Split (2)

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question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
why is bed-wetting associated with serial killers?	It is part of the Macdonald triad. The Macdonald triad proposes that three behaviours in youth (extended bedwetting, fire-starting, cruelty to animals) are indicative of later violent tendencies. The thing is though, we aren't actually sure if the Macdonald triad is actually statistically a thing. Some studies say it ...	[ "Confusional arousals have often been linked to sleep-related violence (self-injury or injury to the bed partner). The latter highlights important medical and legal issues when such behaviours are suspected and purported to have caused a criminal offense. The first documented case of homicide as a result of confusi...
when watching a screen, do our eyes focus purely on to the distance of the screen or the percieved depth of the picture?	Purely on the screen. Same if you're looking at a photo: the depth isn't real and doesn't affect your focus.	[ "Focal length and diaphragm aperture affect the depth of field of a scene – that is, how much the background, mid-ground and foreground will be rendered in \"acceptable focus\" (only one exact plane of the image is in precise focus) on the film or video target. Depth of field (not to be confused with depth of focus...
do my dogs think i'm just a big dog?	It's hard to say what dogs actually think, but there are some things we can infer from their behavior and from their body chemistry. We have recently come to understand that dogs' brains are capable of generating oxytocin in the same way ours are, and under the same circumstances. When you interact with other human...	[ "Additionally, most people can tell from a bark whether a dog was alone or being approached by a stranger, playing or being aggressive, and able tell from a growl how big the dog is. This is thought to be evidence of human-dog coevolution.\n", "\"A dog has no politics or religion, so you can tell people about him...
why do we only see fog when it is at a distance?	Fog is a collection of tiny water droplets suspended in air at or just above ground-level. They are too small to see individually but they bend light never the less. As you get further away, there are so many droplets bending light that the objects further away from you can't be seen because the light from those object...	[ "Fog shadows may look odd to viewers who are not used to seeing shadows in three dimensions. A thin fog is just dense enough to be illuminated by the light that passes through the gaps in a structure or in a tree. As a result, the path of an object's shadow through the fog becomes visible as a darkened volume. In a...
At the time of the American Revolution, were there any other republics in the world?	The Swiss Confederacy was a federation of states, named "cantons"; it was formed over time, starting in the middle ages, as different communities in the Alps developed a series of alliances. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire but it fought against the Habsburgs and did gain independence. That was formally recogniz...	[ "Beginning the Age of Revolution, the American Revolution and the ensuing political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century saw the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrow the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and then reject the British monarchy itself to become the sovereign United Sta...
What was Attila the Hun's full name?	So far as we can tell, his name was Attila. As you've guessed, Huns did not use surnames or family names, and only a non-Hun would call him "the Hun." Interesting trivia: Attila does not seem to be a Hunnish name but Gothic, like Totila. The Huns were not one tribe but a confederation of tribes including the Goth...	[ "Attila (; fl. c. 406–453), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. He was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, and Alans among others, in Central and Eastern Europe.\n", "Attila (also known as Attila the Hun in the UK) is a ...
what would happen to you if only your head was above water for a long, long time?	Depends how long and what kind of water. The skin is capable of passing stuff in and out of the body. If you're under water this presents a problem, if the water is pure enough the overall transfer will be water into the body and salts/minerals out of the body (bones and blood would have major issues). If the water is...	[ "BULLET::::- \"This Is Not the Life I Ordered: 50 Ways to Keep Your Head Above Water When Life Keeps Dragging You Down\", by Deborah Collins Stephens, Michealene Cristini Risley, Jackie Speier, and Jan Yanehiro, 2007,\n", "Hypothermia from exposure to cold water is not as sudden as is often believed. A person who...
why are paddling pools blue etc instead of black to absorb the heat and keep warm?	Blue reminds people of the seas and oceans (or rather shallow water near the beach). Black would be creepy to many people (b/c it looks like deep water). Absorbing heat can make the water too hot, and most pools are sold in areas with a lot of sun, and people want their pools to stay cool. Lighter color makes it ea...	[ "Starting 9 August, the pool used for diving competitions began turning a green color instead of its natural blue, followed by the water polo pool the next day. Several athletes reported that it affected their performance, either by preventing them from seeing underwater or hurting their eyes (possibly because of i...
A few questions on Wave interference	Observing interference is a little harder to do in those situations. Things like headlights and music are made up of lots of waves with many different wavelengths so the interference pattern is very complicated and you won't notice it. There are two ways you could observe wave interference at home: 1. Set up your spe...	[ "In physics, interference is a phenomenon in which two waves superpose to form a resultant wave of greater, lower, or the same amplitude. Constructive and destructive interference result from the interaction of waves that are correlated or coherent with each other, either because they come from the same source or b...
Why don't orbiting electrons radiate?	It's not enough for you that they're in their lowest energy state? Clearly, they can't emit energy in the form of a photon and _gain_ energy doing so - that'd just blatantly violate of conservation of energy. But fair enough then. If the electrons behave quantum mechanically (which you've accepted) and the field is b...	[ "This model is even more approximate than the model of hydrogen, because it treats the electrons in each shell as non-interacting. But the repulsions of electrons are taken into account somewhat by the phenomenon of screening. The electrons in outer orbits do not only orbit the nucleus, but they also move around th...
How does LIGO know that the gravitational waves they observed were from 2 black holes?	The shape of the signal they detected -- how long it lasted, how its frequency changed, how its amplitude changed -- distinguished the event as a black hole merger, and even allowed determination of the masses of the two black holes. There was a lot of modeling of various phenomena using general relativity to see what...	[ "BULLET::::- Existence of gravitational waves (1916–2016): On 11 February 2016, the Advanced LIGO team announced that they had directly detected gravitational waves from a pair of black holes merging, which was also the first detection of a stellar binary black hole.\n", "In 2015, the LIGO project was the first t...
does poison ivy really get worse each time? why?	> "the memory of the last infection" Your immune system has greater reactions to things it recognizes more quickly, and it recognizes things more quickly by being exposed to them in the past. I think this is why you can develop allergies to things like super powerful epoxy if it touches your skin too much. Essentia...	[ "Poison ivy is particularly sensitive to carbon dioxide levels, greatly benefiting from higher concentrations in the atmosphere. Higher carbon dioxide levels increase the rate of plant growth, and causes them to produce more unsaturated urushiol, which causes stronger reactions in humans. Poison ivy's growth and po...
Why do some vaccines, such as Hep B or HPV, require multiple shots spread out over time?	If you inject too much of weakened disease thingy's into your body at once, it can still overwhelm your immune system. You also need to keep your "database" up to date. Think of the immunity to the disease as something expirable. After a while of not using it, your system will toss it into the trash bin. It needs to be...	[ "Research suggests that VLP vaccines against influenza virus could provide stronger and longer-lasting protection against flu viruses than conventional vaccines. Production can begin as soon as the virus strain is sequenced and can take as little as 12 weeks, compared to 9 months for traditional vaccines. In early ...
why are services like uber and airbnb considered by some to be disruptive to the economy?	Hotels and cab companies are regulated and taxed, they have to follow certain rules in order to keep their operating license. If I rent you my house for a short stay or pick you up and drive you around the government doesn't get any tax revenue from that and I'm not bound by the same licensing requirements. Because the...	[ "Uber, Airbnb, and other companies have had drastic effects on infrastructures such as road congestion and housing. Major cities such as San Francisco and New York City have arguably become more congested due to their use. According to transportation analyst Charles Komanoff, \"Uber-caused congestion has reduced tr...
What is the definition of a "Great Power" and what makes a country one?	I was a history and international relations major as an undergrad, and here is where the two disciplines meet. The term "Great Power" comes from the Realist tradition in international relations. Without going too far down the rabbit hole of explaining what Realists believe, they essentially view international politics ...	[ "A great power is a nation or state that, through its great economic, political and military strength, is able to exert power and influence not only over its own region of the world, but beyond to others.\n", "BULLET::::- Great power: In historical mentions, the term \"great power\" refers to the states that have...
Just how credible is the Abiotic Oil Theory vs. the organic algae/zoo-plankton theory?	[This review from Resource Geology shoots it down pretty hard.](_URL_0_) Really, the most obvious criticism is that there haven't been any big oil discoveries that can be conclusively credited to this hypothesis. This hypothesis might have been worth consideration back in the 1950s, when the Russians came up with it, ...	[ "One of the main counter arguments to the abiotic theory is the existence of biomarkers in petroleum. These chemical compounds can be best explained as residues of biogenic organic matter. They have been found in all oil and gas accumulations tested so far and suggest that oil has a biological origin and is generat...
what is happening when the body develops a cauliflower ear?	The ear fills with blood and fluid that calicifies and hardens over time if it isn't drained and taken care of right away.	[ "The most common cause of cauliflower ear is blunt trauma to the ear leading to a hematoma which, if left untreated, eventually heals to give the distinct appearance of cauliflower ear. The structure of the ear is supported by a cartilaginous scaffold consisting of the following distinct components: the helix, anti...
Have there been any major Civil Rights movements in the US which ultimately failed totally and completely?	Well, there's the modern pederasty movement. By pederasty I mean movements defending adult - adolescent sexual relationships, especially of the homosexual kind. It arose during the 60s and 70s, along with other parts of the sexual revolution and civil rights movement. NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association) wa...	[ "Most civil rights movements relied on the technique of civil resistance, using nonviolent methods to achieve their aims. In some countries, struggles for civil rights were accompanied, or followed, by civil unrest and even armed rebellion. While civil rights movements over the last sixty years have resulted in an ...
if someone were pushed into a bottomless hole, what would be the first thing that killed them and how long would it take?	If they could theoretically fall forever, my guess would be dehydration would kill them eventually.	[ "I was entombed once for 6 long hours. It seemed like 6 years. There were no visible means of getting out either – we had just to wait. I was once right next to a cave-in when my fire boss was buried alive. As we were working and chatting a big stone twice as big as a trunk came tumbling down on my mate from overhe...
Can one neuron within the human brain have several types of neurotransmitters that binds to it? For instance, can a neuron that usually allows binding by GABA neurotransmitters also allow binding from other types of neurotransmitters, such as NDMA, DA, 5-HT, etc?	Yes. Neurons can have, for instance, both excitatory and inhibitory inputs, mostly mediated through glutamate and GABA	[ "A neuron of a given kind (e.g. a thalamic cell) cannot be functionally replaced by one of another type (e.g. an inferior ollivary cell) even if their synaptic connectivity and the type of neurotransmitter outputs are identical. (The difference is that the intrinsic electrophysiological properties of thalamic cells...
how do google glasses work if i can't focus on anything within three inches of my eyes?	You can't focus on anything within three inches of your eyes because the lens in your eye can't accommodate (become stronger) well enough. You can only make the lens so strong and it turns out that the shortest focal point you can get with just your eyes is around that distance, so you can't focus on anything closer th...	[ "Google Glass is a brand of smart glasses—an optical head-mounted display designed in the shape of a pair of eyeglasses. It was developed by X (previously Google X) with the mission of producing a ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displayed information in a smartphone-like, hands-free format. Wearers communicated w...
the difference between functions, methods, objects, classes, and oop languages.	A function is a block of code which runs some commands and can be called on from elsewhere in the code. example: def function(): print "I do something." # now we can call the function from other code, like this, and it will always print "I do something". function() A class represents an obj...	[ "Like Smalltalk, in Objective-C, class methods are simply methods called on the class object, hence a class's class methods must be defined as instance methods in its metaclass. Because different classes can have different sets of class methods, each class must have its own separate metaclass. Classes and metaclass...
What technological breakthroughs between 15th century to the 19th century were required for the creation of pistols and rifles?	Depending on the specific cutoff date you've got, I'd argue that smokeless gunpowder in 1886 is the single most important breakthrough. Smokeless powder paved the way for firearms as we know them today. Smokeless powder burns slightly differently than black powder (rapid burn rather than low explosive) and is significa...	[ "During World War I, the Austrians introduced the world's first machine pistol the Steyr Repetierpistole M1912/P16. The Germans also experimented with machine pistols, by converting various types of semi-automatic pistols to full-auto, leading to the development of the first practical submachine gun. During World W...
What was the impact of the Albigensian Crusade on the centralization of France ?	Hi there - unfortunately we have had to remove your question, because [/r/AskHistorians isn't here to do your homework for you](_URL_0_). However, our rules DO permit people to ask for help with their homework, so long as they are seeking clarification or resources, rather than the answer itself. If you have indeed a...	[ "As a result of the Albigensian Crusade, there were only a small number of French recruits for the Fifth and Sixth crusades. Strayer argues that the Albigensian Crusade increased the power of the French monarchy and made the papacy more dependent on it. This would eventually lead to the Avignon Papacy.\n", "The A...
How do Historians recognize/rule out humor or sarcasm from historical texts?	To answer this, I'm going to first start with an example and work through why the historical account is contested. One of the most infamous cases of this is probably Caligula, the "depraved" Roman Emperor. In pop culture (e.g. things like the series I, Claudius) he's portrayed as a truly despicable human being. He mu...	[ "Though in the English language there is no standard accepted method to denote irony or sarcasm in written conversation, several forms of punctuation have been proposed. Among the oldest and frequently attested are the percontation point—furthered by Henry Denham in the 1580s—and the irony mark—furthered by Alcante...
why does the box of my ps4 say it comes with 500 gb when it only comes with 407.2 gb?	GB can technically mean 2 different things. One is the computer definition. That works off binary and powers of 2. So, there are 8 bits in 1 byte. Then we start counting bytes by doubling 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024. 1024 bytes is a kilobyte (KB). If you do the same thing, counting KB, 1024 KB is a m...	[ "CECH-4000B consoles (those with hard drives) weigh approximately , while the CECH-4000A weighs approximately . Both are roughly 25% smaller and about 20% lighter than the original PS3 Slim. This version has a sliding disc cover rather than the slot-loading drive found on previous PlayStation 3 consoles (Similar to...
Why didn't the Germans bombard southern England with artillery?	They did, to an extent. The Germans had quite a bit of cross-channel artillery at Calais, which they used to fire on Kent for years. Economically though, it probably wasn't all that useful. The German guns and their barrels and ammunition probably cost more than the damage they did to anything on land. The firing rate ...	[ "Artillery bombardments were to be co-ordinated with infantry attacks, with various types of artillery given suitable targets for the cumulative destruction of field defences and the killing of German infantry. Heavy artillery and mortars were to be used for the destruction of field fortifications, howitzers and li...
What is chemically happening when pasta sauce stains tupperware?	Without having a source I would rather say that there is nothing happening on a chemical level It is just the Carotine (rather the Lycopin) that makes tomatos red, that is stuck to the plastic. Since Carotine is liposoluble, you should try to rub it out with oil (just normal cooking oil). I learned that this hould he...	[ "Lycopene is the pigment in tomato-containing sauces, turning plastic cookware orange, and is insoluble in water. It can be dissolved only in organic solvents and oils. Because of its nonpolarity, lycopene in food preparations will stain any sufficiently porous material, including most plastics. To remove this stai...
Wouldn't a diver get serious hearing damage if he was to swim close to the pistol shrimp?	It's important to note that that 218 dB is at a distance of 4 cm, and is relative to 1 µPa. Now, first off, by convention the source level you quoted for a jet is equivalent to a measurement at a distance of 1 m. Taking that into account, the source level of the shrimp drops to 190 dB. Moreover, it's important to consi...	[ "BULLET::::- Stunning may be a fairly safe means of arrest on land, but underwater would likely make the diver lose his mouthpiece and drown (unless he has a fullface mask or some sorts of strapped-in mouthpiece), or lose control of depth with consequent barotrauma.\n", "Divers, however, are far less vulnerable t...
why my dog loves his collar so much?	It probably feels odd to have it off. If he wears it all the time it would be like having a necklace on all the time, you'd notice when it wasn't there and feel a bit 'off'.	[ "William Harrison, in his description of England during 1586, describes the type as: “... Mastiff, tie dog, or band dog, so called because many of them are tied up in chains and strong bonds in the daytime, for doing hurt abroad, which is a huge dog, stubborn, uglier, eager, burthenouse of bodie, terrible and fearf...
When I was in the USA I noticed the First World War memorials were dedicated to soldiers who died in The Great War of 1917-18. Why is it not described as 1914-18?	This seems too obvious, but wouldn't it be because the United States only joined the war in 1917?	[ "The Second World War that broke out in 1939 consumed the attention of a new generation. Across most of the theatres of conflict, the participants attempted to respect the memorials to World War I. After the Second World War there was no equivalent mass construction of memorials to the war dead; instead, often loca...
Ionization Question - Ionization Energy	for electrons on atoms, the electrons are either bound or unbound depending on their total energy relative to the potential well ([a morse potential](_URL_0_)). if the electron in question has total energy less than the dissociation energy (the ionization energy), then the energy is quantized to discrete states (your E...	[ "The ionization potential is the minimum amount of energy required to remove one electron from each atom in a mole of isolated, neutral and gaseous atom. The \"first ionization energy\" is the energy required to remove the first electron, and generally the \"nth ionization energy\" is the energy required to remove ...
why is china airlines from taiwan? why not call it taiwan airlines instead?	Because Taiwan's official name is the Republic of China (ROC). Also, China Airlines was founded back when the Taiwanese government still considered itself the government of China (though exiled)	[ "As Republic of China (Taiwan)'s flag carrier, China Airlines has been affected by disputes over the political status of Republic of China (Taiwan), and under pressure from the Communist Party of China, was barred from flying into a number of countries maintaining diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of ...
Planets revlove in an ellipsoid trajectory around the sun - but what are the foci?	One of the foci is, strictly, the centre of mass of the system, rather than the centre of the Sun itself, but effectively the difference is minute. The other focus doesn't have any astronomical meaning.	[ "The heliocentric ecliptic system describes the planets' orbital movement around the Sun, and centers on the barycenter of the solar system (i.e. very close to the center of the Sun). The system is primarily used for computing the positions of planets and other solar system bodies, as well as defining their orbital...
how does tidal energy not break conservation of energy?	In short, the moon is constantly slowing the rotation of the earth. Eventually the moon and earth will always be facing each other.	[ "Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy obtained from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity. The potential of tidal wave energy becomes higher in certain regions by local effects such as shelving, funnelling, reflection and resonance.\n", "This type ...
does putting "i do not own this song" on youtube videos actually prevent it from getting taken down from the record label?	Nope! Some people think it's polite though, which is kind of strange, because the people are pretty much saying "Yes, I knowingly violated the copyright on your product, but at least I'm not claiming it's mine"	[ "Watson chose to remove the song from the iTunes Store, claiming the commission's advice was censorship. John Key commented that the song and its music video was, \"quite professionally done. It was anti-us but as a parody it was okay.\"\n", "In August 2008, Judge Jeremy Fogel of the Northern District of Californ...
what damage can be done if someone gets access to your wi-fi password?	There are definitely a few guides out there detailing how to beef up your network's security, check them out when you have a chance (on mobile, can't link any at the moment). There are a few implications when someone has access to your network: * If they're doing something bandwidth-heavy (gaming, streaming HD, etc.)...	[ "On April 28th, 2017 the Tokyo District Court ruled that accessing a wireless LAN network without authorization is not a crime, even if the network is protected with a password. In a case brought before the court involved a man named Hiroshi Fujita, who was accused of accessing a neighbors wi-fi network without aut...
why do politicians and the media never just call people liars?	Because that can be considered defamatory, leading the person to file, and win, a lawsuit against you. This will have the effect of making them look like a victim, and making you look like an asshole while paying them a bunch of money.	[ "The practice is not always referred to as a \"liars table,\" but that term appears across the United States, including Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Texas, and Ohio. The word \"liars\" refers to the idea that the men are lying or gossiping about local social or political happenings.\n", "\"Showing ...
string theory and m-theory	String theory: everything in the universe is connected by invisible strings and can be interacted with through the forces of nature. I can't even imagine how someone would explain M theory to a five year old...	[ "In physics string theory is an attempt to describe general relativity and quantum mechanics with a single mathematical model. Although it is an attempt to model our universe it takes place in a space with more dimensions than the four of spacetime that we are familiar with. In particular a number of string theorie...
How brutal was the USSR to the people in Nazi territory when it helped beat the Third Reich in World War II?	Soldiers of Waffen SS when captured by frontline troops were shot on spot. If they got lucky and were captured by 'trophy company' or by MPs, they will be put in POW camps. Many survived - there's a book in preparation (in russian) with recent interviews of former POWs, many from Waffen SS. So, despite all supposed hor...	[ "In the early stages of World War II, both Nazi Germany and the USSR invaded and occupied the countries of Eastern Europe after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Germany then turned against and invaded the USSR: the battles of this Eastern Front were the largest in history. The USSR joined with the Allies and in confere...
Was Bohemia very bohemian?	hell yeah dude, it was pretty much all bohemians! ... with a bunch of germans thrown in on a more serious note, these threads are probably what you are looking for: _URL_0_ _URL_1_	[ "Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or anti-establishment political or social viewpoints, which often were expressed through free love, frugality, and—in some cases—simple living or voluntary poverty. A more economically privileged, wealthy, or even aristocratic bohemian circle is sometimes referred to as \"...
why do most foods, drinks etc have to be refrigerated after one use? what happens to the contents after just one use?	In many cases, the contents have been pasteurized. So they're "clean" and "free" of bacteria sealed as they are. The second you open it, they become exposed to bacteria. Refrigeration slows the growth of bacteria.	[ "This can also be done by using reusable items such as thermoses for daily coffee or plastic containers for water and other cold beverages rather than disposable ones. If that option isn't available, it is best to properly recycle the disposable items after use. When one household recycles at least half of their ho...
how can people sell video game merch or art on etsy?	It’s not legal for sure, but they probably aren’t making enough to be on anyone’s radar. There is also the slim chance that they are doing really well for themselves and managed to get some sort of license. _URL_0_	[ "Players can optionally purchase cosmetic color palettes and tools from the game's virtual store. They are purchased with ducks, a virtual currency that they get from other players or with microtransactions, which, once made, gives the player access to Drawception Gold. Which gives the ability to create Draw First ...
What are the ergonomic effects of sleeping without a pillow?	I think this was linked before when this topic came up. _URL_0_	[ "Orthopaedic pillows are regarded as therapeutic pillows based on claims that they can help relieve various conditions including sleep apnoea, snoring, insomnia, breathing difficulty, blood circulation problems, acid reflux, gastroesophageal reflux disease, lower back pain, sciatica pain, neck pain, whiplash, rotat...
why can websites appear to be down for me but be online for everyone else?	Unless a website has different servers for different people (very unlikely if it's within the same region) this should not happen ever. If you experience a website that is down and others don't, the problem is on your end and could be your internet connection.	[ "Along with proximity and time, physical appearance is another factor about the internet that is of no importance. Like previously mentioned in the anonymity paragraph, people are unable to see the physical characteristics of the person or persons that they are interacting with on the internet. This allows people t...
why is it that if you drop something electrical into a pool it affects the whole pool, but if you drop something electrical into the ocean, it dosent electrocute the whole ocean	The pool is ≠ the ocean, in any way. The electrical thing you throw in the pool doesn't affect the whole pool either. Electricity is very, very good at finding the path of least resistance and following that. It's almost never through a human or a fish. Those metal drains and grounded lights are just a better path.	[ "Besides boats and dockside power hookups, several other potential causes exist. Lightning strikes over or near water have caused electric shock drownings. Faulty hydroelectric generators or damaged underwater power lines can cause leakage currents, potentially creating a hazard. In general, anything electrically a...
how does the current "competitive healthcare market" benefit the patient?	The idea is that the insurance companies will compete with each other and this will cause lower prices for the patient. Sort of like the cell phone companies (Sprint, Verizon, AT & T, etc...). Unfortunately, this hasn't really happened, and I'm unsure if it ever will.	[ "Improving access, coverage and quality of health services depends on the ways services are organized and managed, and on the incentives influencing providers and users. In market-based health care systems, for example such as that in the United States, such services are usually paid for by the patient or through t...
How can Burning wood (carbon) generate UV radiation?	Do you expect a lot of UV for some reason? The thermal emission will contain tiny amounts of UV. In principle chemical reactions can directly lead to UV emissions as well but I'm not aware of specific reactions that would occur in a wood fire.	[ "For instance, upon harvesting, wood (as a carbon-rich material) can be immediately burned or otherwise serve as a fuel, returning its carbon to the atmosphere, \"or\" it can be incorporated into construction or a range of other durable products, thus sequestering its carbon over years or even centuries.\n", "The...
james holmes killed 12 people and injured 70, but is charged with 24 counts of first degree murder and 140 counts of attempted first degree murder. why does he has 2 charges for every murder/attempted murder he did?	From a ways down that page: > For each person killed in the shooting, Holmes was charged with one count of murder with deliberation and one count of murder with extreme indifference.	[ "On July 16, after jury deliberations, Holmes was found guilty of twenty-four counts of first-degree murder, 140 counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of possessing illegal explosives, and a sentence enhancement of a crime of violence. The two murder convictions for each death were first-degree murder ...
What is the current state of knowledge on the long-term effects of caffeine on productivity/well-being?	What do you mean by long-term effects on productivity and well-being? There are tons of studies on the long-term biological effects of chronic caffeine consumption. Some of them say caffeine can be good, others say caffeine can be bad. It depends on the area/system of the body, and it depends on the methodology/outc...	[ "The effects of caffeine on short-term memory (STM) are controversial. Findings are inconsistent, as many effects of caffeine sometimes impair short-term and working memory, whereas the other studies indicate enhancing effects. Increasing our capacities of STM and working memory only seem to have beneficial impacts...
Was there a particular flag that the Union used during the American Civil War other than the traditional 34-star flag?	I assume you're asking was there a flag that didn't have stars representing the Confederate States? In that case, no, not officially. Even when West Virginia broke away from Virginia, the official flag gained a [35th star](_URL_1_) (which still included Virginia and all the other rebelling states). In the view of the U...	[ "The first official flag of the Confederate States of America – called the \"Stars and Bars\" – originally had seven stars, representing the first seven states that initially formed the Confederacy. As more states joined, more stars were added, until the total was 13 (two stars were added for the divided states of ...
If you were on a spaceship in the absolute black void of space, how could you measure your speed without any points of reference?	You couldn't, using only local measurement. That is the whole point of relativity - there is no difference in local physics based on how fast you are moving (no preferred frame of reference). You could measure the difference in your speed by keeping track of your instantaneous acceleration and integrating that. F...	[ "There's no way you can visualize the speed. There's nothing you can see to see how fast you're going. You have no depth perception. If you're in a car driving down the road and you close your eyes, you have no idea what your speed is. It's the same thing if you're free falling from space. There are no signposts. Y...
how do different antibiotics target different parts of the body?	The thing about antibiotics is that they only effect bacteria, which are very different from your cells (if you’re 16:bacteria are prokaryotes and your cells are eukaryotes). So as previous reply said, the antibiotics disperse throughout your body and attack the bacteria... all of them. Including the good ones in your ...	[ "Antibiotics are commonly classified based on their mechanism of action, chemical structure, or spectrum of activity. Most target bacterial functions or growth processes. Those that target the bacterial cell wall (penicillins and cephalosporins) or the cell membrane (polymyxins), or interfere with essential bacteri...
Does a positive correlation exist between the length of a gestational period and the intelligence of the birthed animal?	Your comparison of a fish to an elephant is a little broad. But generally I would say no, the gestational period does not translate to inherent intelligence. The length of 'childhood' or child rearing may be a better indicator of intelligence. Certain animals have a long gestational period and hit the ground running (l...	[ "The time at which insemination occurs during the oestrus cycle has been found to affect the sex ratio of the offspring of humans, cattle, hamsters, and other mammals. Hormonal and pH conditions within the female reproductive tract vary with time, and this affects the sex ratio of the sperm that reach the egg.\n", ...
" A small splinter group of the Muslim army crossed the Pyrenees and was defeated by Charles Martel near Tours in 732, a minor incident in this whole story and, in no way, the turning point in European history as it has sometimes been portrayed"	I think it depends largely on what perspective you are viewing this from, and I would love to hear a comment from a European medievalist on how this was viewed at the time in France or Europe, but I think the line you quoted is broadly in line with the thinking of historians of the Arab conquests. That's largely becau...	[ "BULLET::::- The Battle of Tours in 732. The Muslim Moors marched into France meeting no foes, until encountering the Christian Frankish forces led by Charles Martel at Tours. Despite the Moorish advantage over the Franks militarily, they were defeated decisively by the Franks.\n", "In 732 AD, Abdul Rahman Al Gha...
If I urinated on an electrified fence, would it shock me?	If you can get close enough to produce a steady stream then yes, you would get shocked by the fence, because urine is electrically conductive, but you have to avoid 'fragmentation' of your urine. [Here's](_URL_1_) a vid of a guy doing it, and [here's](_URL_0_) a Mythbusters vid of the same effect but using the 3rd...	[ "There is no visible warning to electrified water. Swimmers will be able to feel the electricity if the current is substantial. If the swimmers notice any unusual tingling feeling or symptoms of electrical shock, it is highly likely that stray currents exist and everyone needs to get out. Swimmers should always swi...
how do we make extremely, extremely high frame-per-second cameras?	The sensors in most cameras are perfectly capable of capturing at a higher frame rate than what they are normally being used for, but the challenge is getting the data and putting it somewhere fast enough. If your storage subsystem is too slow, you won't be able to ingest the flood of incoming data fast enough. Some of...	[ "In 2010 researchers built a camera exposing each frame for two trillionths of a second (picoseconds), for an effective frame rate of half a trillion fps (femto-photography). Modern high-speed cameras operate by converting the incident light (photons) into a stream of electrons which are then deflected onto a photo...
why are most (not all) military personnel right wing and anti-obama/universal anything if they are part of a government run, universal healthcare providing, free almost everything military?	The majority of America's military volunteers come from regions in the US that are majority conservative. That gives way to a majority conservative military. That being said, I've met plenty of liberals who served in the military, who are pro-gun, pro-gay, and anti-war.	[ "The American system is a mix of public and private insurance. The government provides insurance coverage for approximately 53 million elderly via Medicare, 62 million lower-income persons via Medicaid, and 15 million military veterans via the Veteran's Administration. About 178 million employed by companies receiv...
Is there archaeological support for the stereotype of Roman infanticide as sex selection?	I can't speak for Roman society generally, but I am familiar with one specific case of sex-selective infanticide from Tel Ashkelon, Israel. We excavated a Roman/Byzantine bathhouse in Grid 38, (you can read the publication report for free at _URL_2_, just download the massive PDF of volume 1 and you can find some desc...	[ "Sex selection may be one of the contributing factors of infanticide. In the absence of sex-selective abortion, sex-selective infanticide can be deduced from very skewed birth statistics. The biologically normal sex ratio for humans at birth is approximately 105 males per 100 females; normal ratios hardly ranging b...
how do courts decide who to send to white collar prison?	There's a point system that takes into account a number of things (age, gender, crime committed, whether the person is an escape risk, and whether they have violent tendencies). The more points the convict gets, the higher level of prison security they get.	[ "According to human rights groups, black jails are a growing industry. The system includes so-called \"interceptors\" (截访者, literally \"inquiry-stopper\"), or \"black guards\", often sent by local or regional authorities, who abduct petitioners and hold them against their will or bundle them onto a bus to send them...
How have small speakers (cellphones, beats pill) improved in quality so much recently?	Hoffman's iron law of speaker design/performance dictates that you can only pick 2 out of the following three things: Small enclosure size, High efficiency, deep bass. That means that in order to chase deep bass in a tiny enclosure, phone and mobile speaker makers have most likely sacrificed speaker electrical effi...	[ "Business magazine \"Bloomberg Businessweek\" suggests that caution is in order with regard to high-resolution audio: \"There is reason to be wary, given consumer electronics companies’ history of pushing advancements whose main virtue is to require everyone to buy new gadgets.\"\n", "Most designs produce high qu...
At what point and location did the English language split among the use of the article "the" before "hospital"?	This is not a historical development, as such. Though nor is it usage which may be explained with a hard and fast rule, as there is some dialectal variation with respect to it. What we are observing, essentially, is that English nouns require an article where they are countable, singular and concrete (“I found *a...	[ "The grammar of the word differs slightly depending on the dialect. In the United States, \"hospital\" usually requires an article; in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, the word normally is used without an article when it is the object of a preposition and when referring to a patient (\"in/to the hospital\" vs. \"i...
Did the reforms of the Gracchi Brothers actually influence Rome?	TL:DR Yes, absolutely. At least in aristocratic memory. Who is Jeremy Corbin? First of all, the Gracchi were one step in a line of "trouble-making" tribunes. Lily Ross-Taylor wrote an important article "The Forerunners of the Gracchi," in JRS 52 (1962) if you can get it. She challenged the traditional narrative ...	[ "The emergence of new forces of urban factions, rural voters, and others, engaging in continued conflict with each other for their own interests, meant that the problem of effective governance awaited resolution. The reforms of the Gracchi had come to an end by violence; and this provided a brutal precedent that wo...
How was the iconography of the Confederacy reframed into something that's treated as honorable/worthy of obsession?	Civil War memory is something I write a lot about, so I'd point you to [this older answer of mine](_URL_0_) which focuses more on the evolution of Confederate statuary than the Lost Cause itself, but I think does speak well to your question, although I'm of course happy to do my best with any follow-ups you may have.	[ "Beginning in 2015 and accelerating in 2017, a national controversy grew over the prominent positions of monuments and memorials to the Confederacy in many public spaces across the United States, and particularly in the American South. In this context, the statues of Confederate notables along the university's Sout...
What happens to the body when your cortisol levels are constantly too high?	This is a really broad question, since excessive cortisol in the human body can have a lot of implications. I'll just talk about one of them. One area of your brain that has a lot of cortisol receptors is the hippocampus. There is some evidence that excess cortisol can cause the hippocampus to be damaged in various wa...	[ "Elevated levels of total cortisol can also be due to estrogen found in oral contraceptive pills that contain a mixture of estrogen and progesterone, leading to Pseudo-Cushing's syndrome. Estrogen can cause an increase of cortisol-binding globulin and thereby cause the total cortisol level to be elevated. However, ...
how do electromagnetic pulses (emp) destroy electronics and is it possible to deploy it in bombs for warfare?	it is basically a very strong signal that is capable of frying weaker systems. It can be used for warfare, but its use is some what limited by the fact that military hardware is tough and most known systems are not big enough or thorough enough to take down civilians areas with any effectiveness. Either would take a nu...	[ "An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. Nuclear explosions create a pulse of electromagnetic radiation called a nuclear EMP or NEMP. Such EMP interference is known to be generally disruptive or damaging to electronic equipment. If a single nuclear weapon \"designed to emit EMP were ...
why do headphones sound tinny until you put them on?	Bass waves travel the least amount of distance, while higher pitched waves will reach your ears. Your ears are best at picking up and discerning those higher pitched sounds because they are most like the sounds you would normally be hearing. All of this considering the headphone speakers are very small and produce a re...	[ "The outer shells of in-ear headphones are made up of a variety of materials, such as plastic, aluminum, ceramic and other metal alloys. Because in-ear headphones engage the ear canal, they can be prone to sliding out, and they block out much environmental noise. Lack of sound from the environment can be a problem ...
Were Serbs exceptionally effective in the war against Austria during WWI?	Serbia's army had experience from the [Balkan Wars](_URL_0_), unlike the Austrians who were quite green. Austrian troops were better equipped, but had far less patriotism due to the fact that most of them weren't Austrian, but Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, etc. The Serbians also could match the Austrians in terms of number...	[ "The Serbs beat back an Austro-Hungarian invasion in August, at the Battle of Cer. It marked the first Allied victory over the Central Powers in World War I. Potiorek was humiliated by the defeat and was determined to resume the assault against the Serbs. He was given permission in September to launch another invas...
the d & d alignment system, particularly the distinction between "neutral good/evil" and "chaotic good/evil."	It helps to just view the alignments one axis at a time -- lawful, neutral, chaotic; good, neutral evil. Lawful means you will follow certain rules. Chaotic means everything is random -- rules are made to be broken. Neutral is somewhere in between these two; really, most people you meet with in real life would fall in...	[ "\"D&D\" 4th Edition, released in 2008, reduced the number of alignments to five: lawful good, good, evil, chaotic evil, and unaligned. In that edition, \"good\" replaced neutral good and did not encompass chaotic good; \"evil\" replaced neutral evil and did not encompass lawful evil; \"unaligned\" replaced true ne...
why can my dog eat shit and be fine, but not grapes or chocolate?	Because dog shit doesn't contain a compound (Theobromine) that is toxic to dogs. It may contain pathogens that make them sick, though.	[ "Dogs have around 1,700 taste buds compared to humans with around 9,000. The sweet taste buds in dogs respond to a chemical called furaneol which is found in many fruits and in tomatoes. It appears that dogs do like this flavor and it probably evolved because in a natural environment dogs frequently supplement thei...
Why didn't the overthrow and regicide of Charles I prompt massive retaliation from other monarchs the way Louis XVI's did?	For much of the time of the English Civil War(s) Europe was still involved in the Thirty Years War. And the concurrent Franco-Spanish War, which blurred with the Thirty Years War but lasted longer. For the Holy Roman Empire and Spain the Thirty Years War was a much more pressing threat against their power than an Engli...	[ "Charged with undermining the First French Republic, Louis XVI was separated from his family and tried in December. He was found guilty by the Convention, led by the Jacobins who rejected the idea of keeping him as a hostage. On 15 January 1793, by a majority of one vote, that of Philippe Égalité, he was condemned ...
how credits were added to film	Assuming you are talking about the older days before computers, credits where often printed onto a a sheet which was attached to two rollers, kinda like a treadmill. Then they could just film it. They could also layer films over one another to superimpose credits on a live action scene.	[ "Then, early in the 1930s, the more progressive motion picture studios started to change their approach in presenting their screen credits. The major studios took on the challenge of improving the way they introduced their movies. They made the decision to present a more complete list of credits to go with a higher...
Sources on pre-modern/medieval arms race	You are entirely right that much internet information on weapons is fragmentary and contradictory. Part of this is because a lot of the information out there is by enthusiasts of different knowledge levels and there are a lot of old sources and bad scholarship mixed in with good sources and sound methods. But part of ...	[ "The medieval heralds also devised arms for various knights and lords from history and literature. Notable examples include the toads attributed to Pharamond, the cross and martlets of Edward the Confessor, and the various arms attributed to the Nine Worthies and the Knights of the Round Table. These too are now re...
If light has properties of waves, would it be possible to phase-cancel two laser beams? If yes, what would happen? If no, why not?	Yes. This is called interference and is a property of all waves. The prime apparatus that demonstrates laser beam interference is a Michelson interferometer. Basically, a laser beam is split into two different laser beams (so that they are coherent because significant interference requires coherence) which travel along...	[ "It is possible to arrange multiple beams of laser light such that destructive quantum interference suppresses the vacuum fluctuations. Such a squeezed vacuum state involves negative energy. The repetitive waveform of light leads to alternating regions of positive and negative energy.\n", "For example, in the cas...
Do all terrestrial bodies which experience a planetary wobble and orbit a star have four seasons?	The Earth's wobble (precession of the equinoxes) doesn't cause the seasons. The seasons are due to the axial tilt and the orbit of the Sun. "Seasons" isn't an astronomical term. Any planet whose axis of rotation is tilted with respect to its orbital plane will have solstices and equinoxes. If you wanted to, you could ...	[ "The planets' orbits are chaotic over longer timescales, in such a way that the whole Solar System possesses a Lyapunov time in the range of 2–230 million years. In all cases this means that the position of a planet along its orbit ultimately becomes impossible to predict with any certainty (so, for example, the ti...
why do japanese swords only have one edge?	Japanese swordfighting styles are suited to slashing with a sharp, curved edge to negate the style of armour (or non-armor) popular at the time. European, medieval styled swords are double edged with a point to infiltrate the heavy, plated armour that was used. Thick armour, but many joints and separations can be penet...	[ "Over time, however, the curved single-edged sword became so dominant a style in Japan that \"tou\" and \"ken\" came to be used interchangeably to refer to swords in Japan and by others to refer to Japanese swords. For example, the Japanese typically refer to Japanese swords as 日本刀 \"nihontō\" (\"Japanese \"tou\"\"...
how does professional poker work?	I am not a professional poker player, but I do know three pros personally. They are not big name pros, but they do earn a modest living ((think mid-five figures) playing poker. One of them got his start by making the final table of a large multi-table tournament at a casino with a smallish ($200 or so) entry fee. He ...	[ "Poker is a popular card game that combines elements of chance and strategy. There are various styles of poker, all of which share an objective of presenting the least probable or highest-scoring hand. A poker hand is usually a configuration of five cards depending on the variant, either held entirely by a player o...
Is there a difference between the chubby and skinny Buddha?	Similar to "what race was Jesus," Buddha has different versions depending on what country you're in or what time period. Also, while there is one, original Buddha, there are also many other Buddhas, people who have achieved enlightenment and become immortalized in statue form. In Japan, there are examples of monks who...	[ "BULLET::::- The historical Buddha was not obese. The \"chubby Buddha\" or \"laughing Buddha\" is a 10th-century Chinese folk hero by the name of Budai. In Chinese Buddhist culture, Budai came to be revered as an incarnation of Maitreya, the Bodhisattva who will become a Buddha to restore Buddhism after the teachin...
how do completely torn ligaments such as atfl heal?	Fairly complicated, the simple answer is that cells communicate. A cell can tell other cells where is it, what type of cell it is, and if it’s in some kind of “distress”. There is also a 3 step response when tissue tears, and the first step is basically inflammation. In this step, a ton of different cell types (tissue,...	[ "Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, also known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's body, or with one from a dead donor. The procedure is common among collegiate and ...
How do you continue studying history after graduation?	Keep up with the big journals, and go to some of the big conferences. You'll stay up-to-date with the most recent research, and get to keep interacting with people who hold a similar academic interest. Once you have your JD, there's always the option of (potentially) writing academically on classical law on the side....	[ "Initially, graduate students usually rotate through the laboratories of several faculty researchers, after which the student commits to joining a particular laboratory for the remainder of his or her education. The remaining time is spent conducting original research under the direction of the principal investigat...
Aside from the obvious (algebra, chess, etc.), how did Western science benefit from encounters with Islam and the Middle East during the Crusades?	In my understanding that old idea of information transmitted through the Christian East has been rather debunked. Most of the things that the Islamic World transmitted to the West came through Spain, not Syria and Palestine. The eastern contacts were more important for economic reasons, moving goods into the Mediterran...	[ "Medieval Islam's receptiveness to new ideas and heritages helped it make major advances in medicine during this time, adding to earlier medical ideas and techniques, expanding the development of the health sciences and corresponding institutions, and advancing medical knowledge in areas such as surgery and underst...
Are artificial food dyes different than dyes used in craft supplies?	Dyes that are approved for use in food or hygiene products have undergone testing to various degrees in order to ensure that they are non-toxic in the quantities you'd find in those products. Crafts supplies have no such regulations in place, and there is no telling what materials are present in the dyes or pigments u...	[ "The primary source of dye, historically, has been nature, with the dyes being extracted from animals or plants. Since the mid-19th century, however, humans have produced artificial dyes to achieve a broader range of colors and to render the dyes more stable to washing and general use. Different classes of dyes are...
How does the UV Catastrophe relate to the quantization of energy?	The basic problem can be thought of like this: in classical thermodynamics there is the [equipartition theorem](_URL_0_) which means that each mode has the same (finite) average energy. The electromagnetic field has an infinity of modes, hence the problem. edit: corralled some runaway words	[ "The term \"ultraviolet catastrophe\" was first used in 1911 by Paul Ehrenfest, but the concept originated with the 1900 statistical derivation of the Rayleigh–Jeans law. The phrase refers to the fact that the Rayleigh–Jeans law accurately predicts experimental results at radiative frequencies below 10 GHz, but beg...
Is it possible to condition your own bladder to hold more liquid?	The feeling of needing to urinate stems from mechanoreceptors in the bladder, it's certainly possible to learn to develop tolerance to the desire to urinate and as such increase the length of time between urinating. Drugs such as Tolterodine and various bladder training techniques have been shown to help increase the v...	[ "Emptying the bladder is one of the defense mechanisms of this tortoise. This can leave the tortoise in a very vulnerable condition in dry areas, and it should not be alarmed, handled, or picked up in the wild unless in imminent danger. If it must be handled, and its bladder is emptied, then water should be provide...
Why were the Anglo-Saxons one of the only Germanic groups who didn’t assimilate into the cultures they conquered?	Who says that they didn't? Robin Fleming argues in Britain After Rome that the idea of the Anglo-Saxons as a purely Germanic culture is misguided and not supported by the evidence that we have available through archaeology. She points to the blend of clothing and jewelry styles that emerged following "Anglo-Saxon" ...	[ "The Franks and the Anglo-Saxons were unlike the other Germanic peoples in that they entered the Western Roman Empire as Pagans and were forcibly converted to Chalcedonian Christianity by their kings, Clovis I and Æthelberht of Kent (see also Christianity in Gaul and Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England). The re...
why do my muscles hurt after using them?	Lactic acid build up within the muscle may cause pain. Muscle tightness also may cause pain in the muscle.	[ "As a result of this effect, not only is the soreness reduced, but other indicators of muscle damage, such as swelling, reduced strength and reduced range of motion, are also more quickly recovered from. The effect is mostly, but not wholly, specific to the exercised muscle: experiments have shown that some of the ...
Why does my vision change when I focus intently on anything around me?	When you [stabilize an image on your retina](_URL_1_) for a long time, you adapt to portions of the image and stop noticing / seeing them. The auditory equivalent is when you do not notice the hum of a light or a fan until you pay attention to it again. Normally, your eyes are moving many times a second, even when you ...	[ "Changes in spatial attention can occur with the eyes moving, overtly, or with the eyes remaining fixated, covertly. Within the human eye only a small part, the fovea, is able to bring objects into sharp focus. However, it is this high visual acuity that is needed to perform actions such as reading words or recogni...
what is going to make future 5g internet, faster than current 4g networks?	Well, there was a mobile network CEO or tech apecialist recently that described how the 5g network will work. It will be closer to skynet in terms of the net will be smarter, faster, more organized, and better equipped with newer generation technology that enables up to gigabit. There will be bigger, thicker cables to ...	[ "5G succeeds 4G LTE wireless technology; developments have been focused on enabling low-latency communications, and promises of a minimum peak network speed of 20 gigabits per/second (20 times faster than the equivalent on 4G LTE networks), and uses within Internet of things and smart city technology.\n", "A new ...
How was life as a Carthaginian compared to life as a Roman?	So there's this incident where Claudius is headed to what is now England in a ship. He gets spotted by a Carthaginian ship, and it's one group of rowers against the other. Claudius argues the reason his rowers won (and escaped) was that they were free men, while the Carthaginian rowers were slaves. But that was much la...	[ "The Punic Wars with Carthage had a particularly marked effect on Roman viticulture. In addition to broadening the cultural horizons of the Roman citizenry, Carthaginians also introduced them to advanced viticultural techniques, in particular the work of Mago. When the libraries of Carthage were ransacked and burne...
How did the United States of America arrive at their valuation of Greenland in 1946? Could the area have been worth the cost of purchase in terms of economic output, or was the value purely strategic?	Initially, America very much wanted it for strategic reasons. The GIUK Gap was hugely important. Specifically, it was important to the Soviet Union's submarine fleet. If you look at the terms of the [Montreux Convention](_URL_2_), it was impossible to "sneak" a submarine through Turkish waters. If you look at a map of...	[ "Following World War II, the United States developed a geopolitical interest in Greenland, and in 1946 the United States offered to buy Greenland from Denmark for $100,000,000, but Denmark refused to sell.\n", "Following World War II, the United States developed a geopolitical interest in Greenland, and in 1946 t...
has the physiological damage caused by trauma been the same through out history?	No. Trauma has been present with humanity throughout our history. The difference is that nowadays, we are allowed to actually speak about our traumas, and help them heal, whereas in the past there was mostly an attitude of 'why are you acting like this, stop it'. Or if it was mentioned, it was mentioned in vague terms ...	[ "Historical trauma is described as collective emotional and psychological damage throughout a person's lifetime and across multiple generations. Examples of historical trauma can be seen through the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890, where over 200 unarmed Lakota were killed, and the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887, when A...
Why was the USS Indianapolis sailing without an escort when she was sunk?	It's normal for a cruiser to operate alone without destroyer escort in some circumstances. A heavy cruiser is an important asset, but it's not a capital ship that will shift the balance of naval power if lost. Destroyers were always in high demand for various roles in world war two and there were usually not enough t...	[ "USS \"Indianapolis\" (CL/CA-35) was a heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. At 00:15 on 30 July 1945, she was struck on her starboard side by two Type 95 torpedoes, one in the bow and one amidships, from the Japanese submarine , captained by Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, who initially thought he had spotted t...
What adaptations do humans have that allow them to remain balanced without a tail?	During the time our tails were disappearing (and they still are, if you look at our skeletons), we began to evolve a sense called Equilibrioception—or balance. Equilibrioception makes use of a variety of sensory input to keep us from falling over while walking or standing: 1. Visual cues, like the horizon and the hor...	[ "Manx (and other tail-suppressed breeds) do not exhibit problems with balance, Balance is controlled primarily by the inner ear. In cats, dogs and other large-bodied mammals, balance involves but is not dependent upon the tail (contrast rats, for whom the tail is a quite significant portion of their body mass).\n",...
"Rubbing Alcohol" is the main ingredient in most skin care (and other) products but we've all been told to basically not use it for anything except an antiseptic. Why?	If I remember correctly, there are two big reasons for this: When the skin dries up, it flakes off and ends up in the pores which will cause more blemishes then when you originally started. Second, because it dries up so much, your skin will try to regain a balance and then overproduce oils, creating a longterm probl...	[ "All rubbing alcohols are unsafe for human consumption: isopropyl rubbing alcohols do not contain the ethyl alcohol of alcoholic beverages; ethyl rubbing alcohols are based on denatured alcohol, which is a combination of ethyl alcohol and one or more bitter poisons that make the substance toxic.\n", "Product labe...
When did the US Government begin doubting that China/Taiwan would ever retake the Chinese mainland?	The US was never really under any illusions that the nationalists would somehow turn things around in the Civil War after they retreated to Taiwan. Even before the end of WW2 there had been multiple American observers and experts in China who had reported the Communists enjoyed much broader popularity than the Nationa...	[ "On 16 December 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced that the U.S. would sever its official relationship with the Republic of China as of 1 January 1979. It was the most serious challenge to the Taiwan government since it lost its seat at the United Nations to the People's Republic of China in 1971. Presiden...
How do physics and astronomy undergrad majors differ?	They are very similar, but you'd do better to get a degree in physics if you're really interested in high level astronomy. Astronomy degrees can focus too much on what may or may not be relevant to your interests. It's better to get a broad understanding of physics, rather than an astronomical based understanding of it...	[ "The courses for physics major have much higher level than those two case that had been talked above. At the beginning of the college. Their courses have few difference with the physics courses for the general education of science major. After the first year, the physics majors need to go up and study many deeper k...
how do octopuses avoid giving themselves brain damage?	They don't really have a localized brain, like we do. Rather, it is spread throughout their body, with a lot of neural tissue in the tentacles.	[ "The octopus (along with cuttlefish) has the highest brain-to-body mass ratios of all invertebrates; it is also greater than that of many vertebrates. It has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localised in its brain, which is contained in a cartilaginous capsule. Two-thirds of an octopus's neuro...
why did we go from round headphone wires to flat ones?	i'm not sure what you mean. all headphones i've bought in the past few years have round wires. can you give an example of these "flat" wires?	[ "Owing to the fact that a round wire will create air gaps that are not electrically used, the fill factor is always smaller than one. In order to achieve higher fill factors, rectangular or flat wire can be used. This can be wound on flat or upright.\n", "Early speaker cable was typically stranded copper wire, in...
who was the last living person to hold the position (however ceremonial) of a roman senator? When was the last time the Roman senate met?	The Roman Senate continued to meet throughout the first part of the sixth century, and even enjoyed a renaissance of sorts under the barbaric rulers beginning with Odoacer and especially under Theodoric the Great. The Gothic Wars, though, devastated Italy in the mid-sixth century, and Rome was no exception. In 536, it ...	[ "The senate as a body was formed of sitting senators, whose number was held at around 600 by the founder of the \"principate\", Augustus (sole rule 30 BC – AD 14) and his successors until 312. Senators' sons and further descendants technically retained equestrian rank unless and until they won a seat in the senate....
American and Russian submarines during WW2	During WWII the United States Navy used the Mark 14 torpedo. The torpedo had a speed of 46 knots. Now it is unclear what class of Soviet submarine was being used but I can assure you that it would have been hopelessly outmatched in terms of submerged speed. From what I found the submerged top speed of most submarine...	[ "During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union maintained large submarine fleets that engaged in cat-and-mouse games. This continues today, on a much-reduced scale. The Soviet Union suffered the loss of at least four submarines during this period: \"K-129\" was lost in 1968 (which the CIA attempted to...

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