a great deal of complexity in folding after emerging from the ribosomes. Some chains are sequestered by chaperones to prevent them folding incorrectly as they emerge, this greatly extends the folding time for such prote... | [
"The ribosome is known to actively participate in the protein folding. The structures obtained in this way are usually identical to the ones obtained during protein chemical refolding, however, the pathways leading to the final product may be different. In some cases, the ribosome is crucial in obtaining the functi... |
how do they simulate the smoking of crystal meth in shows such as "breaking bad"? | Its just rock candy that they dont inhale. | [
"In 2012, \"Crystal Blue Persuasion\" was used in the eighth episode of the fifth season of \"Breaking Bad\", \"Gliding Over All\", during a montage depicting the process involved to bring main character Walter White's methamphetamine operation and its signature blue crystal meth to an international level. This mon... |
from where do you measure height of moutains and depth of seas? | Mean sea level is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earth's oceans from which heights such as elevations may be measured.
- Wikipedia | [
"It's distributional range extends from the Red Sea to Tonga, then from Japan to the Great Barrier Reef. It can be found in Brackish water and Salt water, with a depth range of 1 – 70 metres (3 ft - 229 ft), although it is usually seen at depths of 1 – 30 metres (3 ft - 98 ft).\n",
"United States Virgin Islands, ... |
how do babies know to drink/eat | Sucking and swallowing is a natural instinct a baby is born with. During development the brain just automatically produces that instinct.
In babies that are born extremely premature, the brain doesn't have time to develop and mature enough to produce that instinct and they have to be taught how to suck, swallow, and ... | [
"Providing an infant with table foods initiates the development of strong oral motor control for chewing and swallowing, including tongue lateralization and eventual bolus formation. When an infant mouths a food texture, the tongue lateralization reflex forces them to move their tongue to the side to lick and taste... |
Vegetarians claim that it takes 1300 gallons of water to produce a piece of meat that is put in just one hamburger. Can anybody explain? | If you [enter "1300 gallons" into Google](_URL_1_), the fourth result is [a Wall Street Journal article](_URL_0_) that explains exactly what it means. | [
"In an interview published in 2006, Park was quoted as saying that, over the previous 13 years, he had consumed 4,380 turkeys (one a day), 87,600 mince pies (20 a day), 2,190 pints of gravy (half a pint a day), 26,280 roast potatoes (six a day), 30,660 stuffing balls, 219,000 mushy peas, 4,380 bottles of champagne,... |
how did ronda rousey go from a role model to a national joke just by losing one fight? | First, there was a *lot* of hype about her, especially compared to fighters in other weight classes and male fighters. At one point a national publication named her the best pound for pound fighter, male or female. I'm all for equality, but the notion she wouldn't be destroyed by the 100th best male fighter in her we... | [
"Tate declared that most of the media attention surrounding Rousey was due to Rousey being \"pretty.\" She also claimed that Rousey hadn't been truly tested in her career, stating, \"She's been carefully matched, she’s been pampered and she’s been protected. The truth is, going into this world title fight with me, ... |
How do we know what makes up the center of the world? | The primary way that the different layers of the earth were discovered was through seismology. An earthquake creates a wave that begins near the Earth's surface and propagates outwards in all directions, all the way across the planet if it's strong enough. With sensitive detectors you can feel earthquakes from all over... | [
"BULLET::::- Durham, Jimmie. (1998) \"The Centre of the World is Several Places (Parts I & II).\" Interview by Beverly Koski and Richard William Hill (Berlin, February 1998). \"FUSE Magazine\" vol. 21, nos. 3 & 4, 1998. pp. 24–33 & 46-53, respectively.\n",
"Knowledge of the location of Earth has been shaped by 40... |
How do our brains mark "the place where X happened" on our interior maps? Do positive and negative experiences store differently, or is it the strength of the emotion that counts most? | While not a complete answer, here are a couple of points that may help:
- The hippocampus location stamps memories. That is, it stores spatial information (like where you are in the spatial map) along with other relevant information.
- The amygdala (limbic system) has a memory enhancement effect that enhances LTP ... | [
"Psychologists have used methods such as factor analysis to attempt to map emotion-related responses onto a more limited number of dimensions. Such methods attempt to boil emotions down to underlying dimensions that capture the similarities and differences between experiences. Often, the first two dimensions uncove... |
why is the iran deal good? how do we know that iran isn't tricking us and iran will blow up the whole world with their atomic weapons? | The whole point of the deal is that yesterday we couldn't watch them and they very well *could* have just tricked us and made nukes, but tomorrow we can watch them.
It's not like the deal is to smile and say "Okay Iran we'll stop paying attention now". The deal is that we're allowed to watch them now. Our ability to p... | [
"Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the Iran nuclear deal a \"historic mistake\", told President Barack Obama that Israel was under increased threat because of the deal and said in a statement, “In the coming decade, the deal will reward Iran, the terrorist regime in Tehran, with hundreds of billions of dollars. This c... |
How much continent-wide dispersal of information was there among pre-contact native americans? | Bummer that you got no answer, this is a really interesting question.
If you wanted to make it a research project, then the accounts of travelers like Lewis and Clark might be a good place to start. You'd have to comb through them looking for moments like what you reproduced above, where they actually noted this kind ... | [
"There remain uncertainties regarding the precise dating of individual sites and regarding conclusions drawn from population genetics studies of contemporary Native Americans. It is also an open question whether this post-LGM migration represented the first peopling of the Americas, or whether there had been an ear... |
Did Latin Romans ever think that they were the superior race? | Sort of, but not in the same way that modern white supremacists think of 'superior race.'
Romans, like Greeks, divided the world into civilized peoples and barbarians. Civilization was related to one's birth into a kin-group (the Roman words for 'people,' natio and gens, both refer etymologically to someone's birth: t... | [
"Aristotle thought that men were naturally superior to women and Greeks naturally superior to other races; Victorians thought white men had to shoulder the burden of being superior to savages; and Nazis thought Aryans were a master race. We have come to reject these and many other supposedly natural hierarchies; th... |
Was the confederacy and its soldiers viewed as a separate country during the Civil War, or were they still viewed as United States citizens by the government? Did the citizens of the North view them differently? | They were not, as doing so would have legitimized their claim. /u/khosikulu gives a good post on why no outside government recognized the CSA [here](_URL_1_).
> In effect, any nation recognizing the Confederacy as a separate nation would be making war against the Union. (Secretary of State) Seward made this quite c... | [
"served in both the Union and Confederate military during the American Civil War. Many of the tribes viewed the Confederacy as the better choice due to its opposition to a central federal system which lacked a respect for the sovereignty of Indian nations. In addition, some Native American tribes, such as the Creek... |
What were German strategies like in the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa? | I think it might help to generate better answers if you left a comment with specific questions. I think you are asking what the plans were at a lower level than "invade Russia".
I know there was an Army Group North that went after Leningrad, Army Group Center went after Moscow, and Army Group South was sent to take t... | [
"Operation \"Barbarossa\", the German invasion plan, called for the capture of Moscow within four months. On 22 June 1941, Axis forces invaded the Soviet Union, destroyed most of the Soviet Air Force on the ground, and advanced deep into Soviet territory using \"blitzkrieg\" tactics to destroy entire Soviet armies.... |
why, as you get older do muscles get "wear & tear" whereas you can workout at the gym and get "wear & repair" | Wear & tear applies to joints and ligaments. With muscle, the phrase "use it or lose it" is more suitable. | [
"Wear and tear theories of aging suggest that as an individual ages, body parts such as cells and organs wear out from continued use. Wearing of the body can be attributable to internal or external causes that eventually lead to an accumulation of insults which surpasses the capacity for repair. Due to these intern... |
Why are cables connecting towers in a suspension bridge in the form of a parabola? Is this better from a structural standpoint or is it purely aesthetic? | I very much doubt that this is actually a parabola. I suspect it is a [catenary](_URL_0_), otherwise known as a hyperbolic cosine. It turns out that a chain being hung by its endpoints naturally assumes a hyperbolic cosine shape, which looks like a parabola but is not one.
Edit: [I'm wrong](_URL_0_#Suspension_bridge_c... | [
"In the cable-stayed bridge, the towers are the primary load-bearing structures that transmit the bridge loads to the ground. A cantilever approach is often used to support the bridge deck near the towers, but lengths further from them are supported by cables running directly to the towers. This has the disadvantag... |
Why are bubbles white? | Light gets refracted every time it passes through the surface of a bubble. When there is just one large bubble, it just gets refracted on the way in and the way out, but it is still coherent enough to form an image (though usually warped).
When there are lots of small bubbles together, the light is refracted many tim... | [
"Adding coloured dye to bubble mixtures fails to produce coloured bubbles, because the dye attaches to the water molecules as opposed to the surfactant. Therefore, a colourless bubble forms with the dye falling to a point at the base. Dye chemist Dr. Ram Sabnis has developed a lactone dye that sticks to the surfact... |
How do Olympiads keep breaking world records? Won't there come a point where they can be broken no longer? | Of course there *is* a limit, but the limit can be pushed further and further with the proper technology, diet and training. Maybe someone discovers a new technique for sprinting, or a better way to propel yourself at the start of the race. Or a new method of acceleration? Or perhaps someone discovers a diet that gives... | [
"From 1999 to 2012, the American Classic Arcade Museum hosted the Annual Classic Videogame and Pinball Tournament, where people came from all over the world to try to beat records on the arcade games housed in the museum. Referees from \"Guinness World Records\" were on hand to verify the record attempts. At the 10... |
how does pulling up the knob on a bathtub faucet make the water come out the shower head? | When you lift the lever ..inside the faucet is a flap. The flap.closes making the water move up the pipe. If you have a small stream and put your hand in front of it..the water goes where there isn't a hand . Same thought | [
"A computer simulation of a typical bathroom found that none of the above theories pan out in their analysis, but instead found that the spray from the shower-head drives a horizontal vortex. This vortex has a low-pressure zone in the centre, which sucks the curtain.\n",
"Up-N-Away was the name of a vertical-slid... |
In a zero G environment, would a rotating ring actually create artificial gravity? | Centrifugal gravity doesn't work quite like real gravity. Depending on which way you run around the ring, you feel heavier or lighter. If you jump straight 'up' you won't land quite where you started. Trying to throw things accurately would be difficult.
In your scenario where the ball is at rest and the ring is ro... | [
"BULLET::::- A Ringworld (or Niven Ring) is an artificial ring encircling a star, rotating faster than orbital velocity to create artificial gravity on its inner surface. A non-rotating variant is a transparent ring of breathable gas, creating a continuous microgravity environment around the star, as in the eponymo... |
Putting it in simple terms, how is this experiment demonstrating the "quantum teleportation of information"? | First of all, quantum teleportation demonstrates that quantum information physicists are really good at naming things in a way that gets the public interested :).
Let me try to explain the textbook quantum teleportation technique (the actual experiment probably differs from this). First, we come up with an entangled ... | [
"A local explanation of quantum teleportation is put forward by David Deutsch and Patrick Hayden, with respect to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Their paper asserts that the two bits that Alice sends Bob contain \"locally inaccessible information\" resulting in the teleportation of the quantum... |
What would a human look like if it were conceived, gestated, and born in zero gravity? | Disclaimer: the following has a large amount of conjecture since this has not been observed yet.
[This paper suggests](_URL_3_):
> Absence of gravitational loading during the last trimester of gestation would cause hypotrophy of the spinal extensors and lower extremities muscles, reduction in the amount of myosin hea... | [
"In reality, Lawton had rescued the artificial human and was raising it as his own child in secret, thanks to some help from Dr. Bell. When \"Michi\" (\"his\" name) accidentally rendered its \"father\" unconscious and went out to play, he stopped a truck from running over a girl selling flowers. When the boy was mo... |
how a cpu working at 3.00 ghz and 40nm could potentially be less powerful than a cpu working at 2.50 ghz but 22 nm. | Gigahertz isn't everything. How efficient the CPU is at using cores matters, number of cores/threads, etc.
Intel CPUs (the 22nm one) have stronger single core performance than AMD equivalent CPUs. If the programs you compare (so most games) don't make use of extra cores the Intel CPUs generally come up trumps.
Secon... | [
"The processor has 10.4 million transistors, is manufactured by BAE Systems using either 250 or 150 nm process and has a die area of 130 mm². It operates at 110 to 200 MHz. The CPU itself can withstand 200,000 to 1,000,000 Rads and temperature ranges between −55 and 125 °C.\n",
"First figures indicate that at equ... |
How reliable are the various stories listed in _URL_0_? If it is unreliable, how can I refute their claims? | It's all complete bullshit, but I suppose you already knew that... It's just some fraud deriving wholly unjustified conclusions from some pictures or models that vaguely look like aircraft or even drawing the pictures themselves by reading Indian poetry.
All the information comes from three ridiculous books written by... | [
"The story must be documented by reliable sources: e.g., reputable newspaper articles, confirmed television reports, or responsible eyewitnesses. If a story is found to be untrue, it is disqualified, but particularly amusing ones are placed in the urban legend section of the archives. Despite this requirement, many... |
What is the history of private property? When and where did the idea emerge, and how has it evolved through history? | As you said it's a very broad question, but in terms of modern economics and society:
Adam Smith is perhaps one of the most well known capitalist economists, but he developed his theories from the ideas of the [physiocrats](_URL_0_), a group of French economists during the Enlightenment. They are often refered to as t... | [
"The question of ownership reaches back to the ancient philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, who held different opinions on the subject. Plato (428/427 BC – 348/347 BC) thought private property created divisive inequalities, while Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) thought private property enabled people to receive the full ... |
why do phones measure power as ma and mah, while laptops use watts and wh? | Phones use a single 3.7 volt cell so Watt-Hours can be calculated by multiplying AH times 3.7 volts. Laptops use various numbers of cells, so WH gives a better predictor of performance.
Amp-Hours are used when comparing cells of the same voltage. | [
"It is most effective on laptop computers. Laptops are specifically designed to allow power use to be both monitored and controlled. In particular, many laptop computers can measure the rate of battery use (when not connected to mains power). PowerTOP uses this feature to estimate power usage in Watts and battery l... |
do your internal organs have colour while still inside you? | Whether or not light is present, they have properties that cause them to reflect certain wavelengths of light, so I think you could argue they still have a color. Neat question though. What is color? The reflected wavelengths or the properties that cause certain wavelengths to be reflected? | [
"Internal organs, or viscera, may also be preserved in the specimen as reddish areas. One is located in the thoracic cavity low in the ribcage, while the other is located in the upper portion of the abdominal cavity just behind the ribcage. The reddish areas were analysed with mass spectrometry and were shown to co... |
If everything in a black hole is compressed into a singularity, does all the mass just turn into one massive atom? | The singularity is not part of spacetime, so it doesn't make sense to say there is any mass there. So what happens to objects that cross the event horizon? We don't really know. The fact that GR predicts that all paths inside the event horizon move toward the singularity is a problem with the theory. The theory is not ... | [
"In the frame of reference that is co-moving with the collapsing matter, general relativity models without quantum mechanics have all the matter ending up in an infinitely dense singularity at the center of the event horizon. (If one uses the UFT Einstein–Maxwell–Dirac system or its generalizations, then the singul... |
why does the sound of people whispering to each other sound more irritable to our ears, than people talking to each other at a normal tone, while we are trying to concentrate on some work? | Higher pitched sounds like whispers remain audible for longer distances.
If you're in a library and someone is whispering, you're more likely to have your brain's innate "someone is talking, listen!" sense repeatedly activated. | [
"Psychological noise results from preconceived notions we bring to conversations, such as racial stereotypes, reputations, biases, and assumptions. When we come into a conversation with ideas about what the other person is going to say and why, we can easily become blinded to their original message. Most of the tim... |
How far would two objects have to be apart for gravity and expansion of space to cancel each other out? | 30cm or so.
Calculation, using (kilograms, meters, seconds units): F = m*a = (G * m1 * m2)/r^2
Local acceleration of the universe's expansion, UE, is [7E-10 m/s^2](_URL_0_)
We can cancel all the m's because they equal 1.
So the equation to solve is UE = G / r^2.
G = 6.67E-11
So r = sqrt(G/UE) = sqrt(6.67E-11/7E-10... | [
"The two-body problem is interesting in astronomy because pairs of astronomical objects are often moving rapidly in arbitrary directions (so their motions become interesting), widely separated from one another (so they won't collide) and even more widely separated from other objects (so outside influences will be s... |
How would you address a Roman aristocrat? | The famous line *"Ave, imperator, morituri te salutant"* ([Suet. Claud. 21,6](_URL_0_)) is a perfect example for the typical combination of salutation (ave or salve) in combination with the highest title of the addressed.
There's also some evidence on the use of *dominus* (sir/lord) in an episode about Augustus ([Suet... | [
"\"Aristocrat\" and aristocracy, in modern usage, refer colloquially and broadly to persons who inherit elevated social status, whether due to membership in the (formerly) official nobility or the monied upper class.\n",
"BULLET::::- the constant feuds between aristocrats in archaic Greece, and their struggles to... |
Is there a historical reason why swing states exist in U.S. politics? | Swings states often don't have unpredictable voting patterns, they are simply more evenly divided. As a basic model, think of three states. A is 45% Democratic voters, 35% Republican voters, 20% swing voters. B is 45% Republican, 35% Democratic, 20% swing. C is 40% Democratic, 40% Republican, 20% swing. For the Republi... | [
"A consensus among political pundits developed throughout the primary election season regarding swing states. From the results of presidential elections from 2004 through to 2012, the Democratic and Republican parties would generally start with a safe electoral vote count of about 150 to 200. However, the margins r... |
Which denomination of Christianity was the first to actively preach anti-homosexuality or campaign against homosexuals? And when? | You would find a very useful starting point in Mark Jordan's *The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology* (1998) where he traces the first explicit and fixated attention on "sodomy" as meaning same-sex relations to the 11th-century writings of theologian Peter Damian. John Boswell's *Christianity, Social Tolerance,... | [
"This has precipitated crises in various Christian denominations, resulting from divergent construals of Christian ethical doctrines (see Homosexuality and Christianity), which in turn are associated with the interpretation of the Bible (exegesis and hermeneutics). Traditionally, Christian doctrine has categorized ... |
what influences the color of snot? | As far as I know is the bacteria-dead cells and how intense the cold is or flu. The stronger the infection..the greener the snot and thicker. | [
"Melanin (; from \"melas\", \"black, dark\") is a broad term for a group of natural pigments found in most organisms. Melanin is produced through a multistage chemical process known as melanogenesis, where the oxidation of the amino acid tyrosine is followed by polymerization. The melanin pigments are produced in a... |
the modern purpose of british royalty? | > I understand that they bring a lot of tourism, do a lot of work as international ambassadors and some even do a lot of good work for charitable organisations. Yet they do not govern and still cost the tax-payer millions of dollars
The profit they bring in from tourism outweighs their cost as a tax expenditure. Also... | [
"The Royal Institution was founded as the result of a proposal by the American-born Bavarian Count Rumford for the \"formation by Subscription, in the Metropolis of the British Empire, of a Public Institution for diffusing the Knowledge and facilitating the general Introduction of useful Mechanical Inventions and I... |
We often hear of "killing the messenger," but how dangerous was it, really, to be a messenger bearing bad news or unwelcome demands in Classical or Medieval Europe/Near East/North Africa? | That's an interesting and really broad question, so I'll just deal with the Roman period. There were numerous factors protecting the bearers of bad news in this period.
Messengers within Republican Rome itself to the Senate for instance could be anybody: they could be civilians carrying news from somewhere else. They ... | [
"Until the advent of modern telecommunication, messages were usually delivered by human envoys. For example, in war, a messenger would be sent from one camp to another. If the message was unfitting, the receiver might blame the messenger for such bad news and take their anger out on them.\n",
"On 22 September 201... |
What is likely to have been the first audible event in the universe, had someone been around to hear it? | Sound is actually the same as any other wave in the universe. The only thing that matters is it's frequency. Human ears have been tuned to react to the wave frequencies between 20 to 20,000 Hz (oscillations per second).
Seeing how you said "audible" in your question than that means you are actually asking "what was t... | [
"no eye had seen before and no ear had heard of. Do you know how all this came about? It was the supplications during the dark nights of one who had lost himself in God which caused a revolution in the world, and showed such wonders as could never have been expected from that Unlettered and Helpless one [the Holy P... |
A "biohacker" with a PhD in biophysics says he's modified his DNA with CRISPR. What's the reality of this? | Editing DNA with CRISPR is absolutely possible. But it kinda depends on what he means by "modifying his DNA." Sure, you can change it in a test tube, or even in a living cell. But changing the DNA in every cell in the human body is still an impossibly tall order.
That day will come. But we're years, if not decades, aw... | [
"As of March 2015, multiple groups had announced ongoing research with the intention of laying the foundations for applying CRISPR to human embryos for human germline engineering, including labs in the US, China, and the UK, as well as US biotechnology company OvaScience. Scientists, including a CRISPR co-discovere... |
how does depression in humans compare to depression in animals? | That is hard to answer because depression in people is diagnosed largely by how they subjectively feel and how they think, something animals can’t really tell us. | [
"Certain types of human depression are precipitated by stressful life events, and vulnerable individuals experiencing these stressors may develop clinical depression. Consequently, the majority of animal models of depression are based on the exposure to various types of acute or chronic stressors.\n",
"Models of ... |
why is there so much meat on chickens when all they do is stand around clucking all day? | Chickens today are bred to have larger breasts, AND they usually get pumped full of hormones to make them grow quickly. I live in an area with many commercial chicken farms, and they all can take a chick straight from the egg to full grown bird ready to eat in less than 2 months. HERE IS THE KICKER. All of my friends w... | [
"Keeping chickens as pets became increasingly popular in the 2000s among urban and suburban residents. Many people obtain chickens for their egg production but often, will also name them and treat them as any other pet. Chickens are just like any other pet in that they provide companionship and have individual pers... |
Why are the natives of New Zealand seemingly more integrated and less disenfranchised (comparatively) than those of Australia and the Americas? | I am not sure I would agree that Maoris are more integrated and less disenfranchised than indigenous groups of Australia and "the Americas." The Americas includes a lot of different independent countries, and each country has a different track record with regard to disenfranchisement and integration. As far as the Ma... | [
"New Zealand is a country that is isolated from much of the rest of the world geographically, culturally, socially and gastronomically. New Zealanders are predominantly of European ancestry, although there exists a notable number of Asians, and Polynesians including indigenous Māori. It is perhaps not surprising th... |
When did the catholic church first start to punish heresy with death? | The short answer is never.
The long answer is that the Church in the medieval period did not carry out punishments on heretics, but that heretic who were to be punished were handed over to secular authorities (i.e. the local king/count/duke etc.) to be punished. But in the vast majority of cases, this was not a punish... | [
"Within five years of the official 'criminalization' of heresy by the emperor, the first Christian heretic, Priscillian, was executed in 385 by Roman officials. For some years after the Protestant Reformation, Protestant denominations were also known to execute those whom they considered heretics.\n",
"Within six... |
Want to know where my grandma was held during WWII | You should contact the [Bund der Vertriebenen](_URL_2_) or the [Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft](_URL_1_) ([German homepage](_URL_0_)). | [
"The names of the 53 people forced to leave their homes for internment camps during World War II are etched into the floor planks. The communal, military-style camps were ringed by barbed wire and guard towers. Mary Tanaka Abo, one of John Tanaka’s sisters, attended the dedication ceremony along with her extended f... |
why aren't more laws created or changed by grandfathering them in years or even decades from now? | Because a grandfathered in law can still be changed before it goes into effect. Sure, *now* it won't hit hard, but in 10 years when it's about to happen? People in Congress *then* are going to be de-elected if it actually goes into effect. So, they'll put it off, or scrap it.
Besides that, setting a policy to happen i... | [
"BULLET::::- Laws should be relatively stable and not changed too often, as with frequently changing laws it may be hard for people to keep themselves updated. People need to know what the law is both for short- and long-term planning.\n",
"Ideas about the nature of law in general were beginning to change. In 171... |
how do electricity companies increase the supply to deal with surges in demand like big sporting events on tv and where does the spare power get kept when it's not needed? | They monitor the demand, and they have rapid-response small generating plants (peaker plants) that they will turn on as needed.
_URL_0_
They work hard to notice patterns in demand so they can predict spikes. Like [tea time.](_URL_1_)
| [
"Shedding loads during peak demand is important because it reduces the need for new power plants. To respond to high peak demand, utilities build very capital-intensive power plants and lines. Peak demand happens just a few times a year, so those assets run at a mere fraction of their capacity. Electric users pay f... |
why is it seemingly easier to converse with someone face-to-face than it is with someone you can't physically see (for instance, over the phone)? | We are very visually oriented and facial recognition is important in bonding and socializing. We also tend to relate to things that look similar to us more easily and without something to look at and remind us of our similarities, socialization becomes more difficult. Besides that, phones slightly distort the sound c... | [
"When two or more people engage in conversation, the person that converses is accustomed to being looked at. Therefore, making eye contact and mimicking the eye contact creates a mirrored effect to the other person to expect conversation and dialogue.\n",
"When two or more individuals talk, the person that talks ... |
why does strong encryption matter if passwords can be cracked easily through brute force anyway? | Encryption stores a password in a a secret code. So even if someone can hack a server to find your password, they wouldn’t be able to read it without knowing how to crack the secret code. This is added security. It would be like putting that crappy building lock in a very strong safe/box that can only be opened with a ... | [
"The key length used in the encryption determines the practical feasibility of performing a brute force attack, with longer keys exponentially more difficult to crack than shorter ones. Brute force attacks can be made less effective by obfuscating the data to be encoded, something that makes it more difficult for a... |
If placed in a controlled environment, do trees that normally undergo seasonal leaf Abcission stop losing their leaves? | I'm not any kind of expert, but no one else has answered this; so I looked it up, and I'll try my best.
From what I'm reading, deciduous abscission results from a decrease in production of auxin in the leaves. This triggers a physical change in a dual layer of cells connecting the leaf to the tree, called (appropriate... | [
"In botany and horticulture, deciduous plants, including trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, are those that lose all of their leaves for part of the year. This process is called abscission. In some cases leaf loss coincides with winter—namely in temperate or polar climates. In other parts of the world, includi... |
magnetotherapy | Short answer is it doesn't actually do anything.
It's a pseudoscience that people claim actually works. Their is no well done study that shows it as a viable means of treatment. The results aren't reproducible and nothing has passed peer reviewed. | [
"Magnetobiology is a subset of bioelectromagnetics. Bioelectromagnetism and biomagnetism are the study of the \"production\" of electromagnetic and magnetic fields by biological organisms. The \"sensing\" of magnetic fields by organisms is known as magnetoreception.\n",
"Magnetocardiography (MCG) is a technique t... |
What is the first reliable date in Chinese history? | Dates are notoriously difficult things to substantiate. Are you asking for a rough period? a year? a day?
Roughly - We know about Longshan and Erlitou cultures from the archeological record, but there is no evidence to suggest that either were the semi-legendary Xia Dynasty. Nothing about the Xia is especially databl... | [
"The earliest securely dated event in Chinese history is the start of the Gonghe Regency in 841 BC, early in the Zhou dynasty, a date first established by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian. Attempts to establish earlier dates have been plagued by doubts about the origin and transmission of traditional texts and t... |
Did the Silk Road increase stability at all due to reliance on the wealth that it brought? | It's probably the other way around: stability held increase the viability of the Silk Road. The Silk Road ran through a few large, stable empires including Han China, Parthia, and Rome (along with various Indian kingdoms and empires, including the Maurya Empire for a little bit). The ability of these large empires to c... | [
"The Silk Road trade played a significant role in the development of the civilizations of China, Korea, Japan, the Indian subcontinent, Iran, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia, opening long-distance political and economic relations between the civilizations. Though silk was the major trade item exported from Ch... |
when will we reach the point-of-no-return when it comes to climate change? how much time do we have left at current trends? | You have to define what you're returning from.
Earth will most certainly continue to spin and heat and cool regardless if any life is still alive on it.
If you're talking about a point where it is impossible to avoid the ecosystem failing and all life on Earth extinguishing... Then not for a very long time. Bacter... | [
"The report did not predict whether the 25-year cooling trend would continue. It stated (Forward, p. v) that, \"we do not have a good quantitative understanding of our climate machine and what determines its course [so] it does not seem possible to predict climate,\" and (p. 2) \"The climates of the earth have alwa... |
when we lose a game, why does our body feel a sense of failure even though it's not real? why does our body accept failure at all? what's the point of such a negative emotion? | We feel the defeat of failure for the same reason we feel success. Knowing that we failed can drive us to try harder next time in the same way that succeeding makes us want to do it again.
Sometimes, however, you don't know what you did wrong or how you could've done better, and all you feel is crushing defeat. when t... | [
"The problem that may arise when a player loses their lives frequently is that it discourages the player from continuing the game fairly. If losing a life causes a loss of equipment, skills or points, a player may feel inclined to reset a game to its previous save point whenever they are losing a life.\n",
"The d... |
the difference between "purple" and "violet". | There are a couple of different ways we perceive colour. One is that light of a particular wavelength hits our eyes. These are the colours you see if white light goes through a prism, or the colours of a rainbow. Violet is the purple colour you see there, and it is defined as light of a certain wavelength.
However, ou... | [
"Violet refers to any colour perceptually evoked by light with a predominant wavelength of roughly 380–450 nm. Tones of violet tending towards the blue are called indigo. Purple colors are colors that are various blends of violet or blue light with red light.\n",
"In color theory, a \"purple\" is defined as any n... |
Psychologists: what is the research behind disciplining children physically? | Psychology graduate here (studying for GRE, hopefully heading to grad school soon), though DoorsofPerceptron makes a valid point (that the study in question is merely correlational), the bulk of research on the subject finds that corporal punishment is at best just as effective as other disciplinary methods and at wors... | [
"The psychiatric assessment of a child or adolescent starts with obtaining a psychiatric history by interviewing the young person and his/her parents or caregivers. The assessment includes a detailed exploration of the current concerns about the child's emotional or behavioral problems, the child's physical health ... |
Given the close-quarters combat and lack of armor typical in the 1700s & early 1800s warfare, were there any cases of modern Western armies reverting to bow & arrow (from musket)? | While more can always be said, you may be interested in [this subsection](_URL_0_) of our FAQ with answers from u/MI13 and u/Valkine | [
"Ironically, the stocks of muskets introduced during the European colonization of the Americas were repurposed as hand-to-hand war clubs by Native Americans and First Nations when fragile accessories were damaged or scarce ammunition exhausted. Techniques for gunstock hand weapons are being revived by martial arts ... |
Is all blood the same colour? | The molecular composition of blood is generally the same, resulting in most animals having the same color of blood. Famously, there are some creatures with green/blue blood (some reptiles) but warm blooded mammals share the same red hue. | [
"The color of human blood ranges from bright red when oxygenated to a darker red when deoxygenated. It owes its color to hemoglobin, to which oxygen binds. Deoxygenated blood is darker due to the difference in shape of the red blood cell when hemoglobin binds to it (oxygenated) verses does not bind to it (deoxygena... |
how come i can immediately identity a voice from afar as coming from a tv than an actual person? | There's two audio production concepts that are are in play here. First one is called "Frequency Response" and the other is "Dynamic Compression."
Frequency response can be hard to grasp but simple to explain. Lets say you took one of those cardboard tubes left over from wrapping paper and placed it infront of your mou... | [
"An invisible male character named \"The Voice\" can speak at any time to the contestants through the speakers and give them instructions. This is the voice of the radio host Dominique Duforest. \"The Voice\" always starts its interventions with the sentence \"This is the Voice\" and ends with \"That is all … for n... |
I’m a Soldier in the US Army working on a project about the War of 1812 to brief to other Soldiers and I’m having some issues finding some information. | I'm afraid you are going to have difficulty getting such information, except for the 1812 discharge Certificates recommended by gps93. The Army simply did not begin collecting such data until much later than 1812. One source you may find useful, however, is the publication by Edward Cutbush on preserving the health o... | [
"BULLET::::- Fredriksen, John C. \"The United States Army in the War of 1812: Concise Biographies of Commanders and Operational Histories of Regiments, with Bibliographies of Published and Primary Sources.\" Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, 2009. .\n",
"BULLET::::- Fredriksen, John C. \"The... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.